The Bible for Blockheads---Revised Edition: A User-Friendly Look at the Good Book

This page is intentionally left blank

Revised

Also by Douglas Connelly Amazing Discoveries That Unlock the Bible The Book of Revelation for Blockheads

Revised

Douglas Connelly

The Bible for Blockheads Copyright © 1999, 2007 by Douglas Connelly

All rights reserved under International and Pan -American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down ­ loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan. AER Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-31421-9 Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Connelly, Douglas, 1949 – . The Bible for blockheads : a user-friendly look at the Good Book / Douglas Connelly. — Rev. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-310-27388-2 1. Bible — Introductions. I. Title. BS475.2.C67 2007 220.6'1 — dc22 2007006709 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: Today’s New International Version™. TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher. 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 • 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Contents Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Bible: What’s with It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Tool Time: Study Bibles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Part 1: Foundations Genesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Chart: Abraham’s Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Exodus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Chart: The Tabernacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Tool Time: Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Leviticus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Map: Israel’s Wilderness Journey and Entry into Canaan . . . . . . . 62 Deuteronomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 How the Old Testament Fits Together: Exodus and Conquest . . . . 70

Part 2: Story Joshua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 People of the Bible: The Canaanites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Chart: The Judges of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 1 Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 People of the Bible: The Philistines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 2 Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 1 and 2 Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 How the Old Testament Fits Together: Israel’s Kingdom . . . . . . . 110 1 and 2 Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Ezra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Map: Return Routes from Babylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 People of the Bible: The Persians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

How the Old Testament Fits Together: Return from Exile . . . . . . 122 Map: The Persian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Nehemiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Esther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Part 3: Drama Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Tool Time: Concordances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Part 4: Worship Psalms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Part 5: Wisdom Proverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Ecclesiastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Song of Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Part 6: Prophets Chart: The Ministries of the Prophets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Isaiah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Map: The Neo-Babylonian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 People of the Bible: The Babylonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Lamentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Chart: The Minor Prophets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Hosea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Joel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Amos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Tool Time: Bible Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Obadiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 People of the Bible: The Assyrians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Micah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Nahum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Habakkuk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Zephaniah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Haggai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Zechariah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Malachi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Part 7: Gospels Matthew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Map: Palestine in Jesus’ Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Part 8: History Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Map: Paul’s First Missionary Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Map: Paul’s Second Missionary Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 Map: Paul’s Third Missionary Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Tool Time: Bible Atlases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Part 9: Letters Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Map: The Roman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 People of the Bible: The Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 1 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 2 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Philippians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Colossians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 1 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 2 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 1 Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 2 Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 Titus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Philemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 1 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 John’s Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

A Word of Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 About the Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Share Your Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Welcome

he Bible makes us nervous. We know it’s the “Good Book,” but it can be intimidating. When we pick it up, we quickly find ourselves lost in its difficult names and churchy language. We may hear the Bible read once in a while, but we’ve concluded that it’s out of our league. This book will help. It is not a substitute for the Bible but an access code into an incredible book. Like the guidebook to a video game that seems impossible, my plan is to show you an easy way in. You’ll be amazed at how much of the Bible you can grasp on your own with a few simple facts in your mental arsenal. Suppose you find a letter blowing around on the street tomorrow morning. It probably won’t mean a whole lot to you. But if you are told that the letter was written by a man to a friend or by a woman to her daughter, suddenly the letter takes on more significance. If you then discover that the man’s friend is dying or that the woman’s daughter is a runaway, the words may move you powerfully. Sometimes what will open your understanding to a section of the Bible is just knowing who wrote it and who first read it. Just a few words explaining what it’s all about can make the Bible come alive. This book is a guide to a great adventure. It assumes nothing except that you are ready to make the climb.

T

What You Will Find in This Book After a couple chapters explaining what the Bible is and how best to start exploring it, you will find a short chapter on each of the sixty-six short books that make up the big book we call the Bible. I tell what each book is about, who the main players are, who wrote it and why — and then I leave it up to you to actually read that part of the Bible. You will also find some special sections in each chapter. A chapter will contain several but not necessarily all of these: • Help File: Fascinating facts about the book or author that will accelerate the learning curve.

9

• Key Characters: The main people connected with each biblical book. • Points 2 Remember: Concise summaries of key points from each biblical book. • Download: A verse or passage of Scripture to memorize. • Walking the Walk: Suggestions for making what you have read more personal. Projects to explore or questions to consider. • Digging Deeper: Resources to help you investigate further. • In Other Words: Pointed quotations from Bible experts. Other nuggets of information are scattered throughout the book: • Tool Time: Practical insights into how to choose and use key resources to help you understand the Bible even better. • Footprints in the Sand: Important discoveries in archaeology or history that shed light on the Bible. • People of the Bible: Brief discussions of the main players on the stage of the biblical world. • Bible Bad Guys: Some of the Bible’s crooks, thugs, dealers, and deviants.

The Bible: What’s with It?

Ñ Discover how the Bible was written — and how it survived. Ñ Learn to find your way around quickly. Ñ Find out what role God played in the production of the Bible.

he word Bible means “the book.” The Bible is one book, but it is also a collection of books. Sixty-six books were written over 1,600 years by at least forty different authors. You will find just about every kind of writing in the Bible — love letters, songs, historical records, diaries, visions of the future, genealogies, riddles. The Bible was the first book printed on a printing press, and it still outsells all other books in the marketplace. You can get the Bible on audio, on video, and online. It has been translated into more languages and has been quoted more and memorized more than any book in human history. The Bible is divided into two main sections — the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament focuses on God’s interaction with the people of Israel. The New Testament, written later, focuses on Jesus and his early followers called Christians. The word testament means “treaty or covenant,” an agreement made between two people. God entered into a contract with the people of Israel in the Old Testament. God’s new contract (in the New Testament) is made with anyone who will commit to following Jesus. In each Testament the terms of the agreement are spelled out. The Bible is an instruction manual for people who want to do what pleases God.

T

The Old Testament The first and longest major division of the Bible is called the Old Testament by Christians. (Jewish people refer to it as “the Hebrew Bible.”) Thirty-nine individual biblical books are included in the Old Testament. Some of the books are named for their author — like the book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophet (or spokesperson) for God, who wrote that

11

12

The Bible for Blockheads particular book. Some books are named for their main characters, who may or may not be the author. The book of Joshua is about a great leader named Joshua. The book of Esther is about a Jewish girl who became a courageous queen. Joshua probably was the author of his book. Esther probably was not the writer of the book about her. Other Old Testament books get their names because of the story they tell. The book of Exodus, for example, tells the story of the nation of Israel’s “exit” from Egypt. The books of Kings talk about (you guessed it) Israel’s kings. Some books have unusual names that don’t make much sense in English — Leviticus, Ecclesiastes, Psalms. (I’ve tried to give some explanation of these titles in the Help File section of each of these books.) Originally the Old Testament was written in two languages. Most of it was written in Hebrew. Small sections of a few books were written in a language related to Hebrew called Aramaic. Here’s what Hebrew looks like in a modern Hebrew Bible: .≈r