Catholic Community Bible Study

JUDITH Chapter 8:4-8:20 Now, halfway through the story, we are finally introduced to the title character! Judith, the Lady Jew. We’ll look at the importance of the tent, her maid-servant, listening to the Lord, testing the Lord, wisdom of the Lord --- This is the heart of the book with prayer and building tensions…

Read Judith 5:1 – 8:3 We’ll meet the fascinating character Achior, listen to HIS telling of the Jewish story, watch the tension build to the great battle, watch as Bethulia gets completely surrounded by the enemy, and then we meet the awesome Judith

Judith 2:4 – 4:15 Who is the author? We’ll read through the war set up for the story, we’ll look a little more into the history and genre, meet the penultimate bad guy Holofernes, find the city of Bethulia, and introduce Achior…

Judith Chapter 1:1-2:3 An introduction overview, setting the stage, an explanation of the proto and deutero-canon and apocrypha, characters and locations, debates about the genre and the historical accuracy, and I’ll explain the viewpoint I’ll take as we read through this gem of a book. If you want to jump to the 30 minute mark on the Episode, you can hear the direction we'll be taking with Judith!

Chapters 9:11- 11:1. Look at the revenge of the Jews, we wrestle with the morality of that counter-offensive, we’ll wrap up the story, explore the date this book may have been written, and see the brilliant structure of the Book of Esther

Esther Chapters 6:11-9:10 with Greek Additional Chapter 16 (or E) Haman’s plot starts to unravel, The 2nd Banquet with the King and Haman, the tables get turned, the edict sent out by Xerxes, and a really important look at how this era shaped Judaism for the time of Jesus

Episode 5 Additional Greek Chapters 13:8 - 15:16 (or C: 1-through D:16) and 5:1-6:10 We’ll define and explore intercessory prayer; look at Mordecai’s prayer, Esther’s prayer, and watch as the drama builds and God guides it all to a great climactic moment!

ESTHER EPISODE 4 Additional Chapter 13 (or B) + Chapters 3:14 – 4:-17 This time we will look at an additional Greek chapter: the King’s letter, along with the most famous words from this book in Chapter 4 as Mordecai tries to convince Esther to help their people

Esther Chapters 2:16-3:13 We'll walk through the Persian Beauty Pageant and see how Esther fares, we’ll explore God’s providence, some typology, the connection with Haman to long time enemies of the Jews, the Jewish Feast of Purim, and dig deep into the historical hatred of the Jews…

CHAPTER 1:10-2:15 Welcome back, friends—in this episode we will start to see God’s hidden hand moving events along, we’ll see what happens to Queen Vashti, see the Persian’s love of laws in action, and we’ll be introduced to the title character Esther…

EPILOGUE ADDITIONAL CHAPTER A or CHAPTERS 11 & 12 And ESTHER 1:1-9 We start off with this MOST controversial Book of Esther talking about the very different versions published among Christian Bibles, we’ll look at the controversies, we’ll introduce the main characters, introduce the Jewish holiday of Purim, and kick off the setting of the story with the grand party thrown by the King of Persia

Ruth Chapter 4:11-22 We will look into the sources of some of these great Jewish insights, we’ll see why God gives the Mosaic Laws about the Land ownership, dig into some more Jewish backstories, and end with the difference between Old Covenant HESED and New Covenant AGAPE.

Ruth 3:8 – 4:10 We look at Ruth’s awesome attitude, how Boaz is a kinsman redeemer like a certain Jewish Rabbi 1000 years later, we’ll see how Ruth is a woman of worth and valor, we’ll see if the marriage proposal is sweet and innocent or a little seductive, and dig into some of the very cool Jewish backstories …

RUTH CHAPTER 2:8-3:7 We will look at Ruth’s awesome attitude, how Boaz is a KINSMAN REDEEMER like a certain Jewish Rabbi 1000 years later, the very suggestive scene at night when Ruth presents herself to Boaz, was Naomi’s plan sweet and innocent or more than a little naughty? And we’ll continue to see foreshadows of Jesus, Mary, and the Church.

Ruth 2:1-8 We will look at the massive Bible theme of suffering, dig deep into harvesting and reaping, meet Boaz the strong, look at Ruth’s REAL relationship with King David, talk about why the name Jehovah came about with some Christians, and we’ll hear a MOMMA MARY Alarm that links Ruth with the Blessed Mother!

Ruth Chapter 1:6-22, Welcome Good People from all over the lands! Book of Ruth, picking up in 1:6… We will look at the Law of Moses regarding widows and Levirate marriages, deep dive into Moabites and why the Jews were so strict against marrying Non-Jews, and we’ll introduce the earth-shaking theme of HESED!

CHAPTER 1:1-5 In this our first episode of Ruth, we will tear into FIVE WHOLE VERSES of Chapter 1! This book is AHHHH REFRESHING! We’ll dig into some Jewish backstories, take a look at some fascinating historical perspectives on the famine, and take a little road trip through Bethlehem to the slaughter of the Innocents by King Herod 1000 years after Ruth.

The final episode with Chapter 14, the two stories of Bel and The Dragon. The theme of both is essentially: my God is bigger than your god. Wrapping up the series with a few words about End Time prophecies and then we conclude this amazingly fun study! I pray it touched you!!

Chapter 13: The story of Susanna, only found in the Greek and Latin Bibles, and now in the Catholic Bible. A great story of judgement, virtue, faith, and being known by God. Also looking at the Protestant view of the Rapture: where it came from, Jonathan Nelson Darby, and where it fails as a theory.

Chapter 12 The vision of the Resurrection of the Dead from the angel. And we look at the Catholic Church teaching on the End Times, Resurrection, Second Coming, and New Heavens and New Earth. There is a LOT to take in!