Know the Bible
Who is this? What is this place? What does this mean?
The people, places, objects, events, groups and ideas you meet while reading — explained in their own context first, then opened up through symbolic and personal reflection that is always labelled as reflection.
Objects
What is this object?
- Object
The Temple
The central sanctuary in Jerusalem. The first temple is associated with Solomon and destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC; a second temple was built after the return and greatly expanded by Herod the Great before being destroyed by Rome in AD 70. It was the focus of sacrifice, pilgrimage and national identity.
Remember: The one place that said: God is here, with his people.
- Object
The Ark of the Covenant
A gold-covered wooden chest described in Exodus, carried by poles, holding the tablets of the law. It travelled with Israel in the wilderness, was brought to Jerusalem by David, and later housed in the temple. Its fate after the Babylonian destruction is unknown.
Remember: A portable box that said God travels with a people who have no address yet.
How it all connects
A few short threads through the story. Only connections seeded in this library are shown — it is a map of what we have written, not of the whole Bible.
The line of promise
Genesis follows one family across four generations — and ends with them in Egypt.
From slavery to a people
The exodus is the event Israel keeps returning to when it asks who it is.
Jerusalem, temple and the last week
One city holds kingship, worship and the events at the centre of the Gospels.
Loss, exile and return
What happens to a people when the land, the temple and the king are gone.
From Galilee outward
The movement begins in fishing villages, not in the capital.
Instruction, ark and temple
Where the covenant terms were kept, and how instruction stayed at the centre of worship.
One kingdom becomes two
A king who would not listen, two kingdoms, and the long road to exile.