The Bible Project: Week ?? (We jump back in)

Christmas break seemed like a good time to jump once more into my Bible Project. Since a lot more people have found my corner of the internet since I last posted about this, I thought I'd do an explanatory post for my new friends.

The Bible Project came out of three things:

1. A New Year's resolution to read the Bible cover to cover

2. The fact that the Bible was on my Classics Club list.

3. An interest in exploring the Bible as a work of religious literature (i.e. literary analysis and not theological analysis). 

And so, I began. Originally, the goal was to post every week and so finish the Bible in a year. It went pretty well until college interrupted, and the whole endeavor ground to a halt in mid August.

I'm only about two thirds of the way through, so finishing the final third of the Bible in two weeks is definitely not going to happen. I've reconstructed my schedule a bit, to finish only the Old Testament this year, and complete the entire project in March 2015. If you click the button above, you can see my schedule.

Today is the day on my schedule where I'm supposed to talk about the books Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, and Daniel, so I'll write a bit.

These books are some of the Prophetic books, which make up the end of the Old Testament. I AM SO BORED OF THE PROPHETIC BOOKS. I talked about this way back in August in my last post on Isaiah - there's no story. It's just prophesies. I can't wait for the New Testament where we actually get some story and plot.

An interesting thing, though, is that particularly in Jeremiah, God is starting to talk about a New Israel, or a New Covenant, and there is a foreshadowing of change. So far, God has been giving people rules, speaking directly through the prophets, and directly punishing those who disobey. But after this "reformation," it won't be that way anymore. Children won't be punished for their father's faults, and the law of the Lord will be intrinsic more than extrinsic. Its not just a bunch of rules. It's more spiritual now too. 

"[The New Covenant] will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers... I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jeremiah 31:32-33)

This, of course, as we know, is building the foundation towards the New Testament, Jesus, and Christianity. 

Hey! Are you interested in joining me, and exploring the Bible from a literary perspective? Hop in and read the New Testament with me in 2015!

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 32 (Isaiah)

Darn. I'm a week behind again.

Isaiah was interesting - in certain bits. Then it just keeps repeating itself.
"Glorify the lord! He will shower you with glory! You have been bad! He will rain curses down upon you!"

It's all well and good for a few chapters - very eloquent.
But after a while it just gets old. We have 66 Chapters of this stuff.

Of course, it is just a collection of prophesies, not stories. As prophesies, they are very interesting, but I suppose that in such abundance they get overwhelming and just too much.

The writing is extraordinarily descriptive, however, but not quite as much as Psalms.
And some of the best verses from the Bible can be found in Isaiah.
It was just a bit of an overload. I am not looking forward to more prophetic books, but unfortunately, the whole rest of the Old Testament is prophesies.  

I am so ready for stories again.

That's all I have for Isaiah.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 31 (Song of Songs; Wisdom; Sirach)

This is a love song. This is a love story.

It is beautiful.

The common interpretation of this book is that Jesus is the Groom and we as the members of his Church are the Bride. This is, of course, a fine interpretation, and a legitamate one.

But an alternate way to look at Song of Songs is as the ideal portrayal of human love. It is an excellence to strive towards in our relationships and shows that human relationships can be sacred, too.

And it's also super romantic. A reading from the Song of Songs would be excellent to have at a wedding ceremony!

Fun fact - my name means "wisdom." (I hope I live up to it.)

What this means is that I have two patron saints. One is St. Sophia of Rome, who was martyred in 304.

And the second is Holy Wisdom, who was there when God created the world.

The book of Wisdom speaks of "Wisdom" personified as a woman, St. Sophia. 

The writer uses personification as a good tool to help the reader relate, and make it easier for them to 'follow wisdom.' There have been so many rules in the Bible so far - from the survival rules in Leviticus, to the spiritual rules in Proverbs, and so many more. But with Wisdom, we have something a bit different.

We have a characterization of a great woman (Wisdom herself), and told to strive for her. We have a goal, something to reach for, something physical. It's not just a list of rules anymore. If you achieve Wisdom, you achieve closeness with God.

