Old Testament Study

Old Testament Study

Old Testament Study – Introduction

. In this study, we will be attempting an in-depth look at the history behind the pages of the Old Testament. It has long been a conviction of mine that the majority of Christians lack a real understanding of the events which surround and shape the story we find there, and my own personal experience shows that even a survey-level knowledge of this historical background can revolutionize one’s understanding of this two-thirds portion of the Word of God. This I will attempt to provide; and following this, I will take a brief look at each of the books of the Old Testament and try to fit them into the historical picture.
. But before beginning the study, I have deemed it necessary to lay a few foundations on which to build. To do this I have made available four files in which I discuss briefly the contents of the Old Testament, something of the land the Israelites occupied and its importance in their history, and a little about about the world view of the Old Testament authors, especially vis-a-vis their understanding of history. In the fourth file I have summarized briefly the history which we will be examining in depth in the coming weeks – or rather, as seems more likely, months. Read it to get some idea of where I’ll be going in this study. And I would strongly urge those who would like to participate in this study to download all four files and look them over first. A brief understanding of the topics they discuss is, I feel, essential to what is to come.
. And please be sure to pray for me, constantly. This is a big undertaking, and I just hope I haven’t gone and bit off more than I can chew. Pray that the Lord will give me the stamina and the time I will need to complete it. Guess that’s it for now. I’ll be back in just a few weeks with the first installment. Until then, God bless one and all.

. Calvin Culver

OUR OLD TESTAMENT

. If one were to look at the table of contents of any English Old Testament he would see the order of the books of the Old Testament with which we in the English-speaking world have always been familiar. . In this order one finds first the historical books – Genesis through Esther – which tell the story of the history of Israel from the Creation up to roughly the 5th century BC and the return from the Babylonian Exile. In addition, with the exception of the book of Esther, these books are placed in chronological order. . The second section – from Job through the Song of Solomon – is variously referred to as poetry, or liturgical material, or wisdom literature or a variety of other names. Regardless of what it is called however it is to this section to which Christians and Jews have traditionally turned for comfort and edification; the historical setting of these books is not nearly so important as it is for other portions of the Old Testament.
. The final section – consisting of Isaiah through the end of the Old Testament – consists of the writings of the prophets. . Something needs to be said here about the title ‘prophet’. The term is often misunderstood today, being frequently used to mean a predictor of the future. While this was certainly on occasion an essential part of the work of the prophets, it was by no means their primary task. The Hebrew title for these men was ‘nabi’, which translated means simply a speaker or spokesman. This was nearly always translated into the Greek as ‘prophetes’, which itself was derived from the preposition ‘pro’, ‘before’, and the verb ‘phemi’, ‘to declare’, and meant quite literally ‘one who foretells’. It is from the Greek that we derive the word ‘prophet’. . Thus the prophets were the preachers of God sent to preach to ancient Israel at those times in Israel’s history in which the nation was facing crisis situations. These preachers took their understanding of who God is and how he works, combined it with their knowledge of the socio-political situation of the day and the special revelations given them by God, and made known to the nation the mind of God.
. This in no way means, however, that the writings of the prophets are limited in their significance to their own day. Even though the historical and political situations which the prophets addressed are not of pressing relevance to us in the 20th century, still we can read and reap spiritual benefit from these writings, just as we would from the works of Augustine, or John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, or Pilgrim’s Progrees by John Bunyan. In the case of Calvin’s Institutes, for example, fully one-third of the work addressed itself to controversies of the day involving then-current situations within the Catholic Church. That fact that those situations no longer exist does not prevent the Institutes from being regarded yet today as as one of history’s greatest works of literature, or from being of great benefit to those who wish to study them still.

THE HEBREW OLD TESTAMENT

. If we were to look instead at the table of contents of a Hebrew Old Testament we would find a quite different order for the Old Testament books. The first of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Old Testament is called the Law, or the Torah and contains those same five books that open the English Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
. Following the Torah in the Hebrew Old Testament is the section known as the Prophets. This section is further subdivided into two parts: the Former Prophets consist of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings, while the Latter Prophets encompass the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hoseah, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi. Note that the books making up the Former Prophets comprise what we usually think of as historical books, leaving most of what we call prophetic writings for the Latter, though the book of Daniel is missing. The final twelve prophetic books – the so-called minor prophets – are often in the Hebrew Bible lumped together into one book and called simply The Book of the Twelve.
. The last of the three divisions is often called the Writings, and always begins with the Psalms. It is sometimes called simply The Psalms, following an old custom which allows the first book of a section to stand for the section in its entirety. . This three-part division of the Hebrew Old Testament was already well established before the time of Christ. It was this division which both Christ and the authors of the New Testament used, and references may be found to it scattered through the New Testament. In Luke 2:44, for example, we find the risen Christ meeting with his disciples in the upper room, where he is trying to help them to an understanding of his death and resurrection. As he refers to the Old Testament prophecies he speaks of the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. ‘Thus it is written,’ he said, ‘that the Messiah must suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead.’ By making reference to this common tripartite division of the Jewish scriptures Christ is saying that the entire Old Testament, in every division, speaks of him and of his ministry. In addition, we find in several other places throughout the New Testament various references to the Law, or the Prophets, or the Law and the Prophets, and so forth. Thus we see that this is the division which the New Testament writers themselves used. . The books of the Old Testament were originally penned by a number of authors between the dates of approximately 1700 and 300 BC. The Old Testament is either the whole or a part of the sacred writings of three world religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They were written in the Hebrew language.

