Day 1 With the Literary ESV

BANG! With that I'm out of the starting gate. I haven't quite determined how in depth to make this little blogging routine but I have two windows open. One on each monitor. :-) To my left is the Literary ESV set on Genesis 1 - I started to read the notes and figured I'd best open a blog window on the right. I'm already enjoying the literary notes. Viewing the Bible through a literary Genre lens is a worthy endeavor. Thanks to the venerable KJV the english language is packed with literary allusions to the Bible. Just go looking for them. I've got some reading to do. Don't know how much I'll blog about the content itself but here we go.

Epic. Not only is it the theme of the book of Genesis from a literary standpoint but it is the only way to truly regard reading the book of Genesis (well 1/2 of it) in one sitting. Creation, Fall, Flood, Families of the Earth, and the pivot point of not only the book of Genesis but of the entire Old Testament - the selection of the Patriarch Abram and his children to be the family through whom God will bless the earth.
The flood narrative demonstrates that merely starting over isn't good enough. Once the human soul has been marred by sin, even a proverbial "new years day" won't change anything. So God chooses Abraham and puts into play the long term plan to redeem the human soul.
That plan is not without it's difficulties for it's human recipients are - it seems- unwilling to fully participate in the restoration. Abraham lies about his wife, seeks to fulfill God's will on his own, and yet in the midst of stumbling or rather falling over several times manages to stand in faith. This is of course consistent with Proverbs 24:16, "for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."
There is a strange and powerful insight into watching God's chosen man Abraham rise and fall and rise and fall again and again. It's not so much centered around a perverse desire to see sin in another man but rather in a momentous opportunity to see God's grace and mercy poured into a life. All of the failures and all of the mercy comes together in Abraham's story as if to yell at us, "God is not going to give up on making you holy." How I revel in the knowledge of Philippians 1:6, "...that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. " As the Almighty isn't finished with Abraham, neither is God finished with me. I am grateful.

In Genesis 25 we begin the transition from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. While Isaac's life is minimized, Jacob comes floating to the forefront as a model of what God can do with one very flawed man whom He decides to bless. I cannot help but see myself in Jacob - not in his actions but in his heart which God has to wrestle into submission.

In the overall story of Jacob, the portrait ... is largely a satiric portrait, as the hero's character flaws are repeatedly exposed to view.
- ESVLB Gen 25 notes

Psalms

The psalms, unlike the rest of the Bible are distinct literary units unto themselves. This doesn't meant that they don't share certain characteristics but that in almost no case does moving from one Psalm to the next constitute a story. Therefore they should be read independently.
Since I'm already running long on time today (what a foretaste of where this is headed!) I'm going to simply state that reading these ten Psalm is hardly a difficult thing. They are beautiful and powerful and I'm looking forward to the future Psalm readings. Though I am beginning to wander why I didn't earlier decide start with Job as the beginning of the poetic / wisdom literature today.

Day 2 With the Literary ESV

It's only day two and it's been a hassle to find a block of time to read today. Normally I would do my reading in the morning but I had breakfast with one of the men from church today and it was lots of fun.
Turning to the text it's back to the epic. Jacob the deceiver is about to meet his estranged brother; but even that choice encounter can't happen until the chosen son comes face to face with the Angel of the Lord in a wrestling match. Having survived his encounter with God the man named Israel meanders his way to the promised land and the story makes a monumental shift to his beloved son, Joseph who's tragic but divinely ordained life capitalizes the balance of Genesis.

Exodus opens before us many years after the Israelites first went down to Egypt as a small group of 75, but now they have become hundreds of thousands. Reading the first twelve chapters of Exodus in one sitting (notwithstanding reading the last 1/2 of Genesis at the same time) is massive. We cover eighty years of Moses' life but we do so in a brief time period in which the largest balance is given to the deliverance of Israel from cruel oppression.

The ESV Literary Study Bible's notes during the last part of Genesis are almost more commentary rather than pointing out the literary characteristics of the book - this is largely a function of trying not to be overly repetitious though. I appreciate the brevity of the chapter introductions which give just enough information to help you frame what's going on without beating you over the head with information.

What I haven't mentioned yet are the rather extensive book introductions. Already I've read Genesis, Exodus and the comprehensive yet short introduction to the Psalms. Each chapter is broken down with a quick thematic overview and a chapter/outline breakdown which lines up the passage, content, theme and other elements of the book.
After that is a discussion of Genre in the book, inferred literary intentions, theological themes and a brief treatment of the individual book in the overall context of scripture. The list just presented comes at the beginning of Exodus. I've not read the prefaces to all the books yet but it should give you an idea for how comprehensive they've tried to make the introductions.
On top of the book introductions, each chapter has an introduction and sometimes mid-chapter we get another overview especially when the chapter contains more than one significant literary movement.

Day 3 With the Literary ESV

It's dawn and the ESV Literary Study Bible awaits. This morning I begin in Exodus with the Exodus. God has just finished hammering the nation of Egypt with "10 mighty blows" which the ESVLB says is the meaning of the original Latin for "plague".
From the opening salvo of the passage on through the end of the Pentateuch (heck include the rest of the Bible) the major theme present is the glory of God in delivering his people. This is the penultimate old testament moment of salvation. It is met with worship first because people love to see God work but soon afterward the cycle of murmuring and judgment sets in.
A key moment for me was actually the salvation of Jethro, Moses' father in law.

Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” -Exodus 18:11 ESV

For me it's a significant quote for a couple of reasons. First it is the salvation moment of a human being who turns and recognizes that there is no God above YHWH. Second, thanks to Michael Heiser I've been thinking allot lately about the gods of the nations surrounding Israel. I'm not going to replicate his work you can read it for yourself. Many of the gods which the nations worshiped are what we would recognize as demons - that is, fallen angels. Jethro's comment opens up a world of cultural understanding when we combine it with God saying that he executed judgment on the gods of Egypt through the plagues. (Exodus 12:12, Numbers 33:4) God wasn't merely attacking the mentality of the Egyptians in the plagues, he was rendering judgment on the spirit beings behind the idols which Egypt worshiped.
What follows is of course the glory of the law, the prescriptions for the temple and it's construction. The core of the latter part of Exodus then is a mirror to it's first part. Exodus begins with the Glory of God in delivering his people through Moses, and ends with the glory of God being reflected upon and through his people with the building of the sanctuary by Bezalel (Exod 31:2). The climax of the book of Exodus is also it's meaning and purpose. As the Law is given and the tabernacle constructed, the glory of the Lord comes down and floods the tabernacle completely. Glory, the glory of God is the purpose, reason and theme of the book of Exodus. God is with his people, unworthy as they may be. This is the great theme of the Christian life is it not? We are not worthy but He the one who made, and also redeemed us for the purpose of his glory is worthy.

As I was reading through the ordination of Aaron and his sons in Exodus 29 I was struck by an ESV translation that is absolutely ... well... dorky. One of the prescriptions for the ordination was smearing blood on the right ear, thumb and big toe of the priest. Without getting into the why of the ceremony I was hugely perturbed by the translation of "...great toes..." in Exodus 29:21. In Leviticus 8:23,24; 14:14,17,25 and Judges 1:6-7 the exact same word (בֹּ֥הֶן ) is translated as a normal English rendering of "big toe". Nobody that I've EVER heard has refered to the largest toe on your foot as a "great toe". It may be literal but i's just plain weird and there's absolutely no meaning lost by translating it consistently as "big toe". Alright it's a goofy rant but come on, it's a goofy translation.

It's not long after the ordination instructions (great toes and all) that Israel comes unhinged and through the hand of Aaron the anointed high priest comes the infamous golden calf, "I threw the gold in the fire and out comes this golden calf Moses! Honest!" What a feeble argument. Moses the model intercessor saves the people's lives by pleading for them and even offering his own life. Out of this stupendous failure on the part of Israel rises the Levitical priesthood. Which brings me to the brief opening to the book of Leviticus - the priests handbook.
The first three chapters contain only half of the material dedicated to sacrifice in the book of Leviticus, but it also marks the point at which most people "tune out". Moving from the glory of Exodus to the gory details of Leviticus however serves to underscore an important point. The way to God is through sacrifice.

Psalms

Psalms 20-28 form an excellent worship backdrop and bring closure to the day's reading. From a prayer for the king (see 1 Timothy 2:1-2) to the suffering servant, to trouble, triumph and meditation and hope in the glory of the Almighty, the worship of God is embedded in the daily life of his people through the Psalms which as always depict the highs and lows of life amid the reality of God's sovereign glory.

Now then, my favorite quote today from the ESVLB is at the header to Psalm 23.

When we carry over the meanings of these provisions to the human level, we luxuriate in the comprehensiveness of God’s provision for those who follow him.

Day 4 With the Literary ESV

I note that my passage cutoff's aren't as even as they should be. At approximately 30 chapters a day I'm overlapping Leviticus and Numbers as books that could almost be read in one sitting. Ah, well that's alright. Now SHH. It's time for me to get reading. But not before I make one more observation: Leviticus has become my favorite Old Testament book. So this is a special treat for me today.

As a pastor it is significant to me that the Leviticus reading begins with sacrifices for a priest who sins. Someone once wrote, "If a solitary man sins, he destroys himself. If a family man sins, he destroys his family. But if a Pastor sins, he unravels his whole church." That's a sober warning to myself and to any pastors reading this. Men we have got to draw near to Jesus Christ!

As I read through Leviticus it occurs to me that "sin is costly". My wife and I bought a 1/2 a cow last year which is now only partially remaining in the freezer. It was expensive. It was cheaper than buying all that meat from the grocery store for certain but it was still expensive. The sin offerings were bulls and goats (and birds for the poorest) but the overwhelming sense I get is that sin is costly.

I've had to fight through some of my own addictions in the past but it makes me wonder if we had to slay a bull instead of hitting our knees would our addictions find a harder time sticking? - at least once we were truly committed to repenting I mean.

Don't get me wrong I'm not minimizing the work of Christ in this, instead I see the cost of sin in Leviticus and it causes, for me, the value of the work of Christ upon that horrid cross to rise. I see slightly more clearly the great price my savior paid for me. And here then is the first secret to why Leviticus has become my favorite book in the Old Testament. Leviticus reveals more than any other book the Holy Glory of God and the Deep offense of our sin.

But Leviticus has another side for most people and that is a side of intense boredom. The prescriptions of the law seem to go into nauseating detail. Which bugs are clean, how do you become unclean. What about skin diseases - and don't forget clean and unclean houses, and a host of very intimate sexual detail which normally are not talked about in our post-Elizabethan Christianity. These things are certainly talked about everywhere else though. It's on the television it's at the movies and it's in conversations everywhere. But we dare not talk about sex from the pulpit today.

