Introduction

There’s a special section of my bookshelf for books that I treasure more than other books I own. Some of them mean much to me because of how useful they’ve been over the years, or how much I’ve learned from them. Other books are there because they’re emotionally intertwined with really important moments in my life.

One of these latter books is the short devotional The Cross He Bore: Meditations on the Sufferings of the Redeemer by Frederick S. Leahy. It’s a wonderful reflection on Jesus’ suffering on our behalf, but the content of the book is not why I love it so much. The reason it’s one of my most treasured books is because of the handwritten note on the title page: “Kyle, I hope and trust that this little book will encourage you to draw near to the Savior. Jeff.”

Jeff is one of my best friends from college, and he gave me this book a few years after we graduated. That little note is so precious to me because it means so much more than just what the words themselves say. It’s a token of a treasured friendship that began at a formative time in our lives and endures to this day. God has used Jeff to shape me into who I am today, and his note in a book befitting our shared commitment to Christ is a wonderful reminder of the goodness of this friendship.

If a one sentence note from a friend can carry such weight, how much more incredible is it that the God of the universe has given us a written book for us to know him and live for him? God is not an impersonal force. He is personal and alive. He does not need us to accomplish tasks which he can’t or won’t do, nor does he need us emotionally, as if he created humanity because he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. The one God is Triune—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who existed in perfect relational wholeness within himself before we came along.

No, the staggering truth is that this very personal God made us, knows us, and calls us to know him because of his great love for us. He wants us to know him and find eternal joy in him. That is why, amongst his many wonderful works, he speaks to us. What he has spoken has been written down, and so we have the Bible as a gift of our Maker and Father inviting us into his joy.

The Bible is a miracle of his grace and power. It is a wonder that we can own our own copy, hold it in our hands, read it, study it, hear it explained and applied in a sermon or small group discussion.

So why is understanding the Bible so difficult? Shouldn’t God have made it easier for us to understand it?

Christians face numerous barriers to rich Bible study. Some of these are our responsibility. Unrepentant sin and bad personal habits not only hinder our study but often sap our desire to spend time in God’s Word. Other barriers are beyond our control. A poor night’s sleep has thwarted many a good intention of early morning Bible reading and prayer.

We must add to these barriers the fact that many parts of the Bible are difficult to understand. I should hasten to add that most of the Bible is not difficult to understand, especially when we take the time to hear it. John 3:16, for instance, is blessedly clear: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Other parts of the Bible, though, are rather less accessible to modern readers. What are we to make of Ezekiel 1:4-9?

I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

Such passages befuddle and bewilder. What does this mean? What does it matter for my life today? Many Christians get stuck here and give up study efforts and Bible reading plans.

This booklet is meant to be a guide for Christians seeking to grow in their skills in reading and studying God’s Word. I will try to answer these three questions: What is the Bible? Why should I study the Bible? How should I study the Bible? I also will recommend some resources for Bible study and discuss the difference between reading various reading disciplines and strategies. Then I will give a brief overview of all sixty-six books of the Bible. This overview is intended to be a quick reference guide for you as you dive more deeply into the Scriptures. After a prayer asking God’s help, I end with a reproduction of a famous essay that might encourage us in careful observation of God’s Word.

What is the Bible?

Let’s listen to how the Bible defines and explains itself. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:14–17,

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Notice that this explains Scripture’s origin and purpose. It is “God-breathed,” that is, inspired by God. In other words, what God wanted written down got written down. We can contrast this view of the Bible’s origins with both secular historiography and Islam’s account of its holy book the Koran.

Non-Christian historical scholars would argue that the Bible is entirely a human product. People from very different eras and backgrounds wrote their texts for a variety of reasons, such as in response to crises, personal religious feeling, internal power struggles, and so on. But all of these, they claim, can be explained historically as the product of human activity.

Islam declares the opposite: that the Koran was dictated to the Prophet Muhammad directly by the Angel Gabriel. One might say that it almost literally fell from heaven.

Christians, however, affirm that the Bible is neither human-only or God-only. It was written by real, flesh-and-blood people in response to a variety of real life situations, but God himself inspired them to write what he wanted written. As Timothy Ward says, God “is the divine Author behind the human authors.”

Other biblical texts affirm this same point. In Acts 4:25–26 the Apostle Peter quotes King David’s words in Psalm 2:1–2. He introduces the quotation by saying that God “spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David.” By the Spirit through David—God inspired David to write what he wanted him to write. We also see this when the anonymous (but very human) author of Hebrews quotes the anonymous (but very human) author of Psalm 95 with the introduction, “as the Holy Spirit says” (Hebrews 3:7). So was Psalm 95 written by the Holy Spirit or by a human psalmist? Yes! The Bible, therefore, is God’s own Word given to us through human authors.

Let’s return to 2 Timothy 3. We also discover the Bible’s purpose from this passage. It makes us “wise for salvation through Jesus Christ.” That is, we hear the good news of Jesus Christ and how to find forgiveness in him by trusting in him through the Bible. We did not get the chance to hear Jesus or his disciples preaching, but we do have the essential words of what they preached. How can I know that God loves me, that Jesus died for me, and that I should believe in him? Because God has told me this in the Bible (John 3:16, for example). So many people have come to experience the joy of salvation in Jesus through hearing sermons from the Bible or by reading the Bible themselves. God’s Word makes spiritually dead people come alive!

The Bible’s purpose doesn’t end once we become Christians. It is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The purpose of the Christian life is to grow in holiness and to serve him in the world with our good works. The Bible tells us what righteousness looks like, such as in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). It shows us how to live for him and serve him wherever we are.

I believe that formal church confessions and credal statements can be a helpful way of grasping essential truths. Here is how the Anglican catechism To Be a Christian, which was edited by J. I. Packer of blessed memory, answers the question, What is Holy Scripture?

Holy Scripture is “God’s Word written” … given by the Holy Spirit through prophets and apostles as the revelation of God and his acts in human history, and is therefore the Church’s final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

This definition adds one important point that we have not yet discussed. God’s Word is the “final authority,” the deciding vote, on everything that Christians are to believe and do. Thus, to summarize this section, the Bible is God’s inspired, authoritative Word written through human authors so that we can come to faith in Jesus and follow him.

