The Bible is a story of God’s relationship with mankind, and most books put God front and center. For example:
- the prophets are spokesmen for god: the last 17 books of the old testament are mostly words directly from god.
- the gospels focus on the life and ministry of jesus. jesus, the god-man, is the main character in all four books.
- the law of moses deals with god’s covenant with israel and rules over it.
but it turns out that two books of the bible do not speak of god at all. weird, right?
You are reading: Which two books do not mention god by name?
esther
esther is the kind of story you could turn into a movie over and over again. This book focuses on two Jews from Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire: Esther, a girl who becomes queen, and her relative Mordecai, a member of King Ahaseurus’s guard.
If you’re not familiar with Esther’s story, you can get an overview here. Ultimately, Esther risks her life to prevent an act of genocide against her people. It is the story of the Jewish festival of Purim.
and there is no mention of god. So that’s one less. here is the following:
song of solomon
the song of solomon is a celebration of love, beauty, sex and marriage. is a book of poetry featuring a bride and groom, who sing to each other and their community. you’ll find many poetic references to the human anatomy, but you won’t see any mention of god as a person.
this is not as simple as esther. There is a passage from the Song of Solomon in which the bride describes the strength and intensity of true love. she compares this love to a fire, but what kind of fire? Our English Bible translations tend to differ on how Song of Solomon 8:6 should end.
- nasb and esv: “the very flame of the lord”
- niv: “like a mighty flame”
- kjv and nkjv: “a very vehement flame”
- nlt: “the brightest kind of flame”
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wait, why do some bibles mention the lord and others don’t?
It’s because that phrase actually comes from a single Hebrew word (sălhebetyáh). you see those last letters, yáh? that’s short for yahweh, the lord. the first part of the word in Hebrew means “flame”. so we’re left with this “lord’s flame” or “lord’s flame”, which is a little bit open to interpretation. could mean a god flame, or just a higher flame.
but even if this word is an allusion to god, it doesn’t really count as a mention of him as a person (at least, it’s an exaggeration to me). and it’s definitely not a reference to sid, lord of flame, from dreamwork’s ice age.
why don’t these books mention god?
there are a few reasons why these books don’t mention god:
- there are no direct words from god. most of the old testament books mention the prophets, who speak in the name of god; however, none of these stories include any spokesperson for god.
- There are no obvious miracles. When God does something completely out of the ordinary, the Bible gives him credit for it. But Esther is a story of human action, and Song of Solomon focuses on human love.
so what do these books do in the bible?
These books are not alone. We must read them in the context of God’s covenant with Israel. And when we take that into account, it’s clear there’s a lot going on below the surface.
for example, esther and mordecai are putting their faith in something beyond themselves:
- Esther and Mordecai fast in times of trouble.
- Mordecai is confident that the Jews will be delivered.
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Mordecai and Esther act with faith throughout the book. Mordecai is a man of integrity and Esther is a self-sacrificing heroine. We don’t know for sure if Mordecai had God’s promises to Abraham and David in mind when he claimed that the Jews would be delivered (it is 4:14). but the words of god would be a good basis for those beliefs.
esther gives me an idea of what faith looks like when played, and leaves me with the question: is my faith as evident as that of esther and mordecai?
And the song of Solomon describes the bliss of conjugal love. god sees his relationship with israel as one of marriage, even though israel is a terrible bride for him. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea use marriage to describe God’s covenant with Israel, usually to paint a picture of Israel’s sin (Jer 3:1; Eze 16; Hos 1).
but when you read the beginning of ezekiel 16, you will see the kind of generous and passionate love that god has for israel. and it looks a lot like what you would find in the song of solomon:
- “then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the hour of love; so I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a pact with you so that you would be mine”, declares the Lord God. (eze 16:8)
- “I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.” (so 7:10)
even the books that don’t mention god teach us a lot about god’s relationship with his people.
now you have to be curious enough to read esther and song of solomon. Each book will only take about half an hour to read, and both are also very easy to read (no long genealogy chunks). hop on, you’ll love it.
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