History Literature / TheBible

* CanonDiscontinuity: Where do we start...?

* YamatoNadeshiko: Arguably, the Virgin Mary was a ''very'' early version.

* ItGotWorse: The Bible in general relies on this a lot to ensure that the protagonist(s) of the stories [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn their happy endings]].

* MemeticNumber: 40. Forget 11 or [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13]] or even [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]], this number is one of the more memorable ones in the book. Examples include the forty days and nights Noah spent in his Ark during the Deluge (another round before he even looked out the window), the number of days the Israelites took to explore their Promised Land, and the number of days Jesus fasted. There's even [[http://www.40day.com/40_in_the_bible.html this website]] that is focused around the number 40. That number is one BadAss dude.

* TakeAThirdOption: Christ Jesus in many, many situations. (Matthew 22) Are we answerable to God or to earthly powers such as the Romans? [[hottip:*:Many Jews were pretty much sick of the Romans by this point and had no desire to pay taxes to support Roman idolatry and hedonistic living. The last thing they would have wanted to hear was a command to pay their taxes. If Christ had said that this was unnecessary, though, well ...]] (John 7-8) Will Jesus say that a woman caught in the act of adultery should be stoned or not? [[hottip:*:If Christ had said that she shouldn't be stoned, the Pharisees would have accused Him of violating the laws of Moses. If He had said that she should, He would likely have been turned over to the Romans, who didn't allow the Jews to perform their own executions.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: Ishmael, Isaac's half-brother in Genesis, fades into the background shortly after he's introduced and [[PutOnABus sent off to Arabia]]. [[TheBusCameBack Turns out one of his descendants was]] [[{{UsefulNotes/Islam}} a guy named Muhammad]]. Interestingly enough, this loose thread doesn't get picked up until ''after'' TheBible ends.

* FinalSolution: TheBible has many cases of this. Some carried out by various heroic kings, some carried out by God himself. In all cases, it's [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide treated as a good thing]]. The three most famous cases are:

On a related note, there are several major opinions on what the Bible ''is''. According to the [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian]] viewpoint, the Bible is an anthology of books by divinely inspired followers of God and Christ over a period of ''600 to 1600'' years, including: biographies, histories, manuals of rules and laws, songs and ritual prayers, advice for living like in Paul's letters, and divine revelations. (For the traditional [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jewish]] perspective, strike out the words "and Christ" and "like in Paul's letters," and reduce the number of years by two to six hundred years.) There is debate among Christians over just what "divinely inspired" entails; some say this means everything in the Bible should be taken completely at face value, while others hold that some parts (like the book of Genesis, for example) are meant to be taken as allegorical or symbolic writings, not to be interpreted literally. The latter view is held by most mainline Protestant denominations and is the official position of the Catholic Church.

Another set of interpretations was from what is now called, collectively, UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}. The Gnostics did not accept the idea of canon at all, nor any central religious authority. Thus, pretty much every Gnostic collection of scripture contained different sets of documents, some orthodox canon and some written locally. Indeed, the general Gnostic approach to religious literature was one of extreme openness, and a new Evangelion (no, not ''[[NeonGenesisEvangelion that one]]'') probably appeared within the various Gnostic communities every day. The Gnostics believed in personal and continuous revelation rather than authority of scripture.

The view of those who don't belong to the Abrahamic religions generally ranges from seeing the events of the Bible as somewhere between "exaggerated history" and "pure fiction". Likely, YourMileageMayVary on which one of the views you take.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Played straight with the story from Genesis, in which the snake is the bad guy. Played with in the incident involving Moses at Pharaoh's court where serpents representing the rival gods duke it out (guess who wins). Played straight in that all reptiles fall into the category of "unclean" species. Averted later in Exodus when a pillar with bronze snakes is set up to cure the Israelites of a plague (though it later becomes a pagon idol, playing it straight again).

* ImAHumanitarian: Quite a few examples that falls under two categories: God's punishment (usually [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel forcing people to eat their own children]] or [[{{Squick}} other family members]]) or depicted [[{{Gorn}} for the sake of it]].

* ItGotWorse: The bible in general relies on this a lot to ensure that the protagonist(s) of the stories [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn their happy endings]].

* KillEmAll: The DistantFinale, Revelation; possibly the most literal application of "KillEmAll and let God sort 'em out" ever. Also, many cases in the Old Testament.
* KillItWithWater: The whole of Noah's story. Also done to Egyptian soldiers chasing Israelis through the Red Sea.

* ScamReligion: TheBible considers every religion other than the one of the Hebrews (and later on, the Christians) either this, a ReligionOfEvil, or a PathOfInspiration. At best, non-Judeo-Christian religions are seen as superstitious and waiting for something better.

* ItGotWorse: A large portion of the Books of Revelation and Job, but it gets better in both. The same can pretty much be said for [[EarnYourHappyEnding the Bible in general]].

* IGotBetter: [[spoiler:Jesus.]]

* ItGotWorse: A large portion of the Books of Revelation and Job, but it [[IGotBetter gets better]] in both. The same can pretty much be said for [[EarnYourHappyEnding the Bible in general]].

* NamesTheSame: The Catholic and Orthodox Bibles have two different Judases. One is a heroic freedom fighter, the other [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon betrays Jesus]].]]

* MixAndMatchCritters: When not described as {{Eldritch Abomination}}s or imitating human form the Angels are described as such (in Book of Daniel for instance).

* MoralDissonance: This what is percieved when a particular DisproportionateRetribution or an example of ValuesDissonance strikes particullary hard and much discussion has ensued between critics and apologists because of it. The priestly codes and laws documented in books like Leviticus are prone to cause this as well. Lot's handling of the mob in Sodom--[[SacredHospitality offering his daughters to prevent them from raping angels sent to visit him]]--doesn't take well, either..

* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown (Jesus and most prophets. It's the TropeNamer, after all)

* {{Omniglot}}: One of the powers of [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve true believers]], according to {{Fanon}}, along with the ability to [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity drink anything poisonous]], [[TheExorcist exorcise demons]], [[HealingHands heal the sick]], and for ''truest'' of true believers NighInvulnerability against demons and evil spirits! A few American groups interpret the source for this one (speaking in tounges) to mean a language absolutely nobody on Earth understands. No-one seems to know why.

* IdiotBall: Samson finds some bees have made their hive in the corpse of a lion, so he eats some of the honey and gives the rest to his parents. The honey that came from a DEAD LION. Especially bad since, as a Nazirite, he's not allowed to touch, let alone eat, anything that came from corpses.

* TropeOverdosed (and the TropeMaker, TropeNamer, or TropeCodifier in many cases -- what we have here is a book that might even be as influential, if not more, than ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''!) Of course, we should bear in mind that it's technically a collection of several dozen books (the exact number depending on the canon you adhere to).

* AdaptationExpansion: Hebrews, ostensibly the most Jewish book of the New Testament.
* [[AintNoRule Ain't No Rule]]: May qualify as LoopholeAbuse. Many perhaps odd-sounding laws in the Old Testament--those regarding sex, for example -- were likely designed to prevent this.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: More than once. In the Old Testament, there's Elijah and Enoch. In the New Testament, [[spoiler:Jesus]]. ThePope Pius XII [[WordOfDante invoked papal infallibility and declared Mary's ascension Canon]] in 1950.

** In some terms, this applies to the Old Testament. The "ending" (remember that chronologically, Ezra and Nehemiah are among the last books of the OT) is that Judah was restored with Persian [[ThreeHundred (Yes, those Persians)]] protection, and the Messiah is coming soon. However, one of the last prophets of the OT predicted the destruction of Jerusalem.

* DubInducedPlothole: The James King translation is said to contain [[LostInTranslation a few mistranslations]] that alter the plot/meaning. Some instances of this were perpetuated by earlier translations of the Bible, as well; Horned Moses, anyone?

** "To know" [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow That's what they called it back then]]

* {{God}} TropeCodifier, at least for Abrahamic religions.

