Life Isn't Black and White

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

The Bible isn't a black and white history. I believe there is ethnic diversity in the Bible. And I do believe the Bible is a record of God's guidance to people who God counseled for many millennia, whether the people listened or not.

I believe God gave prophets of the Bible some important impressions, both of how life began (a thousand, times thousand, times thousand, times thousand, times thousand-plus years being as a "day" to our heavenly Father), and of how life eternal will one day manifest.

And the Bible's countless impressions aren't only broad images of the landscape of life over time. The Bible includes vivid and impressionistic paintings of the first people who God gave a written record.

Israel, in the written record, was a people set free from bondage to other peoples, time and again. At that time, they had not traveled to Europe or to other cold, less sunny northerly places. And, in all likelihood, there were African peoples in their midst here and there, as Israel did participate in trade (think Solomon's empire), and as Israel likely did inter-marry, whether captive in Babylon, or in Egypt with many African peoples.

lsrael, in fact, remained neighbors for many years with people of Esau's multiracial heritage: people with skin like ruby grapes, and rich purple grapes, people the Greeks referred to as Idumea.

And my own feelings about the Lord Himself, in flesh, are that He had to have had at least a little of a far eastern root, as Israel's kings included a failed king name Asa, and as men from the far east traveled months and months to see Jesus as a baby or young child.

In fact, Egypt, where Joseph and Mary fled to save their child's life, was an intercountry crossroads, where rulership had included people who were anywhere from pasty white to deeply brown.

And we know there was just something about Israel itself, that was different, because Israel always was persecuted.

When it comes to Jesus' walk in earth, I think God had to be sure everyone would want to listen; so I think He appeared somehow racially mixed but not unlike many others of Israel.

As to the idea of a "lily of the valley": a) That's spiritual sight talking; b) white clothing was likely worn by many, regardless of skintone!; c) Jesus spent a lot of time alone (as did shepherds), and, at a distance, He might have seemed (robed in white) like a lonesome lily in a field; and d) although God's spiritual qualities never change, He is God, and He can take on whatever appearance is beneficial to His purpose*. The Bible in Revelation says that, in the last days, His feet will appear as burnished bronze, and His hair as wool! And we know that the church serves as not only His hands, but as His feet.

Much of the Bible is figurative.

That's one reason it's alarming when anyone insists "His fleece was white as snow," as in a childhood song from long ago, but not as in the Bible! That isn't in Heaven's word to us. That isn't in the Bible record!

Another fact of the matter is that it's a little silly to look at animals that appear in the Bible, and think those metaphor animals are always about ethnicity.

We don't even know what physical color many animals were 2,000 years ago, during the Lord's walk in earth.

Sheep, for example, have been cross-bred over the centuries, including with animals such as goats. And I tend to think that, over the centuries since Jesus gave His physical ministry over to the church, probably most sheep have been bred to be white in skin and wool, intentionally, but in error - possibly because of traditions that looked at the story of how Jacob bred sheep selectively and prospered.

We don't even have any way of knowing whether Jacob's (Yah-cahb's) unspotted, unblemished sheep were white, or whether his sheep were simply free of patches caused by disease!

So it's silly, today, to see sheep that are solid white all over the world - and think that's how sheep always were. When we think that way, we're not thinking the truth!

We would do better to recognize sheep were as diverse in appearance, as us! Although, most may have had whitish coats.

We also should be able to rest assured that Israel was ethnically diverse. People of ancient Jerusalem and southern Judea (including Idumea) may have worn many white garments, depending on task or occasion, but were likely tannish, brownish, reddish, and maybe also very darkish in skin tones.

There isn't a way to know for certain; but, we can know God did know how Israel would appear today, that He knew ancient Israel's survivors would scatter to Europe and other parts of the earth, that the people's family physical traits would change with intermarriages and with different weather environments, and that some would seem "washed," as in spiritually light, because of the blessing of white hair (long life!), and the blessing of white robes (clean-hearted living!).

Maybe, also, because of environment and intermarriage over many centuries, God additionally foresaw that Israel would become different in appearance than Israel once was. Only God knows.

But we know God's meanings are generally deeper than anything anyone sees. We know that sins, not any racial trait, are what God is telling us about when He says we're to be without spot or blemish: a "bride," His church, without sin. And we know, by faith, that Jesus was without blemish in the sense of being without sin, and without disease.

In fact, it's likely His hair was long because of the Hebrew tradition of not shaving except in cases of sin. In cases of sin, it was thought the correct thing for a man to do was to be shaven, to begin again.

Men were allowed that opportunity to begin again, while, for women, it was a shame to be shaven. And shaving may not have been only a symbolic ritual. Shaving may have aided healing in cases of some sin-related diseases. That possibility casts the Old Testament scripture, "Though your sins be red as scarlet, ... " into a different light.

People who survived sins of ancient times, indeed did glory in living long enough to grow full, white hair.

* Unfortunately, God told us evil would fool even the elect in these last troubled days (Matthew 24:24; James 1:17b)! So we ask Heaven for answers. We seek God's guidance and direction through prayer, Bible study (2 Timothy 2:15), and through searching our own hearts.