The Museum of the Bible Educates and Intrigues

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As you may know, I’ve been in the Washington, D.C. area to cover the Malice Domestic mystery convention, so the day before it began, my aunt, Anne Gewe, and I braved the Washington Metro system to find our way to the Museum of the Bible, which has been open only since November 17, 2017. We began by taking a tour that introduced us to the museum, which we both heartily endorse as very valuable. The museum is so extensive that it would take days to cover everything properly, so this hour-long tour gave us a great overview of the museum and helped us to make an informed decision about which areas to delve into during the remainder of our stay. In addition, the tour guide was highly knowledgeable and told us many facts that would not have been readily available otherwise.

It is as hard to summarize this extensive museum in one short article as it is to cover everything in it in one short day. So first, as an overview, let me describe the analysis of the layout given by Anne. The fourth floor, which covered archeological discoveries and Bibles through the ages, was scientific in its approach to the Bible, laying out the basic facts of what information has been discovered about the Bible and its contents. The third floor was devoted to a spiritual experience of the Bible, focusing on humanity’s need for God and attempts to connect to him. Then, the second floor had more to do with the interpretation of the Bible in the cultures and beliefs of people both in America and around the world.

Museum of the BibleFirst, let me tell you about the delightful building belonging to this museum. The doorway of the building is flanked by two 40- foot brass reproductions of the print beds used by Johannes Gutenberg to print Genesis 1 on the first moveable type printing press. That press was so world- altering that the number of books in Europe jumped from 100,000 prior to its invention in 1454 to one million about 10 years later. Thus, it is fitting to see the plates on the front of the building. As you go inside the building, the entrance contains the text of Psalm 19 in 16 different languages in order to welcome people from all over the world. The tiles on the floor are dark in the front and grow lighter as you head towards the back of the building to represent how the Bible brings people from darkness into light. Let me also point out that this building has the most unique elevators I’ve encountered. They have beautiful images from Israel and play beautiful, gentle music.

We started our tour at the top and worked our way down, starting with the historical displays. Temple Mount stoneVisitors will really appreciate the one display they are allowed to touch, a large stone that was discovered on the Temple Mount and which was in place in Jerusalem as Jesus wept over the city.

The museum also spent a lot of time showing the history of writing, which was in existence at least since 3200 B.C., when people wrote down inventories on tablets. In fact, Thomas Hyde, who coined the term cuneiform, which is writing on tablets with wedge- shaped devices, didn’t think that it was actual writing but was only for decoration.

Epic of GilgameshBy 2200, someone in Mesopotamia got the idea to write down narrative and wrote The Epic of Gilgamesh in the Sumerian language, the first to be written down. The known text is on 12 tablets. The most famous tablet is the 11th, which contains its own version of the flood story that we read in Genesis. The Museum of the Bible has in its collection a copy from the second millennium B.C., which I found fascinating to see.

 

Nebuchadnezzar cylinderI also really was intrigued by a display of a brick and two cylinders made by Nebuchadnezzar (well, I’m sure it was his slaves who did the actual creation). The ruler of the Babylonian empire had the cylinders covered with writing about the amazing things that Nebuchadnezzar had done and embedded them in the construction work of Babylon. No one was ever to see the cylinders, as their purpose was for the gods to be able to see the ruler’s glories.

In addition to artifacts from biblical times, the museum contains many examples of Bibles created in different times. They had some really fascinating manuscripts that I loved seeing. They include the following list:

  • Illuminated manuscriptAn illuminated manuscript of The Hours and a psalter owned by Elizabeth de Bohun, great- grandmother of England’s King Henry V, created circa 1330-1340. Such manuscripts were hand- written and decorated with images personalized to each family. In addition, the images were made with real gold, making them extremely valuable.