....and we're back to more life advice, Proverbs-style. 

Uh, I don't have much to say, because this is very much like Proverbs. Sirach and Solomon both had some good advice.

Here's a good one:

Before investigating, find no fault; examine first, then criticize.
Before hearing, answer not, and interrupt no on in the middle of his speech. (Sirach 11:7-8)

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Weeks 29 and 30 (Proverbs; Ecclesiastes)

YAY! I've caught up - finally!

So Proverbs is basically a bunch of collected advice from father to son - or at least that's how I look at it. There's tips on making and keeping friends, avoiding enemies, and, of course, how to find a good girlfriend.
If Leviticus was a bunch of physical laws to keep the Israelites healthy, then Proverbs covers the spiritual, emotional, and social side of things.

A lot of the proverbs were, I found, really applicable to my own life, especially the friendship ones. Here are two of my favorites:

He who covers up a misdeed fosters friendship, but he who gossips about it separates friends. (17:9) [Trust me, I have plenty examples of this in my own life. Plenty.]

 The man who remains stiff-necked and hates rebuke will be crushed suddenly beyond cure. (29:1) [Why I like this one is because it reminds me that constructive criticism is a good thing. I tend to tense up when people tell me what I need to improve on, especially in my writing. Not good if I plan on improving!]

Proverbs would be good to read more closely, and contemplate each piece of advice separately.

Gosh, this fellow is depressing! Apparently, Ecclesiastes is the Greek translation of the name Qoheleth, which the KJV translates as Preacher, but my version leaves in all it's unpronounceable glory. (Ecc 1:1)

Anyway - yes, Mr. Qoholeth/Ecclesiastes is extremely depressing.
This is the book where we get "Vanity, vanity, everything is vanity," and "There is nothing new under the sun." (Both from Chapter 1)
Ecclesiastes insists that all our toil and pleasure will disappear and be of no use to us. If you're a good person, you will probably suffer, and if you're evil, you might be glorified in the town square. Don't expect any rewards from God for following his commandments (at least not here on earth).

So apparently, Ecclesiastes was an advance beyond the previous books of the Bible. Where Proverbs says that the just people will be rewarded by God with full harvests and many children etc., Ecclesiastes says that the most you have to look forward to, as a God-fearing person, is possible happiness in heaven. But that's unsure.
He was the first to suggest a more lasting divine retribution, rather than an earthly one.

Phew. I'm caught up.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Weeks 26, 27, and 28 (Psalms)

I thought I'd combine all the Psalms into one post instead of spreading them out over three weeks.

So.

I recognize a ton of Psalms because we sing them all the time in church, and they are referenced in a bunch of hymns and classical music (Many requiems, Handel's Messiah, etc.). So while reading this I was humming quite a bit.

Something that I didn't know about Psalms was that they are NOT all written by the same person, namely, David. I thought that he was the only psalmist, but no - there are a bunch, some even anonymous.
I still think David is the best because he seems to be the most skilled at the following literary things that crop up a lot in Psalms:

Imagery
Oh my gosh the imagery is fantastic. The way David describes villainous scheming evildoers is spectacular, and he does it multiple times.

Similes and Metaphors
But especially metaphors. They are EVERYWHERE. The soul without God is compared quite a lot to parched earth without water.

Personification, symbolism, and their friends
SO MUCH of this. God has "eagle's wings," and so on.

Psalsm are the poetry of the Bible, and I think I read through them too quickly to do them justice. They're definitely something to reread multiple times.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 25 (Job)

Let's talk (very quickly and briefly) about Job (because I am super busy and tired).

(Also, I'm sorry this post is late.)

Job is about the ultimate test. It's sort of like the Isaac story, where God tested Abraham to see if Abraham would trust in God so much that Abraham would kill his only son Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord. In Job, God tests our title character to see if even in suffering he is still true to Him.

It's sort of like how you tell a true friend from a false one - the true one will stay with you through bad times. So even through his suffering, Job still stuck with God. And that proved to God that Job was a true friend of His.

