Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses

by Bruce Feiler

Release Date: 20 March, 2001

Edition: Hardcover

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Enlightening and Provocative

Having been given this book as a present and never before heard of this book or the author, I most likely would never have had read it otherwise. Fortunately for me, that wasn't the case. I had the pleasure and privilege to read this insightful and invigorating work. Bruce Feiler, a unorthodox Jewish American from the South, reveals key insights and new knowledge about the Bible and its historical accuracy in regard to time, people, events, and places within the text. What makes this book unique and authentic is Feiler's ability to intertwine the Bible and its fascinating people and events and bring them alive.

Feiler goes from Moses parting The Red Sea to having to deal with overzealous border patrol guards and officials who constantly ask for baksheesh(bribes) or unnecessary questions to confirm his Judaism such as "What is the Passover?" Feiler takes us through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses and the many tumultuous travails and incredible journeys of each. From a historical perspective, Walking the Bible is fascinating as it delineates where in modern terms all of the biblical occurrences transpire - i.e. the burning bush supposedly at St. Catherine's, The Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, where Abraham took Isaac to be offered as a sacrifice, etc.

This is by no means a boring book and should be read by all in search of adventure and more clarity on the Bible. Feiler brings the Bible alive through his vivid and unwavering and unquestioned passion for his subject.

A Journey Through the Story

"Walking the Bible" is a unique book- I can't say I've ever read one like it. Bruce Feiler has writen a book that seems more like his diary. As he journeys through the middle east visiting the places where the Bible took place, he gives wonderful accounts of what can currently be seen as well as the back history of these places. Through the book I found it most interesting to read Feiler's own change of attitude as he travels. The key answer ultimately found is that the Bible is a book deeply rooted in the land of the middle east, and this cannot be denied. For Feiler, Biblical belief and interpretation became unimportant in the end, and the story itself becomes as real as the ground Feiler he walked on. In his own little ways he set out to rationalize these amazing stories, and instead found that there was more life in believing them. I was fascinated to learn that Manna is a real phenominon in the Sinai, and that the "Red Sea" was a misinterpretation of the "Reed Sea", which is an area still existing in Northern Egypt. This book can be appreciated because it does not seek to convert or give %100 proof for the Bible, but instead it searches out the importance and impact of the Biblical story to humanity. No matter what you believe, there is much knowledge to be learned here on the Bible and the world it has made.