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    CSB Apologetics Study Bible: Faithful and True
    CSB Apologetics Study Bible: Faithful and True
    CSB Apologetics Study Bible: Faithful and True
    Ebook6,581 pages76 hours

    CSB Apologetics Study Bible: Faithful and True

    By CSB Bibles by Holman

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    About this ebook

    The CSB Apologetics Study Bible helps Christians better understand, defend, and proclaim their beliefs in an age of increasing moral and spiritual relativism. This edition includes new articles and extensive apologetics study material from today’s leading apologists discussing relevant cultural issues.

    Features commentary from over 90 of the best apologetics thinkers of our day in one resource, including: Ted Cabal, Lee Strobel, Paul Copan, Norm Geisler, Hank Hanegraaff, Josh McDowell, Albert Mohler, J.P. Moreland, and many more—plus a special lead article from bestselling author Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator, and many more) entitled “How Apologetics Changed My Life.”

    FEATURES:
    • Over 100 articles from apologists on today’s leading topics 
    • Study notes on every page to help explain difficult Bible passages
    • “Twisted Scriptures” focusing on commonly misunderstood passages 
    • Index of special articles for quick and easy access in the front of the Bible
    • Book introductions with special emphasis on apologetics
    • Profiles of key Christian apologists, including Anselm, Athanasius, Augustine, Joseph Butler, C.S. Lewis, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Origen, William Paley, Blaise Pascal, and more
    • Apologetics charts in the back of the Bible detailing the Bible’s credibility and key apologists
    • Distinctive page layout and design  
    • Two-column text format
    • Black-letter text
    • 9.75-point type size
    • Smyth-sewn durable binding 
    • Ribbon marker for easy referencing between pages 
    • Concordance
    • Presentation page for gift-giving
    • Full-color maps

    The CSB Apologetics Study Bible features the highly readable, highly reliable text of the Christian Standard Bible® (CSB). The CSB stays as literal as possible to the Bible’s original meaning without sacrificing clarity, making it easier to engage with Scripture’s life-transforming message and to share it with others.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBH Publishing Group
    Release dateOct 2, 2017
    ISBN9781433651205
    CSB Apologetics Study Bible: Faithful and True

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    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This is a great study Bible even without the apologetic articles because of the wealth of notes on the verses, other translations, and manuscripts. The Holman translation is very accurate to the original Hebrew and Greek, and the notes tell you when they have chosen a word or phrase that is debatable and why the chose it. Some of the poetic feel of the language is lost in this translation, but I would rather have the accuracy of translation in a study Bible than the aesthetics of poetic language. The apologetic articles are okay. Most of them are very basic, but I have found them helpful when people unfamiliar with the Bible ask questions. My only gripe is that they can break up the flow of a book. The mini-biographies on the apologists are interesting. The real keys to this Bible are the notes and the translation.
    • 5/5
      Awesome study bible giving ready answers to skeptics questions. Ravi Zacherias is one of my favorite contributors.

    Book preview

    CSB Apologetics Study Bible - CSB Bibles by Holman

    Journeys

    Contributors

    † Deceased

    Daniel L. Akin, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: 1, 2, 3 John

    Clinton E. Arnold, Talbot School of Theology, Can We Still Believe in Demons Today? Introductions and Notes: Colossians, Philemon

    Paul W. Barnett, Macquarie University, Introduction and Notes: 1, 2 Corinthians

    Cal Beisner, Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, How Should We Assess Global Warming?

    Robert D. Bergen, Hannibal LaGrange College, Introduction and Notes: Exodus, 1

    , 2 Samuel

    Daniel I. Block, Wheaton College, Who Wrote the Pentateuch and When Was It Written?

    Craig L. Blomberg, Denver Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Gospel of John

    John A. Bloom, Biola University, How Can Modern Medicine Relate to the Old Testament?

    Douglas K. Blount, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, The Trinity: Is It Possible That God Be Both One and Three?

    Kenneth D. Boa, Reflections Ministries, What Is Apologetics?

    Darrell L. Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary, Is the New Testament Trustworthy?

    Robert M. Bowman Jr., North American Mission Board, SBC, Are the Teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses Compatible with the Bible?

    Walter L. Bradley, Baylor University, Does Science Support the Bible?

    Chad Owen Brand, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Can a Christian Have Assurance of Salvation? Does the Bible Teach That There Is a Purgatory? How Can Jesus’s Death Bring Forgiveness? Intellectuals Who Found God Is God a Male? Is Mormonism Compatible with the Bible? What About Those Who Never Heard About Christ? Comparison of World Religions Chart, Comparison of New Religious Movements Chart

    Ted Cabal, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Are the Days of Genesis to Be Interpreted Literally? How Should a Christian Relate to the New Age Movement? How Should a Christian Understand the Age of the Earth Controversy? Biographical Sketches Notable Christian Apologists: Anselm, Athanasius, Augustine, Joseph Butler, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, C. S. Lewis, Origen, William Paley, and Blaise Pascal

    Nigel Cameron, Center for Policy on Emerging Technology, What Does the Bible Say About Abortion? What Does the Bible Say About Euthanasia?

    David K. Clark, Bethel Theological Seminary, Is Logic Arbitrary?

    E. Ray Clendenen, B&H Publishing Group, Can Biblical Chronology Be Trusted? Did Those Places Really Exist? Does the Old Testament Teach Salvation by Works? The Uniqueness of Israel’s Religion

    John Coe, Talbot School of Theology, Is Psychology Biblical?

    R. Dennis Cole, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Numbers

    C. John Collins, Covenant Theological Seminary, Can God’s Actions Be Detected Scientifically?

    Charles Colson †, Prison Fellowship, How Should a Christian Relate to Culture? How Should a Christian Understand the Role of Government?

    Lamar E. Cooper, Sr., Criswell College, Introduction and Notes: Ezekiel

    Paul Copan, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Can Something Be True for You and Not for Me? Does the Bible Teach Reincarnation? Does the Moral Argument Show There Is a God? Does the New Testament Misquote the Old Testament? Don’t Religious Beliefs Just Reflect Where One Was Raised? How Should We Handle Unresolved Questions About the Bible? If God Made the Universe, Who Made God? Is God Arrogant and Egotistical? Isn’t Christianity Intolerant? Isn’t That Just Your Interpretation? What Is Natural Law? Who Are You to Judge Others? Why Would a Good God Send People to an Everlasting Hell?, Chart comparing Naturalism vs. Theism

    Winfried Corduan, Taylor University, How Does Christianity Relate to Other Eastern Religions?

