Old Testament I

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Old Testament I

• Pentateuch Historical Books
• Shawn Madden
• http//library.sebts.edu/smadden/class.htm

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I. Course Description

• An introduction to the history, literature, and
  religion of the Old Testament, including a
  detailed examination of the problems and
  interpretations of the Pentateuch and Former
  Prophets.
• History Channel Mysteries of the Bible

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II. Course Objectives

• To gain a birds eye view of the history and
  literature of ancient Israel. At the conclusion
  of this course the student should be able to
  identify major characters, the theme of each book
  covered, and the chronology of OT literature and
  history.
• To understand the nature of the OT and its proper
  function in the church.
• To familiarize the student with the geographical
  and cultural context of the OT.

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III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Attendance is required for class sessions.
  Arrangements must be made with the instructor for
  any work that is missed.

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III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS (cont.)

• Reading is required from the Bible and from the
  text (Harrison).
• Comprehensive final exam covering all readings
  and notes.
• Project Assignments

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IV. GRADING

• A93-100 Complete Mastery of the subject
• B83-92 Solid Command of the subject
• C73-82 Basic knowledge of the subject
• D60-72 Minimal knowledge of the subject
• Flt60 No comprehension of the subject

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V. ASSIGNMENTS

• 2 Maps _at_ 50 points ea.
• Writing Project _at_ 100 points
• Final _at_ 100
• Misc. Assignments will be counted with Maps

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VI. Class Schedule
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Matthew 2232

• God said, I am the God of Abraham and the God of
  Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of
  the dead but of the living.
• evgw, eivmi o qeo.j VAbraa.m kai. o qeo.j
  VIsaa.k kai. o qeo.j VIakw,bÈ ouvk estin ÎoÐ
  qeo.j nekrw/n avlla. zw,ntwnÅ

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Galatians 329

• And if you belong to Christ, then you are
  Abraham's descendants, heirs according to
  promise.
• eiv de. umei/j Cristou/( ara tou/ VAbraa.m
  spe,rma evste,( katV evpaggeli,an klhrono,moiÅ

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Matthew 518

• For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth
  pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke
  shall pass from the Law until all is
  accomplished.
• avmh.n ga.r le,gw umi/n\ ewj a'n pare,lqh o
  ouvrano.j kai. h gh/( ivw/ta en h' mi,a kerai,a
  ouv mh. pare,lqh avpo. tou/ no,mou( ewj a'n
  pa,nta ge,nhtaiÅ
• ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
• ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

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David The Law

• How blessed is the man
• Who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
• Nor stand in the path of sinners,
• Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
• But his delight is in the LAW of the LORD,
• And in His LAW he meditates day and night.

• ?????????? ???????? ???????
• ???? ??????? ?????????? ??????????????????????
  ?????????? ???? ?????? 
• ???????????? ???????? ???? ????????????? ????
  ?????????? ? ??????? ?????????
• ?????????????? ????????? ??????? ???????????

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?a?da?????Paidagogos - Tutor

• Gal. 323 But before faith came, we were kept in
  custody under the law, being shut up to the faith
  which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the
  Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so
  that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now
  that faith has come, we are no longer under a
  tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through
  faith in Christ Jesus.
• p?? t?? de e??e?? t?? p?st?? ?p? ??µ??
  ef??????µe?a s????e??µe??? e?? t?? µe????sa?
  p?st?? ap??a??f???a?. ?ste ? ??µ?? pa?da?????
  ?µ?? ?e???e? e?? ???st?? ??a e? p?ste??
  d??a????µe?. e????s?? de t?? p?ste?? ???et? ?p?
  pa?da????? esµe?. pa?te? ?a? ???? ?e?? este d?a
  t?? p?ste?? e? ???st? ??s??.

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The Spirit the Law

• One who has Faith in Christ is led by the Spirit.
  (Gal. 513-25)
• Maturity-Sanctification helps determine the level
  of Leading necessary
• 2 Matt 2237-39 (Deut. 65 Lev. 1918)
• 10 Exod. 201-17
• 613 Maimodides enumeration

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Law Grace

• Are you saved because you follow the Law . . .
• Or, do you follow the Law because you are saved?
• Matthew 7, 25 Galatians Romans Hebrews 1
  John James

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Old Testament Value for Christians

• In it we see the mind, will, heart, and desires
  of the Living God of the Universe
• It still provides a Spiritual Guide
• It reminds us of Promises yet to be fulfilled,
  especially Messianic Millennial
• It is useful for Worship Praise

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Old Testament Value for Christians

• The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, al is
  my God what he said to them is of value to me
• It points to the Messiah is a witness to him
  and his reason for coming

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Most Common Modern Terms

• Old Testament
• New Testament
• TaNaK
• Torah (Law)????
• Neviim (Prophets) ??????
• Kethuvim (Writings) ??????

