Back in January, I wrote about trying to read through the entire Bible in a year. Well, I'm still reading, but 1 Chronicles sure is tough going!
Here is how chapter 6 begins - "The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Eleazar fathered Phinehas, Phinehas fathered Abishua, Abishua fathered Bukki, Bukki fathered Uzzi, Uzzi father Zerahiah, Zerahiah fathered Meraioth....."
This goes on for nine chapters! After reading just one of these chapters, I feel like my brains are scrambled. I try to say the names out loud sometimes, fighting the temptation to just skip over them, but how in the world do you pronounce a name like Meraioth?
Over at another blog that I enjoy reading, someone wrote in a comment recently that in 20 years, they had never heard of Nehemiah. Then, several times in one week, the book of Nehemiah popped up - in conversations, on websites, at church, etc. The writer commented, "Geussing I'm going to start reading Nehemiah. Now."
Or how about this story - The children at our church were learning the books of the Bible, the location of key passages, etc. They gave a little demonstration of what they were learning one Sunday night before service. So that we could appreciate what these kids had learned, their teacher gave us grownups a challenge - "Can you locate the book of Hezekiah in ten seconds or less? Begin now." After ten frantic, frustrating seconds of page-flipping, every single one of us had to concede that No, we could not find the book of Hezekiah. Well, that's because there is no book of Hezekiah. Needless to say, we felt very silly. More than one adult resolved that night to begin learning the names and locations of the books of the Bible!
Maybe you're like me...Your Bible practically falls open to the Psalms, or to Galatians, or to the book of Ruth. You have favorite passages that are underlined and highlighted and marked with stars. But what about those less familiar books of the Bible, like 1 Chronicles or Amos or Jude? God has given us His holy word - all of it - to tell us about Himself, and we must be careful not to neglect 98% of Scripture out of our fondness for the other 2%.
All that to say, press on. Keep reading until you have read ALL of God's word. Then, read it again. And please, don't name your son Meraioth.
blues in july
4 months ago
3 comments:
David and I read aloud to each other when our church had the Bible in 90 Days sessions. I would have slept through the "begats" had we not done it this way. Also through the building of the temple. Snore.
And YES. The Bible can be read cover to cover in 90 days. It's a race, but we did cross the finish line.
I must confess, whenever we get to a list of names or places, we skip it. It makes for better discussion that way. We like to read one chapter a night, and then discuss what we have read. Can you imagine nine straight days of "what did you think of that chapter?" "Oh, some of those names were lovely." "Really? I couldn't pronounce half of them..." "What is this list about again?" *looks back five chapters to the introduction*
Usually when I come to a list I say "and here is a list of people who did ____"
-DH
Funny post.
I use the One Year Bible format. At least that way when I hit the 'begats,' I have a gospel reading to look forward to.
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