Week 50 Hebrews
Let’s say someone asked me this question: which NT book is the most frustrating one to read if I’ve never read the OT, and if I don’t know anything about the OT?
I’d be tempted to answer: the letter to the Hebrews. It would be in my top-three for sure. Hebrews is a log-jam of OT-isms.
For starters the title – saying who it’s written to – should be a big tip-off.
But then I start bumping into names: Abel, Abraham, Melchizedek, Esau, Levi, Judah, Aaron, Moses, Joshua, David. Chapter eleven alone mentions a dozen and a half OT people.
And I can’t avoid OT topics – the law, priests, the covenant, manna, the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant & holy of holies, the veil, animal sacrifices, the Sabbath, Zion, Jerusalem, Egypt, and like that.
I found fifty-seven verses in Hebrews that have OT quotes in them.
So anyway, if I don’t know anything about the OT I’m in for a long hour of reading in Hebrews.
Coming toward the end of the year I’m thinking about 2021. Will I try reading through again? Whenever I’m thinking about bible-reading there’s always two questions: a) am I going to read it, and b) am I going to read all of it or not? First there’s the decision – yes-I-am or no-I’m-not. And if I decide yes-I-am then there’s the action pieces – what and how?
As of today I’m figuring I’ll try to read through again in 2021.