To the ancient interpreters, the Bible was a perfect document, harmonious, handed down from God and forever relevant to daily life. Thus when the interpreters found a peculiarity in the text--whether it was an inconsistency, a confusing word, or an hole in the story--they sought an answer which would harmonize both with the rest of the Bible and with God's teachings. Their interpretations added layers of meaning to the biblical text which has accompanied the Bible down to this day. Here are some of the puzzles--some important, some less so--that the interpreters sought to explain.

When God said on the first day, "Let there be light," what kind of light was it? The sun and moon and stars weren't created until the fourth day. Was it a special light?

Was the serpent an ordinary one, albeit one that spoke and may have even walked on legs, or was it Satan?

If God warned Adam that on the day he should eat of the fruit he would die, why did he live on for a thousand years? Is a day like a thousand years to God? Or did He mean only that mortality would come to humans on that day?

Was the Fall Eve's fault? Or does Adam take the blame because he changed God's warning about the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge when he passed it on to her?

Why did God accept Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's? Does He prefer the shepherd to the farmer? Was there something wrong with Cain's sacrifice? Or was Cain the son of the Devil?

Did the animals sin that they should also be killed in the Flood?

Was Noah such a righteous man? Or was he merely the best God could find in his generation?

What was so objectionable about the Tower of Babel? Was it that men, perhaps even giants, sought to use it to storm Heaven?

What was Isaac's great virtue? Did he go willingly to be sacrificed by Abraham?

What were the sins of the Sodomites? Was it sexual profligacy, or stinginess?

Did Jacob, a model of virtue, lie to his father Isaac and swindle his older brother Esau, or did God orchestrate Isaac's blessing of the younger son?

What did the ladder mean in Jacob's dream?

What does the name "Israel" that God gave to Jacob mean? Does it mean "struggled-with-God" or "struggled-with-men"? Does it mean "mighty with God's help"? Or does it mean "man who saw God"?

Did all the Shechemites deserve death for the rape of Dinah? How does this square with the prescribed punishment for rape? Was the real crime that a foreigner should defile a daughter of Jacob?

Did Joseph's brothers buy shoes with the twenty pieces of silver they got for selling him?

Did the girls really climb the walls to see Joseph's handsomeness and cast down their jewels to tempt him?

Why did Joseph get the first-born Reuben's double inheritance? What was Reuben's crime?

How could Moses, the great leader who received the laws of God and passed them on to the Israelites, be "heavy of speech and heavy of tongue" (Exod. 4:10)? Was he improperly educated? Did he have a speech defect? Or was his tongue injured by divine intervention, in order to save his life?

Were the punishments of the Egyptians deserved? If God had ordained that Pharaoh should refuse to let the Israelites go free, was it fair to make his people suffer? Why did He make the Exodus so elaborate?

What did manna taste like? Was it bread, or grain-like flakes? Did it adapt to one's taste? Or was it spiritual food?

Did God speak all Ten Commandments, or only the first two? Did Moses have another secret book of laws? How could the tablets be broken?

Why would someone follow the path of death rather than the path of life? What do the paths look like? Does life mean life after death?

Did Moses grow horns? Was he buried?