THE SEPTUAGINT AND THE APOCRYPHA

. During the period of time from 300 BC to the time of Christ many Jews found themselves living outside the boundaries of the promised land, scattered throughout the ancient world with colonies as far south as southern Egypt and north in Greece and Asia. These Jews – the Jews of the Diaspora or Scattering – came to speak other languages than Hebrew, and most especially, as the power of Rome grew, Greek. It was during this time, from about BC 250 and onward, that the Old Testament was translated from the Hebrew into Greek for the benefit of these non-Hebrew-speaking Jews. This Greek translation came to be known as the Septuagint – usually abbreviated ‘LXX’ – because of certain traditions which said that it was translated by 70 men working 70 days – traditions which are almost certainly not true. . The LXX differs from the Hebrew Old Testament in three ways. The first of these differences concerns the ordering of the books. As discussed above, the ordering of the books varies from the Hebrew to the English Testaments, with the English Old Testament following the order of the LXX.
. The second difference concerns the contents of some of the books in the Hebrew Old Testament as opposed to their counterpart versions in the LXX. In the LXX, for example, the book of Psalms has 151 chapters, while Jeremiah is 10 chapters shorter than it is in the Hebrew. There are some additions to the book of Ruth, and a number of other minor differences as well.
. The third and major difference concerns not just the content of individual books, but the number of books itself. The LXX contains a number of books which are not to found in the Hebrew Bible at all, the exact number varying from 12 to 18, depending on which list you follow. These extra books are usually referred to as ‘apocrypha’, a word which means ‘secret’, or ‘hidden’, and was intended originally to indicate the veil which hangs over their origins. . What may be said about the apocrypha? First, they were either written originally in Greek – as opposed to the Hebrew origins of the other books of the Old Testament – or exist for the most part today only in their Greek translations. They were written between about BC 400 and 70 AD, and describe the history, beliefs and activities of some Jews in the period following the close of the Old Testament. A discussion of whether these books belong in the Old Testament is outside the scope of this brief survey. It need only be said that they have been included by Greek and Roman Catholics and by some Episcopalians, while both Jewish and Protestant canons have come to reject them.
. Why have Protestants by and large repudiated the apocrypha? At the time of the Protestant Reformation, it was one of Martin Luther’s driving convictions that the Holy Scriptures be available to every man in his native tongue. To demonstrate his commitment, he undertook to translate them into his own mother tongue, German. He became convinced, however, that a proper translation would be based on the original languages – Hebrew and Greek – rather than the Latin translation which had been the official Bible of the Catholic church for more than a thousand years.
. To his great surprise, Luther discovered that there were a number of Old Testament books for which no Hebrew manuscripts existed, and that on this basis Jerome had initially resisted including them in his Latin Vulgate translation. Further investigation revealed that during the period in which these books were written there were no authorized, recognized prophets of God in Israel, a fact which a couple of the apocryphal writings admit explicitly. Since divine authorization for scriptures had always been associated with the presence of an authorized spokesman, neither Judaism, nor Jerome, Luther, nor Protestants have recognized the apocryphal writings as divinely inspired. Though they do contain much data of historical import, they are not regarded by these groups as suitable for deriving theological teachings.
. Having said this, however, it should be noted that there is only one major – albeit controversial – doctrine taught in the apocrypha that is not abundantly confirmed elsewhere in scripture. That is the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, the basis for which may be found in the sixth chapter of First Maccabees. There is told the story of Judas Maccabeas’s order that prayers be made for soldiers of his command who had died in battle. On this passage Roman Catholicism bases its practice of prayer for the dead and has, by logical extension, developed this into the doctrine of purgatory. . All original manuscripts of the scriptures have been lost, and all we have left today are copies. Much may be – and certainly has been – said about manuscript evidence of the Bible, but at this point all that need be said is that the oldest manuscripts we currently possess date back to approximately 200 years before the birth of Christ.
. A final note must be made, this time with regard to modern convenience additions to the text, specifically chapter and verse divisions. These divisions are not part of the divinely inspired text of the Bible but were added relatively recently as reference aids. Chapter divisions were added first, in 1244 AD, with verses following in 1551. Do not be bound by these artificial additions. If the earliest portions of the Old Testament were first penned around 1700 BC, it may easily be seen that the oldest portions of the Bible existed for nearly 3000 years with no divisions.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago

THE LAND

. An understanding of the geography of the ancient world is of tremendous value in understanding the Bible. It is this writer’s conviction that a good Bible atlas is an essential tool for any serious student of the Bible. The brief notes that follow are meant only to be supplement to a set of adequate maps; it is recommended they be read with maps in hand. We will begin with the area to the north of the Persian Gulf.
. Two rivers flow into the Persian Gulf: the Euphrates and, farther to the east, the Tigris. Between these rivers lies a valley which is usually called simply the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley. Beginning with this valley and moving north and northwest, then back down the coast of the Mediterranean and into Egypt is a geographical feature known as the Fertile Crescent, which has long been regarded as the cradle of civilization. It is within this area that most of the events of the Old Testament take place. . Modern-day Israel occupies that land which once made up ancient Palestine (and before that Canaan). Modern Syria and Lebanon together make up what was once known simply as Syria, which lay along the northern portion of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard, bordering Palestine to the north. Be sure to note the difference between Syria, and Assyria. The latter was a kingdom which occupied the northern part of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, that area which is today encompassed by Iraq. The Old Testament is largely concerned with the areas of Babylonia – in the southern portion of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, on the northern end of the Persian Gulf – and Assyria in the Tigris- Euphrates valley, of Syria and Palestine (also known as Canaan), and of Egypt.

. Let’s now look briefly specifically at the land of Palestine, beginning with a discussion of its distinctive topographical features.

. That part of Palestine which lies to the west of the Jordan River encompasses only about 6000 square miles. The land of Israel has traditionally stretched from Beersheba in the south up to Mount Hermon above Lake Dan in the north, a distance of only about 150 miles. From the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean is a distance of 28 miles, while from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in the south is twice that – about 54. Thus we are dealing with an area which is much smaller than most people realize.
. Probably one of the most important distinctives of Palestinian geography is its terrain, which is very rugged indeed. Proceeding from the Mediterranean in the west to the desert to the east of the Jordan River, the land is divided into five distinct geographical areas. Running north and south along the Mediterranean coastline is the Coastal Plain, sometimes also referred to as the Plain of Sharon. This is the only really fertile area of Palestine. Unfortunately it also happens to be the only really feasible route between Egypt and the empires to the east. As such, it was often responsible for entangling Israel in the affairs of the other nations of the region. . Moving inland from the Coastal Plain one comes next to the the shepha (or shephila) – the foot hills. From these one passes on up into the rugged, mountainous areas of Palestine, which are usually referred to simply as the Hill Country. It is here, among other things, that one will find the city of Jerusalem. To the east the hill country drops off rapidly into the valley of the Jordan, and, on the far side of Jordan, to the plateau area which in turn moves into the Arabian desert.
. Of particular note in all this is the elevation of the country. Jerusalem, in the Hill Country, sits about 2600 feet above sea level, yet the shoreline of the Dead Sea 15 miles away is 1200 feet below sea level. Thus, in a fifteen mile distance measured horizontally we have a drop in elevation of almost 4000 feet. This is why, for example, in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus begins by saying ‘a certain man was going DOWN from Jerusalem to Jericho.’ . This ruggedness of the land dominates much of the history of Palestine. In times of danger the people of Palestine lived in the hills, where they were relatively safe from enemies and easily defended. Historically, their major military defeats came only when they moved out into the plains area or the foothills. . One other dramatic feature must be mentioned in any discussion of geography. Stretching roughly from Mount Carmel, to the west of the Sea of Galilee, all the way across Palestine is a flat area or plain. Sometimes called the Plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, this area even today serves as the breadbasket of Israel. Overlooking this plain is a fair-sized hill on top of which sat an ancient city called Megiddo. Militarily, whoever controlled this city controlled the plain, and with it most of Palestine. Historically, most decisive battles were fought in and around this hill. The Hebrew word for ‘hill’ is ‘har’, and this hill on which Megiddo sat was called ‘Har-megiddo’ – the Hill of Megiddo – which transliterated into Greek is Armaggedon. This then is where we get our image of Armageddon as a decisive battle and, ultimately, as the decisive battle of all of human history.

