Public Reading of Scripture

This practice dates all the way back to Mount Sinai when the Israelites were first rescued from Egypt. No longer slaves to the Egyptians, the people needed a new story to identify with. Moses gathered the people together and read the Scriptures aloud to them, reminding them of where they came from, who they are, and the new future they have been called to. This is the first example in the Bible of public reading of Scripture.

When the Israelites arrived in the promised land, Joshua read Scripture aloud to them again as an act of remembering their deliverance and covenant relationship with Yahweh. But after Joshua's death, we don't read much more about the public reading of Scripture. During this period, the Israelites forgot their story and their covenant promise. This led to a generation that did not know God. But centuries later, a king named Josiah rediscovered the Scriptures and called the people together to have them read aloud.

The practice of reading Scripture aloud was renewed once again, and the people of Israel came back to God for a time. Once again, their unfaithfulness coincided with forgetting the practice of publicly reading Scripture. After returning from exile, the people were ready to renew their covenant relationship with God, and this renewal was marked by a public reading of Scripture.

Because of this rich biblical history, public reading is a key practice in the Jewish faith. Jesus also participated in this practice, and it was during the weekly reading of Scripture that he launched his mission. He read from the scroll of Isaiah and then told everyone that the words he read were written about him. So when Paul talks about this practice to Timothy, there is a long history of this practice among Jewish people.