Michaela Bunke CPO 149 Section 1 OT Survey

Reading Report #1 Summary of the Storyline of the OT

Genesis Genesis covers four main themes follows the story of four important people. The themes are: Creation, Fall, Flood, and Nations. The people are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We call these four events Primeval History because they are the first four major events in the Bible. And we call these four people the Patriarchs, therefore the time they lived in is called the Patriarchal History (2090-1445 B.C.). God creates the universe: The Genesis account speaks of God creating the world in six days in these categories: the heavens/earth/light/darkness, separation of waters (heaven), land/plants, sun/moon/stars, sea creatures, land creatures/man. Then God rested to set an example for man to rest on the seventh day of the week. God created man in His own image, and He called him Adam. When God saw that Adam was alone, He made woman out of Adams rib and called her Eve. This was the first marriage. Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the form of a serpent and both Adam and Eve sinned against God by disobeying His command to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby causing the Fall. Because of this event, man has forever been born with a sinful nature and is therefore guilty and undeserving of God. Satan, Adam, and Eve were all cursed from the Fall and sent out of the garden. After man multiplied on the earth, God saw that all the deeds of man were wicked, and He decided to destroy all of creation with a floodall but two of each animal and one family: that of Noah. Noah obeyed God, built and ark, and preserved life on earth. After Noah and his sons and their wives began to multiply, they spread across the earth, creating many nations. Their languages were differentiated at the Tower of Babel. A man by the name of Terah descended from the line of Shem (Noahs son) and lived in the land of Ur. Terah fathered Abram and Haran. Haran fathered Lot and died. Terah then took his family to the land of Haran, where he died. At this time, God began to speak to Abram, telling him to leave the land of Haran, so that he might become a great nation in the land God would give him. When there was no room for Abram and Lot to live together in the same land, they split up: Lot went to live in the Jordan Valley, and Abram and his wife Sarai went to live in Canaan. God promised Abram that he would inherit that land and that his offspring would become a mighty nation, although Abram had no sons or daughters at that time. God then gave Abram the covenant of circumcision and changed his name to Abraham and Sarais to Sarah. When Sarai saw that she was barren, she told Abram to sleep with her maid, Hagar, who then gave birth to Ishmael, who became a great nation himself. God kept his promise to Abram though, and Sarai gave birth to a son and named him Isaac. Before Abraham died, he made his servant swear that he would go to the land of his fathers to get a wife for Isaac. So his servant went back to Nahor and found a woman named Rebekeh daughter of Bethuel, who was a kinsman of Abrahams, and brought her back to Canaan to marry Isaac.

Then Rebekah became pregnant with twins, and gave birth to Jacob and Esau. Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents, the favorite of Rebekah. Esau was the firstborn, a hunter, a hairy man, and the favorite of his father Isaac. Jacob tricked Esau into selling to him his birthright. When Isaac was going to give the firstborn (Esau) his blessing, Rebekah and Jacob tricked him into believing Jacob was Esau, therefore giving him the blessing as well. Jacob went back to the land of his fathers and took for himself two wives: Leah and Rachelfor whom he worked 20 years under their father. Leah bore: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel bore Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob fathered the rest of the twelve through concubines: through Zilpah: Gad and Asher; through Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. Jacob then returned to the land of Canaan. God called Jacob and told him to build Him an alter at Bethel. God then renamed him Israel. Here Rachel gave birth to Benjamin and died. Isaac then also died. When Joseph was a boy, he began to have dreams of his 11 brothers bowing down to him. For this reason and because their father favored him, his brothers sold him into the hands of Midianite traders who brought him to Egypt. In the land of Egypt, Joseph became great in the household of Potiphar until Potiphars wife tricked her husband into believe Joseph had attempted to rape her. Joseph was sent to prison where he met employees of Pharaoh, whose dreams he interpreted. When one of the employees was released to Pharaoh, he told him of Joseph. Joseph then interpreted Pharaohs dreams: that there would be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Therefore he was released from prison and put in charge of everything, becoming the greatest man in Egypt besides Pharaoh. When Josephs brothers came to Egypt because of the famine, he eventually revealed himself to them and asked that they all come live in the land of Goshen, so Jacob brought his family to Goshen and the Israelites became greater in number here. After Jacob blessed Manasseh and Ephraim he passed away, and Joseph later died. Exodus The book of Exodus tells us of the exit of the Israelites from Egypt. From Egypt, the Israelites are brought to Mt. Sinai. This is the main storyline of Exodus. The main purpose is to record the history of the birth of Israel as a nation.1 It is in Exodus that we learn of Gods name: YHWH. After the Israelites increased in number and populated Egypt more and more, the Egyptians began to fear their strength and oppress them. The king of Egypt commanded that every son born to the Israelites be killed, but every daughter kept. A Levite woman, for this reason, hid her son in a basket and put him in the river, until he was found by Pharaohs daughter who adopted the boy after his mother weaned him. His name was Moses. When Moses grew older, he fled the land after murdering an Egyptian, for fear that he would be found out. He came upon a Midianite priests family who offered him one of his daughters. So Moses took Zipporah as his wife and dwelled among the Midianites. As the slaving Israelites became weary they cried to God, who heard their call. As Moses was tending his flock one day, he came upon a bush that was on fire but did not burn up. When he came near, God spoke to him saying, I am the God of your father, the

