Bible Curious is an exploration into sacred scripture, driven by curiosity.
DAY 53 (Exodus 39-40): Now, on the one-year anniversary of the Exodus, Yahweh gives His final instructions to Moses for erecting and anointing the tabernacle, which Moses faithfully obeys. The walls and the pillars, the covering over the tent, the ark, the holy furniture, the altar of sacrifice and the washbasin where Moses, Aaron and his sons would purify themselves, all come together for that climactic moment where Yahweh's glory takes residence among His people.
DAY 1 (Matthew 1-2): The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, and tells the story of Jesus Christ, whose ministry began around 30 AD. We're beginning "in the middle", so to speak, because from a Christian perspective the entire Bible points toward the life, death and resurrection of this man. Matthew's Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus, containing many historical names which would have been familiar to Jewish readers. Now to us it might sound a little bit boring, but there's actually an important mystery hidden in this list of forty-one names.
DAY 2 (Matt 3-4): After Jesus spends his childhood moving around the ancient world to avoid detection by King Herod of Judea, his stepfather Joseph finally settles down in Nazareth, and we hear nothing more about Jesus' life until he reappears as an adult at the river Jordan, where his cousin John the Baptist greets him, sparking a chain-reaction of miraculous events. After Jesus receives baptism from John the Baptist, he fasts forty days in the wilderness in preparation to begin his earthly ministry. It is here that Jesus encounters the devil, an enigmatic figure mentioned only sparsely in the Old Testament. Who is this Satan, and why did he confront Jesus in the wilderness? You won't believe the answer to this question.
DAY 3 (Matt 5-6): Jesus takes advantage of his enormous crowds to teach them, delivering the most famous sermon ever given. Jesus introduced us to his upside-down kingdom, where humility, love, and infinite generosity become the way to conquer your enemies. This is also the first time Jesus mentions Hell, or "Gehenna", as a place of divine punishment.
DAY 4 (Matt 7-9): Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by teaching the difference between genuine and superficial followers of God, then leads his followers on a march around the Sea of Galilee, performing many miracles along the way.
DAY 5 (Matt 10-11): As Jesus' popularity grew and masses of desperate and needy people came to him for help, Jesus sees the need to start delegating authority to his most trusted disciples. He is then contacted by another prophet, John the Baptist, who wants to know definitively whether or not Jesus is the promised Messiah.
DAY 6 (Matt 12-13): Having established his divine authority through his teaching and performance of miraculous healings, Jesus attracts the attention of the Pharisees, a Jewish sect of teachers and professors of Torah. Jesus teaches in parables, which confuses the Pharisees while at the same time enlightening his disciples in spiritual truth.
DAY 7 (Matt 14-17): Jesus' fame escalates to where he cannot find any time alone. The Pharisees continue to criticize the lowly status of Jesus and his followers, and Jesus takes three of his most trusted disciples up a mountain, where He reveals startling truths.
DAY 8 (Matt 18-20): Jesus shifts the focus of his ministry to preparation for his climactic return to Jerusalem which would happen in the near future. As Jesus challenges his disciples to live as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, the mother of two of his apostles approaches with a bold request.
DAY 9 (Matt 21-22): Jesus and his disciples approach the holy city of Jerusalem during the final days of Jesus' ministry on earth, and we can see the excitement of his followers reach a fever pitch. Jesus spends a day overturning tables in the Temple, healing the sick, and confounding Jewish authorities.
DAY 10 (Matt 23-24): While teaching publicly in the Jerusalem Temple, Jesus delivers a series of stern warnings to the keepers of Jewish law: two groups known as "scribes", those who wrote and copied scrolls, and "Pharisees", a sect of Jewish teachers who emerged as a result of the Babylonian exile which happened in the 6th century BC. Jesus then utters a prophecy predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. This prophecy would be fulfilled forty years later in the year 70 AD.
DAY 11 (Matt 25-26): Jesus gathers his disciples at the Mountain of Olives to teach them about the end times, and the Second Coming of Christ. He then brings his destiny swiftly into fulfillment at the Passover supper, an ancient Jewish rite which lay at the very core of Jewish culture.
DAY 12 (Matt 27-28): Betrayed by Judas, captured by hostile Jewish authorities, abandoned by his disciples, denied by Simon Peter, Jesus had finally set the scene for his greatest miracle yet: the salvation of all mankind.
