Curiosity and Queries

By: Olivia Knott

So, my father has recently purchased the Ethiopian Bible and this morning he showed me the Book of Jubilee. I will be the first to say that I was very skeptical of the verity of this book. I am used to the 66 books in the KJV Bible, and I figured that the Canon omitted certain books eons ago out of professional knowledge of heresy, but upon skimming  the first few chapters, I realized the 22 extra books only compliment the prominent 66. 

Each chapter explains, in depth, what we have already read in the Old Testament. It made me wonder why these 22 books were taken out. Anyway, before I really delve into that, I want to yap about how this curiosity about this book even got started.

My dad was just starting to get really close with God and he was very curious about things in the Bible. He found the Book of Genesis to be a bit confusing and he couldn’t really piece together all the holes. He told me he heard someone talk about the Ethiopian Bible a few months ago and how it has all 88 books, and so he thought to buy one for himself.

I can’t attest to my own bubbling curiosity about the Ethiopian Bible, but I can say that after my dad kept talking about it, it did make me wonder. It was just easier to assume that the Canon took it out because they thought it was best rather than to think that they took it out for a negative reason. It is really hard to imagine people even being able to take books out of the Bible, and it is really unfathomable to consider how some people around the world cannot even access a Bible.

I read a bit of the Ethiopian Bible and I have to say, I have no idea why any of the 22 books were taken out. Everything in the Ethiopian Bible just clarifies and explains what we have already read. I’m definitely not knocking the KJV Bible or any Bible with the 66 books. It’s the same book, they both talk about the same thing, they are both the Bible, it’s just that the Ethiopian Bible is literally so goated in helping you understand why God says what He says in the Bible. It provides more clarity.

Finally reading the Ethiopian Bible made me feel a bit of sadness though. Most people haven’t even read all 66 books in the Bible, but can you imagine there being 22 more that we don’t know about? It’s so trippy thinking that something was taken out of the Bible. Even recently, some translations are taking out certain verses in the Bible. It’s really concerning and I genuinely wonder why in the world God doesn’t do something about it.

God is huge, amazing, vast, and absolutely inconceivable yet eternally true. God has struck people down for even touching the ark of God (2 Samuel 6:7), how in the world are people taking entire books and verses out of the Bible? I know what the canon says, and I know what translators say: “we didn’t translate it correctly so we are taking it out,” or “this was heretical so we are removing it,” but at the end of the day, I just genuinely don’t believe that.

I am not a pessimist but I do heavily believe that you should be skeptical about everything you hear until you are sure of it yourself. I can tell you that I was very skeptical about the Ethiopian Bible until I kept hearing about it and read it for myself.

It sounds believable that they are taking entire verses and books out of the Bible because of an erred translation, but I’m sorry that just doesn’t make sense to me. It has been the word of God for forever, who is any man to say that it is now time to take it out?

I wonder what God thinks when He sees this. God knows that so many more people would believe if there was not such an overwhelming fogginess regarding His word. It can make it so hard to trust God’s word because how in the world do you know what it is when everyone keeps dissecting it and taking it apart? God knows that it would be the easiest thing in the world for the whole world to follow Him if He were to show His face in all His splendor and glory, and yet He humbly refrains.

God bewilders me but in the most awesome way. I think it is even cooler that God chooses to remain hidden in plain sight; He is evident in our breath, in our faces, in our hearts, in our tongues. Even the satanist and the atheist prove the existence of God. Every false prophet proves that God exists, because God said that all of these people would exist and deny His name. God is clear in everything. He is in the young Christian’s heart, He is in the heart of that random homeless man who always tells you “God bless you,” He is in the eyes of the blind man who sees more than any seeing person, and He is in the testimony of His children.

There will forever be a murkiness around God as long as we are on this earth. There will be some things that you don’t understand for a long time, and then there will come a day when it is revealed. God allows things because He is sovereign and He does as He pleases. I have to respect the fact that He knows all things and still is never afraid. He is confident that souls will still be saved, and He is certain that His children will be able to discern His face. I have to respect how calm He is about all the disorder and confusion around His word, and I have to praise Him for how He is still able to be so clear amidst all the murkiness.

All of this is to say, God is very good. Even though things can seem very murky, I remember a verse that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Also, I remember David’s joyful expectation in Heaven, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” If we stay the course and stay faithful in seeking the Lord’s face here on Earth, there will come a glorious day when we will finally have all our questions answered and we will fully understand.