 

  • A page from an actual Gutenberg Bible
  • A pair of King James Bibles in which Ruth 3:15 uses a different gendered pronoun, leading to their nicknames as the “He Bible” and “She Bible.” The confusion in gender arises from disparity in the original Hebrew manuscripts used in the translation of the Authorized Version.
  • The “Wicked Bible” that contains a typo which accidentally orders its readers, “Thou shalt commit adultery” instead of “Thou shalt not.”
  • Indian BibleThe Indian Bible, which was the first Bible printed in the New World, translated by John Eliot and John Sassamon into the Wôpanâak language of the Algonquien Indians and published in 1663. Sassamon was the first Native American to attend Harvard College and served as translator for King Philip of the Wampanoag Indians. Sassamon’s murder in 1675 led to King Philip’s War in which thousands, both native and colonist, died.

 

  • The Bible of the Revolution, the first complete English Bible printed in America. During the days of being a British colony, the Americans were not allowed to print Bibles in this country and were required to buy their Bibles from England. During the Revolutionary War, as Bibles became scarce, Robert Aitken offered to print Bibles in 1782, making these the only Bibles ever commissioned by Congress.
  • Woman's BibleThe Woman’s Bible, put out by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1895 in response to her observation of the Bibles then in existence: “I know no other books that so fully teach ther subjection and degradation of women.”

 

 

Gutenberg press

In addition to the Bibles, the museum contains a model of the press used by Gutenberg to print his Bible. I understand that often someone operates the press to demonstrate its use, though that person was not around when we visited that section.

 

 

The second floor is about the influence of the Bible on American and global history and culture. As someone who feels that Christians too often try to “Christianize” American history beyond the fully known facts, I was pleased to see that this exhibit offers basic facts and allows the patron to make her or his own judgment about how to interpret them.

George Whitfield podiumI enjoyed seeing a section on George Whitfield and his role in the Great Awakening. The museum contains a replica of a podium that the great and popular preacher would carry around from one preaching location to the next, so his audience could see him.

In addition to highlighting the early history of America, the museum displays many areas in American and global recent history and culture where the Bible has had an influence. I liked this quote about civil rights made in 1994 by Rosa Parks: “From my upbringing and the Bible I learned people should stand up for rights just as the children of Israel stood up to the Pharaoh.” Other areas covered include science, medicine, film, books, fashion, prison reform, law, and much more.

The third floor of the museum is dedicated to a more personal experience of the Bible. One of the most moving parts of the place is called The Hebrew Bible Experience, a multimedia presentation of major events in the Hebrew Bible that addresses the distance between God and humanity and how God has created bridges to reveal himself to individuals. I also found the film called The New Testament experience to be moving as well, though not as impressive as the Hebrew Bible Experience.

Slave BibleThe final exhibit I will detail here is their current special exhibit about the Slave Bible. Soon after bringing Africans to become their slaves in the New World, the white masters came to realize they could benefit from teaching their own version of Christianity, the one that emphasized that slaves must obey their masters (not realizing that in giving the slaves a choice whether or not to obey their masters, the Apostle Paul was actually assigning humanity and freedom to decide on their actions to slaves). Thus, in 1808, they printed up their own edited version of the Bible to give to the slaves. As a sign in the exhibit pointed out, “Of the total number of verses, the Slave Bible is missing approximately 90% of the Old Testament and 50% of the New Testament. Of the 1,189 chapters in a standard Protestant Bible, the Slave Bible contains only 232.”

The exhibit highlighted some of these missing verses, including the fact that it omitted the exodus from Egypt entirely, jumping from Genesis 45 to Exodus 19. Other verses excluded include the following:

  • Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
  • Exodus 21:16: “And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.”
  • Exodus 6:6: “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments”
  • Deuteronomy 23:15: “Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee”
  • Revelation 18:11, 13: “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more. . . and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.”
  • Jeremiah 22:13: “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.”

There were many more parts of the museum that I didn’t have time to explore, such as the section on the effort to translate the Bible into every language spoken in the world and another on the Vatican.

I really appreciated the way this museum presented the facts to us patrons and allowed us to draw our own conclusions from them. Because of this, it is not just for Christians to enjoy. Anyone can find this interesting and enjoy learning about the history and influence of the Bible, which is revered by the three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. I highly recommend this museum to everyone.

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