blog » January 3, 2007/Through the Bible in a year (plus one day)

Happy New Year, to everyone!

(By the way, I'm in Edmonton now, which I haven't blogged about yet.)

Last year (2006), I went through a “read through the Bible in a year” plan. It's been about seven years since the last time I read through the Bible, and I figured it was about time to read through it again. Last time, I think that the plan that I used was just a straight-through reading, from Genesis through Revelation. This year, I went through the Victory Bible Reading Plan, which gets you to read an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, and a Psalm or Proverb each day. The Old Testament is arranged in roughly chronological order (though there were some mistakes in their order). It's certainly a different perspective from a straight cover-to-cover reading of the Bible, as prophets are juxtaposed with the history into which they were prophesying. And it was certainly nice to read a Psalm or Proverb each day. Last year, I fell behind in the plan a bit, but managed to mostly catch up near the end, so I just went over the year by one day.

But as much as I enjoyed going through the plan last year, I did feel a bit rushed, reading three passages a day, and switching between the OT and NT was a bit disorienting sometimes. This year, I want to try more of an in-depth study. I'm planning on studying the Torah (a.k.a. the Pentateuch, a.k.a. the books of the Law”, a.k.a. the first five books of the Bible). Why the Torah? Well, it forms the basis for much of Christianity; I don't think that you can get a complete picture of the New Testament without an understanding of the Old Testament, and the Torah in particular. And I think that the Torah isn't very well understood by Christians in general. Most of it is seen as obsolete laws that don't really apply to us (e.g. the sacrificial system, purity codes, etc.). However, I think that it is very much a reflection of the character of God. When God delivered His people out of Egypt, He gave them the Torah as a means to reveal Himself to them.

So, that's the why. As for the how, I've taken part of the Victory Bible Reading Plan, expanded the section of the Torah by spending three days on each reading. The first day, I'll read in the NIV. The second day, I'll be copying down the passage — based on Deuteronomy 17:18, which commands kings to copy down the Law (which they evidently didn't do all the time, since the Law was lost several times); copying a passage is a different way to meditate on it and get it into your brain. I'm going to be writing it out by hand; this will either give me a lot of practice to improve my handwriting, or will give me carpal tunnel syndrome and my hand will fall off. On the third day, I'll read the passage in the NASB (which is a more literal translation, and probably something my computer programmer brain will be able to relate to better).