Old Testament
Gen—Genesis
Exod—Exodus
Lev—Leviticus
Num—Numbers
Deut—Deuteronomy
Jos—Joshua
Jdg—Judges
Ruth
1 Sam—1 Samuel
2 Sam—2 Samuel
1 Ki—1 Kings
2 Ki—2 Kings
1 Chr—1 Chronicles
2 Chr—2 Chronicles
Ezr—Ezra
Neh—Nehemiah
Est—Esther
Job
Ps. (Pss.)—Psalms
Prov—Proverbs
Eccl—Ecclesiastes
Cant—Song of Solomon (Canticles)
Isa—Isaiah
Jer—Jeremiah
Lam—Lamentations of Jeremiah
Ezek—Ezekiel
Dan—Daniel
Hos—Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obad—Obadiah
Jon—Jonah
Mic—Micah
Nah—Nahum
Hab—Habakkuk
Zeph—Zephaniah
Hag—Haggai
Zech—Zechariah
Mal—Malachi

OLD TESTAMENT

I. The relationship of the OT to the NT

The Christian Church regards the OT as authoritative Holy Scripture because its Founder and Savior so regarded it. Jesus taught His disciples that Moses, the OT prophets, and the Psalms all testified to Himself (Luke 24:44) as the promised Redeemer of God’s people. His apostles understood the entire Heb. Scripture to constitute a composite unity ultimately authored by God and infallibly setting forth the divine will and plan for man’s salvation. Christ and the NT authors assert that when the OT spoke, it was God who spoke through it, and its words could not fail because God could not fail—or be mistaken, or impart falsehood. Therefore the human authors divinely used for the composition of the OT wrote under the infallible guidance of God the Holy Spirit (Gal 3:8; 2 Pet 1:20), and faithfully recorded what God planned for them to write, even though they themselves did not always fully understand the import of what they wrote. (1 Pet 1:10, 11 declares that they did not know about the time or the circumstances of the Advent of Christ, but kept searching [ereunōntes] for a more adequate comprehension of what the Holy Spirit within them signified by the prophetic disclosures He guided them to impart.)

In general, the NT authors viewed the entire OT as a testimony to Jesus Christ. The pentateuch and the poetical books set forth for them the perfect man who fulfilled all the law (a pattern uniquely fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth alone). In the sacrificial and priestly provisions of the law, they saw Christ as the antitype, the Messianic Priest, and the atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind. In the Davidic kingdom they saw a type of the perfect King, appointed forever “after the order of Melchizedek,” the priest-king who once bestowed God’s blessing on Abraham, the “father of the faithful.” Not only was Christ the Messianic Prophet, Priest, and King portrayed in symbol and type by the OT, but He was also the ultimate Judge of all mankind. Even the historical events of the OT record were invested with prophetic significance. The crossing of the Red Sea by Israel under Moses prefigured Christian baptism and all that it spiritually implies (1 Cor 10:1, 2). Joshua’s conquest of Canaan typified the spiritual rest into which NT believers enter by faith (Heb 3:4). The calling of Israel out of Egypt typified the return of the child Jesus from Egypt after the death of Herod (Matt 2:15). The OT presented the preparation of which the NT was the fulfillment; it was the seed of which the achievement of Christ and the apostles was the glorious fruit. Precisely because Jesus Christ fulfilled what the OT predicted, His life and deeds were demonstrated to be the work of God and thus invested with absolute finality. The OT demonstrated that Christ and His Church were of supernatural origin and validity, and entirely set apart from man-made religion or human genius of any sort. As the OT furnished proof that Jesus was the embodiment of God’s purpose, and God manifested in the flesh, so also the NT showed that the Heb. Scriptures constituted an organic unity, focused upon a single great theme and setting forth a single, but all-comprehensive, program of redemption.

II. The main divisions of the Old Testament

The books composing the authoritative OT were unquestionably the same as the thirty-nine transmitted in the Heb. Scriptures. (There is no evidence whatever that the NT authors regarded any of the books in the Apoc. as the authoritative word of God, even though a few Pseudepigraphical books were occasionally quoted.) Although the same text that Christ used and certified to be God’s infallible truth is the authoritative OT used today, nevertheless there is some divergence between the order of the books in the Heb. canon and the order adopted by the LXX and Lat. Vulgate. The MT follows a three-part canon, of which the pentateuch constitutes the first unit (the Torah), the prophets (Nebi’īm) the second, and the writings (Kethubîm) the third. The prophets are subdivided into the former prophets (including Josh., Judg., 1 and 2 Sam, 1 and 2 Kings) and the latter prophets (the major prophets, Isa, Jer, and Ezek, and the twelve minor prophets as in the Eng. Bible). The writings included the rest of the OT, but in the following order: (i) poetry: Psalms, Proverbs, Job (in the Leningrad MS: Pss, Job, Prov); (ii) the Megilloth, or rolls: Canticles (S of Sol), Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther (according to the order of their use in the great feast days of the Heb. religious year; the Leningrad MS orders them as: Ruth, S of Sol, Eccl. Lam, Esth); (iii) the historical: Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and 1 and 2 Chronicles. This Massoretic order may not have been the original, for the NT references seem to view the Psalms in a class by itself, rather than included in a larger category of “writings.” The Septuagint order, dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries b.c., adopted the sequence followed in the Lat. Bible (with Apocryphal additions or books interspersed among them), namely: books of law (Gen through Deut), books of history (Josh through Esth), books of poetry and wisdom (Job through S of Sol), books of prophecy (the twelve minor prophets, and the major prophets, Isa. through Dan, including Lam. The LXX appends 1 and 2 Maccabees at the very end. This would seem to have been the approved order, then, in the Alexandrian Jewish community during the intertestamental period; the Palestinian order during this same time is less certain, although from the evidence cited above, it was somewhat different from the final Massoretic order.

