Things I Wish Were in the Bible…

I wish the Bible told us where Cain got his wife. Was it his sister (Eww)? I also wish the Bible explained why people back in the days of Genesis lived so long.  

When the midwives lie to Pharoah about why they are not killing the Hebrew babies, I wish the Bible would stop and explain if it is okay to not tell the truth sometimes. Further on in Exodus, there is a short, odd story about God meeting Moses with plans to kill him. Only after Zipporah, his wife, circumcises their two sons does God relent. What is that story all about? I wish there was an explanation.

When the elders of Israel share a meal on Mount Sinai and see the feet of God, I wish I knew what it looked like. And I wonder why we are given such exact specifications about the building of the Tabernacle. They can be tedious to read.

In Leviticus, why is so much attention given to mildew in the house? Or, for that matter, why all the instructions about skin diseases? I get that God is concerned about details, but why these details?

We are told in Joshua God commanded whole cities to be destroyed and everyone living in them. I wish God had spelled out in greater detail why the children had to die. That bothers me. In Ruth, when Ruth uncovers Boaz’s feet, does she stop at his ankles or uncover more? And what happened after he woke up (from the breeze?) and told her to spend the night under his blanket?

God, knowing everything, knew Saul would be a disaster of a king. Why did God let Saul become king instead of waiting for David? Why was David such a failure as a dad? And why did he put up with a blood-thirsty general like Joab? 

How could Solomon be so smart and be so dumb as to think he could handle 900 women? Why did the kings of Israel and Judah keep repeating the same mistakes over and over? 

Why didn’t God let Job know all his troubles were a result of a conversation between him and Satan? What did Job’s friends say when God told them they had not spoken rightly of him and Job must offer a sacrifice for their sins? Was Job’s wife (who told him to hurry up, curse God, and die) the mother of his second batch of children?

Exactly what kind of fish swallowed Jonah? And how did he breathe inside the fish? And did he ever decide God was right to be merciful to Nineveh?

How did Joseph deal with all the gossip through the years about Jesus’ real dad? What happened to the wise men’s gifts? Was Jesus easy to potty train? Did he ever have an ear infection? Did he have to learn to read Hebrew, or did it come naturally?

What kind of carpenter was Jesus? What did he build? Did he speak at Joseph’s funeral? How did he break it to Mary that he was going to leave home and become a traveling Rabbi? How many of his twelve disciples had he met before he began his ministry?

When Jesus bedded down at night, did he snore? What did it feel like for him to walk on water? Did he feel a thrill every time he healed someone? Did anyone ever fall asleep during one of his sermons?

How did Jesus feel in the garden when he sweated drops of blood? How did it feel when Judas betrayed him? How did he keep his cool when the chief priests and Pilate questioned him? When did the weight of the sins of the world begin to descend on his soul?

What exactly was he doing from the time of his death to the time of his resurrection? What did it mean for him to go into hell and preach there? 

What did the resurrection feel like? What was his tone of voice when he told Thomas, “Put your finger in my hand and your hand on my side?”  When he cooked breakfast for Peter and the others beside the Sea of Galilee, how did it taste?

What was it like to have the Holy Spirit descend like tongues of fire at Pentecost? How did speaking in foreign languages sound to the people speaking? How did they baptize 3,000 people in one day? Did someone get all the names?

How did Paul start conversations about Jesus when he went to a new town and worked in the marketplace? What was Paul’s “thorn in the flesh?”  When he wrote a letter to a church, did they know immediately that it was inspired, or did it take time? 

Is everything in Revelation literal, or is some of it figurative? How do you know the difference? When we stand before Jesus, and everything about our lives is revealed, will other people be able to hear and know what we did?

My belief is God tells us what he wants us to know in the Bible. There are some things that are a mystery, and apparently, God is okay with that. I do not know if all my questions will be answered in heaven, but if I go back to the book of Job when God appears, he asks Job a bunch of questions Job cannot answer. God is sending Job a message that what is most important is not knowing the answers but knowing him. 

If there is something in Bible you wish were clearer, or you wish God would answer, I understand. Not every question we have will be answered. Knowing the One who has the answers is what really matters.