Romans

Many people find Paul's writing difficult to understand. He was an incredible intellect, and he could just lay out all kinds of ideas and doctrine in a simple letter to a group of friends. Others of us might need more than a cursory read-through to get what he's saying. Does Romans make sense to you? Do you need to study it bit by bit to understand it, or do big things just jump out at you? Any insight?

Minor Prophets

Amos, Habbakuk, Haggai, Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Malachi, Micah, Nahum, Obadiah, Zechariah, Zephaniah. Christians refer to them as the Minor Prophets. Jews compile them into one book and call them The Twelve. The Major Prophets consist of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel to both Christians and Jews, and Christians also put Daniel in the that category. (Jews put Daniel in the Writings category.) Were the messages of the Minor Prophets less important to the Israelites? Did they just publish less material? Is there a reason to call them Minor other than the fact that their books are much shorter? What do we do with the many prophets of God mentioned in the Bible who never published a thing?

Isaiah and Matthew

Some scholars have seen a link between Isaiah and Matthew. Matthew certainly quotes Isaiah a lot. Does reading these two books back to back, one Old Testament and one New Testament give you a different perspective?

Isaiah

There are some pretty famous passages of Isaiah, including many thought to be prophetic of a Messiah in ancient times as well as more recent times. Some of those famous passages are mixed in with passages which are for the most part unfamiliar. If some of these passages were already familiar to you, what was your reaction to reading them in context? Were you surprised? How does that affect how you understand those spots?

1st and 2nd Kings

The Bible records bad king after bad king after bad king, especially in Israel, rather than in southern Judah. Yet it seems that most of the famous prophets were most active in Israel. What's this about? And furthermore it seems that after each bad king is mentioned his worst sin--worshipping idols and encouraging the people to do the same. Why does the author of kings record that seemingly harmless practice (it's not like genocide or communist rule, right?) as the worst of their sins?

2nd Samuel

God promised David he'd be king one day, and David lets God take care of making it happen. He has many opportunities to assert his power and even assassinate the current king, but he refuses to harm or even insult "the Lord's annointed". David's son Absalom, however, is alwasy taking matters into his own hands--taking revenge on his brother, manipulating his father to get what he wants, staging a coup. Why the two different attitudes/life views? Which person do you admire more? Why?

1st Samuel 21

David's father-in-law has it in for him and is chasing him around with an army trying to kill him. So David runs to safety with a neighboring king. But the neighboring king has heard that David is next in line for the throne back home and is a strong warrior, so he's a little worried to be harboring this fellow. So David pretends to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard. The king says to his men, "Must you bring me a madman? We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?"

Ruth

Why is the book of Ruth included in the Bible? Is it a diversion? Is it a central part of the story? What do you learn about God's character from this tiny book?

Joshua, Judges

Some people have asserted that Joshua and Judges present two opposing views of Israel's migration into Canaan--that Joshua shows a peaceful takeover and intermingling and that Judges shows a complete millitary invasion coupled with genocide. Are these accurate descriptions? The two books are very different stylistically. Are they conflicting in narrative?

1st Samuel 5

The Philistines capture the Ark of God in battle and take it to the temple of their fish god Dagon. Next morning, Dagon (he's an idol) is face-down on the floor in front of the Ark. They put Dagon back up, and next morning he's face-down in front of the Ark again, but with hands and head broken off, lying in the doorway. Some kind of cosmic prank? Was God trying to make a point to these idol worshippers?

Acts 28

Paul was shipwrecked and bitten by a poisonous snake. The people on the island said he must be a murderer who was getting his dues. They waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn't harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

Deuteronomy 29

Deut. 29: 29 "The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions."

This seems to be saying that there's much more to God than our finite minds can grasp, and God hasn't revealed all that stuff. And God isn't being unfair by requiring us to obey XYZ that we have no idea about--perhaps we're only judged on what we've done with the information we did have. Any thoughts on this?

Deuteronomy 17

From Deut. 17:14-20...
Guidelines for a King
Must not build up a stable of horses
Must not return to Egypt
Must not take many wives
Must copy this body of instruction and read it daily

Keep this in mind as you read Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and the prophets

Deuteronomy, Gospels

It's been said that Jesus' most often-quoted book of the Hebrew Bible (at least in the canonical Gospels) is Deuteronomy. Can anyone cooberate or refute that? Any ideas why Jesus would have quoted this book the most? Did he regarded it as the best one? Or his listeners were more familiar with it than the other books? Because it was his personal favorite? What similarities and differences do you see between Jesus and Moses?

