You Can Read the Bible Guided Podcast

Today’s passage is a geographic tour of Israel developed out of the family lines of Judah, Simeon, Rueben and Levi.  You’ll remember yesterday that Judah’s line through David was recounted, tracing his descendants through the kingdom and exile.  Today, Judah is afforded additional space, and it’s remembered that because of Rueben’s defilement, Judah …became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph.

At the opposite bookend is Levi, whose descendants are commended for serving as priests and the sons of Merari, in particular, whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD after the ark rested there.  Their dwelling places, and specifically their cities of refuge, are catalogued here, as though remembering them keeps the kingdom and all its promise alive.

In between there is Simeon, whose family lived in the South near Beersheba, and who in Hezekiah’s time conquered the Amalakite remnant at Mount Seir.  There is the aforementioned Reuben, who lost his birthright but whose descendants, with those of Gad and half of Manasseh, occupied the East Bank of the Jordan.  They were remembered as valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war…  But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.  So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile...

If you pay close attention you’ll meet one named Jabez, who was more honorable than his brothers, whose life is oddly defined by pain.  You’ll be reacquainted with Caleb, son of Jephunneh.  You’ll meet potters who lived in the king’s service, and singers who performed at Solomon’s Temple. 

And you’re allowed to marvel at the importance of this record.  Written, in some cases, a thousand years after its characters had lived.  Who would go to such effort to compile this, and for what purpose would it be so well preserved? 

Our verse for this week is Matthew 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Chronicles 4 through 6.  Now let’s read it!

Today’s passage is a geographic tour of Israel developed out of the family lines of Judah, Simeon, Rueben and Levi.  You’ll remember yesterday that Judah’s line through David was recounted, tracing his descendants through the kingdom and exile.  Today, Judah is afforded additional space, and it’s remembered that because of Rueben’s defilement, Judah …became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph.

At the opposite bookend is Levi, whose descendants are commended for serving as priests and the sons of Merari, in particular, whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD after the ark rested there.  Their dwelling places, and specifically their cities of refuge, are catalogued here, as though remembering them keeps the kingdom and all its promise alive.

In between there is Simeon, whose family lived in the South near Beersheba, and who in Hezekiah’s time conquered the Amalakite remnant at Mount Seir.  There is the aforementioned Reuben, who lost his birthright but whose descendants, with those of Gad and half of Manasseh, occupied the East Bank of the Jordan.  They were remembered as valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war…  But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.  So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile...

If you pay close attention you’ll meet one named Jabez, who was more honorable than his brothers, whose life is oddly defined by pain.  You’ll be reacquainted with Caleb, son of Jephunneh.  You’ll meet potters who lived in the king’s service, and singers who performed at Solomon’s Temple. 

And you’re allowed to marvel at the importance of this record.  Written, in some cases, a thousand years after its characters had lived.  Who would go to such effort to compile this, and for what purpose would it be so well preserved? 

Our verse for this week is Matthew 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Chronicles 4 through 6.  Now let’s read it!

We conclude our journey through the Old Testament with the book of Chronicles.  Like Samuel and Kings, you can think of these as one book split into two scrolls.  Its history is significantly longer, at least if you count the genealogies, spanning from Adam all the way past the exile.  And there is a plan, a focus, that will reveal itself in time.

As with other historical books, its author remains anonymous, but we can detect a lot about him from his tome.  He is versed in the books of Moses, and often references both the narratives and the law.  He had access to a thorough genealogy, tracing a line from Adam through the kingdom, with special emphasis on Judah’s ascendancy.  And he is unusually familiar with the histories of other kingdoms, tracing centuries of genealogies of multiple royal houses.   

A few other details about him become evident in these first three chapters as well.  With a keen ear that is also familiar with the books of Moses, you will find that the author is not afraid to weave other narratives into his own, as evidenced by his verbatim repetition of Genesis 10:8, 25:4, and others.  You will pick up that even the genealogies themselves seem designed to emphasize something beyond a simple recitation of family lines.  And you’ll discover that either the author, or the final compiler, lived at least six generations after the destruction of Jerusalem, given his knowledge of Jeconiah’s descendants in chapter 3 (You might recall that Jeconiah is an alternate name for Jehoiachin, who surrendered to Babylon and was released from prison over thirty years later). 

But you’ll have to do this reconnaissance all while dodging the hundreds of names and thousand of years of history that are being launched at us.  The genealogies at the beginning of Chronicles might be the most difficult to read in the entire Bible, because there is seemingly no organization to them whatsoever.  The spotlight jumps forward and backward, family to family, even kingdom to kingdom, usually without warning.  There is a strange beauty to the frenetic excitement, though: and that excitement itself may just be an important point. 

Our verse for this week is Matthew 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Chronicles 1 through 3.  Now let’s read it!

