Summary of Bruce Feiler's Walking the Bible

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The story of the patriarchs takes up the final thirty-nine chapters of Genesis, and covers the entire geographical spectrum of the ancient Near East. However, there are numerous candidates for Mount Sinai, and many theories about which path the Israelites took through the Sinai.

#2 The goal of our journey was to place the Bible’s stories in the historical and cultural context of the ancient Near East. We decided to begin our travels in Israel with a bit of a long shot, asking if the Israeli Army would allow us to walk across the Damia Bridge to the Jordanian side, then walk back.

#3 The narrow strip of land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean has been a curiosity, a place to pass through but not to stay, since its inception. It was never able to develop into a great empire, but it was that lack of an empire that may have allowed God to promise it to Abraham.

#4 The State of Israel can be roughly divided into three sections – the head and shoulders of the Galilee, the torso made up of the central hills, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, and the legs and feet of the Negev. The 1937 British plan to partition Palestine gave Jews only the head and shoulders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822527492

IRB Media

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Insights on Bruce Feiler's Walking the Bible

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The story of the patriarchs takes up the final thirty-nine chapters of Genesis, and covers the entire geographical spectrum of the ancient Near East. However, there are numerous candidates for Mount Sinai, and many theories about which path the Israelites took through the Sinai.

#2

The goal of our journey was to place the Bible’s stories in the historical and cultural context of the ancient Near East. We decided to begin our travels in Israel with a bit of a long shot, asking if the Israeli Army would allow us to walk across the Damia Bridge to the Jordanian side, then walk back.

#3

The narrow strip of land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean has been a curiosity, a place to pass through but not to stay, since its inception. It was never able to develop into a great empire, but it was that lack of an empire that may have allowed God to promise it to Abraham.

#4

The State of Israel can be roughly divided into three sections – the head and shoulders of the Galilee, the torso made up of the central hills, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, and the legs and feet of the Negev. The 1937 British plan to partition Palestine gave Jews only the head and shoulders.

#5

The site of ancient Shechem, which was the center of the city, was run-down and in need of repair. However, archaeologists found evidence that Shechem was a thriving community as early as the fifth millennium B. C. E.

#6

Abraham’s next stop was Bethel, a modern Jewish settlement in the midst of Arab domain. The community is a voluntary ghetto, a Wild West outpost of choice, not force.

#7

Fern, who was garrulous and gesticulative, met her husband in college in New York. They had three children, and after selling their house and cars, they moved back to Israel. They settled on Bethel, which fit their requirements for a religious community: established enough to have teenagers, new enough to have children, diverse.

#8

The author’s grandparents lived in Bethel, and the author still has family there. The author believes that Jews belong in the land of Israel because God gave it to them, and they should not give it back.

#9

The Bible is unhelpful when it comes to figuring out what Canaan was like when Abraham got there. The Patriarchs’ Road, which was originally a three- or four-foot-wide stone-riddled trail, was later widened and paved by the Romans.

#10

The road that leads to Abraham’s route to Canaan is full of Israeli idiosyncrasies. Every driver was holding a phone, and every car had at least one bumper sticker. The land was once a leafier place, covered with sycamores, oaks, and pistachios.

#11

The land that Abraham was given was not suitable for farming, so he and his nephew Lot separated. But God promised that Abraham’s offspring would be as the dust of the earth, which meant they could be counted.

#12

When Sarah laughed, it was because she was afraid of having a child after so many years of being childless. God revealed himself to Abraham and told him that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their great sin.

#13

The Bible describes the Dead Sea