    William Lane Craig, Talbot School of Theology, Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? How Can the Bible Affirm Both Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom? What About Those Who Have Never Heard About Christ?

    Edward M. Curtis, Talbot School of Theology, Introduction and Notes: Proverbs

    Barry C. Davis, Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Judges, Ruth

    William A. Dembski, Discovery Institute, Does the Design Argument Show There Is a God?

    Garrett DeWeese, Talbot School of Theology, How Can We Know Anything at All?

    Charles Draper, Boyce College, Why So Many Denominations?

    Barrett Duke, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, SBC, Introductions and Notes: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

    Mark Durie, Oaktree Anglican Church, What Did Jesus Have to Do with Violence?

    Paul D. Feinberg †, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Does the Bible Contain Errors?

    Ken Fentress, Montrose Baptist Church, Introduction and Notes: Joshua

    Thomas J. Finley, Talbot School of Theology, Introductions and Notes: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

    Matt Flannagan, Author, Does the Bible Condone Genocide?

    John M. Frame, Reformed Theological Seminary, Does the Bible Affirm Open Theism?, Biographical Sketch, Notable Christian Apologist: Cornelius Van Til

    Gregory E. Ganssle, Talbot School of Theology, How Can God Have All Power and Be Loving and Yet There Be Evil?

    Duane A. Garrett, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Ecclesiastes

    Norman L. Geisler, Southern Evangelical Seminary, Does the Bible Support a Just War? Has the Bible Been Accurately Copied Through the Centuries? How Can We Know the Bible Includes the Correct Books?

    R. Douglas Geivett, Talbot School of Theology, Can Religious Experience Show That There Is a God?

    David Glass, Author, What is New About the New Atheism?

    Alan W. Gomes, Talbot School of Theology, How Should a Christian Relate to Those in Non-Christian Movements and Religions?

    Leonard G. Goss, GoodEditors.com, What Are Common Characteristics of the New Religious Movements? What Is the Occult?

    Douglas R. Groothuis, Denver Seminary, How Does Christianity Relate to the Baha’i Faith? How Should a Christian Understand Postmodernism?, Annotated Bibliography

    Gary R. Habermas, Liberty University, Are Biblical Miracles Imitations of Pagan Myths? Are Jesus’s Claims Unique Among the Religions of the World? Can Naturalistic Theories Account for the Resurrection? Does the Disciples’ Conviction That They Saw the Risen Jesus Establish the Truth of the Resurrection? How Does the Holy Spirit Relate to Evidence for Christianity? How Is the Transformation of Jesus’s Disciples Different from Other Religious Transformations? How Should a Christian Deal with Doubt? How Should We Treat New Challenges to the Christian Faith? What Should a Christian Think About Near-Death Experiences?

    Hank Hanegraaff, Christian Research Institute, Is There Evidence for Life After Death?

    Craig J. Hazen, Biola University, Aren’t All Religions Basically the Same?

    Daniel R. Heimbach, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Did Jesus Teach an Ethic of Pacifism?

    Larry R. Helyer, Taylor University, How Does the Bible Relate to Judaism?

    Michael W. Holmes, Bethel University, Introduction and Notes: 1, 2 Thessalonians

    David A. Horner, Talbot School of Theology, Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder? Biographical Sketch Notable Christian Apologist: Thomas Aquinas

    Alan Hultberg, Talbot School of Theology, Introductions and Notes: Matthew, Mark, Luke

    Sharon James, Author, Does the Bible Demean Women?

    Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, How Has Archaeology Corroborated the Bible? Is the Old Testament Trustworthy?

    Mark A. Kalthoff, Hillsdale College, Didn’t the Church Oppose Galileo?

    D. James Kennedy †, Coral Ridge Ministries, Christ: The Fulfillment of Prophecy

    William W. Klein, Denver Seminary, Introductions and Notes: Romans, Ephesians

    Sheri L. Klouda, Taylor University, Introduction and Notes: Song of Songs

    Steve W. Lemke, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Does the Bible Affirm That Animals Have Rights? Does the Bible Teach the Abuse of Nature?

    Gordon R. Lewis †, Denver Seminary, What Does It Mean That God Inspired the Bible? What Is Divine Revelation?

    Joshua Lingel, i2 Ministries What are the Foundations of Islam?

    Mark Linville, Clayton State University and Savannah College of Art and Design, Can Evolution Explain Ethics?

    Kirk E. Lowery, Westminster Theological Seminary, The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah Numbers in the Bible Writing History—Then and Now, Introductions and Notes: 1, 2 Kings and 1, 2 Chronicles

    A. Boyd Luter Jr., The King’s University, Notes: Genesis 12–50

    , Introduction and Notes: Revelation

    Kenneth T. Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Why Does God Hide Himself?

    Kenneth A. Mathews, Beeson Divinity School, Are the Biblical Genealogies Reliable? Introduction to Genesis and Notes: Genesis 1–11

    Josh D. McDowell, Josh McDowell Ministry, Is the Bible Sexually Oppressive?

    Sean McDowell, Biola University Did the Apostles Die as Martyrs?

    Tim McGrew, Western Michigan University, Is There Evidence for Undesigned Coincidences Supporting Biblical Truth?

    Richard R. Melick, Gateway Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Philippians

    Eugene H. Merrill, Dallas Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Deuteronomy

    Stephen C. Meyer, Discovery Institute, Have Darwinism and Dawkins Disproved God?

    Stephen R. Miller, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Daniel

    R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Does the Bible Provide Guidance Regarding Human Cloning?

    John Warwick Montgomery, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism, and Human Rights, Could the Gospel Writers Withstand the Scrutiny of a Lawyer?

    J. P. Moreland, Talbot School of Theology, Does the Bible Teach Annihilationism? Does the Bible Teach That Humans Are More Than Their Bodies? Does the Cosmological Argument Show There Is a God? Does the Existence of the Mind Provide Evidence for God? Has Neuroscience Underminded Warrant for Believing in the Soul? How Does One Develop a Christian Mind? How Should a Christian Relate to a Scientific Naturalist? More Evidence for Life After Death What Are Self-Defeating Statements? What Are the Three Laws of Logic? What Is the Relationship Between Science and the Bible?

    Russell D. Moore, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, SBC, What Does the Bible Teach About Human Beings?

    Ronald H. Nash †, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Are Miracles Believable? Aren’t the Gospels the Product of Greek Thinking? What Is a Worldview?

