Bible Read Thread

[SarahsKnight]

Tuesday: History

1 Kings 10 through 13

 

[SarahsKnight]

Wednesday: Psalms

Psalms 69 through 71

 

[SarahsKnight]

Thursday: Poetry

Proverbs 4

 

[SarahsKnight]

I will be going away this weekend, dear readers, so please behave and properly keep up with the reading while Teacher is out of the classroom.

Friday: Prophecy - Ezekiel 1 through 6

Saturday: Gospels - Luke 11 and 12

Sunday: Epistles - Ephesians 1 through 3

Monday, week 25: Leviticus 4 through 6

 

[SarahsKnight]

All right. I am back.

Tuesday: History

1 Kings 14 through 18

 

[SarahsKnight]

Wednesday: Psalms

Psalms 72 through 74

 

[SarahsKnight]

Thursday: Poetry

Proverbs 5 and 6

 

[SarahsKnight]

Friday: Prophecy

Ezekiel 7 through 12

 

[SeekerOfChrist94]

Hey sorry I haven't read with you all lately. I've been very busy but am trying to get back into the swing of things. I will post later about what I thought of the reading.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Saturday: The Gospels

Luke 13 and 14

 

[SarahsKnight]

One thing I noticed for the first time in last Tuesday's reading of 1 Kings, was the fact that in the time of Israel's history covered in chapters 14 through 19, King Asa of Judah appears to be the only king described as being a good king in the eyes of the Lord, while at least five kings of Israel came and went during Asa's time as king thus far, and I believe all of the Israel kings - Baashal, Ahab, etc. - were all described as doing evil, primarily by allowing their people to worship other, pagan gods at the expense of following the only real God Himself, or worshipping the false gods themselves. And see how they were rewarded? God would not accept allowing His people to be turned away after the likes of Asherah and Baal for long, and He brought all of those kings and their reign to an end, while blessing Asa's reign for well over thirty years so far (I believe Asa is still king in Judah so far since the end of chapter 19, unless I missed or overlooked something; please correct me if I did ).

Anyways, for this morning's reading we have Ephesians 4 through 6.

 

[LadyOfMystery]

@SarahsKnight I'm proud of you for keeping up with this. I've been reading my Bible, but not along with this thread since I've been gone, but I think I'll flip through this thread and get some chapters to read.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Monday, week 26: The Law

Leviticus 7 through 9

 

[ReesePiece23]

Your commitment is fierce Knight... My gosh.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Your commitment is fierce Knight... My gosh.

.... UNWAVERING.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Tuesday: History

1 Kings 19 and 22

 

[Hawthorne]

I really love this section of Kings as it contains a wealth of foreshadowing to the gospels with John the Baptist as antitype of Elijah, Jesus as antitype of Elisha and Naboth, and Jezebel the antitype of Herodias.

In the call of Elisha, we find him working in the field. When Elijah throws his cloak over him, Elisha begs to bid his family farewell, a motif that would be seen again in Luke's gospel in a context with distinct undertones of the respective ministries of Elijah and Elisha.

Spoiler: Luke 9:57-62

As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (emphasis mine)

Spoiler: 1 Kings 19:19-21

And he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. And Elijah crossed over to him and flung his mantle upon him. And he abandoned the cattle and ran after Elijah. And he said, "Let me, pray, kiss my father and my mother and I will come after you." And he said to him, "Go, return, for what have I done to you?" And he turned back from him and took the yoke of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the wood from the gear of the oxen he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. And he arose and went after Elijah and ministered to him.
(tr. Robert Alter)

We also see Elisha slaughter his oxen and burn his plow, not only indicating that he has indeed put his hand to the proverbial plow and not looking back, but also recalling King Saul slaughtering a yoke of oxen and sending the pieces throughout Israel as conscription to battle.

