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Contents
Copyright © 2006–2010, 2012 Concordia Publishing House
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Written by Abigail Genig, Cynthia Schilf, Susan Schulz, and Julie Stiegemeyer
Edited by Deborah Henry and Thomas A. Nummela
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible® (The Holy
Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 Crossway Bibles, a publishing
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Catechism quotations are taken from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation,
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Quotations marked TLSB are taken from the notes, introductory material, or original
articles from The Lutheran Study Bible © 2009 by Concordia Publishing House. All rights
reserved.
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Quotations marked with the abbreviation LSB are from Lutheran Service Book, copyright
© 2006 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
7 Writing the Scriptures Timeline
8 Studying the Bible—God’s Word
10 God’s Word in Print
THE OLD TESTAMENT
13In the Beginning
14 Work Before and After Sin Entered the World
16 Fascinating Facts about Noah’s Ark
18 Abram’s Journey
19 Everyday Life for Abram’s Family
20 Tent Dwelling
22 Ancient Egypt
24 The Nile River
26 Work in Ancient Egypt
28 The Ten Plagues
30Passover
32 God’s Dwelling Places
34 Tabernacle Furnishings
35 Priestly Duties
36Heathen Nations in the Land of Canaan
38 The Twelve Tribes of Israel
40 Ancient Jericho
42 Judges and Prophets
44Who Are Some of God’s Prophets?
45 The Kings of Israel
46 Weapons of David and Goliath
48False Gods in the Old Testament
50Treasures of Solomon’s Temple
52 Offerings and Sacrifices
54 The Practice of Fasting
55 Pentecost in the Old Testament
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56 Ancient Babylonia
58Synagogues
60 Music in Bible Times
62Food in the Old Testament
THE NEW TESTAMENT
66 Mary and Joseph
68 The Birth of the Savior
70Old Testament Rituals for Jesus
71 The Gifts of the Magi
72 John the Baptist
73The Jordan River
74Bodies of Water in Israel
76 The Sea of Galilee
77 Fishing in Bible Times
78Miracles of Jesus
80The Well at Sychar
82Bethlehem Today
83Modern Jerusalem
84 Life in the Temple
85Sacrifices
86Shepherds Care for Their Sheep
88 Famous Bible Shepherds
89 The Good Shepherd
90 Weaving, Spinning, and Making Clothing
92 The Carpentry Trade
93Harvesting Grain
94 Marriage in Bible Times
96 Women in the First Century
98 Children in God’s Kingdom
99 Games and Toys in Bible Times
100 Children in Bible Times
101 Life at Home
102 Washing, Bathing, and Anointing
103 Disease and Medicine in Bible Times
104 The Disease of Leprosy
105Blindness
106 The Passover Celebration
107 Burial Customs
108 Bible Animals—A to Z
110 Clean and Unclean Animals
112 Birds of the Bible
113 Flowers and Grasses of the Bible
114 Coins from Bible Times
115 Taxes and Tax Collectors
116 Angels and Archangels
118 Transfiguration Facts—The Five Ws
120 Symbols of the Savior‘s Journey
122 The Passion of Christ
124 Easter Traditions
126 Disciples of Jesus
128 Paul of Tarsus
129Life in the Early Christian Church
130 The Ethiopian
131Prisons
132Ancient Rome
134Heaven Is a Wonderful Place
136The New Jerusalem—Frequently Asked Questions
MAPS
140From Creation to the Patriarchs
142 To and from the Promised Land
144The Promised Land
146 The Land of Jesus
148 Jerusalem in Jesus’ Time
150 People at Pentecost
152Paul’s Missionary Journeys
INDICES
155 Topical Index
159 Scriptural Index
165Glossary
God’s word in print
God’s Word in Print
John 1:1 in Greek.
Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew
Language has been written down for
thousands of years. The early Babylonians
wrote on clay tablets. A stylus, or chiselshaped stick, was used to make marks in the
soft clay. The clay was then dried or baked.
The Babylonians wrote literary works, letters,
bills, and receipts on the tablets. Other very
important information was chiseled into stone.