God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Israelites go into the desert to worship their God. When Moses asked God what he would tell the people when they asked who sent him, God responded to tell them: I AM WHO I AM sent him. This is the Hebrew name YHWH, and it is Gods holy name that tells us who He is: He exists eternally and is self-existent. God told Moses here that he would show his might to the Egyptians. Moses was too afraid to speak to Pharaoh, so God let Moses tell the words to Aaron and have Aaron speak. So they went to Egypt and asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, doing mighty signs that God had given them. When Pharaoh did not listen to them, God sent ten plagues to torment him and the rest of Egypt: water turned into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. This last plague was the very first Passover: God told Moses to tell the Israelites that He would pass through that night to kill every firstborn in the land, but He would spare those who had taken the blood of a perfect lamb and smeared it on their doorpost. So all of the Israelites were spared but in every other household in Egypt there was great mourning, including Pharaohs. After this Pharaoh relented and let the Israelites go. But after they had left, his heart was hardened again and he pursued them in the desert. But God gave the Israelites a giant pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, and he led them through the Red Sea so that the water was like a wall on either side, and as the Egyptians pursued them through it, God crashed the waters back upon them and killed them allthe Israelites escaping to the other side safely. The Israelites then came to the wilderness of Sinai. Here God spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai, commanding him to tell the people his commandments. This is where the Israelites received their first laws from God: the Ten Commandments. These served a precursor to the laws that were about to come. God also gave the people many other laws that had moral, civil, and ceremonial purposes.2 Moses was given instruction on how to build the Sanctuary. This was a very long and detailed list of instructions; it included detailed descriptions of how to assemble and/or use all of the following: preparations, the Ark of the Covenant, the table, the lampstand, the tabernacle, the altar, the courtyard, the oil, the priestly garments, consecration of the priests, the altar of incense, the offering, the lavar, the anointing oil and incense, the skill of Bezalel and Oholiab, and Sabbath rules.3 When Moses came down from the mountain, he saw that the people had abandoned worship of the one true God and had made for themselves a golden calf, which they were worshipping. This is the very beginning of Israels whoring after other gods in idolatry. This would soon become a pattern for the people. Because of their sin, Moses threw the tablets of stone holding Gods commandments and broke them. Moses met and spoke with the Lord in the Tent of Meeting. And whenever they would speak together, a cloud would form on the tent of meeting so everyone knew God was speaking with Moses. Moses made new tablets for the commandments God gave him and God re-wrote the commandments on the tablets. The people then constructed the Sanctuary just as the Lord had commanded.

Leviticus Leviticus outlines the many laws given to the people of God while they camped at Mount Sinai for the holiness of the people. The three basic themes of Leviticus are: Law, Sacrifice, and Holiness. Moses met with God in the tent of meeting and God told Moses about how the people of Israel were to worship YHWH: through offerings and sacrifices. God chose Aaron and his family as well as the Levites (those descended from the tribe of Levi) to serve in the tabernacle of the Lord: Aaron and his sons were to be priests and the Levites were to assist them and serve in the worship of the tabernacle. God begins to tell Moses about general regulations for different types of offerings: burnt, grain, peace, sin, guilt. Some of these (first four) were a voluntary offerings in order to draw near to God; some (last two) were required by God after sin had occurred.4 He then goes on to tell about the regulations for the priests. The priests were to follow each rule precisely and to follow laws of cleanliness. These laws of cleanliness were to show the people the holiness of God and the seriousness of going near to Him, as well as for hygiene purposes. God created many rules that were to be followed precisely by the Levites and priests to emphasize His holiness: the consequences of messing up a rule could result in death. God gave Moses rules about the Day of Atonement, when the priests were to make sacrifices in order to cleanse all of Israel from their sins. God also gave many regulations for the purpose of holiness: the Israelites were not to eat the blood of any animal because it represented the life of the animal, they had many moral laws that set them apart from other ancient Mesopotamian peoples, they had priestly regulations, the had a calendar which called for certain days of offerings and sacrifices, the oil and the bread of the tabernacle, the Sabbath Year and Jubilee, the many rewards and punishments, and the vows and tithes.5 These all set Israel apart as a holy nation, made distinct because they were under the one true God. The sacrifices showed the Israelites their need to be cleansed from their sin. The death of an animal showed just how serious their sin was to God (death), yet the mercy and grace he bestowed upon them in spite of it (the death of an animal instead of them). Numbers The book of Numbers records not only the census taken by Moses of the people of Israel, but also the many events that happened during the forty years of wandering. It describes their journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea, and from Kadesh Barnea to the plains of Moab. The Lord commanded Moses to take a census of all the males of Israel who were 20 years or older who could fight in war. And all those they counted were 603, 550. Then God told them to arrange their tribes to face the tent of meeting. So the twelve tribes were set up, three on each of the four sides of the tent of meeting, all facing it. God then gave Moses regulations about people with diseases, confession/restitution, adultery, and Nazarite vows. Then God commanded him to tell the people to keep Passover, and so all the people of Israel kept Passover.