Why not? Has it ever occurred that the reason why our culture has such a distorted view of sexuality is because the church has been too embarrassed to discuss it openly? Leviticus pulls no punches. Wet dreams, menstruation, every possible form of sexual depravity including incest and rape you name it - nothing is off limits because there is no part of life no matter how intimate that does not effect our relationship to God and which itself is not affected by our relationship to God. (I'll bet my blog's family friendly rating just took a small jolt).

Leviticus continues it's almost systematic approach to categorizing the requirements for Israel. Clean and unclean, sacrifice and sin find themselves next to priestly ordination and commands regarding Israel's worship calendar. Even though I do not spring from a liturgical background I can see the beauty of God's liturgy for Israel. It is meant to remind, to teach and to train successive generations in God's faithfulness and power as well as what it means to serve, worship and obey a holy God as his holy people.

I note with some disappointment that the literary notes on Leviticus leave much to be desired. This isn't surprising since Leviticus is one of the most maligned books in the Old Testament Canon. They are for the most part little more than chapter overviews. But the few times when commentary is made it is simplistic and sometimes just plain wrong.
In one example, claims that the clean laws were likely about health concerns (chapter 11) is one example among many that ignores the central theme of separation unto holiness that is required in Leviticus. I do not deny that there were likely some health benefits to the laws in Leviticus but this can hardly be applied as a blanket statement. Moreover, treating medical disease and preventing illness is not the theme. The rules and regulations present in Leviticus serve to train God's people to be Holy, that is separate from the nations around them.

Having said that I need to counter my complaint with a compliment and just a few chapters after my first example a shining moment breaks in as the editors note (chapter 16)

We can appropriate the theological meaning of the material by analyzing the underlying principles (such as blood sacrifice and the idea of a substitutionary atonement) and then reflecting on how Christ fulfilled them.

If we use Jesus as the filter by which we read and understand Leviticus we will gain much regarding it's meaning.

Numbers

I've joked for years that I'm so bad at math I won't even preach out of the book of Numbers. The first three chapters which are part of today's reading is almost entirely census information which is mind numbing in it's detail. For personal study, each verse may not reveal a depth of personal information but there are some quick read blessings embedded in the text.

First of all we get a chance to see on a more personal level the people of Israel as a group. Really up to this point we've seen whiners, slaves, sinners and a few select leaders. Now at last we get a chance to truly see the breadth of the people of Israel. These are the people whom God loves and whom for the sake of Abraham he has chosen. It behooves us to know and love them as well.

In the first three chapters of Numbers then we meet the army, hear their marching order and become more familiar with the priestly line.

Psalms

The Psalms between 29 and 35 are beautiful they encompass prayers for deliverance, the blessings of forgiveness, cries for God's presence and reminders of his glory. But for me the first and the last two hold special significance. The first year I journeyed to Haiti the very first evening we had an enormous thunderstorm. It was so loud I couldn't hear myself think. I remember joining the rest of my team in one of the houses and reading Psalm 29 at the top of my voice. It was mostly inaudible. That experience rings in my mind every time I get to Psalm 29.
The last two Psalms 34-35 have recently become my absolute favorites. In Psalm 34 the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. In Psalm 35 we have the image of Jesus grabbing sword and shield and running headlong into battle as our defense. Our God is mighty in battle and these Psalms all echo with his outrageous power against his foes.

Day 6 With the Literary ESV

Today we finish and leave behind the book of Numbers and most of Deuteronomy. So how do we begin but with war of course. Well, war and a touch of rebellion as the warriors disobey by attempting to bring Midianite women into camp. These are the same women who just earlier had attempted to destroy Israel by sexually enticing them to worship the Baal of Peor.

In our modern sensitivities it is a difficult passage to begin with, there is bloodshed by God's people in time of war as well as in the aftermath of war. I definitely want to work through some of these hard questions on the blog, but unfortunately this isn't the time for it. I have a rather large portion of Scripture to read today and thus I must move on. But I cannot leave the 31st chapter of Numbers without observing that impurity must be purged even from the artifacts of another culture. It brings to mind the Haitian market which I've visited in the past.

Unwary tourist's will often buy items that they find fascinating and in so doing many will attempt to buy articles that are right out of Voodoo, and some of them blatantly so. Fortunately the missionaries with whom I've gone have been wise enough to notice and to discourage the purchase of these items. It is not wise to bring the idols of another nation into your home. I can't tell you how my heart breaks and to a certain extent frets when I see people with Buddhas or other little idols in their homes. They often say, "Oh, it's just a decoration." But they do not realize that these items are often associated with demonic spirits and by bringing them into their homes they are in effect inviting the devil into the den. Thus even the common metal artifacts had to be purified with fire and the water for impurity. This same theme is repeated in Deuteronomy 7:25-26.

"The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction." ESV Dt 7:25-26.

Throughout the rest of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses begins with a solemn warning not to forget God and get spiritually lazy once their physical needs have been satisfied (Chapter 8) and then he recounts their voyage and God's faithfulness, and explains for the second time the Law of God. (the meaning of Deuteronomy).

Day 7 With the Literary ESV

Deuteronomy

I can still hear Dr. Paul Benware's (Now moved on to Philadelphia Biblical University)voice telling me that if I'll just pay attention to the next few chapters the entire Old Testament will start to make sense. It was my first semester at Moody Bible Institute and we were only a short way into Old Testament Survey when we came to Deuteronomy 27-30, especially Dt 28.

The passage is so extended and relentless in its pictures of misfortune that no sane person would choose to live in disobedience if these are the results. -ESVLSB

Every blessing God promises for obedience he continually calls Israel to receive through the prophets. And every curse which he promises if they reject him comes to pass from the period of the judges all the way through the deportation's of Israel and Judah. Even the promise to restore in chapter 30. If you've never read these chapters with an eye on the rest of the Old Testament you should.