    James A. Parker III, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, The Incarnation: Could God Become Man Without Ceasing to Be God?

    Richard D. Patterson, Liberty University, Introduction and Notes: Job

    Barbara B. Pemberton, Ouachita Baptist University, How Does the Bible Relate to Islam?

    Timothy Pickavance, Biola University, How Do We Decide Between Contrary Expert Opinions?

    Stanley E. Porter, McMaster Divinity College, Introduction and Notes: Acts

    Doug Powell, Author, What is the Transcendental Argument for God’s Existence?

    Charles L. Quarles, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: 1, 2 Timothy, Titus

    Nabeel Qureshi, Author, How Should a Christian Respond to Islamic Jihad?

    Scott B. Rae, Talbot School of Theology, Does the Bible Provide Ethical Guidance for Business? Does the Bible Provide Guidance Regarding Genetic Engineering? What Does the Bible Say about Economic Injustice? What Does the Bible Teach About Homosexuality?

    Ron Rhodes, Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, What Does the Bible Teach About Angels?

    Randy Richards, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Did Secretaries Write the New Testament Books? Does the New Testament Contain Forgeries?

    Philip R. Roberts, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Are Scientology and the Bible Compatible?

    Mark F. Rooker, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Introduction and Notes: Leviticus

    Allen P. Ross, Beeson Divinity School, Introduction and Notes: Psalms

    Walter Russell, Talbot School of Theology, What Does It Mean to Say, ‘Jesus Is Messiah’?, Introduction and Notes: Galatians

    Michael Rydelnik, Moody Bible Institute, What Does the Hebrew Bible Say About the Coming Messiah?

    Philip J. Sampson, University of Southampton, Don’t Christian Missionaries Impose Their Culture on Others?

    Alvin J. Schmidt, Illinois College, Has Christianity Had a Bad Influence on History?

    Thomas R. Schreiner, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Has Historical Criticism Proved the Bible False?, Introduction and Notes: 1, 2 Peter, Jude

    Gary V. Smith, Union University, Introduction and Notes: Isaiah

    David K. Stabnow, B&H Publishing Group, Introductions and Notes: Jeremiah, Lamentations

    Robert B. Stewart, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Is Christian Science Compatible with the Bible?

    R. Alan Streett, Criswell College, What Is the Christian Identity Movement?, Author of the Twisted Scripture features

    Lee Strobel, Author, How Apologetics Changed My Life!

    Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College, Can God Create a Stone Too Heavy for Him to Lift?

    John Mark Terry, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, Can the Gospel Be Presented Across Cultures?

    Gregory Alan Thornbury, The King’s College, Does the Bible Teach That Everyone Will Be Saved?

    Graham H. Twelftree, Regent University School of Divinity, What About ‘Gospels’ Not in Our New Testament?

    Bruce A. Ware, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, How Can the Bible Affirm Both Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom?

    Terry L. Wilder, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Introductions and Notes: Hebrews, James

    Christopher Wright, Langham Partnership International, Is the Old Testament Ethical?

    Ravi Zacharias, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, How Can We Engage in Cross-Worldview Communication? How Does Christianity Relate to Hinduism? How Does a Christian Converse with a Buddhist?

    Introduction to the Christian Standard Bible®

    The Bible is God’s revelation to humanity. It is our only source for completely reliable information about God, what happens when we die, and where history is headed. The Bible reveals these things because it is God’s inspired Word, inerrant in the original manuscripts. Bible translation brings God’s Word from the ancient languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic) into today’s world. In dependence on God’s Spirit to accomplish this sacred task, the CSB Translation Oversight Committee and Holman Bible Publishers present the Christian Standard Bible.

    TEXTUAL BASE OF THE CSB

    The textual base for the New Testament (NT) is the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th edition, and the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament, 5th corrected edition. The text for the Old Testament (OT) is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 5th edition.

    Where there are significant differences among Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek manuscripts, the translators follow what they believe is the original reading and indicate the main alter-

    native(s) in footnotes. The CSB uses the traditional verse divisions found in most Protestant Bibles.

    GOALS OF THIS TRANSLATION

    •Provide English-speaking people worldwide with an accurate translation in contemporary English.

    •Provide an accurate translation for personal study, sermon preparation, private devotions, and memorization.

    •Provide a text that is clear and understandable, suitable for public reading, and shareable so that all may access its life-giving message.

    •Affirm the authority of Scripture and champion its absolute truth against skeptical viewpoints.

    TRANSLATION PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

    Most discussions of Bible translations speak of two opposite approaches: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. This terminology is meaningful, but Bible translations cannot be neatly sorted into these two categories. There is room for another category of translation philosophy that capitalizes on the strengths of the other two.

    1.   Formal Equivalence:

    Often called word-for-word (or literal) translation, the principle of formal equivalence seeks as nearly as possible to preserve the structure of the original language. It seeks to represent each word of the original text with an exact equivalent word in the translation so that the reader can see word for word what the original human author wrote. The merits of this approach include its consistency with the conviction that the Holy Spirit did inspire the very words of Scripture in the original manuscripts. It also provides the English Bible student some access to the structure of the text in the original language. Formal equivalence can achieve accuracy to the degree that English has an exact equivalent for each word and that the grammatical patterns of the original language can be reproduced in understandable English. However, it can sometimes result in awkward, if not incomprehensible, English or in a misunderstanding of the author’s intent. The literal rendering of ancient idioms is especially difficult.

    2.   Dynamic or Functional Equivalence:

    Often called thought-for-thought translation, the principle of dynamic equivalence rejects as misguided the attempt to preserve the structure of the original language. It proceeds by extracting the meaning of a text from its form and then translating that meaning so that it makes the same impact on modern readers that the ancient text made on its original readers. Strengths of this approach include a high degree of clarity and readability, especially in places where the original is difficult to render word for word. It also acknowledges that accurate and effective translation may require interpretation. However, the meaning of a text cannot always be neatly separated from its form, nor can it always be precisely determined. A biblical author may have intended multiple meanings, but these may be lost with the elimination of normal structures. In striving for readability, dynamic equivalence also sometimes overlooks and loses some of the less prominent elements of meaning. Furthermore, lack of formal correspondence to the original makes it difficult to verify accuracy and thus can affect the usefulness of the translation for in-depth Bible study.

