Exodus

I mean Exodus as in the second book of the Bible/Torah, rather than the Leon Uris novel. I have a plan to read the Bible in its entirety. I’m not religious but I think the Bible is a must-read for its importance, its wonderful stories and the astonishing poetry of the King James Version. Where possible I am reading the great Pocket Canon books from Canongate – o.o.p., I think, but still knocking around on Amazon.

Anyway, from a secular point of view it’s a book of great beauty and strangeness. Iconic occurrences such as Passover and the parting of the Red Sea are covered briefly but resonantly, but far more time is spent describing the building of the Ark of the Covenant and so on. Arguably this is the most important book of the Old Testament and as such its well worth being familiar with whatever our beliefs.

Incidentally, Exodus 4:24-26 is particularly inexplicable. I’ve had a read around it and apparently it’s a contentious passage theologically. It made me sit up, that’s for sure.