Extreme Walking
Extrabiblical Books and the Bible
Tom de Bruin
Extreme Walking
Extrabiblical Books and the Bible
Copyright © 2018 Tom de Bruin. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Cascade Books
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
www.wipfandstock.com
paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-1575-7
hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-1577-1
ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-1576-4
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Names: De Bruin, Tom.
Title: Extreme walking : extrabiblical books and the Bible / Tom de Bruin.
Description: Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018 | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-1575-7 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-1577-1 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-1576-4 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Apocryphal books Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. | Title.|
Classification: BS1692 2018 2018 (paperback) | BS1692 (ebook)
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/17/15
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press
For my parents, they taught me almost everything —now I can return the favor.
For my brother Paul, he taught me extreme walking.
A. My Brother Paul
One of my brothers is named Paul. He enjoys life. There never is a moment that he cannot free up for something exciting, but he never has time for boring things. My parents still talk about the greatest miracle that they have ever witnessed: Paul completing high school. Paul is so busy enjoying the small things that he forgets to work on useless things like money or his career. He’s too busy smelling the roses to care that he’s off the beaten path.
Naturally, he is my hero.
Paul has many more peculiarities. He refused to wear shoes until we moved to a country where it regularly froze. He would go barefoot everywhere—school, town, university, church. He wasn’t able to survive in the Northern European climate of deadlines and clothing restrictions, so he moved to the Canary Islands. The Spanish culture of doing things mañana, without specifying which mañana, suits him perfectly.
Paul also really likes to go on walks, but no one wants to go with him. At least . . . not a second time. On the weekends, when his wife suggests they go for a walk, his daughters will always ask: “Are you choosing the route, or is Dad?” The reason for this is that Paul doesn’t like paths. They are boring, because they are known. He’s seen them already. When you go on a walk with Paul, his exploratory spirit takes over. He sees interesting and exciting things in the distance: a mountaintop, a tree, an odd-shaped rock. Interesting things that, of course, are very far away from the walkers, and far away from any type of path. Paul sees these things and cannot curtail his curiosity. He simply has to walk there.
So, there we would go. A left turn into the ravine. Keep on straight through the swamp. None of that matters! There is something interesting just ahead. If you go walking with Paul, you know for certain that you will return with dirty clothing, and probably with some minor wounds too. Naturally, you will be absolutely exhausted. One time we were even arrested! But you also know that you will never again see the places you used to go to in the same light. Your worldview will have changed, forever.
Walking with Paul is not necessarily what I would call fun. It’s exhausting, tiring, and terrifying. It is also very hard work. But you go anyway, because you see more than you would ever have thought possible. It is more impressive, more powerful than you ever could have imagined. As you grab adventure by the hand, step off the road and leave all well-known paths behind, you see things better. You experience things more deeply. In the end, you enjoy things much more.
This book is about being a Paul. Not as a walker (though I would surely advise doing that sometime too), but as a Christian and a theologian. As Christians, we know the Bible well, some of us know it very well. That is the path we walk over our entire lives. And, let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with that. That path is familiar, it is safe, and it leads us closer to Jesus. But, what happens if we look outside of the path? Are there any odd-shaped rocks, interesting trees, inviting mountaintops? Yes, there are: in this case other books written by Jews and Christians in the same times. These books are sources of additional knowledge and understanding. Do we need to be afraid that we will lose our way if we go out on discovery? By no means! We will experience things in a new way, and we needn’t fear. The path is always near and safety is always just one bookcase away. We might take a longer route, and we might even have to cross a swamp, but we will always end up on the path, at the Bible.
In this book, we will walk together. We will see things—just as Paul does—in the distance, and then we will have to step off the path and head that way. We will be curious. We will go on a voyage of discovery. We will boldly explore far away from any paths, even if it means we return home tired, bruised, and maybe even with a minor scratch or two. We will return as changed people, no longer able to look at where we have been with the same eyes.
There! I see something interesting, not far off the path. I’m going to explore. Join me?
1. Heaven
A while ago I heard a joke about heaven.
It makes fun of bus drivers and pastors. There is a long queue at the pearly gates. Saint Peter is there with his golden keys and the heavenly sign-in sheet, allocating eternal housing. The quality of your housing depends on how many holy deeds you did on earth, i.e., how many treasures you stored up in heaven. John, a pastor, is in the queue. He has worked his entire life for his calling. John spent seventy, eighty, ninety hours a week, every week, toiling for the Lord. John has certain expectations for his housing. Bored, John talks to the man in front of him; “Why not,” he thinks, “the queue is very long.” That man is a bus driver, he is obviously not as holy as a pastor.
Finally, after waiting what feels like an eternity it is the bus driver’s turn. Saint Peter says “Look. There in the distance. Do you see that mountain? Do you see that huge white palace on top of the mountain? That’s your house.”
John, the pastor, starts to rub his hands together in delight. “If a bus driver gets a palace, what kind of place will I get!” he thinks. Smiling from ear to eternal ear he steps up to Peter.
“John, do you see that mountain over there?”
“Yes . . .”
“That mountain much larger than the bus driver’s?”
“Yes!”
“Do you see that valley next to it? The one in constant shade?”
“Yes . . .”
“Do you see that lean-to that’s almost falling apart?”
“. . . yes