Chronological Bible Reading - Update

But how shall I speak of the glories I have since discovered in the Bible? For years I have read it with an ever-broadening sense of joy and inspiration; and I love it as I love no other book. Still there is much in the Bible against which every instinct of my being rebels, so much that I regret the necessity which has compelled me to read it through from beginning to end.

Helen Keller

I'd never have thought this in my younger days, but Helen Keller's words resonate with me: "I love it as I love no other book." Reading the Bible daily — sometimes eagerly, sometimes grudgingly, but always reading it — has made me love it. The Word speaks to me through it and provides riches, consolation, inspiration, and surprise.

As I mentioned a while back, I have been reading the Bible in chronological order. This really has given me more of a sense of how God's relationship with his people has progressed, to how history has had a hand in bringing about our salvation.

And it has increased my love for this incomparable book. I'm not quite done but I'm within five books of the end — at which point I'll start over again.

I eventually came up with my own chronological list because the one I began with was set up to get you through in a year. (See post linked to above.) To that end and, as they explained, to alleviate possible boredom, they'd jiggered things a little. Things like moving Chronicles to way after Kings. This confused me no end, by the way, when I was reading along in their order and suddenly thought, "What is David doing this far into the timeline? He died long ago."

Boredom is not my problem as much as wanting to feel the flow of history. I loved the way their timeline placed prophets in the timeline so you could feel history and prophecy together. So I used their order as a timeline template and started putting the out-of-order elements back where they belonged. The result is below as a jpg that you can download or straight text that you can copy or print.

The Old Testament is in the order in which it happened (as nearly as one can ascertain). Job is the most problematic, probably, but once I saw some people placing it during the Genesis timeline it made the book fall into place for me better because of Job's relationship to God. (Knowing it is a fictional examination of Truth, and so forth.)

The New Testament is in the order in which it was written. That is because I was interested in seeing what order the Church experienced these things being written down and distributed. Kind of a "being there" experience because we know the oral stories were circulating from the beginning.

NOTE: The first time through I've been reading without notes or commentary. When I begin again I'll probably be supplementing my reading with a few of those.

OLD TESTAMENT
(Order in which happened)

• Genesis
• Job
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Psalms
• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• Song of Songs
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• 1 Samuel
• 2 Samuel
• 1 Kings
• 2 Kings: 1-17
• 1 Chronicles
• 2 Chronicles: 1-28
• Amos
• Jonah
• Hosea
• Micah
• Isaiah: 1-39
• Tobit
• Nahum
• Zephaniah
• Habakkuk
• Judith
• 2 Kings: 18-25
• 2 Chronicles: 29-36
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations
• Baruch
• Ezekiel
• Obadiah
• Daniel: 1-12 (minus prayer in 3:24–90)
• Isaiah: 40-55
• Joel
• Ezra: 1-6
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Esther
• Ezra: 7-10
• Nehemiah
• Isaiah: 56-66
• Malachi
• Daniel: 13
• Sirach
• Daniel: 14
• Daniel: 3:24–90
• 1 Maccabees
• 2 Maccabees
• Wisdom

NEW TESTAMENT
(Order in which written)

• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessssalonians
• Galatians
• 1 Corinthians
• 2 Corinthians
• Romans
• Mark
• Philippians
• Colossians
• Philemon
• Ephesians
• Matthew
• 1 Timothy
• Titus
• 2 Timothy
• Luke
• Acts
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter
• John
• 1 John
• 2 John
• 3 John
• Jude
• Revelations

Genesis Notes: Pharaoh's Dreams and Layers of Meaning

GENESIS 41
One of the things that I love so much about the Catholic approach to Scripture is the acceptance that there are layers upon layers of meaning to be found. This is very well illustrated when Joseph is needed to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. Until I read this I never would have connected the famine in Pharaoh's dreams with man's condition waiting for Jesus, the "Living Bread" but it makes a definite connection.

James Tissot, Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream

Pharaoh's dreams are given in great detail and repeated several times in chapter 41. The net effect of the repetition is to focus our attention on them. "Notice the details!" it fairly shouts.

But why? What is there to notice, other than the fact that the dreams warned Pharaoh of an economic downturn that would wipe out all memory of prosperity and potentially wipe out the population? Wasn't it just a setup, so Joseph could be brought into power?

This is a good time to remember that there are layers of meaning in Scripture, and that understanding the literal meaning can be a springboard to illuminating a deeper spiritual sense. In this case, Pharaoh's dreams and the state of Egypt they represent gain significance when we realize that they are in microcosm a picture of the condition of mankind after the fall. We gain profound insight into the way Joseph saves Egypt by seeing it as sign of the way Christ will come to change that condition.

[...]

Returning to Pharaoh's dreams, it is significant that other than the account of the flood, which signifies baptism, all the major pictures of man's condition and the solution to come (the fruit in the Garden; the famine and grain; and later manna in the wilderness, bread from heaven, the feeding of the 5,000; etc.) are couched in terms of food. For what is it that gives us life but the food that Jesus provides, His Body and Blood? As we read in St. John's gospel: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6:51). As Catholics we take in this new life every time we eat the host at Mass. As the Catechism so aptly says,

"... when the faithful receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one another the Good News that the first fruits of life have been given.' Now too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever receives Christ." What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh -- given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit, "preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism." (1391-2)

All quotes from Genesis, Part II: God and His Family. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: Adversity and prosperity

Adversity makes men and prosperity makes monsters.

