Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

RoofBeamReader Really falling behind in my reading/posting, but I'm not going to give up, I'm going to power through and read this thing! So instead of focusing on this whole half a book, I'm just going to focus on the story of David and Goliath.  I've always liked the story, the story of an underdog who can overcome. That's how this story is presented time and again.  Then I saw the following TED video from  Malcolm Gladwell and it blew my mind. Now having read the story, it really isn't the story of an underdog. It's the story of a skilled shepherd using his known skills to take down a bigger opponent. It's still a great story, and we can still pull some useful stuff from it to apply to our everyday lives, but it's not the way we originally heard the story.  It's not the story of an underdog, it's the story of a boy who used his skills to take down a foe. Use your strengths to accomplish feats and not think you have to be o...

RoofBeamReader The next section my reading schedule has lined up for me is 1 Samuel with sections of Psalms interspersed. This book is broken into three sections and this post will look at the first two sections. They cover the last of the judges and the establishment of the monarchy. I. History of the Last Judges, Eli and Samuel Samuel is another special late in life child.  Hannah wanted a child, she prayed to God and then found herself pregnant with a son.  She gives him over to Eli to serve God.  I love the story of 1 Samuel 3 where the Lord calls to Samuel and he goes off to see what Eli wants and after a few times Eli realizes that it must be the Lord calling to Samuel. He teaches Samuel how to pray by saying "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." Since the Lord has spoken to Samuel and told him what will happen, Samuel is acknowledged as a prophet. Then is a story about Samuel's standing of the last Judge and a prophet. II. Establish...

RoofBeamReader Joshua starts the next section of books known as the Historical Books.  These books cover the time period from about 1250-100 BC.  These books are like historical fiction, they aren't a true accounting of facts but are more history told through the lens of the writer's faith and belief in God and God's message. Joshua Joshua picks up where Moses left off in getting the Israelites to the Promised Land. His book is broken into three sections and tells the story of how the Israelites took control of the region by any means necessary.  This book really shows the skewed history of the victor.  My opening to the book points out Today, biblical scholars doubt that the conquest of the Promised Land by the twelve tribes of Israel was as complete and easy as it is written in Joshua. Archaeologists have found evidence that Cannanites contiuned to live in the area after the "conquest." The conquest starts with the city of Jericho which is surrounde...

RoofBeamReader In my bible I get this in the opening of the book of Deuteronomy: The word Deuteronomy means "second law" in Greek. ... Deuteronomy is a "second law" adapted to the new situation of a people that needs to be reminded of it's Covenant with God. So this book is a review of the original laws and the changes that need to be made with the changes in the lives of the people now that they are reaching the promise land and they are a generation(s) out from leaving Egypt. In the rules of teaching, the bible is a whole example of repetition, repetition, repetition. The writers really want the readers to learn the rules/morals/laws/teachings. The last three books have pretty much said the same thing over and over again. Historical Review and Exhortation (1-4,43) Moses is recapping everything since they've left Egypt. God and His Covenant (4,44-11) Reviewal of the Ten Commandments Exposition of the Law (12-26) New laws as they settle in...

RoofBeamReader I ended up catching with my readings by listening to Numbers through a podcast.  It was boring and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep at one point. So now that we have the laws, we can get back to the story of the Israelites and their journey to the promised land.  Preparation for the Departure from Sinai - Chapters 1-10,10 The big part of the preparation is taking a census. Moses gets assistants from all the tribes to gather this information from their tribes. These censuses were really to find out how many men were of age/ability to serve in the military. This information was gathered from all the tribes except for the Levites.  They were omitted because God had decided this tribe would be in charge of the Dwelling.  Since they would be in charge of it, they would camp near it.  From here God then decreed where all the other tribes would encamp around the Dwelling. Since the Levites were a special tribe, there is more information about thei...

RoofBeamReader Really behind on my bible posts.  I got behind in the readings but I'm finally back on track with my reading so hopefully, I'll get back on track with posts. This post covers the whole of the book of Leviticus. This was a boring book to read, it's the laws of the priests. We've been looking at the Bible as a teaching device. In that thread, this section is primarily a list of laws, rules, and instructions for the priests to follow in order to provide guidance to the people. Rituals of Sacrifices - Chapters 1-7 In the Old Testament, God still required sacrifices, but they weren't just willy-nilly done, this section is the specific and very detailed rules of sacrifices and offerings. While a lot of the offerings are of the same components, different types of offerings must be prepared and presented differently. Ceremony of Ordination - Chapters 8-10 These are the rules for ordaining priests. Like with other rituals, there must be a sacrifice...

RoofBeamReader I  got really behind in my reading and my posting. So I'm going to do a quick rundown of Exodus today.   Two weeks ago I adopted a dog and he sort of took over my life. I got out of my morning routine of reading my daily passages. I'll have to get into a new routine. Here's Pippin: The Book of Exodus is broken down into four parts: 1. The Israelites in Egypt (1-12, 36) 2. The Exodus from Egypt and the Journey to Sinai (12, 37-18) 3. The Covenant at Mount Sinai (19-24) 4. The Dwellings and Its Furnishings (25-38) The Israelites in Egypt: We start out by getting another brief recap of the linage so show how much time has passed since Joseph has brought his people to Egypt.  As with many historical stories as time passes and power changes hand, those who thought they were safe are no longer so and find themselves enslaved or greatly mistreated. The new Pharaoh, demands that all males born to them are killed at birth.  The midwiv...