Joshua

Moses already closed Deuteronomy with the admonition to "be strong and courageous" (Deut 31:23) and now at the onset of Joshua God steps forward to imbue strength and courage into the life of Moses' former servant - the new leader of Israel. Joshua is going to need all of the courage he can muster too. If not because of the prolonged (but victorious) war he's about to enter because the people of Israel in a rather ironic twist vow to him that they will obey him in the same manner they obeyed Moses. (Joshua 1:17) I can't help but believe that the frequent rebellions didn't rise to the surface of Joshua's mind.
Nevertheless aside from the matter of Achan (Joshua 7) there is no hint of rebellion against Joshua's leadership. This could be not only because rebellion didn't happen or wasn't recorded but because all the dreams of the Israelites are coming true. They're finally done with manna (5:10-12), they've all be circumcised (Josh 5:2-9), they're entering the land to possess it (Joshua 12:1). The book of Joshua is a masterfully told epic of God's people taking the land culminating in the twin climax of the nonrebellion of the tribes of Ephraim, Gad and the 1/2 tribe of Manasseh in the building of the altar of remembrance (Joshua 22) and the great challenge of Joshua to the people in Joshua 24:15, "Choose this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
- Joshua 24:14-15

Psalms 51-59

Beginning with the great Psalm of David's repentance in the affair with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband this small collection of Psalms rotates around the common themes of life struggle, lament, and hope and worship of the Living God.

One of the difficulties of reading larger chunks like this is that the Psalms tend to get passed over simply because time is running out. All of us must fight the same battles in our day. We all have many responsibilities but as I reflect on the constant failures of Israel I note with dismay that many times as at the beginning of Judges tomorrow that the reason for the massive moral failures was that people did not know the Lord nor his word. If in no other way, this most clearly exemplifies our great need to bring God's word into our hearts that it might flow through our lives.

Day 8-12 With the Literary ESV

Well it's not because I didn't read but because I couldn't read. It's Thursday morning and till now I've had no internet since last Friday. Our local service provider's antenna got hit by lighting the second week in a row out here. I guess when you put an antenna on top of the co-op's tallest bin you're just begging for a lighting strike.

The end result, on top of missing the fact that I was linked on the ESV blog is that I'm unintentionally three days behind. Well enough of that, Tallyho!

Let's do Judges and 1 Samuel today and Psalms 60-75.
Plus, to mix things up a bit, I'm going to start with the Psalms Today. From a cry for deliverance to cries of victory the Psalms resound with faith in the midst of struggle. Surely as on preacher said, there is no life situation which the Psalms fail to encounter and encourage us. Perhaps the crown of today's reading in the Psalms comes from PS 64:10.

Let the Righteous one rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!
-Psalm 64:10

All in all these fifteen Psalms, while they encompass a variety of literary types they center around the theme of salvation as echoed most strongly in the 68th Psalm.

Our God is a God of salvation,
oand to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
-Ps 68:20 ESV

And again the 73rd Psalm is a beautiful and very realistic Psalm of Asaph in which a godly man struggles internally with the apparent wealth and comfort of the wicked while the godly struggle and go without. It is not until Asaph enters the temple and gains an eternal perspective that his life and his heart is rectified again and he turns to worship the Lord who saves him. Since we live in Asaph's world so to speak this Psalm should be precious to us who have turned our back upon the wealth of the world in favor of the wealth of heaven. My earnest prayer for myself and for you today is that you will be captivated by the splendor and riches of heaven; let the wicked enjoy the wealth of unrighteousness which will not last. For my treasure is not to be of this earth, but in heaven.

Judges

There is no sadder more destitute passage in the Old testament than in the second chapter of Judges. The people did not keep their end of the covenant to completely wipe out the inhabitants of the land and thus consigned themselves to servitude with the idols of those nations. "

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel
-Judges 2:10.

It is from this horrible reality that the book of Judges and it's downward spiral begins. In a flash we move from the unbridled victories of Joshua's day to the pitiful gleanings of the period of the judges. And this for a simple reason. The word of God was not passed on. As great as Joshua's generation might have been, they failed in their most crucial role. Deuteronomy 6:4ff says that parents must by every means and every opportunity train thier children in the Lord. Failure to obey that commandment signed the death warrant for thousands of Israelites for generations to come.
One after another, God raises judges who deliver the people for a time. And afterward they return like a dog to it's vomit to the sins that drove them into subservience. Sigh. And yet how many times do we enter into our own cycles of wandering?
From Othniel's sword to Gideon's halting faith to Jeptha's fatal vow and the unamed Levite and his illfated concubine the story of Judges is both fascinating and horrifying. An honest but tender hearted reader will almost want to read it like a child with his hands over his eyes but fingers parted that he might see just a little more.
It is worse than anything that Hollywood can put out. Gang rapes, infanticide, maurauding armies, heartless husbands, fearful men, fallen heroes, idolatrous deliverers, real men with real vices and godly men falling far short of the glory. The book of Judges is both real and surreal in it's portrayal of the depths of the depravity of man.

Ruth

Like a single precious stone in a pit of refuse the book of Ruth arises from the midst of the time of the judges as if God were shouting, "Though I cannot find faithfulness in Israel I can bring faithfullness even out of Moab!" Behold the book of Ruth which in a single reading unfolds a tender love story touched with tradgedy and triumph. If the book of Judges with it's gore and violence is the ultimate guy movie, the book of Ruth would be the penultimate "chick flick" (don't even what kind of movie the The Song of Solomon could be).
In a single breath taking speach, Ruth sets the tone of her life when she proclaims to Naomi,

“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
-Ruth 1:16-17.

