Reading the Bible with the Help of the Internet

In my morning reading of the book of Genesis, I got to the curious and
controversial part where Ham uncovers his father Noah's nakedness.
Not quite knowing what to make of this passage but knowing there was
more going on than at first blush, I decided to do something I hadn't
done before in my morning Bible reading times: go to the Internet.

In less than fifteen minutes, I had read three or four commentaries on
this passage. Some were far right and some far left. Some quoted
esteemed Bible scholars and others accumulated the comments of
skeptics and agnostics. I learned about how this passage has been
used to justify the slavery and subjugation of darker-skinned people,
not just in the (relatively) recent American experience but dating
back to ancient times. I learned about things like race and etymology
and Hebrew culture. I left this quick detour onto the Internet with
more questions than answers, but when I left the computer and returned
to the Bible I felt I had gained a richer perspective on the text I
was mulling over.

I don't think the Internet is the best thing ever or the worst thing
ever. It's just a tool, and like any other tool, it has its strengths
and its weaknesses, its proper uses and its improper uses. And one of
the things this particular tool is good at is aggregating lots of
content that can be easily searched and quickly digested. It turns
out that positive attribute proves useful when you're, of all things,
reading the Bible.