Favorite Biblical Story?

[JRosemary]

I was wondering what Biblical stories resonate most for everyone. We don't have to worry about whether the stories are fact or myth--I'm just curious about what people like to read for the sheer pleasure of it. And it doesn't matter if you choose something from the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha or the New Testament.

I'll admit that ever since I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as a child, Joseph's story has been my favorite. This story has been front and center in synagogue over the past few weeks, since we reached that part of Genesis in the Torah-reading cycle.

(Like liturgical churches, synagogues have set readings each week. Some, like mine, go through the Torah in one year. Others are on a three-year cycle.)

There are so many fascinating elements to the Joseph story--the whole family dynamic, for one. This was one dysfunctional family! Even if most of us got stuck with a brother who's dreaming about lording it over us someday, I don't think we'd throw him into a pit and then sell him into slavery

But what struck me most this time is something that happened long afer that, ah, unfortunate incidient. We went over it in Torah study: even after Joseph becomes Pharoh's right hand man, marries a nice Egyptian girl, has a couple of kids and even forgives his brothers and saves his family from famine, thing's aren't rosy for him.

Joseph is absolutely crucial for the survival of the people Israel--and yet he's an outsider to them. His brothers don't recognize him when they first see him. And they never become close to him, even while they're living for seventeen years in Egypt on his dime.

And they never understand him. It seems from the story that the brothers didn't tell their father what they had done to Joseph. And Joseph decided not to enlighten Dad either. All well and good--but when Jacob dies, the brothers start fearing that Joseph might now decide to take revenge. They can't seem to comprehend that he's past all that.

When Joseph finds out about their fears, he breaks down and cries. He tells them that he's not God--implying that he has no right to seek vengeance. And he tells them that although they meant him harm by selling him into slavery, God meant it for good. If Joseph hadn't been sold into Egypt, he wouldn't have ended up in a position to save his family.

But the price for that heroic role was permanent alienation from his kin. Joseph's brothers only seemed capable of seeing him as a powerful foreigner who could turn on them at any moment.

Maybe they had some justification--maybe in some ways Joseph was, by now, more Egyptian than Hebrew.

Hopefully Joseph found some solace with his wife and sons (whom he raised as Jews, despite their Egyptian clothes and manners.) But it still seems tragic that he could never bridge the gap between himself and his brothers.

Ok, that was a long-winded commentary on my favorite, lol. What are some others?

[Steve]

[Steve]

[JRosemary]

[Karen]

Definitely Ruth. I love the whole story, the fact that the Messiah will be descended from her (Ruth is a Moabite, thus showing that Jews and Gentiles will be one in the Messiah), her love for her mother-in-law, and particularly these verses, which when I first read them felt as though they were written just for me:

Ruth 2:10-12 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

[JRosemary]

[interloper]

This is more of a general comment, because I don't think I have an actual favourite Bible story as such. What I will say is that even among those who have been brought up with the Bible, and supposedly have a good knowledge of it, there is still a lot of misunderstanding about what it contains. Adolescent teenagers, for example, often think the Bible is boring -- until they discover some of the things that are in it! Sex and violence -- it's all there, for example the story of king David and Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite. I once read a letter to the editor of a Christian magazine which deplored the way young people are constantly being dished up with violence on TV, the internet and so on. "Why can't the younger generation be presented with Bible stories instead?", the writer asked. My reaction was, yes, such as the story of young David killing Goliath with a slingshot, then driving his sword into his body. Or perhaps the account of Jehu slaughtering the descendents of Ahab and piling their heads up outside the gate of Jerusalem.

As an English speaking person, and assuming one is not delving into the original (I have a slight knowledge of biblical Hebrew), I think that the translation one uses can make all the difference. Generally speaking I'm a stickler for the Authorized Version (King James), though for comparative study, a modern but scholarly translation is very useful. But for reading (for example) Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, I don't think you can beat the Good News Bible, which presents those historical accounts in terms of a 'jolly good story'. If pressed for a favourite, I might suggest the account of Samuel's annointing of David, the young lad looking after the sheep, as future king of Israel. It's one of the many instances in Scripture where God chooses the least likely of people to fulfil His purpose. The story of Gideon preparing his army, and weeding out the unfit, is another in similar vein.

[Lirenel]

Hmm, I've always loved the story of Esther, probably because it's seems very Cinderella. I would like to see 'One Night with the King' which was about it.

[Kolbitar]

Hi Rose.

The story that stands out most to me is the glorious "stoning of Steven account", and the astounding image of Saul-on-the-verge-of-Paul looking on.

I tell you, I've tried to explain why this stands out to me and have failed about twenty times so far... it just speaks for itself...

Jesse

[JRosemary]

[interloper]

[Josh]

[interloper]

[Josh]

[JRosemary]