There were a lot of speeches by Job and his not-friends, arguing about whether he should abandon God or not, and whether God had abandoned him or not. (I may have skimmed them rather quickly.) Actually, most of the story-story made up about one fifth of the text. It was an interesting set up - in the Bible, we don't usually see constant dialogue with little or no narration. In Job, we do.

That's fin for today. But there will be lots more exciting stuff being posted later this week! (If I actually find some time to write it. GUH.)

~Sophia (the Exhausted One)

The Bible Project: Week 24 (1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees)

(It's actually week 25 - I'm a bit behind...)
Also, both books of Maccabees are only in the Catholic Bible and not in Protestant versions. If you want to read them, here they are.

1 Maccabees is a lot about wars and treaties (wars are old, but treaties are something we haven't heard of a lot so far). There are a lot of copies of treaty documents. And the lesson learned is: Don't trust people named Demetrius. They don't stick to their promises, even if they are written in a treaty. (There are two King Demetrii in 1 Macc, father and son.)
The Romans, on the other hand, are pretty awesome allies.

My favorite quote from 1 Maccabees is the following:

"They made the elephants drunk on grape and mulberry wine to provoke them to fight." (1 Macc 6:34)

Now there are some fine military tactics!

I'm going to admit that 2 Maccabees made me a bit bored, and I may have had trouble focusing while reading. Just maybe.

It's less focused on the treaties than 1 Maccabees, and a bit more focused on how God saves his people. There's also one of the earliest models of martyrdom (2 Macc 7), and a huge focus on gruesome deeds. Not very pretty.

Sorry, not much today. The Wisdom books are next, so I'm hoping those are a bit more interesting.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 23 (Judith, Esther)

Oh no, I'm a week behind again. :-( I'll catch up at some point, I guess...

Judith is a pretty badass character. The whole book of Judith* is about how she saved the Israelites basically singlehandedly (well, there was her handmaid too, but she just carried supplies).Judith is gorgeous, clever, level-headed, and not afraid of blood. Not only does she go weaponless with her handmaiden to the enemy camp, but she also makes up a darned good story about why she's there, doesn't flinch one bit through the whole thing, and, after three days of ingratiating herself into the enemy's favors, cuts off the enemy chieftains head. Boom. Done. Israel is free.I love Judith. :-)












~Sophia____________________________________________*I believe that Judith is like Tobit in that it is only in the Catholic Bible, and not Protestant ones. Again, a pity, because it's a fantastic story, and there are so many famous paintings such as this Caravaggio below that show Judith with Holofernes' head. And if you don't know the story, you have no clue what's going on. If you don't have a Catholic Bible, you can read Judith here. It's pretty short.

I think this week's theme is strong women! :-)
Esther is another female savior of the Israelites. Esther is a very important book in Jewish religion, and is the source of the holiday Purim. Almost everyone knows the story of Esther - how she braved court rules and went to see her royal husband without his permission, and how she tricked Haman into thinking he had won royal favor, and then denounced him in front of the king. (Admit it, we all inwardly cheer at that point - Haman is such a dirty, dirty villain.)

But what I want to mention is the ultimate punishment for Haman. He got hung on the gibbet he had prepared for Mordecai, and all his ten sons were also hung. They had done nothing - why did they have to suffer?
Two things that we need to remember before jumping to the conclusion that perhaps Esther overdid the idea of revenge just a bit:
 1. Jesus hadn't come to preach forgiveness yet.
2.The book of Esther, like those of Judith and Tobit, was probably not a historical work. It was most likely based loosely on a historical event, and it's prime motive was to teach faith and loyalty to God. Because of this, certain things get taken to extremes sometimes, to prove a point: here, the point is Injustice (aka Haman) and the enemies of Israel will fall before the justice of the Lord. 


That's all I have for today!
Hopefully I'll catch up soon.

