A Supernatural Book: How can I understand the Old Testament?
One of the things you may notice as you take your first steps as a new Christian is that suddenly everybody seems to be talking about the Bible.
When you go to church everyone seems to be carrying one around. During the service they all seem to know something about the Bible that you might not have discovered yet.
Like - where things are.
Strange things, like Habakkuk. And Philemon. The preacher mentions something unpronounceable and everybody dives into their Bibles, riffling through those thin pages to find the passage. When the preacher starts to read you may still be running your finger down the table of contents looking for Zephaniah.
The Bible is such an imposing work. You've read long books before, but this is the champion. More than fifteen hundred pages - without pictures. How will you ever get a handle on such a monumental piece of literature?
Is there some method to this manuscript magnificence? Is there some way to get a grip on this Book so it doesn't seem so overwhelming? What should you know about the Bible, and how can you get started reading it without being swept away by its size?
Divide and conquer
Think about pizza for a moment. A pizza is a rather large hunk of food. That's why Domino's and Pizza Hut use those nifty pizza choppers to slice up your saucy treat into manageable slices.
Can you imagine someone turning up his nose at a Big Foot pizza because it's too big to eat? No, we cut the thing up and eat it slice by slice. And if there's too much, we put the rest in the fridge and eat it tomorrow.
Yet there are people who refuse to read the Bible because they feel it is too long.
There's no question about that - it is long!
It contains the history of humanity's existence on earth (from the beginning until about two thousand years ago). It tells us everything God wants us to know about the Israelites, His chosen people. It gives us the condensed histories of people like Noah, Abraham, King David, Jonah, Paul, and John the Baptist. And it tells us all the things God chose for us to know about the early life of Jesus Christ our Savior. Yes, it is long.
But you don't have to read it all by tomorrow.
It'll keep.
Like a sixteen-inch pepperoni-and-sausage marvel, the Bible has been portioned off to aid us in our digestion of its contents. You can take your time with it, one section at a time. The goal is to divide and conquer.
The ingredients
It's not usually safe to eat a pizza without knowing who made it and what it has inside. Likewise, it wouldn't be fair to ask you to accept the Bible without giving you some background about its contents. Truth in labeling being a major issue today, we don't want to take any chances. Here's what the label on the side of a Bible would say:
* Inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). Through humans who were touched by God in a special way to write down what He wanted them to say, God wrote the Bible.
* Contains sixty-six books, written by a widely diverse group of people, yet with one central theme: the human need for redemption and God's plan for it. It took forty authors approximately fifteen hundred years to write the Bible.
* Survived all attempts to destroy it. The Russians spent seventy-four years of this century trying to discredit it, finally to give up and begin printing it.
* Contains God's only plan for salvation.
* Tells us what God has in store for the future of the earth.
* Gives us some very clear guidelines for how to live.
Now that's a list that makes the government's daily nutritional requirements on the side of a box of Cheerios look rather bland.
The portions
Let's begin our enjoyment of God's Word by cutting it up into two major portions - the Old Testament and the New Testament. Then we can take each of those halves and slice them up into more manageable sections.
No one knows for sure how much historical ground the Old Testament covers as far as actual number of years are concerned, but one thing is for sure: old is a good word to describe it. The first three words of Genesis 1, the first chapter of the Bible, make that clear. They say, "In the beginning."
The Old Testament covers human history from the moment of Creation - and it gives evidence of God's existence even before that (see Psalm 90:1-2) - until four hundred years before Jesus arrived on earth in human form.
During that period of time several key events stand out. Those events, when understood in their context and sequence, will give you a good start in understanding the Old Testament.
Main events in Old Testament history
Perhaps the best way to gain a preliminary understanding of the Old Testament is to outline the key events of each book.
9. Rule of judges & kings - Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes
10. Exile & return of Israel - Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
11. Time of the prophets - Isaiah through Malachi
As you begin to read small sections of the Old Testament (maybe over a pizza to remind you about the reason for manageable slices), you will notice a story unfolding - the story of what God wants you to know about humanity in general and the people of Israel in particular. Like Cliff's Notes for the Bible, here are some brief summaries that should help you understand what you are reading:
Creation of the universe: Genesis 1-2
Noted astronomer Carl Sagan has pondered life's biggest mystery and has concluded: "The cosmos is all there is." In other words, the distinguished stargazer is saying that our earth and its neighboring galaxies came into existence without assistance.
He's not alone in his thinking. Many intelligent people hold to the theory that the existence of our planet and its riders is a matter of chance - that somehow it created itself. There is no room in this theory for God.
