Old Testament Survey

(An overview of Genesis through Malachi)

These notes represent a fraction of what was covered in Dr. Stuart's excellent class. These are mostly things that were new to me or stuck out as I listened to the lectures. If you want to check out the class it's free here: https://www.biblicaltraining.org/old-testament-survey/douglas-stuart

Key Terms

Merism - an expression of opposites in order to describe completeness or everything in between.
Bifid - In biblical studies, if a piece of literature that has two main parts (not necessarily equal) it is considered bifid.
Paradigmatic - examples or patterns designed to show how to apply general principals to specific cases
Apodictic Laws - These are unconditional demands such as the 10 Commandments. They are universal rather than specific and could be expressed in either the positive (e.g. love your neighbor) or in the negative (e.g. you shall not murder).
Casuistic Laws - These are conditioned by particular instance similar to case law. They were specific rather than universal.

Genesis

Why wouldn’t God want his people to discern good from evil? The term “good and evil” is a merism- an expression of opposites in order to describe completeness or everything in between. This is like saying “I’ve searched high and low” in place of saying “I’ve searched everywhere”. Scripture says God has removed us from our transgressions as far as the east from the west (Psalm 103:12). This means he has completely separated us from our sins. In Genesis 2:17, the knowledge of good and evil represents more knowledge than we can morally handle. Obtaining this knowledge necessarily takes us to a place of independence from God. It represents knowledge that God didn’t intend for us. Hence the question, “Who told you that you were naked?”

Exodus

Additional insights

Exodus 3:4 God sees Moses from the burning bush and calls his name twice-Moses, Moses. In the Semitic culture, calling someone’s name in repetition is a term of endearment. It is the same as saying you are a very close friend to me. Other examples in scripture: Samuel, Samuel; My God, My God; Absalom-my son, my son; and Lord, Lord.
Exodus 4:10 In Moses’ response to God’s call we often interpret reluctance on the part of Moses. (I’m slow of speech, etc.) This is actually an eastern cultural practice of exaggerated humility sometimes referred to as “ritual protest”. It shouldn’t be taken literally and is usually followed by acceptance of the call. Other examples in scripture: • Abraham- but I am just dust and ashes • Saul-but I am from the smallest tribe of Israel (not really true) • David- I am a poor and little man • Isaiah- Woe is me…

Law

a. Two basic typed of law

1. Apodictic laws

These are unconditional demands such as the 10 Commandments. They are universal rather than specific and could be expressed in either the positive (e.g. love your neighbor) or in the negative (e.g. you shall not murder).

2. Casuistic laws

These are conditioned by particular instance similar to case law. They were specific rather than universal.

c. The paradigmatic nature of the Law

Both apodictic and casuistic laws were given as paradigms. (Examples or patterns designed to show how to apply general principals to specific cases)In many ways this is superior to our modern laws which attempt to be precisely written and applied. People can get exonerated based on a technicality. This was not the case with Israel. Judges had approximately 613 laws (relatively low number compared to modern law) from which to extrapolate rulings on a host of instances.

Examples

21:33 (a casuistic law) If anyone digs a pit… and an oxen falls into it… the person is responsible. From this a judge would extrapolate that if someone creates a hazard that causes property damage they are responsible for replacing the property.
22:18 (an apodictic law) Do not allow a sorceress to live. This would apply to anyone practicing severely deceptive behavior that would lead people away from God’s truth.
This put a lot of power in the hands of judges but a wise, honest and prayerful judge could establish real justice.
Note: New Testament ethics applies the same paradigmatic pattern. It doesn’t try to cover every situation one might encounter in life but it does give us examples of how to apply God’s principals.

d. The bifid structure of Exodus In biblical studies, if a piece of literature that has two main parts (not necessarily equal) it is considered bifid.

Part One (Chapters 1-19) is the rescue of Israel and is presented in the form of stories.
Part two (chapters 20-40) is the giving of the law and is presented in the form of stipulations, sanctions and documentation.

a. Covenant definition- In ancient times a covenant was a legal, binding agreement between two people or groups of people.

The Law: Covenant Structure

b. Six parts of a covenant

Preamble- The preamble identifies the parties in a covenant
Prologue- This gave the background information about the parties and how they have come to the agreement. The1st half of Exodus could be considered the kingdom prologue. God basically says you are here because I have arranged it. This suzerain nature of the OT covenant. A suzerain covenant was one between a superior party and a lesser party. In ancient times, a suzerain was a great king who made a covenant with his vassals who had obligations to fulfill in order to receive his security and blessing. The first few words of Exodus 20 could be considered a summary of the preamble and prologue of the OT covenant.
Stipulations- This was the main body of the covenant which contains the stipulations. In the case of the OT covenant, it contained some 600+ laws.iv. Sanctions- In a sense this was like behavioral modification. There were various rewards (carrots) for keeping the covenant and consequences (sticks) for breaking it.
List of witnesses- In ancient times it was common to call for various gods or deities to be a witness to a covenant. In God’s covenant with Israel, the most frequent reference to a witness was “heaven and earth”. This was another example of a merism. It meant that all of creation would be watching the parties involved.
Documentation- Each party always received a written copy of the agreement. Moses came down from Mt Sinai with two tablets. It would be wrong to assume that it took two tablets to contain all of the 10 commandments. More than likely this is a reference to God’s copy and to Israel’s copy. Both were placed in the Ark.