The Bible Project: Week 22 (Nehemiah; Tobit)

Woo, we're done with the Chronicler! He's a really thorough guy, but definitely not my style.
Thankfully, Nehemiah was more like Ezra then like 1 and 2 Chronicles. Nehemiah basically told the same story as Ezra except from Nehemiah's point of view. If Ezra was in charge of the spiritual rebuilding, Nehemiah was in charge of the physical rebuilding of the temple.

Tobit * is described in my Bible as a "religious novel," and that's exactly what it is. And that's exactly why I enjoyed it! :-)

It's partly narrated in first person by Tobit himself, an honorable and God-fearing fellow. The other part is in third person, mostly about Tobit's son, Tobiah, and his adventures with the angel Raphael in disguise.
This story reads like a Greek or Roman myth. The 14 chapters flew by faster than one chapter in Chronicles. And I think it is sort of a myth - the "historic facts" are all way off. I'd say it's more of a story to teach people that if you're a good person, good will happen to you. Maybe Tobit didn't even exist. It's a religious novel.

More myth comparisons: Raphael in Tobit reminds me of Hermes in the Odyssey, when Odysseus visits Circe. In this myth, Hermes gives Odysseus a magic flower that helps the hero be immune to Circe's magic. I see this as similar to Raphael telling Tobiah to capture the fish that attacked him and remove it's heart, liver, and gall. The heart and liver became useful in scaring away the demon that plagued Tobiah's future wife, and the gall healed Tobit's blindness. (Side note: Tobit became blind because a bird pooped on his eyes. Seriously.)

So, overall, I really liked Tobit. It's told very frankly, as though we are sitting listening to an ancient storyteller - maybe Tobit himself!

If you don't have a Catholic Bible, here is a link to the complete book of Tobit, if you care to read it. You can also find KJV translations online, but if you look in an actual KJV Bible, Tobit isn't there.

~Sophia


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*Tobit is not present in most (if not all) Protestant Bibles. It is one of the discrepancies between Protestant and Catholic Bibles. Which is a pity, because it's such a darn good story! :-)

The Bible Project: Week 21 (2 Chron 28-36; Ezra)

(Chapters 28-36)

Yeah, this didn't exactly cut it for me. As I said last week, both books of Chronicles were bo-oring, since dry history usually is relatively uninteresting for me. Oh well. At least we're done with it.





Though not quite, since both Ezra and Nehemiah are considered to be work of the Chronicler as well. All four books (1 Chron, 2 Chron, Ezra, and Nehemiah) used to be all one huge work.

I liked Ezra much better than the two Chronicle books. It had a main character (Ezra, of course), and it had a clear story (the Israelites reclaiming their land and religion after being taken over by the Persians). Ezra became their new spiritual leader, helping them revive their old religious practices.

I hope Nehemiah won't go back to the old "Chronicles" way of storytelling. We shall see.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 20 (2 Chron 1-27)

(Chapters 1 - 27)

So I'm SUPER busy today - packing for Italy* (our flight's tomorrow!) and attending graduation parties ('tis the season!) So this is all I will say about 2 Chronicles so far.

I don't like it. It is super boring. It's a recap of everything from Samuel and Kings and ugh can we please be done with it already? Yes, I know it's the "chronicles" of the history of Israel, and I've really got nothing against the Chronicler. But I just don't like history - at all. So there you have it. I can't wait to be over with this stuff and move onto more detailed narratives like Tobit. Woo!

~Sophia

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*Yes, yes, I will tell you all about our travel plans tomorrow morning. :-)

The Bible Project: Week 18 and 19 (1 Chronicles)

Hey, look at that! I'm back on track with my reading schedule!

1 Chronicles can be split into two parts:

Ch. 1-9: NAMES and MORE NAMES. The Chronicler really liked genealogy, and seemed to have a thing for identifying every single person involved in every single battle and great event. Every single person and their children, too.

Ch. 10-23: Retelling of David's story from back in 2 Samuel.

