Thursday, November 04, 2004
A Survey of the Old Testament - Week One - Presented at First Pres Colo Spgs. - Spring 04 GTW
Last Spring (04) my wife Tanya and I presented a five week class that was a worldwind, 30,000 foot survey on the Old Testament. I hope you find this helpful.
Why We Are Studying the Old Testament
What most people are asked what they like about the Old Testament they almost always say the stories. While the New Testament, especially Paul?s, Peter?s and John?s letters are absolutely necessary for the guidance they provide on how to live in light of what Jesus has done on the cross, the Epistles just don?t captivate the reader the same way that the stories of Noah, Moses, Samson, Elijah, Jonah and the rest of the cast of characters from the Old Testament do. But, if you ask many people what they don?t like about the Old Testament, in addition to the genealogies , people will often tell you it?s the stories. There are so many despicable stories in the Old Testament, that we are not quite sure we want our kids reading these ancient stories.
All the story types, the good, the bad (and for poetic completeness) and the ugly are important to understanding who God is, what God is doing, and what this means to us and for us. The goal of this class is to join in the narrative of God?s movement from the beginning of creation until shortly (historically speaking) before God?s definitive movement in the incarnation. We need to join this narrative because it is our family story, as adopted children of God. It tells us whose children we are, and more importantly, what kind of God with which we are dealing.
We do not follow and abstract notion of God, but a God who moves in history to reveal his character and his nature. We learn to trust, love, and follow this God by following his actions with our spiritual predecessors. We must join in the story to see our place in the story as well.
Making the Story Come Alive
In order to see the story come alive, we have to read it. Our Bibles today are in our language, English. While English is a great language, it lacks some of the graphicness, the depth, and the beauty of Hebrew. So, as you read through the Old Testament there are five words that as you spot them in their English translation, will help bring the story alive.
? Shalom ? usually translated simply as peace ? really means much more than just the absence of war. It is the presence of wholeness, the presence of completion. The way things should be. It is things existing as God intends. Appears 250X in the OT.
? (C)hesed ? usually appears as mercy, love or lovingkindness. Means God?s deep commitment to humanity, and especially his covenant people. It is the type of love that always seeks what is best for the beloved. Appears 248X in the OT.
? Yahweh ? usually appears LORD. This is the name of God, rooted off the verb ?to be?. Names in the OT depict the character of the person. God is as he does, and he is as he has always been (meaning he is totally consistent). Many adjectives are put with this name ? most graphically Yahweh Tsabot (translated as Sovereign Lord in NIV) means the Lord of Hosts ? the one who will come and put things right. This is the conquering God that scares us and that we also look to when things are at their most troubling
? Tsedeq ? usually appears righteousness or justice. More than just courtroom justice. This is tied closely to the presence of shalom. It is the coming of right rule, of righteous living, and love and care of the people for one another. Appears 274X in the OT.
? Hanan ? usually appears as grace or favor. Depicts a heartfelt response by someone who has something to give to one who has a need. The verb describes ?an action from a superior to an inferior who has no real claim for gracious treatment.? Appears 69X in the OT.
While these words don?t make any of us Hebrew scholars, they will hopefully help us to see some of the depth behind the flat English texts that we read from Genesis to Malachi. We know in the New Testament that words like agape go far beyond our English word for love ? and it is my hope that you will now be able to see shalom, hesed, Yahweh, tsedeq and hanan as far deeper words than simply peace, love, LORD, righteousness and mercy in the Old Testament.
One thing to keep in mind with Hebrew words. They are built upon story or pictures. While the Greek language embraces abstract concepts, Hebrew words are rooted in the muck and mire of real life. Chesed is the love that keeps God in fellowship with Israel even when she is busy doing everything to wreck the relationship (think of the story of Hosea). Shalom is what we eventually see in Revelation 21 and 22, with the new creation and the nations living in totally harmony with each other. So the words listed above are not just concepts, they themselves are defined in the story we are studying in this class.
History Before History
In many ways the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis are add-ins. The story picks up its steam ? its move to redemption ? in chapter 12 with the giving of the covenant to Abraham. And yet, the first eleven chapters are the pre-history or prologue, the facts that go before the rest of the story to tell us what is going on, why it is happening, and how we know in the end that this will work its way out.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis are also what can be considered universal history. These stories have similar versions of them told in many of the other cultures of the ancient near-East (the area from Egypt to modern-day Iran). So these stories are part of the history of all of humanity (whereas beginning in Genesis 12 we get the history of a particular people ? the people of God ? which includes the Israelites, us, and people like Naaman the Syrian who chooses to follow God in 2 Kings).
One thing about history is that there is no neutral history. History is always told from the point of view of the writer. We are going to pay close attention to this history (the whole Old Testament), including the history in Genesis 1-11, because it is theological history ? History from the viewpoint of God. What do such events as creation, the great flood, and the Tower of Babel mean? We read these stories from God?s viewpoint (as best we can) so we can find out.
