What We Don't Know About God and People in the Bible

by Israel Drazin

The December 13, 2021 edition of The New Yorker has an article about the famed actress Greta Garbo called “The Retiring Sort” by Margaret Talbot. She reveals that the film director of the 1933 film Queen Christina told Garbo that she must “make her mind and heart a complete blank, empty her face of expression, so that the audience could impose whatever emotion they wanted on it.” The audience would decide for themselves what her reaction was to the murder of her lover. The Bible is similar. We need to understand that the Bible is obscure, think about what we are reading, decide how we want to interpret events and what people and God are doing, and learn from our thoughts. In the philosopher Plato’s book Apology, he tells us that his teacher, the great philosopher Socrates, was considered the wisest man because only he admitted being ignorant rather than pretending he knew something when he did not. As a result, Socrates asked questions, just as we should. Pointing out the obscurities in scripture should not be understood as being critical. It emphasizes that the Bible is prompting us to think Dr. Israel Drazin offers readers comprehensive, eye-opening, easy-to-read revelations that show that the Bible purposely avoids presenting clear descriptions of the thinking and behaviors of God and biblical people. Ambiguities and obscurities are present in virtually every situation and allow readers to imagine their own details. The narratives become like fascinating parables designed to attract readers using the startling unclear details that prompt thought about why the biblical character acted thus, and learn from their interpretations of these thoughts and acts how to behave. Dr. Drazin emphasizes that proper understanding can only be attained by asking questions and shows that contrary to what many think, the Hebrew Bible offers almost nothing about God, what God did, and what the founding patriarchs thought and did. With this understanding, readers will not be surprised that ancient and modern Bible commentators, religious and non-religious, have different interpretations of the Torah.

130 pages, Hardcover

Published July 18, 2023

About the author

Brigadier General (Ret.) Dr. Israel Drazin, Ph.D. (Aramaic Literature, 1981; M.A., Hebrew Literature, 1978; J.D., Law, 1974; M.Ed., Psychology, 1966; B.A., Theology, 1957), in an ordained rabbi, practicing lawyer, and retired U.S. Army chaplain. A recipient of the Legion of Merit, he completed his service in the active reserves in 1984 as Assistant Chief of Chaplains, the highest reserve officer position available in the Army Chaplaincy.

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scripture And Textual Obscurity

Over the past few weeks, I have had discussions with several friends and groups about what seems to me to be textual obscurity in the Bible. In some contexts, people may take offense with such discussions. With textual obscurity on my mind, I was fortunate to read this new book by Rabbi Israel Drazin, "What We Don't Know about God and People in the Bible" (2023) which discusses ambiguities in the Book of Genesis and elsewhere in an informed, provocative way that will be accessible to lay readers. This book also proved a valuable way for me to reflect upon the upcoming Jewish High Holy Days. An Orthodox rabbi and a lawyer, Drazin is a prolific writer on the Bible and on Jewish philosophy. I have read and learned from his books over the years, and he kindly sent me a review copy of this new book.

In his book, Drazin argues that Biblical narratives are frequently obscure and unclear and briefly describes about 400 examples from Genesis. He argues that the Biblical authors were frequently obscure because their goal was to encourage readers to think for themselves about the lessons to be drawn from the narratives. He compares the Biblical approach to that of Socrates in Plato's "Apology" who taught that the beginning of wisdom was being aware of what one didn't know.

Drazin makes an important point about reading the Bible as literature which requires the reader to struggle with the meaning of the text. His discussion of the nature of obscurity could also have emphasized more the ancient nature of the texts, their composition over long periods of time by many hands and, in particular, the nature and difficulty of Biblical Hebrew. He raises some of these issues in the course of his study; and they enhance his point about Scriptural ambiguity without relying solely on intentionality.

The book is in two parts. In the first and longer part, Drazin walks the reader through the Book of Genesis. He examines the various terms for God and argues that they are not names and tell the reader little about God. He takes the reader quickly through the characters and events of Genesis, some well-known, some less so. He doesn't discuss the narratives in detail but instead asks many questions about the stories as recounted in the Bible and about the details that are left out. The reader is left to think through the stories. Some of this approach is similar to that of Bible study groups that I have participated in over the years. But Drazin's book encourages more independence of thought than is usual for these groups. He leaves the reader free to think about the questions he raises, but he offers as a guide the thought of Maimonides. He reads Maimonides as saying that God created the world and the laws of nature but that God does not interfere with the laws of nature or with human affairs. One must study the laws of nature, particularly those of physics. So too, when the Biblical narrative describes God as acting or as feeling, the reader must look for other understandings of the events described, including physical laws or human action.

