Week 8 Deuteronomy
The day after I finished reading Deuteronomy I read Psalm 48. It begins: great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
I think the reason I paused at great-is-the-Lord is because it’s such a simple and clear comment about the Lord. It’s transparent, it’s undiluted, it’s direct. It’s categorical and unambiguous and precise and explicit. It doesn’t beat around the bush.
I think another reason I paused at great-is-the-Lord is because I’d just finished Deuteronomy. That big middle-section especially – from the end of chapter four through chapter twenty-nine – more than 650-verses – had kind of weighed down on me. What do I make of it all? (There is something to be made of it…the question is what?)
By contrast I don’t have to ask myself what do I make of great-is-the-Lord? An eight year-old boy could read great-is-the-Lord and understand. It’s a completely comprehensible idea told in elementary language.
It reminded me that when I’m reading through some things will make better sense to me than others. I figure that part of a bible-reader’s savvy shows up in recognizing and then negotiating his different reading environments.