The Most Misused Stories in the Bible by Eric Bergerhuff

Think you know the stories from the Bible? Perhaps your memory is wrong or the story was presented in a way that was misunderstood.

Eric Bergerhuff thinks he has the stories that most often are misused and wants to clarify the issue.

One of the biggest things that I sat with after reading this book was how many of the so-called misused stories I already understood. I didn't know that so many people thought the stories in this book were meant to be used in the way he presents them.

You'll find the Old Testament stories like David and Goliath and apparently many people think it's a story of David overcoming his fear.

Up next is Gideon and his fleece, Cain and Able, Jonah and the big fish, the woman caught in adultery, Jesus not doing miracles in his hometown, Zacchaeus, the parable of the sower, the "three" wise men (I actually knew that many people assumed it was three because of the three gifts named), and a few others.

Bergerhuff does a good job explaining the misunderstanding (even if I didn't have them for most of the stories) and then he attempts to reveal the reality or the true "point" of the story. Some of them go nicely - Jonah not wanting the Ninevites to have the opportunity to repent, and what Jesus wrote in the sand. Others left me a little let down.

Some of that let down might have been because of my upbringing and the lessons I received as we studied the Bible.

All in all, this is an okay book. There are a lot of stories that are covered and information provided that may make you sit back and think differently about some of the more well-known stories of the Bible.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Bethany House Publishing.