Spoiler: 1 Samuel 11:5-7

And, look, Saul was coming in behind the oxen from the field, and Saul said, "What is the matter with the people that they are weeping?" And they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh. And the spirit of God seized Saul when he heard these words, and he was greatly incensed. And he took a yoke of oxen and hacked them to pieces and sent them through all the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, "Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, thus will be done to his oxen!" And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out as one man.
(tr. Robert Alter)

In both instances, God was inciting the faithful to action. While the text is unclear if all twelve oxen were slaughtered (that would be a prodigious sacrifice, but with consideration to the career he took and Christ's allusion, I don't find it completely unreasonable that all twelve were slain), the telltale twelve appears in any case. Whereas Saul distributed the pieces of flesh of two oxen over the land, the people ate the meat (of at least two), taking the message of war within themselves into the very being. It's for this reason that I believe the twelve were slaughtered and eaten. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.


The account of Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21 has some interesting parallels with

Spoiler: Christ's retelling of Isaiah's parable of the vineyard

Luke 20:9-18

And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him some of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant; him also they beat and treated shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third; this one they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it may be they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.' And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "God forbid!" But he looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:

'The very stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner'?

Every one who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but when it falls on any one it will crush him."

, Christ's betrayal, and the death of Judas. Unfortunately, I haven't quite worked out a systematic organisation to it and it's only a scattered assortment of parallels.

• Ahab wanted to buy Naboth's vineyard, but because it was forbidden to sell the inheritance of one's fathers, Naboth refused; the wicked tenants sought to become the heirs of the vineyard, but it's not until later that the plan moves from mind to hand. Ahab returns home and sulks until Jezebel tells him to act like a king, but that she will get the vineyard for him. By using the royal sea, drafting documents, bribing city elders, and hiring false witnesses, the stage is set.
• The worthless fellows say that Naboth has cursed God and king; similar accusations were levelled against Christ in Luke 22:70-71 and Luke 23:1-3. Both Naboth and Jesus were killed shortly thereafter.
• Elijah prophecies that Jezebel will die in the flatlands of Jezreel; Robert Alter comments on verse 23: The received text reads ḥel, "rampart," not a likely place for the devouring of Jezebel’s body, but many Hebrew manuscripts show ḥeleq (one additional consonant), which means something like "cultivated field." The son in Jesus' parable was killed outside a cultivated field. Later, in 2 Kings 9, we learn that Jezebel was thrown from a tower and that her blood splattered everywhere; Matthew 27:3-10 and Acts 1:15-26 describe the death of Judas hanging (Matthew) and falling (Acts) to the end that his insides spilled over the field (later, it seems, purchased by the priests) and was called Akeldema, 'field of blood'. According to Wikipedia, this field was rich in a red clay. I can't be bothered to look at a more credible source right now, but I wouldn't be surprised; Adam was formed from adamah (red earth) and the symbolism of this field of red earth being bought with the money also used to buy the Last Adam and the final repose of the man who had sold him is certainly consistent with biblical imagery. Although there are a few points of similarity to Judas, there are not enough to identify Jezebel as a type.
• Elijah prophecies the ruin of Ahab's house. Isaiah and Jesus likewise foretell destruction to the unfruitful vineyard and the wicked tenants, respectively.

I ought to stop; this is tl;dr as it is.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Wednesday: Psalms

Psalms 75 through 77

 

[SarahsKnight]

Matthew 27:3-10 and Acts 1:15-26 describe the death of Judas hanging (Matthew) and falling (Acts) to the end that his insides spilled over the field (later, it seems, purchased by the priests) and was called Akeldema, 'field of blood'. According to Wikipedia, this field was rich in a red clay. I can't be bothered to look at a more credible source right now, but I wouldn't be surprised; Adam was formed from adamah (red earth) and the symbolism of this field of red earth being bought with the money also used to buy the Last Adam and the final repose of the man who had sold him is certainly consistent with biblical imagery.

That is an especially intriguing connection you have made, Hawthorne.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Thursday: Poetry

Proverbs 7 and 8