Day 24 The book of Lamentations is just as the title suggests. Other impressions are that it is grief-laden, bereft of hope, or even jeremiad — a word derived from the supposed author of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah. I could feel the pain in these verses. Despite this, Lamentations also has some of the most […]
Day 23 Today is the halfway point of this experiment: Reading the entirety of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures in 45 days. I’m astonished at the stories I’ve learned, the peculiarities and esoterica I’ve gleaned, and the progress I’ve made. Here’s to the remaining 22 days! Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah and a prominent figure […]
Day 22 Longest book in the Bible, done! Yeah, this was a long haul book for one day. I realized, while reading Jeremiah, that I am struggling with the prophetic books. The history (and myths) are a delight. But all of these oracles of prophecy are hard for me to enjoy. The poetry is certainly […]
Day 21 I don’t know what I can tell you about my good buddy Isaiah, here, though he had a lot to say. Here I am wading into the prophetic books and revisiting previous events I’ve read about in Kings, Chronicles, or Nehemiah. Except this time, I am hearing the other side of the conversation. […]
Day 20 A full dose of wisdom today. Having never read Proverbs in its entirety, my suspicions were correct. It is a devotional book. There are hundreds (over 400) wise sayings contained in this book. I hesitated to write down all of my favorites, though some definitely resonated with me, especially as they relate to […]
Day 19 I’m left with the same feeling I had yesterday after the first three books of Psalms. These are meant for devotional engagement. I wonder if Proverbs will be the same way. I’m still delighted by these. Some of them were familiar, but I was surprised at the breadth they offered. You had elation […]
Day 18 I was only a few Psalms in when I realized: This is a book that is meant to be read/sung devotionally. For the purposes of my experiment, I’ll keep reading it. Perhaps later on I can turn it into a nightly read…a psalm a day! I say this because there is a lot […]
Day 17 Job is a familiar story to most in the West. He’s often used as an example of the cruelty of God, or for some — the absence of God. I didn’t read it with any of those perspectives today. I didn’t dust off my old theodicy books. I didn’t even bother trying to […]
Day 16 Esther & Judith will go down as two of my absolute favorite books of the Bible. Maybe they satisfy a need for war and intrigue. But these books could’ve easily been episodes of Game of Thrones. I did a quick reread of Esther, since that’s the book that prompted me to begin this […]
Day 15 Well now. That took a turn I didn’t see coming. Second Esdras had me scrambling to look things up because I had to ask: “What the hell is going on here?!” It turns out, two chapters of Second Esdras are likely Christian add-ons (makes sense), there’s a Jewish vision of the apocalypse (didn’t […]