The Bible consists of many books made up of many stories written by many people. They tell several stories about people who have meant a lot to life and faith. Some may find the Bible uninteresting to read, but there are many interesting stories that raise questions.
Construction of the Bible
The books that make up the Bible were only combined into one volume much later. Jews and Christians added several books here to their collection of holy books. The history of the Old Testament ends around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Apocrypha and the New Testament may be a continuation of the Jewish story, but they are not part of Tanakh.
Sacred locations
- Mount Moriah, where Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. There is now a dome of the rock here and this place is considered one of the holiest locations in the Islamic world.
- The land and cave that Abraham purchases are located south-west of Jerusalem near the city of Hebron. In this cave of Makpela all the founding fathers and mothers (with the exception of Rachel) are buried and it has become a holy place for Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Hospitality
In the ancient world (where the Old Testament is set), strangers and strange/unknown visitors are always welcomed hospitably and warmly. Why? In this day and age this would be considered too dangerous. In many cultures, however, it was and is believed that the gods occasionally visit people to test their sincerity. Then sending a stranger away is actually seen as a risk. You never know how important this stranger(s) may be.
Angels
When characters in the Bible are visited by angels, they usually look like ordinary people like you and me. Some angels therefore do not have wings, so they can more easily act as messengers from God and in this way convey God’s message to people. There are also angels with wings, called seraphim, these types of angels do not descend to earth but remain in heaven.
God’s plan
In contrast to humanity’s bad start, God’s plan was for people to experience the good life. This means that they would have a good relationship with him and his creation. For this reason, Adam and Eve start in paradise, where they have a carefree relationship with God and each other and enjoy the riches of his creation. Even though people no longer live in paradise, God still plans to make the best of bad situations.
Genealogy
If you were to skip the genealogical lists (the lists that list who’s children were whose children and how old they lived) of Genesis 5, you would miss the hidden theological treasures of Enoch’s life and his disappearance. But if you work through every word of every list in the Bible, you will soon feel overwhelmed. It is also noticeable that the people in the Genesis stories live to be very old. This can be explained because at this time years were not used as they are today, but a different way of calculating time was used via the position of the sun and moon. A year here took less time than a year now takes.