DAY 13 (Genesis 1-4): The Book of Genesis is the first of five books credited to the prophet Moses which comprise the Torah, or 'Law' of the Hebrew Bible. Genesis describes the origins of the Israelites from the Creation until their settlement in Egypt, and covers about two thousand years of history. The first chapter of Genesis describes how God created the Heavens and the Earth over a span of six days. Obviously, this contradicts other, more naturalistic explanations, and that's on purpose. But before we get into that discussion, I invite you to simply follow along with your mind's eye, and allow the word of God to paint the universe into existence, the way an artist might use colored pigments to create a landscape.
DAY 14 (Genesis 5-8): In composing Genesis, Moses edited together text from multiple written sources. One way to differentiate these sources from each other is to pay careful attention to which words were used to describe God, since not all sources knew of God's personal covenant name "Yahweh". However, when we reach this account of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood, Moses begins to weave together these different accounts with greater intricacy. Because many details of the story are mentioned multiple times, it quickly takes on a disorienting, dream-like quality.
DAY 15 (Genesis 9-12): After the Great Flood, God promised Noah, "never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done." He established a new covenant with Noah and his descendants, expecting them to reestablish civilization upon principles of justice. However, wayward Mankind quickly falls back into rebellion and attempts to build a great tower in Babylon which would reach the heavens, and Yahweh must plan yet another reset for mankind, this time through the great patriarch Abram, who would later become Abraham.
DAY 16 (Genesis 13-17): Abram and Sarai's sojourn in Egypt proved to be fraught with peril, but they left better off than they came, and were quite wealthy when they returned to settle in Canaan. Abram then finds himself drawn into armed conflict against a confederacy of kings from the east, and celebrates his victory with a priest-king named Melchizidek. Yahweh then ratifies his covenant with Abram, promising to bless his seed throughout the generations. However, Abram and Sarai grow impatient and take matters into their own hands.
DAY 17 (Genesis 18-20): After meeting with Hagar and then Abraham, the Angel of Yahweh leaves and then returns with two other men of His own kind, and Abraham invites Yahweh and His two companions to stay with him and enjoy a meal together. We then learn about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a story both incredible and bizarre, but which warns us of God's wrath against sinners.
DAY 18 (Genesis 21-23): After a decades-long wait, Abraham and Sarah were finally prepared for the miracle of their lives, the birth of Isaac. However, it would not be long before Yahweh asks Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son. What does this heartrending test reveal about Abraham's God?
DAY 19 (Genesis 24-25): What follows in this chapter is the marriage of Isaac to a Semite woman named Rebekah. If you listen carefully, you will find the tone strikingly different from previous chapters, with tremendous attention paid to small details in the environment. Moses is now working with a new source. This is the testimony of Rebekah, as recorded by her second son Jacob.
DAY 20 (Genesis 26-28): Previously, Jacob convinced his brother Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of red pottage. Esau figured that a divine promise about distant descendants wasn't worth very much, because he would be long dead before it would ever matter. Jacob reasoned differently, perhaps because he had a vague awareness of his past lives as Adam, Noah and Melchizidek, and dimly understood that he would still be around to see the fulfillment of Yahweh's promises.
DAY 21 (Genesis 29-31): Alone and destitute, Jacob seeks his fortune among his kindred in Paddan Aram in upper Mesopotamia. Once there, he discovers a different kind of fortune: love. The children begotten of Jacob will have very important names echoing through history.
DAY 22 (Genesis 32-35): Jacob's impending reunion with his estranged brother Esau understandably makes him nervous, because Esau had vowed to murder Jacob upon the death of their father Isaac. Yahweh had promised to bless Jacob even as far back as the womb, but Jacob still wrestles with his faith -- quite literally -- even to the point of physically assaulting God Himself. Yes, you heard me correctly.
DAY 23 (Genesis 36-38): Jacob and his twelve sons finally settle in Canaan, and his second youngest, Joseph, experiences prophetic dreams which mystify him while his brothers have no trouble at all with their interpretation. In fact, Joseph's brothers find the dreams so disturbing that they take immediate action to prevent them from coming true.
DAY 24 (Genesis 39-41): We now embark upon autobiographical material originally written by Joseph son of Israel, who despite living under Yahweh's favor found himself victim to multiple injustices. Confined to an Egyptian prison, Joseph interprets many dreams, leading to a dramatic reversal of fortune.
DAY 25 (Genesis 42-43): Famine now engulfed the ancient world, and destiny demands a reunion between Joseph and his estranged brothers, since all available grain lies under Joseph's supervision. How will Joseph respond to this sudden visit from those who sold him into slavery years ago?
DAY 26 (Genesis 44-46): After Jacob sends his sons again to Egypt to purchase grain for relief during a great famine, Joseph again recognizes them, and struggles to find the right occasion to reveal to them his true identity. Remember that these are the same brothers who for jealousy had bound Joseph and sold him into slavery many years earlier. Had the intervening years softened their hard hearts? Did they repent of their earlier evil deeds?
