Read the Bible with Me!

Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray: 

I praise you, my God, with all people.
May they thank and adore you!
You have written your greatness in creation,
your Law in consciences,
your eternal promises in the Bible.
You are eternally faithful and always lovable!
As I read Sacred Scripture today, open my mind to hear your voice and understand your loving message.
Amen.

Today's three chapters are Exodus 27-29.

Now God establishes the levitical priesthood. Men who are direct descendants of Aaron (a member of the tribe of Levi) are born to the priesthood. Other Levites will have roles related to the service of worship, but only the descendants of Aaron will be able to offer sacrifice in the name of the whole people.  

This inherited priesthood is one clue as to the importance of the genealogies we find in the Old Testament (especially in Leviticus). Even after the Temple of Solomon was destroyed and sacrifices forcibly ended, the roster of priests continued to be made. And when the Temple was rebuilt (pitiful though it seemed in comparison with the first), priests again took their place and the liturgy resumed.

It was unthinkable to ancient people that one could worship a deity without incense, song, ceremony, or bloody sacrifice. These things would also be incorporated into the religious practices of God's people for as long as it took to teach them who God really is, and what he really wanted of those he called ("to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God", as the prophet Micah would one day write; Micah 6:8).

The Gospel of Luke begins with the priest Zechariah offering incense in the Temple. His son John was, therefore, also destined by his birth to serve at the altar, but there is no record that he ever did. Instead of sacrificing lambs to God, Zechariah's son, perhaps the most important of all of Aaron's descendants, would point to the one true Lamb of God.

Start reading here.

If you are looking for a solid but approachable companion to the Bible, I can wholeheartedly recommend A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by Brant Pitre and John Bergsma. Although the authors are top-level Scripture scholars, they write for "real" readers. Notes include recent findings from archaeology and ancient manuscripts.