Getting Through the Old Testament

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I zipped through Genesis in a few weeks.

The first half of Exodus was great.

Then…I found it. THE LAW.

Silliness aside, any tips from Bible buffs on how to deal with these hardships? I slogged through the last half of Exodus (mostly law) and finished it yesterday. Generally I felt it was an okay experience, but not all that necessary to my Christian spirituality, or even my knowledge of Jewish practice. After all, there isn’t an ark of the covenant to be found anymore, and as far as I can tell Catholic priests where more red and violet thread than Jewish rabbis.

Then, I got a look at Leviticus. Even the introduction in the New American Bible felt unenthusiastic:

“…Leviticus is almost entirely legislative in character; the rare narrative portions are subordinate to the main legislative theme.”

After looking at a few of the section headings I decided I was going to look ahead to Numbers. Not too bad. Just out of interest, I looked at Deuteronomy and found that, according to the introduction:

“[Deuteronomy] is a repitition, completion, and explanation of the law proclaimed on Mount Sinai. The historical portions of the book are also a résume of what is related elsewhere in the Pentateuch.”

Does this mean that by reading Deuteronomy I could also get a good outline of Leviticus and Numbers? In general, what are your recommendations for a successful reading of the Old Testament? The way I got through Exodus was by combining a chapter of law with a Psalm. Any other tips and thoughts? Is it worth my time to read Leviticus, Numbers OR Deuteronomy?
 
PrincepsAuguste said:
I zipped through Genesis in a few weeks.

The first half of Exodus was great.

Then…I found it. THE LAW.

Silliness aside, any tips from Bible buffs on how to deal with these hardships? I slogged through the last half of Exodus (mostly law) and finished it yesterday. Generally I felt it was an okay experience, but not all that necessary to my Christian spirituality, or even my knowledge of Jewish practice. After all, there isn’t an ark of the covenant to be found anymore, and as far as I can tell Catholic priests where more red and violet thread than Jewish rabbis.

Then, I got a look at Leviticus. Even the introduction in the New American Bible felt unenthusiastic:

“…Leviticus is almost entirely legislative in character; the rare narrative portions are subordinate to the main legislative theme.”

After looking at a few of the section headings I decided I was going to look ahead to Numbers. Not too bad. Just out of interest, I looked at Deuteronomy and found that, according to the introduction:

“[Deuteronomy] is a repitition, completion, and explanation of the law proclaimed on Mount Sinai. The historical portions of the book are also a résume of what is related elsewhere in the Pentateuch.”

Does this mean that by reading Deuteronomy I could also get a good outline of Leviticus and Numbers? In general, what are your recommendations for a successful reading of the Old Testament? The way I got through Exodus was by combining a chapter of law with a Psalm. Any other tips and thoughts? Is it worth my time to read Leviticus, Numbers OR Deuteronomy?
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What I have done, on some readings, is to look for where a teaching/illustration or principle relates to the new testament - it is more often than you might think. Focusing on where/how the teaching or story is a shadow of things to come can be very interesting.

Blessings,

Brian
 
It’s hard to answer a question that each person has to answer for himself – is it worth it to read x, y, z…

I’ve spent the last couple years mostly reading Jewish commentaries on the Torah (first five books of the bible). That is to say, the commentaries are about a total of 2,000 pages. I just started reading them, which is slow, because i look at all the commentaries.

The Jewish commentaries spend a fair amount of time on the English translation and understanding of the Hebrew, which can be obscure.

It’s been quite a while since I did any serious reading in the NAB (any version).

Consider: Deuteronomy is the most quoted book in the New Testament.

Jesus said that the books of Moses (Torah) were about Him. Can you tell that by reading them? Jesus said the Pharisees and Scribes should have recognized Him because they were learned in those books. So, there is a level of meaning in those books which pertains to Jesus. Did you find it?

I still haven’t got my head around these ideas, so don’t beat yourself up about them I’m hoping that the Ignatius Study Bible (Old Testament ) – still in development, may be the best coming our way to answer the questions I posed above.