The Bible, however, starts from a far different perspective. It starts with God's powerful hand sweeping across the vast expanse of nothingness and calling the world into existence. Interesting, isn't it, that humanity's greatest question, "Where did we come from?" is God's first answer in Genesis.
Genesis 1 and 2 spell out, in simple terms, how things were "in the beginning."
Fall of man: Genesis 3
If you recall the discussion of salvation in chapter 1, you remember that the actions of two people thousands of years ago are still causing trouble today.
As our spiritual and physical progenitors, Adam and Eve set the spiritual tone for all of humankind when they failed to obey God's clear command. He told them not to eat the fruit of a certain tree, but they let Satan talk them into it. When they sinned, sin became a part of our heritage.
In explaining the results of their actions, God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 3:22). Genesis 3 tells us how human beings came to be cut off from something we could have had - eternal life. Later in the Bible we will read how that problem can be solved for people one at a time.
Noah and the Flood: Genesis 6-9
The actions of the people who lived after Adam and Eve proved without a doubt that they had inherited a nature determined to do evil.
People, as a result of that sinful nature, could not help but sin. Imagine the sorrow this caused God - who created such majesty and beauty in the world and gave humans the opportunity to enjoy it in perfection.
The writer of Genesis described God's reaction vividly: "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain" (6:5-6).
So grieved was God that He decided to start over.
Only one person seemed to be living the kind of life God designed - a man named Noah. He was a "righteous man, blameless among the people, and he walked with God" (6:9).
And because he was righteous, he not only walked with God, he sailed with Him, too.
God directed Noah to save his family and earth's animals by constructing a huge boat - big enough to accommodate two of each animal and still leave room for Noah, his wife, and his three sons and their wives.
Once these people and beasts were safely inside, God shut the door and sent a deluge of water to destroy the wicked people. This story - one of the best known of Bible events - symbolizes for us the salvation that we have in Christ that we read about in more detail in the New Testament. Only through faithful obedience to God could Noah and his family escape the watery judgment and live to repopulate the earth.
Founding of Israel: Genesis 12-23
Have you ever wondered why the tiny nation of Israel, which clings to life on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, continues to survive? While her neighbors always seem ready to overwhelm her and push her people out into the sea, Israel maintains an uneasy peace - standing her ground against all who take her on.
By all rights the Jews should have ceased to exist long ago. They have been oppressed, uprooted, taken captive, persecuted, and maligned like no other group. For thousands of years, they have been victims of intolerance, violence, and hate.
So why have they not been annihilated like other groups in history? Mainly because they are, in God's eyes, a special people. He anointed them when He made a covenant with Abraham, the original Jew and the father of the Jewish people. And God has preserved the Jews through the centuries and has given them a key role in world events.
Part of the beauty of the Old Testament is the element of suspense that it carries with it. In several places the writers foretell the coming of a person who will save God's people. This great person, we learn, will be a descendant of Abraham - a Jew. One reason for God's preservation of Israel, at least through the first century AD, was because that nation was to produce the One who would save people of all nations.
But God's promises to Israel did not stop with the birth of Messiah Jesus. If so, those who have tried to destroy the Jews throughout history might have succeeded.
No, Israel was also promised a role of importance in a future society - one that will exist at God's command at the end of this present age.
As you read through the account of Israel's beginnings in Genesis, look for God's promises to the people. They will help you see why Israel is still so important today.
Enslavement of Israel: Exodus 1
It didn't take long for trouble to start for the people of Israel. The descendants of Abraham, the father of Israel, left Canaan, the homeland God gave them, to escape a drought. Their search for food took them to Egypt, where an Israelite named Joseph had come to power as prime minister. The people of Israel settled in this new land and, for the next two hundred years or so, prospered.
But then a new king took the throne of Egypt. This pharaoh, as he was called, thought the Israelites were growing too numerous. He ordered them into slavery, putting cruel masters over them to force them to work.
Pharaoh's plan, though, had a flaw. He did not realize that he was dealing with a group of people who were especially favored in God's eyes. He did not know that God heard their cry for help (Exodus 2:24). He did not know about the man who, ironically, had grown up in the pharaoh's house and would be the only person who could stand up and force him to let the Israelites go.
