This week, we go all the way from "Song of Solomon" to "Ecclesiastes" and on through to "1st Kings 17:7" (the beginning of the story of Elijah). What that means is that we finish up Solomon's rule and enter the period where Israel became a divided nation: two kingdoms, two kings, two capitol cities, multiple places to worship.
This is important. That split echoes throughout the rest of the Biblical story, all the way into the time of Jesus. We see it reflected in Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and in such things as the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Happy reading!
Steve
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We are reading The One Year Chronological Bible (New Living Translation - Tyndale). The best way is with your own copy of this Bible translation. Or, copy and paste this link to the daily reading schedule:
CLICK HERE http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan/oneyearchronologicalbiblereadingplan.pdf
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This week:
Many consider the Song of Solomon one of the most romantic pieces of writing, anywhere. Do you agree? Why or why not?
My fave verse: "Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it" (SOS 8:7, June 4th). In the scriptures, phrases like "many waters," "mighty waters," "overwhelming flood," etc., always indicate the greatest disaster, the unrecoverable situation, events so bad only God could rescue a person from them. Solomon goes "on record" that love will transcend these matters, every time.
If interested, here is a blog piece I wrote about “mighty waters”:
CLICK HERE http://steveorr.blogspot.com/2015/05/thank-you-todd-rundgren-lectionary.html?m=1.
June 5-8 puts us into Ecclesiastes. There are a lot of famous quotes taken from this book. A well known song (“Turn Turn Turn” by The Byrds) comes almost verbatim from the first eight verses of Chapter 3. What do you think of this book? What do you think was Solomon’s purpose in writing it?
A lot of history in Chapters 8-10
Next week:
Keep your finger on the last reading of June 10th. This starts the conflict between Elijah and Jezebel, arguably the most famous evil woman in history. Many oft-told and well-known tales are crammed into just a few chapters in 1st Kings. Hang on!
A couple of challenges from last week:
1. One reader challenged me on my rejection of Proverbs 14:10 ("Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy"). I thought that seemed off. Surely, I reasoned, we can let others in to help ameliorate our bitterness and to share in our joy. The push-back I received went like this: No matter how much we would wish it, there always remains a portion of ourselves that only we and God can access. We can try to share ourselves —and should with the right person— but we lack the ability to open up completely. Also, there may be parts of each of us that we, ourselves, do not actually perceive. Thus, we may not be able to share with others since we don't know those parts are there to share.
Deep stuff, but it won me over. I now agree with the Proverbs ... on this 😇
2. I challenged myself on this next one (18:23 - "The poor plead for mercy; the rich answer with insults."), saying it left the impression that to be wealthy automatically means someone is a bad person. Upon reflection, I agree that there are plenty of instances where people with means (i.e., the rich or well-off) are skeptical of the expressed needs of the those with limited means (the poor). What I took issue with was the universal nature of the statement. Not every rich person disrespects the expressed needs of the poor. Some people do exactly what God has commanded concerning the poor ... help the poor. Consider what Zacchaeus tells Jesus about his relationship with the poor (If you’re interested in exploring this further, here’s an interesting blog piece I found about Zacchaeus and the poor:
CLICK HERE http://hackingchristianity.net/2010/10/was-zacchaeus-really-that-bad.html).
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