c. 1999 Religion News Service
(Rabbi Rudin is national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.)
UNDATED _ Most of the letters I receive from readers around the country focus on my commentaries about the Bible. One reader expressed shock at my”easygoing familiarity”with biblical characters. Another reader thanked me for”making Scripture and its people come alive,”but she questioned whether I hadn’t”made the stories too contemporary and not reverent enough.” I consider the biblical figures members of my immediate Jewish family. This happened once I learned enough Hebrew as a child to read the Bible in its original language. That was a moment of enormous empowerment because, unfortunately, reading any great literature in translation is similar to kissing through a handkerchief _ close, but not the real thing.
The stuttering lawgiver Moses, the reluctant prophet Isaiah, the battling twins Jacob and Esau, the obnoxious teen-ager Joseph, the moody King Saul, the womanizing King David, and the militarily heroic Deborah are as real to me as my friends and family.
Not surprisingly, many of the personal traits that define certain biblical people are clearly present among some personal acquaintances as well as world leaders. After all, suspicion, dysfunctional families, scheming, and deceit are not human qualities unique to the Bible. But then neither are exalted prophetic visions, compassion, humility, love of God and humanity limited exclusively to Bible times.
While I often argue with biblical characters, especially when I do not understand or approve their peculiar behavior, I am inextricably linked to them through shared history and love. While I have been shaped by my parents’ genes and values, biblical stories and beliefs have decisively influenced me as well.
Sadly, too many people get hung up on wrong questions like:”Is the Bible true? Did Noah bring the animals on board the ark in pairs or in sevens? Was the world really created in six days? Did the parting of the Red Sea actually happen during the Hebrews’ Exodus from Egypt? Did God truly `speak’ to people?” They are interesting inquiries, but completely miss the point. The real questions should be:”What is the Bible trying to say or teach? Why did the authors consider these stories and teachings significant enough to place them permanently in the text?” Getting beyond questions about Scripture’s literal truth liberates a person from either setting the Bible and its characters on a theological pedestal or rejecting them completely. Instead of worshipping or discarding the Bible, a person should directly engage Scripture’s stories and the people in them.
An excellent illustration for such involvement is the highly complex and compelling figure of David, my all-time favorite biblical personality. Many of his characteristics have been present in other leaders throughout history, and there is also a great deal of David in each of us. We all seek to advance our careers, overcome our adversaries, build a loving family, and leave a lasting legacy. But none of this was easy for David, just as it is not easy for us.
David was a classic Type A personality.
An ambitious overachiever, he was a talented musician, incredible poet, brilliant general and dynamic monarch. Reading his beautiful psalms always stirs me and I deeply admire many of his actions as Israel’s king. David, who made Jerusalem his capital 3,000 years ago, forever remains the greatest Jewish ruler. Christianity regards him as an ancestor of Jesus and David has entered the Koran as well.
At the same time, he was (gasp!) a political leader who committed adultery (remember Bathsheba?) and who publicly humiliated his wife, King Saul’s daughter. Tragically, his son Absalom led an unsuccessful armed insurrection against his father and, despite David’s express orders, he was executed by one of the king’s generals in a bitter bit of family business.
David’s lament for Absalom, his dead, albeit rebellious, son, has been echoed by every parent who has ever lost a child. And in the twilight of his life he chose another son, Adonijah, as the crown prince and successor to the throne. But David’s wife, Bathsheba, schemed (gasp again!) to have their son, Solomon, become ruler.
David, infirm and totally under Bathsheba’s influence, believed a report that Adonijah had unilaterally proclaimed himself king. In one of the last acts before his death, David designated Solomon as his heir apparent, the king who would build the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
I esteem David and salute his extraordinary achievements. But I am also angry with David for the personal recklessness that nearly destroyed his kingdom. Have I made his story”too contemporary and not reverent enough?”I sincerely hope so.
DEA END RUDIN
