Old Testament Literature – His Story
By Dr. Steven M. Fettke
LESSON 1
The Story of God’s Saving Deeds Before Abraham
Objective 1.1 The Story
Hearing God’s Story
· It is God’s intention that His “name be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exodus 9:16).
· God’s name is best proclaimed in telling the stories of God’s saving deeds in human history. (Psalm 78: 1-8)
· The ultimate divine saving deed is that of Jesus Christ as expressed in the gospel story. It is in that story—the story—that we can find a reference point for our life.
· Many works have been published proving that humans learn in the form of stories.
· But, when someone says in a sermon, “Did you hear the story about…” or “There was a certain man who…” everyone relaxes.
· But when someone says, “You must do this, you should do that, or I have three points I want to make about that…” people tense up.
· Jesus preached telling stories and parables.
How do life stories help people understand reality?
Ø Characters in the story are said to have told stories within their stories to make a point or persuade people.
Ø The prophet Nathan is able to confront King David about his sin of adultery and murder by telling David a story of the poor shepherd and his lamb. (2 Sam 12: 1-14)
Believing God’s Story
v There is now a new reference point for our stories –the Gospel – and that story causes us to rewrite our personal story.
v The Gospel story is the culmination of many centuries of God’s saving deeds told in numerous stories found in the Hebrew Bible called the Old Testament by many Christians.
Objective 1.2 Understanding the Story
Knowing Dynamically (How can the story be heard in pure form?)
· All believers—preachers, scholars, and lay people alike are to humble themselves before God and the biblical story so that the Holy Spirit might guide them into correct application of the biblical story.
· It is the Holy Spirit who gives us a dynamic understanding of the biblical story.
Know the Background
Ø The biblical stories powerfully communicate what God has done and how humans are to respond.
Ø Reading the Gospel without some knowledge of the Old Testament is like trying to get to know a new friend without hearing a bit about his or her background.
Intersecting With The Story (How do you connect with the story?)
v Think of our hearing the biblical story as a kind of “intersection” of our story with the biblical story.
v The tighter we remain connected to the biblical story, our foundation, the greater will be our confidence and security that is found only in an obedient relationship with our Creator as expressed by the biblical story.
v Not only can we hear and analyze the biblical story, we can also learn to tell our story in relation to the biblical story better.
Telling the story (What are the values in telling the story?)
o The story-world created invites the hearer or reader to live in a world where the same kind of transactions are possible.
o Our task will be to discover how we can re-tell those stories in a form that is understandable to those in our cultures. May God grant us wisdom and illumination as we seek to faithfully proclaim God’s eternal story.
Objective 1.3 Justifying the Story
Making Sense. (Why is it important to have basic principles for the study of the Bible?
· Nothing can actually replace the reading of the biblical narrative.
· The truth is there has to be a balance of both reading the biblical story as well as reading the analyses people have written about biblical stories.
· One should be familiar with 2 traditional doctrines:
1. The inspiration of the Bible based on 2 Timothy 3: 16-17
2. The illumination of the believer by the Holy Spirit based on John 14:26, 16:13, and 1 Corinthians 2: 10-15.
· The reader must ask: “what was the Old Testament author saying to his own times?”
· In other words, one must be sensitive to the original context of an Old Testament passage.
Applying Basics – What are some basic principles for the study of the Bible?
Ø The application of hermeneutical[1] principles can be quite detailed and involved. Some of the most basic and foundational principles without being overly complicated; it is a way to start thinking about proper interpretation.
1. Begin with an examination of the historical situation if the writer.
2. Language used, at least giving careful attention to key words and phrases.[2]
3. Another important principle is to study a passage in its context.
4. A final basic principle to include is the proper application of the passage to contemporary life.
Defining the Canon. How did a collection of writings become the Bible?
v Canon is defined as “An authoritative collection of writings, the teachings of which are binding on believers.”
v The Apocrypha[3] is a collection of 14 (or 15, depending on numeration) books allegedly composed by pious Hebrew writers sometime between 200 BC and AD 100.
v The focus on authorship of the Old Testament often is on the Pentateuch[4].
v With the death of Moses, it shows Moses’ unique role as mediator and interpreter of the divine will.
v We must agree that nowhere does the Pentateuch say definitely who its author is.
v Most conservative scholars would arrange the material in this fashion:
1. Genesis 1-11 describes primeval history
2. Genesis 12-50 describes patriarchal[5] history.
v The repeated use of the Hebrew word toledoth (“generations”) suggests an outline of the material in Genesis.
Objective 1.4 The Beginning
The Creation Story. What is the relationship between the Creator and the Creation?
· Genesis 1: 1 to 2:3 expresses a general creation[6] story, while Genesis 2:4 – 25 expresses a more specific creation story from the view of the creation of humankind.
· Being made in God’s image means “humans have a share in the personhood of God: and as beings capable of self-awareness and of self-determination, they are open to the divine address and are capable of responsible conduct.”
How many times is the creation story repeated in the scripture?
