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6b - Bible harmonies
AT first glance you might expect to find harmonies in a Hymn Book, but these are Bible study aids of a rather different kind, which can be really helpful when you want to compare and contrast parallel passages of scripture. No singing or musical aptitude is required!
Kings and Chronicles
Have you ever wanted an easy way of seeing what the inspired writers of these two books had to say about various kings or happenings, without having to flick backwards and forwards? If so, look no further than the excellent compilation by W. D. Crockett (1974, Baker) called A Harmony of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. After an analysis of what is contained in the various books (sub-headings which look separately at the histories of Israel and Judah, once the kingdom is split), the compilation begins with the text of 1 Chronicles (the genealogies, tribe by tribe) and then works through 1 Samuel, splitting the text up into helpful sections with sub-headings to indicate the developing narrative. The real usefulness of a Bible harmony become evident as soon as the 1 Samuel 31:1-13 text is paralleled by an account in 1 Chronicles 10:1-14 (about the battle of Mount Gilboa). Here the two accounts are presented side-by-side, so you can see at once what the writer of Samuel chose to include and what the inspired writer of Chronicles was guided to insert. Whenever afterwards these accounts overlap (for example, the various accounts of the kings of Israel or Judah) they are to printed side by side, and after the division of the kingdom the histories of Judah and Israel are shown in separate columns. Where nothing is recorded about the other kingdom that column is left blank; but usually there is text from elsewhere in the inspired accounts, as scripture is compared with scripture.
Whilst Crockett’s is the most useful and clear harmony of these books, there are others. S. R. Somervell compiled A Parallel History of the Jewish Monarchy (1897,1901, Cambridge University Press) in two slim volumes. Andrew Wood wrote The Hebrew Monarchy (1896, Eyre & Spottiswoode) which is a commentary with a harmony of the parallel texts, as the commentary unfolds. And more recently J. D. Newsome Jnr. edited another compilation A Synoptic Harmony of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles (1986, Baker), which also includes related passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezra.
The Gospels
Whilst Kings and Chronicles are obvious candidates for this sort of treatment, the gospels are even more suited, although the first three gospels are easier to bring together than the Gospel of John, which has a rather different approach in presenting the life of the Lord.
H. F. D. Sparks produced A Synopsis of the Gospels (1964, 1974, A & C Black) in two parts. Originally published as two volumes, and later combined (in 1977), they comprised – Part I: The Synoptic Gospels with the Johannine Parallels and Part Two: The Gospel according to John with the Synoptic Parallels. The RV text has been carefully arranged so that easy comparison can be made between the various gospel accounts, making this a very useful study aid. It contains no commentary, nor does it attempt any explanation where there are differences: the books merely present the text for the reader’s consideration.
A. T. Robertson A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ (1922, A & C Black) goes one step further. He integrates the RV text of the Gospel of John into the synoptic accounts, making his own judgement as to when the various events occurred. In footnotes and explanatory notes, he gives his reasons or attempts to solve apparent difficulties, where appropriate, and the volume also contains a list of the parables and miracles of Jesus, as well as a list of the Old Testament quotations to be found in the gospels. This is a really useful volume, but direct textual comparison is not as easy as in Sparks’ compilation.
Once you start to look for these, there are plenty of gospel harmonies. There are volumes by Benjamin Davies, Newton Thompson, J. M. Fuller, O. E. Daniel (Based on the NIV text). If you want the RSV, there was Gospel Parallels: A Synopsis of the First Three Gospels, by B. H. Throckmorton, Jr. (Camden, N.J.: Nelson, 1967). Available from the Christadelphian Office, this is now based on the NRSV.
If you can read Greek, one of more recent harmonies is Kurt Aland’s, Synopsis quattuor evangeliorum: Locis parallelis evangeliorum apocryphorum et patrum adhibitis (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung, 1985; 1988), which is available in various formats including the Greek text with an English translation. Again, there is a vast choice, like the Harmony of the Four Gospels in Greek by Edward Robinson (1885, Houghton Mifflin, and many later editions). The best known are Aland’s (above) and Albert Huck’s Synopse der drei ersten Evangelien (13th edition, 1981, Tübingen).
All of these harmonies recast the text of the gospels so that the various accounts coincide, but they do not attempt to conflate the various accounts into one continuous narrative. People have attempted that too, like P. B. Jones who produced The Gospel of the Four (2002, New Millennium) including the author’s explanation of why he has made various the choices. Bible harmonies are a much better option, giving the student more ability to make up his or her own mind about the timing of various events in the Lord’s life on earth.
Life of Paul
Once a new way of encouraging Bible study has been developed, writers and publishers are sure to look for ways of extending the genre. So you will not be surprised to know that you can also get a harmony of the life of the Apostle Paul. Piecing together the various accounts of his conversion and the data in the Acts and Epistles, Frank J. Goodwin has compiled A Harmony of the Life of St. Paul (1951, Baker) which is a useful compilation. Pauline Parallels, (1984, Philadelphia: Fortress Press), by Fred O. Francis and J. Paul Sampley takes a different approach in that each of the ten chief letters of the apostle are divided into thematic units and related passages are placed in parallel lines.
Electronic harmonies
If you have invested in one of the Logos Libraries (using the Libronix software) you may well have acquired electronic versions of these harmonies, which are bundled in the various collections from the Bible Study Library upwards (they ascend in price order!). They include the Analytical Outline of the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles (by Crockett), A Harmony of the Gospels (by A. T. Robertson), A Harmony of the Synoptic Gospels (Burton and Goodspeed), Pastoral Epistles (by Brannan) Jude - 2 Peter (by Jackson) and a Synopsis of Matthew, Mark and Luke (also by Jackson). Jackson has also compiled a Synopsis of the Old Testament, which is wide ranging, including extracts from the Law, as well as the Kings and Chronicles accounts, right up to some parallels with the Psalms and Prophets.
If you don’t want to incur that sort of expenditure, you can buy separately the Throckmorton Gospel Parallels (based on the NRSV), A Simplified Harmony of the Gospels by G. W. Knight or Frank Goodwin’s A Harmony of the Life of St Paul, none of which are bundled with the various libraries. One big advantage these electronic harmonies possess is that you can choose which Bible version you want to use for comparison purposes, depending of course upon which software versions you have purchased. Change the version and the comparisons change automatically; clever stuff! Even so, you may prefer a printed version which can be easier to access. Or, if you can afford them, why not get both?
