As I mentioned before, I'm reading the Bible in one year. Starting with this post, I'm going to write about what I read. Today's entry covers several days worth because I was behind on my reading. My One Year Bible carves out a daily helping of "Bread" from the Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs (everyone's favorite).
I've been in the book of Joshua for the past few weeks, and I'm actually quite disturbed by it. It is filled with battles that are extremely violent. Hangings, beheading, slaughtering, and such. I'm just glad it's never been made into a movie.
Parts of the Old Testament I feel completely justified in rapidly skimming over. Take Joshua 15:21-20:46 for example. It is just a list of names of cities and possibly people (I don't remember at the moment). If you're looking for a unique baby name such as Ziddim, Kadesh, Kesil, or Ziph, this is a wealth of ideas. Also, I recognized the name Beth Shemesh in Joshua 15:10 and 20:38. An Israeli archaeologist spoke at William Jewell College a few years ago, and that is his main dig site. He said, "No I'm not as cool as Indiana Jones", and I instantly liked him. I interviewed him for the school newspaper and told him I was going to come over to dig. Still a life goal by the way.
I really liked reading Luke 18:6-8. "And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes , will he find faith on the earth?"
Finally, I was reading in Psalms and saw the word Selah for about the 100Th time. I decided to look it up. I found this: It is probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, something like "stop and listen". "Let those with eyes see and with ears hear" is most concise. "Selah" can also be used to indicate that there is to be a musical interlude at that point in the Psalm. The Psalms were sung accompanied by musical instruments and there are references to this in many chapters. Thirty-one of the thirty-nine psalms with the caption "To the choir-master" include the word "Selah".