The Law: Numerical Parallelisms

a. Numerical parallelisms In the Hebrew language, synonyms are often expressed numerically. The most common from is “n” followed by “n+1” but there are also examples of multipliers such as “n” followed by “n X 10”, etc. For example, look at Deut 20: 5-6. God describes himself as a jealous God who will visit the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. This does not mean that God will unfairly punish the great grandchildren of someone who sins. This numerical parallelism is saying that God will keep applying the same consequences on the future generations as that continue in the sins of their fathers. When verse 6 is considered (showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments) he is actually contrasting his greater desire to bless his people.
b. Love and hate Love was understood by the ancient people of that day to refer to action toward someone rather than an attitude or feeling. The concept of love really functioned to describe allegiance or personal favor granted toward someone. This has been confirmed in other ancient texts in addition to scripture. If we are to love God it should be reflected in our actions toward God. Loving our neighbor as ourselves didn’t imply that we are suppose to love ourselves nor does it mean we are required to have warm feelings toward our neighbors. It means we should treat our neighbors with the same treatment we would want for ourselves. Conversely, hate didn’t mean animosity but rather an absence of supportive favor. God said “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated”. This simply was referring to the fact that God chose Jacob to bear the seed.

Leviticus

a. Orienting data: All of Leviticus is received at Mt Sinai. Its primary focus is the achievement of holiness in worship as well as in everyday life

Numbers

a. Overview- Israel leaves Mt Sinai at the beginning of Numbers

Deuteronomy

a. Overview- This is 40 years later when Israel is in the area of northern Moab. This first generation to arrive at the Promise Land refused to trust God and has now died off in the wilderness. It is important for this next generation to once again receive the Law from God, hence the name Deuteronomy which means “2nd Law”. It is reorganized and reformatted, much like a final draft. The importance of this book should not be underestimated in understanding the rest of the OT.

Joshua

Structure of Joshua

A. Conquest of Promised Land
B. Land Allotment

a. Overview of OT Redemptive History (simplified form)

Creation and pre-history
Patriarchal dialogue
2nd kind of creation or, more accurately, a continuation of creation is represented in the Promise Land
Israel under blessing. The book of Joshua begins a long period of blessing.
Israel under curse. In the giving of the covenant, God gives consequences for disobedience (Deut 28). This part of biblical history is especially centered on the exile.
Restoration- After the exile comes a new period of blessing and a continuation of God’s creative work. This is an OT view of redemptive history but it is also reflected in the NT as well. When Paul says he is living in the latter days he is talking about this final phase. We are in this period of restoration/blessing. There are no other epochs to follow. The next great event in history will be Christ’s return, judgment and the creation of the new heaven and earth. Dispensationalism is a theological system that tends to over define these periods with distinct separation. In reality there is overlap between them.

c. God’s culture breakers

In the pagan world it was common for the women to leave her family and go to the man but the man stayed with his family. In Genesis God says for a man to leave his family.
The oldest son was to be the heir but this was not the case with Abraham; or Jacob.
The culture of the day believed that there was an obligation to take blood if blood was shed, even if it was accidental. This thinking still exists in the Arab- Israeli conflict. Chapter 20 provides for special towns of refuge for accidental killers. They were safe until the priest died which was another way of saying that they were in God’s hands. God doesn’t let corrupt man thwart his plan or system of justice. These cities of refuge were run by priests. This was another way of saying this nation would be special and break from the cultural trend.

d. Covenant renewal

The book ends with Joshua urging obedience which indicates covenant renewal. 1st the covenant came at Sinai. Then it was renewed in Deuteronomy. Now it is renewed once again at the end of Joshua.

Holy War

I. ELEVEN CHARACTERISTICS

No standing army
No pay for soldiers
No spoil / plunder
Only for conquest / defense of Promised Land
Only at Yahweh's call
Only through a prophet
Yahweh does the fighting
Religious undertaking (fasting / self-denial)
Total annihilation of the enemy
Violator becomes enemy
Exceptions / mutations possible

Judges

a. Background

Judges covers centuries (as much as 300 years) of desperate struggle to keep the kingdom intact. It’s important to remember that from Joshua we learned that the conquest wasn’t completely correctly. If one compares the number of territories conquered by Joshua to those named in Judges, you find that many are back in the hands of the Canaanites. It wasn’t a disaster but it certainly wasn’t totally successful. The conquest of the Promised Land was not completed until David’s day.

