Understanding the
Old Testament

Scripture

Creation

2 accounts

1st Account

2nd Account

Old Testament: Collection of sacred books written between 1000 BC and 150 BC. There are 46 books in Old Testament.


How to interpret

Spiritual sense

Literal sense

God creates world in 6 days

Genesis 1

Day 1. God separates light from dark.

Day 2: God separates water above from water below.

Day 3: God separates land from sea.

Day 4: God decorates the heavens with Sun, Moon, and stars.

Day 5: God decorates sky and sea with birds and fish.

Day 6: God decorates the land with humankind and other animals.

God rests on the seventh day.

Adam and Eve

Genesis 2

The Lord breathed life into the first man named Adam.

Lord God made grow every tree that was delightful to look at and good for food. The Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam is not allowed to
eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

God says that it is not good that the man is alone.

God is communal.

God creates animals to help Adam. None are suited to help Adam.

God creates Eve.

Serpent shows up and convinces Eve and Adam to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Serpent says if Adam and Eve eat from tree, their eyes will open and they will be like gods.

After the fruit was eaten, Adam and Eve felt shame.

When God sees what is wrong with Adam and Eve, Adam says that Eve and the snake tricked him into eating it.

God wanted to create man in their image (Holy Trinity)

Original Sin

Genesis reveals to us God's character

Etiological Myth: A myth that seeks to explain the origins of something.

Abraham

Exodus

What to consider:

The unity of the Whole of Scripture

The living tradition of the whole Church

The analogy of Faith

We learn about the nature and character of God through the Bible. He desires to reveal Himself to us and He desires to have a relationship with us.



Eisegesis: The utilization of Biblical text to prove a predisposition or interpret the text to fit personal needs.


Exegesis: The utilization of various analytical tools to interpret or understand a particular word, phrase or book of the Bible.

Questions to ask:

What did the Holy Spirit intend?

What did the original author intend?

Canon of Scripture - Official list of books belonging to the Bible.

Deuterocanonical Books - Books included in the Catholic Old Testament, but not in the Hebrew Bible.

God reveals himself by saying his name is YHWH ("I am”) to Moses. Jewish people said “Adonai” or Lord.

Archaeology and Biblical Study

Gives us clues about what was going on before and during the time period in which a lot of the Old Testament occurred and was written.

Helps us understand cultures, writing styles, beliefs, myths, contrary ideas, ancient history etc.

Ain Ghazal

Human like statues

Burials and special treatment of bones.

Believed in some sort of religion and they believed in some sort of an afterlife.

Pottery from other cultures from trading routes. This was a trading site.

Organized living species.

Merneptah Stele and the Rosetta Stone

Ancient stone detailing the conquests of Pharaoh Merneptah. Merneptah Stele contains earliest known mention of word “Israel.” This shows Israelites existed.


Rosetta Stone is recovered in 1822 during Napoleon's conquest of Egypt. Rosetta Stone was used to help translate languages. There were three different languages on the stone that contained the same text and using this, people could correlate one word to another word in a different language on the stone. This helped translate ancient texts.

Pseudepigrapha

Books and other writings composed in the same timeframe as literature within the Bible.

While not included in the Bible, these writings give us insight into cultural practices, commonly held ideas, writing styles, imagery etc.

Geography

Land of Canaan

From closest to Mediterranean to farthest (left to right)

  1. Coastal Plains
  1. Hill Country (where Hebrews eventually settling down)
  1. Jordan Valley
  1. Transjordanian Plateau (important trading route and called the “King’s Highway”)
  1. Arabian Desert

Hotly contested area throughout history

Binding of Isaac

God calls Abram to leave his home in Ur to travel to a new land.

God’s Covenant with Abram


I will make you a great nation.

You will be blessed.

I will make your name great.

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.

All communities of the Earth will find blessing in you.

Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars.

You will have a land to call home.

You will have an heir.

God asks for faith in return.

Signs of the covenant:

Abram’s name is changed to Abraham

Abraham is circumcised

Abraham’s Offspring

Abraham and Sarah are unable to conceive; Sarah tells Abraham to try to have a child with Hagar, her maidservant.

Abraham and Hagar have a son named Ishmael, but Sarah becomes jealous and expels them.

Abraham and Sarah eventually have a son they name Isaac.

Sarah’s name was originally Sarai.

Isaac and Ishmael become important religious figures


Isaac becomes a patriarch to Jews and Christians.

Ishmael becomes a patriarch to Muslims.

God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son at Moriah.

Abraham tells Isaac God will provide sheep.

Angel stops Abraham from killing Isaac.

Abraham proves he is faithful to God.

God shows that he is not a God that demands a child sacrifice.

Typology: Typology is finding Jesus in Old Testament.

Lots of parallels to New Testament

  1. Takes place on a mountain 1. Mountains are key to Hebrew literature.
  1. Moriah is near Jerusalem. 2. Anything important happen in Jerusalem?
  1. Emphasis on sacrificing his only son. 3.The Father offers His only Son
  1. Third Day 4. Three is an important number in Scripture.
  1. Goes off alone. 5. Important in Hebrew / NT literature.
  1. Sacrifice on the wood. 6. Jesus is on the Cross.
  1. God provides a lamb for sacrifice. 7. Jesus is the Lamb of God.