Psalms

The Psalms written by David seem to cover the gamut, inluding things which sound rather unsavory to our 21st-century American ears, like "Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed." (Ps. 10:15) or "Slap all my enemies in the face! Shatter the teeth of the wicked!" (Ps. 3:7) Does this say something about God's character? Or does this say something about David's character? Or his view of God? Or his culture? Does this have any bearing on how we may/should talk to God? Is this sort of prayer disgusting? Or is it heartening? Or both?

Numbers 22-24, 2nd Peter 2

An angel in the road with flaming sword, a talking donkey, a reluctant (?) prophet, blessings rather than curses... People get stirred up over this whole event. Was God being tricky with Balaam or is there more to this story? Was King Balak just stubborn? dense? confused? uninformed? Had Balaam been hired before and cooperated with Balak's requests? Check out 2nd Peter 2:15, 16 (in context preferably). Does this shed more light or was the author of 2nd Peter just adding his own interpretation?

Numbers 19, Hebrews 9

Numbers 19:13 "All those who touch a dead human body and do not purify themselves in the proper way defile the LORD's Tabernacle..." And those who weren't Levites weren't even allowed in the Tabernacle. Does anyone see any parallels to Hebrews 9?

Numbers

God seems to offer on many occasions to wipe out the Israelites. Would he really have done this? What was God's larger purpose in these threats in light of his rescue of them from Egypt? Why didn't he annihilate them? Was God expecting Moses to stand up for them?

Leviticus, Hebrews

The author of Hebrews is clearly very familiar with the contents of Leviticus. He also believes that the religion portrayed in Leviticus was superceded by something more "real". What relationships do you see in the two books and does reading the one help to clarify the other?

Proverbs 1

From last week's reading:
"Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."
-Proverbs 1:7 (NLT)

Leviticus

It seems to appear here that God is basically inventing a religion for these people, and it's really detailed, and kind of disgusting for those of you who aren't into graphic descriptions of animal sacrifice. What's this all about? Why couldn't God just say, "Love me, love each other" as it seems like he does other places in the Bible?

Exodus 25-28

God gave Moses such detail about how to build the Tabernacle, and it sounds like it was really beautiful--fine cloth and embroidery in deep colors, gold, bronze, accacia wood, skins. Why was it supposed to be so attractive? What was the lesson for the people involved in building it? The lesson for the people worshipping there? The lesson for curious foreigners? The lesson for us today? Does this or does this not have bearing on how we should construct our places of worship? Why?

Genesis 37-50

These stories about Joseph are some of the most appealing stories in the Bible. It's easy to get caught up in the human characters and forget about the Main Character, God. But in 45:4,5 Joseph says to his brothers: "I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don't be upset and don't be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives." What does this say about good and evil and God and his purposes?

Genesis 11-50

Beginning in 11:10, Genesis traces a family line which includes Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, and then Jacob who is the father of 12 sons who are the forbears of the 12 tribes of Israel. God makes some incredible promises to members of this family, even though they don't seem to deserve it. What does this say about the "chosen people"? What does this say about God?

Genesis, Chronicles

Genesis presents us with genealogies, as will many later books, especially 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Why would these genealogies have been important to the authors and original hearers/readers of these books? Is there any reason to read them these days?

Genesis 1-3

Regardless of your view of these first three chapters of Genesis, they are foundational to the story of the Bible. What things can we learn about God and humankind and good and evil? Does the story presented in these chapters influence your view of what you've read in Mark?

Mark 14

Why did Judas betray his friend Jesus?

Mark 1-13

Has anyone else noticed Jesus often telling people he's just healed not to tell anyone about the miracle, or when he told his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah, or when they went to a new town, trying to make sure no one knew they were there? Why was he trying to be so inconspicuous? What was Jesus trying to accomplish? It seems that there are some clues buried in the text. What have you discovered?

Mark 1-3

Imagine this is your first time reading from the Bible (or maybe it is). If you are a newcomer to the literary styles and cultures in which the Bible was written, what words or phrases in these chapters would be (or are) unfamiliar to you?

Mark presents the cliff-notes version of the story he's telling--just a few sentances about each event and then on to the next. What events or words stand out to you?