I Dare You Not to Bore Me with The Bible

S. Heiser Michael

Description

The Bible is filled with passages that are so baffling we tend to ignore them. Yet the passages that seem weird might be the most important. This collection of essays from Bible Study Magazine will shock you, intrigue you, and completely change the way you view the Bible. Dr. Michael S. Heiser visits some of the Bible's most obscure passages, unveiling their ancient context to help you interpret them today. Read this book, and you'll never be bored by the Bible again.Part One: Old TestamentThe Ancient's Guide to the GalaxyWalk Like an IsraeliteEven the Bible Needed UpgradingSpellchecking the BibleWhy Circumcision?The Abandoned Child and the Basket CaseA Tale of Courage We Never TeachCounting the Ten CommandmentsIs There Really a Sin Offering?There's a Devil in the DetailsLove Potion: Numbers 5Is My Bible Right?The Most Horrific Bible StoryRighting a WrongWhen Giants Walked the EarthThe Divine ArrowPromise Undelivered?Sanctified Dirt1003 BC Census: Who Authorized It-God or Satan?Cookin' the BooksSlaying the Sea MonsterDoes God Need a Co-Signer?The Witness in the CloudsWho Wrote the Book of Proverbs?Immanuel's Mother: Virgin or Not?Standing in the CouncilJeremiah: Double Vision?Why the Ark of the Covenant Will Never Be FoundHe, Him, Me, Myself, and IBizarre Visions for the Worst of TimesDo the Dead Sea Scrolls Answer the Canon Question?Part Two: New TestamentBurying HellMy Guardian AngelThe New Testament Misquotes the Old Testament?"I Saw Satan Fall like Lightning": When?The Healing SerpentWho Took Verse 4 out of My Bible?What Walking on Water Really MeansBorn Again ... and Again and Again?Dumbledore Meets Philip & PeterPaul's Lost LettersDestiny & DestinationA Female ApostleSigned, Sealed, and Delivered-to Satan?Treason & TranslationCharlton Heston Had CompanyWhen Abraham Met JesusHow Many Times Is Jesus Coming Back?What's Jesus Waiting For?God's Right-Hand Woman? Wisdom in HebrewsBaptism as Spiritual WarfareJesus Is God: Jude and Peter Tell Me SoWhen Angels Do TimeTough LoveJesus, God, a.k.a., The Name666: What Theories Add Up?Perspective Changes EverythingConstantine, Conspiracy, and the Canon

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lexham Press
• Date de parution: 16 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781577995678
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible
Michael S. Heiser
 
 
 
