Introduction to Proverbs

Introduction to Proverbs

The first verse of Proverbs credits the book to King Solomon, known for his gift of wisdom from God (1 Kings 4:29-34). However, it could also be an honorary authorship given by the court and temple sages who collected the sayings. It appears that scribes and teachers later made the final editing to the collection, probably in the fifth to third century BC. The collection emphasizes righteousness and fear of God as the source of wisdom. The poetic parallelism found in Hebrew poetry usually follows a two-line verse structure and is used throughout Proverbs in varied forms, often contrasting wisdom and folly. Rather than divine guidance or instruction, the proverbs are general lessons learned from human experience.

Today's Reading

Proverbs 3:13-35

Today's Reading

Psalms of Thanksgiving

Psalms 32, 65, 138

July 3

Today's Reading

Proverbs 10:1-25

Today's Reading July 4

Psalms of Praise

Psalms 19, 33, 111

July 5

Today's Reading

Proverbs 22:17-23:16

July 6

Today's Reading

Psalms of Celebration

Psalms 29, 72, 122

July 7

Today's Reading

Psalms of Trust

Psalms 16, 27, 121

July 8

Introduction to Ecclesiastes

Like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes is attributed to King Solomon, even though this attribution appeared later than the original writing. The text refers to the Hebrew word Qoheleth, which means "Teacher" or "Preacher." The Teacher declares that everything is "vanity" even after achieving all the earthly pleasures and power humans can desire. The term "vanity," also translated as "meaninglessness" or "absurdity," comes from the Hebrew word hevel, meaning literally "breath" or "vapor." The Teacher reasons that good things in life should be accepted as a gift from God and that death will eventually come to the righteous and unrighteous alike. Despite life's vanity, Ecclesiastes encourages readers to embrace life and respect God's commandments.

Today's Reading

Ecc. 1:1-6:12

July 9

Today's Reading

Ecc. 7:1-12:14

July 10

Introduction to Song of Songs

Using poetry, the Song of Solomon celebrates God's gifts of marriage and sexuality through the story of a young couple in love. This book carries the theme of an ideal romantic love, which is expressed as souls in unity. The Jewish community traditionally believed that the book stood for an allegory of God's relationship with Israel, while Christians have compared it with Christ's love for the Church. The story has no internal support for either interpretation but can still connect with these images. The author is unknown, but King Solomon is again credited in the first verse. It may have originally been one poem or else a composition of individual poems with separate authors.

Today's Reading

Song of Songs 1:1-8:14

July 11

Brief timeline of events covered in the Major and Minor Prophets

931 BC—After Solomon's reign, Israel experiences civil war and divides into a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern kingdom (Judah). From this point on, each kingdom has its own set of kings and prophets.

722 BC—Because of Israel's idolatry against the Lord, God allows Israel to be overtaken by Assyria, a rising empire in the Ancient Near East. Only the southern Kingdom of Judah remains. The prophets during this time include Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Isaiah, and Micah.

605 BC—Judah follows in the sins of Israel, so God allows Babylon to take Judean noblemen (including Daniel and his friends) into exile in Babylon. The prophets during this period of history include Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah.

597 BC—Babylon attacks Jerusalem and again takes another group of Israelites into exile, including the current king, Jehoiachin, and the prophet Ezekiel.

586 BC—Babylon sacks Jerusalem and destroys the temple. A remnant is left in Jerusalem and the rest are exiled to Babylon. The prophets during the exile in Babylon include Daniel, Ezekiel, and Obadiah.

539 BC—Babylon falls to the Persian Empire. King Cyrus of Persia allows the exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city walls. The rebuilding of the temple takes 20 years, from 536 to 516 BC. Haggai and Zechariah prophesy in this time period.

458 BC—More exiles return to Jerusalem under the leadership of the priest Ezra.

445 BC—The third group of exiles returns to Jerusalem with Nehemiah. The prophet Malachi is a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. Though the dating of Joel is uncertain, many scholars put him in this period of Israel's history.

Introduction to the Major Prophets

God used prophets throughout Israel's history both to address the present actions of the Israelites in relation to their covenant with God and to prophesy about future events, like God's judgment through exile and the promised Messiah. Because the prophets spoke against evil and idolatry within the community of Israel (including Israel's king), they suffered in order to proclaim faithfully the messages given to them by God.

The prophetic books contain many types of literature, including prophecy, narration, poetry, dialogues between the prophets and God, and sermons. The themes in the Major Prophets alternate between messages of judgment for Israel for forsaking their covenantal relationship with God, judgment for the nations surrounding Israel, and a profound message of hope and restoration for God's people through the promised Messiah.

