Daily Reader's Bible - Flipbook - Page 5
practical wisdom into the picture. So the structure of this Bible highlights numerous
connections between different parts of the Bible, allowing Scripture to comment
on Scripture at many points.
The length of text chosen for the three sections reflects the kinds of literature
represented and the focus required to read them. The story readings are consistently
the longest, since narrative literature can be read quickly to gain the big picture. The
teaching readings are a bit shorter, since they are reflective and require a deeper
focus. The wisdom readings are the shortest of all, since they, as poetry, require a
slower, analytical reading for full benefit.
Chronological arrangements of Samuel and Kings with Chronicles and then the
four Gospels together would have created extended sections with repetitive reading.
For this reason, these groupings have been broken up to allow for variety in the
reading and to give multiple views of important events. In the story readings for the
Old Testament, Samuel and Kings carry the primary narrative flow and Chronicles
appears later to offer a retrospective review. Also, the four Gospel accounts are
spread throughout this Bible, with the story readings opening with the Gospel of
John and then closing with Luke and Acts. These shifts add variety and richness to
the narrative presentation of the Bible, and periodically bring Jesus—the person
all Scripture points to—back into view.
Arranging the Books of Story
The books that make up the story readings are arranged in canonical order except
for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John.
The Gospel of John was chosen as the opening book of the Daily Reader’s Bible
for several reasons. As mentioned above, the four Gospel accounts have been
separated to provide natural variation to the story readings, but this decision was
also made in order to bring Jesus, the central person of all Scripture, into focus
throughout this reading Bible. Of the four Gospels, John is the obvious choice to
start with. John begins by revealing the preexistent Son of God, thus describing
something that predates even the account of Creation in Genesis.
After opening with John’s introduction to Jesus, we go back to the beginning of
human history with Genesis, which is naturally followed by Exodus, Leviticus, and
Numbers. These books tell of Israel’s forty-year wilderness journey from Egypt,
which ends at the edge of the Promised Land. At this point we pause to read the
concise Gospel of Mark for another look at the life of Christ before we return to
the book of Deuteronomy, which retells Israel’s wilderness story.
Deuteronomy leads us naturally into the Old Testament historical books, and we
follow these on their chronological course through Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel,
and Kings. Then the Gospel of Matthew is inserted just before the last stretch of
Old Testament historical books. This allows us to read this very Jewish Gospel right
in the middle of Israel’s story. Matthew’s account is very closely linked to the Old
Testament and its Jewish identity and tradition, allowing readers to make these
connections as they read.
After Matthew’s Gospel, we resume the story readings with the final narrative
books of the Old Testament: Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books
give us a retrospective view of Israel’s history from a vantage point after Jerusalem’s
destruction and the Babylonian exile. This also allows for some separation between
the similar accounts given in Samuel/Kings and Chronicles.
Luke’s two books, the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles, concludes the
historical narrative of this Bible. It is natural to keep these two books together,
as they were written by the same author and present the final retelling of Jesus’
birth and earthly life, followed by the birth and early years of the Christian church.
Arranging the Teaching Books
The content of each book in the teaching section, with few exceptions, is read
through in order, but these books have been arranged in an order that allows
them to connect in helpful ways to the story readings described above. Letters
