Old Testament Hebrew Reading List

I have really been blessed by Dr. Dan Wallace's Greek New Testament Reading List. He was the one who introduced me to Biblical Greek at Dallas Theological Seminary.

The general idea for his reading list is that the Greek Bible (just like the English Bible!) doesn't start with the easiest book and work it's way into more complicated passages. For the new Greek student his organization was a Greek-saver. I could read passages such as John or Philemon and once I had my "sea legs" under me I could venture into more technical sections of Luke or Hebrews.

Strangely, I can't find a similar project anywhere for the Old Testament Hebrew! "Just start reading" I kept hearing, but surely I can do this in a way that's (at least slightly) less difficult! That being said, I present my Biblical Hebrew Reading List:

1 Deuteronomy
2 Exodus
3 1 Kings
4 2 Kings
5 Leviticus
6 Jeremiah
7 1 Samuel
8 2 Samuel
9 Zechariah
10 Haggai
11 Judges
12 Numbers
13 Jonah
14 Ruth
15 Ezekiel
16 Genesis
17 Malachi
18 Daniel
19 Ecclesiastes
20 Amos
21 Psalms
22 Joshua
23 Esther
24 Hosea
25 Micah
26 Joel
27 Zephaniah
28 Obadiah
29 Nehemiah
30 Isaiah
31 Lamentations
32 Proverbs
33 Ezra
34 Job
35 Habakkuk
36 1 Chronicles
37 2 Chronicles
38 Nahum
39 Song of Songs

It is generally accepted that there are two ways to evaluate a passages's difficulty: lexically (vocab) and syntactically (structure). Because syntactical difficulty is hard to empirically evaluate, the above order is exclusively based on lexical rarity. It assumes that a reader is familiar with the 500 most common words (I would use Anki if I were you; it's free and really good) and assigns a heavier weight to rarer words.  I got all my statistical data from Logos software, based upon Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text and manipulated in Excel.

As the below chart shows, there can be a big difference in the number of words a reader would likely be unfamiliar with. If you start with Song of Songs you will likely be 4x as frustrated as if you start with 2 Chronicles!

The one other edit to the above list that I made was to combine books that are obviously related such as 1 & 2 Kings. If you want the spreadsheets, comment below and I can send them to you directly. 

For the past 5-6 days I have been bed-ridden due to a back injury and while the pain has likely been worse than I have yet experienced I was reminded that God has (from one perspective or another) allowed this pain to happen to me and that He is able to use it for good (Romans 8:28). As the drugs slowly began to work their magic, I have found myself thinking less about my immediate circumstances (including physical pain from my body, and innumerable  spiritual/emotional challenges) and dwelling more on the big picture items of my life.

A week before my injury another pastor's wife told me that she left her home and comforts to support her husband's role of serving the local Church. What I heard in translation was: "My life's work is to enable your life's work." What a conviction for pastors everywhere! If it is, in fact, true that Christ has given me and other servants to his bride (the Church) so that ultimately she might be fully equipped for every good work then this broader mindset God has given me should be the norm rather than the exception.

I recently read a letter from General Sherman to the "Christian General" Oliver Howard regarding Howard's assignment to facilitate healing after the Civil War

"I hardly know whether to congratulate you or not, but of one thing you may rest assured, that you possess my entire confidence, and I cannot imagine that matters that may involve the future of [...] souls could be put in more charitable and more conscientious hands. So far as man can do, I believe you will, but I fear you have Hercules’ task. God has limited the power of man, and though in the kindness of your heart you would alleviate all the ills of humanity it is not in your power, nor is it in your power to fulfill onetenth part of the expectations [...]. It is simply impracticable. Yet you can and will do all the good one man may, and that is all you are called on as a man and Christian to do, and to that extent count on me as a friend and fellow soldier for counsel and assistance."

I hope that similar words might be said to any one of my peers who have been tasked with caring for the Church!