One of my biggest reasons for surfing the blogosphere is to find help in understanding and communicating the truth of Scripture. For that reason, I am forced to sift through the confusing, the poorly written, and the ‘attempting to sound like an expert’ posts of others on a daily basis. In all my searching, I occasionally run across the authentic, the deeply-thoughtful, and the extremely helpful. Today I need to share one such treasure of posts with you.

I spent the last semester preaching passages from the book of Proverbs for class. I found the process of study and communication deeply challenging, and deeply humbling. I realized just how ignorant I really am regarding the book of Proverbs, along with many other books of the Old Testament. So when Soveriegn Grace Ministries posted a guide on understanding Proverbs based on their summer sermon series on the book, I was ecstatic. Links to books, charts, and sermons on the subject are priceless treasures for me.

I hope you will join me in appreciating the fruit of their labors, even if you just take time to download and listen to the first sermon. Resources are here. the first sermon is here.

Thanks Sovereign Grace!!!

I mentioned my general disappointment with the Bible Study resources in a past post, and I want to come back around and add a few recent discoveries that have positively impacted my study. I hope that that following sites peak your interest, and possibly add momentum to your time with God.

Language Tools:
If you only speak English, one of the most profitable things you can do is read from various translations. If you are a multi-lingual individual, I definitely suggest that you read from non-English translations as well. My favorite translations are the New American Standard Bible, and the New Century Version. The first is VERY accurate to the reading of the original language, the second is a paraphrase intended to be readable to children. Bible reading sites are very prevalent: bible.logos.com, www.youversion.com, www.biblegateway.com, etc. My favorite one is currently www.biblos.com, which has over 90 multi-lingual translations, and also makes an interlinear view available.

If you are a student of the original languages, I also recommend that you utilize online tools. I find the Greek view of www.biblos.com to be very helpful in my study–but am most impressed by John Dyer’s readers bible, where you can customized the view to provide only the elements of the text that you need to read successfully.

Bible Reading Plans:
Both online and offline, I am also a huge fan of Bible reading plans. My wife and I are currently following the plans available through YouVersion.com, so that we can keep each other accountable to reading through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice this year. However, online reading guides are a dime a dozen, so take your pick. Most sites even provide the option to have your daily reading emailed to you, or send via RSS feed.

Bible Study Tools:
In addition to these tools, I suggest that you consider using one of a few different approaches to Bible study:

• Chronological reading of the Bible
• Topical studies in the Bible
• Character Studies on Biblical Characters
• Parallel reading of the Bible’s four gospel accounts

Here again, www.biblos.com shines with great resources and views for all of these.

In my first post, I tore down a number of electronic Bible study tools saying they were inadequate for the task. I still wholeheartidly believe that you are better off utilizing a church library or pastor’s commentary collection that using the current software that’s available out there.

However, if you are studying the original language of the Bible from a knowledge of Greek or Hebrew, than there is no greater resource available than good software. Two programs stand out among the crowd: Bibleworks (for PC) and Accordance (for Mac). While I am not well-versed in either program, I find it incredibly helpful to be able to define works by simply scrolling over them in any translation I use in Bibleworks.

Brandon Johnson, who has had more experience with Bibleworks, has shared his thoughts here. I’ll refer you to that summary for now, and return with my own evaluation sometime. Don’t forget to view his pdf example, here.

A few weeks ago I took time to study the book of Leviticus for my Old Testament survey class. I concluded that if I did not choose to study it when required to, I would more than likely never be compelled to study it thoroughly.

I won’t tell you that the study of this book left me without questions, but I will tell you that being aware of this book has opened my eyes to the Old Testament concept of sin, and to the writings of scholars on the topics I had in question.

No question was more baffling to me than trying to understand the role of the “scapegoat” on the day of Atonement. Why drive a goat into wilderness? Well, I found the answer in the writings of the same scholar who created my Greek curriculum…and I must say that a proper understanding of it completely changes my perspective on the event. I hope this enhances your understanding of the book as well.  Enjoy the entire article from William Mounce by clicking here.

Rather than the traditional “scapegoat” translating la ‘^aza,zel here, we should read instead “to Azazel” (NRSV; NJB).¹ We know that ‘^aza,zel should be the proper name of a party capable of ownership because a lot ceremony designated one goat layhwh, “belonging to Yahweh,” and the other goat as la ‘^aza,zel , “belonging to Azazel” (16:8). However, we do not know what the name “Azazel” means.²

The fact that Yahweh, owner of the goat slain as a purification offering (16:9, 15), is supernatural suggests that Azazel, owner of the live goat, is also some kind of supernatural being. Because transporting a load of Israelite toxic waste, consisting of moral faults, to Azazel in the wilderness and abandoning it there by the command of Yahweh (16:10, 22; cf. Zech 5:5–11) is a singularly unfriendly gesture, it appears that Azazel is Yahweh’s enemy.⁷ Therefore, Azazel is most likely some kind of demon (so Jewish tradition recorded in 1 En. 10:4–5), who dwells in an uninhabited region (cf. Lev. 17:7; Isa. 13:21; 34:14; Luke 11:24; Rev. 18:2).⁸

Also, If you want to see the layout of the book of Leviticus, you can take a look at my book chart, in excel format, here.

Lessons to be gleaned from this experience:
1. If you find a book of the Bible boring, trying studying with more depth.
2. Seeing the structure of a book adds quite a bit of depth to your study. Trying creating a book chart (more on this later).

I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with the quality of the readily available Bible study resources that we have today. The proper interpretation of the Scriptures is a very difficult task, and one that often requires educated guidance and disciplined study…which is one reason why I believe we prefer to read the writings of Christian writers over reading Scripture at times. I don’t know about you, but I have read my daily devotions from the writings of Daily Bread, Max Lucado, Oswald Sanders, and others.

Unfortunately, every time I attempt to study the Word of God, I run into one of two dilemmas: (1) Inadequate resources, or (2) too many resources to sort through. Here are a few specific suggestions to assist you in avoiding this same dilemma.

Bible Software: (poor quality resources) I would suggest to you that you stay away from purchasing any Bible Study Software, as I find the translations available through them far outmatched by the free study sites available to us today. I have also spent a decent amount of money to purchase premium packages of books for software like Logos and Quickverse, but  am never impressed or assisted in interpretation by their commentary collections. (YouVersion.com,  bible.logos.com, and BibleGateway.com)

At the present time, I have not found an online Bible Study portal or electronic software that allows for the guided study of Scripture…but I am hopeful that this is forthcoming. Perhaps one of our readers will suggest a good one!

Church Libraries: (too many resources) If you have access to a library of study resources, but are not sure where to start, be sure to utilize www.bestcommentaries.com, which will give you a listing of the top two rated Commentaries for each book of the Bible, along with other suggested study tools for each book.

If your church does not have a good library, I suggest that you consider utilizing the library of a nearby church or Bible College (I’ve rarely seen a library refuse to allow an interested person to use their collection).

Further tools that can be utilized are online article databases like ATLA, which can be accessed through many secular libraries computer systems (sometimes even through the city library).

And, if you choose to purchase the books, please utilized the discounts of online retailers and search sites like AddAll.com and Christian Book Distributers (www.ChristianBook.com).

One Excellent Resource: On a final note, I constantly rely upon the expository outlines of Warren Wiersbe, which acts as an excellent Bible Study resource for understanding the meaning of a passage of Scripture. If there was one item I would suggest that your purchase for your personal library, it would likely be his outlines. See them here.