. The climate of Palestine is relatively mild, with an average year round temperature in the 60s. The major problem faced by occupants of the land in their daily lives was that of water. Sixty miles to the east of the mountains is desert, and, to the west, moisture-laden winds off the Mediterranean bring ample rain to the plains, but on the east side of the mountains there is very little precipitation. When water did come, it was usually in the form of torrents pouring off the mountains to wash away shrub, dirt and any straying animals or people caught unawares. Polluted as it was with mud and debris, it is poorly suited to provide residents with the water they need for livestock or fields.
. With the problem of water so acute, then, and so constantly in the forefront of the minds of the people, it is easy to see how the abundance of water to drink and to harvest became a central prophetic image in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. Ezekiel, for example, when he prophesies of a New Jerusalem, envisions it as a city with an overabundance of water – water to swim in. And in the TwentyThird Psalm we read ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…. He leads me beside the still waters’; a paradisical image for any farmer whose only experience with large quantities of water was as torrential floods from the mountains.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago

THE WORLD VIEW

. In any study of the writings of the Old Testament it is essential to bear in mind the world view of its authors. In contradistinction to Greek philosophy, which views history as merely a haphazard collection of events, or to Buddhist thought, which sees history as cyclical, replaying itself eternally in an endless reproduction from which there is no escape, the Old Testament view of history is linear – history, it affirms, has a beginning, a middle and an end. . The writers of the Old Testament assumed history began with a Creation in which the world, man, and the universe as a whole came into being through the direct action of God, that they were created, and that they were created ‘good’. By good is meant that it was correct morally, that it was created with purpose and with all the various parts of creation working harmoniously with all the others, and that there was nothing sinful, evil or painful inherent in it. The universe and all that is in it was created to function properly as long as God were in sovereign control.
. But the writers were also aware that the world as it now exists is not as God created it. Thus, there is a second phase of history: The Fall. The Fall is the entrance into the world of sin and of all its consequences. Man broke God’s law, committing spiritual treason against him who is the King of Creation. Thus was introduced into creation sin, which caused a great separation not only in man’s relationship to God but to all other parts of creation as well. With the introduction of sin all of man’s experiences were skewed, not only his religious side (spiritual) but also his view of himself (psychological), his relationship with other men (sociological), with the environment, and every other part of the universe. This breaking of relationships, along with every other type of evil we find in the world, is all a result of a broken relationship between God and man. . Most non-Christians complain that this sort of a view – that the breaking of a relationship between God and man could have such universal repercussions – is unrealistic or naive. But is it? If a boyfriend and girlfriend, or a husband and a wife, have a disagreement which results in a strain in their relationship, the quite common experience is that, as the strain continues, eventually everything begins to come apart. If a husband finds himself estranged from his wife he will often find he can’t sleep or eat, that he begins to have problems in his relationships with others, and that he begins to lose concentration at work or elsewhere. The one broken relationship has affected every area of his life.
. The Bible suggests that this is the way of things with man’s relationship with God. Once this relationship – this most crucial of relationships – was broken, every part of man’s existence was affected.
. The result of the fall is that the universe which was created good has become ‘apparently’ evil. ‘Apparently’, because it is not so inherently. The evil we see in the world around us did come come from within creation, was not inherent in it, but was introduced from outside of it. In addition, man’s nature has changed. Not only does man continue to commit acts of sin, but he is by his very nature a sinner.
. The third phase of history then sees God’s discontent with the state of creation as it has become, and with the break in his relationship with man. Here, then, God moves to restore that relationship, to reconcile creation, and to rejuvenate the universe. He moves to set in motion events which will in the course of time correct the plight of mankind. This is done not only that his rightful place as King of Creation be restored, but that man’s redemption might be completed.

. Thus the writers of the Old Testament viewed the history they were recording not just as any old history but as a special history – the history of redemption. The events they recorded were the events through which the God of the Universe entered into history, acting in it, revealing himself and the reconciliation and redemption so desperately needed; they were the events through which God not only provides but actually applies his reconciling work. And it was with this history – this history of redemption – this holy history – that the writers were concerned. It was here that they – and we – could see God at work.
. And history has an end. This is the fourth and final phase: Consummation. In the age to come, God’s holy history will be complete, and the universe – and with it mankind – will be restored to harmony and fellowship.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago HISTORICAL BACKGROUND for THE OLD TESTAMENT

. While the Bible is not primarily a history book, a proper understanding of the Old Testament texts must include an understanding of the history of the day. The Bible does concern itself closely with historical events, though not with all of history. Rather, the biblical texts relate the history of God’s dealings with men and his provision and application of salvation for mankind. It is with this history-within-history that the Bible deals – with those particular events, happenings and individuals through which God acts to provide and to apply salvation, and to reveal himself. This history of salvation – this history of redemption – is referred to by theologians as ‘heilesgeschichte’, a German word which means simply ‘holy history’. The outline history below is a skeleton look at at least a part of this heilesgeschichte.

. There are parts of history which are not covered by Biblical accounts. For example, between the second and the third major divisions of Old Testament history – between the time of Abraham and the 12 patriarchs and the time of the deliverance out of slavery in Egypt – there is a gap in the biblical account of 400 years, in which we learn almost nothing from the pages of Scripture. Does this mean that nothing of significance occurred in the world-at-large? In terms of Egyptian history many significant events occurred in these centuries. During this time that, for example, at least two major Egyptian dynasties rose and fell, most of the pyramids were built, and there was a major religious upheaval that saw the attempt to make one god – Ammon-Ra, the Egyptian sun god – the only god of Egypt. As far as Biblical history was concerned, however, nothing of heilesgeschichte importance happened, so the narrative skips quickly over the period.
. We see this selective portrayal of history in the lives of individual biblical characters as well. Moses was 80 years old when he began his major work, yet we know almost nothing of his first 80 years because the biblical authors deemed they were of no significance in God’s holy history. Again, while we find in the New Testament records accounts of his birth, of one incident at age 2, and another at 12, we really learn little about Christ’s early years. With these exceptions, we know nothing of him until he reaches the age of 30. From this point until his death at 33 we have a wealth of information, though it is apparent that even this is but a select account, and not a full biography. Indeed, fully one third of all we know about Jesus of Nazareth concerns only the last week of his life; hardly a balanced biography. The writers of the New Testament were recording those events which, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they determined to have holy-history significance. . The Bible then is concerned with this religious viewpoint. When we begin examining biblical records in the context of the history of the near east we going to find much missing that we’d like to have there; indeed, many have found this sufficient reason to allege historical inaccuracies. But we must keep in mind that the Bible is not concerned with giving us a complete socio-politico-economic history of the middle east. Vis-a-vis redemptive history, biblical accounts are completely accurate.
. The Old Testament is the history of a people, and of its development into a nation. Whereas one normally studies history in order to understand who we are and how we got here, holy history is studied in order to understand who God is and what is our relationship to him. This holy history, then, has a unique function. Yet, most people have no idea of the historical framework around which the biblical events must be fitted. Thus, to facilitate this I will attempt to summarize the history of the Old Testament.

THE BEGINNINGS

. The biblical account opens with a period known as The Beginnings. This period, recounted in the Book of Genesis (or Beginnings), chapters 1 through 11. Here it is that we find the introduction of the theme of creation and the setting of the stage for the drama of redemption. And here we are told that all things came into being as a direct result of the power, the plan, and the activities of God. Man, as created, had a relationship with God, but then sin entered and the relationship was broken. Thus mankind became estranged from God because of his sin and God’s punishment for that sin. For indeed, God does punish sin. But he also, so we are told, rewards those who will repudiate sin to seek him. This period of beginnings ends with the birth of national groups. Here we have accounts of the flood, demonstrating God’s judgment on mankind’s sin, and of Noah, who demonstrates God’s willingness to deliver even in the midst of judgment. And we find an account of the development of nations, explaining something of the diversity of men.

