Recommended for Further Study
Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences By Saul M. Olyan (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Biblical Corpora: Representations of Disability in Hebrew Biblical Literature By Rebecca Raphael (Edinburgh:
T & T Clark International, 2008)
This Abled Body: Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies By Hector Avalos, Sarah J. Melcher, and Jeremy
Schipper, (Leiden: Brill, 2007)
Forms of Deformity: A Motif-Index of Abnormalities and Disabilities of Human Form in Traditional Jewish Literature
By Lynn Holden (Edinburgh: T & T Clark International, 1991)
The Blemished Body: Deformity and Disability in the Qumran Scrolls By Johanna Dorman (Groningen: Rijk-
suniversiteit, 2007)
Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible: Figuring Mephibosheth in the David Story By Jeremy Schipper (Sheffield,
UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 2006).
NOTES
1. Disability terms are low frequency and vary with the translation: Blind (KJV 82, ASV 79); Deaf (KJV 15, ASV 16); Dumb [= mute] (KJV 29, ASV 31);
and lame (KJV 66, ASV 70).
2. This study follows the contours of the disability theme, and begs a more detailed study of Genesis-Revelation and the theme’s development.
3. All Scripture quotations in this paper, unless noted otherwise, are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
It is significant that the Hebrew words used in this passage that translate “mute”, “deaf”, and “blind” are specially marked with a grammatical pattern
indicating physical disabilities. C. L. Seow, A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995): 21.
4. Historical studies include Harry A. Hoffner, “The Disabled and Infirm in Hittite Society,” Eretz - Israel: Archaeological, Historical, and Geographical Studies
27 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2003).
5. Olyan, Disability, 62.
6. Interestingly, although the Bible lacks an equivalent term for our English “disability” it presents a perspective on disability that is consistent and
pervasive. While it is true that the disabled were sometimes treated as ritually unclean (Lev. 21:18; 22:22), it seems clear enough that this had to do
with the transmission of disease or the perception of unblemished perfection in didactic symbolic gestures. See Olyan, Disability in the Hebrew Bible.
These small and potentially confusing aspects of disability pale in significance and scope when compared to the Lord’s heart for people with disabil-
ities seen throughout Scriptures.
7. We must be cautious in using Isaiah’s and other writers’ language for sometimes he refers analogically to spiritual disabilities (spiritual blindness,
etc.).
8. The New International Reader’s Version has sensitively rendered the language of disability in this passage.
9. Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God (New York: Dutton, 2008): 112
10. The 2000 U.S. Census found that 19.4 percent of the population is affected by physical or intellectual disability. For a challenge to rethink how we
define, categorize, and view disability from a Christian perspective, see Deborah Creamer, Disability in Christian Theology: Embodied Limits and Constructive
Possibilities (Academy, 2008).
11. Those who would lovingly help those with disabilities must consider how love is best applied. To love is not to develop a dependency, which robs an
individual of dignity. See Glenn J. Schwartz, When Charity Destroys Dignity: Overcoming Unhealthy Dependency in the Christian Movement (Lancaster, Pa:
World Mission Associates, 2007): xvii.
12. See, “Surprised by Disability: Why the Parts of the Body that Seem to be Weaker Are Indispensable,” Christianity Today (October, 2008) www.christianity
today.com/ct/2008/october/15.100.html.
God’ s Stor y of D i sabi l ity: The U n fold i ng Pl a n from G e nesi s to R e vela t ion, b y Da v e Deu e l, M. A ., Ph . D.
8
Dave Deuel, M.A., Ph.D. (Cornell University and The University of Liverpool) is the Director of International
Academic Studies for Joni and Friends as well as the Academic Director of The Master’s Academy Interna-
tional, a consortium of ministry training schools worldwide. Dave served as Regional Director for Joni and
Friends in the San Fernando Valley, CA and in board positions for The North Los Angeles Regional Center,
All Children’s Hospital (Los Angeles), Direct Link for the Disabled and a Governor’s Advisory committee
for Disability (Sacramento). He is Chairman for the Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern consultation
of the Evangelical Theological Society. Dave focuses his ministry interests on assisting others in start-
ing and developing ministries, primarily on the foreign field. He also ministers with and to persons
with disabilities through Joni and Friends’ Christian Institute on Disability.