What’s in the Old Testament?

We commonly refer to the Bible as a “book” – in fact, it is the best-selling book of all-time.  However, the Bible itself is a collection of 66 individual books.  These books were written over approximately 1500 years, by 40 different authors, and in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek).

Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired the authors to write His words and His message to humanity.  Each author brought their own experiences, concerns, and writing style…and as such, we have a variety of literature types within the Scriptures.  The major division of the Bible’s books is between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  For this blog post, we’ll look at what God has said in the Old Testament:

Old Testament – This is a collection of 39 books of ancient Hebrew literature, which begins with the story of Creation and the fall of humanity into sin, which separates all of us from God.  These texts continue through the establishment and history of the nation of Israel, which are broken down into 4 major categories:

Torah/Pentateuch – These are the 5 books of Moses.  Torah is Hebrew for “teaching” and Pentateuch simply means “five books”.  These books detail out how God created everything, but quickly focus in on the establishment of the nation of Israel.  The books include: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

History – These 12 books travel through Israel’s many ups and downs as they struggle between keeping in step with God and doing everything on their own.  Many of the familiar Old Testament stories are found in these books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Poetry/Wisdom – This is a collection of some of the most interesting and beautiful poetry you’ve ever read.  Many common sayings we still use today trace their origins back to this section of the Bible.  These books include: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

Prophecy – God sent many prophets to Israel throughout the centuries.  Their writings are divided into what is call the “Major Prophets” and the “Minor Prophets”.  However, that distinction has nothing to do with the importance of their individual message, rather the prophets’ writings are divided up by size, with the Major Prophets having significantly bigger texts than the Minor Prophets:

Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel
Minor Prophets: Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

After Malachi’s teaching, God did not send a prophet to speak to Israel for approximately 400 years.  Then everything changed with the arrival of Jesus. 

Some modern-day Christians have wondered if it’s worth our time to read and study the Old Testament.  After all, since Jesus came and saved us, wouldn’t His teachings be enough for us to focus on?

The Apostle Paul had to say this to the church he planted in Corinth, in reference to the events of the Old Testament:

1 Corinthians 10:11
These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction

There are three ways to learn – by instruction, by example, or the hard way.  God has given us instruction and examples in the Old Testament so we don’t have to learn the hard way.  As such, it’s definitely worth our time to see what God has to say in those books.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The best defense against legalism

Sometimes, events really stick in your memory.  This next scene must have left a big impression on the disciples, since three of the four gospel authors wrote about it.

Matthew 12:1-2
At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath.  His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain.  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

The Pharisees weren’t knocking the disciples for “stealing” grain, as picking grain heads was expressly allowed in the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 23:25).  The Pharisees’ problem was with the disciples’ timing, as the Mosaic Law stated that the Sabbath was to be a day of rest.  The Pharisees had identified 39 actions that constituted “work” and were therefore forbidden on the Sabbath – the disciples had plucked the heads of grain (harvested), rubbed them in their hands (threshing), blew away the chaff (winnowing), and ate the kernels (preparing a meal).  So, in the minds of the Pharisees, not only were the disciples in violation of the Mosaic Law four times, but they had done so with Jesus’ permission.

This is no small, nit-picky charge, either.  Violating the Sabbath was punishable by death, and the disciples’ guilt would show everyone that Jesus was an illegitimate teacher.   Jesus came to the aid of his charges and gave three convincing arguments against the Pharisees’ accusations:

Matthew 12:3-8
He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry – how he entered the house of God, and they ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?

Or haven’t you read in the Law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent?  But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here!

If you had known what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus both protected his disciples and refuted the over-zealous self-interpretation of the Sabbath by the Pharisees by taking them back to the Scriptures. 

Jesus pointed out that an exception in the ritual law was made because David and his men were hungry – a legitimate need had to be met. 

From there, Jesus remind the Pharisees that the priests serve and work in the temple without being guilty of breaking the Sabbath – and if temple work can excuse a person from Sabbath, how much more “excused” is someone who serves the Lord of the Sabbath? 

Thirdly, Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 to point out how the Pharisees have missed God’s desire to extend mercy toward those in great need, and how that desire takes precedence over a sacrifice if the two are in conflict.

Through a proper view of the Scriptures, Jesus demonstrated that His disciples had not violated the Fourth Commandment.  In fact, the only thing that had been violated was the traditional Pharisee interpretation of how a Sabbath day was to be observed.

Looking at this scene from a mentor’s perspective, our application is rather obvious…we need to know God’s Word.  We are to teach it to our protégés, but we must also be ready to defend them against unfounded attacks.

Keep Pressing,
Ken