The Bible in the ‘Guide’

The presence of the Bible in the Quaker work ‘A Guide to True Peace’ is pervasive.  This is in keeping with traditional Quaker writings.  The Bible is used in the ‘Guide’ as a proof text, meaning that the point of view that the ‘Guide’ presents is placed in a biblical context and supported by numerous biblical quotations.

There are 102 quotes from the Bible in a work that is roughly 80 pages (the number of pages varies somewhat…

Psalm 46 – “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea” (45:1-2).

“A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed” (46:4-5)

“The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble. God’s voice thunders, and the earth melts. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here…

Introductory Information: While there probably was a prophet by the name of Jonah – referred to in 2 Kings who lived during the reign of Jeroboam II - the Book of Jonah is not historical; it is a literary piece written probably in the 5^th century BC, post-exile. My Jerusalem Bible says it is “intended to amuse and instruct; it is a didactic work and its doctrine marks one of the peaks of the Old Testament” (1141). “It…

Ezekiel 2 – Ezekiel hears a voice calling him “son of man” (2:1). The term is used in Ezekiel and later Daniel to emphasize the distance between the God behind the vision and voice and the mere man who is receiving them. The first use of the term “Son of Man” [ben-Adam] is in Numbers 23:19, but Ezekiel uses the term over 90 times in his writings.

The voice tells Ezekiel to “deliver my words” to the rebellious people that were…

Judith 6 – Holofernes turns on Achior and tells him Nebuchadnezzar “is their God” and he will “display his power and wipe them off the face of the earth, and their God will certainly not save them” (6:2). As for Achior, when they are wiped off the face of the early, he too will die for trying to play the prophet.

He is ordered taken and turned over to the Israelites. Because of their tight defenses, they cannot take Achior to the Israelites, but he is bound at the foot…

Wisdom 18 – For the Jews, however, this time of darkness – the three days described in Exodus 10:21-23 was a time of light. “[F]or your holy ones all was great light” (18:1).

To them God granted a “pillar of blazing fire to guide them on their unknown journey” (18:3).

Then, as the Egyptians had earlier (c.1200 BC) attempted to kill all the firstborn of the Jews, they now suffered the loss of their firstborn in the 10^th plague. It is this…

Wisdom 10 – He starts here to go over the history of human beings and Wisdom’s place in that history from Adam to Moses. “The father of the world, the first being to be fashioned, created alone [unique in nature], he had her [Wisdom] for his protector and she delivered him from his fault; she gave him the strength to subjugate all things” (10:1). The Jerusalem Bible footnote explains that “she” delivered Adam through the practice of repentance and…

Sirach 36 – Jerusalem Bible note says the prayer here “reveals the sentiments of pious Jews about the year 190 just before the Maccabaean revolt” (1085). As a teacher of history, I find the Maccabaean revolt interesting to contemplate. In a way it was a revolt of very conservative religious leaders who were fed up with the dissolution of strict Jewish culture and practice. The young people of their day were fascinated by and drawn to the “worldly” values and universalism of the…

Tobit 13 – A song of praise to God:

                                    Blessed be God who lives forever,

                                   for his reign endures throughout all ages!

                                  By turns he punishes and pardons;

                                  he sends men down to the depths of the underworld

                                 and draws them up from supreme…