Victor Hugo

Worth a Thousand Words: Winter Geraniums

Winter Geraniums, Belinda Del Pesco

Chai-Spiced Pound Cake

I've never liked chai-spiced drinks but then I saw this recipe in the King Arthur Flour catalog which looked so enticing that I bought their chai spice so I could make it. Of course, I don't love to drink chai but I might like to eat it in a dessert.

The cake was straight-up fantastic. I've got it at at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Well Said: The advantage of front and back views

Mrs. Glegg had both a front and a back parlour in her excellent house of St. Ogg's, so that she had two points of view from which she could observe the weakness of her fellow beings and reinforce her thankfulness for her own exceptional strength of mind.

George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss

She's got a way with words, you've gotta admit it.

Worth a Thousand Words: Double Date

Double Date, Karin Jurick

Well Said: Intolerance in support of tolerance

I have seen gross intolerance shown in support of tolerance.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

So there really is nothing new under the sun. I feel he would find our times very familiar.

Worth a Thousand Words: Lutter & Wegner

Lutter & Wegner, Edward B. Gordon

Well Said: St. Francis and converting Christians

It is an old story that, while we may need somebody like Dominic to convert the heathen to Christianity, we are in even greater need of somebody like Francis, to convert the Christians to Christianity.

G.K. Chesterton, The Dumb Ox

Genesis Notes: A Few Facts About Egypt

GENESIS 39
I found this information about Egypt in Joseph's time interesting.

Workers plowing, harvesting crops, and threshing grain under the direction of an overseer,
painting in the tomb of Nakht.

WHEN DID JOSEPH ARRIVE?
The date of Joseph's arrival in Egypt is debatable. Many believe he arrived during the period of the Hysksos rulers, foreigners who came from the region of Canaan. They invaded Egypt and controlled the land for almost 150 years. If Joseph arrived during their rule, it is easy to see why he was rapidly promoted up the royal ladder. Because the Hysksos were foreigners themselves, they would not hold this brilliant young foreigner's ancestry against him.

PHARAOH
Pharaoh was the general name for all the kings of Egypt. It was a title like "King" or "President" used to address the country's leader. The Pharaohs in Genesis and Exodus were different men.

THE GOOD LIFE IN EGYPT
Ancient Egypt was a land of great contrasts. People were either rich beyond measure or poverty stricken. There wasn't much middle ground. Joseph found himself serving Potiphar, an extremely rich officer in Pharaoh's service. Rich families like Potiphar's had elaborate homes two or three stories tall with beautiful gardens and balconies. They enjoyed live entertainment at home as they chose delicious fruit from expensive bowls. They surrounded themselves with alabaster vases, paintings, beautiful rugs, and hand-carved chair. Dinner was served on golden tableware, and the rooms were lighted with gold lampstands. Servants, like Joseph, worked on the first floor, while the family occupied the upper stories.

All quotes from Life Application Study Bible. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Worth a Thousand Words: Good Company

Good Company, taken by Remo Savisaar

SFFaudio - The Uninvited

We ain't afraid of no ghosts. Or are we? Jesse, Maissa, and Julie talk about The Uninvited at SFFaudio, episode 441.

(Get the audiobook here, my recording of The Uninvited originally done for Forgotten Classics.)

Worth a Thousand Words: Ludgate, Evening

John O'Connor, Ludgate, Evening, 1887
via Lines and Colors

Well Said: What we get to worship

In the day to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

David Foster Wallace

Prayers for Victims in Las Vegas

I don't really keep up with current news and everyone in the household knows it. So when someone carefully says, "I don't know if you've heard the current news ..." then I know they are preparing me for something horrific. This morning was another such moment.

After hearing about the carnage in Las Vegas, once again I am left shocked and thinking, "what is wrong with the world?"

I am inadequate to come up with a prayer but The Anchoress has helped out there. The city's patrons are the Holy Family, St. Peter, and St. Paul, which is why they are included in her prayer.

Together, let us pray:

O Lord, by whose design the sands of our lives run fast or slow,
be with us in this time of terror;
send your Holy Spirit to help us grow in wisdom
in the face of such a senseless act.

Holy Family — Jesus, Mary and Joseph — be the consolation of families impacted
by this violence and mayhem.
Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the city,
Saint Michael the Archangel, patron of First Responders, pray for Las Vegas.

Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison

For the sake of Christ’s sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.

Amen.

Well Said: What you need to achieve great things

To achieve great things two things are needed. A plan and not quite enough time.

Leonard Bernstein

Listen Up: More is More

Hannah spends her days looking at trees and Rose spends her days looking at computer screen but they both spend their nights watching bad movies. They can commonly be found in yarn shops, hanging off silks, and in fancy grocery stores but their natural habitat is the dollar movie theater.

We've got a long history of enjoying discussing bad movies, especially when Hannah and Rose are doing the talking. They are both funny and insightful, and I don't just say that as their mother. And they love bad movies enough to specifically go to see them at the theater.

Now everyone can enjoy that hilarious insight on their new podcast, More is More. Hannah and Rose take you through their favorite bad movies in enough detail that you don't have to have seen it yourself (for which I am truly grateful). They also discuss story elements that went wrong and why.

Episode 1 is The Scorpion King featuring everyone's favorite, The Rock, in a movie that even his charm can't salvage. Try them out! (website, iTunes)

"Don't let them tell you less is more. More is more."

Stephen Sommers

Worth a Thousand Words: A_Thousand_Li_of_River

Panorama of a section of A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, a 12th-century painting by Song dynasty artist Wang Ximeng

Click through to see the image bigger.

Well Said: Grant's brand of whiskey

You just tell me the brand of whiskey Grant drinks — I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.

Abraham Lincoln