b. Emphases of Judges

Decline-The Book of Judges is a tragedy as it depicts decline on a number of fronts: military decline, spiritual decline, religious decline, and moral decline.
The tenuous nature of the conquest
How revival can quickly fade (an obedient generation was replaced by a disobedient generation.
The failure to preserve values
How low people can slide
God’s continued display of mercy
The effectiveness of charismatic leadership (raised up by the Spirit of God)
The need for a true and good king (by the end of the book, tribal unity falls apart)

d. The Deuteronomic Cycle

There is a pattern introduced in the Book of Judges that goes on for a 1000 years. It begins with a new generation “who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel”. (Judges 2:10) The cycle pattern had these components:

Israel turned from God and served the baals
The Lord becomes angry and allows their enemies to have victories
The people cry out
God raises up a judge (primarily a military deliverer)
This same pattern followed with the kings. There never seems to be two kings in a row that do good in God’s sight.

e. The ending of Judges

After a great battle, Israel defeats the Benjamites but in chapter 21 they try to solve the problem of losing a tribe by making a foolish oath. Finally the book ends with everyone doing as they please, thus demonstrating their ongoing need for help.

Ruth

a. Background

The story takes place during the time of the Judges. The book of Judges is a tragedy; the book of Ruth is not.

b. Some themes in Ruth:

You don’t have to follow the crowd. Even though most of Israel was in spiritual and moral decline, the people in this story are still attentive to God’s law and therefore an exception to the rule.
God allows hard times to come to righteous people.
Part of the way one demonstrates obedience to God is in the way they treat others.
A few people can prevail even in the midst of tragic times.
The human lineage of the Messiah has both common and noble strands.

d. Genealogy

The book ends with a genealogy from Perez to David that includes Boaz. This is clearly the messianic line. The expanded genealogy of Jesus includes incest (Judah and Tamar), foreigners (Boaz married the Moabite, Ruth), and adulterers (David and Bathsheba). God’s plan in bringing forth a Messiah was not thwarted by man’s dysfunctions or inappropriate actions. God providentially orders human life in spite of our failures.

1 & 2 Samuel

a. Introductory matters

These books cover the reign of Saul and David. Coupled with the 1st eleven chapters of 1 Kings (Solomon’s rule), this era was known as the united monarchy. Following Solomon, the kingdom was divided and the following 40 kings presided over a divided kingdom. The period of the united monarchy was probably about 120 years. (Saul’s length of rule is questionable but indications are that each of the three initial kings ruled for about 40 years.) The number 40 in Hebrew is not always meant to be taken exactly literal. It is sometimes used idiomatically similar to our use of the term “several dozen”.
1 & 2 Samuel are actually one unit with a bifid structure which begins with the birth of Samuel; thus the incipit naming. 1 Samuel covers the reign of Saul and the life of Samuel. 2 Samuel covers the reign of David. Solomon reigned at least as long Saul and David; and had more worldly notoriety. However, he is hardly given as much press in the narrative. This is yet another example of programmatic narration similar to the earlier examples cited in Joshua and Judges. Remember this is theological history. The author is more concerned about making a point than given equal attention to historical time periods.

b. Three levels of biblical narrative

Upper level- The big picture sometimes referred to as the meta-narrative. This has to do with the God’s over-arching plan of redemption
Middle level- Large blocks of writing about a specific subject or character.
Lower level- A specific small story within the larger block sometimes referred to as a pericope. These self-contained short stories often become much richer by stopping to ask how it pertains to the upper level (meta-narrative) story.

c. Geographical control during Solomon’s reign

The Philistines controlled the coastal area of the Promised Land during Saul’s kingship. Israel maintained basic control of the rest of the land with the exception of one area near Jerusalem and another at Beth Shan (near Mt Gilboa). Both of these remained in the hands of Canaanites while Saul was in power. Saul was actually killed in battle at Mt Gilboa after being pushed back by the Philistines.

d. Orienting Data

1 Samuel marks the transition from the era of the judges to the era of the kings. Samuel is the last of the judges and the contrast between Samuel and Samson is obvious.
2 Samuel chronicles the rise and tumultuous reign of David. Although he was a great military leader, he had significant failures in family life. This is one more reminder that God uses imperfect people to accomplish his great plan of redemption.
Authorship and date- The writing was probably commissioned by Solomon but there is no proof of that. The author/authors are unknown but many believe it was recorded by early prophets. For this reason the OT narrative books are often referred to in Judaism as the Former Prophets.

Thus they would divided the OT scripture inot four main blocks:

The Books of Moses
The Former Prophets (narrative stories)
The Prophets
The Writings

e. Final overview

1 Samuel 1-7 focus on Samuel alone
1 Samuel 8-15 focuses on Samuel with Saul together
1 Samuel 16-31 focuses on Saul with David
2 Samuel focuses on David alone

This simplified breakdown demonstrates the orderly nature of the transitions during the united monarchy. The following transitions that occur during the divided kingdom will not be nearly as orderly and often chaotic, especially in the northern kingdom of Israel. On another note, all of the kings in the southern kingdom of Judah will be descendants of David.