    3.   Optimal Equivalence:

    In practice, translations are seldom if ever purely formal or dynamic but favor one theory of Bible translation or the other to varying degrees. Optimal equivalence as a translation philosophy recognizes that form cannot always be neatly separated from meaning and should not be changed unless comprehension demands it. The primary goal of translation is to convey the sense of the original with as much clarity as the original text and the translation language permit. Optimal equivalence appreciates the goals of formal equivalence but also recognizes its limitations.

    Optimal equivalence starts with an exhaustive analysis of the text at every level (word, phrase, clause, sentence, discourse) in the original language to determine its original meaning and intention (or purpose). Then, relying on the latest and best language tools and experts, the nearest corresponding semantic and linguistic equivalents are used to convey as much of the information and intention of the original text with as much clarity and readability as possible. This process assures the maximum transfer of both the words and the thoughts contained in the original.

    The CSB uses optimal equivalence as its translation philosophy. In the many places throughout the Bible where a word-for-word rendering is understandable, a literal translation is used. When a word-for-word rendering might obscure the meaning for a modern audience, a more dynamic translation is used. The Christian Standard Bible places equal value on fidelity to the original and readability for a modern audience, resulting in a translation that achieves both goals.

    THE GENDER LANGUAGE USAGE IN BIBLE TRANSLATION

    The goal of the translators of the Christian Standard Bible has not been to promote a cultural ideology but to translate the Bible faithfully. Recognizing modern usage of English, the CSB regularly translates the plural of the Greek word ανθρωπος (man) as people instead of men, and occasionally the singular as one, someone, or everyone, when the supporting pronouns in the original languages validate such a translation. While the CSB avoids using he or him unnecessarily, the translation does not restructure sentences to avoid them when they are in the text.

    HISTORY OF THE CSB

    After several years of preliminary development, Holman Bible Publishers, the oldest Bible publisher in North America, assembled an international, interdenominational team of one hundred scholars, editors, stylists, and proofreaders, all of whom were committed to biblical inerrancy. Outside consultants and reviewers contributed valuable suggestions from their areas of expertise. Working from the original languages, an executive team of translators edited, polished, and reviewed the final manuscript, which was first published as the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) in 2004.

    A standing committee was also formed to maintain the HCSB translation and look for ways to improve readability without compromising accuracy. As with the original translation team, the committee that prepared this revision of the HCSB, renamed the Christian Standard Bible, is international and interdenominational, comprising evangelical scholars who honor the inspiration and authority of God’s written Word.

    TRADITIONAL FEATURES FOUND IN THE CSB

    In keeping with a long line of Bible publications, the CSB has retained a number of features found in traditional Bibles:

    1.Traditional theological vocabulary (for example, justification, sanctification, redemption) has been retained since such terms have no other translation equivalent that adequately communicates their exact meaning.

    2.Traditional spellings of names and places found in most Bibles have been used to make the CSB compatible with most Bible study tools.

    3.Some editions of the CSB will print the words of Christ in red letters to help readers easily locate the spoken words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    4.Descriptive headings, printed above each section of Scripture, help readers quickly identify the contents of that section.

    5.OT passages quoted in the NT are indicated. In the CSB, they are set in boldface type.

    HOW THE NAMES OF GOD ARE TRANSLATED

    The Christian Standard Bible consistently translates the Hebrew names for God as follows:

    FOOTNOTES

    Footnotes are used to show readers how the original biblical language has been understood in the CSB.

    1.   Old Testament (OT) Textual Footnotes

    OT textual notes show important differences among Hebrew (Hb) manuscripts and ancient OT versions, such as the Septuagint and the Vulgate. See the list of abbreviations on page XXIII for a list of other ancient versions used.

    Some OT textual notes (like NT textual notes) give only an alternate textual reading. However, other OT textual notes also give the support for the reading chosen by the editors as well as for the alternate textual reading. For example, the CSB text of Psalm 12:7

    reads,

    You, LORD, will guard us;

    you will protect usA from this generation forever.

    The textual footnote for this verse reads,

    A 12:7 Some Hb mss, LXX; other Hb mss read him

    The textual note in this example means that there are two different readings found in the Hebrew manuscripts: some manuscripts read us and others read him. The CSB translators chose the reading us, which is also found in the Septuagint (LXX), and placed the other Hebrew reading him in the footnote.

    Two other kinds OT textual notes are

    Alt Hb tradition reads ____

    a variation given by scribes in the Hebrew manuscript tradition (known as Kethiv/Qere and Tiqqune Sopherim readings)

    Hb uncertain

    when it is unclear what the original Hebrew text was

    2.   New Testament (NT) Textual Footnotes

    NT textual notes indicate significant differences among Greek manuscripts (mss) and are normally indicated in one of three ways:

    Other mss read ______

    Other mss add ______

    Other mss omit ______

    In the NT, some textual footnotes that use the word add or omit also have square brackets before and after the corresponding verses in the biblical text. Examples of this use of square brackets are Mark 16:9-20

    and John 7:53

    –

    8:11

    .

    3.   Other Kinds of Footnotes

    Lit ____

    a more literal rendering in English of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek text

    Or ____

    an alternate or less likely English translation of the same Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek text

    = an abbreviation for it means or it is equivalent to

    Hb, Aramaic, Gk

    the actual Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek word is given using equivalent English letters

    Hb obscure

    the existing Hebrew text is especially difficult to translate

    emend(ed) to ____

    the original Hebrew text is so difficult to translate that competent scholars have conjectured or inferred a restoration of the original text based on the context, probable root meanings of the words, and uses in comparative languages

    In some editions of the CSB, additional footnotes clarify the meaning of certain biblical texts or explain biblical history, persons, customs, places, activities, and measurements. Cross references are given for parallel passages or passages with similar wording, and in the NT, for passages quoted from the OT.

    Abbreviations in CSB Study Bibles

    What Is Apologetics?

    by Kenneth D. Boa

    Apologetics may be simply defined as the defense of the Christian faith. The simplicity of this definition, however, masks the complexity of the problem of defining apologetics. It turns out that a diversity of approaches has been taken in defining the meaning, scope, and purpose of apologetics.

    The word apologetics derives from the Greek word apologia, which was originally used as a speech of defense. In ancient Athens it referred to a defense made in the courtroom as part of the normal judicial procedure. After the accusation, the defendant was allowed to refute the charges with a defense (apologia). The classic example of an apologia was Socrates’s defense against the charge of preaching strange gods, a defense retold by his most famous pupil, Plato, in a dialogue called The Apology.

    The word apologia appears 17 times in noun or verb form in the New Testament, and can be translated defense or vindication in every case. The idea of offering a reasoned defense of the faith is evident in Philippians 1:7

    ,16

    ; and especially 1 Peter 3:15

    , but no specific theory of apologetics is outlined in the New Testament.

    In the second century this general word for defense began taking on a narrower sense to refer to a group of writers who defended the beliefs and practices of Christianity against various attacks. These men were known as the apologists because of the titles of some of their treatises, but apparently not until 1794 was apologetics used to designate a specific theological discipline.

    It has become customary to use the term apology to refer to a specific effort or work in defense of the faith. An apology might be a written document, a speech, or even a film. Apologists develop their defenses of the Christian faith in relation to scientific, historical, philosophical, ethical, religious, theological, or cultural issues.

    We may distinguish four functions of apologetics, though not everyone agrees that apologetics involves all four. Such opinions notwithstanding, all four functions have historically been important in apologetics, and each has been championed by great Christian apologists throughout church history.

    The first function may be called vindication or proof, and involves marshaling philosophical arguments as well as scientific and historical evidences for the Christian faith. The goal of this function is to develop a positive case for Christianity as a belief system that should be accepted. Philosophically, this means drawing out the logical implications of the Christian worldview so that they can be clearly seen and contrasted with alternate worldviews.

    The second function is defense. This function is closest to the New Testament and early Christian use of the word apologia, defending Christianity against the plethora of attacks made against it in every generation by critics of varying belief systems. This function involves clarifying the Christian position in light of misunderstandings and misrepresentations; answering objections, criticisms, or questions from non-Christians; and in general clearing away any intellectual difficulties that nonbelievers claim stand in the way of their coming to faith.

    The third function is refutation of opposing beliefs. This function focuses on answering the arguments non-Christians give in support of their own beliefs. Most apologists agree that refutation cannot stand alone, since proving a non-Christian religion or philosophy to be false does not prove that Christianity is true. Nevertheless, it is an essential function of apologetics.

    The fourth function is persuasion. By this we do not mean merely convincing people that Christianity is true, but persuading them to apply its truth to their life. This function focuses on bringing non-Christians to the point of commitment. The apologist’s intent is not merely to win an intellectual argument, but to persuade people to commit their lives and eternal futures into the trust of the Son of God who died for them.

    How Apologetics Changed My Life!

    by Lee Strobel

    Author, The Case for Christ and The Case for the Real Jesus

    Skepticism is part of my DNA. That’s probably why I ended up combining the study of law and journalism to become the legal editor of The Chicago Tribune—a career in which I relentlessly pursued hard facts in my investigations. And that’s undoubtedly why I was later attracted to a thorough examination of the evidence—whether it proved to be positive or negative—as a way to probe the legitimacy of the Christian faith.

    A spiritual cynic, I became an atheist in high school. To me the mere concept of an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe was so absurd on the surface that it didn’t even warrant serious consideration. I believed that God didn’t create people, but that people created God out of their fear of death and their desire to live forever in a utopia they called heaven.

    I married an agnostic named Leslie. Several years later she came to me with the worst news I thought I could ever get: She had decided to become a follower of Jesus. My initial thought was that she was going to turn into an irrational holy roller who would waste all of her time serving the poor in a soup kitchen somewhere. Divorce, I figured, was inevitable.

    Then something amazing occurred. During the ensuing months, I began to see positive changes in her character, her values, and the way she related to me and to the children. The transformation was winsome and attractive. So one day when she invited me to go to church with her, I decided to comply.

    The pastor gave a talk called Basic Christianity in which he clearly spelled out the essentials of the faith. Did he shake me out of my atheism that day? No, not by a long shot. Still, I concluded that if what he was saying was true, it would have huge implications for my life.

    That’s when I decided to apply my experience as a journalist to investigating whether there is any credibility to Christianity or any other faith system. I resolved to keep an open mind and follow the evidence wherever it pointed—even if it took me to some uncomfortable conclusions. In a sense, I was checking out the biggest story of my career.

    At first, I thought my investigation would be short-lived. In my opinion, having faith meant you believed something even though you knew in your heart that it couldn’t be true. I anticipated that I would very quickly uncover facts that would devastate Christianity. Yet as I devoured books by atheists and Christians, interviewed scientists and theologians, and studied archaeology, ancient history, and world religions, I was stunned to find that Christianity’s factual foundation was a lot firmer than I had once believed.

    Much of my investigation focused on science, where more recent discoveries have only further cemented the conclusions that I drew in those studies. For instance, cosmologists now agree that the universe and time itself came into existence at some point in the finite past. The logic is inexorable: Whatever begins to exist has a cause, the universe began to exist, and therefore the universe has a cause. It makes sense that this cause must be immaterial, timeless, powerful, and intelligent.

    What’s more, physicists have discovered over the last 50 years that many of the laws and constants of the universe—such as the force of gravity and the cosmological constant—are finely tuned to an incomprehensible precision in order for life to exist. This exactitude is so incredible that it defies the explanation of mere chance.

    The existence of biological information in DNA also points toward a Creator. Each of our cells contains the precise assembly instructions for every protein out of which our bodies are made, all spelled out in a four-letter chemical alphabet. Nature can produce patterns, but whenever we see information—whether it’s in a book or a computer program—we know there’s intelligence behind it. Furthermore, scientists are finding complex biological machines on the cellular level that defy a Darwinian explanation and instead are better explained as the work of an Intelligent Designer.

    To my great astonishment, I became convinced by the evidence that science supports the belief in a Creator who looks suspiciously like the God of the Bible. Spurred on by my discoveries, I then turned my attention to history.

    I found that Jesus, and Jesus alone, fulfilled ancient messianic prophecies against all mathematical odds. I concluded that the New Testament is rooted in eyewitness testimony and that it passes the tests that historians routinely use to determine reliability. I learned that the Bible has been passed down through the ages with remarkable fidelity.

    However, the pivotal issue for me was the resurrection of Jesus. Anyone can claim to be the Son of God, as Jesus clearly did. The question was whether Jesus could back up that assertion by miraculously returning from the dead.

    One by one, the facts built a convincing and compelling case. Jesus’s death by crucifixion is as certain as anything in the ancient world. The accounts of his resurrection are too early to be the product of legendary development. Even the enemies of Jesus conceded that his tomb was empty on Easter morning. And the eyewitness encounters with the risen Jesus cannot be explained away as mere hallucinations or wishful thinking.

    All of this just scratches the surface of what I uncovered in my nearly two-year investigation. Frankly, I was completely surprised by the depth and breadth of the case for Christianity. And as someone trained in journalism and law, I felt I had no choice but to respond to the facts.

