Quantum Physics and the Bible
Judges 1: Israel's Failure to Complete the Conquest of Canaan
Today we begin the book of Judges, most of which is concerned with the fact that Israel did not completely conquer the promised land. How does the author deal with this when this was God's promise? As stated in yesterday's post, the author has the Lord continue to push Israel's enemies out of the land. This action is conditional, however, relying on Israel's strict obedience to God's commands. Dialectical tensions, forces that informs the bible as a whole, will be especially evident in the reading, especially as Israel comes to be led by "judges" that seem to alternate between good and bad, obedience and disobedience.
Today's reading tracks the continued conquest of Israel in Canaan, the promised land. By today's standards it is a contradictory account, running against both the book of Joshua and itself. To the original audience the things we would call "contradictions" were not the most important consideration. The bible was to them a cohesive whole.
Israel's Failure to Complete the Conquest of Canaan: Judges 1
Unlike Moses, Joshua did not choose a centralized leader for after his death. Why should he, when the land is divided up and the Israelite tribes should be autonomous, operating under the code of God's law? Still, Israel faces enemies. What are they to do?
The first verse states that the Israelites directly inquire of the Lord who should fight against the Canaanites. This is a remarkable break from the past, when communication with God was limited to an intermediary like Moses. Now that there is no leader of the Israelites, they may speak with God directly.
God responds that Judah should go, and Judah takes Simeon along with it. The two tribes defeat ten thousand Canaanits and Perizzites at Bezek. King Adoni-bezek escapes from the battle and flees. Judah and Simeon pursue him, catch him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. This is a suitable punishment and seems divinely retributive: Adoni-bezek tells of how he had seventy thumbless, big toeless kings picking up scraps under his table. Go figure.
Judah then takes Jerusalem, kills all the people, and sets the city on fire. After that, Judah defeats Sheshai and Ahiman at Talmai; a repetition of a story from Joshua. Indeed, the repetition continues, as Caleb offers his daughter to whoever takes Kiriath-sepher. Othniel again takes the land, and Caleb's daughter Achsah again undermines the sex-marriage economy when she asks for and is given land as a present (again after dismounting her donkey).
Just one problem: This has all already happened. How could it have happened twice?
The bible does not shy away from ambiguities and contradictions. These parallel stories for the author were not necessarily contradictory. The chronology does not seem to matter so much as the story.
So what are we to make of other internal contradictions? Verse 21 informs us, "But the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived in Jerusalem to this day. How could this be possible if verse 8 is also true: "Then the people of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They put it to the sword and set the city to fire."?
Maybe a brief physics lesson will help. Light has a dual nature, acting either as a wave or as particles depending on how you examine it. Certain experiments will tell you that light is comprised of photons that, while they don't have mass, at least have momentum. Others will tell you that it is a wave; massless energy. We know that light exists, but if we look at it a different way, it seems to take on a different nature. In the same way, we know these bibical stories exist, but if we look at them in a different way, they take on different natures. Biblical stories mean different things depending on the context in which they are told. The same story of Caleb and Achsah takes on different meaning when it is placed in two different locations - when the conditions of the experiment are different. And the biblical author clearly accepted the story as true, even though it appears differently in different places.
Quantum physicist Neils Bohr once said, "If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.
It's a little like that.
In any case, there are many failed attempts to drive Israel's enemies from the land. The Rahab story appears again, a briefer version with different characters. But the reader understands the story because it is a type scene. The reader understands that this story has occurred somewhere before. The author, therefore, is not required to include all the details of the original story, because it is supposed the reader will understand.
The reader-author relationship...It's a strange thing indeed.
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