Why should we study the Bible?

The origin and purpose of the Bible leads to our next question: why should you read and study the Bible? There are undoubtedly many reasons to invest our minds and hearts in God’s Word, but I will discuss what I think are three of the most important reasons. Note that these reasons apply also to sermons, group Bible studies, or other public and corporate occasions for hearing and discussing the Bible.

First, we should study the Bible in order to know God more. The colonial American theologian Jonathan Edwards preached a famous sermon called “Heaven is a World of Love.” His argument is that heaven will not be a boring place of disembodied souls floating on clouds playing harps (or perhaps spying on people on earth) but the blessed experience of God’s perfect love:

There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love — this eternal Three in One — is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!

That is what awaits us, but we are not left starving of his presence until then. We have the downpayment of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14) who calls out that we are God’s adopted and beloved children (Romans 8:22–27). That means that God can be known and his love enjoyed now. One primary way we can know is through his Word.

J. I. Packer shows how God speaks to us in order that we might know and enjoy him:

The word which God addresses directly to us is (like a royal speech, only more so) an instrument, not only of government, but also of fellowship. For, though God is a great king, it is not his wish to live at a distance from his subjects. Rather the reverse: He made us with the intention that he and we might walk together forever in a love relationship. But such a relationship can exist only when the parties involved know something of each other. God, our Maker, knows all about us before we say anything (Ps 139:1–4); but we can know nothing about him unless he tells us. Here, therefore, is a further reason why God speaks to us: not only to move us to do what he wants, but to enable us to know him so that we may love him. Therefore God sends his word to us in the character of both information and invitation. It comes to woo us as well as to instruct us; it not merely puts us in the picture of what God has done and is doing, but also calls us into personal communion with the loving Lord himself.

So let us hear his invitation into his presence by hearing, studying, and sitting under the Scriptures.

Second, we should study the Bible in order to know how to live in his world. Jesus’ call to each person is simultaneously a call to freedom and a call to obedience. The same Lord who says “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30) says “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Obedience is not a burden but the joyful calling of following the one who loved us to the point of death on a cross. The more we know his love the more we want to live in his way.

But how do we live his way? Our hearts are still burdened with sin, and the world offers so many deceptive ways away from him. It is like we are trying to drive on an abandoned country road without street lights or working headlights. God must illuminate our way.

In his kindness, he does illuminate our way in Scripture. How should I battle my sin? How should I respond to this relational conflict? What convictions do I need as a spiritual minority in a secular culture? For these and every other situation and challenge Christians face, we need to read deeply in his Word.

Third, we should study the Bible for the encouragement and strength to live for him in this world. No one would disagree with Tish Harrison Warren’s belief that “grief [is] part of the everyday experience of being human in a world that is both good and cruel.” Or with Martin Luther’s lyrics, “this world, with devils filled.” The news is rarely good. Our bodies’ warranty runs out sooner than expected. People hurt us, and we hurt them.

We don’t have to go out looking for reasons to despair; despair is quite competent at finding us. What we need, with all our weakness, is the encouragement and strength of God for us to follow him in hope and courage. He is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3), so it is right to go to him over and over again for renewal once again in his comfort.

I don’t know how many times I have been mired in trouble and have gone to the Lord in prayer and Bible reading and have heard him say to me through Scripture words to the effect of, “You are my precious son whom I love.” I need his comfort. We all do. Let us drink deeply of his encouragement in Scripture without hesitation.

How should we study the Bible?

So how should we study the Bible? Let me begin by making two preliminary points. One point to note at the outset is that not all Bible reading requires in-depth study. Bible study should be a normal practice, of course, but that does not mean that reading the Bible for devotional reasons is subpar. There will be times for in-depth Bible study, and there will be times for reading devotionally. God has not given us a law to follow here.

On the other hand, Bible study can also be devotional! Below I will give suggestions for Bible reading habits that foster in-depth study and broader devotional reading.

Another point to make is that Bible study is a skill to be developed not a technique or technology to be adopted. We live in a fast culture with instant access to nearly infinite amounts of information and entertainment. We’re promised that the right “life hacks” can improve our efficiency, and now artificial intelligence can perform many of the tasks we used to do exponentially faster.

Yet the most worthwhile human endeavors require time and dedication to master. Any musician who plays publicly has put in thousands of hours of practice to get to that level of proficiency. Whatever profession you’re in or aspire to likely involves years of formal education, internships, and regular on the job training. My point is not that it will take you years before you can be competent in Bible study but to encourage you that patient work is always a worthy investment for what is most important. So now, at long last, let’s get into these skills that we can begin training.

First, ask for God’s help and illumination. This is not a skill, of course, but it is vitally important. God wants us to understand his Word. Prayerfulness should always accompany our Bible reading.

Second, make your primary tool an actual Bible, not an app on your phone or a program on your computer. Don’t get me wrong—I use Bible apps and software programs. They are extremely useful supplementary tools; I’ve used my Bible app plenty of times to track down important words, and I regularly use Bible software in sermon preparation.

The reason these must be supplementary rather than primary tools is because we need to get familiar with the actual words on the pages in their relationship to the whole message. If we’re reading Paul’s letter to the Romans, for instance, which is one of the most theologically dense books in the entire Bible, we need to be able to follow his argument. He makes points and subpoints, he builds a case piece by piece. The physical structure of a Bible helps train us to more easily see this bigger picture. There are more words on the page than on a screen, so we learn to see how the dots connect together. If Paul says something in chapter 7, that might remind me of something he said in an earlier chapter. I might not remember what chapter it was, but I do remember that it was on the top righthand side of the page. In just a few moments of flipping pages and scanning the lines I’ve found what I’ve been looking for. An app can’t train us in these ways.

Third, take notes. Notetaking slows us down. It helps us notice what’s there. You can take notes directly in your Bible if you want. Some Bibles are designed exactly for this purpose and have wide margins for notetaking. Or use a notebook or legal pad.

What should you note? Anything that seems important! You can underline significant words. You can track how some words get repeated. You can try to summarize the point in your own words. You can write down how it’s encouraging or challenging for you personally.