ABRAHAM AND THE PATRIARCHS

. As the nations developed, God worked to select one group through which he would work uniquely to provide knowledge of himself and of his salvation; one nation which would be the focus of his redemptive history. He chose for himself a rather unlikely individual to begin: one Abram, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees. . The Chaldees was an ancient empire located in the southern portion of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, on the northern end of the Persian Gulf. Ur was its chief city, a major center of commerce and of civilization of the day. And there, God appeared and offered to one man a special covenant.
. The concept of a covenant is extremely important throughout the scriptural writings. A covenant was an agreement between two parties, but a rather one-sided agreement, in which one party made all the promises and established all the conditions for its fulfillment; the other party was free only to accept the covenant or to reject it; he could not change its conditions. Today we often use this concept in the execution of wills of inheritance. Frequently, inheritances are bestowed only upon the acceptance and fulfillment of certain requirements laid out by the deceased party. The inheritor may reject the terms of the inheritance if he desires, but if he does he will not receive the inheritance. To receive what is promised, he must first meet the conditions stipulated.
. What, then, is the covenant which God offers to Abram? We find it in Genesis 12:2,3 where God says to Abram:

. 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. . I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
. and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

. And what we have is the holy, all-powerful, righteous God, against whom man rebelled, who looks down and decides he wants to reestablish a relationship with at least a portion of that mankind which, through its own doing, had estranged itself from him. To this end God offers a framework within which he and mankind may get together again. This, then is the beginning of heilesgeschichte, and it begins with God.
. But were Abram and his descendants to take this covenant for their own benefit only? God says, ‘Through you all the nations will be blessed.’ That is, through Abram and his descendants, through that nation which will, by God’s intervention, spring forth from Abram’s loins, salvation will be made available to all of mankind. In exchange, Abram is promised a special relationship to God, a family of importance, and a land to live in. Abram’s job was to respond to God’s covenant by faith.
. By faith, then, Abram moved from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Palestine, trusting in God’s ability to fulfill the promises he had made. Not only did Abram move to Palestine but, it seems, as a further demonstration of his trust in God he began walking around acting as if he owned the place, despite opinions to the contrary from the various peoples who were already occupying the land. As a further demonstration of his faith, Abram took for himself a new name – Abraham – to signify that he was to become the father of multitudes. . When he arrived in Palestine, Abraham built an altar to the Lord, and there he called upon his name. This statement becomes significant in light of passages such Joshua 24:2,14,15 in which we are told that prior to God’s appearing, Abram and his family were pagans, worshipping the gods of the Chaldeans. But, as a response to the vision, and to the promises made, Abraham literally switched gods, becoming thereby the progenitor of a nation destined to become the central fulcrum of God’s redemptive history. . Eventually, Abraham had eight children. But only one – Isaac – became the successor of Abraham to God’s covenant. Isaac in turn had two sons, but the older, Esau, sold his birthright to Jacob the younger, and with it his right to continue the covenant of the Lord. Jacob then became the father of 12 sons who became the twelve patriarchs of the tribes of Israel.
. The end of this second period of Old Testament history finds this family of shepherds, to avoid famine, moving down to Egypt where one of its number – Joseph – has become a leader of some importance. The family moves into the land of Goshen in Egypt, located along the northern banks of the Nile River, which was ideal for the shepherding it practiced. Following this move into Egypt comes a gap in the biblical records of 400 years in which this people grows and develops, but about which little is said.

BONDAGE AND DELIVERANCE

. The third period of this history of Israel is probably the most important. This period is known as the period of bondage and deliverance, of the birth of that nation which God, now nearly 500 years earlier, had promised to Abraham. In modern Jewish, and some Christian, thought, this period is referred to simply as the Exodus. The term ‘Exodus’ may refer strictly to the leaving of Egypt, but it is frequently used to address the entire period of time between the leaving of Egypt and the nation’s arrival and settling in the land of Palestine.
. As this period opens, the descendants of Abraham have multiplied exceedingly. From a family of 70 shepherds in 400 years Abraham’s descendants come to number between 1.5 and 2 million. Now Egypt begins to fear them, and they are forced into slavery. . Eventually, in response to Israel’s cries against its bondage, God raises up a man whom he has specially prepared to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, to guide them across the wilderness and settle them in the land he promised to their ancestors. In the first stage of this journey, Moses does indeed lead them out of Egypt, but instead of leading them northwest along the Mediterranean coast – along that route which was later to be known as the Way of the Philistines – as one might expect one heading to Palestine to do, he leads the Israelites south into the Sinai peninsula, where they camp at Mt. Sinai.
. Why does Moses do this? We are told specifically that God did not allow him to follow the Way of the Philistines because he knew that the Israelites would probably become discouraged and turn back. Remember that at this point in time the twelve tribes were nothing more than a ragtag mob of liberated slaves; the last thing they resembled was a nation. Therefore, before anything else, it fell to God to weld them into a nation experienced in depending on his provision. So as the Israelites journey into the wilderness they experience a number of events through which God teaches them absolute dependence on him.
. At Mt. Sinai a number of events occurred, the most important of which is that God renewed the Abrahamic covenant. Here also the Hebrews are given the Mosaic Law, a system of rules and laws designed to govern the way they live together, worship, and conduct governmental affairs. Here at Sinai this ragtag mob begins to become a nation.
. From Sinai the Israelites moved northward, where they came to rest at Kadesh-Barnea. From here God intended they move into the land to take possession, but the Hebrews balked, becoming discouraged at reports of giant Canaanites and their mighty walled cities. Israel rebelled and refused to enter. As punishment, therefore, God made them wander in the desert for 40 years until all those who were 20 years of age or older had died. And in the end, because of lack of faith, even Moses was forbidden to enter the promised land. But even these apparent setbacks were to be a part of holy history. . And even in the midst of his punishment, God continued to provide the Hebrews’ needs. They received manna from heaven to eat, and God appeared to them as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night to guide them in their wanderings. They even had continued opportunity for worship in the tabernacle which God commanded them to build. Thus, even here we see a principle of God’s dealings with man – he may punish, but he never abandons.
. Eventually, when their wanderings were completed, under Moses’ leadership the Hebrews moved up to the Jordan River where they camped opposite the city of Jericho. Now at last they were ready to move into Canaan. Here Moses died and was succeeded by Joshua. This ends the third period of Old Testament history.

THE CONQUEST AND DIVISION OF CANAAN

. The death of Moses found the Hebrew tribes camped on the brink of the Jordan River under a new leader. Moses commanded the people to obey Joshua as they did him, and under Joshua they were finally ready to take for themselves the land God had promised them. . Prior to its conquest by the Hebrews, the land of Canaan was politically divided into relatively weak city-states which had no unified means of defense against attack, and so Israel was free to move against various centers of power which were more or less independent of one another.
. Joshua’s first target was Jericho, an ancient center of civilization which was protected by exceedingly high walls. The significance of Jericho lay in the fact that it was for fear of highwalled cities that Israel had refused to enter the land 40 years earlier. Now once again they found themselves face to face with city walls, but this time they obeyed God and moved into the land. God prevailed and Jericho fell.
. Following the conquest of Jericho, Joshua allied himself with the peoples of Gibeon and defeats the city of Ai, making it possible for the Hebrews to occupy the central portions of the land and thereby divide it for conquer. From his position in the center of the land Joshua first moved southward, conquering the southern cities, and then marched north. Through gradual conquest the Hebrews established themselves as the dominant force in Canaan, though many of the original Canaanite inhabitants remained in the land. . Next the land was divided, and each of the twelve tribes was given a ‘possession’ – a specific geographical area which was made the property of that tribe. In exchange for the exclusive right to inhabit that region, each tribe was to settle and develop it. Additionally, it became the responsibility of a tribe to drive out any remaining Canaanites from its possession. This ends the fourth period of Old Testament history.