The Israelites wrote important documents
on parchment, made from the skin of goats
or sheep. The skin was scraped very thin and
allowed to dry. Israelites also may have used
papyrus like the Egyptians. The inside layers of
the papyrus plant stalk were laid touching each
other on a wet, smooth
surface. A second layer
was crisscrossed on top,
and the whole piece was
pressed together. Hebrew
writings on these sheets
© Mark Meehl
were written in ink in
Early clay tablet
columns from right to left.
and stylus.
The sheets were rolled from
the edges to the center to
become scrolls. The most famous
ancient scrolls are the Dead Sea Scrolls,
discovered in 1947. They had been stored, or
perhaps hidden, in caves near the Dead Sea.
They are written in Hebrew and Aramaic and
are the oldest biblical manuscripts ever
discovered. More than two thousand years
old, they contain parts of every book in
our Bible except Esther.
© Shutterstock, Inc.
© Shutterstock, Inc.
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Thick papyrus along river’s edge.
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Yellow papyrus paper.
The first books as we know them were
handwritten. Because they were made one at
a time, they were rare and very expensive. But
in the 1430s, Johannes Gutenberg invented
a printing process that would make printing
cheaper and available to more people. With
changeable wooden or metal letters, its basic
design was used and improved into the twentieth
century. In 1452, the Gutenberg Bible became
the first book to be mass-produced.
God’s inspired Word was first written down
in Hebrew and Aramaic. As the Scriptures were
shared with new groups of people, not everyone
could understand these languages. It was
necessary to translate the texts, to rewrite the text
into different languages.
The first translations were from Hebrew
and Aramaic into Greek, which was a common
language among first-century Christians. Later,
in the fourth century AD, Latin had become
a common language, and the
texts were translated into Latin.
The most famous of these
Latin translations was the Latin
Vulgate, which was used through
the Middle Ages (476–1450).
By the 1300s, the common
people could no longer read
Latin. They had to rely on the
clergy to teach them God’s Word.
The clergy did not always teach
God’s true Word. Reformers
like John Wycliffe and William
Tyndale translated the Bible into
English in the late 1300s. Martin
Luther translated the Bible into
German around 1522. By 1800,
there were portions of Scripture
translated into sixty-six different
languages. Today, portions of
Scripture are translated into
over twenty-three hundred
languages, and the complete
Bible is available in over four
hundred languages. Lutheran
Bible Translators (LBT) is
an independent
organization
© CPH
that recruits
Lutherans to be
missionaries. For
more than
forty years, LBT
missionaries have
worked to translate
Gutenberg press.
Scripture so that people
have an opportunity to read God’s Word in their
own language. Today, there are about seven billion
people in the world. About seven million people
have access to God’s Word with help from LBT. Still,
there are forty-five hundred languages that have
no Bible translation. There is still much work to be
done to share Scripture with all nations.
The Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF) is
involved in making confessional Lutheran materials
available in the languages of people around the
world. Hundreds of translators, reviewers, and
editors help provide resources to aid in the growth
of the Church. LHF produces books in eighty
languages, which are used in seventy-two countries,
including the United States. It also partners with
other Lutheran church bodies to meet the needs of
the people.
© CPH
Luther’s seal.
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Fascinating Facts about Noah’s Ark
About Noah’s Ark
Genesis 6–9
How big was Noah’s
ark?
300 cubits long
50 cubits wide
30 cubits high
(Genesis 6:15)
Which animals did Noah take on the ark?
“Take with you seven pairs of all clean
animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the
animals that are not clean, the male and his mate,
and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also,
male and female, to keep their offspring alive on
the face of all the earth” (Genesis 7:2–3).
Creatures that lived in the water didn’t need to
board the ark.
How long is a cubit?
A cubit is the length of a
man’s forearm, from fingertip
to elbow, which is about 18
inches long.
18"
75'
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Noah’s ark was shaped like a box or container.
The word in Genesis for ark is the same word used for
Moses’ basket when, as a baby, he floated in the river.
It is also the same word for the ark of the covenant.
“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make
rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with
pitch” (Genesis 6:14).
Did Noah’s ark look like this?
No! A boat shaped like this would never have
survived over a year at sea!
“The flood continued forty days on the earth. The
waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high
above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased
greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the
waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth
that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were
covered” (Genesis 7:17–19).
© CPH/Glenn Meyers
That means the deck of
Noah’s ark was 33,750 square
feet! That’s larger than twelve
tennis courts lined up side-byside!