A more practical suggestion: When you read an OT book, keep the Catechism of the Catholic Church nearby. Check out the list in the back about where that book of the OT is cited in the Catechism. That may give you some perspective of what you’re supposed to learn from reading that book of the Bible.

The Jews are the “people of the book” mentioned around paragraph 108 of the Catechism, by the way. In their writings, they say that they study the Torah as a love letter from God.

I’m probably in the minority on this, but I liked Leviticus. It’s a handbook for the Temple priests. It’s like a guide to Jewish confession. If you do X, you have to bring your bull or such for a sacrifice to the altar of the Temple. Why? Your sin has violated the sanctity of the Temple. The priest puts the blood of the animal on the altar to rededicate it.

So, if you’re kind of sluggish about going to Catholic confession, look at the prototype of it in Leviticus (this is all my explanation, nobody else’s).

Notice that there are other offerings at the Temple. There’s a “wave” offering. Well, guess what? The offertory at Mass is modeled on the “wave” offering. The priest elevates the gifts to God, so as to say, look at this which we offer. The offertory prayers of the priest at Mass are styled after Jewish blessings. “Lord, through your goodness we have this bread to offer…”

There are other problems discussed in Leviticus: ritual uncleaness. What’s that about? The best explanation I’ve read about the uncleanness due to bodily fluids was in The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford U. Press). I’ll have to review that to get it right. Give me a couple days to get back to you on that. The point is, for now, it does mean something very important.

There are other transgressions in Leviticus for which there is no sacrifice. You get booted out of the camp, out of the community. They’re baaaaaaaaad.

There’s a mitzvah (command) in Leviticus that if a son disrepects his parents, he is supposed to be put to death. Hmmmm? Well, the rabbis say that no one can be convicted of this, on technical grounds. The purpose of the command is homiletic and preventative – think about respecting your parents! If you don’t, you SHOULD be put to death.

As you begin a session of reading Leviticus, start it off by reading Psalm 1, slowly and carefully. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm. It’s about loving the Law of the Lord.

The Law consists of things to be DONE, and things to be AVOIDED. Keep that straight.

No one can keep the Law. Only Jesus is considered to have perfectly obeyed the Law.
That’s how you “see” Jesus in Leviticus.

pope Benedict XVI said that Jesus’ death on the cross fulfilled the requirements of the Day of Atonement discussed in Lev 16 (as I recall).

My opinion: read Leviticus. THAT is how you should love the Lord. That is how dedicated you should be.

Counter argument from a lot of Catholics and others: The Bible does not answer every question about living. (The Jews think it does or can be extended to answer every question about living.)

Numbers is interesting. The Jewish Publication Society Commentary on Numbers is the largest book in the five-volume series of Torah Commentaries. Hmmmm.
 
Well, the two of you have convinced me. I’m going to take a crack at Leviticus this evening. Wish me luck.
 
PrincepsAuguste said:
I zipped through Genesis in a few weeks.

The first half of Exodus was great.

Then…I found it. THE LAW.

Silliness aside, any tips from Bible buffs on how to deal with these hardships? I slogged through the last half of Exodus (mostly law) and finished it yesterday. Generally I felt it was an okay experience, but not all that necessary to my Christian spirituality, or even my knowledge of Jewish practice. After all, there isn’t an ark of the covenant to be found anymore, and as far as I can tell Catholic priests where more red and violet thread than Jewish rabbis.

Then, I got a look at Leviticus. Even the introduction in the New American Bible felt unenthusiastic:

“…Leviticus is almost entirely legislative in character; the rare narrative portions are subordinate to the main legislative theme.”

After looking at a few of the section headings I decided I was going to look ahead to Numbers. Not too bad. Just out of interest, I looked at Deuteronomy and found that, according to the introduction:

“[Deuteronomy] is a repitition, completion, and explanation of the law proclaimed on Mount Sinai. The historical portions of the book are also a résume of what is related elsewhere in the Pentateuch.”

