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 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 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 […]