We conclude our journey through the Old Testament with the book of Chronicles.  Like Samuel and Kings, you can think of these as one book split into two scrolls.  Its history is significantly longer, at least if you count the genealogies, spanning from Adam all the way past the exile.  And there is a plan, a focus, that will reveal itself in time.

As with other historical books, its author remains anonymous, but we can detect a lot about him from his tome.  He is versed in the books of Moses, and often references both the narratives and the law.  He had access to a thorough genealogy, tracing a line from Adam through the kingdom, with special emphasis on Judah’s ascendancy.  And he is unusually familiar with the histories of other kingdoms, tracing centuries of genealogies of multiple royal houses.   

A few other details about him become evident in these first three chapters as well.  With a keen ear that is also familiar with the books of Moses, you will find that the author is not afraid to weave other narratives into his own, as evidenced by his verbatim repetition of Genesis 10:8, 25:4, and others.  You will pick up that even the genealogies themselves seem designed to emphasize something beyond a simple recitation of family lines.  And you’ll discover that either the author, or the final compiler, lived at least six generations after the destruction of Jerusalem, given his knowledge of Jeconiah’s descendants in chapter 3 (You might recall that Jeconiah is an alternate name for Jehoiachin, who surrendered to Babylon and was released from prison over thirty years later). 

But you’ll have to do this reconnaissance all while dodging the hundreds of names and thousand of years of history that are being launched at us.  The genealogies at the beginning of Chronicles might be the most difficult to read in the entire Bible, because there is seemingly no organization to them whatsoever.  The spotlight jumps forward and backward, family to family, even kingdom to kingdom, usually without warning.  There is a strange beauty to the frenetic excitement, though: and that excitement itself may just be an important point. 

Our verse for this week is Matthew 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Chronicles 1 through 3.  Now let’s read it!

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.  – Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

Yesterday’s reflection on wisdom in chapter 7 gives way to a lecture about obedience to the king in chapter 8.  This is a peculiar segue, except that the latter passages of Ecclesiastes emphasize human futility compared to God’s sovereignty.  “I say:” the Preacher affirms, “Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him.”  The details of this oath are not directly clear, unless it refers to God’s oath to David and his successors.  As an aside, you’ve probably noticed that there is also no direct reference to the LORD – Yahweh, the God of Israel – in this book.  This may be a simple literary peculiarity, or it may reflect a particular perspective. 

This is not the end of today’s curiosities.  The Preacher returns to recounting oft-disconnected proverbs, such as those having to do with finding joy in pleasure.  In chapter 9 he writes, “Go, eat your bread in joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.”  But in chapter 11 there is a warning: “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.”  Are these contradictory?  Does their immediate setting bring clarity?  Or is this something that, like the book of Proverbs, requires referencing the entirety of Ecclesiastes and all of Scripture as context. 

All throughout, notice the writer’s perspective on issues around the text.  What is his understanding of life and afterlife?  What is his true, and complete, view of wisdom?  What is the relationship between riches and poverty, righteousness and unrighteousness?  And who, exactly, is speaking, both in chapter 8’s “Obey the king” passage and chapter 12’s third-person closing?   

The end of the matter; all has been heard… The book concludes less with a discovery than with a judgment, a conclusion to all the evidence the Preacher has gathered.  As you attended to your emotions throughout the book, attend to your response at the end: does the judgment leave you satisfied, ambivalent, or wanting?

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ecclesiastes 8 through 12.  Now let’s read it!

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.  – Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

Yesterday’s reflection on wisdom in chapter 7 gives way to a lecture about obedience to the king in chapter 8.  This is a peculiar segue, except that the latter passages of Ecclesiastes emphasize human futility compared to God’s sovereignty.  “I say:” the Preacher affirms, “Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him.”  The details of this oath are not directly clear, unless it refers to God’s oath to David and his successors.  As an aside, you’ve probably noticed that there is also no direct reference to the LORD – Yahweh, the God of Israel – in this book.  This may be a simple literary peculiarity, or it may reflect a particular perspective. 

This is not the end of today’s curiosities.  The Preacher returns to recounting oft-disconnected proverbs, such as those having to do with finding joy in pleasure.  In chapter 9 he writes, “Go, eat your bread in joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.”  But in chapter 11 there is a warning: “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.”  Are these contradictory?  Does their immediate setting bring clarity?  Or is this something that, like the book of Proverbs, requires referencing the entirety of Ecclesiastes and all of Scripture as context. 

All throughout, notice the writer’s perspective on issues around the text.  What is his understanding of life and afterlife?  What is his true, and complete, view of wisdom?  What is the relationship between riches and poverty, righteousness and unrighteousness?  And who, exactly, is speaking, both in chapter 8’s “Obey the king” passage and chapter 12’s third-person closing?   

The end of the matter; all has been heard… The book concludes less with a discovery than with a judgment, a conclusion to all the evidence the Preacher has gathered.  As you attended to your emotions throughout the book, attend to your response at the end: does the judgment leave you satisfied, ambivalent, or wanting?

