Hoaxed by a fake Bible verse

When I was doing research for the next Day by Day with God and Family booklet, thinking up 115 reflections from Pentecost till the end of the liturgical year, I learned quite a lot. I was working on a reflection on the Afrikaans saying, “‘n boer maak ‘n plan” (which doesn’t really have direct bearing on the work and needs of farmers), and the reference, “The Lord helps those who help themselves”, came to mind. That really seemed to fit the bill. Then I discovered that this well-known statement isn’t at all biblical in origin.

It’s a hoax that we are cheated so cleverly by. The quote is apparently even given a supposed scripture reference, Hezekiah 6:1. There is no book called Hezekiah (there was a king of Judah by that name, c 715-686 BC, but no such book). I was flabbergasted and also quite concerned. How gullible are we? I wonder how many priests have preached on that “phantom verse”.

Quite apart from that, the thought is important too. Scripture has a conflicting message. In Psalm 118, we read: “It is better to put your trust in the Lord than to trust in man.” Proverbs 28:26 says: “He who trusts in himself is a fool”,  and Jeremiah 17:5 puts it even more strongly: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” For me the clue in Jeremiah’s passage is “and whose heart turns away from the Lord”.

There is a big problem here. The Church—and families too, that is, domestic churches—are putting a big emphasis on self-reliance these days.  Overseas funding for much of the Church’s work is drying up and we need to fund ourselves and call our people to responsibility.  Apply that to family life.

According to Wikipedia, the origin of the idea of the Lord helping those who help themselves is in ancient Greek philosophy, whereas the Old Testament emphasises putting one’s trust in the Lord.

We have heard that Mother Teresa in funding her ministry to the poorest of the poor was in this mode, but she was also a shrewd lady who knew how to tap into possible resources. Maybe that is what is meant by “‘n boer maak ‘n plan”.

From a completely practical point of view, I would hate my children and grandchildren to adopt the attitude that the Lord will provide, maybe in the form of their mother or grandmother. Surely it is a question of balance, and there are plenty of other conflicting statements in the Bible. For example, depending on context and circumstances, the people were encouraged to turn their ploughshares into swords, or swords into ploughshares.

Jesus is a practical man too. He did have a financial manager, Judas, and tells a parable about a king who sets out to build a tower and calculates what he will require. When he warns about storing up treasure here on earth rather than in heaven, he is concerned about that hazard of turning away from God which Jeremiah warns about.

I would like all families to become scripture-savvy, but in an informed way, a life-giving, principled way that takes aspects such as the Golden Rule into account. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Add to that Christ’s commandment to “Love one another as I have loved you”, and you do have a spirit of generosity but not of greed.

Let us not strangle the sense of creativity and initiative that we encourage in our children but remind them of the sometimes very delicate balance. And watch out for holy hoaxes; they should at least make you think.