The goal for notetaking is to help us observe what is there. The heart of good Bible reading is observation. We can read a great illustration of this principle in the 1879 essay “Agassiz and the Fish, by a Student” by Samuel Scudder. Scudder was a student of Louis Agassiz at Harvard and was given the task of painstakingly observing a fish specimen. The essay has become beloved by Bible teachers and is reproduced below.

Fourth, learn to make your peace with unanswered questions. Sometimes a passage we’re reading is really difficult to make sense of or to know how it could possibly have relevance for me. In those moments rather than giving into frustration and giving up, think of your unanswered questions as clues leading you to the treasure. Write your questions down in your notes. Maybe you’ll have a chance to return to them with more clues and resources later.

Fifth, learn the cardinal rule for interpretation: context, context, context! The texts of the Bible didn’t fall from heaven. They were written within contexts. That is, they exist within their literary, historical, and biblical contexts. We need to understand these contexts as best we can in order to understand the texts rightly.

A text’s literary context is perhaps the most important of the three. It refers to the rest of the book in which the text was written, and the “immediate” literary context refers to the passages immediately before and after the one you’re studying.

My favorite example of why the literary context is so important is how Philippians 4:13 often gets misinterpreted. It says, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength,” or, in the more familiar translation, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” People often take it to mean that I can do whatever I want and dream to do through Jesus who strengthens me. Athletes in particular love this verse. This verse was painted onto the free throw line of the gym of the church where I grew up (a great church, by the way). The point was obvious: you can make this free throw and win the game through Jesus who strengthens you.

But is that what Paul means? Not quite. When we look at the immediate literary context of just the few verses that come right before, we can see that he’s saying something different than guaranteeing our athletic achievements. He says in verses 11 and 12, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” “All things” in verse 13 means being content in “whatever the circumstances” we face, including severe hardship.

In addition to the literary context, we also need to know something about the historical context. This refers to the historical events and culture in which the text was written or is describing. Take the crucifixion of Jesus for instance. If we knew nothing of the historical context of the Roman crucifixion, we might not know exactly what the Gospel writers mean when they describe the terrible scene from Golgotha. But we know lots about this context—we know that the Roman Empire used it only against non-citizens as a terrorizing deterrent against rebellion; we know that victims died slowly and painfully; we know that they would have been stripped naked and exposed as publicly as possible to maximize their shame. These kinds of contextual details help us make sense of what happened on Good Friday. Lots of great resources are available for helping us understand the historical context of Scripture, and I’ll share those below.

Finally, we need to know something about the whole biblical context. In other words, where does this passage I’m studying fit within the whole story of the Bible? If I’m studying a very bloody passage about the sacrificial system in the Old Testament book Leviticus, I need to know the bigger story of sacrifice, especially that Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice to forgive all sins that makes the Old Testament sacrificial system obsolete. Or if I’m reading about the Last Supper, when Jesus and the disciples celebrate the Passover meal before, and Jesus takes the cup and says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28), it sheds light to know about the original Passover in Exodus 12 and the blood sprinkling in Exodus 24 which confirmed God’s covenant with Israel. In other words, Jesus is the New Passover sacrifice whose death will confirm the new and better covenant with God’s people. The bigger biblical context, therefore, helps make sense of this particular passage.

This raises a question: how do we learn this bigger biblical context? Let me suggest four ways. The first is to regularly read the whole Bible. This can be part of a year’s reading plan, which I’ll say more about below.

Another way is to use the tools in a standard reference Bible. Many Bibles will put footnotes or column notes on every page of other Bible verses that show these connections to other places in the Bible. To return to Matthew 26:28, the Bible I have open with me as I write (the NIV Thinline Reference Bible) lists four verses or passages that connect to this one verse: Exodus 24:6-6; Hebrews 9:20; Matthew 20:28; and Mark 1:4. These are your clues on your treasure map! Track down those other passages and see what they say. When you get to those passages, you’ll discover that they probably have still other passages referenced to them. The Bible is so richly interwoven that you’ll never run out of opportunities to see how it all fits together.

A third way to discover the biblical context is to know the overall historical timeline of the Bible. We don’t know all the dates of all the events in the Old Testament, but we can know the order of the big events and when they happened. Here’s a brief historical overview. I’ve added dates to those events whose dates we have more confidence in:

  1. Creation
  2. The Garden of Eden, Fall, Flood, and Tower of Babel in Genesis 1-11
  3. Abraham and the Patriarchs
  4. The Exodus and the giving of the law
  5. The period of the Judges
  6. King David and the creation of the kingdom of Israel
  7. Solomon and the building of the temple
  8. The division of the kingdom into Israel and Judah
  9. The destruction and exile of the northern kingdom Israel by the Assyrian Empire (732 BC)
  10. The destruction and exile of the southern kingdom Judah by the Babylonian Empire (586 BC)
  11. The return to the land of Judah under the Persian Empire (536 BC)
  12. Rebuilding of the temple (516 BC)
  13. Birth of Jesus (2-4 BC)
  14. Crucifixion of Jesus (AD 30)
  15. Writing of the New Testament (between AD 40-90)
  16. Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (AD 70)
  17. The return of Jesus (AD 2027. Just kidding, of course. But you never know!)

As you’re studying a passage of Scripture, one question to ask yourself is, “Where does this fit in the whole plot?” Doing so will help you have a sense of where the story has been and where it is going.

A fourth way to grasp the biblical context is by understanding the basic covenantal structure of Scripture. God uses covenants—binding agreements—in his loving, gracious relationship with his people. Here are the most important ones:

  1. The covenant of creation (sometimes called the covenant of works) in Genesis 2. Humanity would remain in perfect communion with God provided they obeyed him perfectly to not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
  2. The Noahic covenant in Genesis 9 that God would never again destroy the earth by a flood.
  3. The Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 15 that God would bless Abraham and his offspring.
  4. The Mosaic covenant beginning in Exodus 20 that showed how the covenant community was to obey God.
  5. The Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7 that promised a king over the covenant community who would lead them in righteousness.
  6. The New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31 and fulfilled by Jesus that God’s law would be written on the hearts of his people.

Understanding how these covenants ultimately find their fulfillment in Jesus is therefore another way of seeing where the story has been and where it is going.

