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THE BIBLE
Is our source of divine revelation about God, Creation, the close relationship between God and us and also about the history of our salvation. We find there many interesting, moving and shocking stories, deep wisdom, beautiful poetry and prose, great prayers, divine commandments, apostolic exhortation and of course the words of Jesus.
There are also many complex, foreign, legalistic, uninteresting and even dull passages which are difficult to read and understand. To help those who would like to be familiar with the essential parts of the Bible I will write a weekly, step-by-step guide beginning on the first Sunday of Advent.
Father Tibor
11. Moses received miraculous powers.
Moses received miraculous powers to give him authority when speaking to the Israelites and Pharaoh (Exodus 4). Still he protested, “please my Lord, I have never been eloquent, send someone else.” This time the Lord gave in and appointed Moses’ brother Aaron to be his mouthpiece. The first eight plagues on Egypt are described in chapters 7-10. Then the final plague is announced by God, the death of all the first-born (Exodus11).
The Israelites were of course spared all the plagues but they were required to paint their doorposts with the blood of a lamb which they killed so that when the first born were struck down all over Egypt, their houses marked with the blood of a lamb would be passed over. This was the Passover Night and the meal they ate that night was the Passover Meal. It was to become a day of festival for the Jewish people to commemorate that day when God brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 12). When Jesus ate the Last Supper with the apostles he was eating this Passover Meal.
12. God said to Moses: all firstborn are consecrated to the Lord (Exodus 13)
God said to Moses: all firstborn are consecrated to the Lord (Exodus 13). Jesus, like all firstborn, had to be redeemed (Luke 2:22-) The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, many hundreds of thousands of them, and their crossing of the sea in flight of the pursuing Egyptian army are described in the 13-14 chapters of Exodus.
The victory song of Moses is in ch.15. It is one of the beautiful Old Testament canticles and now forms part of the Divine Office. They moved on into the inhospitable desert where they experienced hunger and thirst. They were unaccustomed to hunger because there was always enough to eat in Egypt. They complained to Moses and the story of manna and quails from heaven is told in Exodus16.
The father-in-law of Moses saw him administering justice for the people from morning till evening and told him to delegate some of this work to other elders and concentrate his energies on representing the people to God (Exodus 18:13-). When they reached the wilderness of Sinai they stopped at a mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments (chapters19-20). Other laws are also listed in chapters 21-23.
13. The ratification of the Covenant.
The ratification of the Covenant with blood of bulls is described in chapter 24 of Exodus. Today we have the new and everlasting Covenant which was ratified by the sacred blood of Christ. (The priest says these words when consecrating the wine at Mass).
Moses talked with God so much that his face was radiant and the people were afraid to go near him. So he covered his face with a veil when talking to the people but he took it off when he spoke with God (Exodus 34:29-35). He said to God: ”please show me your glory”. God’s glory passed Moses but God covered Moses with his hand for “no human can see God’s glory and survive.” (chapter 33:18-23) Chapters 25-32 and 35-40 cover the instructions on the building of the sanctuary, the offerings and the ministers.
The Book of Leviticus and Book of Numbers 1-10 are all about more laws and regulations for the Israelites.
14. The Book of Numbers.
We have reached the Book of Numbers in our run through the Bible. When the people complained about the lack of meat in the desert Moses turned to God and said: “Where am I to find meat for these people? Why do you put the burden of all these people on me?” (Numbers 11). So God told him to collect seventy of the elders of Israel and he took some of the spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. And they bore the burden with Moses so he no longer had to bear it on his own.
15. The Israelites wandered in the desert.
The Israelites wandered in the desert and they developed a fearsome reputation as being unstoppable because God was on their side (Book of Numbers, 21). The king of Arad attacked them when they come near his land but he was beaten. Sihon king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan suffered the same fate. The Moabites were also filled with dread and said: “This hoard is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” The king of Moab, Balak, tried divination against them. He summoned Balaam the seer and asked him to curse the Israelites. But God told Balaam that the people of Israel were blessed and he should leave them alone (Numbers 22).
The story of Balaam’s talking donkey and the angel is told in verses 21-39 and the oracles of Balaam are in chapters 23-24.
16. The fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy
We have reached the fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy. Much of the content of this book is a repetition of what has been presented before, mostly a collection of laws and regulations. The summary of the Law which Jesus quoted is in chapter 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might…”
God’s choice of the people of Israel is explained in 7:6- “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves you….”
The great Song of Moses is in chapter 32 and the death of Moses described in ch. 34. With that we close the first five books also called by the collective name of The Pentateuch.
17. The Book of Joshua.
Moses died and Joshua succeeded him in the role of mediator between God and the Israelites. They arrived at the Promised Land, ready to move in and take it over. They crossed the Jordan (chapter 3) and conquered Jericho (ch. 5:13- ). They defeated 31 kingdoms in all. These are listed in ch.12.
Part of what they took over was allotted to each tribe. After they had had settled, there was a great assembly at Shechem (ch.24) and the Covenant was renewed. Joshua reminded the people of the choices they had: to serve the Lord or to go with the gods of the peoples.
18. The Book of Judges.
We have reached the Book of Judges. Looking back for a moment we can see that Moses strongly advised the people to remain faithful to the Lord God and avoid getting involved with lesser gods (Deuteronomy 8:7-20). Moses’ successor, Joshua gave the same advice (Joshua 24:14-24).
When Joshua died in the Promised Land, God did not appoint a strong successor to him and the people deserted God and followed the lesser gods of the surrounding peoples (Judges 2:11- ). This went on for several generations so that there were people among the Israelites who never even heard of God. They were no longer successful in battle and they were subdued by their enemies.
When they cried for help God appointed judges to lead them out of their distress. The first of these was Othniel (3:9- ), two better known were Deborah (4-5) and Gideon (6-8), but the best known was Samson the strong man (13-16). The story of Samson and Delilah is told in 16:4-31.
19. The Book of Ruth.
The Book of Ruth is very short, only four pages. It is a story of a woman’s loyalty to her in-laws, about good people being faithful to their customs.
Ruth the Moabitess marries into a family from Bethlehem. When all the male members of the family die Ruth follows her mother-in-law Naomi back to Judea in search of a father for her hoped-for son. She finds him in Boaz, an aging relative of her dead husband. The son born was to be an ancestor of King David and thus of Jesus as well. Ruth’s name is mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Mat 1:5)
20. The First Book of Samuel.
The First Book of Samuel begins with the story of Hannah, the childless wife of a man with two wives. She was tormented by the other wife who had several children. How she got her son Samuel is described in chapter 1.
Her thanksgiving song which is regarded as the model for Mary’s song, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) is in chapter 2. The call of the boy Samuel to the service of God is in chapter 3. The story of the institution of the monarchy in Israel begins in chapter 8.
God advised the people against having a king but they would not listen. The story of Saul, the first king is told in chapters 9-31. David enters the story in chapter 16, his fight with Goliath is told in 17:32-58.
These Bible Studies will be available soon