Every year, there’s a bunch of folks who set out to read the Bible cover-to-cover in a year, but often don’t make it. They start out in Genesis, and get through creation and the flood. It’s rough, but kind of interesting. Exodus is exciting with Moses and his miracles, but then they hit Leviticus. Ugh, a bunch of rules about sores and dead goats. If readers make it through that, they most likely will be wiped out during Numbers or Deuteronomy which can be as compelling as the tax returns that they’re also avoiding. What would help is an overview of Bible so people know what they’re getting into.
What even is the Bible? It is a collection of 66 books spanning 4000+ years, several written languages and many iterations of religious practice. The first part was actually oral history for at least 2500 years until Moses wrote it down. There are no original manuscripts, but copies of copies and translations. There are many competing versions and even whole books that may or may not be included. Ready to get further into it?
The Pentateuch. These are the first five book of the Old Testament that were attributed to Moses. Genesis means “beginning” and it covers the spoken part I told you about from before up until when Moses joins the story. The style is repetitive so the listener can memorize and repeat it to the next generation. You can also see the emphasis on “begats” to follow birth and deaths as time markers.
A general warning: key characters throughout the Bible are marked by pretty extreme character flaws including lying, drinking, killing, assaulting and stealing. It is probably best to familiarize yourself with them well before emulating them and getting yourself canceled.
Genesis is a spiritual history of the beginning of the world. God interacts with several characters and regular religious practice is spotty at best. Job should go in here somewhere because it’s a ancient play with lots of dialogue. It covers the age old question, Why do bad things happen to good people?
Moses joins the narrative in Exodus where he tells about how the descendants of twelve sons of Jacob AKA Israel gained their freedom from Egypt after 400+ years of slavery and create their identity as a people. Moses is the main leader and receiver of the law, initially as the Ten Commandments, and the longer form that follows.
Leviticus is that book, not a story so much as legal code for those living in a mobile, desert community. It covers laws about skin deseases, animal husbandry, and sex. When you read it all in one go, it’s pretty intense, but a lot of people today just pick out their favorite parts to quote at those with whom they disagree.
Numbers is a program published by Apple to open and manipulate Excel spread sheets. The Biblical version is basically as much fun as the Israelites wander around in the desert walking off their 40-year sentence for disobedience.
Deuteronomy is really hard to spell. The book has the wisdom of Moses for the Israelite people. You can read it too and consider how it applies to society and culture today.
Joshua took over after Moses and launches the era within the scriptures known as the Judges. These were various spiritual leaders that directed the people rather than dynastic leaders. There’s a lot of bad things that go down. The book of Ruth includes some kind women as a palate cleanser to the murder and mayhem.
First and second Samuel highlights the transition to kings, the non-preferred social leadership by God and the prophets. Saul was the first king of Israel and was replaced by David, who was also a poet who penned most of the Psalms. His son, Solomon wrote most of the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and is rumored to feature in a celebrity sex-tape called the Song of Songs.
After him, the nation splits into two parts; Israel and Judah, and things get really messy. The books of the Kings and Chronicles covers the following kings and chronicles why having royalty is ultimately problematic. There are also a dozen-plus books by different prophets warning everyone about it’s all going to end badly, but no one believes that anything bad can happen to a nation established and blessed by God.
The next part of the story is known as the Exile when the Babylonians and Persians take over. The books of Daniel and Esther cover this period. Here we see God’s direct and indirect interactions with outside leaders.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi cover the time after that when the remaining two of the original twelve tribes return to rebuild their nation and identity. This ends the Protestant version of the OT, but other versions include Maccabees which includes a battle and subsequent miracle that Hanukkah comes from.
The New Testament starts about 400 years after Malachi when the Romans are annoying everyone with their occupation. Matthew, Mark and Luke are three very similar versions of the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus. John is the fourth gospel written a bit later and bit more metaphorically. These authors are four of the twelve disciples that followed Jesus during his ministry. The word gospel means “good news” in Greek because the main theme is that Jesus died for everyone’s sins.
After Jesus takes off, the disciples became apostles (meaning sent) and traveled around telling everyone about Christ (which means savior and not Jesus’s last name.) The rest of the books are essentially letters aka “epistles” addressed to different groups of people. The titles are to whom those letters are addressed, so Paul’s letter to the church in Rome becomes Romans, the ones to Corinth are 1 & 2 Corinthians etc. I should mention here that Paul is not one of the original twelve, but a religious leader that was actually murdering early Christians until he had a vision from Jesus to knock it off. General messages to the believers are sometimes just named after the author including James, Peter, 1-3 John and Jude.
The Revelation is a fever dream by John that foretells the ending of our world and a beginning of a new one. Before listening to someone else’s interpretation of it or plowing through a dozen popular nineties novels about it, you should probably give it a read yourself.