Does this mean that by reading Deuteronomy I could also get a good outline of Leviticus and Numbers? In general, what are your recommendations for a successful reading of the Old Testament? The way I got through Exodus was by combining a chapter of law with a Psalm. Any other tips and thoughts? Is it worth my time to read Leviticus, Numbers OR Deuteronomy?
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Start by reading the 14 narrative books that tell the story of Salvation History…otherwise you will get lost and Leviticus does it for most people. That is because it was written for the priests and dealt with issues of holiness. Jeff Cavins has a great program where you learn the story of Salvation History and how everything in the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament and the New Testament is concealed in the OT. He shows you where the other books fit into the story and then everything makes so much more sense. These are the narrative books to start with:
Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua and Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Maccabees, Luke, Acts.

Best decision ever to learn the Bible is to take his Great Adventure Bible Study 24 week!
 
There’s a discussion in The Jewish Study Bible (pp. 2044-49) about the religion of Judaism, and particularly the holiness code in leviticus.

TJSB expresses this insight about “uncleanness” in Leviticus: God does not die and God does not procreate. (We knew that.) But, judging by the laws in Leviticus, there are things like bodily discharges related to sex and there’s corruption associated with dead bodies which – they say – are thus un-Godlike. So, these things make a person ritually unclean for some period of time and may involve a ritual action like a bath.

The things which are unclean and the human activities associated with becoming unclean are not sins. But, they are “ungodlike” and so there are rules about them.

There’s a much better and more-detailed explanation in TJSB.
 
I do the:blush: same thing I do with the genealogies: I :blush:skim. :blush:Very very fast. With a :)cup of tea in the other hand, & the:D cat in my lap.

YMMV.🤷
 
mskejj has it exactly correct.

Some of the book in the Bible tell the story. Other books are supplemental to the story.

Stick with the narrative books, the ones that tell the story.

The Early World: Genesis 1 - 11
The Patriarchs: Genesis 12-50
Egypt and Exodus: Exodus
Desert Wanderings: Numbers 1-2,10-12,14,16,17
Conquest and Judges: Joshua 1-4,6-8,23-24 and Judges
**Royal Kingdom: **1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings 1-11
Divided Kingdom: 1 Kings 12-22, 2 Kings
**Return from Exile: **Ezra and Nehemiah
Maccabean Revolt: 1 Maccabees
Messianic Fulfillment: Luke
**The Church: **Acts

These books, to a lesser or greater extent, are the narrative books. The other books supplement these narrative books.

For example, Leviticus was a training manual for priests. It is interesting in the context of God taking away the common preisthood from every man and giving it to the Levites specifically, but Leviticus is not part of the narrative thread. Stick with the narrative books, study them, and then go back and read the supplemental books in the context of the whole story.

I too would highly recommend the “Bible timeline” study from Jeff Cavins.

-Tim-
 
One other suggestion, if you have a Catholic translation, look for references in Leviticus that are cited elsewhere in the Tanakh and in the NT. This helps in grasping the unity of the holy scriptures.

For example, working backwards from Mal. 1:11, try to understand how this prophesy looks backwards to Leviticus, and forwards to the NT, Jesus Christ and his Church.
A Hebrew/Engish, Greek/English concordance may be necessary.

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts”
 
triumphguy said:
Read the prophets:thumbsup:
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It helps to know something about the prophets, when they operated and who their audience was.

Remember that the nation of Israel split when Solomon’s son took the throne. The northern ten tribes seceded and there were two nations, Israel to the North with political and religious centers in Dan and Bethel, and the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin to the south with its capitol in Jerusalem.

Some of the prophets operated in the north and others in the south. Elisha operated in the north. Some prophets, like Jonah, operated outside of Israel and Judah entirely. Where each prophet operated and who their audience influences how we read their message and interpret what they have to say.

The entire northern nation of Israel as well as the southern nation of Judah was conquored and every single person was sent to exile in Babylon between 597 BC and 582 BC. Some of the prophets operated in Babylon and their audience were the exiled Jews and even the Babylonians themselves. A prophet operating in Babylon who’s audience was exiled Jews in captivity who’s temple had been destroyed has different message from a prophet operating in Israel or Judah before the exile.

A little bit of study goes a long way at enhancing our understanding of scripture. In the case of the prophets, unless we have the correct context, we could get the message entirely wrong.

-Tim-
 
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