Sixth, try to notice the structure of the passage you’re studying. I love Christopher Nolan’s movies (The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, Oppenheimer, etc.). One reason I find them so entertaining is how skillfully he plays with the narrative structure of the story. Flashbacks and flashforwards, stories that go backwards (Memento) or end in the middle (Tenet), make for a very interesting watch.

The structure of a Bible passage can be similarly illuminative. It can show us what the author is emphasizing or what the main lesson of the story is. If you’re studying a narrative passage, the structure can show you where the tension is and how it gets resolved. The Apostle Paul’s letters can often be quite dense; discovering the structure can help us make sense of his flow of thought.

Seventh, learn how the genre of the passage can illuminate its meaning. “Genre” means the kind of literature it is. If you walk into a bookstore today, all the books are organized by their genre: fiction, biography, travel, manga, and so forth. If you’re into manga, you would expect to see lots of fantastical pictures and a heavy dose of Japanese culture. You would not expect to find such things in the section selling SAT preparatory books. It’s a different genre.

What genres do we find in the Bible? Here are the big ones.

  • Narrative. This genre is most familiar to us today. It tells stories. It uses plot and characters. We can find narrative writing in both the Old Testament (like the book of Joshua) and the New Testament (the Gospels and Acts).
  • Wisdom poetry. This includes the Old Testament books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. It is typically written as poetry. Hebrew poetry often makes use of two-line parallelism. The first line will make a point, and then the second line restates or makes a similar point.
  • Psalms. This comprises the book of Psalms, of course, but includes other Old Testament examples embedded within other books. These also tend to use Hebrew parallelism. Most of the psalms in the Bible were used in public worship, and that should be the main takeaway for readers today: praise to God.
  • Prophecy. This includes the three “Major Prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and the twelve “Minor Prophets” (Hosea through Malachi). Prophecy typically does not make future predictions, as we might use the language of prophecy today. Rather, it gives commentary and often harsh rebuke of the failings of God’s people and her leadership, warning them of their impending judgment, and promising future restoration. These future promises include many prophecies of the Messiah, such as we find in Isaiah 53.
  • Epistles. The New Testament letters of Paul, Peter, John, and Jude are epistles, i.e., letters to a particular audience. Many but not all of them were prompted by particular issues that the author is trying to address. Paul’s writing is linear–he makes one point, then the next, then the next, and so forth. John’s letters, on the other hand, are more circular. He keeps circling back to earlier points and ideas.
  • Apocalyptic. Much of the book of Daniel and most of the book of Revelation are in the apocalyptic genre. The word “apocalypse” comes from the Greek word “revelation,” hence the name of the last book of the Bible. These books use large amounts of symbolic imagery to show the wickedness of God’s enemies, such as the monstrous beasts that arise out of the ocean. These books can be the hardest to make sense of because the genre is so unlike our modern genres.

There’s much to learn about studying the Bible, isn’t there?! Don’t give up. Keep reading. The Lord has treasures waiting for you to discover them.

What about when I don’t want to study the Bible?

Sometimes the best of intentions runs into the brick wall of our lack of desire. We know we should read and study the Bible, but often we just don’t want to. We want to do something else instead—sleep, scroll Instagram, read a different book, check the news, or paint the kitchen. What do we do then?

We must first get it out of our heads that if we do something we don’t want to do then we are being untrue to ourselves. The modern idol of authenticity—in which I must discover my “true” self, and my true self is defined by how I feel—does not serve the cause of growing in Bible reading or any of the spiritual disciplines well. To commit to intentionally spending time in Scripture and prayer when I don’t feel like it is not being fake or inauthentic. It’s just discipline.

There are so many worthwhile activities that we do even when we don’t feel like doing them. A mother who gets up at 2:00 a.m. to feed and change her infant would much prefer to stay in bed, but of course she gets up. The middle-aged man whose metabolism is slowing commits to running in the morning even though his body screams in protest. In fact, in order to counter his own desires to stay inert, he’ll set out his running clothes the night before, post his runs on an app, or even join a running club for accountability. Over time he might even discover that his desires change. Whereas before he didn’t want to run but did it anyway, now he actually enjoys it.

Every Christian will find days, weeks, or even long seasons when the desire to read and study the Bible wanes. This is normal and could have any number of causes, such as fatigue, depression, or sin. Don’t beat yourself up for going through such a season.

Take a lesson from the runner. How can you prepare for the discipline ahead of time so that you’re not as much at the mercy of how you feel in a particular moment? You could set up a private space in your home for this purpose. You could decide your reading or study plan (such as are discussed below) so that when it’s time to read you don’t have any decisions to make.

Then get about your reading and studying! And do it regularly. The discipline will harden into a healthy habit.

How do I make sense of hard passages in the Bible?

We cannot deny that some passages of Scripture strike us as morally problematic. Some might bristle against how the Bible speaks of gender differences and roles. Others might have difficulty with Old Testament laws prescribing food restrictions and slave transactions. Other examples of difficult passages can be found, but at the top of the list for just about everybody is surely the Old Testament passages prescribing and describing the slaughter of entire Canaanite cities in Israel’s conquest of the land. This is often referred to as “the Canaanite problem.”

Paul Copan’s book Is God a Moral Monster?, written in response to the New Atheists’ accusations against religion in general and Christianity in particular, devotes three whole chapters to this issue, and I recommend it for anyone who wants to wrestle with this issue. Here I summarize a few of his points.

First, the Canaanites’ ethnicity is not the problem. Their sin is. In other words, the Canaanites are not targeted by God’s people because they are racially different or inferior to them—which would amount to ethnic cleansing—but because of the magnitude of their sin. They were notorious for human sacrifice and sexual immorality, which were central to their religion. They threatened Israel’s spiritual and moral fidelity. Exodus 23:33 says, “Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

Second, Copan makes a compelling case that the actual military actions against the Canaanites were not as widespread or harsh as first appears. The language of total annihilation found in Scripture was typical of Ancient Near Eastern rhetoric that indicated total victory rather than literal destruction of 100% of the population. In other words, the language is hyperbolic, which would have been obvious to original readers.

