A Thematic Companion to the Bible

The quotation-seeker’s guide to SUBJECT, THEME and IMAGE

Introduction

This Thematic Companion to the Bible covers both the Old and New Testaments in more than one translation, and is intended chiefly for the interested lay-person, and in particular for the writer and speech maker looking for a useful quotation. It is neither a commentary nor a criticism of the Bible itself, which is certainly the most important set of ancient books ever assembled.

To be fully understood, the Bible should be treated as one book with many styles and read as a whole like any other book, progressing smoothly from the Creation to the Apocalypse, and we would not wish to compromise its wholeness by analysing, let alone fragmenting its spiritual message. But reading the entire Bible in this way may seem a formidable (not to say boring) task, and it is our hope that this approach, by way of subjects and themes, may offer the reader an easy "way in" via some special interest or intriguing reference.

Many of the references will be found to refer to imagery rather than hard fact. Over-literal interpretation in the past has frequently caused misunderstandings when devotion shades into credulity. No-one would claim, for instance, to be descended from the "Good Samaritan" whom everybody knows to be a fictitious  character in one of the  parables  related by Jesus; but in the books of the Old Testament ancient parables have become entangled with historical record, and occasionally folk tales with a moral have become incorporated and thereby gained a measure of divine authority. The gruesome story of a gang of little boys mauled by bears for teasing Elisha (in the Second Book of Kings) could have come straight out of some 800BC precursor of Grimms' Household Tales.

At the risk of over-stating the obvious, it may be pointed out that the Bible is well packed with ancient history interspersed with parables and moral stories, and rich in symbols, allegories, analogies, metaphors and similes. This is inevitable, for it represents mankind's relationship with the divine, and spirituality, being non-material, cannot be expressed in material terms. For example, no-one would suppose the Bible to be a farming textbook, and yet our "Farming" section is substantial. Even prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were close enough to the land for farming metaphors to come readily to their lips. Such references are all included here, and as such they form a valid picture of the rural scene and everyday concerns of those ancient people.

The case is similar with "Buildings", in which Ezekiel's purely visionary but extraordinarily detailed description of the temple of the New Jerusalem is given equal status to the historically real temple of Solomon. But this is how the Bible as a whole works: because its individual descriptions originate some from outward and others from inward perception, the general structure can be seen as a fine balance of inner and outer. Inspired writing and all religious inspiration use the outward, material imagery to portray that which is inward and non-material. Kings of the earth may always have ruled the land and the physical body, but the kingdom of heaven is within.

© Dreamstairway 2007

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