< The Bible

The Bible/YMMV


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Whether you consider Judas redeemed or not, it's hard not to feel sympathy when he hangs himself.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation:
    • God Is Evil and Satan Is Good are probably the most common. For the sake of Natter, debate this on Headscratchers, not here.
    • In some versions, especially Sufism, Satan is a Yandere to God.
    • Generally Lucifer is thought to be the name Satan had before he fell, but some think he is a separate person from him, or not even a person at all.
      • Similarly, were all passages referring to "the devil" or Satan (which means "adversary" or "enemy") even referring to the same guy each time?
    • Is Leviathan Satan, a crocodile, dragon, dinosaur, submarine or something else?
    • Is Behemoth a hippo, elephant, dinosaur, or something else?
      • Are these 3 merely personification of the untamable elements of land, sea and air?
    • As sacrificing humans was against the law, some interpretations say that Jephthah's daughter's sacrifice actually meant service to God; she wept over her virginity because dedication to God meant she'd never get to marry and have a family, meaning she'd keep that virginity forever. And family was kind of a big deal for Jewish women back in those days.
    • Some say Archangel Michael is Jesus.
    • Some sources and media love equaling the Pharaoh in Exodus with Ramses II.
    • The Book of Job: Wonderful explanation of why bad things happen to good people or undeniable proof that God and Satan Are Both Jerks?
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Exodus 4:24-26. God attacks and tries to kill Moses prompting Moses's wife to circumcise Moses's son and throws the foreskin at Moses's feet. This act makes God let Moses go. This moment comes out of nowhere and is never mentioned again.
  • Broken Base: Easily the most divisive work in the history of literature.
  • Complete Monster:
    • Satan, who rebelled against God, is behind the creation of all evil in existence, and acts as the universal Corrupter, among other things. Apparently, he is so bad Hell (and later the Lake of Fire) was made specifically for him and his angels.
    • The Pharaoh in Exodus is possibly one of them. Oppressed the Israelites and forced them to work as slaves for him, sent men to kill their children and refused to repent for this or let them go, even though he acknowledged God's existence and saw Moses perform miracles.
    • Antioch from the Maccabees book. The horrible tortures he and his people subject a whole Jewish family to (seven teenage boys and their mother) are pure High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
    • Haman from the Book of Esther is an egomaniac who manipulated the king into attempting to genocide the Jews. Why? One Jew refused to bow to him!
    • Goliath of the Philistines is described as being an almost literal monster of a man who is devoid of humane qualities and speaks blasphemy against God any chance he gets. He also enjoyed slaughtering people - a lot of people.
    • King Herod the (not so) Great is written as being one, while Caiaphas the high priest of the Pharisees is often interpreted as one.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome:
    • Jesus. He could have called thousands of angels to smite His killers, but He chose to bear all the pain and suffering to save all who would believe.
    • Samson's final moments are spent bringing down the Philistine government, while also killing more men than he ever had in his life.
    • The emperor Nero ordered Peter to be crucified, thus putting himself above Peter in a power dynamic. Peter asked to be crucified upside down, thus outdoing Nero. (Doubles as Tear Jerker since Peter also did it because he believed himself unworthy of dying like Jesus)
    • Paul was about to be crucified, but then he told his would-be executers: 'Hey, I'm a Roman. Kill me if you want, but I've my right to tell you how I will die.' That takes quite the balls.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • Melchidezek: Only appeared once yet became oddly popular among biblical scholars.
    • The Queen of Sheba too!
  • Epileptic Trees:
    • The Book of Enoch is possibly the ur-example.
    • There is a medieval legend that the man in the moon is Cain. There is nothing in the Bible to support this.
  • Evil Is Sexy: This is Delilah's allure to Samson.
  • Fair for Its Day:
    • Look at how women and children were treated in ancient Rome. "Husbands, love your wives" was a revolutionary concept in those days.