Deliverance through Moses: Exodus 2-12
Moses had to deal with one tough pharaoh. In his drive to convince the Egyptian leader to let the Israelites get out of Egypt, Moses had to pull out all the stops. Here's a look at the things God did as Moses stood before the pharaoh to ask for freedom for His people:
*Turned a staff into a snake
*Turned the Nile River into blood
*Plagued the land with a blanket of frogs
*Sent gnats as numerous as the grains of sand
*Unleashed swarms of flies over the land
*Killed all of the livestock belonging to the Egyptians
*Afflicted the people and animals with boils
*Rained hail over the land of Egypt
*Sent locusts to devour the crops
*Darkened Egypt for three days
*Killed the firstborn of both people and animals in all Egypt, but protected the Jews.
With God guiding him, Moses overcame the pharaoh's recalcitrance and won freedom for his people. When the final plague hit the pharaoh's household - the plague of death that struck down the firstborn in his family - he at last relented. "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites!" the pharaoh told Moses and Moses' brother, Aaron, in a middle-of-the-night summons.
Moses quickly rounded up the people, collected clothing, gold, and silver from the Egyptians, and headed southeast toward the Red Sea. It was exactly 430 years to the day since the Israelites had entered Egypt. Six hundred thousand men, along with the women and children, were about to embark on an incredible journey.
Imagine the thrill the Israelites experienced as they left the land where they were slaves for so long. They were free, and they also had God's promise that they would be traveling to the land of Canaan, the land already promised to them (Genesis 15:13-16). Soon, they expected, they would enter their homeland.
Along the journey God had some important lessons He wanted to teach them - lessons in faith.
The people hadn't been out of Egypt very long before they began to have second thoughts about this trip. Despite the grand and impressive miracle that God did to allow them to cross the Red Sea just before a marauding band of Pharaoh's horsemen could get to them, the people began to lose their trust. First they ran out of water. Then they ran out of food.
God, however, never runs out of anything. So He changed bitter water into good drinking water. He sent quail for their food, and He followed that with a daily harvest of manna - bread straight from heaven. Often the people showed a tendency to forget that God was there to guide them and care for them. Yet despite their grumblings, God always took care of them. It was during this first part of the wilderness travels that a special day - a Sabbath day - was set aside for the people to worship God.
For almost an entire year the people camped at the base of Mount Sinai. While they were there, three significant events took place: they received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19-24); they drifted from God into idolatry (Exodus 32); and they constructed the tabernacle (Exodus 25-31; 35-40; Leviticus 1-9; 16; 23), a visible place they could visit to worship God.
When the Sinai stay was over, the Israelites packed up and headed for Kadesh-barnea, where twelve spies were sent ahead to inspect the land that had been promised to them. Two of the inspectors came back and enthusiastically recommended that the land was ready to be taken. But ten of the spies did not think it was possible. Although the land seemed to have all the natural resources the people needed, the ten who doubted were afraid of being defeated in battle by enemy soldiers. The naysayers won out, and the people decided not to go into the land.
Because of this lack of faith, God vowed that none of the people who started out from Egypt would enter the land. As a result, the people spent the next forty years roaming the desert, unable to claim their Promised Land. At the end of those years, shortly after Moses died at the age of 120, the people and Joshua, their new leader, entered Canaan.
Time of victory: Joshua
For forty years, the people had been promised a land of their own to inhabit. Sometimes faithfully and sometimes reluctantly, the people followed the leadership of Moses, who brought them to the edge of the Promised Land. But it was Joshua who led them to their goal.
Imagine being in Joshua's sandals. Suddenly he was the leader of millions of people. Surely he must have wondered if he was up to the task. Yet God immediately gave him the confidence he needed by saying, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). It is one thing for someone to encourage you to succeed; it is quite another for the encourager to also be the enabler. Joshua could do nothing but win with the help God was offering.
And win Israel did. After some exciting adventures in scouting out and claiming the land (read about it in Joshua 1-5), the Israelites went on the attack. In a series of campaigns, they conquered the land in various interesting ways, including the capture of Jericho through the strange strategy of walking around the city; the defeat of an alliance with the help of God-directed changes in the weather and the movement of the sun; and victory through disabling the enemy's horses.
After these victories, the Israelites settled in their new homeland, dividing it among the twelve tribes of people who made up the Israelite population. It seemed that they, assisted by God in their efforts to conquer the land, would finally have a long life of success that would give honor to the God of their deliverance. As the book ends, Joshua reminds them of all that God had done for them.
Rule of judges & kings: Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs
When the people of Israel settled in the Promised Land, they conquered all but one of the enemies that could have forced them out. And that one enemy territory remained unconquered because of the Israelites own stubbornness. The Lord told the people to destroy this remaining group, the Canaanites, totally (Deuteronomy 7:2). But the Israelites failed to take care of them. As a result, these wicked, pagan, corrupt people caused all kinds of trouble for God's people.
