JohnEngelman
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- Jan 8, 2022
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Full disclosure: I am a Christian who admires Jews, respects Judaism, and loves Israel. I believe that God inspired the Bible, but He did not dictate it. The Old Testament, which I shall call “The Jewish Bible,” and the Apocrypha were written by Jews. All or most of the New Testament was written by people we would recognize as Messianic Jews. Anyone who has known and liked as many Jews as I have, knows that they love to argue, and often disagree. I am intrigued by contradictions in the Bible. They do not disturb my faith.
The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition, includes the Jewish Bible, and extensive commentary. Indeed, the commentary is at least twice as long as the Jewish Bible itself. There are introductions to each Biblical book, side commentary to each book, and essays following the Jewish Bible.
I have read all of the side commentary, but you do not really need to. Do read the introductory essays, and the essays that follow the Jewish Bible.
The essays occasionally mention the Documentary Hypothesis without really explaining it. The Documentary Hypothesis claims that the first five books of the Bible, which the Jews call the Torah, were not written by Moses, as Fundamentalists believe, but they were originally four other documents that were eventually combined, perhaps by Ezrah.
An excellent explanation of the Documentary Hypothesis can be found in Richard Elliott Friedman’s book Who Wrote The Bible.
I respect Jewish and Christian Fundamentalists. I think they have a better understanding of human nature than secular humanists. I am not a Fundamentalist, and approach the Bible with what can be called, for lack of a better term, “the higher criticism.” I believe in the Documentary Hypothesis, I believe in evolution. I do not believe that Jonah spent several days in the stomach of a large fish.
I have read the Bible eleven times in ten English translations. I previously read The Jewish Study Bible, First Edition.
Whenever I read a new translation of the Bible I notice different things. This time I noticed that Biblical Judaism, although many contemporary Jews disagree, does not assert posthumous rewards for good behavior. Every soul goes to Shoel after death. Shoel is described as a gloomy place, somewhat like a child’s image of an old, large, somewhat run down, spooky cemetery that is full of ghosts.
In Shoel one is as likely to run into Adolf Hitler as to a Jewish philanthropist who attended synagogue services every Sabbath.
Nevertheless, morality is important for two reasons. First, if the Israelites collectively obey the laws in the Torah they will win victory over their enemies. Otherwise, they will not.
Second, good people become prosperous; bad people do not.
I recommend The Jewish Study Bible for anyone of any religious faith, or no religion at all, who wants a thorough education in the Jewish Bible.
The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition, includes the Jewish Bible, and extensive commentary. Indeed, the commentary is at least twice as long as the Jewish Bible itself. There are introductions to each Biblical book, side commentary to each book, and essays following the Jewish Bible.
I have read all of the side commentary, but you do not really need to. Do read the introductory essays, and the essays that follow the Jewish Bible.
The essays occasionally mention the Documentary Hypothesis without really explaining it. The Documentary Hypothesis claims that the first five books of the Bible, which the Jews call the Torah, were not written by Moses, as Fundamentalists believe, but they were originally four other documents that were eventually combined, perhaps by Ezrah.
An excellent explanation of the Documentary Hypothesis can be found in Richard Elliott Friedman’s book Who Wrote The Bible.
I respect Jewish and Christian Fundamentalists. I think they have a better understanding of human nature than secular humanists. I am not a Fundamentalist, and approach the Bible with what can be called, for lack of a better term, “the higher criticism.” I believe in the Documentary Hypothesis, I believe in evolution. I do not believe that Jonah spent several days in the stomach of a large fish.
I have read the Bible eleven times in ten English translations. I previously read The Jewish Study Bible, First Edition.
Whenever I read a new translation of the Bible I notice different things. This time I noticed that Biblical Judaism, although many contemporary Jews disagree, does not assert posthumous rewards for good behavior. Every soul goes to Shoel after death. Shoel is described as a gloomy place, somewhat like a child’s image of an old, large, somewhat run down, spooky cemetery that is full of ghosts.
In Shoel one is as likely to run into Adolf Hitler as to a Jewish philanthropist who attended synagogue services every Sabbath.
Nevertheless, morality is important for two reasons. First, if the Israelites collectively obey the laws in the Torah they will win victory over their enemies. Otherwise, they will not.
Second, good people become prosperous; bad people do not.
I recommend The Jewish Study Bible for anyone of any religious faith, or no religion at all, who wants a thorough education in the Jewish Bible.
