Are you interested in a project for the new year? Or two? Something like a New Year’s resolution, and in either case something you might work on a bit every day when you do your Bible readings. Choose one (or both) if you like — and then start a list (or lists). After the end of the year, send me what you have done (or send me periodic updates through the year). I’ll compile and collate all the responses and make the results available after the year-end. My email (also on the inside front cover) is editor@tidings.org.
The first project: Difficult words in the King James Version
In the September Tidings, page 389, there is a list of about 175 difficult words in the KJV, with their present-day meanings and, in some cases, the appropriate references. However, this list can be expanded considerably.
So, if you’d like to participate in this project, simply keep a notepad handy when you (or your family) are doing the daily readings (or following any reading method), and compile your own list of difficult words in the KJV (omitting the ones already on our first list). If you miss some that should be on the list, don’t fret; someone else will surely write that one down. By compiling and collating all our lists after the end of the year, I ought to be able to produce for us a fairly extensive and exhaustive list of such words.
The second project: Unnamed people in the Bible
Another project, or a second project if you wish: As you go through the Bible in 2008, keep a list of all the unnamed people you encounter. (Here, of course, the appropriate Bible reference is most certainly needed.) Same procedure: keep adding to your list until the end of the year, when you send it along to me. Then I will compile and collate all the lists, and make the results available to anyone who is interested.
What do I mean in this case by an “unnamed person”? I mean, an unnamed person whose words are recorded in the Bible, or who does some significant thing. For example, the list should include Job’s wife because her words are recorded (Job 2:9), but not his father, who is mentioned once (Job 15:10) but who does and says nothing. The list should include Jephthah’s daughter, who comes out to meet him and who speaks (Judg. 11:34-40), but not his mother the prostitute, who is only mentioned in passing (Jdg. 11:1). The list should include the tenth leper, the Samaritan who, being healed, returns to thank Jesus and praise God (Luke 17:15-19), but not the other nine, who simply go their own way, never to be heard of again (v. 14).
So there you are. Have fun, and let me hear from you.
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