Why is the Bible so Cryptic?
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret
unto his servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7
The Bible is a bit cryptic for several reasons. One is that the amount of material if spelled out plainly would fill 400 encyclopedic volumes: “God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret”.
Everything the Lord has, is, and will, do between Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21 is in the Bible necessarily coded within historical accounts, parables, similes, metaphors, allegories, etc.; these are collectively called similitudes.
Hosea 12:10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
Not every detail is spelled out, but enough is given to explain them and accurately prophesy events.
Much of the OT is cryptic for another very good reason. Many events were not supposed to be understood until after the fact, as with Christ’s atonement. If the Jews understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Many of the prophecies in Scripture were not meant to be understood until the events passed or a certain knowledge had been acquired.
Revelation 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
For centuries, people have been puzzled by how the world’s buying and selling could be regulated. It wasn’t until the rise of information technology and digital currency that the means to achieve this emerged. There are clear overt prophecies, those to be understood at the time published, and obscure covert prophecies, those that needed a completed event or a certain knowledge to be understood.
In 1909, Charles Péguy thought that “the world changed less since Jesus Christ than in the last thirty years”, and perhaps some young doctor of philosophy in physics would now add that his science has changed more since 1909 than in all recorded time before.
The Lessons of History, chapt. 1, pg 12
Will & Ariel Durant; Simon & Schuster, NY, 1968
Civilization has made its greatest strides in the last thousand years, and in the last three centuries, man’s rate of development seems almost to have increased by geometric progression.
“Man in Western Civilization”
Vern L. Bullough; Holt, Rinehart & Winston, inc. 1957
Encryption is also used to determine the application and strength of desire of the heart.
God has determined that divine things should enter through the heart into the mind, and not through the mind into the heart. In divine things, therefore, it is necessary to love them in order to know them.
Blaise Pascal 1623-1662; Christian, French Mathematician, Physicist
The Bible is not an open book to unbelievers or believers whose hearts are not right.
Acts 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
Things are also encrypted to test one’s resolve.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
Ecclesiastes 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Understanding is granted to those that overcome the flesh and diligently study.
I hope this gives you some understanding of why the Bible is written the way it is.