Regardless of these minor variations in sequence, the organic function of each section of the OT canon in relationship to the other sections is perfectly clear. The pentateuch contains the charter of salvation by grace, based upon God’s sovereign choice of Abraham and his seed, with whom He entered into special fellowship by His gracious covenant. This covenant relationship was later extended to Israel as a nation, delivered from bondage in Egypt, commissioned to take possession of Canaan as the inheritance promised to Abraham. Theirs was the responsibility of maintaining a holy, virtuous life, based upon obedience to the revealed will of God, and maintained by worship, sacrifice for sins, and grateful, loving communion with their divine Sovereign.

The historical books (Josh through Esth) contain the record of how the nation prospered when it kept faith with God and maintained its covenant commitments, and how it suffered affliction and defeat when it forsook its trust and tried to live like the pagan world around it. The poetical books (Job through S of Sol) give expression to the personal response of OT believers to God’s truth and love, and make clear the practical implications of living to please the Lord. The prophetical books contain the proclamation of God’s will to the Israelite nation in the light of the spiritual, political, and economic problems confronting them in the course of their history from the divided monarchy to the establishment of the second commonwealth. These prophets show Yahweh’s unchangeable purpose to keep His hand upon this wayward, willful people, employing whatever admonition, rebuke, or chastisement necessary to keep them a godly nation, devoted to Himself. Through these prophets runs the theme of ultimate deliverance, not by the efforts of the people themselves, but by the atoning work of a divine-human Messiah, who is the hope of Israel. In a very profound sense, the entire OT, in all its parts and divisions, points to Jesus Christ. The law and the books of wisdom present Him as the perfect man and blameless Priest who fulfills all righteousness and loves God with pure sincerity. The historical books set forth through David and those of his descendants who were godly, the pattern of the theocratic King, who subdues and rules the earth for the glory of God. The poetical books (esp. the Psalms) portray Christ as the One who delights to do God’s will and is ready to suffer cheerfully whatever His Father’s will entails. The prophetic books present Him as the Teacher of all righteousness and truth, and the tender Shepherd who devotedly cares for His flock. From this perspective, the OT not only contains individual predictions concerning the person and work of Christ, but also focuses upon Him as its basic pattern, motivation, and glorious goal. It is this essentially Christocentric quality of the OT that is brought out and emphasized in the NT itself—an emphasis that its authors received from their divine Lord during His earthly ministry, both before and after His resurrection.

III. A survey of the contents and message of the Old Testament

A. The pentateuch

1. Genesis. Genesis sets forth Yahweh as the only true God, the creator of the entire universe, in sovereign control of all the forces of nature. Man is His crowning work of creation, for he alone was made in the image of God and granted the privilege of personal fellowship with Him. Though Adam lost his privileged status through sin by putting his own will above the will of God, he became the object of forgiveness and grace, and the broken fellowship was partially restored on the basis of the redeeming work of the future Messiah, “the seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15). This heritage of faith was passed on through Seth (though rejected by Adam’s oldest son, Cain), and reached to Noah and his family, who alone survived the universal judgment of the Flood. The torch of testimony passed on to Abraham, the pioneer of faith, who was willing to leave his home and security behind him to obey God’s call to the land of promise. There he was content to live as a stranger and foreigner, awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promise to His descendants. His son Isaac, whose wife was chosen for him by the Lord, handed on this heritage to Jacob, that crafty self-server who ultimately was won by hardship and danger to true submission to God. His twelve sons, despite their grievous sins and faults, maintained an awareness of belonging to Yahweh under the covenant of grace made with Abraham and his seed. It is preeminently in Joseph that true godliness again finds expression; through successive testings God prepared him for greatness and used him to deliver his family from extinction and welcome them into a refuge in Egypt where they could grow into a great nation.

2. Exodus. The second book relates how God prepared His servant Moses for the task of leading Israel out of oppressive bondage in Egypt. After forty years of education in the Egyp. court, he had forty more as an exile in the Sinai desert where he was summoned at the burning bush and commissioned for his task. After the ten plagues compelled Pharaoh to let the Israelites depart, Pharaoh made an attempt to recapture them, but lost his chariotry in the sea. By manna from heaven and water from the rock, God sustained the multitude, and He met with them as a nation for solemn covenant renewal at Mt. Sinai where He gave the Decalogue, the Book of the Covenant, and the specifications for the Tabernacle and its priesthood. After the rupture caused by the apostasy of the golden calf, Moses prevailed on Yahweh to renew fellowship with a chastened Israel. God then warned against future idolatry, ordained the Sabbath observances and the consecration of the Tabernacle with its altars and ark, and at the dedication ceremony descended upon it with the glory cloud.