DAY 27 (Genesis 47-50): When Israel and his sons settle in Egypt, they must come to grips with their new status as serfs under Joseph and the Egyptian Pharoah. After seventeen years, as Jacob nears his last breath, he summons his twelve sons for a final blessing. Having turned their lives over to the protection of Egypt, Jacob no longer had property of his own to speak of, and so this series of blessings would have to serve as his sons' final inheritance
DAY 28 (Job 1-5): The Book of Job is an extremely ancient work of uncertain origin. The name Job derives from the Hebrew 'ayab' which means 'hated' or 'persecuted,' and the Book of Job tells the harrowing tale of a man who loses everything: his property, his family, even his health, all with explicit endorsement from God, and all seemingly due to a bet between Yahweh and Satan.
DAY 29 (Job 6-9): In the depths of his grief, Job concluded it was better not to be born than to live a troubled life. Job's friend Eliphaz responded by saying that all people are sinners, deserving of punishment, but that by turning to God, Job can experience redemption. However, Job will ignore this advice, accusing his friends of callousness, comparing them to streams which only run in the spring, but in the hot summer when men are thirsty, the streams dry up. Shouldn't friends be more compassionate in the face of tragedy?
DAY 30 (Job 10-13): Last chapter, Job complained that it wasn't fair for God, who is not human, to judge Man, who is. Why have a relationship with God, if it only condemns us to His judgment? 'For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.'
DAY 31 (Job 14-16): Job sees himself as one unjustly persecuted by God, one whose punishment is completely out of proportion to any wrong he may have committed. Now, Job contemplates the mortality of Man, questioning the finality of death. Shouldn't Man, after he dies, experience life again, as a tree stump sprouts new growth when given rain to drink?
DAY 32 (Job 17-20): Last chapter, Job cried: 'Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high. My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!' Now Job's anguish reaches a fever pitch, as he stands defiant against his accusing friends, promising them that 'upright men' will vindicate him; because without vindication, what hope can there possibly be?
DAY 33 (Job 21-23): In the aftermath of Job's astonishing tragedy, a raging debate has broken out between him and his wise friends. Because God is always just, rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked, it follows that Job's anguish must be proof that he has committed a grave offense against God. When Job protests his innocence, his friends take bitter offense, assuming Job is both lying and insulting God by insisting that God is punishing an innocent man. But Job isn't finished. He will take his argument a step further, pointing out not only does God allow the righteous to suffer, He also fails to punish the wicked.
DAY 34 (Job 24-28): Job, having put God on trial for His many injustices, now makes his closing argument before his three companions, describing a fallen world with no divine intervention, where the mighty are wicked, the poor are wretched, many turn to criminality, and all are equally cut down by death in the end.
DAY 35 (Job 29-31): When people experience deep tragedy, does it draw them closer to God, or does it widen their separation? With Job, his immediate reaction was to bless Yahweh, but as the reality of his situation sunk in, he found himself drifting away from his faith, and we can see that Job's spiritual darkness is even more tragic than his material losses. And yet, Job took care never to curse God directly, even while knowing God was responsible for his suffering. Now, we will see Job expressing hope for the future by looking backward towards past glory.
DAY 36 (Job 32-34): Job and his three companions had reached an impasse. Job insisted that he had done nothing so wrong that it deserved the punishment he got, and none of his friends could pry out of him a confession of wrongdoing. Now a fifth person, named Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, enters the debate, impressed by no one, and takes the argument in a new direction.
DAY 37 (Job 35-37): The young Elihu is offended that Job accuses God of wrongdoing. He's also offended that Job would question the need to obey God, asking what's in it for me? After all, what's in it for God? Is God harmed by Job's disobedience, or helped by Job's righteousness? How does Job have any right to demand a personal appearance from God?
DAY 38 (Job 38-39): At long last, Almighty God Himself appears before Job and his companions, but surprisingly, Yahweh offers His audience more questions instead of answers, and in so doing, takes us on a grand tour of creation. As you listen, notice that this account of creation is quite a bit different from the six-day sequence described in Genesis chapter 1, also different from the Garden of Eden narrative described in Genesis chapter 2. It seems Yahweh had been up to quite a lot even before He famously declared 'Let there be light.'
DAY 39 (Job 40-42): Job stands humbled before the majesty of God, understanding the futility of questioning His rulership over earth. God then takes this moment to give Job and his companions a taste of what it would mean to be ruler over earth, to have authority to bring down the wicked and the proud, to have even the power to create new forms of life.
