Board index ‹ Bible

[Bloomer]

For example, do you take Noah’s Ark as something possible or more as a metaphorical lesson?

[jimwalton]

We'd have to discuss each one individually, but to try to answer your question, I'll toss off some of the more common ones.

• Noah's Ark: True. Historical. But it was a regional flood, not a global one. The size of the ark is hyperbolic; the animals on board would have been local animals.
• The speaking serpent in the Garden of Eden. "Serpent" was an idiom for spiritual being. This was no snake, but a bright, spiritual being. That's why Eve didn't faint away from sheer shock.
• The speaking donkey in Numbers 22. It wasn't the donkey itself talking, but the angel talking "through" it, like a ventriloquist. It was as if the donkey were talking, but it was the angel speaking.
• The sun standing still in the sky in Joshua 10. The Earth didn't stop revolving. What is happening here is that a particular omen (the full moon and the rising sun in they sky simultaneously on opposite horizons) had appeared. The Mesopotamian celestial omens use verbs like "wait," "stand" and "stop" to record the relative movements and positions of the celestial bodies. When the moon and/or sun do not wait, the moon sinks over the horizon before the sun rises and no opposition occurs. When the moon and sun wait or stand, it indicates that the opposition does occur for the determination of the full moon day.

You'd have to ask about specific other cases, so we can talk about it more if you want.