Biblical Propaganda

Is history defined by propaganda or is propaganda defined by history? Media wars have become a common occurrence today. The #FakeNews continues to slither its way through twitter and other social media outlets. InfoWars and other "alt-right" news outfits hurl damaging insults at CNN, NBC, CBS, and other mainstream media outlets exposing the corruption and lies propagated by these news agencies. CNN, NBC, and others counter with their version of truth to demonize the conservative news platforms.

We can all agree propaganda muddies the waters of truth. Its a constant battle being waged in the quest for transparency.

How is propaganda related to the Bible?

Are there hints or even blatant traces of religious propaganda embedded in the Bible stories?

Unequivocally, yes. Lets use Hezekiah as our case study. However, in order to navigate this sensitive topic, we need to establish a concept upon which to build. This will be the precursor to a forthcoming post on the the elements of leadership involving Hezekiah and Ahab.

To begin, lets set a foundation for who wrote the Bible. Granted, this is quite an expansive topic and not all points will be covered. What we can say with some degree of certainty is most of the Biblical books are written by a Judahite author(s) who had an agenda. Some scholars, including Israel Finkelstein and Richard Friedman have written books touching on this topic.

The Bible is a Jerusalem-centric book aimed at legitimizing the capital of Judah against the northern kingdom of Israel. Remember, these were Arabesque people with tribal loyalties who had trouble getting along. At no point in Israel's history was the country ever truly united. Sheba the Benjaminite rebelled against David and even his own son, Absalom, staged a coup d'etat. Solomon's "United Kingdom" was rife with revolts. His own brother revolted against him and Jeroboam, one of Solomon's right hand men, partnered with Egypt to rebel.

Moreover, not one Israelite king is painted in a positive light by the Biblical author(s). Conversely, a handful of Judahite kings are deemed worthy of praise.

It should come as no surprise that tribal patriotism spawned political agendas to delegitimize the kingdom of other tribes.

FYI...The core doctrinal principles of the Christian faith-forgiveness of sin, eternal life, the gospel, and kingdom of heaven are all religious propaganda jargon used by the Man himself, Jesus.

With these ideas, we can begin to dissect the exploits of Hezekiah and Ahab knowing a bias exists. Next up will be a post as a comparative analysis between those two kings. We will seek to define the attributes of good leadership.