5 Weird Bible Verses That Mean More Than You Think

 

Reignite your sense of wonder and read the Bible with new eyes

Can I be honest for a minute?

The Bible has pretty weird stuff in it. The problem is, most people who read the Bible rarely recognize how unique some of its contents are. So the Bible grows stale.

I grew up hearing stories from the Bible, so in some ways I became desensitized to some of the stranger things inside. It’s unfortunate, but when you hear the same stories over and over, you can lose your sense of wonder. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way.

The thing I enjoy most about the Bible is learning to read it with fresh eyes. Doing so takes familiar stories you can recite in your sleep and gives them new vitality. One of the best ways to read the Bible with fresh eyes is learning about the language and culture.

Here are 5 weird Bible verses that will reignite your sense of wonder.

The one with the streaker

The first time I read the verse below, it made me laugh.

One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked. (Mark 14:51–52)

That’s right, this guy literally got scared out of his clothes.

This strange verse comes from the betrayal and arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. An armed mob arrested Jesus, and his closest followers all ran away. One person even runs away naked.

I have so many questions here.

First, why was this “young man” only wearing a linen shirt? For comparison, it’s like saying the guy was in a nightgown. Anyone out in public would have been wearing more than a long shirt, so this guy clearly wasn’t dressed for the occasion.

Some commentators think the man woke up in the middle of the night, possibly when the armed crowd passed by his house on their way to arrest Jesus. He rushed out wearing nothing but his night clothes to see what was happening. Sounds reasonable enough.

Second, who was this young man?

Again, nobody knows for sure because the text doesn’t say. It’s possible he worked in the Garden of Gethsemane, and came out to see what was happening on the grounds.

However, most commentators believe the young man was Mark himself, the writer of the Gospel. Mark was a friend of Jesus’ disciple, Peter, who was also there. He may have written himself into the story to show that he was no more brave than any of Jesus’ other followers. Past embarrassment doesn’t mean God can’t work through you.

The one where angels and humans make babies

If you’ve ever read in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, this verse might have caught your eye.

In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times. (Genesis 6:4, NLT)

Okay so, angels plus humans equals giants. Got it.

You can really go down a rabbit hole if you Google this verse, but let’s steer clear of conspiracy theories. As I understand it, the “giants” aren’t necessarily the overgrown humanoids most of us imagine. A clue to their identity is in the last part of the verse.

The offspring of these angels and women were “the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.”

The original language of Genesis was Hebrew, and the Hebrew word used for “giant” is gibbor. It means “Champions, heroes, warriors, mighty men.” Why does that matter?

It’s impossible to say for sure, but perhaps the result of angels and humans copulating was great warrior heroes, not unlike the heroes and demigods of other ancient cultures. Their stature as giants was more about their great deeds than their physical size.

Of course, someone will point out that in Numbers 13, the Hebrews feared the descendants of Anak who “Come from the Nephilim,” living in Canaan. The Hebrews claimed they were small as grasshoppers compared to them and refused to go into the Promised Land. But since the Hebrews were supposed to “take over” Canaan in war, it’s reasonable they were comparing their ability to wage war against these great, experienced warriors.

Or maybe they were giants. Who knows? That’s what makes reading the Bible fun!

Regardless, the writer of Genesis wants us to know that God is more powerful than even the ancient heroes. God will prove it in the next verse, which begins the story of Noah.

The one with the cannibals

Yes, that’s cannibals–as in flesh-eaters. It’s a familiar verse to most Christians.

So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.” (John 6:53)

Um — excuse me?

Christians today accept this as part of Jesus’ explanation for Holy Communion, the practice of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) to remember the life and work of Jesus. But that isn’t clear from this verse alone.

Some even accused early Christians of cannibalism. But every religion has practices that outsiders can’t understand. And it’s unlikely the idea of eating a god’s body was new.

In the Ancient Near East, some religions practiced eating and drinking the body and blood of a god. People believed it gave them the powers of a god.

For example, take the Greek celebration of Dionysus. It was a fertility ritual where participants drank wine. They believed the wine was Dionysus’ blood and perhaps it helped with fertility.

However, the Christian Eucharist or Holy Communion isn’t about taking on the “powers” of Jesus. The bread and wine used represent — or become, for Catholics — the body and blood of Jesus, sacrificed on the Cross to save the world. It is an act of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice.

The one where they cut a deal

The entire biblical narrative revolves around a covenant. That doesn’t mean much to us in the Twenty-First Century because we don’t have covenants anymore, not like in the Bible, at least.

Today, we make deals, we sign contracts, or enter a legal agreement certified by a notary public. A biblical covenant is all those things together and then some.

One of the most important covenants in the Bible is God’s covenant with Abram (later Abraham). God made a covenant and promised Abram he will be the founding father of Israel. Here’s how it went down:

The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side… After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. (Genesis 15:9–10, 17, NLT)

Okay, I cheated a little with this one and threw in an extra verse or two. But I want you to see what’s happening here–chopped up animals and smoking firepots.

Before the days of written contracts, promises between two parties needed to make sure each side held up the deal. When people made a covenant in the Bible, they’d cut sacrificial animals in half and arrange them in an aisle. It may sound grizzly, but it makes sense.

In this type of covenant, each party would walk between the cut halves and swear to uphold their part of the covenant, or face the same fate as the sacrificed animals. Not a bad incentive.

In God’s covenant with Abram, God appears as a “smoking firepot” and walks down the aisle. God “covenants” with Abram to make him the founding father of a nation. But God does not ask Abram to walk down the bloody aisle. Abram is under no obligation to uphold his end of the covenant.

God wants Abram to know God is trustworthy. Even if Abram fails (and he does), God swears to uphold God’s promises.

The one with the weaklings

English-speaking readers of the Bible can’t understand all the choices a translator has to make when translating the original Hebrew or Greek text.

Words in Greek and Hebrew can have multiple meanings in the same context, and translators can only choose one. So, when you read a translation of the Bible, you don’t get all the rich layers of meaning some Bible verses hold. Let me give you a great example.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5, NRSV)

This verse comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, one of the most popular sections in the Bible. He suggests that, in God’s Kingdom, the gentle and submissive will rule the world. There’s some good theological truth to that, but it doesn’t cover everything.

The Greek word for “meek” is one of those with many possible meanings. It can mean “gentle,” but another translation could be, “Blessed are those who know how to control their strength.”

In short, the meekness Jesus blesses means showing power without unnecessary harshness.

Expressing power through manipulation and control is not the way of Jesus. Let that sink in.

This is why weird verses are the best

I enjoy finding ways to read the Bible with fresh eyes. Sometimes you can see things one way for so long, you can lose your sense of wonder. It’s difficult to look at it from a different angle. When you do, it can change your faith.

The ability to read the Bible from different perspectives is how you grow in your faith. Reading the Bible with fresh eyes can breathe life into faith that has grown too stale and routine