Searching the “fine print” in Scripture

“Son, pay attention to the fine print.”  Those words still echo in my head.  They are what my late father used to impress upon me, especially when dealing with matters of importance.  And he was right…as usual.  I learned well that spending the time to read and understand what the fine print says, and doesn’t say, can save a bunch of trouble later on down the road.  I recall one of my pals learning the hard way about “balloon payments” back when we were young men.  And it was all there in the fine print if he had just taken the time to read it.    

Lately in my early morning and late evening studies I have been digging into what I call the “fine print” in Scripture—those little things said, sometimes intentionally left unsaid, contrasted, and hinted at—that never get taught in Sunday School.  These little pearls are often obscure to us in our fast-moving western culture.  But they illuminate the deeper meanings of Scripture—meanings missed and substituted with meanings based on our worldview rather than worldviews of Biblical writers.  Discovering these pearls gives deeper understanding, and many times a corrected understanding of the Bible.

That said, Jesus regularly used rabbinic techniques in his teaching, after all he was a rabbi.  One of those techniques would be to quote a portion of a distinctive phrase from Scripture (usually Torah) and then let the audience fill in the rest.  Unlike us, the stories and laws of Scripture were common knowledge among his hearers so they “got it” when Jesus would do that.  In the Israel of Jesus, Scripture and the law were the yardstick by which all of life was measured.  They were continually on peoples’ minds.

In Matthew 18:22 [NIV] we find a well known example of rabbinic teaching.  Peter asks, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me?  Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  Now I have been taught all my life that Jesus was telling Peter that the number of times he (and we) are to forgive others is infinite.  With that understanding I was missing Jesus’ punch line, but I am sure Peter did not.

The key to Jesus’ meaning is embedded in the Torah passage to which he alluded, Lamech’s song in Genesis 4:24.  The phrase “seventy-seven times,” an unusual biblical number, is found only there in the entire Bible.  Lamech is an obscure character we seldom give a thought to, but looking at his words, “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.  If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times,” it is plain to see he was one very bad dude.  Anyone who crossed Lamech would be paid back big time, not just seven times (the number representing completeness), but seventy-seven times.  He was a vengeful and merciless man.

It might be good to point out that Peter was also a volatile personality, known to be a passionate reactor in situations—rough and tumble as most commercial fishermen are. 

In Jesus’ response, he was making a scriptural reference that Peter (his hearer) understood.  So what did Peter understand?  What did Jesus want Peter to understand?  I am convinced he was conveying the idea, not of infinite forgiveness (which is a logical guess), but of forgiveness that exceeds the sins against him to the same degree as Lamech’s revenge exceeded the wrongs done to him.  Jesus was telling Peter that his forgiveness was to be passionate forgiveness, just as Lamech’s revenge was passionate.  And this is the meaning we ought to take away.

Now some of you are thinking “Gene, that is total blasphemy!  My preacher never said anything about that!  You don’t have a clue of what you’re talking about!”  All I can say is think about it.  If Jesus had meant an infinite number of times, he would have said so.  Or he would have pointed to a Scripture that indicates such.  But he didn’t, did he.  If you have one of those Bibles with the center column of small print references, check it out for yourself.  Look at Matthew 18, verse 22.  There you will find a microscopic letter giving reference to the center column…where it references none other than Genesis 4:24.  Jesus was pointing to Lamech’s exuberant vengeance as the contrast to what Peter was to do.

I have another example found in Matthew 13:33 where Jesus said “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”  But it is best saved for another time.  I am finding that some of my readers skip long blogs, and this one is already getting too long.  So until next time, try to look beyond the logical…and beyond your Sunday School quarterly.

Gene Pool