450'
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450 feet long
75 feet wide
45 feet high
72'
© CPH/Glenn Meyers
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© CPH
So, if a cubit roughly equals
18 inches, or one and a half
feet, Noah’s ark was
450'
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EGYPT
Genesis 41
Egypt, a country in
northeastern Africa, is one of
the world’s oldest civilizations.
gallery
shafts
Ascending
corridor
King‘s
chamber
Queen‘s
room
Service
corridor
Dead-end
passage
Underground
chamber
Descending
corridor
© CPH/Ed Koehler
© Shutterstock, Inc.
Antechamber
What did ancient Egyptians drink?
Egyptians drank beer sweetened with honey, dates, or fruit juices.
Most families brewed beer in their kitchen by baking a loaf of bread
and then soaking it in water to allow it to ferment. After a period
of time, this would become beer. Egyptians also enjoyed red wine
made from fermented palm sap or grapes.
Did Egyptians like sweets?
The typical Egyptian had a sweet tooth, just like many modern
people. The Egyptians sweetened their beer and wine. They made
a honey-based candy flavored with the thick, sticky sap from
marshmallow plants, which
grow in salt marshes. This
plant was the source of
marshmallow candy until the
mid-nineteenth century.
Egyptians also enjoyed
licorice. The root was chewed,
sometimes as a special sweet
treat, but it was also used as a
medicine.
A supply of licorice root
was found in the boy king
Tutankhamen’s tomb. (You
might know him as King Tut.)
Entrance
Hieroglyphics
Egyptians communicated through picture words known as
hieroglyphics. Each picture, or hieroglyph, stood for a word or idea.
Scribes were the few people in Egypt who could read and write. They
mastered hieroglyphics and also learned hieratics, a kind of cursive
writing. Later, a simpler form of writing developed called demotic.
For many years, scholars knew that hieroglyphics and demotic
script were types of written communication, but they could not
decipher the languages. Then, in 1799, a four-foot-high black stone
inscribed with writing in three languages (hieroglyphics, demotic,
and Greek) was found in the mud near a town called Rosetta. The
Rosetta Stone was the key scholars used to translate these languages
for the first time.
Do you want to learn more about hieroglyphics? Check out
these Web sites: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs or
www.greatscott.com/hiero.
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Mummies
Egypt is known
for its mummies. The
mummification process was
used to prevent the decay
of bodies after burial. The
body organs were removed.
The body was put in mineral
salts for seventy days. Then
the body was wrapped in
linen strips for burial. As a
result, mummified bodies
have been found with the
face, hair, and eyelashes
intact thousands of years
later.
relief
chamber
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Pyramids
Egypt is known for its
giant pyramids. They help us
know about the Egyptians’
religious beliefs and funeral
practices. Inside and under the
pyramids were many chambers
and corridors. Some were the
burial places of pharaohs or
other nobles. Other chambers
were galleries or chapels.
It is not known for sure
how the pyramids were built.
It has been suggested that they
used ramps, ropes, and many,
many people to build the
massive structures.
Religion
Ancient Egyptians were
polytheistic (POL-ee-thee-IStik), which means that they
worshiped many gods and
goddesses. They bowed down
before the sun, the moon,
and even their own pharaohs.
Weight
What did ancient Egyptians eat?
Egyptians at the time of Joseph ate a variety of different foods.
Wheat and barley, grown along the Nile River, were ground into flour
and baked into bread.
Herds of cattle provided meat and milk.
(They also carried heavy loads and did other
difficult work.) Other sources of meat were
goats, sheep, geese, and ducks. Nobles,
who were wealthier people, ate gazelle
and antelope. Some wild birds were
captured by nets and eaten; others
were kept to provide Egyptians
with eggs. The poorest Egyptians
ate fish. However, their religious
beliefs forced them to avoid
certain types of fish.
Egyptians enjoyed a variety
of fruits and vegetables. They
ate cucumbers, beets, sweet onions,
radishes, turnips, and garlic. They also
enjoyed lettuce, chickpeas, beans, lentils,
© CPH/Ed Koehler
and peas. They ate figs, grapes, raisins,
plums, dates, and watermelon.
© Vladimir Korostyshevskiy/Shutterstock, Inc.
© Robert J.Beyers II/ Shutterstock, Inc.
Ancient Egypt
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