A 1189 Day Journey Through the Bible

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 12: Job replies with more praise, and a bit of lamenting.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 11: Another judgmental guy comes along and his name is Zophar.  He puts down Job some more.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 10: Job's lamenting continues, saying that he hates his life, etc. etc.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 9: Job replies back talking about how God is cool, but also realizing that God has done this to him and is hoping for some release.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 8: A guy named Bildad responds and isn't all that nice.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 7: And his reply continues.  Basically saying the same stuff.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 6: Job responds with some resilience.  It is written kind of like a song or poem.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 5: This chapter is a continued response, and honestly seems a bit self righteous.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 4: A Temanite replies to him, basically saying that no innocent person could go through this; that Job must've done something wrong. When in reality he is just an experiment.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 3: This chapter is Job cursing the day he was born, and basically just lamenting on the shit situation he is in.  Definitely worth a read.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 2: So God, Satan and the angels have another meeting.  God gives the go ahead and Satan kicks Job's ass again, giving him some sores on his feet and head, and cutting him up with a broken pot. Job still doesn't curse God, so he's staying strong.  You see the theme here?

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Job 1: A new book! We are 437 chapters into the Bible and this is only the second appearance of the word "Satan."  Which appears to translate as 'adversary,' and is not describe as literal at all. Digressing. So we've got a guy named Job who looks like a good, God-fearing man.  He did all the right stuff and had kids and animals and just the normal life I guess.  He did the offerings and all that. Then God and some angels and Satan have a meeting.  God asks Satan where Satan has been, Satan says roaming around the earth.  Again, there's no chance any of this is literal.  So keep an open mind as to what this means. Satan tells God to mess with Job's life, and God is cool with that.  God says Satan can do whatever Satan wants, with the only restriction to not kill Job. So Job's animals and servants and kids are all killed, only survived by a couple servants that told him about it. ...

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 10: The book of Esther ends by telling us how great Mordecai was. Why didn't they name it Mordecai?

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 9: So the Jews have all the power now and killed their enemies.  And they made a couple holidays about it.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 8: Haman ends up getting Mordecai's estate, and Ester ensure that the king puts protections into place for the Jews.  That's about it.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 7: Esther now gets to ask for her demands.  She asks the king to spare the life of her and her people, and she also outs Haman.  Ironically, the king impales Haman on the same pole that he prepared for Mordecai.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 6: So Haman is all sour about Mordecai, as we saw in the last chapter.  But in this chapter the king decides Haman gets to honor Mordecai.  I guess he won't get to impale him after all.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. AND OH BOY am I way behind.  That trip to Europe was action packed for sure. Esther 5: The king grants Esther a wish essentially, and she says the king and Haman should come to a dinner she will prepare, and then she will ask her question. Haman got mad at Mordecai because he wouldn't bend the knee, so he had a pole set up in the hopes of impaling Mordecai.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 4: Mordecai catches word of the slaughtering and isn't thrilled.  There's mourning for the Jews. Esther hears about it and wants to help.  So she tells Mordecai to gather up some Jews and do some fasting, and she will do the same.  And then she will go to the king and try to help.  Not sure what will happen next but at least there's an actual story going on.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 3: After everything happened, Xerxes elevated Haman to a high honor noble.  Everyone bent the knee, but Mordecai (a Jew) wouldn't.  Haman was real butt hurt because he's obviously a little bitch.  So he sends out the orders to wipe out all of the Jews.  He asked Xerxes for permission first, which was obliged.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 2: Xerxes calms down and then has his people suggested they go search among some beautiful young virgins for him. Let it be known that the eunuchs are in charge of the women. Xerxes brought in a bunch of ladies to please him, I assume he ran through a whole fleet of them.  Esther was his favorite so she got to stay on.  But she is keeping her nationality a secret. Then there was a couple of dudes who were going to assassinate Xerxes, but they got caught and impaled on poles.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Esther 1: A new book!  This starts with telling us the happenings take place during the time of Xerxes.  Which apparently we need to know was fancy. Xerxes summoned for his wife, and she didn't come; so he got real mad and made a law where a man has to be the ruler of his household.  It seems that this was probably already an unspoken rule as this time.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 13: This is the last chapter of Nehemiah, and is basically Nehemiah going around and being a bit judgy, and asking God to remember him.  Sounds a bit religious to me.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 12: And now we have a list of priests and families. Then the wall was dedicated.  Songs and gifts and sacrifices and tithes and all the usual ancient party stuff.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 11: And this chapter is just a list of a new people who live in Jerusalem.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 10: So everyone confessed and essentially rededicated themselves to God; and there's a list of people in this chapter who sealed it.  I guess it is their way of verification or something. And the rest of the chapter is just reiterating those promises to follow God and not be shitty and do all the right stuff blah blah.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 9: This chapter is an extraordinarily elaborate sin confession.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 8: This chapter is a pretty big celebration.  Ezra reads from the book of the law and everyone listens and has a nice time. Nehemiah tells them: "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing  prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy  of the  Lord  is your strength.” Yet another reminder to care for those around us.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 7: Now that the city was rebuilt, the people could come back.  This chapter has a list of exiles who returned.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 6: Nehemiah gets some more opposition to rebuilding the wall, but ends up completing it anyway. Apparently all the enemies were scared because they knew that God helped them build the wall.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 5: Some poor folks came to Nehemiah for guidance, as they had fallen on hard times.  He gets pissed at the establishment because they are charging interest, and demanded that they stop.  Then made them take an oath to ensure they'll do as they saw. Charging interest is not biblical!  Can we convince the banks?

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 4: Nehemiah gets caught with some opposition to the rebuilding, ya know, haters.  Its a lofty goal and of course there's gonna be haters.  But he remains on task.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 3: This chapter just talks about who is doing which repairs.  A special shout out to the Dung Gate.

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Nehemiah 2: Nehemiah asks Artaxerxes if he can rebuild Jerusalem, and he obliges.  So Nehemiah sets off for Jerusalem with the intent of rebuilding it.