While my articles are about Age-Defying Lifestyle based on Health, Fitness, and Diet; Our mental health is just as important. Reading and writing are important components to our mental health.
My Book on Amazon Kindle: Joshua’s Gauntlet of Divine Providence
For Those that would like to have a Cliffs Notes Type approach to the Old Testament, Joshua’s Gauntlet of Divine Providence is a great resource to use:
Adventures and Intriguing books are those that bring pages to life providing context to the reader of the people and events, especially non-fiction. This is the reason Indiana Jones in the movie Raiders in the Lost Ark was such a blockbuster hit that provided context to the audience of a familiar Biblical artifact that was woven throughout the Old Testament. The Ark of the Covenant had significant importance to the Jewish people. The Ark was the mercy seat of God presents between the angles.
My job as an author is writing books that captures the same imagination of the reader as George Lucas did in the adventures of Indiana Jones, particularly with his Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I always enjoyed Sean Connery in all his movies; and this one was no exception.
The Intrigue of The Old Testament
What makes the Old Testament so intriguing to me is the adventures that is captured on the pages of the Old Testament. The journey in our life and in the Bible is seldom straightforward without detours and dead ends that we all face. But it is those detours and dead ends that make these stories interesting and real to us. But a story is all about how the story are told to the reader.
For example, in the Old Testament, Israel’s and the Arab’s cultures have more interactions and connections than one might think or thought. Arabs have had a significant influence on Judaism, both are connected to Abraham, thus the Abraham Accords that helps establish peace and economic stability in the Middle East.
Providing Generation X and Gen Z Cliffs Notes to the Bible
If you are a part of either generation X or Z and love to have Cliffs Notes type references of the Old Testament, then my book, Joshua’s Gauntlet of Divine Providence, is a great source of reference to understanding of both the Old and New Testaments. To illustrate this, I highlight how Israel and Arab cultures have close ties to each other going back to Abraham and Sarah who were from the modern-day Iraq. Issac, Abraham’s second son, married Rebekah from modern-day Syria who had two sons, Esau and Jacob (Jacob was renamed Israel father of the 12- Tribes of Israel).
But that isn’t the most compelling account of how Israel and Arab cultures are intertwine. Tamar, a Canaanite; woman was married to the oldest son of Judah, one of Jacob’s 12- sons. But the first, second, and third sons of Judah died leaving Tamar without a child.
Desperate for a child, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and had relations with Judah (Judah is the Tribe of both Kind David and Jesus Christ). Tamar’s father-in-law was Judah to secure her safety, Tamar secured his staff, seal, and cord as collateral and later as proof and her protection against stoning.
She became pregnant with twins, Perez and Zerah. Perez’s descendants include Salmon, one of the two spies that secretly entered Jericho walls and was hidden by Rahab. Perez being the father of Salmon, Salmon was the son Boaz, and Salmon’s grandson was Jesse, and Jesse was the father of King David, the greatest king of Israel.
The Influence of Babylon and Persian Empires
When Israel was exiled to Syria, that was then part of the Babylon Empire, and later Israel was then exiled to the Persian Empire, now part of Iran; Esther a slave girl found favor with the King of Persia through a beauty contest.
According to Alexander the Great, the Persian women were among the most beautiful women of his Empire that he conquered. This is true even to this day about Iranian women that have to hide their beauty under the current regime. For Esther to beat out Iranian contestants, Esther had to have been knocked out gorgeous. Esther ended up saving her people and Judaism in the Book of Esther.
My book also examines the exile of Israel to Babylon where Babylon and later Persia Empire took control of the Holy Land. Like in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade made reference to the Knights Templar, and the Crusades that I cover in my book. I also note that the Ottoman Empire controlled the Holy Land up until the White Paper was drafted that lead to the Modern State of Israel, in May of 1948.
The Lineage to King David and Jesus Christ
If one was to write the lineage of King David and Jesus Christ, they certainly wouldn’t write the story contained in the Old Testament leading up to the New Testament. Just referring back to Salmon, who married Rahab, a Canaanite harlot in Jericho. Rahab and her family were spared from the destruction that faced Jericho. Rahab was the mother of Boaz who married Ruth, a Moabite woman, who was the grandmother of King David. King David’s lineage was the father of Jesus Christ, as noted in Matthew 10:47, where a paralyzed man called out to Jesus Christ by stating ‘Son of David, have mercy on me’. The entire genealogy of Jesus Christ is laid out in Chapter One of Matthew.
My hope is that my book, Joshua’s Gauntlet of Divine Providence, on Kindle, will inspire people to read the Bible with context and history. Paul in Ephesians 6: 13 – 19 referenced the Word of God as the sword of authority and an important part of our Faith.
High performing athletes In sports must have faith in their training, conditioning, and performance; without faith the athlete has no confidence. On the field or court, there is no substitute for confidence. Having a strong body and mind is a huge part of our confidence. To provide my readers with both fitness and diet, I have on Kindle: BAJA FITNESS & MAC DIET PROGRAM.
