Old Testament Units

In this first part of the introduction to the Old Testament we will be going on a journey. God’s journey with Israel – or is it, Israel’s journey with God? Firstly, we will focus on the central theme of the first six books of the Bible. We will see how God stayed true to the promises he made to helpless people and how this theme finds its climax in God fulfilling his promises of a great posterity and land. Then we will see how Israel became a great kingdom culminating in the reigns of David and Solomon. From here we journey through Israel’s darkest hours as they bear the brunt of their continuous rebellion and sin. As we take this journey through the good and the bad times we meet a God who loves and cares so much for his people that it hurts. We will meet the God who not only stays true to his promises but who also disciplines his children. Most of all we meet a loving Father that comforts his children taking them by the hand and leading them towards a new future with new hope and new expectations.
 

The Old Testament provides the key for our understanding of the New Testament and all the great doctrines of the church. Without insight into the theological themes of the Old Testament and the unique contribution of each book, the church will be poverty stricken. The time between the first monarchy and the eventual overthrow of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah is a time of the deepest crisis for the covenant people of God. In this unit we will retrace their route from triumph to despair. We will see the impact that the historical developments had on their faith and perceptions of God. The story of Judah does not end there, however. God's faithfulness is demonstrated in the miraculous return of God's people from their captivity to Jerusalem. In walking with them, and seeing reality through their eyes, we come to see God in a radically new way.

Genesis – the Book of Beginnings.

How did it all begin? How and why did it all go wrong? What was God’s reaction and resolve to his dream of creation and a relationship with mankind going sour? Did it work out? In our study of Genesis we are going to explore all these and other very important questions. We are going to try and get some answers and maybe come to some new questions. Understanding Genesis is not only understanding how everything came to being, but especially how things went off track. Understanding this forms the basis for understanding our falleness and why, at the end, God sent Jesus. It is to grasp something of the cruel realitiy of the fallen world we are living in and why we are faced with a world where everything is going wrong on a daily basis. However, Genesis also teaches us about a God who did not abandon these rebellious creatures. A God committed to his creation that keeps on calling out to a rebellious people – “Adam, where are you”. A God of new beginnings.

Nearly half the number of Old Testament Books belongs to the corpus of Prophetic Literature. Who or what were these people, what was their message and the context in which they brought their message? Even more, what do we learn about this God, his character and his relation to his people, Israel? In this unit we will look at the phenomenon of the prophetic office in Ancient Israel, the background and general content of some of these books. Furthermore we will endeavour to do in depth analysis (exegesis) of a selection of passages in order to get a better understanding of the Prophet’s message in their time as well as asking ourselves what the relevance of their message is for the modern day church. To achieve this goal we will endeavour to employ the best analytical tools available for examining this particular type of literature. This unit endeavours to be a starting point for further study on the Prophetic Literature as part of God’s Word. In so doing, this course seeks to prepare you for the years to come in ministry.
 

The book of Psalms has been called a microcosm of the message of the Old Testament and a mirror of the human soul. No other biblical book offers such an extensive view of both God and human experience and for this reason the biblical Psalms are as relevant today as when they were written.

They provide us with inspiration for prayer and worship, and answers for the questions concerning faith and the problems of life that men have asked throughout the ages and still ask today.

This unit is an introduction to the historical literature of the Old Testament, with particular attention to one of the Former Prophets and with detailed exegesis of selected portions of the text. Some of the main critical issues will be raised.