This explains why groups that are described as completely wiped out are later described as remaining in the land. For example, God commands Saul to “totally destroy” the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15. This happens, yet in 1 Samuel 27 we’re told that David made a raid against the Amalekites. This shows that the language of total destruction is hyperbolic rather than literal.

Third, this hyperbolic language also makes it difficult to see that many of the cities the Israelites attack are more likely to be primarily military fortifications rather than civilian settlements. The majority of noncombatants would have fled prior to the arrival of Israel’s armies, as is always the case in war.

The last argument I will point out from Copan’s argument is that “the Canaanite problem” is never depicted as the typical way God deals with sinners. God’s character is most clearly seen in giving up his Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for sins and the reconciliation with his enemies. Copan writes, “Since God was willing to go through all of this for our salvation, the Christian can reply to the critic, ‘While I can’t tidily solve the problem of the Canaanites, I can trust a God who has proven his willingness to go to such excruciating lengths–and depths–to offer rebellious humans reconciliation and friendship.”

Recommended Resources

Christians today are living in the golden age of Bible resources. There are so many books, apps, and computer programs out there. I only know of a fraction of them. Here is what I recommend as manageable and affordable for each person.

First, get a good reference Bible in a reliable translation (the NIV and ESV are my favorites, but these are not the only good ones). A reference Bible, as mentioned earlier, will show how other verses and passages are linked to what you’re reading.

Second, get a good study Bible. Study Bibles contain large amounts of information on each page. Chances are most of your questions about the meaning of a passage will be answered in these notes.

Third, get familiar with apps or computer programs. These can be especially efficient for searching how a word in the passage you’re studying is used in other places in the Bible, which is a great aid in interpretation. The highest capacity programs can run you thousands of dollars if you go with all that they offer. I would recommend the completely free resource the STEP Bible instead (stepbible.org).

Fourth, if you’re willing and able to spend a little bit more money, you can invest in good Bible commentaries. These give thorough explanations of biblical texts and, depending on the kind of commentary it is, can suggest how it applies today. Some commentaries can be pretty expensive, but you can usually find used copies that are more affordable.

I regularly use bestcommentaries.com to find the highest rated commentaries. That website will also tell you the kind of perspective the author is coming from and how technical it is. Some commentaries require you to know Greek or Hebrew. Bestcommentaries.com will show you what’s more accessible to people without specialized training.

One caveat to keep in mind with commentaries is that you are reading one scholar’s own arguments and views. He or she may be wrong in his or her conclusions. That’s why I like to have at least two commentaries so that I can hear another perspective.

Reading the Bible Broadly and Deeply

Generally speaking, you can read the Bible for breadth or depth (or, what’s best, both!). Reading for breadth means that your goal is to read large amounts of the Bible over a larger amount of time. Often this will be reading the entire Bible over the course of a year. God can use the daily discipline of saturating yourself in the Bible over its great diversity and richness in amazing ways in your own spiritual formation.

There are many different wonderful reading plans. For years I have used the M’Cheyne reading plan, which was developed by the young Scottish pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne in the 1840s. This plan will take you once through the Old Testament and twice through the Psalms and New Testament each year. Each day you will read 4-5 chapters, which typically takes 15 or so minutes at an average reading speed. One benefit of this strategy is that if you find yourself reading a particularly challenging or inaccessible chapter (like a list of names), that’s OK, because you’ll read three other chapters that will be more accessible.

Here is the M’Cheyne reading plan, which you can find online.

You can also read for depth, and this is especially where your growing Bible study skills can come into play. I would recommend reading through one book of the Bible very slowly. Take one passage per week and read it everyday, taking notes along the way. You’ll be surprised at how much you see after days of careful attention that you missed on the first reading. You’ll also be surprised at how God uses that in-depth work to encourage and move you towards Christ.

Overview of the books of the Bible

Lastly, provided here are a few points on each book of the Bible that can help orient you as you read widely and deeply.

Genesis. The first book of the Bible is organized by the repeating phrase “This is the account of…” or, in some translations, “These are the generations of…” This phrase introduces a new section of the book each time it is used. It occurs in Genesis 2:4 (the heavens and the earth), 5:1 (Adam), 6:9 (Noah), 10:1 (the sons of Noah), 11:7 (Terah, Abraham’s father), 25:12 (Ishmael), 25:19 (Isaac), 36:1, 9 (Esau), and 37:2 (Jacob).

Exodus. It picks up the narrative from Genesis and tells how God leads the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. The giving of the Ten Commandments in chapter 20 leads the second half of the book that gives various laws for the community’s guidance.

Leviticus. This challenging book continues the lists of laws with a particular emphasis on holiness. “Be holy, for I am holy” (11:44) is key. The purpose of following these holiness laws is to be more like the holy God. Ultimately holiness is fulfilled by Christ, who gives us his Holy Spirit.

Numbers. Continues the story of Israel in the wilderness after the Exodus with an emphasis on how many people from each tribe were present. Sadly, that number steadily declines as the people die off in the wilderness due to their unfaithfulness to God.

Deuteronomy. This is Moses’ sermon to Israel that reminds the people of their covenant obligations to the God who rescued them out of slavery. Israel at this point mostly consists of the second generation to come out of Egypt, as their parents died in the wilderness for their unbelief.

Joshua. After Moses dies, God calls Joshua as his successor. The book recounts how they take possession of the land God had promised to give them. The most challenging part for modern readers is the description of violence against the inhabitants of the land. I recommend the book Is God a Moral Monster by Paul Copan for guidance here.

Judges. The outline of the book comes in chapter 2. Israel commits apostasy with pagan gods, God sends an enemy nation to punish them, he raises up a judge to deliver them and calls them to greater faithfulness … and then the cycle starts over again. The book ends with Israel in complete moral and spiritual ruin.

Ruth. Taking place during the time of the judges, Ruth shows how God will raise up a king through the faithfulness of a widow and her pagan daughter-in-law.

1 and 2 Samuel. The period of the judges gives way to the kings. On the one hand, this is bad, because they rejected God, their true king. On the other hand, God in his kindness promises that one day his king will come to rule his people in perfect faithfulness.

1 and 2 Kings. A sad account of decline from the heights of Solomon’s kingdom to civil war, the division of the kingdom, and the kings’ apostasy, which leads to the destruction of the northern kingdom by Assyria and the southern kingdom by Babylon.