THE JUDGES

. The fifth period is the time of the judges. By the close of the fourth period each tribe had settled in its own area, becoming virtually independent of the others. Though there were advantages to this independent arrangement, there were a number of disadvantages as well. Each tribe was bound to the others only by shared familial ties, and by the one central sanctuary at which all tribes worshipped. The tabernacle which Moses had constructed in the wilderness was set up in the middle of Canaan at a place called Shiloh, enabling all the tribes to able to come to worship.
. During the period of the judges we find intense rivalry and conflict between the various tribes. Ephriam in particular was warlike, conducting many raids on the other tribes. And all the tribes together were under constant attack from other groups – Moabites and Ammonites in the east, Edomites from the south, Aramites to the north, and other marauding tribes of the day. The biblical texts were quick to place theological significance on these attacks, speaking of something of a cycle of sin which seemed to repeat itself continuously throughout Israel’s history. The cycle always began with the fall of the Hebrews into sin, which most frequently took the form of idolatry, as inspired by the pagan tribes which shared the land with the Israelites. Incensed by this Israelite faithlessness, God would punish, usually by bringing in a marauding tribe from outside the land for a time of oppression and plunder. The Hebrews would then repent, crying out to God for salvation, and in response God would raise up a judge who would unite the tribes and lead them to victory against the invaders. After the victory, the judge would remain and rule over the tribes.
. The land of Canaan and the political organization of the tribes was of such great diversity that it seems there were times in which several judges were ruling simultaneously. There might, for example, have been a threat to some of the northern tribes from the Aramites to the north, while the Ammonites simultaneously threatened from the east. A judge might arise in the north to unify and lead the threatened northern tribes while a counterpart was doing the same in the east. With such a situation among the tribes it becomes extremely difficult to attach dates to the rules of the judges. In fact, even the length of this period is a subject of much controversy; some scholars estimate the rule of the judges all told lasted as little as 150 years, while others insist it was as long as 400. The main purpose of the scriptural accounts is to show something of the anarchy of the time, and God’s faithfulness during this time to deliver using human agents as instruments of his deliverance.

THE UNITED KINGDOM

. The sixth period of Old Testament history opens with the dawn of a new threat against the Israelites. Previously, threats had taken the form of marauding tribes – Moabites, Ammonites, et al – who were concerned mainly with raiding and plundering, and had little interest in remaining in the land. But at the end of the fifth period came a new threat – the Philistines.
. The route previously mentioned leading along the Mediterranean coast from Egypt up past Canaan through Tyre was called the Way of the Philistines. The Phillistines were seemingly a group of people who had apparently lived in Crete, south of Greece. Apparently, some Cretians left Crete and moved southeastward, attempting to settle in Egypt. They were repulsed by the Egyptians and, being a sea-going people, subsequently settled the coastal plains area between Egypt and Palestine. During the period of the judges in Israel they began to move northward along the coast, going probably as far north as Mt. Carmel. From there they moved inward, but not, as other tribes had done, simply to raid and plunder but to capture territory to settle in. It was against these Philistines that Sampson, the last of the judges, fought most of his battles.
. It became quickly apparent that they would have to unite to meet this new invasion. Under Samuel, then, they crowned as king one Saul, whose primary primary concern was to be the war against the Philistines. Though he did manage to win some preliminary battles, Saul soon ran into trouble, apparently for two reasons. . First, he rebelled against God, who consequently removed his spirit from Saul. Second, he was unable to follow up his initial victories. Eventually, at a crucial battle at Mt. Gilboa, Saul was killed. The coastal plains area the Philistines were attempting to settle enters the valley of Jezreel at the hill of Megiddo. Gilboa is quite a ways to the east of the plains area, just on the edge of the Esdraelon valley. During later battles Saul allowed the Hebrews to move much further inland that they had ever been before. This incursion was significant, and here Saul lost his life. . Even before Saul’s death, however, Samuel had been called upon to anoint another king over the Hebrews: a young man named David. At first, David was an assistant of sorts to Saul, a musician in his courts and a soldier in his army. But as Saul’s fortune deserted him he grew increasingly suspicious of any threat to his throne, and David came under suspicion. Eventually, David was forced to flee to the wilderness where he became an outlaw leader of a roving band. To escape the pursuits of Saul, David made his headquarters in the wilderness of Judah, in the southern sector of the country. David had been born and raised in Bethlehem, a southern town, and therefore he knew the southlands very well. David moved a bit further south than Bethlehem and engaged in his pirate-like activities in the terrain he knew best.
. After Saul’s death, the southern half of Israel crowned David as king, and David established his headquarters at Hebron, where he ruled for seven years. Eventually the northern tribes crowned him as well, and David found himself with a problem. If he were to move north and establish a northern city as his throne the southern tribes would feel deserted. If, on the other hand, he were to remain in the south and establish his throne in a southern city, he would isolate the northern tribes, who perhaps already thought of David as something of a southerner. David shrewdly chose as his capital a city which lay on the boundary between the northern and southern halves of his kingdom, a city which had until that time not been occupied by the Hebrews – the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was highly defensible, surrounded as it was on three sides by very deep valleys. David conquered the city and, in its southern portion, between the valleys of Hinon and Kidron and a hill later to be called the Mount of Olives to the east, David used the hill of Ophel to found his capital. Thus did Jerusalem come to be known as the City of David. . As it was for Saul before him, David’s primary task was to drive out the Philistines from the land. Unlike Saul, however, David was successful. After defeating the Philistines, David went on to establish the Hebrews as not only a kingdom but an empire – the major empire of the ancient world in David’s day, stretching from the Tigris River in the east down to Egypt in the south. Through a series of shrewd political and military alliances Israel became the superpower of the ancient world.
. At his death, David was succeeded by his son Solomon. David was known as a man of war, but by the time of Solomon wars had ended. Solomon’s primary task, then, became the consolidation and protection of the empire. He reorganized it and, most importantly, he extended the boundaries of the city of Jerusalem to encompass a hill which was sometimes known as Mt. Moriah on which he constructed a great temple to the Hebrew God.
. Solomon also centralized power in Jerusalem, instituted a draft for military service, and charged high taxes. These became the three weaknesses of his empire, and the central issues of grievance for which the northern tribes eventually rebelled and seceded from Solomon’s empire to establish their own government. . Solomon had sinned against God. To consolidate the empire he had entered into political alliances with other kings, alliances which were sealed in the then-customary way in which all alliances were sealed – by the marriage of Solomon to a daughter or a sister of the king. These wives of Solomon’s came to settle with him in Jerusalem, bringing with them, among other things, their pagan gods which they with great zeal then attempted to introduce into Israel. This angered Yahweh greatly, who promised to punish Solomon by tearing away the kingdom from him.

