Quotes and the Bible

Ah, quotes.  They're short, they're sweet, and they're perfect for the digital age.  What better way to share some wisdom (and advertise your own) than by posting the brilliant aphorism of some legendary figure?

The problem with quotes is that they're inherently reductive.  They're taken out of context, and no matter how profound they can't help falling short of a cogent argument or a coherent idea.  

These limitations are most emphatically evident when analyzing our habit of repeating snippets of what must be the most quoted work of all time: the Bible.  The good book is perhaps the most influential work in the history of humanity, but it is also among the most complex.  It tells the story of a God who is kind and merciful, but who becomes enraged when King Saul fails, as ordered, to kill every living soul in a city he's smitten.  It provides insight and wisdom that is often profound but rarely entirely clear.  To properly understand it requires tireless analysis and a holistic approach.  It is particularly liable to be misunderstood when its phrases are wantonly quoted.  

And yet quote it we do, again and again.  We display its verses on buildings.  We tattoo them on our bodies.  We spread them about our political speeches.  All this is to the detriment of a true understanding. 

Take, for example, the Book of Proverbs, perhaps the most quotable section of all.  Proverbs 10:4 reads, "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich."  Taken out of context, this verse seems a straightforward promotion of attaining material wealth.  You can even imagine members of a certain American political party using it to push for lower taxes on the rich and cutting benefits to the "slack-handed" poor.  When this verse is read in context, however, "riches" takes on a whole new meaning.  Proverbs 8:18-19 reads, "Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.  My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver."  The "richness" attained by the diligent is not to be taken to mean material wealth, but could be better understood as the "durable riches" of wisdom.

This is not to say that quotes, even those from the Bible, are worthless.  It's just to remind us that context always matters.  

But hey, what do I know?  Having just read Proverbs 29:11 ("A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward"), I'm wondering if I should even be posting at all!

But then, maybe I need to go back and read that latest Proverb in context...

Happy Fourth of July.  The Black Hills belong to the Lakota.