* ImAHumanitarian: Quite a few examples that falls under two categories: God's punishment (usually [[{{HighOctaneNightmareFuel}} forcing people to eat their own children]] or [[{{Squick}} other family members]]) or depicted [[{{Gorn}} for the sake of it]].

* NowIKnowWhatToNameHim: In the gospels, angels speak to both Mary and Joseph, inform them that they will have God's son, and that he will be named Jesus. Since a Hebrew name was also a blessing given at birth, it was standard procedure for the father (in this case God Himself) to come up with the name.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Satan of course. And whatever it was that Daniel killed.

** Delilah tries to get Samson to reveal his weakness, and Samson tests her by [[BluffTheImpostor telling her a false one]]. This fails. While this is very smart by itself, he then allows her to repeat this ''[[RuleOfThree three times]]'' before finally caving in and admitting it's his hair. Honestly, no matter how much you love her, shouldn't you just get rid of her after the ''first'' time she tries to sell you into slavery to your enemies?)

* TowerOfBabel (TropeNamer)
* TraumaCongaLine (Job)

* TropeOverdosed (and the TropeMaker, TropeNamer, or TropeCodifier in many cases- what we have here is a book that might even be as influential, if not more, than the LordOfTheRings!) Of course, we should bear in mind that it's technically a collection of several dozen books (the exact number depending on the canon you adhere to).
* TurnTheOtherCheek (TropeNamer)
* TwentyBearAsses (Saul offered his daughter's hand in marriage to David, if David could bring him [[GroinAttack 100 Philistine foreskins]]. David one-upped him and brought back 200.)
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (the DistantFinale)
* TheUnfavorite (A number of Israel's neighbor nations, most famously the Philistines. The Israelites were God's chosen people, and charged with warring against several of them. The Israelites however, were not exclusively God's only people, but a representative nation. They lived peaceably with many of their more benign neighbors.)

* WarriorPoet (David, giant slayer and great musician/poet/dancer)

* {{Badass}}: The unnamed man (some people think it's Jesus) leading his forces against the Hellions in Revelation. Pretty awesome.

* FairForItsDay:
** 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.

* LesYay: One interpretation of the relationship between Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Not popular with conservatives, obviously]].

* {{Padding}}: Lots of repetition at points, like with the book of Numbers.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Book of Revelation is pretty trippy, man.

* BedTrick: Jacob's wedding.

* IdiotBall: Samson finds some bees have made their hive in the corpse of a lion, so he eats some of the honey and gives the rest to his parents. The honey that came from a DEAD LION. Especially bad since, as a Nazirite, he's not allowed to touch, let alone eat, anything that came from corpses.

* SalieriSyndrome: Notable examples include Cain and Joseph's brothers.

!!TropeNamer for:
* AdamAndEvePlot
* AngelUnaware
* TheAntiChrist
* ArchangelGabriel
* ArchangelMichael
* AsTheGoodBookSays
* BellyOfTheWhale (Though it's actually referred to as a fish in most versions.)
* BibleTimes
* TheBlindLeadingTheBlind
* CainAndAbel
* AChatWithSatan
* CrucifiedHeroShot
* DavidVersusGoliath
* FallenAngel
* FindingJudas (Actually a co-TropeNamer with, of all things, ''{{House}}'')
* ForbiddenFruit
* HolyHalo
* IAmLegion
* JacobAndEsau
* JesusSaves
* TheMessiah
* MosesInTheBullrushes
* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown
* NiceJobBreakingItHerod
* NumberOfTheBeast
* PalsWithJesus
* {{Satan}}
* TakingUpTheMantle
* ThouShaltNotKill
* TowerOfBabel
* TurnTheOtherCheek
* UniverseBible
* TheUriahGambit

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One of the TropeMakers; tropes that appear in it are by definition OlderThanFeudalism (or OlderThanDirt if they occur in portions of the first five books of the Old Testament).

** Forty--Originally the number of years that the Israelites roamed through the desert and number of days and nights it rained during the deluge.