The Old Testament is heavy going. I've read a fair bit of old testament before but I suppose I've stuck with those sections that get regularly sermonised- Genesis, maybe Exodus, Psalms, Proverbs. Chronicles, it turns out, is full of lots of death and treachery and people being killed for being disloyal to God. And they keep going back to worshipping these Asherah poles.
The second thing I'm noticing is the difference in scale and scope of the Old vs. New. I knew already that the OT was considered to be dryer in style but also full of stories. I am struck by how much the OT covers in a chapter though- a generation, vs. a conversation in the NT. The NT also seems to do a lot more analysing and advising, with a couple of stories/anecdotes to support a point. Chronicles is just ripping through, with little appearance of rhyme or reason-- generally, people are punished for their disloyalty to God, but occasionally a person is saved because of the loyalty of their ancestors. It's not that this makes no sense, but there's a lot less of the clear interpretation and direction given to us in the NT. Which is not that surprising I suppose, but it's really striking when they're side by side.
The NT passages have been quite moving, in contrast. The account of Jesus's last supper and his knowledge of Judas's betrayal was sad and I feel for Judas, as an adult. He was so flawed and doomed by his behaviour, and knowing that he hanged himself is so tragic.
Unfortunately I'm so out of practice with all this that I'm tending just to fly through it all to get it done-- it doesn't help that I'm so behind! But I'm glad I'm doing it, mostly, anyway.
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