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Joshua is the first book in the section of the Protestant Bible known as the “Historical Books.” Named for its main character, the book of Joshua tells of the conquest of the land of Canaan by the Israelites. By the third chapter, the people of Israel were standing on the Moab side of the Jordan River, wondering what to do. Unlike their ancestors...
Read MoreDeuteronomy is the fifth book the Bible, the end of the section called The Pentateuch, which simply means “five books.” The Pentateuch is often called the “Five Books of Moses” or the Torah, a Hebrew word that means “instructions.” With the wandering in the wilderness now over, these laws were delivered “in the land of Moab” (Deut 1:15). Deuteronom...
Read MoreBecause it is filled with many numbers and census lists, the fourth book of the Bible is called “Numbers.” Early in the first chapter, God says to Moses, “Take a census of the whole congregation of Israelites” (Num 1:2). But the Hebrew tradition calls the book Bamidbar, which is translated into English as “in the wilderness.” The people of Israel...
Read MoreThe Book of Leviticus gets its name from the Levitical priests who served as leaders of religious services among the people of Israel. Leviticus contains a mix of religious, civil and moral regulations, and at the heart of the book is chapter 19, which contains rules about holiness — especially holiness in social ethics. Although people today are...
Read MoreAt the heart of the Book of Exodus is the story of the Israelites escaping Egyptian bondage. This story is central to Jewish faith and identity, remembered each year in the celebration of Passover. The word exodus is from Greek and means “going out” — that is, going out of captivity in Egypt. The promise of the book is that oppressive empires are...
Read MoreThe first book in the Bible is all about beginnings. Bereshit is the first Hebrew word in the book, translated into English as “in the beginning,” which gives the book its name in the Jewish tradition. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the book was called Genesis, which means “origin,” a name which continues to be used in our Englis...
Read MoreThe Book of Revelation is filled with frightening images: A great red dragon, beasts from the sea and land, the bowls of God’s wrath, a great whore, an apocalyptic battle, and the final judgment. When the seventh trumpet blows, we learn of God’s plan “for destroying those who destroy the earth” (Rev 11:18). American pop-culture has picked up on th...
Read MoreThe author of this short letter was Jude, “a servant of Jesus Christ,” and he was writing to “those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1). Like John, he was addressing a church in conflict, and he spoke with concern about intruders “who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny ou...
Read MoreThe third letter of John was written to an individual described as “the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth” (3 John 1). John wrote this personal letter to warn him about the danger of an insubordinate leader “who likes to put himself first” and had been “spreading false charges against us” (2 John 9-10), a reminder to us that there has been c...
Read MoreThe second letter of John was written to “the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth” (2 John 1). This “lady” was probably a local congregation, not an individual, and “her children” were members of the church. He began by saying that he was “overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth” (2 John 4), followed by the w...
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