YOLB Month 5

Due Date: Friday November 20

For this week your task is to take two of the Bible verses Jacobs uses at the beginning of each day he writes about and analyze both the meaning behind the quote and how this applies to life / how it is interpreted by Jacobs. So for both:

Write the quote, describe what it means and apply it to either Jacobs journey in literalism and/or what it means, metaphorically, in the modern world.


You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged...
-Leviticus 19:32 (NASB)

Jacobs uses this quote to show the Bible's longstanding tradition of respecting the elderly. Throughout history the elderly have been thought of as being the wisest members of society because they have lived the longest and learned many lessons most of us have yet to learn. They have come up with solutions to their problems, and have learned how to get through difficult situations. Jacobs also remembers one Bible verse that states one should stand for the elderly, so Jacobs practices this when he goes out for dinner. Jacobs includes one experience in particular in which he, his wife and his son go to a restaurant and see an elderly man with his family. The man gets up to use the restroom, and when he returns he sits at the wrong table. Jacobs wife looks like she is about to cry, and commends Jacob's respect for the elderly. This longstanding tradition of respecting the elderly throughout many cultures around the world is promoted in the Bible, and is thankfully one that is not difficult to interpret.


But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.
-Deuteronomy 29:4

After Jacobs mentions this quote, he talks about how he will never be able to fully understand the Bible or meaning of God. There are so many interpretations and so many pieces that don't make sense that he must just trust that God knows what he is doing, even if we don't. It is an ultimate test of faith to blindly believe something in a holy text, or a religion without reason or understanding. Jacobs mentions the term 'bedrock' to mean the deep underlying meaning of the Bible and religion. Jacobs quotes Yossi, one of his spiritual leaders, saying "The ancient rabbis themselves don't even claim to have struck the bedrock (182)." This goes back to the puzzle quote in that a puzzle is meant to be difficult to figure out, and that is the point of it. Just like religion, if it were easy, it would not be considered holy and many people would not spend a lot of time interpreting the Bible. The reason there is such a large culture around religion is that the Bible is difficult to understand, and each sect of religion tries to come up with their own unique meaning. Jacobs is discovering this very point as he explores one year of living biblically.