The men who left in their own worst moments

Sixteen weeks of this slot have gathered what the writers said about their work. This week takes a different measure: what they left in.

Start with Moses, who wrote the Pentateuch and is its central human figure. The books he is credited with record that he murdered a man and hid the body, argued with God at the bush until God became angry, and struck a rock he had been told to speak to — and lost the land for it.

That is a leader publishing the reason he was disqualified, in the national archive, under his own name.

And it is not an isolated case.

The Gospels record the disciples arguing about which of them was greatest — twice, and once at the last supper. They record the twelve failing to understand parable after parable, sleeping in Gethsemane, and running.

Mark, which early tradition connects with Peter’s preaching, gives the fullest and least flattering account of Peter’s denial.

Cursing and swearing. In the Gospel most closely associated with the man himself.

Not was. Of whom I am the worst.

Now weigh what that pattern means for the document as a whole.

National literature in the ancient world was written to glorify. Kings recorded victories and left out defeats; Egyptian and Assyrian annals are famous for it. Israel’s Scriptures record a nation’s idolatry, a king’s adultery and murder, a high priest’s corrupt sons, the failure of the conquest, and the exile — and preserve the prophets who said it was deserved.

This is not proof of inspiration; a book can be honest and human. But it is evidence about what kind of book it is, and about the men who kept it.

They were not curating a reputation. Whatever they thought they were doing, it was not that — and the simplest explanation is the one they gave: the words were not theirs to edit.

The pattern extends to whole books. Judges ends with two of the ugliest chapters in Scripture and the refrain that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Lamentations is five poems about a defeat. And the Psalter, the worship book, contains psalms of complaint against God Himself, kept in the hymnal and sung.

Which also explains a smaller thing readers notice and worry about. The Bible is full of people behaving badly with no comment attached. It records without approving, and it trusts the reader with the difference.

The argument from embarrassing detail is a recognized historical criterion, and it should be used carefully rather than triumphantly. It suggests that a writer had reasons other than self-interest for including material; it does not by itself establish inspiration, and honest apologetics distinguishes the two.

The women at the tomb are the standard example in the Gospels. In a setting where a woman’s testimony carried less weight in court, all four Gospels make women the first witnesses of the resurrection. A story constructed for persuasion would not have been built that way.

Chronicles is sometimes offered as a counter-example, since it omits David’s adultery. The omission is real and editorial — but the account is preserved in full in Samuel, which the chronicler assumes his readers know, and which was kept in the same Scriptures.

Numbers 20 gives the incident and Deuteronomy 3:23–27 gives Moses’ own account of asking to be let across and being refused: that is enough; do not speak to Me again about this matter. The refusal is recorded in a book of his own farewell speeches.

Deuteronomy 9:6–7 states the principle bluntly to the nation about to enter the land: understand that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD is giving you this good land, for you are a stiff-necked people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked Him in the wilderness.

Look it upH4784 מָרָה marah, to rebel, be disobedient · H539 אָמַן aman, to believe, trust · G332 ἀναθεματίζω anathematizo, to curse, invoke a curse · G4413 πρῶτος protos, first, foremost

Then read John 21:15–19, where the man who denied three times is asked three times whether he loves Him, and is given the flock. The Gospels record the failure and the restoration in the same collection.

Where this touchesNumbers 20:1–13 · Deuteronomy 3:23–27 · Mark 14:66–72 · John 21:15–19 · 1 Timothy 1:12–16 · 2 Samuel 11–12 · Luke 24:9–11. Jeremiah, Luke, John, Revelation, Peter, Moses, Paul, the prophets, the Proverbs collectors, Peter on Paul, the chronicler, the Song of Moses, the Jerusalem council, the psalm headings, Luke’s second preface, and Peter and Jude gave the earlier accounts.