There are narratives in the Bible that are difficult to explain with only a couple of verses that help tell the story. How many other old books tell the same story?
Bonus Questions What books did Jesus read in the Bible? (Luke 24:44) Which books should you read? Which books should be considered canon?
Main Thought The Bible wasn’t always a bound book as we have today. For much, much longer, than we’ve had the Bible as we know it, scrolls of these copied texts made up the libraries of Scripture. But what else was read in those libraries? (Like some of these bonus books found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.) The Second Temple period and what people thought and were reading provides an important backdrop into the time Jesus was born into. And after Jesus‘ life, death, and resurrection, what were the New Testament authors reading? Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch in Jude 1:14-15 (1 Enoch 1:9). That doesn’t mean everything quoted in the Bible should be included as a book in the Bible, but it does mean the author was familiar with that book. What other books should followers of Jesus be familiar with?
