Advice on the Old Testament

[LoveandMercy]

Hi,

I started to read the bible from the beginning a few weeks back - Genesis I found of great use and it interested me a lot, then the same for half of exodus but then it started to get more and more harder to read ( it’s almost asif I’m not taking it in since my attention span isn’t the best) reading the instructions that God would tell Moses how to build things and now I’m on the law in Leveticus which is unbelievably hard to read - shall I just skip the law and go to Joshua and carry on whilst getting a short online summary about what happens in the law properly etc?

I don’t want to come across as ignorant and I’m sure other Catholics have the same problem…

Thanks

 

[edward_george]

Perhaps it is not what you are reading but the amount you are each day. I’ve been using the Coming Home Network’s reading plan to read the Bible (and Catechism, actually) in a year. You get about a chapter or two of an OT book, about a half a chapter of one of the wisdom books (or one Psalm in the early going), a chapter or so of the NT, and then 8-12 paragraphs from the Catechism. It’s about 20-30 minutes of reading a day, and it’s not as much of a burden to read in smaller bites. In any case, whether you pick up something like that or not, I’d say to take it more slowly and let things sink in. The legal material can be fairly fascinating if you take it in smaller chunks.

If you’re interested in the CHN reading plan, it may be found here: chnetwork.org/2012/08/free-resource-updated-version-of-our-read-the-bible-and-the-catechism-in-a-year-guide/

-ACEGC

 

[chero23]

Hi,

I started to read the bible from the beginning a few weeks back - Genesis I found of great use and it interested me a lot, then the same for half of exodus but then it started to get more and more harder to read ( it’s almost asif I’m not taking it in since my attention span isn’t the best) reading the instructions that God would tell Moses how to build things and now I’m on the law in Leveticus which is unbelievably hard to read - shall I just skip the law and go to Joshua and carry on whilst getting a short online summary about what happens in the law properly etc?

I don’t want to come across as ignorant and I’m sure other Catholics have the same problem…

Thanks

Leviticus and Numbers can be very intimidating. When they mention the tribes and naming them, when my ex gf and me read the whole Bible, we wouldn’t read that. We would just skim through it.

Don’t let up from reading, do read between 3-5 chapters a day. Not to much not to little.

 

[CalCatholic]

I started the ‘read the catholic bible in a year’ reading plan on January 1 st. I like the plan because it breaks the Bible up by reading a couple of chapters from the OT, a Psalm, and one chapter (or less) from the NT each day. The amount of reading is manageable, and it breaks up the ‘tough’ readings of the sacrificial laws that can become very repetitive. www.readthecatholicbibleinayear.wordpress.com

 

[Joe_Ross]

I definitely recommend going through the different “sections” of scripture during your daily readings, as others have mentioned. While you may not currently see much value in the latter part of Exodus, and you may throw your hands up in despair once you get to Leviticus and Numbers, there’s a treasure trove of beauty hidden in those texts! Don’t be too quick to dismiss these books of the Mosaic Law. There are some wonderful passages that you’ll miss out on if you just skim through Leviticus and Numbers too quickly. These foundations of the Bible help flesh out the details and important subtexts of the Gospels and the Epistles that our 21st century Western minds completely miss.

Once you’ve read through the Bible a few times you’ll start making all these connections in the Pentateuch to the rest of Scripture that you’ve somehow missed before. That’s why I’m such a fan of reading the whole of Scripture. It’s what led this particular Former Protestant to the Truth of Catholicism!

 

[InternetWoman]

I can also recommend using Jeff Cavin’s 14 books of the “Salvation Story”.

And getting a good Bible commentary can also ease the confusion. I use the Navarre commentaries and I can not say enough good things about them. They not only explain the text but they also talk about how to apply the text to everyday NOW living.

You can get them on Amazon. The hardcover covering Joshua through Kings goes for about $30.

 

[StGerardMajella]

and now I’m on the law in Leveticus which is unbelievably hard to read - shall I just skip the law and go to Joshua and carry on whilst getting a short online summary about what happens in the law properly etc?

Try picking up a copy of the Stone Edition of the Chumash, which is an excellent commentary in English and Hebrew. It is an excellent resource as far as explaining the book of Leviticus, complete with diagrams, drawings of the Tabernacle and more, and widely diverse commentary from the Jewish Sages.

The publisher, Art Scroll, caters to English-speaking Jews that are just starting to learn Hebrew and practice their faith. I’ve found their publications and commentaries to be enormously helpful in grasping the nuances of what can be otherwise challenging reading material. While not a Catholic resource, I have found nothing objectionable in their commentaries, even if they take a much different perspective than Christian commentators.

The Stone Edition of the Chumash is a pure joy to read because it puts the whole Torah into plain English, and gives context and explanation to difficult passages.

I’ve heard comments from other Catholics stating it is inadvisable to read scriptural resources from Jewish authors. I couldn’t disagree more. If anything, reading books by Jewish publishers such as Art Scroll has only deepened my faith, and provided me with a much broader understanding of Catholicism. I have a better understanding of the Mass, for example, and have better context for understanding the New Testament and traditional Catholic prayers.

 

[TimothyH]

I have read the Bible cover-to-cover five times and have hosted Bible study in my home for many years.

I strongly urge the OP to find a group which uses The Bible Timeline by Great Adventur/Jeff Cavins.

This study explains the narrative books of the Bible and that other books are to be read in the context of the narrative, story-telling books. It explains the history of Israel, who the prophets were, what their message was and who their audience was and so forth. It brought the Bible alive for me and was worth every single penny. I hosted this study twice in my home.

-Tim-