Today's Reading

Isaiah 1, Isaiah 6

July 12

Introduction to Isaiah

Isaiah, whose name means "Yahweh is salvation," prophesied in the southern kingdom of Judah. His ministry dates from approximately 740 to 681 BC, through the reign of four Judean kings. In the background of Isaiah's ministry is the rising power of the Assyrian nation, which would eventually overtake the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC.

The book of Isaiah is split into three sections. The first section, encompassing chapters 1-39, deals with the idolatry and iniquities of Israel, Judah and the surrounding nations in the eighth century BC. The second section, from chapters 40-55, is a message primarily of comfort and hope to the exiled community of Judah, whose downfall to the Babylonians was prophesied by Isaiah a century before its historical occurrence. The final section, chapters 56-66, has a strong message of restoration to encourage the post-exilic community to rebuild what was lost in the Babylonian exile.

Because of Isaiah's three distinct sections and their pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic audiences, scholars are divided between attributing Isaiah to three different authors or to the one named author, Isaiah.

Today's Reading

Isaiah 7, 8:11-9:21, 11:1-10

July 13.

Today's Reading

Isaiah 34:1-35:10, 40

July 14

Today's Reading

Is. 52:1-53:12, 55:1-56:8

July 15

Introduction to Jeremiah

Jeremiah's lifetime spanned one of the most tumultuous times in the history of God's people. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet in 627 BC during the reign of King Josiah of Judah. Though Jeremiah preached God's judgment for Judah's sins, Judah persisted in her idolatrous ways and fell to the Babylonians. Jeremiah's life was marked by profound suffering. Jeremiah had very little response to his message of repentance during his time as a prophet and had to witness the fulfillment of his prophecies in Jerusalem's destruction.

Following the pattern of fellow prophets, Jeremiah's writings condemn Judah for her many sins against God, including covenantal adultery, rejecting God's law, and an unwillingness to repent after being warned of God's judgment. However, in the middle of Jeremiah's messages of judgment is a series of majestic promises of restoration for Judah. God promises a new covenant in which he will forgive the sins of his people and write His law on their hearts.

Today's Reading

Jer. 1, 3:6-4:4

July 16

Today's Reading

Jer. 25:1-26:24

July 17

Today's Reading

Jer. 30:1-31:40, 33

July 18

Introduction to Lamentations

Based on the text, it is likely that the anonymous author of Lamentations was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC, and many even attribute the book to the prophet Jeremiah. A collection of five interconnected poems, these laments may have been used in community worship amongst the exiled Jewish community to seek God's forgiveness and remember Israel's role in her covenant relationship with God. Lamentations gives an honest acknowledgment of tragedy while grounding pain and suffering in the ultimate love and grace of God that both roots out sin and extends mercy that is new every morning.

Today's Reading

Jeremiah 52, Lamentations 1:1-5:22

July 19

Introduction to Ezekiel

Ezekiel, a priest, was in the second wave of Israelites taken into exile by the Babylonians in 597 BC. His first prophecy is dated to about 593 BC and his last dates to 571 BC. Because the whole of Ezekiel was written in exile, it is clearly addressed to that community of displaced people.

Ezekiel stands at a juncture in prophetic history, encompassing both the pre-exilic message of repentance and the inevitability of God's judgment, and the post-exilic message of a hope of restoration for God's people. Chapters 1-25 precede the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians and explore the consequences of Israel's idolatry. Chapters 33-48 follow from this date and encompass visions of a new temple, the renewal of God's people, and the return of God's glory to Israel. Chapters 26-32 bridge the two and focus on God's judgment against the nations surrounding Judah. Ezekiel's overall message condemns Israel's faithlessness and proclaims a message of renewed hope for Israel in which God will make Israel a light to the nations.

Today's Reading

Ez. 1:1-3:27

July 20

Today's Reading

Ez. 10:1-11:25

July 21

Today's Reading

Ez. 33:1-34:31

July 22

Today's Reading

Ez. 36:1-37:28, 43:1-9

July 23

Introduction to Daniel

Daniel, the author of the book, was an Israelite of noble blood who was taken into exile by the Babylonians in 605 BC. He served first in the royal court of Babylon and later in the Persian court after the Babylonian Empire fell to Persia in the late sixth century BC. Daniel and his friends were faithful to the Babylonian and Persian kings they served, but their first allegiance was to the God of Israel. In turn, God faithfully and miraculously preserved all four from danger and enabled them to live faithful lives in a foreign land.

The book of Daniel is split cleanly into two halves with each half embodying a different literary genre. The first half is a third-person narrative of Daniel and his three friends in the Babylonian and Persian courts. The second half is apocalyptic and portrays a series of visions given to Daniel by God as a means to encourage God's exiled people and to remind them that God's control extended over the kings and empires of the world.

