Bob Hartman - More Bible Baddies

THE STORY OF ADAM AND EVE
From the Book of Genesis

THE STORY OF JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS
From the Gospels

THE STORY OF JACOB
From the Book of Genesis

THE STORY OF GOLIATH
From the First Book of Samuel

THE STORY OF AHAB AND JEZEBEL
From the First and Second Books of Kings

THE STORY OF ATHALIAH
From the Second Book of Kings

THE STORY OF HAMAN
From the Book of Esther

THE STORY OF JUDAS
From the Gospels

THE STORY OF SIMON MAGUS
From the Book of Acts

THE STORY OF PAUL
From the Book of Acts

THE STORY OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA
From the Book of Acts

W hy another book of Bible baddies? The answer is simplethe Bible is full of them! There are reasonably famous baddies like Judas and Goliath, who somehow got squeezed out of the first book. Then there are the more obscure baddies, like Ananias and Simon Magus, whose stories are fascinating and demand to be told. And, finally, there are the ladies! Yes, thats right. For some reason (and I cant remember why), there were no women baddies in the first book. I thought that was just a bit unfair, so I have included three women hereJezebel, Sapphira and one of my all-time favourite Bible baddies, Athaliah, the evil granny!

Some people have told me that the stories in this book are darker than the tales in Bible Baddies . And I think thats true. We are dealing with some serious badness here, after all. But I like to think that I have included some lighter moments, as well. Light in the humorous senseparticularly in the case of the two villanous couples. And light in that other sense, tooas in the sudden light which sometimes comes to people and makes them change their lives for the better.

This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother, who not only told me the story of the aforementioned evil granny, but also helped to introduce me to the light. Shes been gone a long time, but Ive never forgotten her stories. I hope that some of the tales in this book will be as memorable.

THE STORY OF ADAM AND EVE

I ts strange, really. The moment we make a wrong choicethe second we buy into badnessit all seems so clear.

Its just this once, we say to ourselves. No one will get hurt. It doesnt really matter. And on and on the excuses go.

But later, when we look back at what weve donewhen we have to deal with the shame or the guilt or the consequencesthe choice doesnt seem so clear. And, so often, we wonder how we could ever have made such a foolish decision in the first place.

Thats certainly how it goes in the story you are about to readthe story of where badness begins. But you may not feel an overwhelming sense of the presence of evil. No, what you will feel instead, I think, is a lingering sense of sadness and regret. And that is as it should be. Because, in a way, this story is also about where badness leaves us in the end.

He hacked at the ground with his rough stone axe. He hacked at the weeds and at the bushes. He hacked till the sweat poured off his forehead and the calluses rose on his palms. He hacked until he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. But still the slithering thing slipped and squirmed away. So he sank down onto a stump and waited for his breath to return and his heart to stop racing. He wiped the sweat from his brow and stared at his hands. And thats when it all came backthe crushing memory of before, the pain of the paradise hed lost.

It was like a bad bruise. It hurt to touch it, but touching it reminded him that it was there. Sometimes a smell would trigger it. Sometimes it would wake him in the night. Today, it was simply the sight of his hands.

Knuckles gnarled and cracked. Palms rough and swollen. Veins running down the backs like tree limbs.

Were these the hands, he wondered, that once tended a Garden? The hands that stroked the lions mane and traced the zebras stripes and danced across the rhinos wrinkled hide as he gave each one its name? Were these really the hands of Adam?