So really, nothing new. I'm sure if I read super carefully, I could write a discussion on the differences between the Chronicler and the writer of 2 Samuel, but I don't have time for such super in-depth analysis right now.
One difference that an annotation in my Bible pointed out to me was a wording change in 1 Chron 21:1. ("A satan rose up against Israel, and he enticed David into taking a census of Israel." - A census was sinful because the idea was that the people belonged to the Lord, not to the king, and thus only the Lord should know their exact number.) Here's what the annotation has to say about it:

In the parallel passage of 2 Sam 24:1, A satan is instead the Lord's anger. The change in the term reflects the changed theological outlook of postexilic Israel, when evil could no longer be attributed directly to God.... Here, as in later Judaism and in the New Testament, satan, or the "devil," designates an evil spirit who tempts men to wrongdoing.

So here we have the first mention of the Devil, which I thought was pretty cool.

That's all for today - the spin book is revealed tomorrow!

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 17 (2 Kings)

I know I've been somewhat AWOL in the blogosphere for the last week or so, but I do have excuses. These next two weeks are incredibly full of finals and I have been studying for them like crazy.

Anyway, on to 2 Kings. (It's actually week 18, but I promise I'll catch up soon...)

1 Kings and 2 Kings have a very similar style, which would make sense considering that they were originally part of the same book. So in 2 Kings we have more summaries of the lives of various rulers with confusing names. Some of them are loyal to God, but many do not follow God's laws.  They make temples to other gods on high places, and even when there is that one rare king that destroys all the pagan temples, it's still isn't enough for God to for completely forgive his people. 

I don't really have that much to say about this book. I read that Chronicles is actually an expansion of the Books of Kings, so I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that or not. We shall see. I'm not really that big on history. 

~Sophia

Post Script: I know my plans for National Poetry Month didn't exactly work out, but April was just so busy. The cumulative poem sort of failed but it was a rather spontaneous idea so I wasn't expecting that much out of it. All we have are three lines, which are as follows:

The light of the lantern slowly shifts to eerie blue - but no one sees.
A Mighty Metamorphosis that raged across the labile land, 

        Grew stronger as the cobblestone was turned to sacred silver sand.

Deep, huh? :-) 

The Bible Project: Week 16 (1 Kings)

(It's actually Week 17, but I'm a bit behind. I'll catch up soon!)

So.... 1 Kings was a bit confusing, especially Chapters 12-16. Those were basically about all the Kings after Solomon, and how each was more corrupt than the last, until we get to Ahab, who "did more to anger the Lord, the God of Israel, than any of the kings of Israel before him." (1 Kings 16:33)

The moral of the story here that I'm getting with 1 Kings is that God punishes evildoers and those who leave him for other gods, and rewards those who follow Him faithfully.

But the names! They are so confusing. There's Rehoboam, and Jeroboam. And theres Abijah (son of Jeroboam), Ahijah (a prophet who lives in Shiloh), and Abijam (who I believe is Jeroboam's brother...). It was so hard to keep track!

Let's go back to the beginning of 1 Kings for a second, back before David dies and Solomon takes the throne. In the first few chapters of 1 Kings, Joab, our friend from 2 Samuel, is back, and is more confusing than ever. I said in 2 Samuel that he is loyal to his King, no matter what. Well, turns out I was wrong, because he ends up deserting and siding with Adonijah, who is trying to take over. Now, Adonijah is another one of David's sons. So let's track Joab's loyalties:

First, when David and his son Absalom aren't on speaking terms, Joab helps out and gets Absalom back into David's favor. So here, it looks like he's on Absalom's side.

Next, when Absalom revolts against David, Joab is SO MUCH on David's side, that he stabs Absalom when he has him cornered, even though David expressly said not to kill Absalom. So here, he is utterly against ANYONE who is against David.

But now, he shrugs at his past loyalty and joins up with Adonijah. WHY? After being such a loyal servant to David all this time? I don't get it.

