Biographical Bible

A. Tucker Ruth

Description

The Biographical Bible offers an engaging overview of Scripture through the lens of the fascinating figures who populate its pages. Through insightful reflections on the lives of over eighty individuals, this unique book captures the essence of these colorful characters, warts and all. They are people who have much in common with twenty-first century people of faith. Here the reader will find a lively and insightful narrative that brings the Bible to life as no other book does.

Sujets

• Reference work

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 19 novembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441244697
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

© 2013 by Ruth A. Tucker
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2013
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 for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4469-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NASB are 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 labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Italics to indicate additional words to clarify expressions in the original language and oblique type to indicate New Testament quotation of Old Testament texts have not been preserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
To four extraordinary and delightful grandchildren
Kayla Tucker and Mitch, Ashley, and Zach Bylsma
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Maps
Introduction
Part 1: From Paradise to the Land of Promise
1. Adam, Eve, and the Boys: From Eden to the Tower of Babel
2. Abraham and Sarah: Joys and Tribulations of Old Age
3. Isaac and Rebekah: Marital Missteps and Misery
4. Jacob and Esau: Feuding, Brooding Brothers
5. Joseph and His Siblings: Playing King of the Hill
6. Moses: From Water’s Edge to Wilderness
7. Joshua and Caleb: Gangsters for God
8. Deborah, Gideon, and Samson: Disputations and Decision Making
Part 2: Kings and Prophets Guide God’s People
9. Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah: Seasons of Motherhood
10. Samuel and King Saul: Leadership of Different Stripes
11. King David: Colorful Friends and Bitter Enemies
12. Solomon and a Succession of Kings: Reigns of Good and Bad
13. Elijah and Elisha: Prophets with Power
14. Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther, and Job: Renovation and Salvation
15. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel: Crying Out for God’s People
16. Jonah and the Minor Prophets: A Warning, a Whale, and a Whore
Part 3: A Messiah and His Mission
17. Mary, Joseph, and John the Baptist: Down Home in Palestine
18. Jesus of Nazareth: An Unlikely and Unflappable Savior
19. Mary Magdalene and the Scandal of Sychar: Women Disciples of Christ
20. Andrew, Thomas, Judas, and Stephen: Disciples on the Fringe
21. Peter: Fisherman with a Foot in His Mouth
22. The Apostle Paul: From Persecutor to Preacher
23. Barnabas, Silas, and Priscilla and Aquila: Paul’s Coworkers
24. John of Patmos: The Ultimate Visionary Leader

Epilogue
Notes
Reference List
Image Credits
Index
Back Cover
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank the many individuals at Baker Books for their confidence and enthusiasm in publishing this volume. From beginning to end I have benefited from an unswerving professionalism and a very accommodating spirit. Thanks to Michael Cook, Heather Brewer, and Ruth Anderson for their expertise and collaboration with me in matters of design and publicity. Special appreciation goes to Executive Editor Robert Hosack for his confidence in my work over the years and in this book specifically. To my editor James Korsmo I owe a debt of gratitude for going above and beyond the call of duty in working though the manuscript. He is an avid reader and scholar, and his editorial proficiency has served this volume well. I also thank my friend and colleague Jean-Paul Heldt for his careful reading and hunt for errors. To the extent that there are any errors remaining, I take sole responsibility.
Without my husband John Worst, I cannot imagine how I would have brought this book to completion. He read through and edited the entire manuscript four times. And not just that. He pored over it as though it were his own. Our lively interaction and arguments over points of interpretation and presentation are lurking behind virtually every page. To him I express my profound gratitude and abiding love.
MAPS

Israel and its neighbors (sixth century BC)

Palestine in the time of Jesus

Major locations of the New Testament
INTRODUCTION
W hen King Hezekiah learns from the prophet Isaiah that he is terminally ill (with a boil) and that he ought to set his house in order, he breaks down and weeps, pleading with God to heal him. Isaiah departs and is hardly out of earshot when the Lord speaks, telling him to inform Hezekiah not to worry more precisely, that he has heard Hezekiah’s prayer and seen his tears and will reward him with fifteen more years of prosperous rule. With a lump of figs, per Isaiah’s instructions, the boil is healed. But how will Hezekiah know for certain that God really means what he says? He is apprehensive. He needs a guarantee. (Does he have a fifteen-year planner with appointments already scheduled?) He tells Isaiah he wants a sign. Isaiah gives him a choice. The sundial can go either forward ten degrees or backward the same distance. Hezekiah, desperate for peace of mind, is determined to put God to the hardest test. He opts for backward. Isaiah cries out to the Lord, and the sundial goes backward.
Generations earlier the prophet Balaam has a short and rather routine conversation with his ass, leaving the reader with the distinct impression that the prophet and the ass may have conversed before. Later on Elisha is traveling with his students to establish a satellite campus near the Jordan River. As they are felling trees to frame out the student center, an ax head flies off the handle and lands in the river. Elisha tosses a stick into the water and the ax head swims to meet it, and the felling of trees continues.
The prophet Hosea is ordered by the Lord to marry a prostitute. Jonah, swallowed by a big fish, lives in its innards for three days and is spewed out no worse for wear. Paul is caught up to the third heaven, where he experiences such indescribable wonders that he is dumbstruck. John of Patmos tops that when he becomes more than a spectator in the most spectacular apocalyptic live production of all times.
The Bible is the most fantastic book to fall into the hands of humankind. Its characters are alive, authentic, and utterly unpredictable. They work miracles and serve the needy as often as they succumb to Satan’s wiles; they murder and rape; they marry, mourn, and manipulate; they confess sordid sins and worship God in ways that would today gross us out. Every predicament and emotion and enchantment found in the twenty-first century is somewhere lurking in the pages of Scripture.
Yet for many publishers and preachers and ordinary people, the Bible is largely a manual of propositions. The colorful personalities pushing their way out of its pages are seen as secondary if that. But any attempt to turn this incredible chronicle into a theological dissertation destroys the very essence of its message. We learn how to live and how to die by putting ourselves into the narrative. Indeed, we recognize these characters by looking in the mirror.
By getting to know biblical characters we also find role models whose actions and words are as contemporary today as they were in ancient times. Who would have thought that stodgy old Nehemiah would rise out of the Old Testament demanding fairness in civic life? He rails at those who are grasping for wealth on the backs of workers: “What you’re doing is wrong. Is there no fear of God left in you? . . . Give them back their foreclosed fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes right now. And forgive your claims on their money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.” [1]
My perspective on the Bible as I present these fascinating characters is not one of a textual critic. Nor do I seek to harmonize passages that appear to be in conflict. It is not my purpose to interact with the scholarly literature over such matters as the location of geographical sites or the authorship of biblical books. Rather, this volume is a serious endeavor to offer a very basic biographical overview of the Bible without any attempt to explain what sometimes appear to be historical or geographical inaccuracies or contradictions. Here we see the Bible unvarnished in its natural beauty with all its knots and rough edges. I make no effort to sand it down and smooth it over.
Indeed, we often do a great disservice to the Bible when we expend our energy in forcing the characters and events into logical formulas that fit our rational twenty-first-century minds. There is a place for simply letting the Bible be the Bible without assuming it needs our scholarly elucidation. At the same time, to maintain the flow of the narrative, I make judgments regarding such matters as geography, chronology, and familial relationship whe