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Extent of the TaNaK

• Matt. 2335
• From Abel Gen. 3
• To Zechariah 2 Chron. 2421
• Luke 2444 Law, Prophets, Psalms

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Extent of the TaNaK

• Josephus, Contra Apion (A.D. 75)
• For we have not an innumerable multitude of books
  among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one
  another, as the Greeks have, but only
  twenty-two books, which contain the records of
  all the past times which are justly believed to
  be divine and of them
• five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and
  the traditions of the origin of mankind till his
  death. This interval of time was little short of
  three thousand years
• but as to the time from the death of Moses till
  the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who
  reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were
  after Moses, wrote down what was done in their
  times in thirteen books.
• The remaining four books contain hymns to God,
  and precepts for the conduct of human life.

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The TaNaKTalmud - Baba Bathra 14b 15a MT
ordering

• Torah
• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy

• Neviim
• Former
• Joshua
• Judges
• Samuel
• Kings
• Later
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• The Twelve

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The TaNaK (cont.) Kethuvim

• Psalms
• Job
• Proverbs
• Ruth
• Song of Songs
• Ecclesiastes

• Lamentations
• Esther
• Daniel
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Chronicles

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Notes of some Church Writers

• The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the
  Old is made plain in the New
• Augustine of Hippo

• . . . The Bible of the Apostolic church was the
  Old Testament and . . . it was the OT that the
  first Christians turned to for guidance
• T. W. Manson

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Technical Terms

• Zeitgeist Spirit of the Time. Milieu, pervasive
  thinking of an era.
• Sitz im Leben des Volkes Situation in the life
  of the People. A peoples condition and attitude
  at a particular space-time continuum.
• Geschichte History, historical study. Maddens
  subjective evaluation of a real historical
  event.
• Historie History. Maddens the objective,
  real event. Approachable only to a degree.
• Alt Old, as in Alten Testamentum.
• Grundschrift the writing that is the ground or
  underlies other writings.
• Pentateuch Five books (Gen. Deuteronomy).
• Hexateuch Six books (Gen. Joshua).
• Gitadeutschdixionary Something you need to do.

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Study of Introductions

• Lower Criticism the study of the Text of
  Scripture.
• Linguistic Analysis Comparison
• Literary Criticism
• Rhetorical Criticism

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Study of Introductions

• Higher Criticism
• Dating concerned with the setting of the
  writing of the text. In some critical schools,
  highly speculative.
• Authorship who wrote the text. Also highly
  speculative in some critical schools.

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Modern Fallacies

• For the most part these are products of the
  Enlightenment.
• History cannot include the unique, the
  miraculous, and the intervention of the divine.
• The principle of analogy. This states that there
  are no other analogous happenings by which such
  unique, divine, or miraculous events could be
  measured, inspected, and evaluated.
• W. G. Dever asserted that the Bible contains no
  real historiography in the modern sense. . . .
  The modern notion of a disinterested secular
  history would have been inconceivable to Biblical
  writers.

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Text Archaeology

• History cannot include anything that does not
  have external documentation.
• For the most part this approach denies that value
  of written texts.
• It sees more value in more solid archaeological
  finds, like stone artifacts, inscriptions, etc.
• But

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Text Archaeology

• It was not until 1932 that we had external
  verification for the exile of Jehoiachin in
  Babylon from tablets.
• Nothing external on Pontius Pilate until 1961.
• Felix the procurator in 1966
• Tel Dan inscription
• The House of David in 1993.
• Belshazzar the Babylonian King in Daniel was not
  externally attested to until the last half of the
  nineteenth century.

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Text Archaeology

• James Ossuary
• Joash Inscription

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Text Archaeology

• If these artifacts point to the veracity of the
  text, does not logic indicate that the rest of
  the text is then also true?

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Historical Approaches

• Traditional School.
• This school takes the written texts seriously. It
  treats the texts as innocent until proven
  guilty. It argues that the text of Genesis to
  Kings embodies the only ancient, continuous
  written source that deals directly with Israels
  origins.

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Historical Approaches

• Albright/Wright/Bright Baltimore School.
• Argues for the general trustworthiness of the
  account in Genesis to Kings but that not all of
  the details of Scripture were accurate and
  true. Though acknowledging the value of the
  Biblical accounts, it will lay them aside in
  favor of opposing archaeological finds and
  interpretations.

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Historical Approaches

• Alt/Noth School. These expressed extreme doubt
  that the overall outline of events found in
  Genesis to Kings contributes very much to its
  historicity. They rely heavily on models of
  ancient historical parallels, ethnographic, and
  sociological studies. Theirs is a amphictonic
  approach. The guiding principles for their
  approach are
• Amphictonies - Alt/Noth speak of the tribes of
  Israel Form critical methodologies.
• Etiological explanations for traditions.
• They rely on toponyms to explain names and tales

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Historical Approaches

• Norman Gotwald School.
• Ethnographic/sociological approach. Israel did
  not enter Canaan as conquerors, but as nomads.
• Israel arose from the indigenous Canaanite
  population.
• The peasants staged a revolt against Egypt and
  formed an egalitarian tribal society under the
  aegis of a new Yahweh.

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Historical Approaches

• Non-pan Israelite Tribal Confederation Schools.
  Thompson said that the whole story about the
  rise and fall of the Israelite monarchy was
  constructed out of whole cloth during the Persian
  period as an attempt to ingratiate themselves
  with the Persian rulers.