My Favorite Book of the Year: Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus

At a faculty roundtable last month, we went around and answered a series of questions for our students majoring in Biblical Studies. One question asked was, “What is the best book you’ve read this year?” My answer was Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus, by Lois Tverberg.

Officially the book doesn’t release until next month, but that’s too late for Christmas. And I’ve learned that the author has some copies available now. I want to encourage you to consider buying one or more, from her directly, before it’s available at Amazon and other bookstores.

You get an idea for what the book is about from the subtitle: How a Jewish Perspective Can Transform Your Understanding. You can also get an idea from the table of contents and the free sample chapter. And the endorsements are stellar. Here’s what I wrote for the back of the book cover:

Just what exactly did Jesus share with his disciples on the road to Emmaus? This excellent book unfolds so many valuable truths in the Scriptures that are often ignored or misunderstood. Lois Tverberg is a trustworthy guide whose insightful discoveries provide a delightful appetizer to some of the most exciting passages in the Old Testament. I’m recommending it to everyone I know.

Let me break that down a bit.

This book addresses many of my favorite subjects, including individualism vs. community, intertextuality, and the concept of a righteous king.

This book highlights some of my favorite OT passages, bringing out the glory of Isaiah 53, Daniel 7, Zechariah 9, and 2 Samuel 7.

This book is full of truths that are precious to me from my study of Jesus’s Bible (aka the Old Testament). I don’t think these truths should be radical, but it took me too long to learn them and I find my students are usually ignorant of them.

This summer my family memorized Isaiah 11-12. If that strikes you as strange and you’re asking, why not something “practical” such as in the Book of James, then this book will definitely help you understand why I want my kids’ brains steeped in this glorious passage of Isaiah.

Frankly, most of us Christians have done it all wrong, starting at the back of the book (in the New Testament) and wondering why certain things don’t make sense and why the Old Testament is mysterious in so many places. We need to start at the beginning, and I highly recommend Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus as an easy way to get you excited to do that yourself, with your family, or in your church or Bible study.

You’ll be able to buy it in bookstores next month, but I would encourage you to consider buying it directly from Lois now because: (1) you can give them as presents; (2) you’ll be supporting the author directly, and she deserves the reward for her many years of labors on this!

I’ll close with what I wrote to Lois after I finished reading the preview copy: “My prayer is that this book will reach many—for the good of their souls and the glory of our Savior!”