52 Weeks in the Word

   Alright, we are beginning Week 21!  Last week was probably the most quiet discussion so far this year in our reading.  You all are doing an amazing job!  We have been reading in the Word together for over 5 months!  We did start reading in the winter, and now summer will soon be here.  There will be more competing with our time in the days ahead, but I want to encourage you to keep pressing on!  Keep discussing because your questions and comments encourage all of us to keep digging into the Word. Last week we finished 2 Chronicles and Ezra, and we began reading Nehemiah.  The wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt and the Israelites came back together to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and the people confessed their sins.   This week, we will finish Nehemiah and Esther and begin the book of Job.  The book of Esther is a short book with a great message.  The author of Esther is unknown, though some believe it could have been M...

  Week 20!  I don't know about you, but to me, that feels like a huge accomplishment!  This past week has been the most challenging so far to keep up with all the reading.  I certainly found listening to it a big help!  This week, we will finish 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and begin reading the book of Nehemiah.   Here is a quote from the Bible Project's page on the books Ezra and Nehemiah: In most modern Bibles, Ezra-Nehemiah is two separate books, but that division              happened long after it was written. It was originally a unified work written by a single author who lived long after the Babylonians’ invasion of Jerusalem and the exile ( 2 Kgs. 24-25 ). Ezra-Nehemiah picks up some fifty years later and tells of the return of some Israelites to Jerusalem and what happened when they rebuilt their lives and the city. More specifically, the book focuses in on three key leaders who led the rebuilding effo...

  Last week we finished 1 Chronicles and began 2 Chronicles, reading a great deal about the genealogy up to this point of the Old Testament.  We also had a brief review of what happened during a few of the king's reigns.      A brief recap of Week 18's discussions: Chapter 21 of 1 Chronicles was full!  David cries out to God and begs mercy after he ordered the census.  God let him pick of 3 punishments, none of which sounded any better than the other.  David pleaded with the Lord that it was his fault, not the people. We read in Chapter 13 that after the Ark of the Covenant started to fall off the cart, which it was not supposed to be on, and the man died who touched it, David was scared to bring it into the city.  He left it for 3 months with the family of Obed-Edom, and they were blessed during this time.  Why was David scared?  We discussed that we thought he was waiting to see what God was going to do after they had messed ...

   We are still moving right along.  Last week we finished 2 Kings and began reading 1 Chronicles.  The first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles was about genealogy.  If genealogy isn't your interest, that reading might have been lacking a little excitement.  There is at least one in our household who absolutely LOVES studying genealogy and finding the connections between the people.  There is also one in the family who only sees a list of names.  Studying genealogy, especially the genealogy of the Bible, it's more than a list of names; it's a connection, a map, a guide to understanding events in time.  As the author of our Bible study states, "If you can grasp the genealogies in the Bible, you can gain a better understanding of the history of Israel, the story of the Bible, and ultimately, the history of salvation."    A brief recap of Week 17's discussions: Those high places were finally torn down by King Hezekiah! But things got worse wh...