On Sunday, August 16, 2026, I celebrated twenty-one years of blogging. I began blogging at the suggestion of my son, J. R. At first, I was a novice trying to figure out what a blog even was, let alone how to publish one. My son gave me many ideas for posts and, for a time, he managed the process of publishing the blog himself, while I learned to find my footing as a writer for this new medium.
History
In a tribute of gratitude for J. R.’s contribution to my blog, I once wrote:
Today, however, I want to say that my blog owes much of its success to the work of my son, a work that is done mostly in the background. Several days ago, a reader asked me who J. R. Mariottini, my team member, was. J. R. is my son, and J. R. stands for Claude Mariottini, Jr.
J. R. works for a company that provides support work for companies using Oracle. Because of his knowledge of computers and software, J. R. has designed and maintained the web page since its inception. In fact, it was my son who encouraged me to begin a web page and to blog on a regular basis.
In addition, J. R. has given me ideas for blog posts and has suggested topics for me to research and write about. More than anyone else, J. R. has promoted the success of my blog. As a result of his work, thousands of people visit both the web page and the blog regularly. Many pastors, churches, seminary students, and lay people have linked my blog to their own. The comments and emails I receive from readers in the United States and around the world attest to the success and popularity of my blog. I owe my son a debt of gratitude that I can never fully repay.
Statistics
I began blogging with Blogger on August 16, 2005. On April 10, 2011, I transferred my blog to WordPress. The reception of my blog was slow and humbling at first, and it was a great day when I finally achieved one hundred views in a single day. Today I average fifteen hundred views a day. Over these twenty-one years I have written 3,073 posts, and my readers have left 9,142 comments.
During my years blogging with Blogger, before I transferred to WordPress, my posts had been read 666,822 times. Since April 10, 2011, my posts have been read on WordPress 3,340,413 times, for a combined total of 4,007,235 views.
My posts have now been read by people in 235 countries and territories. Only two nations in the world have not visited my blog: North Korea, which is not surprising given its restrictions on internet access, and São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island nation off the coast of West Africa whose primary language is Portuguese. I am also honored that readers from within the Vatican have visited my blog forty-seven times.
Top Ten Countries
These are the ten countries from which most of my visitors come:
1. United States 2. United Kingdom 3. Canada 4. Australia 5. India
6. Nigeria 7. South Africa 8. Philippines 9. Kenya 10. China
Top Ten Posts
These are my ten most widely read posts:
1. Who Was King Lemuel? — Read 94,959 times
2. The Seven Prophetesses of the Old Testament — Read 88,028 times*
3. Erkamka na Adonai — Read 75,643 times
4. The Name of God: Jehovah — Read 57,958 times
5. God’s Covenant with Israel — Read 56,986 times
6. How Long Did Saul Reign in Israel? — Read 49,480 times*
7. How Much Did Hosea Pay for His Wife? — Read 36,552 times
8. Hezekiah 3:16 — Read 36,368 times
9. The Rape of Bilhah — Read 35,515 times*
10. Ecclesiastes 7:28: Not One Upright Woman? — Read 35,408 times
The Archive section of the blog contains a collection of studies on several special topics. The Archive is divided into two sections. The first section, Studies on the Books of the Old Testament, contains posts on all thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. The second section, Studies on Special Topics, contains series of studies on issues and subjects of interest relating to the Old Testament.
The posts marked above with an asterisk (*) have been withdrawn from the blog for publication in my books. However, because of the popularity of these posts, I plan to restore them so that readers can continue to enjoy their content.
Results
It is hard to fully measure the impact these posts have had on the Christian community around the world. For people living in nations where Christianity is a minority faith, and where Christians are persecuted because of their beliefs, these posts give them the opportunity to read essays on biblical subjects written from an academic and pastoral perspective.
Through WhatsApp, I have been able to speak personally with readers in India and Pakistan. I have also taught two Bible studies to members of a Christian church in Lahore, Pakistan. One reader in India collected my series of studies on Jeremiah’s lamentation and published them in the Kannada dialect. Several pastors in India and in Africa have asked for permission to translate my posts into their native languages to help their congregations in Bible study.
Looking Ahead
The work of the blog continues to open doors I never anticipated. I am currently writing a series of devotional studies on Psalm 23, which I am also translating into Mandarin for readers in China and among Chinese-speaking communities abroad. I am preparing an archive page devoted to the book of Joshua, and I continue to develop material that began as classroom lecture notes during my years of teaching. A second edition of my book on Isaiah and a forthcoming aricle on justice in the books of Samuel are also underway, alongside other writing projects that grow directly out of questions readers have raised on the blog.
After more than fifty years as a pastor and thirty-three years of teaching, I have accumulated more material than I may ever be able to share with my readers. Let me offer two examples. As a pastor, I taught Bible studies every Wednesday, taught Sunday school, and preached every Sunday. I have hundreds of sermons and Bible studies that I have never posted on the blog, and I hope to publish as many of them as I can in the days and months to come.
When I taught at the seminary, I gave my students written notes from my lectures. My notes on the Pentateuch run to about one hundred fifty pages, and my notes on Old Testament theology run to almost two hundred pages. My students received written notes for every class I taught, yet only a portion of this material has appeared on the blog. In time, I hope to share these notes as blog posts, or to gather them together and publish them as books.
Conclusion
When my son first asked me to share my love and knowledge of the Old Testament through blog posts, I never imagined that my blog would reach so far, or that it would become an extension of my teaching and pastoral ministry. What began as an experiment at my son’s suggestion has become, by the grace of God, a ministry of its own.
As I celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of my blog, I am humbled and grateful for your support. You, and readers around the world, encourage me to keep writing and publishing studies on the Old Testament. To all my readers, near and far, known to me and unknown, I say thank you.
Soli Deo gloria.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
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If you are looking for other series of studies on the Old Testament, visit the Archive section and you will find many studies that deal with a variety of Old Testament topics.
Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 