To make a short story even shorter, God rewards Ruth not only with a godly husband but by his great chesed (lovingkindness) injects her into the family tree of his Messiah.

1 Samuel

The rise and fall of king Saul is an epic tale that begins with the rise and demise of the last judge: Samuel for whom the book is named and quite possibly by whom the book is written. Whatever else the books of Samuel tell they describe the transfer from Theocracy to Monarchy. And it all begins with a mother's earnest and faithful prayer. I wonder how many mothers, how many parents have any knowledge of how far their prayers for their children will go. Hanna's prayer starts the book and initiates a legacy.
But legacies are themselves fleeting. Samuel's sons did not walk with the Lord. I beleive the people of Israel looked back at their years since Joshua's death and say spiritual Chaos and they had enough. While they should have perhaps asked for God to give them a leader who would guide them towards obedience they asked instead for a king to be just like everyone else. So God gave them what they wanted. Saul a man a head taller than the rest of Israel, quite handsome and a little slow on the uptake. Yup, handsome and stupid - that way they could be just like everyone else. Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.
Saul's failure to obey God's clear and well understood command brings about the end of his dynasty and institutes the rise of David. God chose for Israel Saul the man they wanted but when it came time for a new king, God chose a man he wanted. Therein lies the difference.

As the book of 1 Samuel closes on the smoldering ruins of Saul and his sons, including David's dearest friend Jonathan, on the heights of Gilboa the book of 2 Samuel beckons us tomorrow with the promise of a brighter day. Saul has fallen it is time for the rise of David the King.

Day 13-14 With the Literary ESV

The Great Coffee Disaster

I had to get up earlier than normal yesterday to help my wife and one of my daughters get out the door on a camping trip. Since it was 4:30 AM I figured I'd get plenty of Bible reading done and still have plenty of time to finish my other goals for the day. Wrong.

My coffee pot was dead - all the way dead in a way that makes it worthless dead. That meant I had no morning coffee and that is not a good thing. So once I got my wife out the door I tried to read and work until the other kids got up. I guess I'm not used to concentrating without my coffee. I didn't get very far.

So I made a trip to town and bought a new coffee pot - well a coffee press actually. I've been wanting one for quite awhile but didn't want to spend the money. Now that I was faced with purchasing a new coffee pot anyway I nabbed a press instead. Like most models this one doesn't use any electricity to heat up the water. That means I heat up the water in a large measuring cup in the microwave and once it's almost ready to boil I pour it in, cap it - let the brew steep for four minutes and then slowly press the grounds down to the bottom. The result? A really good cup of coffee.
Now, let's open the Bible and get some reading done.

I enjoyed starting with the Psalms first so much yesterday that I think I'll do it again.
Today's reading is still a bit of catch up from the lighting induced Internet outage over the weekend so the reading is slightly expanded as well. We'll do 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. I've got a chart that I use when reading through the kings to help me get a grip of what's going on. So I'll share it with you today. You can click on the thumbnail here or just download the PDF from the bottom of the post. I find it very useful.

Psalms 76-87

The Psalms of Asaph are, in some ways more laced with mourning than the Psalms of David. The mourning of the Davidic Psalms is more personal while the Asaph psalms while personal are more national in nature. Reading through Psalm 78 and 79 brings out a really good sense of the type of suffering that Asaph witnessed and the immense struggle that he had in trying to make it mesh with the Omnipotence and love of God. To anyone struggling with personal or national tragedy in any age I commend the Psalms of Asaph.

2 Samuel

It could be titled the rise and fall and rise of a godly man. David was not godly because he was perfect - that is a flawed definition which we all too often try to cling to. Righteousness and godliness for fallen men is described in Proverbs as a man who falls seven times and yet rises again (Proverbs 24:16). Thus David was a man after God's own heart, who foolishly stumbled (Nay rather jumped headlong into the ground) but who in contriteness of heart (Psalm 51) rose back to his feet before the Lord. 2 Samuel can well be divided between BB and AB (Before Bathsheba and After Bathsheba) for his adultery and Murder separates David's life into two halves and sets the stage for Israel's struggles.
Apart from the affair with Bathsheba David truly was a man after God's own heart. He established his kingdom by righteous choices rather than encouraging needless bloodshed and distancing himself from political intrigue. He reached out to the family of his former enemy and embraced a desire to be a blessing back to the Lord by building a temple. Even as the judgments of God came down upon his nation and his family because of his sin, David did not resort to further sin in the name of expediency. When he was cursed he did not reject it. When he was challenged he did not bear unnecessary grudges. A man after God's own heart, even when he messed up big time, he still tried to pursue the Lord. May I do as much.

1 Kings>

The rise and fall of Solomon. What began as the most successful monarchy on earth should have continued. But "Solomon loved many foreign women" (1 Kings 11:1). So much for being the wisest man on earth, anyone foolish enough to marry 700 women and to keep 300 as concubines is begging for trouble. I don't know if he had to mess with the petty squabbles but I do know they dragged him down and enticed him to worship their gods - and thus came the destruction of Israel.
In Deuteronomy God told the Israelites what a king must not do: multiply wives and horses and Solomon had more of both than anyone. And Solomon's heart was turned to the gods of his wives and for this reason God divided the kingdom with two tribes in the south for Solomon's son Rehoboam and ten in the north for Jeroboam the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin.
Thanks to Jeroboam the northern ten tribes were plunged into idolatry and the two nations began to spiral out of control toward their ultimate destruction at the close of 2 kings.

