by Daniel Mcclellan

Created on: April 24, 2008

In the professional world of biblical scholarship the idea of biblical inerrancy is rarely given a moment's consideration. In many religious communities, however, the concept is an article of faith, and is vehemently defended by its adherents. Battles rage continually. Each side sporadically accuses the other of intellectual dishonesty and cognitive dissonance. Dogmatism is regularly blamed for the inability of one side to objectively consider the merits of the other's argument. While the dichotomy will no doubt continue through the ages, a few short examples of the fundamental issues involved will prove instructive and may clarify some misunderstanding.

What exactly is meant by the word "inerrant"? For some it means absolutely no mistakes. The Bible is verbatim the word of God. Whatever inconsistencies or errors we may perceive arise only as a result of our own imperfect reading of the text and/or understanding of the world. This position is a rather absolute one, and is easily defended, as any manifestation of contradictions can be conveniently dismissed. For this position to be respected on an academic level, however, it must be able to provide explanations, and those explanations must be logical. Can this explain every alleged error in the Bible?

An example of a text with which absolute inerrantists must interact can be found in 1 Samuel 13:1. The text is translated into English in a number of different ways. The KJV reads, "Saul reigned one year." The NIV reads, "Saul was thirty years old when he became king." In the ESV we find the following: "Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign." In the Septuagint the verse is omitted entirely; 1 Samuel 13 begins with verse 2. The question of Saul's age when he began to reign may seem trivial to some, but if the argument is that there are no errors anywhere in the Bible, it is critical. The Hebrew of the verse is elementary. It reads, ben shanah s'aul b'malko. Literally translated, "Saul was one year old when he began to reign." Ben shanah means "son of a year," and it is a Hebrew idiom used to designate an animal or human in its first year of life. It is the phrase used in the instructions to sacrifice animals "of the first year." In Modern Hebrew, one gives their age with the formula "son/daughter of ___ years." Saul, however, was not an infant when he became king. The academic answer is that Saul's age, at some point, was accidentally omitted from a transcription. The error has since been perpetuated due

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