Jack Kuhatschek wrote that while studying in the Holy Lands he had a seminary professor who met a man claiming to have memorized the entire Old Testament – in Hebrew:“Needless to say, the astonished professor asked for a demonstration. A few days later they sat together in the man’s home. ‘Where shall we begin?’ asked the man. ‘Psalm 1,’ replied my professor, who was an avid student of the psalms. Beginning with Psalm 1:1, the man began to recite from memory, while my professor followed along in his Hebrew Bible. For two hours the man continued word for word without a mistake as the professor sat in stunned silence. When the demonstration was over, my professor discovered something even more astonishing about the man – he was an atheist! Here was someone who knew the Scriptures better than most Christians ever will, and yet he didn’t believe in God” (Taking the Guesswork Out of Applying the Bible, pg. 16).
At this I cannot rejoice, I can only be amazed. Yes it takes an extraordinary amount of effort to commit portions of the Bible to memory in your native language, but to commit the entirety of the Old Testament to memory in the original Hebrew is a feat even the most able men are not willing to attempt. But I cannot rejoice because while this man came to know the word he never got close to knowing the Writer.
Some view Bible study as a mere intellectual pursuit; an attempt at knowledge for knowledge’s sake. However, when the Scriptures demand that we study it gives the specific reason. Not simply for the pursuit of knowledge but “to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Ultimately, if our study does not result in knowing God then our knowing the word is in vain. We cannot know God outside of knowing His word but men such as described above shall sadly have eternity to regret coming to know the word but never knowing the Writer.
“…and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).