3. Leviticus. Leviticus spells out the regulations that governed the meal offering and the six types of blood sacrifice, each of which brought out an aspect of the atonement: burnt offering (for sinfulness in general), sin offering (for individual overt transgressions), trespass offering (for offenses resulting in damages to be repaid 120 percent), and peace offerings (thank-offering, votive offering, freewill offering) that involved a communion meal with God. After Aaron and his sons were solemnly consecrated for the priesthood, the two oldest (Nadab and Abihu) died because of impiety in the Tabernacle. Lists of clean and unclean foods, and laws concerning purification (of mothers after childbirth, of lepers who have been cured, of victims of boils or running sores) are followed by regulations for the Day of Atonement and for preserving the sanctity of sacrifices. Holiness involved complete separation from all levels of sexual immorality, uncleanness, and idolatry. Only holy men could carry out priestly duties and supervise the holy convocations, the celebration of the Sabbath, of Passover and Unleavened Bread, of Pentecost, the Feasts of Trumpets and of Tabernacles. Following the warnings against desecration, are the ordinances for the sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee. Chapter 26 foretells the Babylonian captivity (although not by name) and the return to Pal., and the final chap. deals with vows and tithes.

4. Numbers. The fourth book continues with the journey of Israel from Sinai to the borders of Canaan at Kadesh-barnea, and then after the chastisement of the forty years wandering, the arrival at the Plains of Moab and the encounter with King Balak and the prophet Balaam (who was hired to curse Israel but was compelled by God to bless them instead). There was a census at the beginning (chs. 3; 4) and another at the end (ch. 26), each totaling a little over 600,000 men at arms. After the twelve tribes dedicated offerings to the Lord, the Levites were officially installed, and the host headed toward Kadesh. From time to time they complained and rebelled, esp. after the unfavorable report of the ten spies concerning the impregnability of Canaan. Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses, as did some of the Levites under Korah. All were subdued by miraculous judgments from God. Various laws concerning holiness are interspersed. The conquest of Trans-Jordan was secured by the defeat of Sihon and Og, but in Moab the Israelites were temporarily ensnared by idolatry and religious prostitution, which was followed by a plague and the execution of some of the leading offenders.

5. Deuteronomy. The fifth book contains the closing admonitions of the aged Moses, on the threshold of conquest of the Promised Land. Its form follows a structure observed in second millennium Anatolian suzerainty treaties: (i) preamble (1:1-5); (ii) historical prologue (1:6-4:49), reciting God’s gracious treatment of His people; (iii) stipulations listing the special provisions of the covenant (the selective summary of the law, chs. 5-26); (iv) curses for violation of the covenant, and blessings for its observance (chs. 27-30); (v) arrangements for continuing the sanctions of the covenant by public reading, and the solemn invocation of witnesses to its validity; also provisions for the custody of both copies of the covenant for each contractual party (in the case of Leviticus both copies were to be kept in the Ark of the covenant)—cf. chs. 31-33. This earnest admonition to the nation as a whole to keep true to its divine trust was in the nature of a constitution for the new theocracy to be established in conquered Canaan.

B. The historical books

1. Joshua. The Book of Joshua records the conquest of the Promised Land, and the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and Moses in effecting victory over the tribes of Canaan. Joshua’s total personal commitment to the Lord made him an irresistible weapon in God’s hand, as he crossed the dry bed of the Jordan at flood tide, and after six days’ march around the walls of Jericho, he saw them toppled by God’s power. The setback at Ai prompted him to ferret out the offender who secreted plunder from the accursed Jericho in his tent; by Achan’s execution Joshua insured perfect obedience among his troops from that time on. The law was publicly read and its covenant engagements solemnly accepted by the victorious army up by Mt. Gerizim. In support of their unsought allies of the Hivite League, the Israelites won a tremendous victory over a hostile coalition at the battle of Gibeon, during which great numbers of the foe were killed by huge hailstones, and the sun was retarded from setting so that the victors could catch their fugitives before nightfall. After an equally victorious campaign in the N against Hazor, Joshua distributed the territory of Pal. to the ten W Bank tribes by lot, and their boundaries were described. Within them the cities of refuge were appointed for fugitive manslayers, and also cities for the Levites to dwell in. At the close of his career Joshua challenged the nation to renew its exclusive loyalty to Yahweh.

2. Judges. The Book of Judges picks up the narrative at that point, relating how later generations failed to complete the conquest of the land, and after falling into moral laxity and idolatry became prey to six or more oppressing nations, beginning with Cushanrishathaim from Syrian Mesopotamia, then Moab, then the North Canaanites under Jabin of Hazor, then the Midianites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. Of the twelve “judges,” or national leaders, raised up to repel these oppressors, the most prominent were Barak (who with Deborah crushed the army of Hazor), Gideon (the conqueror of the Midianites), Jephthah (who repelled the Ammonites), and Samson, who as a one-man army held the Philistines at bay until his betrayal by his mistress, Delilah. Despite periods of repentance and revival, the general trend among the twelve tribes in this period was to do whatever was pleasing in their own eyes and ignore the Scriptures (i.e. the Pentateuch). The abduction of a local priest employed by Micah the Ephraimite when a migrating band of Danites passed through on their way up to the northern city of Laish presents an example of the ruthlessness of these times, but even more shocking was the murder of a Levite’s concubine in Gibeah, which ultimately led to a civil war against the whole tribe of Benjamin, and their near extinction.

3. Ruth. In contrast to these troubles, the Book of Ruth narrates a tender and romantic episode during the time of the Judges when a Moabitess loyally moved to Bethlehem with her destitute Judean mother-in-law, Naomi, to help support her there. Attracting the favor of a wealthy bachelor named Boaz, a cousin of Naomi, she is eventually claimed by him as her kinsman-redeemer, and becomes the ancestress of King David.

