Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to acknowledge …
The Difference of Cultures
When it comes to journeying through the Bible, we are rewarded with sites and sounds few travelers can’t even begin to imagine. When it comes to culture, we will experience:
- A male-dominated world.
- Lands governed by Kings.
- A Middle Eastern mindset.
- Kingdoms of just one city, and kingdoms that dominate the whole known world of its day.
We will see this splendor of Egypt and its highest points, and we will experience the wanderings in the midst of a barren desert by the people of God. From the splendor of the Palace, to the smell of a manger, we will experience sites and sounds exactly where people lived, hoped, dreamed, and died.
All through out our journey, you will be reminded that despite the differences, people are basically people everywhere you go. Cultures will be different, but people will be similar. This makes our comprehension of what we are reading much easier!
During our travels through the Old and New Testaments, we will experience the following different types of people:
- The Chaldeans, who lived in present-day Kuwait.
- The Assyrians, who lived in present-day Iraq.
- The Canaanites, who lived in present-day Israel and Lebanon.
- The Egyptians.
- The Babylonians, who lived in present-day Iraq.
- The Persians, who lived in present-day Iran.
- The Greeks, who conquered all the way to India!
- The Romans, who conquered the Greeks.
Along the way we will see others, each with their own customs, manners, government and laws. When important, or applicable, will explain and clarify. We will also provide additional resources for those who desire to learn more.
It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment: “The Difficulty of First Hand Directions” on Thursday.
You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.
