You may have heard the Bible referred to as literature.
That’s a big mistake.
That notion actually started before the Enlightenment in the 1700’s.
What was the Enlightenment?
It was a movement that sought to remove all spirituality and divine mystery from the Scriptures.
Which, if you ask me, is the exact opposite of being enlightened.
This movement gave birth to the idea that literary or textual criticism was a totally valid means to dissect and chop up the Bible.
But the only thing achieved was chopping up the faith of millions of believers worldwide.
Again, as I said yesterday.
Scripture is anything but secular history.
It is God’s inspired word to mankind.
The writers of the Bible were prophets, not authors.
Ya feel me here?
Now, who actually penned the Book of Kings?
The Talmud claims that Jeremiah did.
But honestly, there ain’t any proof of that.
So who authored Kings?
The answer is that it was put together from older records.
The book itself attests to that.
It names three main sources as follows:
The Annals of Solomon (mentioned in 1 Kings 11).
The Annals of the Kings of Israel (mentioned actually 17 times in 1 Kings 14 and 2 Kings 15).
And the Annals of the Kings of Judah (mentioned 15 times in 1 Kings 14, 2 Kings 24, and other spots).
So the bottom line is the Book of Kings is a compiled history pulled from earlier royal records.
But that doesn’t make it any less divine.
Ya feel me?
And by the way, if you’re a Christian and that bothers you.
Well, the New Testament was put together in the same way.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
Your Bible may have been put together like many other secular pieces of literature.
Human authors wrote it.
And as I just said, a good portion of its content was pulled from other records.
Yet, it doesn’t change the fact that the mind of God was behind the scenes, directing the thoughts of men as they put pen to paper.
So if you are fortunate enough to own a Bible in your home that you can access freely for inspiration and direction…
Consider yourself most fortunate.
Because there are a lot of people in the world who don’t have such a privilege.
And to those people who own a Bible but just let it collect dust on their bookshelves, you might as well not even own a Bible.
You might as well be living in a regime like North Korea, where owning Scripture is banned.
So appreciate the Bible you own.
Better yet, show your appreciation by studying it.
And obeying it!
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the servant of God may
be thoroughly equipped
for every good work.”
-2 Timothy 3:16
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