The Bible For Dummies

Jeffrey Geoghegan, Michael Homan

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781119297413
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Estudios bíblicos

The Bible For Dummies (9781119293507) was previously published as The Bible For Dummies (9780764552960). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Discover the world's all-time bestseller in an entirely new light Ninety percent of Americans own a copy of the Bible, and while it's the most widely read book, it's also the least understood. Regardless of your religion, understanding the Bible brings much of Western art, literature, and public discourse into greater focus—from Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" painting to the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix movies. People have historically turned to religion to deal with tragedy and change, and with the right insight, the Bible can be an accessible, helpful guide to life's big questions.

The Bible For Dummies appeals to people of all faiths, as well as those who don't practice any particular religion, by providing interfaith coverage of the entire Bible and the often fascinating background information that makes the Bible come alive. You'll find answers to such questions as:

• Where did the Bible come from?
• Who wrote the Bible?
• How is the Bible put together?

Follow the history of the Bible from its beginning thousands of years ago as tattered scrolls to its status as the bestseller of all time. The Bible For Dummies covers these topics and more:

• Ten people in the Bible you should know
• The Hebrew Bible
• The Apocrypha's hidden treasures
• What's new about the New Testament
• Israel's wisdom, literature, and love poetry
• The Bible's enduring influence
• The prophets: more than fortunetellers

Whether you're interested in broadening your spiritual horizons, uncovering the symbolism of Western culture, or gaining a deeper understanding of the book you grew up reading, The Bible For Dummies has all the information you need to navigate this ancient and fascinating book.

Part 1

What the Bible Is All About

IN THIS PART …

You find out what the Bible is, how we got it, why it’s so important, and what it’s doing in your hotel room nightstand (actually, we don’t cover that last point). Plus, you discover the difference between Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant Bibles. Lastly, you take the journey of a lifetime (actually many lifetimes) by traveling through the entire Bible “in a nutshell.”

Chapter 1

From Moses to Modernity: Introducing the Good Book

IN THIS CHAPTER

Discovering what the Bible is, where it came from, and how we got it

Understanding the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Appreciating the Bible’s enduring influence

Choosing a translation that’s right for you

The Bible is the ultimate publishing phenomenon. It’s been atop the bestseller list ever since Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, ran the first copies some 500 years ago. Since then, it’s been translated into more languages and sold more copies than any other book in history. Recent statistics indicate that well over 150,000 new Bibles are sold or given away each day!

So what is the Bible, who wrote it, and how did we come to possess it? In this chapter, you discover the answers to these and other important questions. In addition, you get some helpful tips for finding the Bible that’s right for you.

Tracing the Bible from Old Scrolls to the Bestseller of All Time

In the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, a man from a remote village discovers a soda bottle that was dropped from a passing airplane. He’s convinced that this mysterious object is from the gods, and much of the rest of the movie chronicles his quest to find its owner (don’t worry, we won’t give away the ending). Many people have a similar view of how we got the Bible. One day, Moses or Jesus was walking along when all of a sudden — “thud!” — there it was: the Bible, air express from heaven. These holy men then gave it to their followers, who, in turn, passed it on to their followers, who eventually passed it on to us. And we’ve been on a quest to find its Owner ever since.

That’s not exactly how it happened (except, perhaps, for that last part). Nor is it really correct to think of the Bible as a single entity.

What is the Bible?

The word Bible comes from a Greek word, ton biblion, which means “the scroll” or “the book.” This word derives from the ancient city of Byblos, located in what is today modern Lebanon. Byblos was the official supplier of paper products to the ancient world, and as a result, the city became so intimately associated with the production of paper goods that its name became synonymous with the word “book” or “scroll.” This is similar to today, where a word like Kleenex has come to mean “tissue,” no matter what brand.

Yet, the Greek word for the Bible is actually plural — ta biblia, which means “the scrolls” or “the books.” Although we tend to think of the Bible as a single work, those bringing these books together understood it for what it really is — a collection of works by a variety of authors. And it’s quite a diverse collection at that!

The Bible includes legal texts, history, poetry, philosophy, music, personal correspondence, and prophecies. Those who wrote the Bible were also a diverse bunch, and include shepherds, kings, farmers, priests, poets, scribes, prophets, and fishermen (to name a few). There is also quite a moral diversity among the biblical authors, from morally upstanding citizens, to, let’s say, morally challenged individuals. For example, among those contributing to the Bible, you find traitors, embezzlers, adulterers, murderers, and — brace yourself — ancient IRS workers (yes, we were shocked, too). We discuss how this motley crew found common cause in the Bible throughout this book

Only much later were the books making up the Bible brought together into a single volume, and in Judaism and Christianity, different books were included in their respective libraries.

Where did the Bible come from?

In order to better understand the Jewish and Christian Bibles, it’s important to know a little something about the history of their development, as well as what you can expect to find in each library.

The Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament)

The books making up the Jewish Scriptures are often called the Hebrew Bible, because, with few exceptions, this material was originally written in Hebrew. In Christian tradition, these same books are referred to as the Old Testament.

According to Jewish tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Torah, from a Hebrew word meaning “instruction” or “law,” or the Pentateuch, from a Greek word meaning “the five scrolls”). The Five Books of Moses, as this material is also called, covers everything from the creation of the world (see Chapter 3) and humankind’s early history (see Chapter 4), to the emergence of ancient Israel’s ancestors (see Chapters 5 and 6) and their formation as a nation under Moses (see Chapter 7).

Following Moses, Jewish tradition maintains that the history of ancient Israel was preserved by various authors, most of whom were near contemporaries to the events they describe. For example, Joshua himself penned the account of Israel’s conquest of its Promised Land under his leadership (see Chapter 8). The era following Joshua, known as the Period of the Judges, was recorded by Israel’s last judge, Samuel, who also composed half the Book of Samuel (until his own death). The remaining material in Samuel was composed by Samuel’s contemporaries, including two prophets, Gad and Nathan, as well as Israel’s great king, David (see Chapter 9). The history of Israel’s kings after David (see Chapter 10) was preserved by royal scribes, who recorded matters of state; priests, who wrote mostly about Israel’s religion; and prophets, who, besides recording their own prophecies, also recorded their interactions (read: “confrontations”) with Israel’s kings. (Prophets and kings rarely got along, as Chapter 13 explains.)

But then tragedy struck. In 586 B.C.E., the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, including its royal palace and temple. There’s no telling how much of Israel’s library was lost, but many scrolls survived and were taken to Babylonia by Jerusalem’s exiles. (For the stories of those living in exile, see Chapter 11.)

In Babylon, these documents were edited and compiled. Although this process involved many people, the person credited with heading up the project was the scribe and priest Ezra (see Chapter 12). Not long afterwards, Ezra brought these scrolls back to the now rebuilt Jerusalem, where he instigated a religious reform based on these Scriptures (around 450 B.C.E.). During this...