52 Weeks in the Word - Week 35

   Welcome to Week 35!  Reading over the past 34 weeks has been a big commitment.   Thank you for reading with us!  Some have found themselves falling behind.  If you are more than 2 weeks behind on your reading, I suggest picking up where we are this week and reading along with us.  Then, in addition, use a Bible app, such as Blue Letter Bible, to listen 15 minutes a day to the passages you need to catch up.  You will get caught up in no time!  It is important to remember this is not designed to be an in-depth Bible reading plan, but it will give a wonderful opportunity for rich discussion throughout the entire Bible.  This will hopefully bless you with a great perspective of the Bible for future studies.  

Last week we finished Jeremiah and began the book of Lamentations. In chapters 40-45 of Jeremiah, we read about Jerusalem after its fall.  Unfortunately, we saw that the Judeans failed to learn from history.  

Next, we began Lamentations, a book not easy to read according to a few Old Testament textbooks.  We read about tragic cries of the people experiencing war, humiliation, and exile.  If we look at this from a spiritual level, we believe the author of the book is thinking on God's relationship with his exiled people.  The book goes on to question if God has finally cast them away once and for all.  Many scholars believe Jeremiah wrote these laments, but others believe the writing style is much too different from Jeremiah.

Interesting fact about Lamentations:  The book contains a series of alphabetic poems, or acrostics.  The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters, and each letter begins a verse.  For example, in Lamentations 1:1, it begins with alpha, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Lamentations 1:2 begins with beth, which is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Chapter 5 of Lamentations does not follow this pattern.  

Looking ahead to Week 35:

The reading for Week 35 includes: Lamentations 3 - Ezekiel 19.

This week we will finish reading the book of Lamentations and begin the book of Ezekiel.  

Ezekiel was written by the prophet Ezekiel around 571 B.C.  Look for the 4 symbolic acts of Ezekiel (ch. 4-5) that show how seriously God takes sin.  In chapters 8-11 we will read about Ezekiel's vision of God's glory departing Jerusalem.  Try to summarize this event in your own words.  

Let me try to set the stage for the book of Ezekiel for you.  It is similar to Jeremiah in that it describes hardship. Ezekiel was living in rough days, but he knew even worse days were coming!  He was speaking to the Judeans who were cast out in Babylon.  Ezekiel warned them of God's impending judgment and was encouraging them to repent!  Soon the Judeans who still lived in Jerusalem and Judah would join them in exile because they did not heed the warning.  

Ezekiel's name means "God has strengthen."  He was a prophet in Babylon and could have served as priest in Jerusalem's temple if he had not been taken into exile by the Babylonians.  He was married, but his wife died (Ezekiel 24:15-27).  We will read more about that next week.

We look forward to hearing your comments on this week's reading!  Many blessings to you all this week.