THE DIVIDED KINGDOM

. Following the reign of Solomon, then, comes the establishment of the Divided Kingdom. Beginning at this time, the Hebrews were divided into two groups. One of these groups, consisting of 10 of the 12 tribes, occupied the northern part of the land, which was then called either Israel or Samaria (after its capital city of Samaria). None of this kingdom’s kings came from the line of David, and none followed the God of the Old Testament entirely. As a result, the northern 10 tribes have a history of doing evil in God’s sight. As a matter of fact, several of the northern kings are reckoned by secular history as having been quite credible rulers, and rather significant in their day. But they did not follow Yahweh, and thus found themselves outside of God’s salvation history. The biblical judgment on these kings was that they were only evil continuously. . The other group of tribes, the two remaining tribes plus half of the tribe of Ephriam – whose land had been captured in a raid by the southern tribes against the northern in order to establish a buffer zone for the city of Jerusalem – formed the nation of Judah, retaining its capital in David’s City. All the kings of Judah – some twenty in all – came from the Davidic line; of these twenty, six were commended by God as good (actually, eight were considered good, but two of these turned bad in their latter years).
. As a result of this division of the nation, the Hebrews were reduced from world power to two relatively weak nations which found themselves getting caught up in the power play of the international politics of the day. In addition to Egypt in the south and Syria to the north, they were hard-pressed pressed by Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites and assorted other wandering tribes. But the real major threat came during the eighth century BC as a people living in the northeastern portion of the Tigris- Euphrates River Valley began to grow in importance, sweeping into the ancient world to establish an empire. These people were called the Assyrians, and, though several cities served as their capital, their most important city was Ninevah. Under their king, Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrians moved in and conquered. Making warfare as brutal as possible, they used the terror of their coming as a weapon, savaging their conquered enemies as arguments to persuade others to surrender. Eventually, the Assyrians moved into Palestine and, after some years of struggle, in 722 BC the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed and the most part of its people taken into exile. They never returned. . The southern kingdom of Judah remained as a vassal state under Assyrian domination, even eventually gaining some measure of independence when Assyria began to decline. Even as Assyria waned, however, Babylonian power was growing in the east, and Judah quickly found itself a vassal state again, this time of the Babylonian empire. This was however, after their brief taste of freedom, little to the liking of the Hebrew people; but a series of rebellions managed only to exhaust Babylonian patience and, in 586 BC, Judah was overrun by Babylonian armies which destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple and took the Hebrew people into captivity in Babylon. Thus ended the seventh period of Old Testament history.

THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

. The eighth period of this history is the period of the exile or captivity of Judah. Following the sack of Jerusalem, the Judaic leadership was relocated in the general vicinity of Babylon, where it lived in exile for seventy years. Then in 539 BC, the Meads and the Persians joined forces against Babylon, defeated it, and overthrew its empire. In an effort to placate subject peoples and engender feelings of good will toward this new empire, one of the first acts of the Medo-Persians was to declare all exiled peoples free to return to their homelands, to rebuild their cities and live in peace as subjects of the Medo-Persian empire. Thus, Under the leadership of Ezrah, Nehemiah, Shish-bazar and others, the Hebrews began their return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem. In 516 BC the newly rebuilt temple was dedicated, officially closing the seventy years of captivity.

THE RESTORATION

. The final period of Old Testament history concerns the restoration, in which Jerusalem was rebuilt and the worship of Yahweh – from which the Jews never again wandered – re-established.

. Before closing this brief history, a couple of notes must be made about leaders and leadership-types in the Old Testament.

. During these periods of Hebrew history there were a number of different types of leaders as far as God was concerned. There was a class of special leaders – leaders such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua and the judges – which God raised up as need demanded. There was no necessary connection between them; their leadership was not passed on from father to son. There were, however, other regular leaders whose position was inherited. The two major groups of this type as far as the Old Testament accounts are concerned were the kings – particularly the kings of Judah – and the priests. The priests were the primary religious leaders in the Hebrew nations, but when this hereditary leadership failed in its function it was necessary for God to raise up special religious leaders to fill the void. From the time of Moses on these special religious leaders were called prophets. Abraham and Moses, along with some of the judges, were called prophets. These prophets were primarily God’s spokesmen to an errant nation, and have traditionally fallen into two groups – the writing prophets and the nonwriting prophets.
. Prophets were popping up at unexpected times throughout Israel’s history. But from the middle of the divided kingdom through the restoration of Judah after the Babylonian captivity we find more prophets appearing than at any other time in history. Why? Well, this was a period in which evil and rebellion was on the rise, and thus Israel was in more need of God’s special messages and divine guidance than at other times in her history. And thus the historical background for the books of the prophets which we find in the Old Testament are the periods of the Divided Kingdom, the Captivity and the Restoration. The last three books of the Old Testament – Haggai, Zaccariah and Malachi – discuss the restoration period. The rest deal either with the divided kingdom, or the divided kingdom plus the exile.
. Throughout this period of Old Testament history the people were worshipping God, thinking about philosophical questions of suffering, of the good life, of struggling with life, and so on. Some of these thoughts they wrote down, and we find them today as part of the Old Testament – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon – the Wisdom Writings.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago

Old Testament Study – Creation

. In the introductory files available on the study board I have taken a brief look at a number of subjects important to a proper understanding of the setting of the Old Testament – the world view of the biblical authors, their implicit historicism, as well as a brief nine-point overview of where this study will be going. The first part of this study of the Old Testament will consist of an in-depth look at each of these nine periods of OT history. . The place to begin such a study then is at the beginning. Beginning today and continuing over the next several months, then, we will look at that period of biblical history known as the Period of the Beginnings. Logically, the discussion will fall into four parts – Creation, Sin, the Flood, and The Birth of Nations – but the majority of the time will be spent on the first and then the second of the four. The data on which we will be focusing are found in Genesis, chapters 1 through 11.

GOD EXISTS, AND HE CREATED ALL THINGS

. The story of the Bible is in many ways the story of two events: Creation and Redemption. These, in fact, are the central themes of Scripture, and under them all biblical theology may be summarized. As I have discussed in the files I have made available, modern evangelical theology has a tendency to emphasize the doctrine of redemption to the point of ignoring creation, in spite of the fact that it is the doctrine of creation which provides the underpinning for the whole of the biblical story. Too often we tend to think of creation only in terms of the first chapters of Genesis, or as one side in a creation-evolution debate. Yet the doctrine may be found throughout the Bible. In John, for example, we read: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.’ (John 1:1) (All Scripture references in this study will be to the New International Version unless otherwise specified.) But John goes on in verse 2 to say: ‘Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.’ This is the doctrine of creation. . Again, in Colossians, Paul says of Jesus that ‘by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’ (Colossians 1:16,17) Again, these verses speak of creation. And in Revelation the saints before the throne cry ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’ So, from Genesis to Revelation, creation is a focus of the biblical account.

