In our reading we will go through a lot of genealogy. This is one area in the Bible that is often skipped even in earnest study. Genealogy and other little read parts of the Bible add validation to the entire book.
I read a news article this week in which a Pulitzer Prize finalist and well known author declared the Bible to be fiction. Joyce Carol Oates wrote, “the Bible, as you call it, is a work of fiction, or rather, an anthology of fictions. It is not ‘the’ bible for much of the world’s population & those who claim it as their own select those verses that appeal to them while ignoring other verses. Fertile ground for hypocrisy.”
We do know by non-Biblical sources of verifiable historic people and places. These famous people are logically linked in the genealogy to less famous or Bible only figures. These family links validate that these people were real and alive, and not mythological figures. We will also read of a lot of human shortcomings and bad life decisions with consequences, not a fairytale with unicorns. Oates’ hypocrisy critique may be somewhat valid, but that can be said of anything spoken without context. The chronological reading helps us keep the prophecies and quote worthy verses in the Bible in context so they may be used more appropriately. Incidentally, for Ms Oates, context on the side of the listener is as important as on the side of speaker.
Finally, on the note that much of the world does not have the Bible, well, that’s kind of what we are trying to fix.
Thanks for joining me on this adventure.