2 Kings

Bad king follows bad king in the north and the southern tribes are graced with pitiful few "good" kings who seek to honor the Lord. In rapid fire succession we move from Evil king (Ahaz) to good king (Hezekiah) to most evil (Manasseh) father to best king (Josiah) as we careen from king to king and kingdom to kingdom.
Take my chart and USE it as you read through Samuel, Kings and Chronicles as well as the Prophets it will help you to hang them on a historical framework.

Day 15-16 With the Literary ESV

With Today's reading we're mostly back on schedule with Chronicles, Ezra, Esther and Nehemiah; and Psalms 88-105 make up a rather sizable chunk of reading but once you hit a strident pace with Chronicles you'll find that reading them together in one sitting is rewarding.

Chronicles

Do it again! Do it again! That's what children shout when they're having fun. And Chronicles doubles up on the fun of Samuel and Kings, hey it even doubles up on the fun of Numbers. We get line after line to the sum of nine chapters of generational family tree goodness in the first book of Chronicles. Enjoy with two caveats.

1. Don't get bogged down in the litany of names if you're just here to read.
2. Don't jump off the deep end and pull out rare deviations like Jabez and make an entire theology out of them. Call Heretics Anonymous and move on.

Reading Chronicles as a whole you may see some deviation after the genealogical section but First Chronicles is primarily written as a almost entirely about David's kingship and that for good reason he is the prefigurement of the Messiah and the penultimate Old Testament King. Second Chronicles records the horrendous crash of the nations of Israel and Judah as they obstinately refuse to listen to the prophets God sends them. After hundreds of years of warnings God finally took action an suddenly the people who call themselves God's people were taken by surprise when God finally took action. Read the books with a comprehension of both ancient history and modern society and you'll feel like you're reading the newspaper. All the more reason to pay attention to what you're reading because Just like way back then when God finally does act, I suspect many will be taken off guard.

Finally, Chronicles needs to be read with an eye on the restoration of Israel which is where second Chronicles ends. God's plan for Israel and the universe is not it's destruction but the reversal of the curse. The destruction of Israel by Assyria and Judah by Babylon may be a part of the saga but it is not the climax.

The primary focus of Chronicles is on good examples. As a case in point the entire affair with Bathsheba is left out of David's story even though it serves as a watershed moment for David's kingdom. Obviously for a great many of the kings - the majority in fact - there is little positive to say, they serve as the negative explanations for the deportment of the nation(s) of Israel and Judah. When the books of Chronicles finally come to an end the preceding generations of kings, most of them evil, lay in ruins. By comparison the kingdom is resurrected as Cyrus opens a new chapter by re-establishing the nation of Israel by rebuilding first of all things the temple..

Ezra & Nehemiah

To put it succinctly Ezra tells the story of the Spiritual restoration of Israel from her captivity. Nehemiah by contrast reveals the physical restoration of Israel by securing it's capital city. 70 years pass between Chronicles and Ezra in which the land was able to rest it's Sabbath rests.
The lessons of Ezra are many but chief among them is that revival is never easy. Spiritual revival will without doubt encounter conflict. The story of Nehemiah's Spiritual struggles while rebuilding the city of Jerusalem tell the same story. God's kingdom will grow when God's people submit to him but even the kingdom will not grow without conflict. Neither will it grow without exposure on a grand scale to the very words of God as well as obedience to that revealed word.

Esther

One of the Bible's most notable heroins became such reluctantly. Haman the criminal plays the part of the fool so completely that he eventually lays a trap for his own life while subsequently forming a backdrop for God's glorification among his own people as well as the pagan nation among whom they live. Truly the book of Esther stands as evidence that God frustrates the plans of the wicked and causes the deeds of the righteous to flourish.

Day 17-18 With the Literary ESV

Whew! Catching up is hard to do. Time and circumstance tend to converge in such a way that the slightest stumble (or in this case, internet interruption) can set you back for days. Well I'm happy to report that for today at least I am finally caught up on reading through the Literary ESV in thirty days. And that's a good thing because my free subscription runs out soon. Of course I do have a hard copy on the way but I still have to finish what I started here.

Job

Job encapsulates the penultimate problem which seems to drive theologians and non-theologians alike absolutely batty: the problem with pain as C.S. Lewis called it. Is there ever a point to suffering? Is there ever a purpose to pain?
Job as literature leaves nothing out. It is poetic, didactic, dramatic, narrative, comedic, tragic in fact if you can dream up a literary style the book of Job contains it. In terms of touching real life in a raw and unnerving way - the book of Job is it. All of this for one simple reason; the book of Job is unquestionably real.
We all suffer from time to time, and occasionally we suffer in the midst of righteousness. This theodicy is beyond our standard ability to comprehend and quite frankly any explanation which fails to account for God's ineffable glory falls far shorter than it should.
One portion of the explanation for the book of Job has to arise from Ephesians 3:10

...so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places...

God uses the church to teach the angels (Elect or Evil) about Himself. I think it's far too simplistic to say that this principle is the only reason for the book of Job, it definitely explains the interactions in heaven between God and Satan in the first two chapters. After that Satan pulls out his trump cards as first Job's wife and then his best friends (Job 4:12-21 shows the spiritual origin of their speeches) begin to pull Job toward the precipice of cursing God that Satan gambled would happen. Job never curses God but his own theology as well as the theology of his friends is clearly skewed from chapter 3:1 and forward until the very moment that God shows up in Chapter 37.