    So on November 8, 1981, I took a step of faith in the same direction that the evidence was pointing—which is utterly rational to do—and became a follower of Jesus. And just like the experience of my wife, over time my character, values, and priorities began to change—for the good.

    For me, apologetics proved to be the running point of my life and eternity. I’m thankful for the scholars who so passionately and effectively defend the truth of Christianity—and today my life’s goal is to do my part in helping others get answers to the questions that are blocking them in their spiritual journey toward Christ.

    Christ: The Fulfillment of Prophecy

    by D. James Kennedy

    Some time ago I had the opportunity to speak to a man who had no belief whatsoever in the Scriptures as any sort of divine revelation from God. He was a writer who was articulate and well-educated. While he was well-read, he was completely ignorant of any evidences for the truthfulness of the Christian faith and the Scriptures which reveal it. He said the Bible was simply a book written by men, just like any other book. I said, That’s very interesting. I would like to read some statements to you about someone and have you tell me, assuredly, without question, about whom I am reading.

    He agreed and I began to read:

    Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head (Ps 69:4

    ).

    The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his Anointed One (Ps 2:2

    ).

    Even my friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me (Ps 41:9

    ).

    Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zch 13:7

    ).

    Then I said to them, ‘If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver. ‘Throw it to the potter,’ the LORD said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the LORD, to the potter (Zch 11:12-13

    ).

    They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod (Mic 5:1

    ).

    I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting (Is 50:6

    ).

    They pierced my hands and my feet (Ps 22:16

    ).

    My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? (Ps 22:1

    ).

    Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: ‘He relies on the LORD; let him save him; let the LORD rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him’ (Ps 22:7-8

    ).

    Instead they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Ps 69:21

    ).

    I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me (Ps 22:14

    ).

    Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted (Is 53:4

    ).

    He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth (Is 53:7

    ).

    They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing (Ps 22:18

    ).

    He willingly submitted to death (Is 53:12

    ).

    He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels (Is 53:12

    ).

    You may not break any of its bones (Ex 12:46

    ).

    He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken (Ps 34:20

    ).

    They will look at me whom they pierced (Zch 12:10

    ).

    He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully (Is 53:9

    ).

    For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay (Ps 16:10

    ).

    You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious, so that the LORD God might dwell there (Ps 68:18

    ).

    This is the declaration of my LORD to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’ (Ps 110:1

    ).

    I said to him, About whom did I read?

    He replied, Well, you obviously read of the life and ministry and suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

    I said, Is there any question in your mind about that?

    He answered, No, that could refer to no one else.

    I replied, Well then, I would want you to understand that all of the Scriptures I just read to you are taken from the Old Testament, which was completed some four hundred years before Jesus was born. No critic, no atheist, no agnostic has ever once claimed that any one of those writings was written after his birth. In fact, they were translated from Hebrew into Greek in Alexandria some 150 years before he was born. If this is merely a book written by men, would you please explain to me how these words were written?

    He said, I haven’t the faintest idea. He was completely nonplussed. He had never heard those things before in his life. Indeed they cannot be explained by any purely humanistic presuppositions.

    It is noteworthy that in no other religious writings in the world do we find any specific predictive prophecies like we find in the Scripture. You will find no predictive prophecies whatsoever in the writings of Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Lao-Tse, or Hinduism. Yet in the Scripture there are well over two thousand prophecies, most of which have already been fulfilled.

    They are so specific in nature that they burn all the bridges behind them. If they are not fulfilled, it leaves no room for excuse. How can these be explained? Of all the attacks that have ever been made upon the Scripture, there has never been one book written by a skeptic to disprove the prophecies of the Scripture. Though the Bible has been attacked at every other place, the one place where God rests his inspiration is that the things he foretells come infallibly to pass.

    The Bible prophecies are altogether unexpected! I know of no one ever prophesying that any other human being would rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. That is exceedingly improbable. The chance of it happening by coincidence is incalculable. No, the Bible is not merely a book written by men; it is a book written by God through men, and the heart of its prophetic message is Jesus Christ.

    Writing History—Then and Now

    by Kirk Lowery

    Is the Bible history? Did the ancient biblical authors write history as we moderns understand it? These questions are essential elements of the debate about the trustworthiness and authority of the Bible. In recent years, the usefulness of the Bible for writing the history of the ancient Near East has come under attack as it has not been since the nineteenth century. And this attack is rooted in the intellectual winds of our time. Since the 1970s, people have been questioning whether science or history can tell us anything more than the ideology, politics, and biases of the scientist or historian, either individually or collectively. It is part of the so-called postmodern debate about the nature of knowledge. Many postmodernists assert that the meaning of any particular biblical text (or any other literary text, for that matter) cannot be separated from the worldview and ideology of the reader. They deny that the original intention of the author can be recovered.

    In order to evaluate the usefulness of the Bible for history and its trustworthiness as a source of both information and judgment on people and events, we must remember that there are two separate points of view—the ancient and the modern. Are we talking about modern ideas of history or ancient ones? Were the biblical writers attempting to write history as we understand it? If they were not attempting to write a modern history, just what were they trying to do?

    The word history is normally understood in two senses: (1) what actually happened in the past, or (2) the telling (or writing) about what happened in the past. The first sense is objective (although some deny even this); the second necessarily filters those events through the personality of the historian. While the modern historian begins with a chronology and facts, the historian’s evaluation hardly stops there. He reconstructs facts and events, fitting them together into a tapestry of telling a story. He evaluates his sources for their value and validity, much as a lawyer probes the credibility of a witness. Indeed, the historian is more like a prosecutor than a scientist in his method of work. After that examination, he makes conclusions about people and events, much like a judge or jury. The basic concern is that the Bible asserts certain facts or that certain events happened. Did they happen and in the way the Bible presents them? The Bible also makes judgments on people’s actions, attitudes and deeds. Can we trust its judgment on events we cannot access?