Today's Reading

Daniel 1:1-3:30

July 24

Today's Reading

Daniel 5:1-6:28, 9

July 25

Introduction-Minor Prophets

Though the Minor Prophets books are smaller in size than their major prophet peers, they are equal in importance. The Minor Prophets cover a roughly four-hundred year period that is marked by the northern kingdom of Israel's exile to Assyria in 722 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah's exile to Babylon in 586 BC, and the Jewish return to their homeland under the Persians in 538 BC. It is in the midst of the rise and fall of these three empires that the Minor Prophets interpret God's purposes for the tiny and storm-tossed nation of Israel. Yet despite their rootedness in a particular historical context, these prophets voice a timeless message. They warn of God's judgment for Israel's failure to live out the demands of his covenant while promising God's resolve to restore his people to everlasting communion with himself. The narrative of exile and return contained within this subsection of scripture is a microcosm for the whole biblical narrative, which spans from the exile from Eden recorded in Genesis to humanity's return to paradise recorded in Revelation. Ultimately, the Minor Prophets set up a hope in God's salvation which the New Testament proclaims is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

Today's Reading

Hosea 1:1-3:5

July 26

Introduction to Hosea

A contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Micah, and Jonah, Hosea spoke primarily to the northern kingdom of Israel. He is best known as the prophet commanded by God to marry an adulterous prostitute to symbolize God's own relationship with the idolatrous Israel. Hosea preached in the 8th century BC before Israel's exile to Assyria during an initial time of prosperity through a period of growing instability (2 Kings 14:23-17:41). Hosea indicts Israel for their unfaithful worship and sinful behavior with warnings of destruction. However, Hosea also assures his audience of God's ultimate resolve to be united with his people in love through God's promises of restoration.

Today's Reading

Hosea 11:1-14:9

July 27

Introduction to Joel

Like an attacking army, a plague of locusts has devastated the land of Judah. Joel describes the occasion as a foretaste of the Day of the Lord, the time of God's final judgment, to encourage repentance. Joel also includes promises of God's restoration and the outpouring of his spirit on his people, a prophecy fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-21. With no direct historical references, the precise date of Joel's writing is uncertain.

Today's Reading

Joel 1:1-3:21

July 28

Introduction to Amos

An agrarian businessman from the southern kingdom of Judah, Amos preached primarily to the northern kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. His collection of oracles begins by indicting Israel's neighboring rivals, only to conclude the list of judged nations with both Israel and Judah. Amos reminds his audience that God wants his people to live lives marked by justice, not arrogant religious ritual or oppressively extravagant wealth. Unlike other prophets that alternate between judgment and hope, Amos' work consists mainly of destructive threats. However, he concludes with a picture of abundance that will come with God's restoration of his people.

Today's Reading

Amos 1:1-2:16, 5, 9

July 29

Introduction to Obadiah

The shortest book in the Old Testament, Obadiah was written sometime after Judah's exile to Babylon around 587 BC. The book is directed at Edom, the nation that possessed a rocky landscape south of Judah and descended from Jacob's brother Esau. Obadiah describes Edom's coming destruction for gloating over Judah's misfortune at the hands of the Babylonians and concludes with Judah's eventual reestablishment under God's reign. Overall, Obadiah serves as a reminder of God's power to avenge and restore his people.

Today's Reading

Obadiah 1

July 30

Introduction to Jonah

The prophet Jonah lived during the reign of Israel's king Jeroboam II and before Israel's exile by the Assyrians in 722 BC (2 Kings 14:25). However, many believe the book of Jonah was written after Judah's exile to Babylon in 586 BC, a time when the Jews were rethinking their identity as a people scattered among Gentiles (non-Jews). Jonah is unique among the Minor Prophets in that it relates a narrative rather than a collection of oracles. It satirically describes the journey of a prophet unwillingly sent to Nineveh, the capital city of the Hebrews' enemy Assyria, in modern-day Iraq. The story of Jonah illustrates God's concern for all people and his readiness to respond mercifully to the repentant. It also serves as a sobering reminder of how pride puts God's people at risk of failing to fully embrace God's extensive grace and forgetting their own need of repentance.

Today's Reading

Jonah 1:1-4:11

July 31

Introduction to Micah

Micah prophesized in the 8th century BC and, according to Jeremiah, helped inspire the religious reforms that occurred under Judah's king Hezekiah (Jer. 26:18-19). Micah foresaw the destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem, the capitals of Israel and Judah, because of their unjust social practices and idolatrous worship. He heavily rebukes religious and political heads for their corrupt leadership before predicting the coming of a true leader from God, a prophecy ultimately fulfilled in Christ (Matt. 2:6). Micah alternates between warnings of disaster and promises of restoration, envisioning a day when the scattered Jewish people gather with members from all nations to unite in worship of God.

Today's Reading

Micah 1, 4:1-5:15, 7:8-20