Genesis 1 and 2 establishes that all of creation is the handiwork of God. Regardless of how you read the story of creation (literally, poetically, or any other number of ways) the overwhelming fact is that God is the creator of all. And all that is created is created as good! It is that goodness that the story from Genesis 12 onwards is restoring ? and more than just restoring ? bringing to its ultimate fulfilment. The telling of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 carries with it a few important elements.
1) God creates all things ? including the things associated with other gods in other cultures. While almost all civilizations have a creation myth, the other myths told the story with their gods (the river god, mountain god, etc) creating the different elements of creation. Genesis 1 and 2 tells us that God (Yahweh) created all things. There are no sub-deities. Further, the ?gods? that the other cultures believe are just mere created things that Yahweh God, the one true God, has created.
2) Humanity is the crown of creation. While all things are created by God, only humanity is said to be created in the image and likeness of God. This is reaffirmed elsewhere in the Old Testament and again in the New Testament. Humanity is special in the eyes of God. This does not mean that the rest of creation is unimportant, though. Creation is our sister (never, never, ever our mother!) and is loved by God. We are called to be stewards of creation ? not its owners or kings ? that is a role for God alone.
3) Creation is part of God?s redemption plan. We are told in Romans 8 that all of creation is awaiting the final redemption of God. Because creation was created good by God (though not necessarily complete ? we had not yet arrived 
, we cannot call it evil. The ?world? that humanity has created on top of the creation is called wicked, but not creation.
Of course, the creation story ends with humanity?s fall into sin and the entrance of death and chaos onto the scene. From Genesis 3-11 we see God?s work to keep creation from spinning into ultimate chaos. There is a sense we are given that had God not acted in Genesis 3 to exclude Adam and Eve from Garden, in Genesis 7 to flood the earth, and again in Genesis 11 to frustrate the plans of Babel by the confusion of language, that humanity would have destroyed creation ? finished it instead of being partners in its redemption. From Genesis 3 to 11 God is at work holding things together (which he continues to do throughout the whole of the Bible).
Genesis 1-11 is the pre-history, and beginning in Genesis 12:1-3, we see redemption begin to move onto the stage. Genesis 12:1-3 is the fulcrum of the story of the Old Testament. Genesis 1-11 is the universal history. Genesis 12:4 to the end of the Old Testament is the story of God?s people. Genesis 12:1-3 will be the connector that makes the plan of redemption that gets going starting in Genesis 12:4 have meaning and impact on those first 11 chapters, and all of humanity (should they become children of God through the adoption of the Holy Spirit).
Abraham and the Covenant
One of the questions that should raise our curiosity as we move throughout the Old Testament is why did God choose the Jews? Come to that, why would God choose any one person or group? Doesn?t God love the whole world? In fact, it is that love for the whole world that drives God?s choice of the Abraham and of his offspring (the Jewish nation) to be bearers of his new covenant.
Genesis 12:1-3 is the key scripture, perhaps in the whole Old Testament. In it we are told of what God is busy doing.
The LORD had said to Abram, ?Leave your country, your people and your father?s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 ?I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.?
Abraham is chosen to be tool through which God decides to work his plan of redemption. Why does God choose to work in such a strange and slow way? We will never fully know. But given that God?s primary goal is to establish his kingdom on earth (the Kingdom of God), it is not surprising that God chooses to work within creation to make things happen. Additionally, we see that God works with humanity ? fallen, rebellious, and obstinate as it now is ? to be in fellowship with humanity. While we cannot ever know for sure why God chose to work in the manner he works, we can say that this is clearly the way most in keeping with his character.
And in keeping with that character is working with Abraham and the Jews. In Deuteronomy 7:7 it says that God did not choose the Israelites from the nations of the earth because of their greatness but because of their smallness and his love for them. One of the continual motifs we see through the whole Bible is the emphasis on the small, the forgotten, and the seconds (from human perspective, usually first-borns are the great characters).
God?s firm intention in the establishment of the covenant with Abraham was not to puff-up the Israelites. The blessing that comes from God is never intended for the receiver alone. It is always done with the expectation of being a conduit of blessing to others. So, God?s establishment of the blessing (covenant) with Abraham is primarily not about Abraham or his offspring, but about the whole of creation. Abraham and his family line do receive the additional blessing of being the main source through which God intends to bless the nations. This is God?s free gift to the ?least of these.? But the blessing itself is a universal blessing ? it is intended for all peoples everywhere. In fact, the Apostle Paul will say that this is the Gospel:
Galatians 3:8 - The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ?All nations will be blessed through you.?
Abraham and his direct descendents begin the putting into place of this covenant ? the working out of God?s initial stages of redemption. The bringing of life to the dead womb of Sarah, the bringing of children to the dead womb of Rebekah, the selling of Joseph into slavery in Egypt and his very difficult sojourn there are all typical of the way God works. What is dead, what is cut-off (Joseph), what is hopeless (the famine in Palestine and Egypt) is where God works. Reading the stories of Genesis we see precursors of the cross ? God using the foolish and the seeming dead-ends to bring about life, hope, renewal ? resurrection.
(Copyright, http://www.rovingtheologian.com, 2004. Free use as long as proper citation given.)
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