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 […]
Day 14 Another dip into the apocrypha these next couple days. It makes sense to look at the books of Esdras as they are closely linked, in name, to Ezra and Nehemiah. First Esdras is pretty much a word for word copy of Ezra and parts of Second Chronicles. Something felt incredibly familiar reading it […]
Day 13 I can see why these books, originally together, were separated in Christian bibles. Ezra is a gloomy sort while Nehemiah is joyful at what’s to come — even the difficult parts. I resonated with this contrast, though. At first, after reading Ezra, I was afraid of what was lurking around the corner with […]
Day 12 I was about ready to throw in the towel with 1 & 2 Kings. They were bleak, labored, and exhausting books. The author was excruciating as they detailed the sins of Israel, Judah, and the many many Kings. Even the “good Kings” would incur punishment from God on Israel or Judah. I described […]
Day 11 I had a lot of emotions with this book. What came to mind when I was reading this was: “This is like reading biblical tabloids.” And it really is. You’ve got Elijah comin’ on down with miracles followed by Elisha, all of these other gods creeping into Israel and Judah, a !@#$load of […]
Day 10 I was looking forward to this book as it’s where Solomon is made King. However, a quick realization settled in. The legendary wisdom of Solomon comes much later and these books deal with deeds and history. I was hoping for a couple additional proverbs sprinkled in here, but, to no avail. It was […]