4. 1 and 2 Samuel. These books open with the closing days of the high priest Eli, who received as his protégé little Samuel, whom his mother had devoted to the Lord. After the Philistines crushed Israel at Shiloh and carried off the Ark of the covenant as spoil, they were compelled by a plague to return it to the Hebrews. Samuel eventually led a successful revolt against Philistia, and was guided to crown Saul as the first king of Israel (in response to Israel’s demand to become a monarchy like her neighbors). Saul valiantly delivered Jabesh-gilead from the besieging Ammonites, and sparked by a daring raid on the part of his son Jonathan, routed the Philistines as well. But the challenge of the Philistine giant, Goliath, could only be met by the daring young David, who vaulted into prominence by felling him with a slingstone. Saul’s sin in sparing some of the Amalekites he had been ordered to exterminate led to his rejection by God, who had directed Samuel previously to anoint David as king. Despite David’s services as a harpist and his new status as son-in-law through the marriage of Michal, Saul became insanely jealous of David and pursued him as a fugitive outlaw, a pursuit he continued until he was forced to fight the Philistines at Mt. Gilboa, where he and his sons fell in battle. Second Samuel opens with David’s lament over this disaster and follows through his entire reign as king first of Judah alone, and then, after the assassination of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, of the entire twelve tribes. David’s desire to build a Temple for Yahweh was denied, but his son was to have that privilege (ch. 7), which included a promise of everlasting rule to David’s Messianic descendant. He finally conquered all the territory from Egypt to the Euphrates, as God promised Abraham (Gen 15:18). David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the contrived murder of her husband, Uriah, brought the curse of strife into David’s home. His eldest son, Amnon, after raping Absalom’s sister, was finally assassinated by Absalom in revenge; and ultimately Absalom rebelled against David, his father, and sent him fleeing across the Jordan. Absalom finally met defeat at the hands of Joab, David’s commander, who personally slew him in the forest. David was restored to supreme power, a saddened man, and had to deal with a major famine, and further wars with the Philistines (all of whose giants were slain). His psalm of praise is recorded in ch. 22 (cf. Ps 18), which was followed by a list of his thirty battle champions. His national census was punished by a plague, which stopped only when he offered sacrifice on the site of the future Temple, purchased from Araunah the Jebusite.

5. 1 and 2 Kings. This narrative continues the history of the Heb. monarchy, from Solomon to Zedekiah; 1 Kings closes with the death of Ahab (853 b.c.). In David’s dotage, his oldest surviving son, Adonijah, laid claim to the succession, until Bathsheba reminded David of his promise to Solomon, who was thereupon installed as king. Solomon’s request for wisdom to govern well was granted by God, along with wealth and victory. After marrying Pharaoh’s daughter (a match that brought on toleration of idol-worship), Solomon built a magnificent Temple to God and solemnly dedicated it with prayer and lavish sacrifices. His wealth and glory amazed the Queen of Sheba, and science and lit. flourished under his encouragement. But his gross polygamy and toleration of the cults of his foreign wives led the nation to spiritual decline and political unrest. After Damascus gained independence (after Solomon’s death in 931), a permanent separation occurred between Judah and the ten tribes, who chose Jeroboam I as ruler over the northern kingdom rather than remain under Solomon’s tyrannical son, Rehoboam. Intermittent warfare between the two kingdoms was matched by religious schism, for Jeroboam established new temples for calf worship at Bethel and Dan. Pharaoh Shishak stormed Jerusalem and plundered the Temple; the Edomites revolted from Judah.

When Baasha threatened Judah by building a new fortress at Ramah, Asa (though a godly king) resorted to bribing Damascus to fall upon the northern tribes. Later, the capital of the northern kingdom was transferred to Samaria by Omri, whose son Ahab was married to Baal-worshiping Jezebel of Tyre. Elijah called down three years of drought upon Ahab’s realm until the contest with the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel, after which the rains returned. To escape Jezebel’s wrath, Elijah fled to Mt. Sinai, where he received new directions from God. After Ahab’s judicial murder of Naboth, his doom was foretold by Elijah, and Ahab finally met his end at Ramoth-gilead, shot by a Syrian archer.

Second Kings relates the early death of Ahab’s son, as Elijah had foretold. Elisha was anointed by Elijah, and stayed with him until his departure heavenward by the Jordan. Judah, under King Jehoshaphat (who had been Ahab’s ally), assisted Jehoram ben Ahab against the revolting Moabites. Elisha assisted Jehoram against Syrian invaders, after healing Naaman of his leprosy during a time of peace with Damascus. Jehu, commander of the Israelite army was secretly anointed king by a messenger of Elisha, at Ramoth-gilead. Jehu then secured the support of the army and slew Jehoram at Jezreel, and shortly afterward the defiant Jezebel also. Though he massacred all the Israelite Baal-worshipers, he did not abolish the calf cult, and both he and his successors suffered defeats from the Syrians until Joash defeated them in accordance with Elisha’s dying prophecy. His son, Jeroboam II, regained the former boundaries of N Israel and subdued Damascus, but anarchy and a series of weak kings ensued after his death, until the final collapse of Samaria to Assyrian besiegers in 722.