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ecclesiastes 8 through 12.  Now let’s read it!

The Preacher yesterday let us know that this book is a record of how he set out “to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.”  And he concluded, “It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” 

He found that wisdom is “but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”  He tested pleasure and found “this is also vanity.  I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’”  Then he focused on producing great works: “I built houses and planted vineyards…I made myself gardens and parks...I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces…”  But considering all that his hands had done, and all the toil he had expended doing it, he accepted that “all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” 

The topic of toil comes up often in Ecclesiastes’ middle section, but it feels like this is just a symptom of the core issue that torments the Preacher’s mind.  Time, history, legacy, significance… these are some of the words that come to mind as the waves of lament come.  Notice the words that come into your own mind as you read, and again, be attentive to your emotions.  Remember that the Preacher is on a journey, that you’re allowed to question his deductions, wrestle with his conclusions, and present your own answer to the question: “What gain has the worker from his toil?”

Now before you head off to read “For everything, there is a season…,” I want to remind you of the Preacher’s final words yesterday: “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ecclesiastes 3 through 7.  Now let’s read it!

The Preacher yesterday let us know that this book is a record of how he set out “to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.”  And he concluded, “It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” 

He found that wisdom is “but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”  He tested pleasure and found “this is also vanity.  I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’”  Then he focused on producing great works: “I built houses and planted vineyards…I made myself gardens and parks...I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces…”  But considering all that his hands had done, and all the toil he had expended doing it, he accepted that “all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” 

The topic of toil comes up often in Ecclesiastes’ middle section, but it feels like this is just a symptom of the core issue that torments the Preacher’s mind.  Time, history, legacy, significance… these are some of the words that come to mind as the waves of lament come.  Notice the words that come into your own mind as you read, and again, be attentive to your emotions.  Remember that the Preacher is on a journey, that you’re allowed to question his deductions, wrestle with his conclusions, and present your own answer to the question: “What gain has the worker from his toil?”

Now before you head off to read “For everything, there is a season…,” I want to remind you of the Preacher’s final words yesterday: “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ecclesiastes 3 through 7.  Now let’s read it!

I, the preacher, have been king over Israel and in Jerusalem.  And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.  -Ecclesiastes 1:12-14

There is a tradition that attributes the book of Ecclesiastes to king Solomon, and as you read the first few chapters you’ll find clues that generate this theory.  The speaker’s name is defiantly hidden, but listen to the name he gives his kingdom, the capital from which he reigns, and the wealth and glory that is ascribed to him… and remember your history.  However, since the speaker only goes by the name of “Preacher,” that’s what we’ll call him.

The spring-like joy of the Song of Songs yields to an autumnal chill in Ecclesiastes.  The Preacher looks backward, not forward, remembering everything he has seen under the sun, and behold, all is vanity…empty…meaningless…and striving after the wind.  This word “vanity” and its variants appear at least 37 times in this short book; evil, another 22. 

Notice also how the themes of memory and legacy occupy his mind.  Though he looks for meaning in his work, in pleasure, in wisdom, it gnaws at him that “…sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it…” 

All of this has a way of playing with the reader’s mind.  Read the Preacher’s arguments carefully but also remember his place, time, position, and understanding of life and the afterlife.  It’s important to pay close attention to your own emotions, which may respond to the author as well as his words.  Allow yourself to feel, to respond to the text, as the Preacher lays out his acquisitions.  And remember that his search has only begun.

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ecclesiastes 1 and 2.  Now let’s read it!

I, the preacher, have been king over Israel and in Jerusalem.  And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.  -Ecclesiastes 1:12-14

There is a tradition that attributes the book of Ecclesiastes to king Solomon, and as you read the first few chapters you’ll find clues that generate this theory.  The speaker’s name is defiantly hidden, but listen to the name he gives his kingdom, the capital from which he reigns, and the wealth and glory that is ascribed to him… and remember your history.  However, since the speaker only goes by the name of “Preacher,” that’s what we’ll call him.

The spring-like joy of the Song of Songs yields to an autumnal chill in Ecclesiastes.  The Preacher looks backward, not forward, remembering everything he has seen under the sun, and behold, all is vanity…empty…meaningless…and striving after the wind.  This word “vanity” and its variants appear at least 37 times in this short book; evil, another 22. 

Notice also how the themes of memory and legacy occupy his mind.  Though he looks for meaning in his work, in pleasure, in wisdom, it gnaws at him that “…sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it…” 

All of this has a way of playing with the reader’s mind.  Read the Preacher’s arguments carefully but also remember his place, time, position, and understanding of life and the afterlife.  It’s important to pay close attention to your own emotions, which may respond to the author as well as his words.  Allow yourself to feel, to respond to the text, as the Preacher lays out his acquisitions.  And remember that his search has only begun.

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ecclesiastes 1 and 2.  Now let’s read it!