I think I'll stop there, even though there's way more to 1 Kings. Like Solomon. And Ahab. And Jezebel. And Elijah, whom I really love for some reason. But I'll talk about Elijah when we get to 2 Kings.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 15 (2 Samuel)

First of all - Happy Easter! It's a perfect Easter Sunday here in Chicago - the weather warmed up just in time (though I hear it's supposed to get colder again... foo).
Second of all - yes, I am a week behind in the Bible Project. It's actually Week 16 now. Sorry. But I do have catch-up plans. I think I'll clump 1 Chronicles all into one week.

On to 2 Samuel. I think the biggest story here is that of Absalom, David's son. (I am assuming that there is some connection with this story to the book Absalom, Absalom, but as I haven't read the latter, and know nothing about it, I have no idea. Any enlightenment would be appreciated!)

Absalom

Absalom is quite a Character.
Is he to be applauded? Definitely not. He's quite greedy, and is trying to take away his father's kingdom.
Is he to be condemned? Again, definitely not. He wasn't his father's favored son - that was Amnon, Absalom's half brother, whom Absalom killed. But he killed Amnon because Amnon raped Absalom's sister Tamar. David, the father, did not punish Amnon, so Absalom felt like he had to do the punishing. [Sorry for all the "A" names... hey, blame David for naming his kids so similarly.] So in this Absalom is at least partially justified. He had to go through maneuverings to get his father's pardon for killing Amnon. This is super skewed favoritism. Extreme favoritism. So I definitely feel bad for him. Poor fellow.

Joab (and David)

Joab is David's army captain. He's rather black-and-white, very loyal to his king, and against anyone who poses a threat to David.
When he sees that David is being illogically stubborn against forgiving Absalom, Joab persuades David to allow Absalom to return to court. In this, he is kind, caring, and understanding.
But then when Absalom revolts against David, and the father and son enter into a war against each other, Joab is wholeheartedly for David and against Absalom. In fact, he hates Absalom so much that he kills him when he has him cornered, even though David asked for Absalom to be only captured, not killed. He finds it illogical that David is mourning Absalom's death, after David's great victory. But Joab forgets that Absalom was not only David's enemy and usurper of his throne, but also his son. The emotional bond created by having a child can never be broken, no matter how weakened it gets.

I know I skipped over the whole David/Bathsheba/Uriah love triangle, but that is dealt with more often than the Absalom story, so I thought I'd explore the "road less traveled."

~Sophia

P.S. My second update on the Madame Bovary readalong will come tomorrow, 'cause I don't like posting more than once a day. 'Til then!

The Bible Project: Week 14 (1Sam 13-31)

(Chapters 13-31)

"He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold
and making a splendid appearance." (1Sam 16:12)

Yay David! I love David. :-)
I'm not quite sure why, but I think he's rather cool. Maybe it's his friendship with Jonathan (I love Jonathan too...). They have such a close relationship - so close that Jonathan is willing to disobey his father and support his best friend instead.

Saul, on the other hand, is having some big troubles in his life. He keeps regretting that he went against David, because he knows that God is on David's side, but his jealousy keeps getting the better of him and he just can't stand that the people say that David killed ten thousands, and that he, Saul, only killed thousands. He's the KING. No one kills more Philistines than the KING.
Poor guy. Power definitely corrupted him.

I know this is backtracking a bit, but Goliath is... not a giant! He's just (just) six and a half feet tall - that's only two inches taller than my father. Those children's Bibles portray him as some sort of monster, but he's just a really tall human.

That's all for now... 2 Samuel next week!

And I AM planning to do something for National Poetry Month, which is this month. I actually have a good many posts in mind. Will I get around to writing them all.... well, that IS the question, isn't it? :-)

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 13 (Ruth; 1Sam 1-12)

So this is our first week that we have two different books involved. And somehow - it worked, because I found a connection between them.

We're looking at family here. Those people who put the Bible together knew what they were doing when they put Ruth right before Samuel.

Ruth, in it's four chapters, is ultimately about filial fidelity. Ruth becomes the greatest daughter-in-law ever, and follows Naomi, her mother-in-law, back to Naomi's home town. By marrying Naomi's son, Ruth becomes Naomi's daughter, and does not give up that role even after her husband is dead. Ruth gives up her religion and culture entirely, because now Naomi's culture is her culture, and Naomi's God is her God.