Ø In the Exodus story (Exodus 14: 15-31), the people came to the Sea of Reeds and must have God’s help.
Ø One example is Psalm 104: 29-30, which expresses human dependance upon God for life itself. Psalm 148 expresses the same thing.
Ø In Isaiah 40:12 the prophet extols God’s greatness by reminding the people that it was God who created all things. In Isaiah 50: 2-3 the prophet reminds the people that God will accomplish what God has promised because of God’s great powers over creation.
Ø Jeremiah can speak of God’s creative power in God’s willingness to create in humans a new and clean heart on which He will write His law (Jeremiah 31: 31-34).
Ø Ezekiel’s powerful “dry bones” sermon (Ezekiel 37: 1-14) is really a sermon about God’s creative power in creating a people out of the destruction of the exile.
Ø Perhaps the most powerful use of the creation story is that of the apostle John in his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh…full of grace and truth” (John 1: 1-14). Paul also knew that a Creator God can make a sinner a new creation through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The Story of the Fall. How does the story of the fall change the course of history.
o There are two kinds of enlightenment—the good kind that comes from seeking God and the terrible kind that comes from sinning against God and feeling the full consequences.
o This story, too, is reworked in the Bible, but nowhere more powerfully than in Romans 5: 17-21.
Objective 1.5 Stories about human sin.
Cain and Abel. How does this story reveal God’s justice and at the same time show His mercy for the sinner?
· Sin is likened in Genesis 4:7 as a wild animal lurking to overcome Cain.
· Cain is capable of making the right choice. Humans are responsible for their choices.
· The last word of the dying protagonist, Adam, was timshel, the Hebrew word for “that you may rule it” found at the end of Genesis 4:7.
· The Cain and Abel story is the first recorded example in the Bible of man’s inhumanity to man, and that it is found in the context of worship.
· The prophets will condemn people for their acts of worship that attempt to cover up their sin which are given in substitution for daily obedience to God’s commands, especially those commands which address their concern for justice toward their neighbors (Micah 6:9-16, Amos 5: 1-12, Isaiah 1: 10-20 and Jeremiah 7: 1-11).
· God demonstrates real concern for the innocent (Genesis 4:10) as well as for the sinner (Genesis 4:15).
· The earth was cursed for Cain, and again, like Adam, Cain was banished from God’s presence, “east of Eden” (Genesis 3:24, 4:16).
· It seems that sin and human rebellion had become “cosmic in scope, affecting the whole creation.”
The Flood. What is Noah’s role in all the circumstances concerning the flood?
Ø The flood story is introduced by God’s willingness to extend grace for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), and by God’s great grief (Genesis 6:6) that God had made man.
Ø God is first grieved and in pain (Genesis 6:6) before God is moved to judge and destroy.
What is the significance of the covenant God made with Noah?
o “The idea of covenant, found here (Genesis 9: 1-17), for the first time in the Old Testament, became the basis of Israel’s self-understanding and the key idea in defining its relationship to God.”
o We see also that humans have not surrendered their freedom.
o It is not the water that saves but “an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3: 18-21). Judgment and miraculous deliverance do not exempt people from obedience.
o It is human corruption and not divine caprice that brings on the flood in the Hebrew account.
The Tower. How does the tower come between God and man.
v The tower described in Genesis 11 was a Ziggurat, “a massive sacred tower, built of tiered brick and located in or near a temple complex.” A Ziggurat was a sacred mountain where heaven and earth met. The people thought they were secure as they had access to the gods.
v If they lived near the sacred mountain and the floods returned, they would be protected from the waters of judgment by their man-made tower. They also attempted to “make a name for” themselves (Genesis 11:4) rather than honor God or allow God to make their name great.
v Hamilton (1982) called this “a pagan concept of immortality…immortality based on a achievement. One lives on in perpetuity because of his skills.”
In summary, what are the lessons of primeval[7] history?
ü The story of primeval history (Genesis 1-11) began with God’s speaking and creating and communicating with humans. Primeval history ends with humans worshipping in a way unacceptable to God and unable even to speak with one another.
ü Primeval history ends with great tension.
ü The story of the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 seems to be a reversal of the Tower of Babel story.
ü Thus, it seems that the task of believers is to form a community of God that speaks a different language, a language of faith and hope and trust in God.
ü This language will be different from the language of the world, a language of achievement, power, materialism, and lust. It can be the language of love, compassion, service, and humility.
[1] Hermeneutics – study of principles of interpretation and practical application of the Bible. [2] Two good resources are the Hebrew—Greek Key study Bible and the New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon. Bible dictionaries are also helpful. Two of the very best are The Anchor Bible Dictionary and The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. [3] Apocrypha: hidden, secret, not canonical; a collection of books composed by Hebrew writers between 200 BC and AD 100. [4] Pentateuch: the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy all written by Moses. [5] Patriarchal: particularly relating to biblical family history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [6] Creation: the act of the triune God in bringing all things into being. [7] Primeval: relating to the earliest ages of human history.
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