. The name ‘Genesis’ comes from the Latin word for ‘beginnings’. And Genesis is indeed a book of beginnings – the beginnings of heaven and of earth, of man, and of sin and redemption from sin. It is the story of the birth of nations, and of the beginnings of God’s dealings with people, primarily through the agency of Abraham. And it is the story of the birth and development of the nation of Israel. In Genesis, we receive our initiation into the framework underlying all that Scripture will subsequently reveal concerning God’s activities. . Scripture begins with a number of presuppositions. A presupposition is simply something which is pre-supposed, that is something which is assumed to be true without the bother of having to prove it. Philosophers refer to this as ‘a priori’ truth – that which is known before hand.
. The single, most fundamental presupposition the Bible makes is found in Genesis 1:1: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ Actually, in this verse we have 3 presuppositions. First and most basically, the Bible assumes ‘a priori’ the existence, the eternality and the knowability of God. Nowhere does Scripture attempt to prove God’s existence; it is only concerned with showing him in action, most especially in relationship to man. . From this point, Genesis proceeds immediately to declare that ‘God created the heavens and the earth.’ In the New Testament book of Hebrews, we read that ‘by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.’ (Hebrews 11:2) Here, then, is the second presupposition of Scripture: creation. God created all things at the word of his command, and he did so ‘ex nihilo’ – out of nothing. (Those of you who don’t speak Latin hold onto your hats; I’ll discuss this further below.) The two most essential presuppositions, then, of a truly biblical faith are these: God exists, and he is the creator of all things.
. But the author of Hebrews doesn’t stop there. ‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’ (Hebrews 11:6) We have already discussed belief in God’s existence, but what does the rest of this verse mean? What Hebrews is saying here is that faith in the existence of God is not enough. Even a belief in the biblical doctrine of creation is insufficient for a truly biblical faith. Belief in these truths is all fine and good, but nothing in them prevents one from deciding this God who exists and who created the universe is a transcendent being – that is, a God who cannot be contacted, who is unconcerned with the problems of man, who is unknowable and unreachable completely. Where then is religion? . So, first we must believe that God exists. But we must go beyond that. We must believe that it won’t be a waste of time to seek after him, to try to come to know him and to know that he does indeed concern himself with us. This, then, is the starting point of biblical religion: God exists, and he created all things. But what’s more, this same God – who exists and who created the universe – concerns himself with our affairs and desires to be known by us. . Faith, in its essence, then, is the acceptance of biblical presuppositions a priori – without requiring proof of their truth. Often people demand proof of God’s existence as a basis for their belief in him. God’s existence, however, cannot be proven in a philosophical or a scientific sense, though there are a number of philosophical arguments which will support a belief in God once one has accepted that belief. But we must accept these truths of God presuppositionally: first, and most essentially, that God exists, and secondly that he is the creator of all things, and the rewarder of those who seek him. And, since God created the universe, he has a claim on it and relates himself to it.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago

Old Testament Study – Creation Defined

. So what does Genesis teach us about the doctrine of creation? Before we can attempt to answer this question we must come to some understanding of the definition of creation. The primary meaning of ‘creation’ as used in Scripture is something as follows: ‘to bring into existence that which had no existence. To make something out of nothing.’ This is the biblical doctrine of ‘creatio ex nihilo’. . But there is also a secondary sense in which the word is used by biblical authors – the act of forming something out of materials which are by their nature inadequate for or inferior to the final product. The best example of this second sense is the creation of man from the dust of the earth. Man, the most beautiful creation of God and the crowning achievement of his work, is formed from mud and dirt and dust; hardly materials that would be considered adequate to the task. . There are, of course, many implications for this theological conception of creatio ex nihilo. Most importantly, it means that the physical universe along with all it contains is dependent for its existence on God. Additionally, we learn from this doctrine that the material world is not some entity or eternal principle which wages war without end against God, and that it is neither eternal nor selfsufficient. It had a beginning and – according to Scripture – will one day come to an end.
. We should also introduce here another theological expression, the Latin phrase ‘ad extra’. Theologians coined this term to signify that God created the universe outside of or external to himself. This is in direct contrast to an ancient philosophical concept known as pantheism which says that God and the universe are one, that God is in nature and nature is God. Pantheistic notions lie at the heart of much Buddhist thought, of many animistic beliefs which worship nature or portions of nature, and may even be found in some forms of liberal Christian theology which argue that the Spirit of God is in every man and in every thing.
. Thus, the Christian doctrine of creation insists that God created the universe from nothing, simply by speaking it into existence, and that he created it external to himself. God is in the world, but the world is not God, just as I am sitting in this room while remaining distinct and separate from it.

THE SEVEN DAYS OF CREATION

. Next, then, let us take a look at the seven days of creation. The accounts may be found in the first chapters of Genesis. Briefly, their outline runs as follows: On the first day, God created light. On the second day, he created a division between the sky (or ‘heavens’) and the earth. Dry land and vegetables he created on the third day, and then heavenly bodies (the sun, moon and stars) on the fourth. On day five he created birds and fishes, and finally animals and man on the sixth day. On the seventh day God rested from his labors.
. One difficulty many have had with a literal interpretation of the Genesis accounts is that of reconciling the creation of light on the second day and of ‘lights’ (the sun, moon and stars) later. On this I have recently encountered some interesting observations which I’ll pass on to you. You can take them for what they’re worth. . When we look at the accounts of creation, with the exception of the problem between the creation of light and the creation of the heavenly lights, there is a certain logical sequence within the creation accounts: first we see the creation of the heavens and the earth, then the division of land and sea, followed by the creation of that which functions on land – i.e. vegetable life – then progressing to birds and fishes, and finally from that to man. . It is interesting to note, however, another possible relationship in the accounts. In the first day of the creation era we have the creation of light, while on the fourth day we have the creation of lights. On the second day comes the division between earth and sky, while the fifth day finds the creation of that which lives in earth and sky – birds and fish. The third day sees the appearance of dry land, and the sixth day that which inhabits the dry land – animals and man. And finally, on the seventh day, God rested. . This is yet another way of saying we seem to have an exact sequence here. First, God creates light in a situation which the biblical accounts declare is formless and void, with darkness on the face of the deep. Later, the sun, moon and stars are created to reflect the light which God had earlier created as a principle. Or, on the other hand, it may be that what we have is not an exact sequence, but more of a literary construction which is simply intended to say that God created the world orderly and in its proper sequence without really intending to set forth exactly what that sequence is. This latter position is not a new hypothesis, being the position taken by St. Augustine as early as the fourth century AD.

‘DAY’ AND ‘KIND’