DAY 40 (Exodus 1-3): When we concluded Genesis, Abraham's grandson Jacob, whom God renamed Israel, had fled from famine in Canaan to settle with his twelve sons and their families in the fertile lands of Egypt. There they lived under the protection of Pharoah and Jacob's second youngest son Joseph, who, after he had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, had ascended to become governor over all of Egypt.
DAY 41 (Exodus 4-6): Moses, exiled to the deserts of Midian on the Arabian Peninsula, encounters the great Yahweh Himself, who wants Moses to return to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh let his people, the children of Israel, leave Egypt to worship their God. However, Moses is not confident that he can answer Yahweh's call.
DAY 42 (Exodus 7-9): Exodus 7 marks the beginning of the ten plagues that God inflicts on Egypt as part of His plan to free the Israelites from their enslavement. In this chapter, God calls Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh and commands them to perform miraculous signs to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Despite these signs, Pharaoh remains stubborn and refuses to release the Israelites, which sets the stage for the plagues that will follow.
DAY 43 (Exodus 10-12): Now that Yahweh has Egypt's undivided attention, He prepares two more terrible plagues as judgement for their abuse of His people: a deadly swarm of locusts, followed by three days of inky darkness. However, these two plagues are only prologue the a final and most devestating judgment upon Pharaoh and his people: the death of the firstborn.
DAY 44 (Exodus 13-15): Now that the Exodus has begun, Yahweh is ready to perform one of the most spectacular miracles of the Old Testament: the parting of the Red Sea. The Angel of Yahweh, who was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, wanted to set up a dramatic confrontation between the fleeing Israelites and the armies of Pharaoh, by taking them directly into a dead-end, where all hope would seem lost.
DAY 45 (Exodus 16-18): Having crossed the Red Sea and escaped the clutches of Pharaoh's army, the Israelites find themselves wandering in the wilderness of Sin. As their provisions begin to dwindle, they grumble and complain against Moses and Aaron, longing for the comforts of their former lives as slaves in Egypt. In response to their complaints, Yahweh promises to provide them with bread from heaven, which they will gather each day for sustenance. Yahweh also begins to train the Israelites how to be obedient to His law, beginning with the observance of a weekly day of rest.
DAY 46 (Exodus 19-21): The Ten Commandments, though brief in their wording, are considered to be the foundation of the Law of Moses and are still studied and observed by many religious and ethical traditions today. You will notice that these laws begin with Yahweh Himself at the very center, and flow out from this God-centered core to the family unit, then to the rest of society.
DAY 47 (Exodus 22-24): The Book of the Covenant is a continuation of the legal code given to Moses by Yahweh on Mount Sinai. In this chapter, Yahweh provides further regulations that are intended to promote justice, equality, and social order in ancient Israel. These laws cover a wide range of topics, including theft, property damage, social responsibility, and sexual morality.
DAY 48 (Exodus 25-27): After delivering the Law and ratifying the covenant, Yahweh now instructs Moses to build a tabernacle, a portable tent-sanctuary where God will dwell among His people, the Israelites. Before listening to this chapter, I strongly recommend that you search the Internet for images and videos of God's Tabernacle. Then, listen carefully and see the tabernacle with your mind's eye.
DAY 49 (Exodus 28-29): Yahweh wished to dwell among His people, but needed to establish a strict protocol for how He would be approached by an inherently sinful human race.Now Yahweh would create a mediated relationship with His people by instituting the office of a High Priest in Moses' brother Aaron, along with a supporting priesthood from Aaron's immediate family.
DAY 50 (Exodus 30-32): As Moses continues to receive divine revelation from God for forty days and forty nights upon Mount Sinai, the people grow restless and rebellious, acting out in flagrant defiance against God's previous commandments.
DAY 51 (Exodus 33-35): At last the children of Israel are ready to construct the tabernacle for their God. Yahweh will remind them to strictly observe the Sabbath while constructing this dwelling. After all, they are no longer slaves of the Egyptians, and should act as a new people.
DAY 52 (Exodus 36-38): As tabernacle construction gets underway, the builders face a crisis of too much generosity from the children of Israel. They weave curtains for the covering of the tabernacle, construct boards for assembling the walls, then create the veil and screen to be used for partitioning sacred space.
DAY 53 (Exodus 39-40): Now, on the one-year anniversary of the Exodus, Yahweh gives His final instructions to Moses for erecting and anointing the tabernacle, which Moses faithfully obeys. The walls and the pillars, the covering over the tent, the ark, the holy furniture, the altar of sacrifice and the washbasin where Moses, Aaron and his sons would purify themselves, all come together for that climactic moment where Yahweh's glory takes residence among His people.