OVERVIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT - PART TWO
A Commentary by Kay Murdy
Copyright © 2009

RETURN TO MAIN DIRECTORY

CONQUEST - JOSHUA
Acceptance of  God's covenant changed Israel from a wandering tribe of nomads to a community with God as their leader. Israel could now see the past in light of God's revelation. The future must be lived in this light. Under Joshua, the Israelites gained territory and Joshua divided up the land among the tribes, which were known by their tribal names. After forty years of wandering in the desert, the people found themselves back in Canaan. Moving from a nomadic to an agrarian life, Abraham's descendants settled down on the land for the next two hundred years. But living as defenseless tribes left a lot to be desired.

QUESTION: What does this text say about God's plan for our lives?

JUDGES
In the book of Judges, we read of war leaders such as Deborah, Gideon and the best known of all -- Samson. Each story follows the same pattern: The people sin; They are punished by their enemies; They cry out to God to save them; God raises up a leader to rescue them; The people repent; The people sin again.

The Book of Judges ends with the statement that: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what he thought best" (Jdg 21:25).

QUESTION: What does this text say about the place of Law in our lives?

CORONATION - SAMUEL I & II
After the period of the judges, the leader of the nation was Samuel who was judge, prophet and priest. There was a growing feeling that Israel should have a king. The prophet Samuel asked, "Why do you want a king?'' The people replied, "Because everyone has one." Samuel objected to the people's demands; Israel was not "like other nations." Israel already had a king who was the Lord. Acceptance of an earthly king would compromise Israel's covenant. Samuel pointed out that a king would make heavy demands on the people. Still the people insisted. Their punishment? They got a king. First Saul was chosen and anointed (messiah, mashach, "anointed one") king (melek) by Samuel. That was in 1030 BC and his reign lasted twenty years. At first, God's favor was with Saul, and he led the nation to victories. However, Saul fell from favor because he disobeyed God's command. The king of Israel was not to be above the law, but was bound by the covenant as much as any other Israelite.

David, the youngest son of Jesse, was a shepherd boy. Time and again God chose the least likely people to carry out God's designs. Although David seemed too young and inexperienced to lead the people, the Lord said to Samuel: "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart" (1 Sam 16:7).

David's victory over the Philistine's leading warrior, Goliath, won him great renown. David was anointed king of the southern tribes of Judah. David defeated the Philistines, who had been such a threat to the Israelites, and conquered Israel's immediate neighbors. About the year 1,000 BC, David captured the city of Jerusalem from the Canaanite clan which held it up to then. Situated on the borders of the tribes of Benjamin (Saul's tribe) and Judah (David's tribe) Jerusalem immediately became the capital, the "City of David." When David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (the portable shrine containing the tablets with the ten commandments), Jerusalem also became the religious center.

David's ambition was to have a temple built for the ark of the Lord -- a permanent dwelling place for Yahweh. Through the prophet Nathan - David's request was refused. God said that David and his descendants would be the "House of the Lord," with an eternal rule over Israel.

The LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. . . . Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever (2 Samuel 7:11b-14a, 16).

QUESTION: Do you see Christ's reign foreshadowed in this "Davidic Covenant" ? What is God's promise to you?

David's son Solomon succeeded him as king. Solomon suceeded in building a glorious temple to God. In its inner sanctuary was placed the tablets with the Law given to Moses. Under David and Solomon, Israel reached her zenith as a political power. These kings justified the hopes that the people had placed in them. The nation was united, secure, well defended and was even able to expand. During this peaceful, prosperous time, the people reflected on their past, gathered their stories and traditions and began to write their history, and also some psalms and proverbs. But Solomon's weaknesses and excesses led to the nation's downfall. He established social classes of the rich and poor, and his intermarriage with foreign wives introduced pagan worship in the temple courts.

DIVISION - KINGS I & II
After Solomon's death in 931 BC, the nation fell apart. Solomon's son Rehoboam increased the "harsh service and heavy yoke" laid on the people by his father. The northern tribes revolted and made Jeroboam their king. The United Kingdom lasted only 70 years. The weakened divided nation had trouble trying to maintain itself against the great powers rising once more in Mesopotamia. Judah got caught up in the rivalry between Egypt and the Babylonian Empire. Kings Hezekiah and Josiah tried to reform the pagan practices of their people. When a copy of the book of Deuteronomy was found in the temple, King Josiah tore his garments in repentance and read the book out loud to all the people gathered in the temple precincts.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

FOR REFLECTION: This prayer called the "Shema" ("Hear!") is the central prayer of Jewish worship. What does this prayer say to you about your relationship with God? What does it say about your responsibility to teach God's Word to your family? Do we have a responsibility to share God's Word with others?

Elijah was the great prophet who called the people back to God's covenant, which was in conflict with the political world of the kings. King Ahab had granted Baal, the Canaanite god of his wife Jezebel, the same status as Yahweh. Elijah pointed to a national drought as punishment for this idolatry. On Mount Carmel, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to call on their god to bring rain. When Elijah won the contest he killed  hundreds of Baal's prophets. Jezebel vowed to kill Elijah in return and the prophet escaped to the mount of the covenant Mount Horeb (Sinai). Unlike Sinai, God speaks to Elijah not in wind, earthquake or fire.

[The Lord] said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave (1 Kings 19:11-13a).

QUESTION: What is your experience of God speaking to you?

The prophets were now the spiritual leaders of Israel, not the kings. During Assyria's rise in power Amos and Hosea reminded Israel of her unfaithfulness to the covenant. Amos spoke of the need to repent and do justice: "Seek good and not evil, that you may live" (Amos 5:13). Hosea's marriage to an adulterous woman provides the image of Israel and Yahweh "I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart . . . On that day, says the LORD, She shall call me "My husband," and never again "My baal" (Hosea 2:16-18).

THE EXILE -- PROPHETS
In 721 BC the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom with its capital at Samaria, deported its inhabitants (the Ten Lost Tribes) and replaced them with foreign colonists. This mixed population is called the Samaritans. Judah survived the Assyrian invasion for another 130 years, but in 587 BC the Babylonians destroyed the Temple and took the king and leading citizens into captivity. The people traveled back around the Fertile Crescent to where God's people began -- in Babylon. In the exile (587-538 BC) the people lost everything: king, kingdom, land and temple. In that dark time of darkness and chaos, the priests, added their creation hymn to the beginning of the book of Genesis. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light" (Genesis 1:3).

The disaster of the Exile posed a real problem for the faith of Israel. Their world was shaken to its foundation, along with their faith. God promised that David's line would last forever -- but the king was deported. Was this the end? Had God been overcome by the gods of Babylon? Did God break the covenant? Had God been unfaithful? Had God abandoned them?

The prophets saw the nations' exile as God's judgment on people and kings alike for the way they failed to keep the covenant. Even in this darkness of the loss of the Promised Land, the prophets looked back to see God in the midst of the tragedy. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed the enduring power of God's word.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

QUESTION: What does this text say to you about the power of God's Word?

Because God was faithful in the past, Israel had confidence that God would continue to act in the same way in the future. God had not cast them off forever. Their punishment was meant to bring them back to God. In 538 BC, King Cyrus the Great of Persia (modern Iran) conquered Babylon (modern Iraq) and allowed the Jews to return home to rebuild their land and temple. Isaiah saw Cyrus as God's anointed, a kind of Savior. God's "anointed one." After the exile, Israel reflected on her infidelity to God's law and remembered the promise of God's faithfulness. Israel looked forward to a future Messiah, God's "anointed one" who would "crush the head of the evil one," the promise of Genesis 3:15. Israel would know the Greek sandal and the Roman boot before the promise made to David would be fulfilled in Jesus. The prophet Micah foresaw the Messiah as the Son of David who would fulfill the covenant.

"But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times . . . until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, And the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth.' (Micah 5:1-3)

Isaiah prophesied the restoration of paradise and the rule of Immanuel ("God is with us"). Jesus, the Son of David, is our Emmanuel, who will restore the covenant:

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea (Isaiah 11:1-9).

QUESTION: Where do you see the reign of Emmanuel realized today? How is this reign yet unfulfilled? What part can I play to help fulfill God's reign?