RoofBeamReader I'm doing this chronologically my posts will be grouped a little differently than weekly check-in posts that Adam is doing on  RBR .  I started off with  Genesis 1-11  and then chronologically the story moves to  Job .  We are now back in Genesis and this post will cover everything up until the story of Joseph. As I mentioned in the first Genesis post this book of the bible is broken down into four parts: The Book of Gensis is divided as follows: 1. The Primeval History (1-11)2. The Patriarch Abraham (12-25:18) 3. The Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob (25:19 - 36) 4. Joseph and His Brothers (37-50) This is the final section of Genesis.  This is the story of Joseph who is much beloved by his father and hated by his older brothers. You may know this story because of the Broadway show Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat .  I, however, have never seen it, and only kinda like a song or two from the show. There are a...

RoofBeamReader I'm doing this chronologically my posts will be grouped a little differently than a weekly check-in posts that Adam is doing on RBR .  I'm starting off with Genesis 1-11 and then chronologically the story moves to Job .  We are now back in Genesis and this post will cover everything up until the story of Joseph. As I mentioned in the first Genesis post this book of the bible is broken down into four parts: The Book of Gensis is divided as follows: 1. The Primeval History (1-11) 2. The Patriarch Abraham (12-25:18) 3. The Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob (25:19 - 36) 4. Joseph and His Brothers (37-50) Chronologically after the Primeval History is the story of Job and then we can cover the life of Abraham through to the end of Genesis. The Patriarch Abraham Abraham, whose name was originally Abram, is an important figure for three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham is regarded as the great example of faith in God. I feel...

In the chronological plan, I'm using this year, they take a break in Genesis to delve into Job.  They write : Job lived sometime after the beginning of creation (Genesis 1) but before Abraham was born (Genesis 12). As a result, the Book of Job is integrated into the Book of Genesis. Keeping with the idea that the Bible is a collection of morality stories, the book of Job is teaching readers that bad things do happen to good people and it is not a punishment for something they have done wrong.  My bible also points out that the book of Job is also considered a frame tale. Frame tales are stories within stories, think Arabian Nights and how it's a story about a woman who tells stories and sometimes a character within her story tells a story. Of Note: Job is a story within a story: chapters 1-2 and 42, 7-11 constitude a folke tale; set within that tale, in 3,1-42, 6 is a poetic debate about the case of suffering. Frist the frame.  This kind of reminded me of the stor...

I started this challenge a little late, and because I'm doing this Chronologically my posts will be grouped a little differently than a weekly checking post.  I'm starting off with this first section of Genesis then chronologically it moves to Job. I will be using The Catholic Youth Bible . I received this one when I was a senior and leaving the Youth Group at my church.  One of the reasons I've held onto this particular version is that before each book there is a section that describes what you are about to read.  It gives you a bit of history, there is also a side by side timeline of Bible History and Human History, it was just where I would go whenever I had questions about faith and religion. The Book of Gensis is divided as follows: 1. The Primeval History (1-11) 2. The Patriarch Abraham (12-25:18) 3. The Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob (25:19 - 36) 4. Joseph and His Brothers (37-50) Here are some passages and footnotes I found the most interesting: Gn 1, 5...

Getting a bit of a late start on this one, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do this one even though it sounded interesting.  I didn't know if I could read the Bible as just a work of literature, but I'm going to try. I chose a chronological reading of the Bible. Jan 1: Gen 1-3 Jan 2: Gen 4-7 Jan 3: Gen 8-11 Jan 4: Job 1-5 Jan 5: Job 6-9 Jan 6: Job 10-13 Jan 7: Job 14-16 Jan 8: Job 17-20 Jan 9: Job 21-23 Jan 10: Job 24-28 Jan 11: Job 29-31 Jan 12: Job 32-34 Jan 13: Job 35-37 Jan 14: Job 38-39 Jan 15: Job 40-42 Jan 16: Gen 12-15 Jan 17: Gen 16-18 Jan 18: Gen 19-21 Jan 19: Gen 22-24 Jan 20: Gen 25-26 Jan 21: Gen 27-29 Jan 22: Gen 30-31 Jan 23: Gen 32-34 Jan 24: Gen 35-37 Jan 25: Gen 38-40 Jan 26: Gen 41-42 Jan 27: Gen 43-45 Jan 28: Gen 46-47 Jan 29: Gen 48-50 Jan 30: Ex 1-3 Jan 31: Ex 4-6 Feb 1: Ex 7-9 Feb 2: Ex 10-12 Feb 3: Ex 13-15 Feb 4: Ex 16-18 Feb 5: Ex 19-21 Feb 6: Ex 22-24 Feb 7: Ex 25-27 ...