    • Not to mention the book of Leviticus, which nowadays is looked upon as a long list of difficult rules, but when first made, presented what was, for the day, a refreshingly easy code of law.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Several major instances--
    • Protestants (and Jews) rejected the additional (as in, those not in the Masoretic text of the Tanakh) Old Testament books that came from the Greek Septuagint and call them "apocrypha" (not Canon), whereas they're considered Canon by Catholics.
    • Then there's the New Testament "apocrypha," some of which are just weird. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for instance, is possibly the first example of Super Dickery, featuring a very young Jesus that blinds, kills, and heals people left and right, then proceeds to lecture his teacher on theology. Mainstream Christians reject the Gospel of Thomas, which was widely read by early Christian communities, on the basis of its much later origin and the fact that it was most certainly not written by Thomas or anyone in his general time period. The Nicean council ruled that it wasn't authentic.
    • The entire New Testament is rejected by the Jews; most Christians reject the Book of Mormon, except for the Mormons. Only the Muslims accept the canonicity of the Koran.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple:
    • A lot of people (and the nation of Ethiopia) believe the Queen of Sheba was one of Solomon's lovers.
    • Mary Magdalene and Jesus is this to Gnostics and Dan Brown
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel:
    • Let's just say there are quite a few moments to say the least.
    • The Lake of Fire.
    • The seven brothers and their mom mentioned in the Maccabeus book. Family-Unfriendly Death doesn't even begin to describe it.
    • The Book of Revelation. Especially if it's literal, well...imagine End of Evangelion times a million. Yeah.
  • Internet Backdraft: Perhaps nothing in this world can easily start a Flame War more than arguments about the Bible. Heated debates regarding pretty much anything inside it have, are, and will occur between different religions, non-religious views, and has even occurred amongst Christians. The main page is locked for a reason.
  • Iron Woobie:
    • Jesus. He never did anything to deserve what happened to Him and, whether you believe the Bible's true or not, it states He died a Cruel and Unusual Death to save all people including those who hate/d Him.
    • Moses:
      • Forced to flee his homeland and came back to destroy it
      • Abandoned his family to serve God.
      • Roamed around with the Isrealies for 40 years and finally died without making it to The Promised Land.
        • Brick Joke: About a thousand years later, Jesus ascends the Mount of Transfiguration and is seen speaking to Elijah and Moses. Dude finally made it!
  • It Was His Sled: Jesus was betrayed by Judas and died, but He got better.
  • Les Yay: One interpretation of the relationship between Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Not popular with conservatives, obviously.
  • Macekre: Which translation is best is Serious Business.
  • Memetic Badass: Samson, Elisha, Moses, and oh yeah, Jesus Christ.
  • Memetic Mutation: "He killed 1,000 men with a jawbone of a donkey" became a minor one.
  • Misaimed Fandom:
    • Samson is presented as a flawed figure who abuses his powers, gets screwed over for it, and ends up dying because there's nowhere else to go. Yet, many readers can't look over his Rated "M" for Manly antics and celebrate him as a Memetic Badass who dies in a blaze of glory. He's almost like the Kamina of the ancient world.
    • More seriously, Christians who persecuted Jews from the middle ages and onward for "killing Jesus". Yes, let's ignore the fact that Jesus was a Jew, shall we?
      • To this day, there are Christians who act exactly like the zealous, hypocritical, intolerant Pharisees and teachers of the law in Jesus' day, the sort of people Jesus spoke out against. Jesus also did not teach people to follow Christianity, since it was not founded as a religion until after His death, by His disciples. He was of the Jewish faith, but He didn't preach that religion either. Jesus taught no religion: He taught how to live, how to behave, how to be spiritual. To do as HE did, not what the priests and religious teachers dictate one should do.
  • Never Live It Down:
    • "Doubting" Thomas. In reality, all of the apostles needed physical proof before believing Jesus' resurrection; Thomas just got singled out because he came in late.
    • Judas is always introduced last and his betrayal is always pointed out.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Satan has a lot:
      • Many people consider him tempting Eve with the fruit as this, as it resulted in pretty much all the evil and suffering in the world. This one only applies to Satan if he is the snake, however, and some people see it as a failed attempt at giving mankind wisdom.
      • What he did to Job. Yeah, he had permission, but it's still a really nasty thing to do.
      • Raising up the Antichrist specifically to deceive people into worshiping him.
      • The Bible implies that he was driving the people responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. If so, he was not only Hoist by His Own Petard but Out-Gambitted, because Jesus's death, preplanned by God, opened the one and only way for people to be saved.
      • In Revelation, he is pictured (probably metaphorically) as a red dragon sanding in front of a delivering woman so he can devour her child as soon as it is born.
    • King Saul:
      • Repeatedly trying to kill David, even after all the kindness and mercy he showed him.
      • Killing the priests of Nob who harbored David.
      • Almost getting his son Jonathan killed for not keeping Saul's foolish oath that he knew nothing about, and later deliberately trying to kill Jonathan for standing up for David.
      • Murdering some of the Gibeonites, whom Israel had sworn to protect. This one also applies to his household. This would come back to haunt the house of Saul when the Gibeonites forced David to hand over Saul's grandsons to be executed as the price of their allegiance.
    • Joab:
      • Killing Absalom (David's son) explicitly against David's orders.
      • Killing Abner, who had defected to David.
      • Carrying out the Uriah Gambit. Joab had been a very naughty boy.
    • Judas:
      • Betraying Jesus (Duh!). According to some, this led to a My God, What Have I Done? and then a suicide, so it's possible this was averted.
    • Haman:
      • Predating Hitler in attempting genocide against the Jews - all because he was slighted by one single Jew!
    • Herod:
      • The slaughter of every newly born baby in Bethlehem. You should all know this one already.
    • Pharaoh:
      • Continuing to persecute the Hebrew slaves even after all the miracles and plagues, particularly at the Red Sea. If the death of your first born child doesn't even stop you...
    • Goliath:
      • He was pretty much already living far on the other side of this when he's first brought up.
    • Antioch:
  • Padding: Lots of repetition at points, like with the book of Numbers.
  • Ron the Death Eater: God gets this a lot, particularly due to his Old Testament behavior, which was before Characterization Marches On in regards to Him.
  • Sadly Mythtaken: The entire As the Good Book Says... trope in a nutshell.
  • Tear Jerker:
    • The Psalm David wrote in response to Jonathan's and Saul's death. As well as the enormous Heroic Blue Screen of Death he had when he learned about it.
    • The way David wept for Absalom, especially considering David would have lost his throne and possibly his life if Absalom had won.
    • Jesus' death. Even if you're not a Christian, you've gotta feel for the guy. Some of his miracles, too. Specially when he revived a poor little girl. And when he wept before he revived his old friend Lazarus.
    • 2 Timothy. Knowing that he'll be executed soon, Paul urges Timothy, who he calls his son, to hurry to Rome so they can see each other before he, Paul, dies.
    • Ezra reading the book of the law in front of a crowd of truly repentant Jews.
  • Values Dissonance A point of contention for many, particularly in regard to the Old Testament.
  • The Woobie:
    • Mary. Her Son was brutally tortured and killed right in front of her, and there was nothing she could do.
    • Leah, Balaam's Donkey, Eli, Tamar, Uriah, Job, Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, Mary, Abel, Tobit, Sarah...
  • Too Cool to Live: Elijah's death, because he was also Too Cool To Die.
  • What an Idiot!:
    • Jephtah swore to God that he would sacrifice the first living thing that came out of his house if he wins against his enemies. That turned out to be his daughter.
    • Rehoboam's strong rebuttal to the complaints to the heavy taxation and forced labor policies caused 10 Israelite tribes to rebel and form their own nation.
    • Saul swore to God that neither he nor his men will eat till they destroyed the enemy army. Sure enough, he and his army were too hungry to fulfill this vow.
    • Getting drunk and telling your all your weaknesses to a hot woman. Good move there, Samson.
    • Esau. Trades his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew.
    • The people of Israel behave this way every other chapter.
  • What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Book of Revelation is pretty trippy, man.
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