I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible
Copyright 2014 Lexham Press
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225 http://www.lexhampress.com
You may use brief quotations from this book in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [e-mail] .
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ( ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-57799-567-8
Editor-in-Chief: John D. Barry
Managing Editor: Rebecca Van Noord
Copy Editors: Rebecca Brant, Elizabeth Vince, Lynnea Fraser, Elliot Ritzema
Cover Design: Jim LePage
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Part One: Old Testament
The Ancient’s Guide to the Galaxy
Walk Like an Israelite
Even the Bible Needed Upgrading
Spellchecking the Bible
Why Circumcision?
The Abandoned Child and the Basket Case
A Tale of Courage We Never Teach
Counting the Ten Commandments
Is There Really a Sin Offering?
There’s a Devil in the Details
Love Potion: Numbers 5
Is My Bible Right?
The Most Horrific Bible Story
Righting a Wrong
When Giants Walked the Earth
The Divine Arrow
Promise Undelivered?
Sanctified Dirt
1003 BC Census: Who Authorized It—God or Satan?
Cookin’ the Books
Slaying the Sea Monster
Does God Need a Co-Signer? The Witness in the Clouds
Who Wrote the Book of Proverbs?
Immanuel’s Mother: Virgin or Not?
Standing in the Council
Jeremiah: Double Vision?
Why the Ark of the Covenant Will Never Be Found
He, Him, Me, Myself, and I
Bizarre Visions for the Worst of Times
Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Answer the Canon Question?
Part Two: New Testament
Burying Hell
My Guardian Angel
The New Testament Misquotes the Old Testament?
“I Saw Satan Fall like Lightning”: When?
The Healing Serpent
Who Took Verse 4 out of My Bible?
What Walking on Water Really Means
Born Again … and Again and Again?
Dumbledore Meets Philip & Peter
Paul’s Lost Letters
Destiny & Destination
A Female Apostle
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered—to Satan?
Treason & Translation
Charlton Heston Had Company
When Abraham Met Jesus
How Many Times Is Jesus Coming Back?
What’s Jesus Waiting For?
God’s Right-Hand Woman? Wisdom in Hebrews 1
Baptism as Spiritual Warfare
Jesus Is God: Jude and Peter Tell Me So
When Angels Do Time
Tough Love
Jesus, God, a.k.a., The Name
666: What Theories Add Up?
Perspective Changes Everything
Constantine, Conspiracy, and the Canon
About the Author
Foreword
The Bible is accessible to everyone, but parts of it can be perplexing. It’s the “weird” and supposedly “boring” parts of the Bible that Dr. Michael S. Heiser addresses in this volume—all in an effort to make the Bible come alive for you again.
For many, Bible study means stilted religion or dull Sunday school classes. After reading this book, you won’t be bored by Bible study. It will explain Bible passages that have always confused you and show you that seemingly insignificant details can be critical—you will never skip a Bible passage again.
Dr. Heiser will connect you to the place and time in which the biblical writers lived and help you understand what these connections mean. He will also help you develop your Bible study abilities.
Tried and tested, the essays in this collection originally appeared in Bible Study Magazine in the sections “Weird, but Important,” “I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible,” and “What They Don’t Tell You in Church.” Many of the essays included are interrelated, and many offer succinct treatments of complex topics. Dr. Heiser has published on most of the topics academically. You can see some of his research at michaelsheiser.com .
Enjoy traveling the ancient trails of the biblical world with Dr. Heiser. May God bless you in your pursuit of Him and in your study of His Word.
—John D. Barry
Editor-in-Chief of Bible Study Magazine
Bellingham, Washington
Introduction
The Bible is a wonderful book. Its pages reveal the epic story of God’s redemption of humankind and the long, bitter conflict against evil. Yet it’s also a book that seems strange to us. While God’s Word was written for us, it wasn’t written to us.
It’s been my experience, as a Bible reader, seminarian and graduate student, and even as a biblical studies professor, that most people don’t know what to do with the odd, perplexing, and perhaps frightening passages in Scripture. We tend to simply skip them. Yet by doing so, we abandon our responsibility to grasp and teach the entirety of Scripture—this book we believe to be the inspired Word of God.
As a consequence, believers tend to learn only the basic truths taught in the Bible. Recent studies from the Barna Group demonstrate a growing rate of biblical and theological illiteracy in the Church at all ages, especially for those under 40. Biblical and theological illiteracy contributes to less engagement with the Bible, less appetite for its teachings, and more confusion and skepticism.
Many Christians know the indispensable parts of the storyline of the Bible and the gospel message. Yet they are lost when it comes to the remainder of the Bible—especially the Old Testament, which comprises a full three-quarters of the book. Some believers try to mend this knowledge gap. They might read through all the notes in a study Bible or even use various tools for studying Hebrew and Greek words. Yet those are the exceptions. Many people, after years of inaction, get bored with the Bible.
I began my teaching career at a Bible college, where I inherited the “next generation” of Christian young people—an age group that is now the adult leadership in their churches. Since these students had chosen to go to Bible college, I presumed they were the most likely to be interested in the material. I quickly discovered that wasn’t the case. These students had grown up in church. They’d heard sermons, attended Sunday school classes, and listened to countless messages at youth group and camps. In their minds, they’d heard it all. And in one sense, they had. They’d heard all of the items covered in Christianity 101—hundreds of times. I distinctly remember looking out on a room full of faces that telegraphed one thought: I dare you not to bore me with the Bible .
I accepted the challenge. It was thrilling to show students that there is so much to discover and think about in Scripture. My students needed to understand that Bible reading is not Bible study , and that truly understanding much of the Bible requires seeing it in its original context, not filtering it through a familiar tradition. I could only hope that after my tiny classroom of students left Bible college, they’d keep probing and discovering.
This book grew out of the desire to make Bible Study Magazine a tool for stimulating the person in the pew to engage the most fascinating book in the world. I recall discussing the first issue years ago with our editor, John Barry. I related some of the episodes where I picked up the gauntlet thrown down by my students not to bore them with the Bible. We decided to name one of the features of the magazine after those experiences: “I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.” Out of those early conversations other features were also born: “Weird, but Important” and “What They Don’t Tell You in Church.” This book is a compilation of my contributions to those features. I trust you’ll enjoy them—and, of course, not be bored.
—Michael S. Heiser
Part One:
Old Testament
The Ancient’s Guide to the Galaxy
God chose a specific time, place, and culture to inspire people to produce what we read in the Old Testament: the ancient Mediterranean and the ancient Near East of the second and first millennia BC . Understanding the worldview of this culture can lead to more faithful understandings of Scripture on our part, especially when it comes to understanding how the Israelites viewed God and the universe.

Old Testament Cosmology
“Cosmology” refers to the way we understand the structure of the universe. The biblical writers’ conception of how the heavens and earth were structured by God represents a particular cosmology.
The Israelites believed in a universe that was common among the ancient civilizations of the biblical world. It encompassed three parts: a heavenly realm, an earthly realm for humans, and an underworld for the dead. These three tiers are reflected in the Ten Commandments: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” ( Exod 20:4 ).

The Heavens
We find an Israelite understanding of the heavens in Genesis 1:6–8 , which describes it as an expanse, with waters above and below: “And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse ( רקיע , raqiaʾ ) in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ … And it was so. And God called the expanse ( רקיע , raqiaʾ ) Heaven.”
The sky, thought to be a solid firmament, separated the waters above from the waters below: “When he established the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep” ( Prov 8:27–28 ).
The firmament dome surrounded the earth, with its edge meeting at the horizon—“the boundary between light and darkness” ( Job 26:10 ). It was supported by “pillars” or “foundations,” thought to be the tops of mountains, whose peaks appeared to touch the sky. The heavens had doors and windows through which rain or the waters above could flow upon the earth from their storehouses ( Gen 7:11 ; 8:2 ; Pss 78:23 ; 33:7 ).
God was thought to dwell above the firmament, as described in Job 22:14 : “Thick clouds veil him, so that he does