(Chapters 1-12)

Poor Eli's sons, on the other hand, do not live up to his expectations. They're off breaking priestly rules and mooching off the townsfolk. And, in the end, God punishes them and they die in battle. Samuel becomes high priest after Eli.
But Samuel doesn't have much luck with his kids either. They take Eli's sons as examples and "sought illicit gains and accepted bribes, perverting justice." (Sam 8:3) So Samuel has to appoint a king.

So I suppose the moral here is - be good kids. :-)

Ummm, that's all I have for now.... I'm in a bit of a crunch, and I suppose I'll talk more about Samuel next week when we finish the book.

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 12 (Judges)

Well! Judges is one big book. Big, not in the sense that there are many chapters, but big in that there is so much going on!

Ultimately, the book of Judges tells the history of the twelve "judges" (or, war leaders) of Israel. Though the deeds of half these judges are only skimmed over, the other half have very detailed narratives. We have the extremely interesting (and somewhat funny) escapade of left-handed Ehud to kill Eglon, the fat king of Moab. There's the one woman judge, the prophetess Deborah, who helped the warrior Barak overcome Jabin's army. Gideon, along with having an awesome name, is an excellent war leader who, with God's help, takes over so many lands and has his revenge on those who killed his brothers. And everyone knows the story of Sampson and Delilah.

The storytelling here is at it's finest. It's not always just "they gathered up their armies and, with the help of the Lord, defeated their enemies," (though that still comes up very often). For some reason, I really enjoyed the story of Ehud (Jud 3:15-30) - it was something new and had a kind of personality to it.
The story of Sampson and Delilah is of course also wonderful. I just wonder - Delilah asked Sampson THREE TIMES what his secret was, and he lied to her THREE TIMES, and THREE TIMES the Philistenes tried to weaken him using what Delilah told him, and THREE TIMES Sampson broke free. Why the heck did he tell Delilah his real secret the fourth time? Don't you think he would have caught on by then? He seems like a guy who is physically strong but not exactly the smartest.

After the history of the Judges, the book ends with a story of the the Levite from Ephraim, and his concubine. This is a strange story, tagged on at the end, about the reasons for 11 of the tribes of Israel banding up against the Benjaminites because of what the perverts in Gibeah did to the concubine and her husband. I'm not really sure what to say about this narrative... It's really weird and slightly gruesome. Uh...

Well, the book of Judges was definitely an enjoyable read (most of it, at least), though a bit "all over the place."

I'm looking forward to the nice, short book of Ruth!

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 11 (Joshua)

Joshua is rather a different leader from Moses.

Moses was the orator. He gave the Israelites the motivation they needed to make the long journey all the way from Egypt. He gave them hope. He gave them something to strive for. Moses was the planner, the preparer.

Joshua takes it one step farther. He becomes the war leader, the one who actually conquers all the land God promised to the Israelites. Joshua is the doer - he is present for the fulfillment of God's promise.

That's my little bit for today! :-) I'm off to get ready for our final performance of Pride and Prejudice! 

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 10 (Deut 17-34)

(Chapters 17-34)

And so we end the Pentateuch. The basis of the Jewish religion, and the history of the Israelite people.
It was an interesting mix of story and law, and though there were some boring parts I rather skimmed over, most of it was pretty interesting.

So Moses, possibly the greatest prophet in the Bible, is dead. And he died without reaching the promised land - he only got a glimpse - and without knowing with certainty whether the Israelites would follow all he had taught them (through God).

"Why, even now, while I am alive among you, you have been rebels against the Lord! How much more, then, after I am dead!" (Deut 31:27)

But ultimately, I think he dies knowing that everything is in God's hands. He and God are quite a pair of buddies.

Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. (Deut 34:10)

 The leadership gets handed on to Joshua - he has a whole lot of responsibility on his shoulders now.

~Sophia