Your Best Life?

I am always astounded when I read through Job just how much the crowing of his so called friends sounds like the name it and claim it gospel of the good life now preached by the likes of Joel Osteen and his ilk. "If you just come to Jesus everything will be alright and you'll have a happy life today!" Compare that blather with Eliphaz' third speech in 22:21. Not only is it flat out scripturally wrong, it does not mesh with the reality of the Christian life.

Tell that to my brethren in China who are imprisoned. Tell it to the two women sentenced to a work camp who were forced to clean a latrine and when they fell in they were locked in to drown in human filth. If your theology doesn't work in the Sudan as well as America it's a false theology and you are a heretic.

Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (1 Tim 3:12). Persecution will come from men and Satan. But it will come.

Job doesn't suffer because he sinned, he sinned because he suffered. His suffering is directly linked to his righteousness! Take a read through Psalm 73 and tell me how Asaph missed his best life now. He didn't. Because his best life is wrapped up in redemption and an eternity in the presence of the Father.

Disappointment

I am disappointed that the ESVLSB continues the outright stupid assignment of the hippopotamus and the crocodile to the marvelous creatures named Behemoth and Leviathan in chapter 40. Hippos don't have tails that swing like a cedar. Anyway I was disappointed. I am among those that believe in a young earth and hence I see these animal descriptions as more fitting to what we call dinosaurs. Even if I'm wrong, I wish commentators would at minimum pay attention to the text and stop imposing these foolish animal assignments to creatures which obviously surpass them in splendor.

The Gospel of Isaiah

It's not a typo. I have long considered Isaiah to be the gospel book of the old testament. More is spoken here of the Messiah it seems than in any other book of the Old Testament. Here the first (in order not chronology) of the prophets pens a masterpiece which until this day I have never deigned to read in one setting. I am glad that I did.
Isaiah is of course a masterpiece of prophecy. The nations of the current day are warned of pending judgment extending to the judgment of the world. Yet interspersed among the many doom prophecies are promises of a deliverer. A Whisper of hope and of salvation - a Messiah of God is coming!

Psalms 106-118

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly instructive the Psalms are. They relive the history of Israel, they proclaim the present promises of God, they cry out for holiness, yearn for redemption and speak of eternity.

Day 19-20 With the Literary ESV

Jeremiah

Another Massive prophecy by a massive writing prophet. The scale of the book of Jeremiah is reflective of his massive ministry. Jeremiah touches me as more human perhaps than some of the other prophets, this for the very reason that he is called the weeping prophet.
Jeremiah's preaching and writing ministry fits the culture of his day. By our own standards much of his writing is fescennine; yet it was age appropriate for it's time as God portrays himself as a jealous husband and Israel as an adulterous wife who would rather run in lust after her lovers than offer the slightest glimpse of faithfulness to the Lord.

Adultery and it's description is the primary theme throughout as God threatens and ultimately delivers judgment on the people who should have loved him but preferred to love sticks and stones. We are no better when we lavish our attentions upon cars, clothes and computers instead of loving passionately our Living God. Let us turn away from the temporary and worthless things of this world that we might be consumed with passion for Christ rather than titillated with lust for things which will perish.

Lamentations

Ultimately God does visit his judgment on the nation, half way through the book of Jeremiah. The brief but powerful book of Lamentations is a hard read written by a tender prophet with a broken heart. In five chapters Jeremiah mourns the horrendous suffering brought on by the deserved punishment from God. It is not the place of the righteous to relish the pending judgment of the wicked but rather with a prophet's heart to warn and plead for repentance and if need be to weep when repentance is rejected and judgment finally falls.

Yet this is also a lesson that in the middle of Jeremiah's despair he also sees hope for he knows the Living God who makes his mercies new every morning! (Lam 3:22-33).

Ezekiel - Hosea

From Jeremiah's misery we step forward to the time of the Babylonian exile and witness some of the most bizarre -from a visual standpoint- prophecies in the Old Testament.
I've always longed for a really good painting which would display the first chapters of Ezekiel - but alas to this day I've not seen one. That is probably for the better for who could adequately capture what the prophet so visibly describes?

The opening description from the ESVLSB for Ezekiel adequately captures the visual aspect of Ezekiel with this phrase:

...the kaleidoscope of visions is reminiscent of special effects in modern movies and other video productions.

Can you imagine Weta workshops or better yet, Industrial Light and Magic laboring over Ezekiel? The epic prophets like Ezekiel would make a great movie.

After Ezekiel it's Daniel all the way through to Hosea. It's an amazing spectrum. But I have to be honest it's starting to be too much. I keep having to struggle against the urge to slow down and take deeper looks as I pass by. So I've taken to marking the pages so that after the thirty days are over I can begin to pour more slowly over some of these beautiful passages again.

Psalms 119-150

Epic. There is no other word to describe attempting to read the longest Psalm (the shortest was yesterday at 117) together with the remainder of the book. I had to set apart a rather lengthy segment of my day to finalize the catchup race I was running but finally I made it.
On top of everything else, the proverbs too. The first chapter anyway.

Day 21 With the Literary ESV

I enjoyed a great day working through (most of) the minor prophets yesterday. Almost no reading at all on the computer screen since my hard copy of the ESVLSB arrived.