Uzziah of Judah, a godly king, restored the borders of the southern kingdom and prospered economically until his arrogance in the Temple led to leprosy and the shift of power to his good son, Jotham (751 b.c.). Jotham’s wicked son Ahaz led Judah to disaster, despite his alliance with Assyria, and only the restoration under godly Hezekiah deferred Judah’s doom and made deliverance possible from Sennacherib’s irresistible army (701). His display of wealth to Chaldean envoys resulted in Isaiah’s prediction of the Babylonian Captivity 125 years later. The idolatry and depravity of Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, ensured this downfall, although it was deferred until after the death of his godly grandson Josiah, who prompted Judah’s final revival. Josiah’s incompetent sons unsuccessfully played off Egypt against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar burned Jerusalem and the Temple to the ground. After Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed governor of Judah, was murdered by a guerilla leader named Ishmael, the last remnants of Jewish population took refuge in Egypt.

6. 1 and 2 Chronicles. Here is reviewed Israel’s history from the perspective of the nation’s covenant relationship to God as a worshiping community, following the prescribed forms of divine service as administered by the divinely ordained priesthood and under the rule of the divinely authorized dynasty of David. The northern kingdom is treated only incidentally, since it represented political and religious schism. Emphasis is laid upon Israel’s rich spiritual heritage going back to the time of the patriarchs (hence the prominence given to genealogical lists), and also upon the distinctive institutions of worship added to the cultus by David and Solomon. The high moments of faith and trust in the lives of kings like Rehoboam, Asa and Jehoshaphat, which are not recorded in 1 and 2 Kings reflect this interest of the historian (who may well have been Ezra himself). On the other hand, some of the tragic lapses of faith, like David’s sin with Bathsheba and Solomon’s gross polygamy and permissiveness toward idolatry, are passed over in silence. The narrative continues until the fall of Babylon and the release from captivity by Cyrus of Persia.

7. Ezra. This book relates how the first group of 42,000 Jews migrated from Babylonia to Palestine (537 b.c.), and founded the “second commonwealth,” laying the foundations of the Temple and resuming sacrificial worship at the restored altar. Pressure from hostile neighboring states hindered further work on the Temple until Haggai and Zechariah stirred up the people to complete the sanctuary even without a building permit (519 b.c.). Some decades later, Ezra came from Babylon with the emperor’s blessing to aid in the spiritual restoration of the discouraged little province of Judah (457). He persuaded them to obey the Torah by separating themselves from their pagan wives and to abandon the permissive attitude toward paganism, which then prevailed.

8. Nehemiah. Nehemiah, the emperor’s cupbearer, tells how he was authorized to serve as governor in Judah (beginning in 446) until he could have the city walls of Jerusalem rebuilt and his countrymen restored to a posture of defense and self-respect in the face of their hostile neighbors. The Samaritans and their allies at first ridiculed, then threatened, and then sought to entice Nehemiah from the work by threat of slander to the court. Not only did he organize them for successful defense; but he also led them to revival at the Feast of Tabernacles under Ezra’s Scriptureteaching campaign (ch. 8). As the nation renewed its covenant with God, the most pressing reforms were carried through, i.e. the settling of a sufficient population in Jerusalem to insure its proper defense (ch. 11), the restoration of mortgaged farms to their owners, foregoing usury (ch. 5). During Nehemiah’s second term as governor (433 b.c.), Ezra also enforced the exclusion of foreigners from the Temple precinct (which the high priest had neglected) and insisted on the payment of tithes for support of the clergy. He also forbade all business and labor on the Sabbath and compelled those who had married foreign wives to put them away (ch. 13).

9. Esther. This is a thrilling account of the deliverance of the Jewish nation from genocide. This threat of extinction came by order of the emperor’s prime minister, Haman, who hated the race of the Jew Mordecai because he refused to do obeisance to him. Unbeknown to him, however, the beautiful young queen of Xerxes (Ahashuerus) was Mordecai’s niece, and she was willing to risk her life to save her people. Though she entered the throne room without invitation, the king saved her from the death penalty by extending his scepter, and she put into effect a plan to expose Haman as plotting against her life. In a rage, Xerxes ordered him to be hanged on the very gallows he had erected for Mordecai, and a counter decree was issued empowering the Jews throughout the empire to slay their enemies on the day appointed for the extermination of the Jews. This was commemorated by the Feast of Purim ever after.

C. The poetical books

1. Job. This episode took place in N Arabia, prob. before the Mosaic period, and it is composed in the form of a poetic dialogue, a species of “wisdom literature.” The prose prologue discloses God’s reason for permitting Satan to subject Job to the loss of his wealth, his children and his health: namely, to prove to Satan that a sincere believer can love God even apart from the blessings He bestows. After his wife left him in disgust, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to comfort him, but also to ferret out some secret sin to account for this apparently undeserved calamity. Job stoutly maintained that there was no such secret sin to confess, and alternated between humble trust in the Lord and bitter complaint that he could not plead his cause before Him—a vehemence that Elihu rebuked, even as he rebuked the dogmatism of the other three in assuming Job’s culpability. Jehovah spoke to Job through the whirlwind, challenging him to explain the mighty forces of nature, if he ventured to question His wisdom and justice. After Job expressed abject repentance for his presumptuousness, God rebuked the three “comforters” and restored Job to fame, fortune, and the joys of parenthood on an even higher level than before.

