In his introduction to Cracking the Cover, United Church minister Ross Smillie recalls being handed a Bible in elementary school by the Gideons. I don’t imagine the Gideons get into many schools these days, and it’s a shame. Not because we need more religious missionaries, but simply because free Bibles might encourage more secular readers to pick it up for its literary merit, not to mention its sheer entertainment value.

Cracking the Cover is a simple introduction that’s aimed, as its title suggests, at readers with very little previous experience with the Good Book. Smillie is a gentle guide who writes clear, if unsophisticated, prose that should appeal to this audience. The book alternates between chapters that explain biblical ideas and concepts (narrative, translation, canonization, etc.) and readings to reflect upon. Each section is followed by review questions that encourage the reader to think more deeply about the chapter’s material.

For Bible neophytes, Smillie does a good job of distilling its major stories, explaining its literary forms, and providing a historical context. He even uses terms like “Older Testament” and “Newer Testament” and renders dates using C.E. and B.C.E. (Common Era and Before Common Era), presumably to avoid framing his discussion in overtly Christian terms. It’s unclear why, though, since his own introduction reveals that his aim is to “help Christian disciples develop the basic skills and knowledge” to understand the Bible. Regardless, Smillie makes an effort to be inclusive, and rather than thumping the Bible from his pulpit he seems genuinely interested in helping readers see it as relevant to their lives.

The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, rather than supplying a quick primer for greenhorns, is an exhaustive reference book for more serious students of scripture. Rather than being organized alphabetically like an encyclopedia or dictionary, it’s put together chronologically, beginning with the ancestors of Israel and ending with the spread of Christianity. In its treatment of each historical period, the Companion provides a thorough context for the events recounted in the Bible – the geography, the politics, and the intellectual and cultural zeitgeist. Throughout the detailed main articles are scores of boxed sidebars that explain terms, concepts, and customs from temple building to musical instruments to tax collecting.

This approach might have made the material difficult to find, but the Companion’s two indexes – one alphabetical and the other organized by chapter and verse – actually make it quite easy to use. Readers trying to zero in on a specific bit of information will also appreciate that the articles are divided into many short sections with subheads, a fact that also makes it easier to absorb some of the dull language of this volume.

Unfortunately, there’s no escaping the mind-numbing prose of Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon in their updated edition of Battles of the Bible, originally published in 1978. Herzog, a former prime minister of Israel, and Gichon, an archeologist, attempt to shed light on the major wars of the biblical era, from the campaigns of Joshua to the successful Jewish uprising against the Seleucids recounted in the books of Maccabees. They reconstruct the battles as military historians, using not only scriptural cues but evidence uncovered by excavation in the region.

With a little narrative energy this book could have been a fascinating look at the important clashes that shaped the
ancient Near East. Instead, it’s as dry as the Negev in mid-summer. The writing is passive, filled with military jargon, and utterly without a playful turn of phrase. Worse, what little passion that does emerge from these battle stories is somewhat inappropriate in a scholarly history. Both authors are former soldiers who held senior positions in Israeli intelligence, and indeed have fought on the same soil as their biblical ancestors. It is likely this personal connection to the material that leads them to frequently sound like cheerleaders for the armies of ancient Israel.

In The Harlot by the Side of the Road, Los Angeles book columnist and lawyer Jonathan Kirsch uses exactly the right mix of scholarship and lively writing to blow the lid off some of the Bible’s most “scandalous” passages. Despite its sensationalist subtitle, this book doesn’t make wild claims or take a tabloid approach to its material. What Kirsch does instead is examine some of the violent and sexually perverse stories in the Old Testament that have been misunderstood or ignored, and try to determine exactly what the passages mean.

This entertaining book collects stories that sound like they belong on Jerry Springer rather than in a sacred text. There are Lot’s daughters who, after God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, get their father drunk and sleep with him in order to repopulate the land (Genesis 19); Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi, who trick a whole town into circumcising its men so they can slaughter them while they’re hobbled from the surgery (Genesis 34); and a Levite who saves himself from a mob that wants to “know” him by offering up his concubine, who is then raped to death and dismembered (Judges 19).

Kirsch begins his discussion of each “forbidden tale” by retelling it (though he also includes the biblical text so readers can compare), then follows with an extensive commentary. This format is problematic, since by framing the stories in his own words – and adding detail not in the source text – he can bring the reader on side before he even begins his exegesis. Nevertheless, his interpretations are keenly observant, open-minded, and laced with wit, even if he’s a bit prone to moralizing. Kirsch’s aim is not to expose the Bible as a ridiculous sham, but to demonstrate that it “offers many visions of God, many explanations of God’s will, many prophecies of human destiny, and the real challenge is to discern the ones that make sense…in a troubled and dangerous world.” He certainly succeeds in that goal and, probably more than any Gideon ever did, might also encourage his readers to scurry back to their Bibles for more.