    Where did all this radical skepticism come from? There has always been skepticism about the Bible. Marcion (ca AD 85–160), for example, rejected just about all the New Testament except for Paul’s writings and a highly edited Gospel of Luke. But modern (and postmodern) views of the Bible are rooted in the period known as the Enlightenment in the seventeenth century. This was a time when thoughtful persons began to distinguish between knowledge and superstition by using empirical methods. They struggled against state church authorities in their pursuit of truth. They pursued the original texts of not only the Bible but of the classics of Greek and Roman philosophy and literature. Their struggle polarized them from not just the contemporary church authorities, but galvanized them to regard any religious text as suspect. The seventeenth century was a time dedicated to the discovery of what was true and of what was superstition or chicanery. In that respect, the skepticism was healthy. Because many chose the cloak of religious authority to pander their intellectual wares, skepticism was a very powerful defense against this abuse. And a healthy skepticism is still useful, for superstition (in pursuit of money or adherents) is still used today against the unwary—that is, against those who uncritically trust whatever they are told. And it is important to remember that not everyone at that time embraced the scientific method accompanied by radical unbelief. Many of these early scientists were trained clergy, most notably Isaac Newton.

    The modernist approach to writing history includes establishing events and a chronology, distinguishing between primary (original witness to the events) and secondary (dependent upon another) sources, and arranging those facts in some sort of a narrative. The modernist historian believes there is an objective reality in the past that can be accessed and known today. Critical scholars of the nineteenth century focused upon supposed contradictions and errors of fact to be found in the Bible. During the first half of the twentieth century, archaeological discoveries supported the presentation of fact found in many places of the Bible that previously had been challenged. At the end of World War II, scholars held the Bible to be much more trustworthy than they had believed at the beginning of the century.

    In the past 50 years, the focus has changed. Once preoccupied with contradictions in the Bible, and errors of fact, now the emphasis is upon how the reader responds to the message of the text. One’s understanding of the text is inevitably filtered through the previously existing biases of the reader. The original meaning of the text intended by the author is not accessible to the modern reader; indeed, Truth is not knowable. This brings us to the late 1980s and early 1990s when a new movement of historians arose to challenge the conclusions of their older colleagues; they have come to be known as the Minimalists.

    The controversy is all about historiography, the art of writing history. It is an art, not a science. One cannot repeat the facts of history in the same way that a scientist can reproduce the same events again and again in an experiment. But writing history is not simply telling a story. It is about the trustworthiness of the sources which one uses for telling that story. Are the sources that the historian uses to prove his point credible? The historian is much like the lawyer who constructs a tale about a crime (or lack of a crime), and uses witnesses and evidence to support his point of view and conclusion. And then it is the framework (often a story, but it could be a table of demographic facts) that relates all the events to one another. This involves selecting which facts will be included and which will be set aside as not relevant to the point being made.

    The Minimalists assert that the Israel as depicted in the Hebrew Bible never existed, except in the minds of the Persian and Hellenistic writers who created the patriarchal narratives and the stories of the monarchy out of whole cloth. They were novelists in the modern sense who wrote fiction. Unless there is independent verification by extra-biblical sources, they reject the Hebrew Bible’s usefulness as a witness to the events written about. The biblical text is held to a higher standard of verification than are extra-biblical sources.

    They believe that unwritten archaeological remains are more reliable than written documents, because they are real, whereas the message contained in documents is created by humans with ideologies, misperceptions, incomplete information, etc. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), an Enlightenment philosopher, said that reality—the thing in itself—cannot be truly known. The Minimalists explicitly cite Kant as one reason they rate the biblical text so low for knowledge of the past. However, while archaeological remains tell us what the material world was like and the context and constraints under which the people of the past lived, they cannot tell us what decisions people made or explain why people made the choices they did.

    They insist that any assertion by an ancient text must be verified by an independent source. But insistence on a strict verification principle would leave us in the dark about almost everything. In point of fact, no one lives this way. We constantly make decisions based upon insufficient verification and make the likely choice. Better is the principle of innocent until proven guilty, that a text is given the benefit of the doubt until and unless grounds for suspecting it are discovered.

    How does one answer the Minimalist? Let’s take the problem of the conquest of Canaan. Archaeological evidence is lacking for the Israelite conquest and occupation in the Iron Age. The Minimalists conclude it never happened, and certainly not as presented in the book of Joshua. Kenneth Kitchen, well-known and respected Egyptologist, is famous for his dictum: The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Also, the biblical text helps explain it: Joshua 24:13

    says, I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build, though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant. In other words, the Canaanite material culture—cities, farms, vineyards, and orchards—was not universally destroyed by the Israelites. Apparently, total destruction was the exception rather than the rule.

    How should we evaluate these ancient texts? We should allow the ancient writers to speak in the manner that they wish. We should try to understand the ancient writers before posing questions of them that is outside of both their intention and their worldview. We should translate the message of the ancients from the ancient context to the modern. Finally, we must embrace humility: We do not have all the data; we do not have complete or even certain understanding to answer all our questions. Let us make a virtue of necessity and take what the ancient writers give and be content with that.

    So what were the biblical writers doing, what did they expect to accomplish, and how ought the modern reader attempt to understand their literary output? The books of Kings and Chronicles, along with the other historical books of the Hebrew Bible, are not books written by modern historians for modern readers. Their literary nature is much different. For one thing, their purpose is didactic or polemic ; that is, the authors are attempting to convince their readers about moral and spiritual principles. Their stories are intended to support this purpose and their various propositions. Second, their commitment to truth does not aspire to modern standards of reporting. What they valued as important and unimportant does not translate easily to third millennium AD values. For example, the recording of genealogies strikes many modern readers as irrelevant to the story. But it was critical to how these ancient peoples conceived of their identity. Genealogies may have had the function of establishing chronology or the framework for the story being told. It establishes precedence, relationship, and identity.

    Allowance must be made for paraphrase, abbreviation, explanation, omission, rearrangement, and other techniques used by the ancient author that might offend modern principles of historiography. This is not to say that the ancients did not write history. To the contrary, they often show sensitivity to the events and corroborating witnesses to those events. But they also did not make a distinction between the writer’s judgment or evaluation of events and the events themselves. They did not have precision—or, at least, modern notions of precision—in mind when they wrote. That does not mean the authors were not trying to tell a story that corresponds to real events! In order to understand the ancient texts, one must mentally and emotionally become an ancient and enter into their world. The process is very similar to watching a film where one must grant the filmmaker the premise of the film and even suspend belief in how the world should work before the message of the filmmaker can be perceived. The difference with the ancient writers is that we have much more work to do before we can enter into their world. Only then have we earned the right to form an opinion.

    The ancient writer made choices: subject matter (events needing telling), point of view (theological purpose), and aesthetics (creative choices). These writers selected their material, glossed over less relevant events, simplified the story to meet space constraints and only included detail that illuminated the significance of the events as the writer understood them. This is true of modern professional historians as much as of ancient storytellers.