2. Psalms. These are for the most part prayers of praise and petition to God offered by believers passing through experiences of peril, sorrow, or joy. Seventy-three of the 150 have titles naming David as author, but there are doubtless many of the “anonymous” Psalms composed by him as well (Acts 4:25 states that Ps 2 is Davidic). Some of these are didactic, such as Psalm 1 (contrasting the attitude, life, and destiny of the godly with those of the ungodly) and Psalm 37 (which affirms the eventual judgment of even the most prosperous evildoer). Others celebrate the glory and power of God revealed through nature and the Scriptures (Pss 8; 19) and through His providential deliverance of believers who trust in Him (46). Some express an ardent longing and love for Jehovah (18; 42), others plead for His compassion and forgiveness (Ps 51) or praise Him for its bestowal (32). Of special importance are the Messianic Psalms, which foretell the character, sufferings and triumph of Christ—esp. Psalm 2 (Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5, etc.), Psalm 16 (Acts 2:25-28), Psalm 110 (Matt 22:44, etc.), and Psalm 22 (which Jesus quoted on the cross). Ten Psalms are attributed to descendants of Korah (42; 44-49; 84; 87; 88); twelve to Asaph (50; 73-83); Psalm 90 to Moses (hence the earliest of them all); Psalm 127 to Solomon; Psalm 83 to Heman and Psalm 89 to Ethan. Of the anonymous psalms, several are of greatest sublimity in their praise of God (e.g. 103; 104) and of His revealed Word (Ps 119). Although they were undoubtedly used in the public worship of God in the Temple, there is no good reason to suppose (as some scholars suggest) that they express the sentiments of the “corporate personality” of Israel rather than the personal emotions of the individual psalmist.

3. Proverbs. This collection contains several groups of maxims and warnings concerning the laws that govern life and human relations, with a view to instructing young people in the art of successful living. Most of these were compiled by Solomon from a long practiced genre in the ancient Near E, but were adapted to a high moral standard based upon strict monotheistic convictions. Respect for parents, faithfulness to marriage vows and contract commitments, the contrasting behavior of the wise man and the fool, the tragic end of the wicked and the presumptuous, and the eventual success and satisfaction of the prudent, the godly and the industrious—all of these are recurrent themes in this book. The most earnest and extended warnings are directed against fornication and adultery, and the seductions of the “strange woman,” in an age when moral relativism was on the rise. The dangers of intoxication and alcoholism also are frequently referred to. All these moral choices are so presented to the reader as to compel him to a clear-cut decision, rather than resorting to compromise or vacillation.

4. Ecclesiastes. This solemn testimony, by Solomon, concerns the emptiness and futility of all human endeavor that is directed toward this-worldly goals; “all is vanity” apart from a thankful acceptance of God’s providences and sincere obedience to His will. Although unlimited wealth and power make possible the obtaining of every material object of desire, yet they all turn to dust and ashes, and leave the soul altogether empty, unless that soul is bent on pleasing God.

5. Song of Solomon. A dialogue, the principal speakers are King Solomon—the lover, and the beautiful Shulammite country girl with whom he falls in love. They express their admiration for each other in the most glowing terms, and despite temporary separation or misunderstanding they are completely reconciled and come together again. The “chorus” of this love drama is the harem in Jerusalem, and there are scenes of regal splendor in the palace grounds; but the covenant of love is ultimately ratified in her rural home in a pastoral setting. By her radiant loveliness and ardent devotion the Shulammite taught Solomon the meaning of a single, all-absorbing love—even though he personally did not remain true to this insight. Interpreted typically, these two lovers have been seen to represent the warm devotion that binds Christ to His bride, the Church.

D. The major prophets

1. Isaiah. These sixty-six chapters contain more teaching concerning Christ than is to be found anywhere in the OT—“the Gospel according to Isaiah.” Isaiah’s ministry extended from 739 b.c. (“the year that King Uzziah died”—6:1), until the late 680s (the death of Sennacherib). He lived through the degenerate age of Ahaz, the revival under Hezekiah, and the hopeless apostasy of the reign of Manasseh. His central theme was salvation bestowed only by the grace and power of God, “the Holy One of Israel”; it could not be won or deserved by the efforts of man or by the good works of human flesh. Yahweh of hosts could not tolerate unholiness in His covenant people, and would therefore purge them and bring them back to repentance and usefulness in fulfilling their missionary role to the heathen nations. They were to look to Him for deliverance from their human foes, rather than to Egypt or Assyria, and their ultimate salvation would come to them through a God-Man, the virginborn Immanuel, their Messianic King. After the agony of the Babylonian captivity, the guilty nation would be restored to the Promised Land to resume their mission of testimony to the one true God before the idolworshiping Gentiles, and their final Deliverer would be the Servant of Jehovah, who was to offer up His life as an atonement for their sin—a sacrifice by which He would win complete victory and supreme glory as the Savior of God’s remnant of true believers.

2. Jeremiah. The prophecy spans the career of Jeremiah, as a youth in the reign of Josiah (c. 626 b.c.), to the fall of Jerusalem to the Chaldeans in 587 with the migration of the survivors to Egypt a few years later. God commissioned him to denounce the idolatry, immorality and self-complacency that had such a strong hold on his countrymen, and to assure them that their nation would go down to utter ruin if they did not repent. Politically they were advised to submit to the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, God’s instrument for their discipline, and not to hope for deliverance through alliance with Egypt. Every class of Heb. society, including the priests and prophets were guilty before God for flagrant violation of Scripture and their doom was inevitable. After seventy years of captivity, they would be restored to the land of promise and ultimately be delivered by the Messiah, a descendant of David (the “Righteous Branch”). All of the heathen nations around who opposed and defied the Lord, would fall into irrevocable doom. By nature tender and compassionate Jeremiah was nevertheless compelled by God to proclaim a stern message of irreversible doom and thus to endure the slander of treason and the hatred of all his countrymen including his closest kinsmen.

