Daily Retreat 06/26/06

2006 Jun 26 Mon: Ordinary Weekday
2 Kgs 17: 5-8. 13-15a. 18/ Ps 59(60): 3. 4-5. 12-13/ Mt 7: 1-5

 

From today’s readings:  “Give up your evil ways and keep My commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by My servants the prophets....   Help us with Your right hand, O Lord, and answer us....  Stop judging, that you may not be judged....”

 

More than History in the Bible

 

What is the historical value of the Bible?  Well, since Sacred Scripture was not written as a secular history or science textbook, it should not be approached merely as such.  What the Bible does record is known as “salvation history,” the written chronicles of God’s public revelation and saving actions from Creation to the latest book of the New Testament.

 

That’s not to say that the Bible has little or no historical value - quite the contrary!  The Gospels, for instance, were clearly not written just as historical biographies of Jesus of Nazareth - since they present the Good News of Jesus in order to lead the reader to faith in Him, the Gospels are more than historical biographies!  But the fact that they are more than simple biographies does not compromise their historicity, for the Gospels, “whose historicity [the Church] unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while He lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation...”  (Dei Verbum 19, CCC §126, cf. Acts 1:1-2).

 

Likewise, certain books of the Old Testament (such as Kings and Chronicles) are purposely presented as a historical narrative, recounting real events in history, but with primary consideration of the place of those events in the context of salvation history.  So, for instance, certain battles and encounters between the Israelites and Assyrians are recorded in the present chapters (from the first reading) of the Second Book of Kings.  Sacred Scripture records not just the events, but the theological implications (viz., how the degree of the people’s faithfulness to God affected their political situations). 19th century archeological excavations of Nineveh uncovered written Assyrian records of the same events.   Both accounts agree in substantial details, although the two accounts offer quite diverse contextualizations: the biblical account ties the secular history to salvation history, whereas the Assyrian version stresses instead the glorification of their own rulers and empire.

 

This link details a sample of archeological evidence (from the British Museum) that corroborates the 2Kings biblical historical narrative:

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/&$+with+all_unique_id_index+is+$=OBJ1742&submit-button=summary