The Rational Bible: Genesis

Wow. I am a retired Hebrew teacher from a Christian Bible College. I have a B.A. in Jewish Studies, an M.A. in Old Testament and Hebrew and a PhD in Biblical Archaeology. I have a number of books traditionally published on Hebrew word studies. I have studied the Word of God in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek for a minimum of three to four hours a day for the last 40 years. You would think this dusty old professor would not have anything new to learn. Wrong. Dennis Prager proves that the Word of God is a well that’s never runs dry and that the Jews are the chosen people of God to bring an understanding and knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob into this lost and needy world. Prager introduces knowledge and wisdom from Jewish literature that is untapped by the Christian community. The Jewish people are truly the guardians of the Biblical Hebrew as well as knowledge of the Old Testament. Christians get off your high horse and taste of the wisdom and knowledge that our Jewish brothers and sisters have to offer. If I find you in a book store looking to purchase one of my books I would tell you to first search out Prager’s commentary. Zechariah 8:23. This is what the Lord of host says: In those days ten people from all languages and nations shall grasp the robe of a Jewish man and say: “We will go with you for we have heard God is with you”. It is time for us Christians to grab hold of this “robe.”

I must admit to being disappointed with this, He starts good, and I wanted to like it. But then he falls into two traps.First as they saying goes "Ask two rabbis a question and get four opposing answers".Creation by God in six days - yes, and evolved over billions of years, also equally yes. Adam and Eve are both literal and mythical. Noah is both good and rotten.Second, all verses in which Christians see prophecies of Jesus Christ are rewritten, ignored altogether or given commentary that erases any possibility of it being used in a Christian way.I gave up a third of the way through.

As with Volume 1 on Exodus, Mr. Prager provides a wealth of rational reasoning to answer all the why's you might have to God's nature and reasoning around why He did what He did. I can't wait till Volume 3. Mr. Prager, thank you for your courage in the fight of our lifetime.

To be clear, I just received this volume yesterday, so this review is based on the first volume Exodus. While I find the language of the Bible to be beautifully written, it can be difficult to understand. This commentary takes the ideas and concepts and lays them out in clear and understandable form. Many of the concepts here are written in essay form that are hard to understand in Biblical text. This work has brought me closer to the wisdom of God, and for that I am grateful.

Another brilliant exegesis of the first book of the Bible. In his clear and easy style, Mr. Prager leads us on a journey of understanding that very few people could do. He gets right to the point that he is trying to make and backs them up with numerous citations.The binding and cover of the book are beautiful and solid and should last for the many years I will spend flipping through its pages. The only thing I wish they would have added would be a ribbon page marker.I recommend this commentary to anyone, regardless of their belief.

Life changing material!

Both books are amazingly detailed and explained. Have not been able to put it down since it arrived.

Excellent

This volume provides a rational and logical explanation of what the "Old Testament" meant in it's original historical context. Understanding it's historical context allows us to understand the significant lessons it contains that aren't immediately obvious. This has provided me with insights into today's world.Coming from a "Western" background, the "Old Testament" is a weird, confusing and pointless book that just appears to contradict reality. Christian types usually only take an interest in the Old Testament to justify their belief that Jesus is "the fulfilment" of promises made by God to the Israelites.As such, I had never been exposed to an analysis of the "Torah" like this. I am glad I have been. I know "get" what the Jewish people see in these texts that I simply hadn't been aware of before.This book is required reading for religious and non religious readers alike.

This is one of the greatest books I ever read. It answered a lot of questions that I had myself, and also gave me strong arguments.I consider this a reference book, together with ''The Exodus'' and I'm looking forward to have the next one.

My son in law loved it very happy

This is an excellent commentary on the Book of Genesis.Well worth reading and a very worthwhile addition to any reference library.

Nach mehrmaligen Versuchen, durch die Torah zu lesen, bin ich an meine Gedulds- und Verständnisgrenzen gekommen (geht wahrscheinlich Hand in Hand). Dennis Prager schafft es, unterhaltsam zu sein und gleichzeitig sehr viel beizubringen. Ich habe nun ein deutlich verbessertes Verständnis von dem 1. Buch Mose und möchte nun unbedingt weiterlesen.