3. Lamentations. Here, Jeremiah eloquently expressed his anguish over the utter depravity of his people and their tragic loss of honor, liberty and all material possessions. Yet he found comfort in the untarnished holiness and love of God: “Great is thy faithfulness.”

4. Ezekiel. The first of this prophecy begins with the vision of God’s glory in 592 b.c.; the last dated prophecy is 570, but Ezekiel may have continued for some years thereafter ministering to the captive Jews in Babylonia. The first twenty-four chs. contain warnings of the approaching fall of Jerusalem to the Chaldeans rendered inevitable by the flagrant idolatry and depravity of the Jews back in Judah; for they have followed the shameful example of adulterous Samaria. Chapters 25-32 contain prophecies against Phoenicia, Egypt, and the other neighboring countries. Chapters 33-39 foretell the restoration and spiritual renewal of captive Israel, governed by the true Shepherd, and ultimately vanquishing the latter-day world powers (Gog, Magog, Rosh, et al.). Most striking is the vision of the resurrection of the dry bones in the desolate valley, so as to become a mighty army for the Lord. Chapters 40-48 describe the Temple to be erected during the millennium—its ordinances of worship, its new distribution of land to the tribes, and its river of blessing flowing from it to the Dead Sea, which will teem with new life.

5. Daniel. As in Ezekiel, the setting is among the captivity of Judah during the Exile. Young Daniel and his three godly friends excelled all others in the royal academy and were promoted to high office in the government. Danger of execution for charlatanry was averted when Daniel by revelation recalled Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dream of the four empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome), which would succeed each other in God’s plan for the ages. The three Hebrew friends of Daniel were later miraculously delivered from harm in the fiery furnace into which they were cast for refusing to worship the golden image of the king (who himself was later punished by seven years of insanity for his overweening pride). Years later, Daniel interpreted to King Belshazzar the grim message of judgment miraculously inscribed on the wall of the banquet hall. In Dan. 6, Daniel escaped death from the lions to which he was cast for his piety in continuing to pray to God during a thirty-day ban upon all prayer to any other besides King Darius. The last six chs. contain visions concerning the future empires, and esp. the coming crisis of the persecution of the Jewish faith by Antiochus Epiphanes (in 168 b.c.), who in turn would serve as a type of the last world dictator (the “Beast”) during the Great Tribulation. (Chapters 2 through 7 are in Aram.; the rest is in Heb.)

E. The minor prophets

1. Hosea. Hosea was a citizen of the northern kingdom who prophesied there between 755 and the 720s, prior to the fall of Samaria in 722. The adultery of Hosea’s wife, Gomer, corresponded to Israel’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh and his three children by her were given prophetic names. “Jezreel” predicted the destruction of the dynasty of Jehu; “Lo-Ruhamah” signified that there would be no national restoration of the ten tribes after Sargon took them off into slavery; “Lo-Ammi” (Hos 1:9) implied a warning that they would never as a nation be restored to covenant status with God. The idolatrous shrines were denounced and the sins of prevalent adultery, of cruelty to the poor, of drunkenness and corruption sealed the sentence of bondage and exile. Yet the love of Yahweh was not to be permanently thwarted and there was yet to be a remnant of true believers to inherit His promises of grace.

2. Joel. This was prob. composed c. 830, when King Joash was still a minor and a regency was in charge of the government; Judah’s enemies were still the Phoenicians, the Philistines, the Edomites, and the Egyptians (3:4, 19). A terrible locust plague had blighted the land as a warning of a more terrible invasion by human foes (the Assyrians and Chaldeans) that could be averted only by wholehearted repentance on the part of every class of society. God some day would destroy their foes and shower an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all—men, women and children (2:28-32), as at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21). Judgment was predicted for Phoenicia and Philistia, and for the future Seleucid oppressors (3:4-16), and ultimate triumph and peace is promised for the millennial Jerusalem.

3. Amos. This prophet was a layman from Judah who was sent to warn the northern kingdom c. 760-755 b.c. After declaring God’s purpose to punish the neighboring nations (such as Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and Edom) for their crimes against humanity, he announced judgment upon Judah for turning from the Scriptures to false teachers. He denounced Israel for their heartless exploitation of the poor and persecution of true believers, their crass immorality and neglect of God. Their pursuit of carnal pleasure and their empty formalism in worship spelled their doom. Though destructive forces of locust plague and fiery drought might be restrained, the cities would be leveled and their idolatrous temple utterly destroyed (9:1-10). But eventually the new age will come, followed by the millennial consummation (7:10-17 records a colorful clash between Amos and the priest of the royal sanctuary at Bethel, Amaziah).

4. Obadiah. The whole book consists of just a single ch.; it seems to have been composed earliest of all, in the reign of Jehoram (848-841) when the invading Philistines and Arabs were apparently assisted by the Edomites in their pillaging of Jerusalem (v. 11). God however, warned Edom that its capital city would be captured and destroyed because of their pride and bitter hatred of God’s people—unless they heeded the warning of v. 13 (“Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity...”—ASV).

