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 Nehemiah 12-13 and Tobit 1.

Nehemiah closes the account of his administration in Jerusalem, and we move on to a new book of the Bible (yay!) and a new genre.

Tobit is one of the 7 books of the Catholic Bible that does not come "standard" in typical Protestant Bibles. It is one of the books that was excluded from the Jewish scriptures in the late first century, but recognized by the early Church and included in the first listing of the books of the Bible (in the year 382). The other "deuterocanonical" books are Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch (some parts of Esther and Daniel appear only in Catholic Bibles, too).

Tobit takes the form of a historical book, but it is probably really a didactic story--and quite a charming one! The narrator is an Israelite exile from the northern kingdom (so, from the first group to be exiled). His very name (and that of his son) means "good," and the story offers a model of how to live the covenant in a foreign land, without the Temple. It is a life centered on observance of the Law of Moses, on piety, and on virtue.

It is the Book of Tobit that tells us of the Archangel Raphael, and we'll see in this book why that Archangel is patron of both healing and of travelers.

Start reading Nehemiah here and Tobit 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.