Bible Difficulties (45 page)

(NASB). Some critics have urged this approximate value of three to one as the relationship between the diameter and the circumference of the circle amounts to a geometrical inaccuracy, inconsistent with a truly errorless Scripture. The true value of pi is calculated to be 3.14159 rather than 3.0.

This criticism is, however, devoid of merit. While it is true that the more exact calculation of pi is essential for scientific purposes, or for the manufacture of precision parts in a factory, the use of approximate proportions or totals is a familiar practice in normal speech, even today. If the statistical statements concerning the population of cities or nations were subjected to the same stringent standard as that leveled at 1 Kings 7:23, then we would have to say that all population statistics are in error. A certain number of people are dying each minute, and babies are being born at a standard rate every sixty seconds; therefore any exact sum that might be true at 1:00 P.M. on a given day through computer calculation would be "inaccurate" by 1:01 P.M. that same day. It is perfectly proper to speak of the circumference of any circle as being three times its diameter if we are speaking approximately, just as one may legitimately state that the population of China is from 800 million to one billion. The Hebrew author here is obviously speaking in the approximate way that is normal practice even today.

There is one interesting feature about this that might well be added. If the rod used to mark out a length of five cubits (approximately ninety inches) for the radius were used to measure the inside circumference of the same bowl-shaped vessel here described, then it would take exactly six of those five-cubit measures to complete the circumference. Let the skeptic try it and see!

Despite 1 Kings 9:22, didn't Solomon impose forced labor on Israelite citizens?

1 Kings 9:22 says that in contrast to the descendants of the conquered Canaanite nations, "Solomon did not make slaves [
lo'na-tan...à-bed
] of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants [
àbadim
], his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen" (NASB). In other words, he treated them as free men, as citizens of honorable standing. Yet earlier, in 1 Kings 5:13 (5:27 Heb.), it is stated that

"King Solomon levied forced laborers [lit.,`raised a levy of forced labor'] from all Israel; and the forced laborers [
hammas
] numbered 30,000 men" (NASB). Each of three contingents of ten thousand worked for four months of the year, by shifts or in rotation.

Besides these there were seventy thousand burden bearers and eighty thousand stonecutters to assist in procuring and preparing the materials for the temple and palace that were to be erected on the temple mount in Jerusalem.

It is not stated whether the burden bearers and stonecutters were non-Israelite Canaanites, but it is a fair assumption that they were. Nothing is said about the division into shifts that characterized the Israelite workers, as just described. It is a fair assumption also that the thirty thousand Israelites who participated in the felling and processing of building materials for the temple were specially selected for their experience and skill 199

along these lines, and that they considered it a privilege to have a part in this work for God. Hence there is no real contradiction between the two statements (5:13 and 9:22).

It should be noted, however, that Solomon did not restrict the drafting of an Israelite labor force to the temple mount structures. He apparently used this kind of work crew to strengthen the defenses of Jerusalem as well: the filling up of the depression between Mount Zion and Mount Moriah as a heightened and fortified Millo ("Filling"), along with a general improvement of the entire city wall (1 Kings 9:15). Some of the provincial capitals require this type of additional fortification, such as Hazor and Megiddo--and even Gezer, after Pharaoh had turned the city over to Solomon (as a dowry for his daughter, who became Solomon's wife). Indeed the maintenance of corvee labor on the part of Israelite citizens may have continued intermittently until the close of Solomon's reign, for while it uses the word
sebel
rather than
mas
, 11:28 mentions that Jeroboam was originally a supervisor or foreman of such a "burden-bearing" force for the "house of Joseph" (which presumably included Manasseh as well as Ephraim). Perhaps Solomon resorted to this system of corvee for Israelite citizens as the building operations progressed and as his own original high principles suffered eclipse under the pressure of his ambitious goals.

In the light of his dealings with Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah, how could
David be regarded by the Lord as a servant whose heart was "perfect" before Him
(cf. 1 Kings 11:4; 1 Kings 15:3; Acts 13:22)?

