In the Beginning: Adventuring Through the Old Testament

by Downs, Victor

• ISBN13: 9781456728335
• ISBN10: 1456728334
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-02-04
• Publisher: Author Solutions

Excerpts

When we search for the roots of Christianity, the Bible is the major source for our historical knowledge of Christianity's Jewish heritage. Besides this, we have archaeological evidence and surviving written fragments from other books, but the Bible is easily the pre-eminent, and in many places the only, source for the events it records.The historical validity of every part of the Bible has been endlessly debated for several centuries, and the debate may well go on for several more. As far as the history of Christianity is concerned, however, it is the actual biblical text that counts and not the scholarly controversies. Therefore, in this book, I considered only the biblical narrative and its effects on the story of Christianity and leave the debates over its historicity to others.While Genesis, the first book of the Bible, opens with the story of creation and the lives of such intriguing figures as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Enoch, and Noah, the immediate ancestry of Judaism Christianity begins in the eleventh chapter, with what appears to be a simple notation about an obscure Mesopotamian clan: "This is the history of Terah's family" (Genesis 11: 27).About 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, a man named Abram, the son of Terah, later renamed Abraham, heeds the calling of God and moves his family from the prosperous region of his birth (Ur in Iraq) and journeys to the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea.For believers, the Old Testament narratives are not measured like ordinary history. The life of this insignificant Mesopotamian traveler is the beginning of the great epic of "salvation history," for Christians see in the events of the Bible the calling and care of God for his people. More than that, for both Christians and Jews the history of this man and his family is their own history. These people are among the earliest and greatest heroes of the faith. Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob are the Patriarchs, the founding fathers of the Jewish people. Their very obscurity is taken as evidence that God uplifts the humble to the highest place, as the Bible says he does.Much of the framework of Christian thought derives from the Old Testament: A God who is active in history, not far away and uninvolved, who steps in to redeem for his people; the Scriptures as the Word of God, eternally valid: a divine law that binds even kings, that emperors and peasants alike must obey.With everything to lose and nothing to gain, Abram's sole impetus would seem to have been his faith in God and his conviction that God's promises to him would be fulfilled. These promises, known as the Abrahamic Covenant, are first spelled out in the twelfth chapter of Genesis:Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah 90, they had a son and named him Isaac. Isaac grew up to become a person of great integrity and patience. He married Rebekah, who gave birth to twin sons, Jacob and Esau. However, through deceit, Jacob stole the birthright that belonged to his brother Esau as the first born and inherited the covenant God had made with Abraham.Later Jacob had a life-changing encounter with God and became a devout and honourable man. God then changed Jacob's name to 'Israel,' the name by which the Jewish nation has since been known.After many generations of abject poverty and severe oppression, it must have seemed to the Israelites that God had forgotten his promises to their patriarchal forefathers. But God was to send a deliverer in the unlikely form of a reluctant and painfully shy Hebrew named Moses. Moses was raised in the Egyptian royal court, where he lived for 40 years as the adopted son of one of the pharaoh's daughters..After killing an Egyptian who beat an Israelite slave. Moses fled to the wilderness. During this time he married, raised a family, and settled into a comfortable uneventful life.One day, while tending his father-in-law's flocks near Mount Sinai, Moses had a dramatic encounter with God. Here he saw a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire.God ordered Moses to return to Egypt and to deliver his people.With God directing the Israelites through Moses, they marched across the desert to Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments, rules for daily conduct and religious practices.The first king of Israel was Saul, who, according to the Bible, was the tallest and most handsome man in the country. Unfortunately, Saul's physical attributes were not matched by his character: he was to show lack of moral direction, and willingness to defile the holy places of the land of Israel.After his death on the battlefield, Saul was replaced by David, Israel's greatest king and one of the most beloved figures in the Bible. Although deeply flawed, David ushered in a period of great spiritual and political stability. His faithful and intimate relationship with God has been recorded in many of the hymns found in the book of Psalms. David was succeeded by his son Solomon, who, although a person of great ability and wisdom, turned away from the high road of moral leadership and obedience to God, preferring narcissism and hunger for physical pleasure.After Solomon's death, the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Israel was the larger kingdom representing ten of the tribes, while Judah retained only two. Despite the strength of numbers, Israel was conquered over a century before Judah. In 722 BC Assyria swept through and destroyed the northern kindom, dispersing the people and settling foreigners on the land.