Was Technology Used in Biblical Times?

This article is part of a larger investigation into Christian Innovation and Design, providing examples of technology in the Bible. Here, we’ll answer the question “Was technology used in the Bible?”, to which we must answer a resounding YES as evidenced by the many, many passing references to things like tools (carpentry tools, musical instruments, etc.), infrastructure (roads, cisterns, bridges, etc.), crafting techniques (smelting, textiles, masonry, wine-making, etc.), and agriculture (goads, yokes, plows, etc.). 

Of greater concern, however, is the prevalence of cities in scripture—not only as literal instances of engineering and technology, but as a figurative instance of how God intends people to perpetuate creation. This was the thesis of “Heirs of Eden: creating the world we want with God’s help and for God’s glory” and we’ll revisit some of those basic observations here as proof that God wants humanity to not only flourish within creation but also to emulate our Creator in ongoing technological development. 

Cities are the product of our cooperation with God. They refer to places of imagination, agency, and relationship where humanity gathers and societies flourish. That’s why the final picture in the Bible is of the New Jerusalem, a Garden-City that covers the Earth (Rev.21).

I’m fond of pointing out that the Bible begins in a Garden made entirely by God and concludes in a Garden-City, representative of the fact that God intends to work alongside people who will rule and reign forever.

Again—the Bible begins in a Garden, but ends in a City.

Or, said another way: God gave us a Garden, but requires from us a City.

The metaphor the Bible uses to describe our work with God in expanding Creation—the specifically human portion of that work—is ‘the City.’ 

We are the City of God (Rev.21.2).  We are a living temple (1 Pe.2.5).  God lives in us (Eph.3.17).  God is home with us (1 Cor.3.16).  God is both master builder (1 Cor.3.11) and chief cornerstone (Eph.2.20).

That the Bible begins in a Garden and concludes in a City demonstrates that God’s purposes are not cyclical, but developmental. God doesn’t make us endlessly repeat life’s lessons, but leads us through a long process of maturation, resulting in our final and eventual perfection. 

That’s our destiny: to become the best possible version of ourselves. 

With God’s help. For God’s glory.

We grow as we work alongside our Creator. We stretch to reach God, knowing we won’t get all the way there, but also knowing that unless we stretch, we languish.

So, we reach. We strive. We aspire. We hope. We trust. We believe. We love. And we know that in all these things Christ is working within us, like a divine diamantaire, to carve away our imperfections, to strip away our less-noble qualities, and to reveal the innate worth with which we were imbued.

God is not making you all over again; God is making you new.

And through you, God is making the world.

The Spirit of God is forming us into people who can love the unlovely, enjoy wealth even when we’re poor, rejoice in the midst of suffering, and defy death because the life of Christ lives in us forevermore.

You might think these truths are established and well-founded, needing nothing from us but our assent. But you’d be wrong. 

We are asleep. We are tired. We are convinced that what we do matters little, if at all. We watch as governments and celebrities dictate what we are permitted to enjoy, and we must be roused. 

We must be revived. 

It’s not enough to know the truth. The truth must set you free. And you must become free in every deed. 

This is your manifesto for living, for acting, for choosing, for creating, for dreaming, and for cooperating with God to heal the world. 

It’s our world. God made is for us. God gave it to us. God lives within us. 

We are the heirs of Eden, where God made a world we get to keep making. 

So let’s get to work.

The world isn’t yet the one we want, and technology is but one of the tools at our disposal for perpetuating the Creator’s creation.

Whenever I go on a rant like this one, I’m invariably confronted by some who maintain that technology is a sin, though nowhere does scripture even suggest such an idea. In fact, if you just look up a few of the Bible verses about technology advances, you’ll find nothing condemnatory whatsoever.

What does the bible say about increase in technology? Daniel 12.4 suggests that human knowledge (from which technology ultimately derives) will increase without end. Likewise, Proverbs 25.2 claims “it is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings to search things out”, which seems to indicate that there will never be a time when knowledge is not being discovered, acquired, or applied. 

But—again—these verses do not indicate that technology is a sin.

What does the Bible say about technology in the last days? There is one verse in Daniel that many have suggested refers to an increase in technology in the last days, but that seems like a stretch. A very big stretch. 

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

– Daniel 12.4

This, again, is not a condemnation of technology; so, when we return to our original question “Was technology used in biblical times?” we have to acknowledge that there are plenty of examples of technology in the Bible, and none are negative. So, for example, if you want to answer the question “What does the Bible say about machines?” you need look no further than 2 Chronicles 26.15 (ESV) and see God’s people engineering new technologies for safety and defense.

These examples help us understand the relationship between technology and Christianity, and how Christian people have been engaging with technology and developing new technologies since our earliest era. The key issue with Christianity and technology is always the heart of the Christian rather than the instance of the tech. So, when we ask questions like “What does God say about artificial intelligence?” (which, of course, appears nowhere in the scriptures), what we’re really asking is: Can the heart of mankind use this technology for redemptive purpose?

It’s up to us to supply a good answer.