5. Jonah. Jonah, the disobedient prophet from Gath-hepher in Zebulun, refused to go to Nineveh and warn of coming judgment, but chose rather to take ship for Tarshish, in the western Mediterranean. A terrible storm threatened to sink the ship, and at Jonah’s own insistence the sailors saved their lives by throwing Jonah overboard. He was rescued by a great fish, who kept him safe in its belly. After three days Jonah was ejected on the shore. Obedient at last, Jonah preached to the Ninevites so earnestly that the entire population repented and mourned before the Lord. Piqued because this dangerous foe of Israel was spared, Jonah sulked and grieved until God taught him a lesson in compassion by means of a quickly-withering gourd plant, which had afforded him some welcome shade.

6. Micah. This prophet was a contemporary of Isaiah, in the 8th cent., sent to announce God’s judgment upon both kingdoms because of their idolatry and violation of Scripture. After foretelling the inexorable advance of the Assyrian invaders, he denounced the rich for exploiting the poor, the government for devouring its citizens, and the corrupt clergy for abandoning their duties toward God. But after their suffering, exile and restoration to Pal., there would be judgment upon their heathen foes as well. The divine-human Messiah, born in Bethlehem, would defend His flock and subdue the world, triumphing in the new age and in the millennium. First, however, Israel must learn that valid worship must be accompanied by holy living and a sincere trust in God’s mercy and grace.

7. Nahum. Living sometime between 650 and 625 b.c., he proclaimed God’s vengeance upon the brutally oppressive city of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire. Foretelling the manner of its capture, he described the coming siege and destruction of the city (as later carried out by the Chaldeans and Medes). For God’s covenant people there will be restoration to favor and blessing upon those who repent.

8. Habakkuk. Habakkuk gave his message about 607, in the interval between the Battle of Megiddo (609) and that of Carchemish (605). It consists of a dialogue between him and God concerning His providential dealings with Israel in the light of divine justice. Each anguished question was answered by God: the oppressive ruling classes of Judah would be punished by the Chaldeans; the proud Chaldeans in turn would be crushed because of their ruthless cruelty. But the “righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4), and regardless of circumstances he will rejoice in the Lord, even though all material blessings are stripped away from him.

9. Zephaniah. His message, delivered early in the reign of Josiah (c. 625), concerned the coming Day of Yahweh. The recent invasion of the Scythians, who overran the Middle and Near E c. 630, warned of God’s coming judgment upon sinful Judah, Jerusalem, and all the nations surrounding Pal. So surely as the humble, sincere believers sought the Lord and maintained a godly life (2:3), God’s blessed kingdom would come, and a godly remnant of true believers would inherit the earth in peace and plenty, and all surviving Gentiles would learn the same language of faith (3:9, 10).

10. Haggai. He was perhaps the only completely successful prophet whose message has been preserved in the OT. After the return from Babylonian captivity, at a time when discouragements had arrested the rebuilding of the Temple, Haggai roused his countrymen to resume this holy project, even though they lacked an up-to-date building permit and were hampered by straitened finances. Though less pretentious, this second Temple would become more glorious than the first, for the Messiah (the “Desire of Nations”) would some day enter it. Therefore Jews were to abjure all unholiness and selfishness (which thus far had led to crop failure and recession) and complete their center of worship to the glory of God. Within three years (i.e., 516 b.c.), the new Temple was solemnly dedicated.

11. Zechariah. A younger prophet, he aided Haggai in this effort (beginning in 519), and related a series of eight encouraging visions the Lord had given him foretelling God’s intervention on behalf of Israel and the successive destruction of their oppressors (Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome). Half desolate Jerusalem was to become large and populous, Israel would be forgiven and purged of sin and serve as a lampstand of witness to the Gentiles. As a symbol of the coming Priest-King, the high priest Joshua was solemnly crowned. The Palm Sunday entrance of Christ into Jerusalem (9:9, 10) would usher in His program of redemption, even though He would at first be rejected as Israel’s Good Shepherd in favor of the foolish shepherd (the false leaders of Judah). In the last days, Israel will be converted to faith in the Christ whom their forefathers “pierced” (12:10), as their heathen attackers go down in defeat before the miraculous strength of God’s people. Idolatry shall forever be removed from Israel and false prophets will be silenced. In the midst of their storming of Jerusalem, the godless invaders will suddenly be overwhelmed by divine intervention, and the millennial kingdom will be ushered in to dominate the entire world.

12. Malachi. The last of the writing prophets, he was sent to Judah c. 435 b.c. to summon Judah back to sincere piety and a loving response to the grace of God. The careless priests were no longer to permit blemished sacrifices on God’s altar or to teach the law corruptly. Marriage with unbelievers was to be abjured and men were to return to their first wives. All tithes were to be rendered faithfully to the Lord (as a necessary prerequisite for His blessing on their crops), and the godly would be vindicated against the sneers of the cynical. After the ministry of Christ’s forerunner (John the Baptist), the Lord Himself would come and execute judgment upon all the ungodly in perfect justice.

The above summarizes the contents and message of each of the thirty-nine books of the OT. Through the thousand years of its composition, the OT books revolved about the same redemptive theme—from the first promise to Eve (Gen 3:15) to the final announcement (Mal 3:1-3) of the coming of Christ—to bring to pass the covenant promises of God to believing Israel. The same exalted concept of one, true, sovereign God is maintained throughout, and in a very profound sense the OT contains the portrait of the Son of God. Its many predictions of future events subsequently fulfilled demonstrate its divine origin and authority and prepared the way for the NT ministry of Christ and His Church. To Jesus and the apostles, it represented the infallible voice of God, and no word of the Heb. Scripture could ever be broken.