In terms of construction it's a pretty well built Bible. It's a hard back which I don't use many of, but it opens flat immediately no matter where you are. The binding is a little tough to figure out - I can't tell if it's glued or sewn. From the end's it looks glued, but the pages (folios) are folded as if sewn. the paper itself is very thin and is not white but parchment colored, which has a staggeringly nice effect on reading. the font is a touch small for my eyes but clean and sharp. All and all since it was designed as a readers' bible it is easy to read.

So with my brand new hard back I sat down outside to read in side the kids' playhouse while my two youngest played in their playhouse and sandbox. Eventually my oldest daughter found her way outside with a book and sat down next to me to read, and pretty soon my second oldest was sitting on the other side of me reading. My wife also - came out to sit near me and we enjoyed the day together.

The shade was lovely the gentle breeze was just the right temperature and my entire family was sitting playing or reading next to me, it was pure bliss.
Thanks God.

Day 22-25 With the Literary ESV

I can't believe I've fallen behind in these posts. I've been reading but not reporting. The problem is that I'm reading on paper now rather than on the computer screen. That means I can read in bed, or in my easy chair or outside while the kids run around. These are the times and places I'm far less prone to writing down my thoughts as I read.

In the last few days I started in Malachi and then passed 400 years with the flick of a finger as I moved from the Old Testament into the New. The Gospels then piled up one after another to invade my senses with the sights and sounds of Israel lost and struggling to recognize a savior standing right in front of them.

Reflecting on 30 Days With the Literary ESV

observations along the way.

Reading this large of a block of scripture every day created a problem for me. I note that I became focused on conquering the territory rather than surveying it as I went. I had to continually struggle against that bent.

I suffer the same shortcoming when I drive on vacation. I could drive past the most beautiful vista's and never notice because my eyes were pinned to the road and my heart was already at my destination. So it was in some measure as I read through the Bible this month. I found myself so focused on conquering the territory that I undoubtedly missed a number of blessings.

On the other hand I gained a panoramic overview of the Bible which can't be had otherwise. So I don't feel any guilt at reading past the details instead I feel blessed for having experienced the grandeur of God's word at a distance. So I didn't miss all the blessings I just received a different set. In fact most slower readers are virtually guaranteed to miss the forest because they're so focused on the trees, or in most cases the bark.

The ESV as a Reader's Bible

The ESV is incredibly readable. The speed with which I read didn't permit me to compare it either to the original languages or to the NASB which has been my main bible translation for a number of years now. However I can say that the ESV rarely felt difficult to read in large chunks. To that effect at minimum it is a good translation for reading. This is an important point for me.

Many of you are perhaps familiar with the continuum of bible translation theories. Word for word literalism (formal equivalence) to one side and more flexible thought for thought translation (dynamic equivalence) in the middle with raw paraphrase (not really a "translation") at the far end. To the far edge of word for word literalism lies the Lockman Foundation's NASB closer to the center lies Zondervan's NIV not quite centered between these two translations lies Crossway's ESV, a bit closer in word for word to the NASB in the marketing literature; but probably a bit closer to the NIV in more places than they'd like to confess. I really don't see the ESV as a competitor to the NASB but I certainly see it as such to the NIV. From that standpoint the ESV is a hands down winner. Even so I will surely be spending the grand majority of my time with the NASB.

The ESV Literary Bible as a Commentary

The ESV Literary Bible doesn't bill itself as a commentary but all study bibles of any variety are essentially that. The ESVLSB is no different. While the chapter and interspersed notations do a stellar job of highlighting the various literary motifs in the Biblical text - it also includes numerous outright commentary statements. This isn't a complaint, or even a criticism merely an observation.

The notations also give rise to a complaint though and by far not one limited in scope to the ESVLSB. Any notations in the text no matter how they are set apart will impact plain old fashioned reading. It's natural to read from chapter 1 to chapter 2. What's not natural is to read the preface and integrated notes along they way. So I found myself often getting frustrated not because the notes were bad or irrelevant, they weren't but because I just wanted to read.

Beyond that, I suppose it's because I'm not a genre nut, but it just seemed that some of the notes went out of their way to make something up that sounded like an authentic literary title. By way of example in the midst of the book of Isaiah we read this little snippet:

Whereas Hezekiah had earlier been a model of faith to be emulated, he ends in the ignominious camp known by literary scholars as “negative example”—showing us how not to live after having been rescued by God.

"Known by literary scholars as "negative example". Come on. That just sounds like arrogant pomp being pumped through the pages. Just say that Hezekiah serves as a negative example, but to call on the supposed weight of "literary scholars" as a way to justify a perfectly normal appellative just smacks of pretension.

This isn't the norm however for throughout the introductory notes are many useful descriptions which help to isolate the literature types in such a way as to enrich your study by knowing what to expect.

The aftermath

Reading the Bible as literature in a thirty day period has not been easy. Adding to the 1189 chapters of the Bible with an equal number of prefatory notes only compounded the difficulty but it was a worthy endeavor. I can honestly say that it has changed my life.
First because the word of God never comes back empty I have been molded by it. Notably as I read through the Monarchy literature of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles I was repeatedly pummeled by the theme of leaders who started well and ended poorly. I was also encouraged though by a few who started poorly and ended well. But second, as I've already mentioned, I gained because it opened my eyes in a new way to the glorious panorama of scripture. We spend too much time trying to read the Bible through a peephole - a verse here or a verse there. But the Bible was written to, for and by a storied people.

In the centuries preceding the printing press the Bible's stories were laid down not on paper but on the ear. Even though the majority of my speed reading was done silently the inaudible imprint of hearing the stories flow rapid fire through my mind was powerful.