Our Stories
Book Report
By Stew | posted 03/13/2008
"In the Beginning..." (Genesis 1:1)
"Amen." (Revelation 22:21)
For the past six months, I read about ten pages each day of a 1,939 page NIV Bible. This was a surprising piece of discipline on my part, and I commend myself highly. Thank you. But I hope you don't think I now know a whole lot about the Bible. At my age, I forget what I read at almost the same rate that I read what I read. In fact, even while reading with some understanding, it's easy for me to think of my reading as like flying around the world, visiting all the airports, and then coming home. I feel like I've just scratched the surface of what the Bible represents and what it has to tell me. By comparing my reading to what happens when I'm in a Bible study or when I read a study Bible, it's not hard to notice how much I miss. On the other hand, actually experiencing the full trip has a lot to be said for it. I'll say some of that here.
I started my journey through the Bible with Acts, then read all the Epistles, where Paul is the star, and then finished up with Revelation. In perfect wrap-around Bible reading, I would've then proceeded on to Genesis. But a year or two ago I read from Genesis through the middle of Leviticus, where I got caught in the Biblical doldrums. That's why one of my goals was to avoid Leviticus for fear that I'd just give up reading. So after reading Revelation, I began reading Numbers, the book right after Leviticus. By reading starting with Numbers I was on track for about a thousand pages of prophets and kings, Nebuchadnezzar eating grass, the destruction of nations and the temple in Jerusalem, and many people and many nations worshipping other gods and idols. There are times when I shook my head at the violence and the treachery.
Eventually, I read from Numbers up to, but not including Matthew, and then jumped back to the beginning and started with Genesis. "In the beginning," it starts out, "God created the heavens and the earth." After looking at the world today and all the devastation that occurs in the middle of the Bible, I kind of wish that I had a first-person Creation story that went, "In the beginning, I thought it would be a good idea to create people, but what a headache! The design I developed seemed good at the time, but in retrospect, I expect I'll have to tinker with it in future creations. For example, providing free will seemed to me a feature that would empower people to do good, but instead, it seems sometimes that it enables as much evil as good. Being God, I knew this at the time of Creation, but didn't really focus my efforts on the full ramifications. Everything I do turns out well in the end, but still, you live and learn. Free will will be in the next version, but I'm considering some modifications."
So I read the first books through Leviticus. It was good to refresh my memory and reread some of the fundamental stories and try to better imprint the stories and names. I still cannot regurgitate most names and stories without prompting, but I'm no longer a D student. By the way, have you noticed how so many characters have stories that are similar? For example, a male character starts out someplace in Palestine. People try to kill him, so he goes to Egypt, where things go okay for a while. But then, compelled by God, he leaves, and comes to, or tries to get to, the Promised Land. Even Christ's story has a similar itinerary. One might call it a Biblical itinerary. Or the second son seems to ace out the first son in a lot of places. Or 40 days of this and 40 days of that. I think that's how long it takes to discard old habits and start new ones.
I was surprised that I found my second reading of Leviticus interesting. I could see how the Levites were trying to set up different sorts of sacrifices and offerings for different sorts of sins and sinners. In today's lingo they were writing a Critical Sacrifices Ordinance and making sure that spiritual habitat was preserved at the community altar. I'm kind of hoping that Creekside will put me in charge of sacrifices and offerings. I'd be a good Pharisee.
After finally finishing Leviticus, I was ready to dig right into the Gospels and finish off my reading of the Bible. I've got to admit that hearing a fairly straightforward story, told repeatedly by different folks - Matthew, Mark, Luke and then John - with a lot of the first-hand words of Christ thrown in, is pretty compelling. By then, having actually read the rest of the Bible, all the references to fulfillments of prophecy seemed to have a real context that otherwise can seem unnecessary. I read John last.
The decisions by one of the first church committees about which books to include in the Bible were well thought out, but also are presumed to be inspired by God. So the order of the books is the canon and canons don't change. However, it seems to me that some of the genealogies or Leviticus sacrifice instructions belong in appendices rather than as books. I think I'd put Psalms and Proverbs in a separate section at after the New Testament, maybe with a book of Parables. The whole discussion of David and Saul and the prophets and Babylonian Exile would probably be easier to understand if the books didn't overlap and repeat themselves so much.
Finally, although I read the Bible a bit out of order, I did check to see what the last word in the Bible is. It's Amen. This brings me to my short summary of the Bible. It goes like this:
"In the beginning, there were several covenants, until Christ saved those who believe by dying on the cross for their sins. This last covenant was a keeper. Other memorable characters and stories exist in the Bible. You're part of the story too. Amen."
To respond to this message, email Stew at stewka@comcast.net.