Even before David became king of Israel, he had committed several sins and offenses to his discredit. His deception of the high priest Ahimelech resulted in the massacre of nearly every priest in the city of Nob by the agents of King Saul, even though they were completely unaware of David's status as a wanted fugitive (1 Sam. 21-22). Later on, as a vassal of King Achish of Gath, David systematically deceived him as to the various tribes and communities his warriors had raided in their forays from Ziklag; and he was willing to put every one of his victims to death in order to keep the truth about his activities from getting back to Achish (1 Sam. 27:8-12). His affair with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, and the subsequent cover-up that he engineered by having Uriah Killed in battle before the walls of Rabbath Ammon 2 Sam. 11) were by no means the only shameful blots on his record, even though they are doubtless the best known.

From these considerations it is quite apparent that David did not gain God's favor or approval because of a sinless life. Although his conduct was for the most part exemplary and his courage and ability as a leader beyond comparison, it was not because of these things that he especially pleased God. It was rather because of this tremendous faith in the power and grace of God that his heart was adjudged to be
salem
(KJV, "perfect"; NASB, "wholly devoted"; NIV, "fully devoted") with Yahweh his God (1 Kings 11:4; 15:3). The adjective
salem
basically means "complete, whole, sound, finished" or even

"at peace with [
ìm
] someone." (The word is cognate with
salom
, "peace, welfare.") That is, David's heart was all there for God, and God was his very reason for living. Many of his psalms eloquently express his deep attachment to the Lord, his joy in fellowship with God, and his complete trust in His redeeming power.

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Furthermore, David could never remain out of fellowship with God for very long. Psalm 32 reveals what unbearable agony he went through after the affairs with Bathsheba, until finally the prophet Nathan came to him and condemned his crimes in the name of Yahweh (2 Sam. 12:7-10). A lesser man would have flared up against this daring prophet and had him put to death. But one of the greatest assets in David's character was his ability to receive rebuke, to acknowledge his utter sinfulness (cf. Ps. 51:3-5), and to cast himself on the mercy of God to forgive him, cleanse him, and restore him to holy fellowship once more.

The believer who can face guilt and failure in the way David did is in a profound sense a man after God's own heart--the kind that God told Samuel He was going to look for after Saul had forfeited favor by his disobedience (1 Sam. 13:14). David was that kind of a son and servant to the Lord; he was an
'is kilebabo
("a man according to His heart"). As such he became a model for all believers to follow, in regard to wholehearted commitment to pleasing the Lord, obeying His word, and furthering the cause of His kingdom on earth.

God could trust him with great responsibility and consistent victory on the battlefield because David's central purpose was to glorify God, not to glorify or please himself.

Recalling these dominant traits in David's life, the apostle Paul commended him to the congregation in Antioch Pisidiae, saying: "And after He had removed him [Saul], He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, Ì have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart [
kata ten kardian mou
], who will do all My will" (Acts 13:22, NASB).

The glory of God, the will of God, and the loving fellowship of God were what mattered most to King David, even though there were temporary lapses in that relationship. But even after he had fallen into sin and failure, David knew how to trust God's grace and forgiving love enough to confess and forsake his iniquity in an attitude of true repentance so as to get back in step with the Lord on the highway of holiness. Such a believer is certain to be a man or woman after God's own heart!

Was Elijah's prediction of the dogs' licking up Ahab's blood at Jezreel really
fulfilled by the Pool of Samaria?

First Kings 21:19 reads: "Thus says the LORD, `Have you murdered, and also taken possession?'... Thus says the LORD, Ìn the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours'" (NASB). But in the record of the fulfillment of this sentence of doom, which occurs in 1 Kings 22:37-38, we read: "So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria [
bere-ka-t someron
], and the dogs licked up his blood... according to the word of the LORD which He spoke" (NASB). The licking up of Ahab's blood by dogs is certainly confirmed by this narration. But what about the detail "in this place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth"? The Hebrew text lays stress on the very spot: "where the dogs licked up" (
bimeqom 'aser laqequ hakkelabim
) Naboth's blood (21:19). This calls for further investigation.

