A Guide To Making Sense in Reading the Bible
GENESIS details creation, the Fall of Humanity into sin, God’s scattering of people over the face of the earth, His choice of Abraham as the Father of Faith through whom He chose the Nation Israel as a sample group of people to whom He will reveal Himself. Genesis ends with Israel actually ending up in slavery in Egypt. Before or around the time of Abraham, JOB lived and God uses his life as a case study to illustrate the harsh realities of life. EXODUS details how God chose Moses to bring the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt to the Land He Promised to their forefather Abraham. After leaving Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, and coming to the Desert, God gave out His Laws and Terms to His Nation Israel. It was like Laws passed in parliament to guide a nation. Exodus joins into LEVITICUS where the Lord gives out instruction, among others, on how to atone for the sins of people who perchance break any of the laws given.
NUMBERS is about numbering the people in the Nation of Israel.
It was a census. Still wandering on the Desert, the Lord told Moses he will not enter the Promised Land. New children had also been born. Some old people had also died. To prepare the new generation to cross River Jordan and enter the Promised Land, Moses gives an account of all that had happened since they left Egypt and re-read the laws God gave them. And that is why the next book is called DEUTERONOMY- meaning “Second Reading of the Law”. We move to the Book of JOSHUA who took over from Moses and led the Israelites to cross River Jordan to enter the Promised Land. The Book of Joshua also details the sharing of the land among the tribes of Israel and related issues. The Book ends with the departure message of Joshua telling them to obey the Lord adding that “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”. Since Joshua left no leader, God occasionally raised up JUDGES for the people to settle cases and deliver them from their enemies. Examples of such judges were Samson, Gideon, Deborah, etc. The Bible then gives focus to the life of RUTH, a Moabite who came to live on the Promised Land through Naomi. The last judge was SAMUEL. 1st and 2nd SAMUEL details how the Israelites rejected the concept of temporal judges at the time of Samuel, called for a king, and the issues that followed. God gave them King Saul followed by David. During the time of King David, he wrote a chunk of the Book of PSALMS. David was followed by King Solomon who wrote the Books of PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, and SONGS OF SOLOMON. After the death of Solomon the Kingdom of Israel was divided into Northern (with capital Samaria) and Southern (with capital Jerusalem). 1st and 2nd KINGS give special focus to the lives, policies, and actions of the Kings who ruled these two Kingdoms. 1st and 2nd Chronicles, like Deuteronomy, give an overview of the life of the Israelites from their ancestry, times of the kingships to the time of their captivity into exile.
While on the Promised Land, people still lived in disobedience so God sent Prophets to warn and encourage them and also to their enemies to warn them of their coming judgment. These included Prophets ISAIAH, HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, and ZEPHANIAH. Eventually, as a judgment for their disobedience, God allows them to be taken captive into exile. The Northern Kingdom was taken into exile in Assyria and scattered around by Assyrian King Shalmanesar; these became the “Diaspora”. The Southern Kingdom was taken into exile in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. JEREMIAH was the last to prophesy to the people before they went into exile. When they were captured Jeremiah wept a lot leading to the writing on LAMENTATION (meaning mourning). By the Rivers of Babylon where the captives sat and wept and remembered Zion, the Lord sent Prophet EZEKIEL with a visionary message of hope to them. While in Babylonian Exile the Bible focus on individual stories of some of the exiled such as ESTHER and Prophet DANIEL. After 70 years of captivity, exiles from Babylon came back to the Promised Land as prophesied by Jeremiah. It was EZRA and NEHEMIAH who led them back to rebuild their nation; so the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah is after the captivity. After the exile, God still sent Prophets HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, and MALACHI to call the people to obedience. After this, God did not speak to them again for 400 years until He spoke through John the Baptist who was “the voice of one calling in the desert making straight the Way for the coming of Jesus Christ”. Part II will continue from here and take the Journey from Matthew to Revelation.
Yours truly
SK Fianko-Larbi
(22.07.2016 @05:42GMT)
SK Fianko-Larbi
(22.07.2016 @05:42GMT)