It is bracing to read this short book. The reader is left free to think through the Biblical accounts and stories. In some cases, I thought about the ancient nature of the texts, the ambiguities, deliberate or not, and the need to think about the texts and move on. The goal, for Drazin, is to think about the nature of leading a good, ethical human life and to understand, to the extent one is able science and the laws of nature.

The second and much shorter part of the book builds upon the first part. Drazin discusses the fundamental importance of ethical life to Judaism, finding it of much more importance than the specific laws set forth in the Bible and its commentaries. In contemporary Judaism, there is a practice among some people of "returning" to the "texts" and devoting themselves with a considerable degree of fervor and intellect to traditionalism and to study and interpretation of the Scripture and its many commentaries. Drazin, I think, is properly skeptical. I think he sees the goal of Scripture as in encouraging the reader and the practicing Jewish person to ethics and to a form of growth and universalism. In other words, the reader must both learn from the Bible and free himself or herself from it. As Drazin observes, the Bible doesn't show any of its characters as engaged in a life of textual study and interpretation. People must learn to live ethically in the world for themselves.

Drazin's book is written accessibly but, as he suggests, it may not be for every reader. It requires an interest in and a certain openness to religious and philosophical questions and a degree of independence of mind. Perhaps that is why, discussions of textual obscurity in the Bible can provoke offense, as mentioned at the outset of this review.

Robin Friedman

[Kristjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short and extremely interesting book that basically asks questions about scripture (specifically the Book of Genesis) and tradition to which we don’t have any specific answer (and may only speculate and/or presume). There are a few sections where the author provides some context, such as the etymology of some of the words substituted for the name God; however, the majority was simply questions without much exposition. An example from Chapter 2: “If the two trees were dangerous, why did God place then in the garden?” This continues for 22 chapters over nearly 100 pages (so the chapters are obviously very short). For the most part, I found the questions to be good and very thought provoking … and therein lies the primary appeal to this book … many religious communities force conformity to the point that questions are not tolerated; this book not only gives us permission to have questions, but it is also okay to be unable to answer them (or by extension tolerate the diversity of speculations born out of our own imaginations). It was a fun book and highly recommended.

Part One - Over 400 Examples of Obscurities in the Biblical Book Genesis
1. God’s Name
2. God’s Behavior
3. Adam and Eve
4. Cain and Abel
5. A Descendent of Cain
6. Abraham
7. Sarah
8. Visitors
9. The Description of Many Cites
10. New Focus on Abraham
11. Abraham’s Nephew
12. Isaac
13. Rebekah
14. Jacob
15. Patriarchs’ Religious Practices
16. Dinah
17. Judah
18. Rachel
19. Joseph
20. Biblical Chapters

Part Two - Mistaken Idea about Jewish Ethics and Behavior
21. Ethics over Law
22. Way to Worship God


I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#WhatWeDontKnowAboutGod #LibraryThing

[Hal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interest in the title of book did not hold for me as I saw it as and endless series of questions about what many see as the mystery of the Bible. So much has been placed on the this the most important book and open to endless analysis and explanation, certainly in a right and wrong way. But who is to judge. Some of this is reflected in the theme of the book. Simply there is so much we do not know behind what the Bible is, what it all means, and the whys that are largely left unanswered.

Though it was educational and thought provoking at times. I found myself wanting more explanation as to more in the way of possible answers to the many questions raised. This was not there only wonder as to what this meant or why was this not clear. That is much of the Bible and the mystery endures. Many opinions are derived but driven often by individualized motive. That is the real challenge and this book adds something but not to me in a signifcant way.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of “What We Don't Know About God and People in the Bible (Genesis)” by Israel Drazin.

Much like the other books, there are lots of questions and comments aligned in a bullet point format which I suspect would be very helpful when trying to obtain ideas for a d’var Torah or Torah study.

Unlike the other books in this series, almost every one discussion was about Genesis. (I read the series out of order) Of course there were several points of errors or typos, though this could be because I was sent an ARC. A great grandfather is not 7 generations. Typo kidnaping rather than kidnapping. Discussion about converts again, yet in another book he claims there is no conversion in the Torah. This is inconsistent. He also had a lot of first person. And some things are known which he claims is not know, like how old Isaac was when he was nearly sacrificed (37).