July

The second half of The Year of the Bible begins with some interesting material. In the Old Testament we start with Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books record events that occurred during the time following the Babylonian Captivity.

Remember that, when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were carried off to Babylon in 586 B.C.E., it seemed as if the Jewish nation would cease to exist. However, prophets like Jeremiah promised that God would restore the nation, even after such a great calamity. These seemingly improbable promises were fulfilled when Cyrus, who made Persia the ruling power in the East, allowed the displaced peoples to return to their homelands (Ezra 1; 6).

Ezra records the trek back to Jerusalem around 537 B.C.E. They built homes and once again made sacrifices to the Lord. Over a twenty-year period, they succeeded in rebuilding the Temple. In the next century, Ezra himself went to Jerusalem to help reestablish the rebuilding of the city walls. Note the discouragement in both books: Troublesome neighbors, halfhearted allegiance to God, and harsh economic conditions all conspired to make life difficult.

Esther contains the first record of an attempt to destroy a group of Jews who are a minority within another culture. The heroine is not only beautiful, but upright and good, and there is a delicious irony in the way the "bad guy" of the story, Haman, gets his just deserts. Note that , in later Jewish culture, the primary purpose of the book was to describe the beginnings of the Jewish festival of Purim.

The latter part of July will take us through most of Job. Its main theme is the problem of suffering: "How can bad things happen to good people?" The book reads somewhat like a play. The first two chapters tell the story of a righteous man, Job, who undergoes a succession of disastrous events. The bulk of the book is a series of speeches and responses. The speeches are made by three "friends," who come to offer Job advice and admonition. Unfortunately, they fail miserably as counselors because they never really listen to Job. Their underlying assumption is that Job's great suffering is a clear indication that he is guilty of some major sin. Job responds to their accusations with increasing anger and frustration, claiming all the while that he is innocent.

Since this material is written in a poetic style, you may find the language and imagery somewhat hard to follow, though it is well known in the ancient Near East. Skim through it fairly quickly, looking for main themes and memorable verses (for example, 4:17; 5:7; 14:1; 14:14; 19:25; 21:17).

We know what Job's friends do not know, namely, that Job has done nothing to deserve his sufferings. But that is precisely the point: There is no exact correlation between human sin and suffering on earth. This is what the book was written to show, and it does so very effectively. At the end of the book (chs. 38-42), God speaks from the whirlwind, justifying Job's innocence and calling on humans to recognize the mysteriousness of God's ways and the limitations of human knowledge.

The notion that suffering and sin can be equated is an idea that dies hard. In Luke 13, which we also read this month, Jesus deals with the same question. He denies that some Galileans killed by Pilate - and some people killed in Jerusalem when a tower fell on them - were being punished for their sins (vs. 1-5). Many people still feel that those who suffer various scourges like famine, plagues, or disease are being punished for their sins. When you're tempted to think this way, recall Jesus' succinct reply: "Don't look at others; look to yourself!"

In the New Testament, we will read most of Luke this month. Why do we have more than one Gospel? Primarily, it is because the different writers had different things they wished to emphasize about Jesus. Luke, for instance, delights in stressing the universal scope of the gospel: It is intended both for Jews and Gentiles; it is for the whole world. A telltale sign of this interest is Luke's frequent use of the word all. Notice, too, the times when Luke includes Old Testament references to outsiders who were more faithful than the Israelites, such as the widow at Sidon and Naaman the Syrian (4:25-30), or the queen of Sheba and the people of Nineveh (11:29-32).

There are some other special concerns to watch for in Luke. First, there is Luke's interest in the poor. In an affluent society like ours, we are susceptible to the enticing allure of material goods. Luke's stress on the poor reminds us to be thankful for our blessings. More important, it challenges us to practice the same kind of compassion for the needy that Jesus did.

Second, there is an emphasis on the Holy Spirit. You may already have noticed that theme when you read Acts, where Luke underlines the power of the Spirit in the life of the early church. Here in the Gospel of Luke, watch for the times when he speaks about the action of the Spirit in Jesus' own life.

Third, there is the prayer life of Jesus. Observe how often Luke records the fact that Jesus spent time in prayer. Somehow, it seems surprising that Jesus, who had so very much to do, took time out for prayer. Maybe it will help us with our own attempts to juggle all the demands in our hectic lives to remember that, if anything, Jesus' busy schedule led him to pray more, not less.

From The Year of the Bible by James E. Davison