Not everything in the Bible is true! “What?!! Blasphemy!!” This was literally the conversation I had with my wife yesterday. Yes, I am a pastor. Yes, I HIGHLY regard the Word of God. So how can I say, “Not everything in the Bible is true”? It’s actually not as shocking as it sounds. However, I do say it to grab your attention. Why? Because it often gives me a slight twitch when verses are quoted out of context, or worse, used to manipulate what God teaches in the Bible. Now I don’t want to come down too hard on misquoters! The reality is that I have and in my ignorance still do my fair share of misquoting. (Just as I point it out for others, please help me get better by pointing it out when you see me misquote!

Back to the case in point. The conversation with my wife began when she quoted Eccelsaties. She stated, “Well, like the Bible says, ‘There is nothing new under the sun.'” As mentioned, I balked at the untruth of that statement. Is that statement in the Bible? Most definitely. Furthermore, it was most likely written by the wisest man (outside of Jesus) to have ever lived, King Solomon.

In the very jaded book of Ecclesiastes, “The Teacher” (probably Solomon) laments how pointless and meaningless so much of life on earth seems to be. In his deep pathos and hyperbole, he makes quite a few untrue statements, yet many have been taken and wielded as weapons that paint a worldview picture that is in stark contrast to the reality that God has revealed in the concert of the Biblical text. Wait, wait. Before you write me off and dismiss yourself due to the hives that are starting to form or excuse yourself due to your rising anger, the truth behind what I am saying is far more simple and straightforward than you can imagine, especially in passages like those in Eccelsaites. Take a look at the following picture of two passages and tell me the chief difference between them:

Did you catch it? Look at the structure. Ecclesiastes 2 is poetry! It’s as plain as the structure. Matthew 2 is narrative. This should always be your first indication of how you should seek to understand a passage. Poetry, more often than not in Scriptures…maybe even in real life…is a form of prayer. It is a means of communicating to God, or whoever will listen, what you are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. In a word, poetry is raw!

Poetry in the Bible is an excellent example of the freedom with which we should come before God. Although God already knows what we are thinking and feeling it does us great good to spew it all out before Him! Anyone who goes to counseling or has a spouse they can share everything with (my wife is both!) knows how cathartic and even enlightening it can be to spill your guts. Nevertheless, often, even in the Bible, the stream of consciousness that is let out in a burst of passion is in no way a reflection of the mind and character of God. The lesson of poetry is in our freedom to tell God “what for” not that what is being said is necessarily a reflection of the divine.

So in the first chapter of Eccelsasites when Solomon says: “Everything is futile.” He doesn’t actually mean it or he wouldn’t have taken the time to write a book about it! (As you see when you get to the end of Eccelsasities!). When he says, “There is no remembrance of those who came before,” he surely knew or at least had an idea that many generations would be reading his words. 3000 years later we are still talking about him! If that’s not remembrance, what is?! When he says, “There is nothing new under the sun,” did he ever fly in a jet or watch a TV or imagine such a thing would ever be? Doubtful.

What’s the takeaway? First, not everything in the Bible is true and most people in the Bible aren’t good role models! The Bible is raw and real and this is one of the things that makes it so unique. The Bible is a snapshot of God stepping into the messiness that is humanity and providing a way in and through our muck. For that reason, some of the things said by the real people in the Good Book are simply reflections of the human heart and not of God. This is why we have to “rightly divide (correctly handle) the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The Bible is a big book! It’s easy to take things out of context and make it say things it doesn’t say!

Want more proof that there ARE many new things under the sun? Check out this sermon by Erwin McManus of Mosaic, Los Angeles. Or, read his book on the same topic: Chasing Daylight (This is an Amazon Associate Affiliate link).