3:16-17).Īccording to a recent Gallup Poll, 58% of those who identify as Christians believe the Bible is inspired by God, but not everything in it is to be taken literally. It records the history of God’s interaction with humanity, and it claims to be inspired by God and useful for life as a follower of Jesus ( 2 Tim. The Bible contains a variety of literary genres including history, narrative, and poetry. The Bible is a collection of writings produced over a long period of time by a variety of authors. The truthfulness and accuracy of the Scripture are certainly related to its literalness and are very important, but they are outside the scope of this article. This article is focused on the literalness of the Scriptural accounts rather than the truthfulness or accuracy of the accounts. So, this verse is literal, it may or may not be true (I accept that it is), and it is likely not accurate. When you look at the numbers for each tribe, they seem, with one exception, to be rounded to the nearest 100. Is it true? Many will debate the truth of this census, questioning how such a large number of people could have survived so long in the wilderness wandering. Is this verse literal? I believe it does mean exactly what it says – that 46,500 men over 20 years old from the tribe of Reuben were counted in the census. In Numbers 1:21 we see that “The number from the tribe of Reuben was 46,500.” And similar numbers are given for each of the other tribes.
In the first chapter of Numbers, a census was taken of all the men over 20 years old who came out of Egypt, tribe by tribe. This word means “correct in all details exact.” This may sound like it has the same meaning as “true,” but there is a difference.Īn example will help to illustrate the difference in these words.
This word is defined as “in accordance with fact or reality.” A true account is one that aligns with how things actually are. The words you are reading are understood in their most basic sense.Ī second word is true. But these words have distinct meanings and I believe it will be helpful to define them before proceeding.Īccording to the Oxford Languages dictionary, the word literal means, “taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory.” Essentially, if you read something that is literal, it means just what it is saying you do not have to search for hidden meanings or interpret figures of speech. There are three words that we often use somewhat interchangeably regarding the Bible.
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