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Where was Naboth stoned to death by the two false witnesses and the mob that accompanied them? Could it have been by a pool located just outside the city of Samaria?

This is barely conceivable; but it hardly seems likely, in view of the circumstances surrounding the whole transaction of Ahab's offer to Naboth outside of Jezreel (21:2-3), which met with Naboth's refusal. Jezebel sent orders "to the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city." In all probability Naboth was tried and convicted on a trumped-up charge of blasphemy in the city square of Jezreel itself, and he was then led to a place just outside the city wall of Jezreel; so it must have been there (rather than in Samaria, which was many miles distant) that his innocent blood was spilled. Yet this is not actually stated in so many words.

If Naboth's accusers had taken Naboth "outside of the city" of Jezreel, they may have carried him all the way to Samaria in order to hold his execution by stoning right outside the capital of the kingdom of Israel, at the pool just outside the city wall. Nevertheless this would have been an exceptional procedure according to Old Testament law.

Normally a punishment or execution was inflicted on an offender in the same jurisdiction as his crime was committed. (Yet this was not invariably the case. Joshua 7:24 records that Achan, whose theft of spoil from the accursed city of Jericho took place at Jericho itself, was not stoned to death outside Jericho but rather in the valley of Achor [which seems to have been part of the Wadi Qilt, at some distance from Tell el-Sultan, Old Testament Jericho], a site fairly removed from the scene of the crime.) There remains one other intriguing possibility, as we study the probable route traveled by Ahab's henchmen during their retreat from the disaster at Ramoth-gilead. They would almost certainly have crossed the Jordan just below Beth-shan and then made their way in a west-northwesterly direction until coming to the summer capital of Jezreel, just beyond which they would have to take the highway leading through the pass through the Esdraelon range. By the time they reached Jezreel, with their melancholy task of interring Ahab's corpse in the cemetery of Samaria after their arrival there, they may well have decided to wash off his chariot before it entered Samaria itself. By that time his dried gore must have been quite malodorous and disfiguring to the appearance of the royal chariot--which presumably would have been part of the later funeral procession. A pool outside Jezreel would have been most convenient for their purpose. But how could a pool at Jezreel have been called "the Pool of Samaria"? Perhaps in the planning of this new summer palace and its adjacent landscaping, Ahab and Jezebel decided that a pool would enhance the beauty of the grounds. They might well have called it "Samaria Pool" in honor of the regular capital city (founded by Ahab's father, Omri), which would serve as the seat of government during the cooler seasons of the year.

Not all pools connected with ancient Near Eastern cities bore the name of the city itself, particularly if there was an older pool already in existence. In Jerusalem, for example there were the Pool of Siloam, the Pool of Bethesda (Beth-zatha), the King's Pool, and the Pool of Shelah. Since the "Pool of Samaria" here mentioned was one at which the city's prostitutes normally bathed (1 Kings 22:38), it was probably not the only pool in use, but only a later pool, constructed by the landscapers connected with the summer palace. It is therefore reasonable to infer that there was another pool known as the Pool of 202

Jezreel, intended for the general public of Jezreel itself. Hence Ahab's palace pool, if such there was, would have to have borne some other name. What, then, would have been more appropriate than the name of the national capital, where Ahab resided in his ivory-inlaid palace for the greater part of the year?

Is there not a contradiction between 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 20, as to
Jehoshaphat's ill-fated fleet at Ezion-geber?

First Kings 22:48 agrees with 2 Chronicles 20:35-36 that a fleet of ocean-going merchantmen ("ships of Tarshish") was constructed at the Red Sea port of Ezion-geber, for the purpose of engaging in trade with Ophir--a trade that Solomon had found very profitable back in the previous century (1 Kings 9:28). They also agree that Ahaziah the son of Ahab, king of Israel, was somehow involved in this venture. Apparently the plan originally agreed on by both rulers (2 Chron. 20:35-36) was that this would be a joint commercial venture, with both the costs and the profits to be shared by both governments. 1 Kings 22:49 says: "Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat,