Note about last chapter's summary: Someone rightfully pointed out that Uncle Andrew taking a few drinks isn't the same as getting drunk. I'm sorry about that, went back and fixed that in the previous post.

Summary

Aunt Letty confronts Jadis immediately and orders her to leave the house. Jadis tries to blast Aunt Letty like she did to Charn's gates, but realizes that power doesn't work in our world. Instead, she grabs Aunt Letty, lifts her above her head, and throws Letty across the room. The hansom arrives, so Jadis leaves with Uncle Andrew.

Aunt Letty fortunately is uninjured due to landing on a mattress. Digory has to consider his options. He doesn't realize that Jadis has lost her "blasting" powers, but worries about the damage she can do in London. Digory plans to get Jadis back into the Wood using his yellow ring, but with no money and no idea where she is, he realizes his best chance is to wait until she and his Uncle return. Polly is sent to her room when she can't fully explain to her mother why her clothes are wet from the previous chapters.

While Digory's waiting, he overhears his Aunt Letty talking to a visitor about Mabel's ( Digory's mother) illness and that only fruit from the land of youth could do her any good. Digory gets wild hope from this and begins thinking of using the ring to explore other worlds when he sees Jadis.

Jadis arrives, standing on the roof of the hansom and flogging the horse Strawberry without mercy. The hansom crashes into a lamppost, but Jadis jumps clear and rides the horse. The police and a crowd of spectators show up. A policeman tries to question Uncle Andrew, but has to step back to avoid getting killed by Strawberry. The Cabby (Strawberry's owner and the owner of the smashed hansom) arrives and tries to talk to Jadis and soothe Strawberry. Jadis responds by saying, "Dog! Dog, unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis."

Thoughts

Jadis standing on the hansom roof as she rides was quite the striking image and I liked how the text described it. It's also interesting that Digory's fixation on the land of youth becomes his focus for a good amount of the rest of this book, from what I remember.

Optional Discussion Questions

You don't have to answer all/any of these questions, they're just for discussion.

1. Why do you suppose Letty thought Jadis was from a circus and why does she not approve of bare arms? Also, what is sal volatile?

2. Do you suppose the Wood had something to do with Jadis no longer having her "blasting" powers or is it from being in our world?

3. I personally found the "Sarah the housemaid having a great day" running joke to be funny, though maybe it's not for everyone. What do you think of it?

4. The text mentions Digory, his Mother, and Aunt Letty having lunch, while Polly shows up late for dinner. I'm a bit confused here. Is something happening with the day that I'm not getting, are Digory and Polly's families acting differently, or both? And what are your impressions of Digory's and Polly's families, from the brief glimpses we get?

5. What do you think of Aunt Letty mentioning the land of youth and Digory's hope that he gets as a result?

6. What'd you think of Jadis' return on the hansom? And what are your thoughts on the police and the crowd showing up?

7. What do you think of the Cabby?

8. Anything else you want to ask about/bring up about this chapter?

I'm back! Thanks to everyone who covered for me this month! I hope my absence didn't cause too much of an issue.

It's been a while since I've done an introduction. Also, I'm trying not to use YouTube videos or the Internet for this (though feel free to plug in any sources in your comments). I'm just basing this introduction off of reading through Lamentations just now and some commentary notes in a Bible I've got. So if you feel like I've missed something or if some information I've got is outdated, feel free to correct me in the comments!

Introduction

Lamentations is written as a response to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile in 586 B.C. The last King of Judah, Zedekiah, has been blinded and taken away in chains to die in Babylon, the people have been taken away in captivity, and the city of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple have been burned (2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 52, etc)

The author of Lamentations is unnamed, though apparently tradition seems to believe Jeremiah was the writer. In any case, the writer seems to be an eyewitness to what's happened.

Lamentations consists of 5 chapters. Chapters 1-2 and 4-5 have 22 verses for each chapter, while chapter 3 has 66 verses. Evidently the first 4 chapters are written as an acrostic poem, with each verse starting with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The main theme of Lamentations is grief as a response to what's happened. There is hope in this book, but the book doesn't start with that.

Chapter 1 depicts Jerusalem as a widow in her grief. She states that God has brought her grief through the Babylonian siege, but at the same time acknowledges her responsibility due to her sins and rebellion (Lamentations 1: 5, 14-15, 17-18). She also calls God to look upon her affliction (Lamentations 1:9).

Chapter 2 describes God's anger against Jerusalem, the anguish of the people (notably the children suffering in verses 12, 20 and also Lamentations 4:3-4, 10). Verses 15-16 show Jerusalem's enemies laughing at her destruction, while verses 18-20 cry out to God.

Chapter 3 gets us into the author's personal account of his pain. It's also in this chapter where we get the most famous/hopeful verses of this book, Lamentations 3:22-23.

Chapter 4 goes into once again the children suffering and the broken/disgraced leadership.

Chapter 5 is the people calling upon God to remember what has happened to them and to see their disgrace (verse 1). The book ends by saying, "Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure" (Lamentations 5:21-22 NIV).

Discussion Questions

1. When was the last time you personally read Lamentations (if at all)?

2. So apparently Lamentations is one of the few books this subreddit hasn't covered before. What are you hoping to get out of this study?

3. 1 Kings starts off in David's (possibly Israel's best king) last days and Israel as a United Kingdom, while 2 Kings ends with the Babylonian Exile. My rough math of the line of David (from Solomon to Zedekiah) gave me a rough estimate of 440+ years.

What I'm trying to get at is this destruction didn't happen overnight. We finished wrapping up 2 Kings earlier this year and we read through Ezekiel recently. Based on what we've read, what caused this downfall to happen? And is any one person to blame? The kings (notably for me Solomon, Jeroboam I, Ahab and Jezebel, Manasseh, Zedekiah)? The false prophets? The people? All of the above?

4. Does Lamentations remind you of any other incidents in the Bible or any historical events?

5. What are you hoping to learn about God and His character in Lamentations?

6. Lamentations 3: 22-23 and the ending of this book are probably the notable places to look for hope in this book. What does it say to you about this book that these verses are found in such a dark book like this?

7. Feel free to ask any questions/bring up anything about this Introduction that you want to take note of before we start Lamentations tomorrow!

Summary

Digory and Polly find themselves in a courtyard with a red light. Unlike the rich and warm silence of The Wood Between the Worlds, this new place has a dead, cold, empty silence. Polly insists that they should go home, but Digory says they should take off their green rings and look around.

Eventually, the two children find a room full of crowned figures. Polly takes interest in the clothes that the figures are wearing, while Digory is more drawn to their faces. Both think that the figures were nice people, but as they walk further into the room, the faces appear crueler and unhappy. The last figure in the room is a woman, fierce, proud, and beautiful.

Going back to the center of the room, Digory and Polly find a bell and a hammer on a pillar. After reading the inscription on the pillar, Digory insists on ringing the bell so that he isn't left wondering what would've happened if they had, while Polly believes that Digory's just putting it on that the Magic in the room's working on him. The argument escalates, with Digory grabbing Polly by the wrist (so that she can't put on her yellow ring and leave) and ringing the bell.

Thoughts

Besides the silence, I thought the most unnerving part was where the children couldn't see anything in the dark windows, but kept turning around in the courtyard since they were afraid of eyes staring at them through the windows.

One part I also noticed was Polly saying that Digory looked like his Uncle Andrew when he claimed that girls were only interested in gossip and people getting engaged. I was reminded of 1-2 instances in Dawn Treader where another character is compared to his awful uncle when he's talking about unpleasant topics.

Optional Discussion Questions

You don't have to answer all/any of these questions, they're just for discussion.

1. Besides the hall and the figures inside, what stands out to you about this other world?

2. Anything stand out to you about the hall and the figures inside?

3. The narrator points out that if Digory had remembered what he'd said before entering that the room was enchanted, he might've guessed that the enchantment was starting to work. Polly thinks that Digory's just putting it on about the Magic working on him. Is there an enchantment actually influencing Digory, is Polly correct in what she's saying, are both things actually true, or is something else happening?

4. Chapter 2 has Uncle Andrew saying, "You really must learn to control that temper of yours, my boy. Otherwise you'll grow up to be just like your Aunt Letty." Was Uncle Andrew actually correct on this? Based on what you've read in this chapter, does Digory's temper play a role? Based on what we've seen of Digory, what would you say are his character flaws?

5. Does Polly share any blame for what happened at the end of this chapter or is Digory mainly at fault? If Polly does share any responsibility, what (if anything) should she have done differently?

6. Feel free to ask any other questions/bring up anything else that stands out to you about this chapter!

Summary

After emerging from a pool, Digory finds himself in a wood with dozens of pools. Though he finds Polly there, neither know who they are or remember fully what's happened to them until they notice a guinea pig with a yellow ring.

Before going home with their green rings, Digory gets the idea of exploring the other pools to see if there are other worlds at the bottom of each one. Polly insists they use the green rings first to make sure they can get home first. After seeing that they can return home and marking the homeward pool, Digory and Polly use the yellow rings on another pool. The initial attempt only gets them wet, so they switch to the green rings and jump in the pool again.

Thoughts

It's interesting that The Wood Between The Worlds is quiet, but also subtly threatening. It made Polly and Digory briefly forget everything about themselves and they would've had a difficult (if not impossible) time returning home if Polly hadn't made sure they marked the homeward pool before moving on to the others. I also found it interesting that the text notes that although Polly was as brave as Digory about some things, she was less interested in discovering new things than he was.

Discussion Questions

You don't have to answer all/any of these questions, they're just for discussion.

1. The text notes that when Digory tries to describe the Wood, he calls it rich as plumcake. Have you ever had plumcake? Would you say it's a fitting description?

2. What are your impressions of The Wood Between The Worlds in this chapter? And does Digory's explanation of it to Polly make sense to you?

3. Depending on what order you read the books, were you surprised to learn that Digory and the Professor in the other books were the same person?

4. Towards the end of this chapter, we learn Uncle Andrew was wrong about how the rings worked. What are your thoughts on the rings' origins? And based on what we've seen of Uncle Andrew in this book so far, does this surprise you that he was wrong?

5. Feel free to ask any other questions/bring up anything else about this chapter that stands out to you!

Hopefully, I'm not breaking any of the rules on this subreddit. I just found out about this subreddit just now. I apologize in advance if I missed anything/if I need to edit my post or anything.

First off, if this isn't allowed, I apologize in advance and I'll delete this post if necessary.

I was thinking about this a little earlier today and I thought I'd ask this as a suggestion.

I've seen on this subreddit that there's been recent news about The Magician's Nephew movie. It occurred to me that I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) that I don't think this subreddit's done a chapter by chapter read through/discussion thread of the books here? I'm pretty sure there's been some for LOTR and Wheel of Time, but not one for Narnia. I took a quick skim on Google, but I didn't see anything for Narnia. If there has been one, I guess it was a long time ago.

I'm not really sure how this would work. I think my vague idea was a summary of the chapter, thoughts/observations on the chapter (if any), and some discussion questions based on the reading.

I will say ahead of time, I have read the whole series before, but it's been a while. I will also say I'm not a Narnia expert.

Follow-up questions:

1. First off, would you be open to this idea of doing a chapter by chapter read through?
2. Should there be separate discussion threads for each chapter- 1 for possible first-time readers and another for people who have read the entire series? Or should it just be one collective post per chapter?
3. With the new movie coming out, do you think this should possible idea should just be limited to TMN? Or should it be the whole series?
4. Related to Q3, should this hypothetical read through start with publication order (starting with LWW) or chronological order (starting with TMN)?
5. Would anyone be interested in doing the chapter posts with me? If this sort of thing were allowed, I didn't really have a set time/schedule in mind. If I just made the posts myself, I'd just do them on my own time/when I felt up to it.

Like I said, I just decided to make this post as a suggestion at the moment. Thanks for your feedback in advance!

Prophecy Against Mount Seir

35 The word of the Lord came to me: ^(2) “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, ^(3) and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. ^(4) I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Lord. ^(5) Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, ^(6) therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. ^(7) I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. ^(8) And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall. ^(9) I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

^(10) “Because you said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them’—although the Lord was there—^(11) therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them. And I will make myself known among them, when I judge you. ^(12) And you shall know that I am the Lord.

“I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given us to devour.’ ^(13) And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it. ^(14) Thus says the Lord God: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. ^(15) As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Questions

1. What do you know/remember about Mount Seir and/or Edom?

2. For verse 5, what is this "you cherished perpetual enmity" and "their calamity" referring to? And why does Mount Seir/Edom cherish this enmity?

3. What is God accusing Mount Seir/Edom of doing?

4. For verse 10, what are the 2 nations and countries mentioned here? And if this is a reference to what we saw in 2 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 25, why might Mount Seir/Edom believe they would be able to take possession of them since Assyria and Babylon were the 2 main empires involved in conquering Israel/Judah?

5. For verses 10-13 (particularly verse 13), why does God view this as Mount Seir/Edom speaking against Him?

6. Looking back at how we started Ezekiel part 2 (feel free to correct me if I'm missing anything):

Chapter 25 was against the other nations-Ammon, Moab, Edom and the Philistines.

Chapters 26-28 were about Tyre and Sidon.

Chapters 29-32 were about Egypt.

Chapters 33-34 concerned the Israelites.

Chapter 35 is focused on Mount Seir/Edom. Taking a look at 36, it looks like attention will be focused back on Israel.

Why is this chapter 35 about Mount Seir/Edom put in between chapters 33-34 and chapter 36 primarily talking about Israel? And why are they the last enemy nation covered in detail in Ezekiel part 2 so far?

7. Anything else you want to ask about/bring up about this passage?