I’ve been going through Numbers 22-26 on Sunday mornings recently, looking at the glory of God revealed through His dealings with His people. It has afforded me some great time to reflect on the importance of the Old Testament. Here are a few of my choicest, choicest gleanings:
- The Old Testament is anything but boring. I’ll grant you that Leviticus is not my favorite cover-to-cover read, but the storyline of the OT is a great one.
- You have to make an investment in studying the OT for it to come to life.
- Reading an OT Survey is a must for grasping the bigger picture. You can get there yourself, but it’s a longer road and you’ll miss plenty in the mean time by walking alone. “Survey of the Old Testament” by Paul Benware is brief and to the point. I recommend it.
- Grasping the overwhelming importance of the Abrahamic Covenant is THE absolute must. It is THE plot thread from which all other threads hang. If you have missed this point, you are missing THE point.
- Gaining a basic framework of OT history is essential to understanding individual books. For example, note the development of Israelite government from the wilderness to the Judges and to King Saul. This makes the book of Judges make much more sense to me.
- Some books, like Habakkuk, are so obviously related to modern day questions (i.e. how can a holy, sovereign God allow evil or even use it to accomplish His will?) that I can’t believe we never hear these books referenced at all.
Repent, you Old Testament redactionists. Buy Bible trivia! Bone up! Estudicate yourselves!
Enjoy.
The suggestion to “Buy Bible Trivia!” is the way to go. My wife bought a bible trivia game a while back – it was really humbling. So if anyone thinks they don’t need to study the OT, have a game of bible trivia and you’ll be running out the door to get an OT Survey and some commentaries!!
Nath,
I got SCHOOLED on Genesis trivia by some home-schoolers, my wife’s second cousins. That was after I had just taught Genesis in OT Survey on Sunday morning. Ouch!
how do we know the bible is not just a book of events that happened, like any book you buy off the shelf today.And why was the old testiment ,changed to the new testiment. Was it changed becouse of people pressure, like laws are changed today becouse of people pressure.The church has done the same thing,changed (they say ) becouse of the times?.sighned undecided.
Anne,
Like any other book, we have to evaluate the Bible’s testimony about itself and inspect it to seem whether it proves false. The Bible repeatedly has been vindicated with respect to archeology, history, internal consistency, prophecy et.c. Various scholars have tried to criticize the Bible from various side through history, but in the end they have been rebuffed.
But that is not the way to examine the Bible, honestly. One could never exhaust all of the possible criticisms. Ultimately it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit that affirms the veracity of the Scriptures. God does not need us to validate His own testimony; we need to submit ourselves to it.
Consider this: you PRESUME a God who has revealed Himself in this way. He reveals Himself to be just, righteous, good, and willing to save sinners. This kind of God MUST reveal Himself perfectly and sufficiently. We SHOULD reject a God who would do any less. It is only our sinful hearts that stand in the way of seeing God as He is, and we do so because His incredible grace and mercy leaves us convicted. We are willing to question His Word in order t spare our own illusion of independence from Him.
I invite you, Anne, to ask God to reveal Himself in the Scriptures to you. Cast aside the nagging questions about the nature of the Bible. Read John. See what kind of man Jesus really was. He was incredible. Read Romans and ask God to help you sort out this treatment of the doctrine of salvation.
I am ready to answer as many of your questions as I can. Please take advantage.
Have you seen the new electronic edition of Benware’s Survey of the Old Testament and Survey of the New Testament? These volumes are available as part of the Everyman’s Bible Commentary Series (44 Vols.), currently available for pre-order from Logos Bible Software. I thought you might be interested: Everyman’s Bible Commentary Series (44 Vols.)