#1 Bestseller of All Time
As a woman who identifies with being a devout reader, observing Catholic and literacy educator, I realized that I would not be able to confidently use those labels for myself if I had not read the #1 bestseller of all time. I set a goal that I would invest time reading the Old Testament, the first division of the canonic Christian Bible, which begins with the 5 books of Moses (the Torah) along with compilations of other ancient Hebrew texts.
This 2024 Passover season, I completed the readings of the ancient writings of the Old Testament Accomplishing this goal took me many moons, since I did not pick up the book daily, or religiously (pun intended).
The narrative is fascinating. Even though I critically considered a lot of it to be "genealogical and geographical fluff " that described exhaustive lists of long names, who was the son of whom, and the lands in which they resided- it was a compelling journey that begins with the origins of a type of mankind that were marked by ungodliness upon birth (original sin), suffered to great extremes, escaped slavery (in Exodus), and how they endured targeted harm, vicious hatred and dishonorable deaths in many battles to defend the existence of their people.
Even those who believed in and worshipped the deity of God were punished by the higher power, as a test of the strength of their devotion and willingness to behave faithfully. Not one human was from safe from being spared of the risk of God's wrath. Yet, God rewarded many of his men and women but it was rare in comparison to how he penalized those that did not follow the spiritual code. Perhaps the imbalance between those who are blessed and those who are cursed, and how there are periods of blessings and periods of cursedness is indicative of how humankind operates in an imperfect, tempting and perverted, immoral world.
The laws and doctrines were decided upon by elder men of 12 tribes, with the first laws presented with Moses' 10 Commandments. The number 10 is also rendered significant in the 5 books of Moses with the 10 plagues of Egypt, gruesomely described.
In the midst of wars, the slaughter of men and the sacrificing of flesh, grains, peace (and more), the Hebrew population has persisted to this day. The concept that there are survivors of this relentless persecution is a miracle.
The stories trace human primitivity to a more advanced version of mankind that is transformed through the power of literacy.
In the 2 final books of Macabees, communication through letter writing is mentioned- leaders would inscribe messages in bronze to other leaders for correspondence. The Old Testament only seems to mention the act of writing once before that in the very beginning with the 10 Commandments; the medium is an unsophisticated slab of stone. Maccabees differs from the former books- they are the only ones where the writer addresses the reader and refers to their self in the first person, a type of a "breaking of a fourth wall".
This theme of transformational literacy unfolds, establishing that the bedrock of what we know today derives from written language, that consequently becomes significantly influential to the masses.
From the Old Testament, I recommend:
The 5 Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
The Book of Tobias
The Book of Job
The Psalms: Divine hymns told in a poetic manner, the subject mainly being praise and pain. Go to Psalm 22.
Proverbs
Macabees (Books 1 and 2)
What did the #1 Best Seller of All Time teach me?
That a pen is stronger than a sword. Selah.
