Stories From The Hebrew Bible
INTRODUCTION
Stories From The Hebrew Bible
INTRODUCTION
To Tell a Story One Must Know It.
A book that stands in such honor as the Bible cannot be neglected. It is quoted, referred to, written about, and preached from, so it is important to be acquainted with it. Those who learn the Story of the Bible in early life are fortunate, because they will never forget it. Spiritually wise parents tell the fascinating stories of the Bible to their children at an early age, giving them more of "David and Goliath" than "Jack, the Giant Killer"; more of "Joseph and His Brothers," "Joshua," and "David" than "King Arthur and the Round Table." The Bible is a veritable "Arabian nights" of entertainment when parents are themselves familiar with the stories and enjoy telling them. No book is as delightful as the Bible to both children and adults.
But those who do not enjoy or understand God’s Holy Word probably will not desire to be biblical story-tellers, thus robbing not only themselves, but the children who depend so much on their lead. The Bible is a great Book with so much interesting information about history, genealogy, details of law, customs of worship, psalms, prophecies, and proverbs that one might easily be unsure about what is appropriate for children. For instance, there are Oriental forms of speech that may be antiquated, and unfamiliar. Stories of the Bible designed for children should be chosen with care and some statements may need more explanation, while others might need to be omitted until the child is older. To adults the stories have deeper meanings and a spiritual significance that little children simply will not and cannot comprehend. But later in life these wonderful stories will hit home with added force when one realizes that these are the stories heard at mother's knee. While it is true that the Bible is beautiful literature, is filled with interesting stories and able to touch the heart and awaken the conscience, even more important in these days is that many are coming to realize more and more that the Bible is needed as an intimate companion in our daily life.
Aim The primary goal is to hopefully provide help to children, new born babes in Christ, and those who instruct others about the Bible. The aim has not been to merely make a selection of the most striking and interesting Bible stories, but to tell all the principle stories in their connected order and in relation with each other as to form, providing a continuous history from the Hebrew Bible. Our basic goal in the preparation and development of all these stories is to provide not only true stories from the Bible, but also the true story of the Bible.
One Story Out of Many This section of StudyJesus.com contains true STORIES FROM THE HEBREW BIBLE. It represents one of three in a series of easy-to-read true stories from the Holy Bible. The other two Bible stories are THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD and THE WAY HOME. All three sections contain Ms Nell Tells audio. Though all three of the sections are continuous and connected, the combined one hundred fifty-four Bible lessons contained in the three sections are arranged in the form of stories, each given a title; each independent of the others and treated separately; each with puzzles and audio. Thus, one who might hesitate in undertaking to read through the history of the Bible may open almost at random and find a story. This particular part of the series titled, “Stories From The Hebrew Bible,” contains 109 true stories from God’s Holy Word. While each story is complete within itself, combined they form one narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The Scripture location in the Old Testament can be found at the top of each story.
Special care has been given to the language of each of these Bible stories, hopefully making it plain without being childish. Every word has been carefully chosen and there are few words in these stories which a child of ten years old, perhaps younger, will not readily understand. Whenever it was necessary to introduce a word deemed to be outside the realm of childhood, such as "altar," "offering," "tabernacle," "synagogue," etc., it is carefully explained, not only once, but a number of times, until hopefully it becomes familiar.
The Bible Story Inasmuch as the stories in this section of StudyJesus.com are designed to lead the reader/listener to the Holy Bible and not away from it, we have refrained from adding to the Bible record any imaginary scenes or incidents or conversations. These stories are not fairy tales, but true Bible stories of events that actually happened. While an effort has been made to make these Bible stories plain, it should be clearly understood that none have been rewritten or changed from the true Bible story.
Today, too many writings containing stories from the Bible are marred by obvious attempts to teach religious doctrines which may or may not be right or wrong, but which are not stated nor hinted in a particular Bible story. Some excellent writings have occupied too much space trying to connect the deepest and most mysterious of religious doctrines with Bible stories, some of which even theologians find hard to understand. Others contain moral reflections and applications which, though useful, are not contained in the text of the story. There is a need to explain what needs explanation, but it is equally proper to avoid all doctrinal bias; not to be wise above what is written. We have attempted to occasionally apply knowledge of Bible lands and Bible history, but our aim has been to do so only as far as is suitable in providing material of this kind.
It is hoped that this material might be an aid to parents and teachers in the great work of imparting Bible truth to the younger ones among us, both in age and Christian service, as well as increasing interest in the Sacred Narrative among older and more mature Bible readers.
