Mendenhall Master Reference Bible

Family and Library Reference Edition
 Red Letter Edition
King James Version

I helped Ricky and Karen setting up for the Highway 60 yard sale.

Karen's sister Diane was also using the space we were setting up to try and sell some of her things.

She had a bunch of books.

I'm looking through them and see this huge Bible on the bottom right hand corner of a book shelf and thought that's cool.

Then for what ever reason we were done setting up and I left and went about my day,
I didn't even get a chance to open it up and look at it.

I knew I was going back the next day and I thought as soon as I get a chance, I'm gonna go look at that Bible.
(Diane, Karen's sister, just gave it to me, no charge, said she was glad it would be used :-).
Mom said the same thing. :-).

As soon as I opened it up, and it wasn't on any page in particular, it was like power came out of this book.

Ephesians 6:17

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

So let me tell you a lil bit about my find Lucy.

First I'll tell you about the book
and then I'll tell you about Mendenhall.

"Helps."

These are References, signified by an "R", different translations of words, signified by a "T".
Verses considered by many Biblical Scholars to be Messianic prophecy are denoted by a *.
So if you are reading a verse and that idea or thought is expressed somewhere else?
It will have a "R" by it and there is a center column on every page you can refer to where the "R" for that verse and it will point you to other verses that contain the same idea or thought.
Same goes for the "T"'s, all the various translations for that word are listed in the center column as well.

Charts, Graphs. Pictures. Maps

 You name it basically.

Got it?

"Helps".

This book?

Over 100,000 "Helps" :-).

The subject index?

10,000 entries.

The cyclopedic index by itself is 300 pages.

You can look up every word in the bible and find every verse that it is contained in.

This edition was put together so that it would:

"uniquely clarify and define words that are not easily understood" 

Now about Mendenhall.

GE Mendenhall is considered one of the greatest Biblical scholars of the 20th century.

Did you get that?

A bible put together by one of the 20th century's foremost bible scholars.
He was a cuneiformist.
He studied

cuneiform.

(plural cuneiforms)

An ancient Mesopotamian writing system, 

adapted within several language families, 

originating as pictograms in Sumer around the 30th century BC, 

evolving into more abstract and characteristic wedge shapes 

formed by a blunt reed stylus on clay tablets.(anatomy) 

A wedge-shaped bone, especially a cuneiform bone.

Like this

Education 

Midland College (B.A., 1936)

Western Theological Seminary

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (B.D., 1938)

"Mendenhall was first an ordained Lutheran minister, 

and during World War II he served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy."

Ph.D. in Semitic languages from Johns Hopkins University.

Taught at the University of Michigan's Department of Near Eastern Studies

"After his retirement from Michigan in 1986 he taught part time 1987-1992 at The Institute of Archaeology in Yarmouk University in Jordan.

During his tenure he was twice annual professor at the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. (1955-1956, 1965-1966).

He was a visiting research professor at the American University of Beirut (1971) and a member of several archaeological expeditions at sites in Syria and Jordan.

Guy was pretty much a real life Indiana Jones.

According to the:

Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters

"Mendenhall has proved to be one of the seminal biblical scholars of the twentieth century...He played a decisive role in creating and impelling new fields of fundamental research that had not really existed before."

Now you ready for this?

This Bible I found of his?

The first autographed edition!

It's what it says.

Not a first edition that was autographed.

The first autographed Mendenhall edition.

All just one big accident right?

Everything that has happened since my walk to Emmaus, 

just one long string of continuous happenstances and coincidences.

Yeah, sure right.

If that's what people believe?

They got more faith than I do.

Luke 16:31

“He said to him, 

‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets,
they will not be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Look.
 I have no doubt that for some,
my finding a great book will in no way prove to them anything, but:

It's not an accident I ended up with this right now, right here, at this time.
It's just not.

I got a saying lol.
I got a lot of sayings lol.

"To many coincidences is not a coincidence."

Love you.
Peace.