. As we look at this outline of the seven days there are a number of points which may be made about creation. First, there are certain limits employed. Throughout the description the Genesis author uses the word ‘day’. We need to be very careful about our understanding of this word, as the Bible uses it to refer to many things. In Genesis 1:5,14, for example, the word is used first to refer to a period of light in distinction to darkness, while later on in verse 5 it is used again to refer to both light and darkness together – one 24 hour period. It is also used in this second sense in verses 5, 8 and 13. . But if we turn to Genesis 2:4 we read ‘This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.’ (NASB) This time ‘day’ is used to refer to the entire creation era. In passages such as Genesis 22:14 and Exodus 10:6 ‘day’ means something like ‘modern times’. 1 Corinthians 1:8 talks about the ‘day of Jesus Christ’, there referring to the entire 33 years he walked the earth. And passages such as Malachi 4:5 and Amos 5:18-20 speak of the ‘day of the Lord’ in reference to some future cataclysmic event.
. All this doesn’t begin to exhaust the variety of ways in which Scripture employs the word ‘day’. The point is that, just as in English today, the word had a multiplicity of meanings. . So what does the Bible mean when it says, for example, that on the first day God created light? I’m going to leave this question open for the moment and will only pause to say that many argue that it means a literal, definite 24 hour period of time, while others claim it is referring to geological or evolutionary periods many thousands or even millions of years long. We will simply note for now that what we see in the biblical accounts is successive periods of time in which various aspects of the universe were created. . The second limitation the creation accounts impose is found in the word ‘kind’. In Genesis 1:21 we read ‘So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.’ Again in verse 24 ‘God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.”‘ And elsewhere we find similar statements as well. . As with the word ‘day’ we find here that we are dealing with an imprecise word. Though we cannot tell exactly what it means, one effect it does seem to have is to restrict the limits of creation to that of, say, speciation; in contradistinction to modern evolutionary thought which sees all life, in all its forms, emerging from a single, simple primordial life form, the biblical account seems to see life as having existed within various categories or species from the beginning.
. In any summary of the doctrine of creation one must note that there is something unique about the creation of man. Not only was man the final creation, but it is man alone of all creation the account declares fashioned in the image of God. . There is yet a fourth item that must be noted: In Genesis 1:9 we read the account of the creation of land and sea, which concludes with ‘And God saw that it was good.’ In verse 12, in summarizing the creation of plant life, we read ‘And God saw that it was good. Again, the account in vs. 18 of the creation of the heavenly bodies ends with ‘And God saw that it was good.’ And we find the same statement after the creation of sea life (verse 21) and land-roving animals (verse 25). Yet, at the conclusion of the chapter we find that God looked back and ‘saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’ . What’s the significance of this? As each stage of creation is completed, God pronounces it good. But in verse 31, as God surveys all that he has made, everything functioning properly and in order, he declares it ‘very good’. What is meant by ‘good’? Certainly it may be taken to mean many things, but contained within the concept are certainly ideas of harmony, purpose, usefulness and moral good, together with the realization that nothing was inherently harmful or painful. This is at least a part of what was noted in the discussion on the world view of the biblical writers: that they saw the world as created good.
. And a final comment on the biblical data for the doctrine of creation: the universe was created to exist under the control of God. God had no intention of being a sort of cosmological absentee landlord, but rather created the universe to operate optimally under his divine guidance and control.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago

Old Testament Study – Science and Scripture

. We come now to an issue which must be addressed, however briefly: the problem of the relationship between science and scripture. This is a highly controversial topic, which has generated volumes of discussion, and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future, but for now I will simply call your attention to a number of facts, and tentatively offer a few of my own conclusions. . Let’s state the problem in the following manner: The problem is that some interpretations of the scientific data contradict some interpretations of the biblical data. I have stated the problem in this way in order to emphasize the root of the problem – the problem lies, not in the facts themselves, but simply in the interpretations which various scholars have placed upon those facts. There are, as we shall see, some interpretations of the scientific data which do not contradict the biblical accounts (or, conversely, some interpretations of the biblical data which do not contradict scientific accounts). In sum, we must always bear in mind that there is no inherent contradiction between the biblical and the scientific data. . So, let’s be more specific. What are the problem areas? They are, primarily, the areas of biology and geology. I will in this lesson discuss something of the biological issues involved, then turn in the next lesson to questions of a geological nature. There are many biologists who insist that the biblical solution to the question of the origins and the development of life does not square with their understanding that life came into existence by chance or random, purposeless activity, and that all life as we know it today evolved from an original single-celled being. What we have here, really, are two distinct problems: the first is that of the origin and development of the universe and life. The second is that of the biblical claim of uniqueness for man. This claim is being hotly contested by those whose interpretations of the scientific data see a long train of development of all life from lower stages of existence to higher. And the claim is certainly also made that the evidence does not support the theory that all mankind finds its origins in a single pair of human beings. These scientists would want to suggest that there were many primitive men, and that the human race evolved from many anthropodal forms, not just one human pair. . Let’s stop here a moment and ask something about the type of evidence used by the natural scientist to erect or to support this type of theory. In order to provide a framework within which to organize this data I will be using, in modified form, the taxonomic tables of one George Gaylord Simson, a biologist who in 1942 wrote a book called _Tempo and Mode in Evolution_ in which he divided all biological evidence into three categories. While I will be employing Simson’s language, I will be organizing his categories somewhat differently. The three categories as I will be using them are as follows: Phylitic, Speciation, and Quantum. . The first of these categories – the phylitic – includes the evidence of the fossil records – those remains of dinosaurs, ancient fish, insect life, and the like which have through natural processes become entrapped in river beds and other deposits, leaving impressions which have through geological activities been transformed into stone, preserving for us a record of the life. . The evidences classified as speciation are largely those evolutionary changes we see occurring among living beings. For example, I could cross a German shepherd with a doberman pinscher to create a new strain of dog. If I continue doing this, and then mate those of this new strain to produce further offspring, I can create a new breed of dog. There are many incidences of this sort of change and adaptation which may be observed to occur naturally all around us. These are what Simson termed ‘speciation’, or ‘species building’. . If we look at the taxonomic tables developed by Simson, we are told that living beings can be classified, from general to specific, into the following categories: phylum, sub-phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The types of evidence discussed in the previous paragraph may be seen, in light of the taxonomic tables, to be very strictly limited to the level of species, or at most of genus (thought that is debatable). This is to say that all observable changes occurring today do so at the species level only. Even carefully controlled, rigidly guided laboratory research – research, for example, to develop a hardier strain of corn or wheat – has been unable to affect change above the level of species. . Even the broadest view of the fossil – or phylitic – evidence discovers that, though there is no clear-cut definition, the various types of interrelationships that may be positively discovered in the fossil records do not go beyond order, and even at that there are large gaps between the various types of evidence – e.g. for various kinds of fish or reptile. How then do we account for these gaps? . To attempt to do so, we must turn to the third category of evidence – the quantum evidence. While both the fossil record and observation provide evidence of change or evolution at the species level, there is no evidence available to support change at levels above that order; that is, there are gaps in the evidence. These gaps are called quantum gaps, and the spanning of these gaps the quantum leap. These quantum leaps suggest that for reasons as yet unknown to us there were sudden jumps in the evolutionary process, jumps which occurred suddenly enough to have left no trace; there is no physical evidence of their existence.
. Without evidence, then, we find ourselves caught up in the entirely hypothetical part of evolutionary theory. There have indeed been many attempts made to explain these sudden quantum jumps – theories ranging from the bombardment of earth by ultraviolet or radioactive solar rays to as-yet-little- understood complexities of the DNA structure – but the point is that no hard evidence exists for evolutionary change beyond the species level. In fact, such evolutionary processes would require millions of minute mutations simply to turn a scale into a feather, to say nothing of the corresponding musculo-skeletal structural changes that would be required to make use of the feather. Further, such changes would have to occur in not just one but two members of a species – a male and a female – who would then have to mate to produce offspring and perpetuate the change. And again, there is absolutely no hard evidence that such mutations have ever taken place. This is not to say that such changes couldn’t take place but only that one is left at the point of accepting theories of the quantum leap simply on principles of faith.
. In sum, then, the biological problem is essentially a problem of interpretation: we find some evidence of development – or evolution – but does this mean that evolution has occurred in a straight-line fashion? Does it mean that when the Genesis accounts say life was created according to its kinds that we must impose certain boundaries on our vision of the evolutionary process? Or perhaps there is another explanation entirely. We simply cannot say with certainty.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ – Chicago