1 and 2 Chronicles. Covers the same historical period as 1 and 2 Kings but with different emphases. It has large amounts of genealogical records as well as deeper theological reflections on why Israel ended up in ruin.

Ezra. The Jews who had been exiled to Babylon are permitted to return to Judah and rebuild. Under Ezra’s leadership, the temple is rebuilt. Importantly, though, it is not as grand as the first temple (3:12-13) which shows the reader that the people’s restoration is far from complete.

Nehemiah. Also focusing on the restoration of the southern kingdom, Nehemiah is an account of the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Many pastors love this book for its leadership lessons, but more important is its lessons for God’s faithfulness and the need for genuine, corporate repentance (chapter 9).

Esther. This is one of the more unusual books of the Bible as the name of God is never mentioned. That surely is intentional–it is a clever way of showing how God’s sovereign hand is at work to bring about the good of his people even in ways that aren’t obvious from moment to moment. Esther is the name of the Jewish girl suddenly thrust into marriage with the Persian king and who saves the Jews from genocide.

Job. This is the first of the wisdom books, and its theme is the problem of evil and suffering. The first two and last two chapters are narrative. It tells how Job, a righteous man who does not deserve special punishment, loses everything before eventually being restored. The middle chapters are poetry. Most of these are a debate between Job’s three friends on whether or not his suffering is deserved before Elihu and then ultimately God himself speaks in defense of divine justice. The problem of evil is not an easy problem to solve, and the book of Job does not give easy answers.

Psalms. A collection of 150 individual songs used in worship. Some give historical contexts for their composition, but most do not. The whole book is divided into five books (chapters 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150), with each book ending with a benediction. There are many different types of psalms including thanksgiving psalms, psalms about the king, and (a full third of the psalms) psalms of lament.

Proverbs. A collection of wisdom sayings that show how we are to live faithfully and wisely in the complexities of real life. These are meant to be memorized, mulled over, and put into practice. Many of them are addressed to young men and warn against the various kinds of temptations young men face and the need to learn from one’s authorities and even from one’s own mistakes.

Ecclesiastes. The main portion of the book of Ecclesiastes is written in the voice of King Solomon, the wisest of Israel’s kings, but was probably not literally written by Solomon. It is a very pessimistic account of the possibility of finding meaning in this world, which is punctuated by the repeating refrain, “Meaningless, meaningless!” It’s important to keep in mind that a separate narrator begins and ends the book, and it is his voice that is ultimately authoritative for interpretation. Despite what might feel like meaningless, fruitless toil in this world, our ultimate calling is to walk obediently with God.

Song of Songs. This is a collection of love poetry between a man and a woman. For most of church history this was taken as a symbol of God’s love for the church, but most contemporary readers take it more on face value that it is a celebration of romantic love. There is no reason why the author cannot have intended that it is both a depiction of human and divine love.

Isaiah. Written during the Syro-Ephramitic crisis, in which Judah was under existential threat of annihilation, the prophet Isaiah was called to appeal to the kings that their hope must be in the Lord and not in any other military alliance. Isaiah is one of the most theologically and literarily complex of all the books of the Bible, and for that reason one can spend years in fruitful study here. It is especially important for our understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus as the Suffering Servant in chapters 52-53.

Jeremiah. Jeremiah likewise warns against the people’s unfaithfulness (this is true for all the books of the prophets), but what makes this book unique is its regular use of Jeremiah’s theatrical performances. Much of the book seems to be a collection of Jeremiah’s preaching ministry, and its organization feels less straightforward than the other prophets. Modern readers can find this to be a challenge. It could help to focus more on the vivid imagery than to look for the flow of thought.

Lamentations. Squeezed between two major prophets, this smaller book shows the utter horror of life in Jerusalem under military siege, which was a consequence of their spiritual rebellion. There is hope (chapter 3), but most of it is lament.

Ezekiel. This can feel like one of the more exotic books. It gives us images of God’s presence which feel bizarre and even intimidating. It contains many warnings of judgment but ends with visions of the restored temple and city.

Daniel. Daniel contains two sections: a narrative section on faithful Jews in the midst of the evil Babylonian court and an apocalyptic section on God’s sovereign power over the pagan empires of the world.

Hosea. The first of the Minor Prophets vividly depicts Israel’s spiritual adultery through the literal adultery of Hosea’s wife.

Joel. The disaster of a locust plague warns against the even greater judgment to come lest Israel repent.

Amos. This book is divided into a series of oracles which are directed against Israel as well as the other nations of the world.

Obadiah. A very short book that proclaims God’s judgment against Israel’s enemies.

Jonah. This is a dramatic book that displays how shockingly merciful God is. God tells the prophet Jonah to preach to Assyrian city Nineveh so that they might be saved, but he runs as far away as he can. Even when he finally fulfills his duty, he’s still happy that God’s grace is for those whom we wish would be destroyed.

Micah. Micah has a lot of overlap with Isaiah. Its most famous verse is 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Nahum. This is the mirror image of Jonah. Nineveh will be destroyed for its wickedness.

Habakkuk. This pungent book wrestles with the question how God could use the evil Babylonians to bring about his purposes. It’s organized in a series of Habbakuk’s questions and the Lord’s answers.

Zephaniah. This is another book that contains a series of oracles against the pagan nations and against Judah. God’s anger and mercy both abound.

Haggai. Written after the return from exile, Haggai focuses on the promise of redemption as embodied in the rebuilding of the temple.

Zechariah. Also written after the return from exile, this book uses vivid images to show the need for full renewal.

Malachi. The last of the minor prophets and the last book in the Old Testament, it ends with the promise of the return of the prophet Elijah, which is fulfilled by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Israel’s Messiah.

Matthew. Like all four Gospel writers, Matthew tells the gospel: the good news of what Jesus has done and said, culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection. Matthew’s emphasis is to show how Jesus fulfills Old Testament teachings with his frequent use of “this was to fulfill…”

Mark. The shortest and probably the earliest Gospel, Mark wants his readers to wrestle with the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. The final account of the resurrection of Jesus is almost certainly not Mark’s original ending.

