Chronicles is the final Old Testament volume in Immerse: The Reading Bible. It consists of six books written after the Babylonian exile: 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel.
What struck me with particular force in these books is their focus on the integrity of God’s people. 1–2 Chronicles opens with multiple genealogies before it goes on to trace the history of the Judahite kings after David and Solomon. The purpose of these genealogies—or at least their effect—is to remind God’s people, whether exiled or returned to the Promised Land—of who they are. The evaluation of Judahite kings according to whether they were faithful to Yahweh or not reminds the people of God who they ought to be.
Ezra and Nehemiah describes God’s people in the early return from Babylonian exile. They focus on the religious integrity of God’s people, for which intermarriage with gentiles served as a proxy. They also focus on rebuilding first the Temple and then the walls of Jerusalem. As these physical structures are being rebuilt, Ezra and Nehemiah also are concerned with rebuilding the religious and covenantal practices of the people.
Esther—the only Old Testament book that doesn’t name God—focuses on the survival of God’s people in exile when threatened by Haman’s attempted genocide. The New Living Translation made the comic elements of this book stand out.
Daniel consists partly of historical narrative and partly of prophecy. It shows that God’s people can rise to high levels of leadership in gentile nations while at the same time retaining religious integrity. At the same time, it prophesies the downfall of gentile empires, especially those that threaten God’s people, and the rise of a divinely appointed ruler whose kingdom will be unending.
In my opinion, these books illustrate the spiritual, theological, and moral tensions of trying to exercise influence while maintaining spiritual and moral integrity, all in the service of protecting God’s people.
Book Reviewed
Immerse: The Reading Bible, Vol. 6, Chronicles (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Prophets, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
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My review of the entire Immerse series follows …
Most Americans own a Bible, but few read it. According to American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2017 (SOTB), 87 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, only 50 percent of U.S. adults read the Bible, listen to it, or pray with it at least three or four times a year.
How can we help people move toward greater Bible engagement?
There are many ways to answer this question, but I want to focus on a new Bible product I believe merits attention. It’s called Immerse: The Reading Bible, which Tyndale House Publishers created in Alliance with the Institute for Bible Reading. You can read more about it at ImmerseBible.com (BibliaInmersion.com for the Spanish version).
Immerse is designed to take the church — from junior high to senior adults — through the Bible in three years. It presents Scripture in six high-quality, low-cost paperbacks or e-books.
- Messiah (New Testament)
- Beginnings(Genesis–Deuteronomy)
- Kingdoms (Joshua–2 Kings)
- Prophets (Isaiah–Malachi)
- Poets (Job–Song of Songs, plus Lamentations)
- Chronicles (1Chronicles–Esther, plus Daniel)
According to its website, “Immerse is built on three core ideas: reading a naturally formatted Bible, reading at length, and having unmediated discussions about it together.”
While most Bibles are formatted like a dictionary — a two-column format with scholarly apparatus, including chapter and verse numbers, headings, cross-references and notes — Immerse presents Scripture in a single-column format and eliminates the scholarly apparatus entirely. According to SOTB, 8 percent of U.S. adults cite difficult layout as a significant frustration when reading the Bible. Immerse’s formatting reduces that frustration.
Using this Bible, a church’s small groups or Sunday School classes meet twice a year for eight weeks each time to read and discuss one of Immerse’s six paperbacks, starting with Messiah. Reading each paperback takes 20 to 30 minutes daily, five days a week, for the duration of the small group. This is what Immerse means by “reading at length.” Thirty percent of U.S. adults say lack of time is a significant Bible reading frustration. By delimiting how much and how often participants read, Immerse’s program addresses this concern.
During meetings, a leader facilitates open discussion around four questions:
- What stood out to you this week?
- Was anything confusing or troubling?
- Did anything make you think differently about God?
- How might this change the way you live?
State of the Bible 2017 found that readers are motivated to increase Bible reading when encountering difficulty (41 percent), a significant life change, such as marriage or childbirth (17 percent), or contemporary discussions about religion and spirituality in the media (17 percent). By focusing on four open-ended questions, Immerse encourages readers to ponder what the Bible teaches in the specifics of their lives.
Several other features of Immerse are worth highlighting. First, it uses the New Living Translation of Scripture (NLT). According to SOTB, 16 percent of U.S. adults are frustrated by the Bible’s difficult language. The NLT features readable, idiomatic English for a broad audience.
Second, within each paperback, Immerse reorganizes the books of the Bible in an interesting fashion. For example, the standard New Testament order of books is Gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, other epistles and Revelation. Messiah pairs each gospel with letters related to it: Luke–Acts with Paul’s letters, Mark with Peter’s and Jude’s letters, Matthew with Hebrews and James, and John with John’s letters and Revelation. This helps readers see thematic connections between each gospel and its associated letters.
Third, Immerse provides resources to help readers understand the theological, historical and literary context of each book of the Bible. All six paperbacks include brief introductory essays. And the website includes free aids for small groups: a weekly 3-minute video that introduces each week’s readings, audio files of daily Bible readings, and downloadable guides for pastors, small-group leaders and participants.
God inspired the Bible to equip us for holy living (2 Timothy 3:16–17). If we don’t use it, however, it does us no good. Immerse offers church leaders a well-thought-out strategy for guiding readers through Scripture.
Book Reviewed
Immerse: The Reading Bible, 6 Volumes (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Immerse, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 edition of Influence magazine.
GeorgePWood.com 