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Over the centuries, many Christian writers and students of Scripture have described the Bible as a library—a collection of inspired books of various types, including history, poetry, prayers, and personal letters. St. Basil, a fourth-century Church Father, used another striking image to describe the Bible. He called it a pharmacy.
The Holy Spirit composed the Scriptures so that in them, as in a pharmacy open to all souls, we might each of us be able to find the medicine suited to our own particular illness. Thus, the teaching of the Prophets is one thing, and that of the historical books is another. And again, the Law has one meaning, and the advice we read in the Book of Proverbs has a different one. But the Book of Psalms … gives directions for living, it suggests the right behavior to adopt.
Open your Bible often, and browse the aisles of this pharmacy for the spirit! is St. Basil’s advice. It supplies “all the valid teachings in such a way that individuals find remedies just right for their cases.”
The “cases” that Basil refers to are the real-life situations…
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