Luke. Luke’s emphasis is on how Jesus’ kingdom is for those who have been historically excluded from it, such as women and Gentiles. Some of Jesus’ most famous parables, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Prodigal Son, are only found in Luke.

John. John gives the most unique account of Jesus’ life. It gives us many episodes and teachings that are not found in the other Gospels, and it teaches Jesus’ divine identity the most explicitly. John helpfully tells us why he wrote this book: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).

Acts. This is also written by Luke and continues the Christian story in the early church under the leadership of the twelve apostles before focusing on the Gentile ministry work of the Apostle Paul. 1:8 provides an outline for the whole book–the gospel will go forth from Jerusalem to all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, as represented by Rome.

Romans. This is the Apostle Paul’s most famous and theologically dense book. Much of it is concerned with how Jews and Gentiles are alike before God in judgment and in the grace of Jesus. “Justification,” how one is righteous before God, is important here. The book ends with practical implications for the Christian life.

1 Corinthians. The church in Corinth, which Paul planted, was a hot mess, and this letter is intended to set them straight. Paul wants them to see how the gospel should move them to love and holiness rather than to group fighting and spiritual gamesmanship.

2 Corinthians. Paul here defends his ministry against the charge that he is too weak and prone to suffering to be a real apostle. On the contrary, weakness is the way of God’s power in the gospel.

Galatians. This fiery letter was written to stop the church in Galatia from abandoning the gospel by insisting that Gentile converts be circumcised. This would be a legalistic return to the Old Covenant, which has now given way to the New Covenant and the life of the Spirit.

Ephesians. This is another of Paul’s top theological writings, showing how all the treasures of God come through the gospel. At the risk of oversimplification, the first half (chapters 1-3) gives the theology, and the second half (chapters 4-6) gives the application.

Philippians. Paul wrote this very warm letter from prison to a church which has repeatedly supported him financially and personally. He regularly appeals to them to fight for their unity and humility. The famous “Christ hymn” in 2:8-11 was probably not written by Paul but gives us an amazing picture of what the early church thought about the earthly suffering and heavenly majesty of Jesus.

Colossians. This book bears a lot of similarities to Ephesians. Jesus’ supremacy is emphasized here.

1 Thessalonians. This is probably one of Paul’s earliest if not the very earliest letter he wrote that is part of our New Testament. One of his goals is to encourage them about the second coming of Jesus.

2 Thessalonians. Similar themes occur here as in 1 Thessalonians. Paul returns to the theme of the end times with a focus on the mysterious “man of lawlessness.”

1 Timothy. Written to his protégé towards the end of his life, this letter gives instructions on church government and how the gospel applies to real life issues.

2 Timothy. This second letter to Timothy encourages him to faithfulness in his ministry.

Titus. Another personal letter to a church leader, Titus gives instructions on church government and how the gospel moves us to good works.

Philemon. This very short letter is written to Paul’s friend Philemon on the occasion of Philemon’s slave Onesimus having escaped, became converted to Christ, befriended Paul, and is now being sent back to Philemon. Paul urges Philemon to accept Onesimus back as his brother in Christ rather than as his slave.

Hebrews. We don’t know who wrote this rich book (or, more precisely, this sermon). It takes pains to show how Jesus is better than every other heavenly being or every figure in the Old Testament.

James. James was the half brother of Jesus and became one of the main leaders of the mother church in Jerusalem. This letter is what’s called an “encyclical”; it was meant to be distributed to a Jewish Christian communities all over that part of the world. The letter focuses on the need for genuine discipleship rather than an empty profession of faith. One part that is often difficult to make sense of is what seems to be the denial of salvation by grace alone in chapter 2. The best way to make sense of this is that James is critiquing an understanding of faith as merely an intellectual assent to truth rather than genuine, transformative trust.

1 Peter. Peter wrote this letter to a marginalized Christian community that was beginning to experience hostility from their neighbors. Jesus suffered, and so will his followers.

2 Peter. This letter has a lot of overlap with the letter of Jude. It gives instruction on the reliability of Scripture in the face of false teaching and the certainty of Jesus’ return in the face of those who scoff at Christian belief.

1 John. As mentioned above, John’s letters are not as linear as Paul’s, so don’t be surprised when he keeps on returning to his main themes, especially God’s love and Jesus’ incarnation in the flesh (as opposed to a purely spiritual, ghostly presence).

2 John. This very short letter is written “To the lady chosen by God and to her children,” by which John probably means a particular Christian congregation. The theme of Jesus’ fleshly incarnation returns in this letter.

3 John. John’s final letter is an exhortation to faithfulness in contrast to examples of those who do not love the church.

Jude. Jude was another half-brother of Jesus. This short letter is interesting in that it appeals to popular stories about biblical characters that were written in books that were not part of the Bible. His main point is to warn about the judgment of the ungodly and to call the faithful to persevere in faith.

Revelation. The very last book of the Bible is one of the most difficult. The first three chapters consist of letters to churches in Asia Minor, and the rest of the book is a textbook example of the apocalypse genre. Many people make the mistake of trying to identify all the scenes and characters in the book in light of current events and politics. Revelation was written first of all to Christians who were suffering terrible persecution by the Roman Empire. So many of the symbols and images are codes for Rome and Caesar. A refrain throughout the book that helps explain the book’s purpose is “the one who is victorious,” referring to Christian believers who endure under persecution. In other words, don’t be intimidated by all the beasts, horns, bowls, and scrolls. Remember the main point: that the worst, most powerful empire in the world will try to crush the church, but God wins in the end, so be victorious in the endurance of your faith.

Concluding Prayer

Our heavenly Father, thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in your Son Jesus Christ, whom you have united to us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for speaking to us in the Bible. Use your Word to make us more like Jesus by showing the beauty of the gospel and the life that flows out of the gospel. Make us eager to study and read it, help us to understand it, and empower us to apply it.

“The Student, the Fish and Agassiz”

(effectivebiblestudy.com)

It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the laboratory of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had enrolled my name in the scientific school as a student of natural history. He asked me a few questions about my object in coming, my antecedents generally, the mode in which I afterwards proposed to use the knowledge I might acquire, and finally, whether I wished to study any special branch. To the latter I replied that while I wished to be well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote myself specially to insects.

