Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible
Here are some of the bizarre, hilarious, and disturbing things in the Good Book (i.e., the Hebrew Bible). Cain gets off scot-free after killing Abel. Abraham dies at age 175, &#x201C;a good ripe age, old and contented.&#x201D; Jacob wrestles with and defeats an angel. God keeps seething about the golden calf. David sets himself up as a guerrilla, a freedom fighter. He&#x2019;s the George Washington of Judea. Solomon really doesn&#x2019;t dig Jewish girls, preferring the thrill of the pagan. King Ahaziah is seen as Israel&#x2019;s precursor to Gerald Ford. Plotz compares Ezekiel to the bad parts of Portrait of a Lady, Madame Bovary, and Married with Children rolled up into a ball of rage. Deeply religious people might be offended by the book, but for the rest of us there&#x2019;s a laugh on every page. --George Cohen