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: 

My God, I adore and thank your loving and wise Providence, manifested on every page of Sacred Scripture. You have always been close to sinful and erring humanity, and have indicated the way and given hope. Amid the shadows of error and corruption, you kindled the light of your truth; amid universal corruption, you are the Just One; amid so much idolatry, humanity in every corner of the earth has cultivated a sincere worship of you.
Let my reading today increase my trust in your goodness, your mercy, and your unfailing faithfulness.

Today's chapters are 1 Kings 10-12 and Psalm 48.

Solomon's legendary wisdom and wealth figure into our reading today, drawing the interest of the Queen of Sheba (present-day Yemen). Jesus will refer to this woman in a significant set of passages in the Gospel where he claims to be "greater than Solomon" and "greater than Jonah." In fact, Luke's Greek (which is not reflected in gender-neutral modern English translations), Jesus deliberately sets his male listeners up by comparing them unfavorably with a woman: 

"At the judgment, the Queen of the South will rise with the men (males) of this generation, and she will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, but you have a greater than Solomon here" (Luke 11:31). 

Sadly, Solomon would not follow the way of wisdom himself, and the whole people would suffer the consequences.

As Solomon's story ends, we find a pattern that will be followed pretty closely for every single king of Israel (the breakaway northern kingdom) and Judah:

The rest of the acts of (Name), with all that he did, are recorded in the book of ___. (Name) was king in ____ for ___ years. (Name) rested with his ancestors and was buried in (place), and (name) his son succeeded him as king.

Start reading 1 Kings here and Psalm 48 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 John Bergsma and Brant Pitre. Although the authors are top-level Scripture scholars, they write for "real" readers. Notes include recent findings from archaeology and ancient manuscripts, and how each book of the Bible has been understood by the Church Fathers and used in Liturgy.