“When do you wish to begin?” he asked.

“Now,” I replied.

This seemed to please him, and with an energetic “Very well,” he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol.

“Take this fish,” said he, “and look at it; we call it a Haemulon [pronounced Hem yú- lon]; by and by I will ask what you have seen.”

With that he left me, but in a moment returned with explicit instructions as to the care of the object entrusted to me.

“No man is fit to be a naturalist,” said he, “who does not know how to take care of specimens.”

I was to keep the fish before me in a tin tray, and occasionally moisten the surface with alcohol from the jar, always taking care to replace the stopper tightly. Those were not the days of ground glass stoppers, and elegantly shaped exhibition jars; all the old students will recall the huge, neckless glass bottles with their leaky, wax besmeared corks half eaten by insects and begrimed with cellar dust. Entomology was a cleaner science than ichthyology, but the example of the professor, who had unhesitatingly plunged to the bottom of the jar to produce the fish, was infectious; and though this alcohol had “a very ancient and fishlike smell,” I really dared not show any aversion within these sacred precincts, and treated the alcohol as though it were pure water. Still I was conscious of a passing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. My friends at home, too, were annoyed, when they discovered that no amount of eau de cologne would drown the perfume which haunted me like a shadow.

In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in that fish, and started in search of the professor, who had, however, left the museum; and when I returned, after lingering over some of the odd animals stored in the upper apartment, my specimen was dry all over. I dashed the fluid over the fish as if to resuscitate it from a fainting-fit, and looked with anxiety for a return of the normal, sloppy appearance. This little excitement over, nothing was to be done but return to a steadfast gaze at my mute companion. Half an hour passed, an hour, another hour; the fish began to look loathsome. I turned it over and around; looked it in the face—ghastly; from behind, beneath, above, sideways, at a three-quarters’ view— just as ghastly. I was in despair; at an early hour I concluded that lunch was necessary; so, with infinite relief, the fish was carefully replaced in the jar, and for an hour I was free.

On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had been at the museum, but had gone and would not return for several hours. My fellow students were too busy to be disturbed by continued conversation. Slowly I drew forth that hideous fish, and with a feeling of desperation again looked at it. I might not use a magnifying glass; instruments of all kinds were interdicted. My two hands, my two eyes, and the fish; it seemed a most limited field. I pushed my finger down its throat to feel how sharp its teeth were. I began to count the scales in the different rows until I was convinced that that was nonsense. At last a happy thought struck me—I would draw the fish; and now with surprise I began to discover new features in the creature. Just then the professor returned.

“That is right,” said he; “a pencil is one of the best of eyes. I am glad to notice, too, that you keep your specimen wet and your bottle corked.”

With these encouraging words he added,—

“Well, what was it like?”

He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the structure of parts whose names were still unknown to me: the fringed gill—arches and movable operculum; the pores of the head, fleshy lips, and lidless eyes; the lateral line, the spinous fin, and forked tail; the compressed and arched body. When I had finished, he waited as if expecting more, and then, with an air of disappointment,—

“You have not looked very carefully; why,” he continued, more earnestly, “you haven’t seen one of the most conspicuous features of the animal, which is as plainly before your eyes as the fish itself; look again, look again!” and he left me to my misery.

I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that wretched fish! But now I set myself to my task with a will, and discovered one new thing after another, until I saw how just the professor’s criticism had been. The afternoon passed quickly, and when, towards its close, the professor inquired,—

“Do you see it yet?”

“No,” I replied, “I am certain I do not, but I see how little I saw before.”

“That is next best,” said he earnestly, “but I won’t hear you now; put away your fish and go home; perhaps you will be ready with a better answer in the morning. I will examine you before you look at the fish.”

This was disconcerting; not only must I think of my fish all night, studying, without the object before me, what this unknown but most visible feature might be; but also, without reviewing my new discoveries, I must give an exact account of them the next day. I had a bad memory; so I walked home by Charles River in a distracted state, with my two perplexities.

The cordial greeting from the professor the next morning was reassuring; here was a man who seemed to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself what he saw.

“Do you perhaps mean,” I asked, “that the fish has symmetrical side with paired organs?”

His thoroughly pleased, “Of course, of course!” repaid the wakeful hours of the previous night. After he had discoursed most happily and enthusiastically—as he always did—upon the importance of this point, I ventured to ask what I should do next.

“Oh, look at your fish!” he said, and left me again to my own devices. In a little more than an hour he returned and heard my new catalogue.

“That is good, that is good!” he repeated, “but that is not all; go on.” And so, for three long days, he placed that fish before my eyes, forbidding me to look at anything else, or to use any artificial aid. “Look, look, look,” was his repeated injunction.

This was the best entomological lesson I ever had—a lesson whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent study; a legacy the professor has left to me, as he has left it to many others, of inestimable value, which we could not buy, with which we cannot part.

A year afterward, some of us were amusing ourselves with chalking outlandish beasts upon the museum blackboard. We drew prancing star-fishes; frogs in mortal combat; hydra-headed worms; stately craw-fishes, standing on their tails, bearing aloft umbrellas; and grotesque fishes, with gaping mouths and staring eyes. The professor came in shortly after, and was amused as any, at our experiments. He looked at the fishes.

“Haemulons, every one of them,” he said. “Mr. ---------- drew them.”

True; and to this day, if I attempt a fish, I can draw nothing but Haemulons.

The fourth day, a second fish of the same group was placed beside the first, and I was bidden to point out the resemblances and differences between the two; another and another followed, until the entire family lay before me, and a whole legion of jars covered the table and surrounding shelves; the odor had become a pleasant perfume; and even now, the sight of an old, six-inch, worm-eaten cork brings fragrant memories!

The whole group of Haemulons was thus brought in review; and, whether engaged upon the dissection of the internal organs, the preparation and examination of the bony framework, or the description of the various parts, Agassiz’s training in the method of observing facts and their orderly arrangement was ever accompanied by the urgent exhortation not to be content with them.

“Facts are stupid things,” he would say, “until brought into connection with some general law.”

At the end of eight months, it was almost with reluctance that I left these friends and turned to insects; but what I had gained by this outside experience has been of greater value than years of later investigation in my favorite groups.