Still the Israelites were not content to do as they were told, nor were they willing to stop doing what they knew was wrong. They wanted independence from God. As Judges 17:6 explains, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." And what they saw fit to do was not what God wanted them to do. They turned their backs on the faith of their fathers, and they gave their allegiance to false gods such as Baal and Ashtoreth.
Over and over the people suffered defeat at the hands of nations such as Mesopotamia, Philistia, and Midian. Periodically a new judge arose to rule over the land, and Israel would enjoy a temporary time of peace and obedience to God. These good times, however, were inevitably followed by periods of disobedience and oppression. This hills-and-valleys existence lasted for approximately three hundred years. All the while, God demonstrated His mercy and patience by keeping Israel in the center of His love.
The people cried out to Samuel, a prophet of God who was the greatest of the judges of Israel, asking for a king. They were wrong in this request, for it indicated that they trusted a human being to give them the protection God Himself had promised them earlier. They wanted a king instead of being directly ruled by God.
Yet God did honor Israel's request. For the next 120 years after the time of the judges, Israel was ruled by three kings, each of whom served for 40 years: Saul, David, and Solomon. The stories of the three kings, presented in 1 Samuel (Saul), 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Psalms (David), and 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes (Solomon), record an exciting array of ways God works in the hearts of those in power. Often the kings did not do what was right in God's eyes, but again and again God was longsuffering and loving with these men and the people they ruled.
This time of kings moved through two stages. The first, with Saul, David, and Solomon as rulers of a kingdom that was united, gave way to a much longer period of time during which the kingdom was divided into two parts: the northern kingdom, called Israel, and the southern kingdom, called Judah. This divided kingdom era was initiated during the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam, and it continued until the land was overrun and taken captive by the Babylonians 460 years after Saul was named the first king.
Exile and return of Israel: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
Both kingdoms eventually grew indifferent to God's call, which came through various prophets, to repent and return to honoring Him. The northern kingdom fell first, to Assyria; the people eventually became a part of that nation, never again to have a separate identity. The southern kingdom fell later, to Babylon. These captives, however, retained their separate identity and were eventually allowed to go back to Jerusalem, their home.
Time of the prophets: Isaiah through Malachi
God called out special spokespersons who were His mouthpieces to the people of Palestine and the lands around it. They were called prophets, and they had various tasks. Sometimes they let rulers know what God's will was. Sometimes they preached righteousness. Sometimes they rebuked sinners. Sometimes they told of coming judgment. Sometimes they foretold events. Sometimes they talked about salvation. God's prophets diligently reminded the people of their covenant with God.
The greatest task of all, though, was that these prophets proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. Although they had no idea when He was coming, the prophets set the stage for the new era - the era of Jesus' life and death on earth for us.
Getting into the Word
These key verses help provide an overview of the Old Testament.
* Genesis 1:1
* Exodus 3:8
* Leviticus 11:45
* Numbers 14:6-10
* Deuteronomy 5:29
* Joshua 11:23
* Judges 17:6
* Ruth 1:16-17
* 1 Samuel 8:19-22
* 2 Samuel 5:12
* 1 Kings 12:19
* 2 Kings 17:22-23
* 1 Chronicles 16:31
* 2 Chronicles 7:14
* Nehemiah 4:6
* Esther 4:14
* Job 1:21
* Psalm 150:6
* Proverbs 9:10
* Ecclesiastes 12:13
* Isaiah 1:18
* Daniel 2:20-23
Thinking it through
Consider the following questions as you reflect on what you have read in this chapter.
* Why did God spend so much time in His Word talking about the Israelites? Why shouldn't Christians focus only on the New Testament, where the story of Jesus and of salvation is told?
* What about the Old Testament sounds exciting to read?
* What will it take in the next year or so for you to gain a clear understanding of the Old Testament? What are you willing to invest in order for that to happen?
Getting practical
Try these suggestions for applying what you have read.
* Start a book-of-the-month club, with yourself as the only member. Set out to spend a month reading and studying each of these books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. Then move to other books in the Old Testament. Psalms will take longer than a month to digest, but others will take less time.
* Get an audiotape of the Old Testament to supplement your reading. It will help you stay with it when the narrative gets tough.
Exploring the subject further
The following books are good resources to help you with your understanding of the Old Testament.
* A Popular Survey of the Old Testament, Norman L. Geisler
* The Heart of the Old Testament, Ronald Youngblood
