I’m still persisting with the Bible in one year. It’s a challenge to remember it and not infrequently I end up doing three or four day’s reading in one sitting.
The OT has been surprisingly accessible, I’ve quite enjoyed the story of the Exodus (although the rituals, genealogy lists and laws have got a bit much) – currently the Israelites are on the cusp of entering the promised land. Similarly, most of the NT readings have been fine, because they too tell a story.
What I have struggled with (to my surprise) is Proverbs. I ended up reading the final 11 chapters in one go last night (this blog was my motivation in the end). It’s so hard to read something that’s essentially a list of statements.
However, I enjoyed it a lot more once I’d made it my mission to collate some of the more bizarre advice:
16:7 “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love, than a fattened calf with hatred.”
18:8 “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels, they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”
20:1 “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”
20:5 “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters,but a man of understanding draws them out.”
25:16 “If you find honey, eat just enough—too much of it, and you will vomit.”
26:15-16 “A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; restraining her is like restraining the windor grasping oil with the hand.”
Also, I am particularly pleased that the book of Proverbs has gifted us the word ‘sluggard’. Who would want to be without it? It appears 14 times in 31 chapters, my favourite example being:
26:14 “As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.”
However, I’m sensing this probably isn’t exactly the spiritual enlightenment I intended to derive from this particular mission!
Things people have said: