There are many different forms of covenants in the Old testament that the people of God agree to. The first one being looked at is between God and Abraham. God promised Abraham a great nation and God said he would bless Abraham (Gen 2:2). God also promised him the Promise Land (Gen 15:18) and said he would be the father of many nations (Gen 17:4). All God asked of him was devotion from him and his people and to have circumcision be the sign from the people (Gen 17:11). The promises of the covenant directly impact Abraham, but they also impacted the people who would follow. God would also use these vows in other covenants because they had historic meaning. The Mosaic covenant has several similarities to the Abrahamic covenant. God told Moses that he would make the people of Israel his treasured possessions (Exo 19:5), which corresponds with the promise of blessings in the first covenant. God also promises to bring the people into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exo 6:8). God still expected the people to follow and adhere to his words and the sign he required was following the ten commandments. These covenants were made when the people were forced to be a nomadic due to persecution. The promise of blessings and nations and land was something the people needed. The next covenant God made was with King David, this covenant also resembles the Abrahamic covenant. After the people had settled into their land God talks to King David, through the prophet Nathan. God tells David he will have a child who will establish a kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:13) and the kingdom, as well as the house, will be forever and his child will not lose the throne (2 Sam 7:16). These promises are like the ones made to Abraham, both are promised nat... ... middle of paper ... ...jah. In order to bring a king and his kingdom back to God, God uses Elijah. A great example that comes to mind is 1 Kings 17-18 when God talks to Ahab through Elijah. God first uses the revelations of the coming drought to warn the King (1 Kings 17). Then Elijah rebukes Ahab's actions of worshiping false gods. When the false priest challenge Elijah and God, God shows his power by consuming a drenched offering and altar (1 Kings 18:38). Even though the prophets were met with hostility and rebuking from the people, due to the evil in peoples hearts, they continued to speak the words of God. The Prophets knew they would face danger because of the words they spoke, but they also knew the words of God had to be heard. The prophets were an important tool in redirecting the people which makes their role in the history of Israel and Judah one of the most important roles.
Among Jewish peasantry at the time of Jesus were two distinct types of prophets: the action prophets, who "led sizable movements of peasants from the villages of Judea in anticipation of God's new, eschatological act of liberation," and the oracular prophets, who delivered oracles of either judgment or deliverance (185). The former, as illustrated by the case of Theudas, appea...
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
To discuss the topic of idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism, it is not hard to find out that there are many examples in the Holy Bible that teach people about the Sin of Idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism. Some of the prophets who were chosen by God, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, Micah and Hosea, are good examples of those issues. God used those people and their stories to teach other people about His words and His will.
The Mosaic Covenant from exodus is a promise made between God and the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. To begin with, the pattern of the covenant is very similar to other ancient covenants of that time because it is between God and his people. In the textbook, it explains how the Hebrews have struggled with the pharaoh around 1250 B.C.E. Moses, who was a prince that grew up in the household of the pharaoh, ran away. After returning he led the Hebrew slaves at the bottom of Mount Sinai. God spoke to the Hebrews who he freed them and explained the Ten Commandments. In addition, a quote form the readings “ I am the lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” (Judaism, pg. 397) This quote is the first commandment stating that he,
Studying the Old Testament is not as straightforward as some may think. Being able to recall stories of the Bible does not necessarily mean you have a thorough grasp on the history of Israel and the surrounding nations. Some people read and discuss the Bible without a solid understanding of the history and social issues that were going on at the time. Being able to relate to the stories in the Bible and struggle with some of the same problems faced by the people in the Bible gives you a greater appreciation for the works in the Bible. I feel that having a firm understanding of all the related history of Israel gives a student of the Old Testament a far greater understanding of why these stories are in the Bible and what was meant to be learned from them. In this paper I give brief, yet significant, explanations of the Old Testament from the death of King David to the Maccabean revolt.
Some prophets targeted Jewish monarchs as an idolatrous distraction which prevented the people from properly hearing the Word of God. Other prophets still maintained that Jews should continue to believe that God would not abandon his chosen people. Regardless of the specific message, it was clear that the overall prophetic approach to God’s covenant with the Jewish people was changing.
The Hebrew scriptures play a vital role in the revelation of God. There have been many events and stories in which God has expressed his message to people of the world. For example, there is the story of Abraham. In the city of Sodom, the people living during those times were living in very selfish and corrupt ways. God wanted them to renounce these sinful practices or else He would destroy their entire city. God ordered Abraham to find ten righteous people in order to save Sodom. In the end, Abraham failed so the city was destroyed by fire. This showed that God was serious about telling people that they needed to change. It gave them concrete proof that God would come through when He said that He demolish their city. Another example of God’s relationship with Abraham is shown when He orders Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. God wanted to test Abraham’s faith in Him and how loyal Abraham truly was. Abraham did end up taking his son to a mountain to sacrifice him but at the last minute God told Abraham to stop and sacrifice a lamb instead. This event showed that God would come through for Abraham in the end because Abraham’s fa...
Thought the book of Exodus I noticed three characteristics that God displayed, God is good, He is merciful and forgiving, and He is love.The book of Exodus teaches us that God will never leave us or forsake us despite what we do or say. In the book of Exodus, God teaches the Israelites to rest in his holy faithfulness, by trusting his decision regarding their life.
The Torah tells the Jewish people the law, which contains 613 commandments (not all still apply today), the freeing of the people from Egypt as well as creation. According to an article on Kings Watch, a prophet is someone who is a spokesperson of G-d, someone who brings G-d’s word, way etc. to the world (role of a prophet 1). A prophet may have several roles such as prayer, worship, receiving the word or the L-rd(Lord) suffering, and about 21 other roles. Not all prophets will have all of the same roles they may differ from person to person, but all would most likely share one or two roles such as worship, and prayer. Prophets may minister and there are different levels on which they minster such as to a group of people, to a church or to a nation. According to Jewish history.org there are many kings of Israel starting with King David and ending with kind Zedekiah (Jewish history 1). Some of the kings did more important and more significant things than other such as King
The Old Testament is a library of 39 books inspired by God. The Old testament can be divided into 5 divisions: The Law, History,Wisdom and Poetry, Major prophets, and Minor prophets. In reading and studying the Old testament one can reason that the world is extremely complex and it did not come into play just by chance. The big bang theory may fill the void for many, but something about it just didn't add up for me, and if this was what really happened, then who started the big bang. Think about how complicated this world is, and how everything is connected. The earth is placed the perfect distance from the sun, if it was any closer everything would burn on the surface and placed a little further everything would be frozen. God is the great creator of all as we know it. God only used 6 days to create the world and no other can accomplish that feat, even if they had a million years. God created man and man ruled over the animals and fish of the sea. Man had a direct relationship with God, this relationship was personal. Adam was at a justified state in the garden, because he was sinless and immortal. Adam and Eve failed to listen to a simple command from God of not eating of the tree of knowledge (Genesis 2:16-17, Kjv) . Looking at this paramount failure man went from living forever to having his days numbered. “Man also had to toil the land by the sweat of his brow, and women to bare pain in childbirth. Gods creation fell from grace and God recognized that and already had a plan for man to be reconciled back to his previous relationship. The Old testament sets up the fundamental morals of Christianity, in Genesis you see that God made Adam and Eve. Man was by design to be paired with women, not man to man or women...
The word prophet means to speak by delegated authority (Paterson 3). Prophets speak because they are commanded to by a higher power (Paterson 4). Their beliefs were the beliefs of the living god and to make god visible to their people (Paterson 8). They also believed that "life was unity and every thought and activity had to be brought into subjection to god (Paterson 9)." The prophets also stood for religious integrity (Paterson 10).
In conclusion, it can be seen that the prophets spoke the word of God for the benefit of Israel’s spiritual condition. Even though the prophets had spoken many times of great sin bring the anger of God with His great wrath, their message always included God’s love that gave hope through repentance.
Brooklyn, I do agree with you on the notion that Christianity has been positive for the most part, however, I am confused on whether or not you are aware of certain sections of the bible involving it's view on marriage, slavery, and women's rights. Although many of these views were refuted in the New Testament the Bible is notorious for it's views on women's rights, such as in this quote from Ephesians.
The New Testament expression kingdom of God has its conceptual antecedents in the Old Testament. One of Jesus emphases is that in him there is the fulfillment of the Old Testament hope. The form of the New Testament message betrays the content, and the content is in harmony with the Old Testament. The disciples and those who do the will of God are the nucleus of this new community, which, like the Old Testament community, is a community in the covenant. Beyond these incidents, Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God in metaphors of eating and banqueting The agenda to which Gods promise of land refers is the agenda of a rich and full life with Yahweh. The affinity between the facets of the divine design in the Old Testament and Jesus and his message
Let us start with this statement: I believe that new preachers and new people to the Christian Faith try hard to avoid the Old Testament. If they do, they only look at one section and struggle to connect all the pieces together. One of the issues that makes people uncomfortable is the prophets. First, there is a definite volume of them, and then they are divided into “major” and “minor.” I think at the core of our hearts, we are trying to understand the difference among the different biblical prophets.