    How, then, should we understand the intentions of the biblical writers? The first historians (that we have evidence of) were the Sumerians, for whom history was a matter of personal experience, not the analysis of sources or principles of interpretation. Later, Mesopotamian rulers desired to interpret the present or future in light of the past. Events on earth are controlled by the gods; hence, their decrees have a prominent place in their myths and legends. Indeed, that may have been the cultural function of the myths and legends. The earliest historiographers in the modern sense of the word were Manetho (third century BC, Egypt) and Herodotus (Histories, ca 440 BC) and later, Aristotle (384–322 BC, Natural History of Animals). The biblical writers were something in between: The view of these ancient Hebrew writers is that history has a planned goal. History is not the result of forces or great men, but moves forward to an end planned by God. Their purpose in writing history was didactic: to teach the reader about how God acts in human affairs, what are his purposes and the consequences of obedience and disobedience to that purpose.

    Numbers in the Bible

    by Kirk Lowery

    The modern reader of the Bible—especially of the Old Testament—often finds its use of numbers strange. The ancient world did not use numbers for every aspect of life. Their technology did not require many places past the decimal point of precision, or even a decimal point at all. The Bible has been closely read and interpreted by many cultures through more than four millennia. So the modern reader reads these ancient texts through the lens of all this history of interpretation. How others in the past have interpreted the numbers of the Bible influences a reader’s understanding. How ought the numbers found in the Bible to be understood? They are to be understood in the same way that any other part of the text is understood: by how they are used and by keeping in mind both the textual context in which numbers occur and also the cultural context of how numbers were used by those ancient societies with which Israel lived and interacted.

    Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome used the decimal system for numbers. That is, numbers were expressed in base 10. (Number refers to the mathematical entity of quantity. Numeral refers to the symbol used to represent a number.) Sumerians and ancient Babylonians used the sexagesimal system, base 60, which is not unfamiliar to us since we use it every day—our system of timekeeping and navigation uses the sexagesimal system: 60 seconds to one minute, 60 minutes to one hour; 360 degrees to a circle subdivided into 60 minutes/degree and 60 seconds/minute. The ancient Israelites used the decimal system, as did their immediate neighbors in Canaan. For the most part, the major inscriptions of early Israel write out the numbers by words—ten rather than 10—as is also true of the Old Testament itself. There is no instance of symbols being used, but all numbers are written out as words. The earliest (ca 140 BC) use of the Hebrew alphabet for numerals is to be found on Maccabean coins.

    How did the biblical writers use numbers? They used them to count things and people. They used them for weights, measures, and time. They were familiar with arithmetic: addition (Gn 5:3-31

    ; Nm 1:20-46

    ), subtraction (Gn 18:26ff

    ), and multiplication (Lv 25:8

    ; Nm 3:46ff

    ). Arithmetic processes are not mentioned in the New Testament. The frequent use of fractions shows a basic understanding of division: half (Ex 24:6

    ); one fourth (Neh 9:3

    ; Rv 6:8

    ); one fifth (Gn 47:24

    ); a tenth (Nm 18:26

    ). Numbers are important in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. In summary, the biblical writers used numbers literally, rhetorically, and symbolically. They are never used mystically. Each use is addressed in turn below.

    When the Bible uses numbers in the ordinary way, do they mean what they apparently mean? Some interpreters suppose that since the biblical writers were pre-scientific, the numbers are not to be taken seriously. This supposition is flawed, however, for many non-scientific cultures record numbers that can be taken perfectly seriously (such as the astronomical observations of the Babylonians or the administrative records of the ancient Egyptians). The use of numbers is very culture-specific: Some languages have only the numbers one, two, many, because they do not need greater precision than that. Modern society is permeated with numbers for every conceivable aspect of life. The ancient world was not that way. The ancients did not give a unique number to their citizens, did not number their roads, etc. But regardless of the level of technological development, every society has to deal with numbers in a real way to function. For some, the system may be simple, for others, very complex. Ancient Israel was no exception: Tolls and taxes were recorded, censuses were taken.

    The biblical writers often used round numbers, a fact that should be noted in questions of reliability and trustworthiness of the biblical record. For example, we find a hundred (and 100) used as a round number (Gn 26:12

    ; Lv 26:8

    ; 2Sm 24:3

    ; Ec 8:12

    ; Mt 19:29

    ), as well as a thousand (Dt 1:11

    ; 7:9

    ). The word about often precedes rounded numbers: about 3,000 men (Ex 32:28

    ). On the other hand, numbers which could be interpreted as rounded numbers are often intended as actual amounts: 1,000 pieces of silver (Gn 20:16

    ). In general, one should assume a number is not rounded, unless there is reason to believe otherwise. Smaller numbers are less likely to be rounded than larger ones.

    Much ink has been spilled debating the meaning of large numbers in the Bible. There are the large, indefinite numbers, and these do not present an interpretive problem. The highest recorded numbers are one million (2Ch 14:9

    ), ten thousand times ten thousand (Dn 7:10

    ), thousands of thousands (Rv 5:11

    ), and 200 million (Rv 9:16

    ), the highest number recorded.

    The long life spans of the pre-flood patriarchs have been compared to the Sumerian king list, whose life spans are recorded in the tens of thousands of years. The Sumerian kings’ life spans have been called mythical, so why not the biblical patriarchs’ ages? After all, everyone knows humans rarely live beyond 100 years, never mind 500 or 1,000. The actual fact is that we don’t know. The Sumerian king list records life spans on an order of magnitude greater than the biblical names. If both reflect a tradition about antediluvian times, what they may both be saying is that those ancient people lived an extraordinarily long time. Some have suggested that environmental conditions could explain it; others suggest mankind’s closer proximity to its original sinless estate explains it. We just don’t know how to explain the apparently impossible life spans. What we have is a witness (the Bible) that has proved trustworthy too often to dismiss.

    The Bible records the number of men capable of bearing arms at the time of the exodus to be 603,550 (Nm 1:46

    ). From this, it has been calculated that the entire population leaving Egypt would be about two million. Could such a number survive in the wilderness? The answer is no. Neither could a hundredth of that many survive on their own. It required God’s provision because that part of the world would have been simply unable to support large numbers of nomads, especially without modern farming methods and technology. It required God to actively intervene in Israel’s physical history in order for them to leave Egypt and subsequently survive. That is the point of the Exodus narrative.

    There have been various attempts to reduce the real numbers of the exodus by understanding the Hebrew term for thousand (eleph) as captain or family, clan. There is evidence for this

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