God manifested Himself in a massive cloud over the Tent of Meeting, and whenever this cloud would lift, the people of Israel would set out. After the second year, the cloud lifted, so the people left Sinai. On the way to the wilderness of Paran, the people grumbled for meat to eat, so God in His anger sent quail to them in overwhelming amounts and those who gave into the temptation to eat it were struck down by God and died. In the wilderness of Paran, God commanded Moses to send out spies to scope out the land of Canaan, so Moses sent 12 spies, including Caleb, who ended up later being one of the only (besides Joshua) to enter the promise land from the first generation because he was righteous. They came back with a report that the people in Canaan were strong and too much for Israel to overtake. The people of Israel grumbled against Moses and God once again, and God threatened to strike them with pestilence. But Moses interceded for them and God relented, yet promised that none of them would enter into the promise land, but only their children. The people later grumbled for water, so God told Moses to speak to the rock to give forth water. Moses instead hit the rock and because of his rebellion was not allowed to enter into the land of Canaan with the people. God also told Moses to take Aaron and his son to Mount Hor where his priesthood was to be passed onto his son and Aaron would die. When the kind of Arad heard that Israel was coming through the land, he attacked, yet Israel prayed to the Lord, who had mercy on them and caused them to defeat Arad. They then set out to go around the land of Edom, when they began to grumble against God again. So God sent serpents torment and kill them. But Moses prayed for the people, so God told him to create a bronze serpent and put it up on a pole, and whoever looked upon the serpent would not die. This is a representation the Christ who was to come, and all who would look upon Him would live.6 They then set out for Moab, where the king of Moab, Balak began to dread the people of Israel because they were great in number. So Balak sends a message to Balaam, who he believed could curse Israel, asking him to do just that. Balaam was stopped by an angel of God and the voice of his own donkey through the power of God and sent to instead bless the nation of Israel. Although this is a weird story, it makes the point that God loved the nation of Israel and desired that the surrounding territories knew the Israel was His. God then again tells Moses to number the people, and none of the people whom he numbered the first time were still alive. He then told him to commission Joshua, who was to lead the people into the land of Canaan. Deuteronomy The book of Deuteronomy contains the second law God gave Moses. It is a supplement to the book of Numbers. The new generation would soon be entering the land of Canaan and God wanted to give them laws specific to living in the land. Moses begins the book by summarizing the story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt to wandering in the desert, emphasizing the faithfulness of God throughout: from
6 The redness of copper suggested atonement (see 19:110), so symbolically it was well chosen for this occasion. Jesus compares his own death on the cross to the uplifted serpent (John 3:1415). The English Standard Version Study Bible

Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea and from Edom to the Plains of Moab. He encouraged them to be obedient to the Lord, that they may be blessed, but that disobedience would bring judgment. He explains that God commanded to have three cities set aside to be designated cities of refuge. These were for people who accidentally killed someone so that they could escape from avengers to a place where they would be safe. The Greatest (and possibly most famous) Commandment is given in chapter six: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Here the Lord commands to Israel to keep His commandments close to them at all times, to live by His standards, and above all to love Him completely. God then highlights these themes: that Israel is a chosen people, not because of their righteousness but because of Gods goodness, and He exhorts them to love Him. God then reinstates many of the laws already given, but making them specific to the land into which they are about to enter: warnings against idolatry, clean and unclean food, tithes, Sabbatical year, Passover, feasts, worships, legal decisions, kings, prophets, laws concerning cities of refuge, witnesses, warfare, family and sexual laws, offerings of first fruits and tithes, and many others. As a sort of ceremony to show the new generation that they are the Lords, Moses tells to Levites to proclaim the curses on the wicked to all of Israel. He then goes on to list the many blessings they will receive if they follow the Lords commandments and the terrible curses if they dont. These side by side show the gracious yet just hand of God upon His people. God then tells the people that He promised the land to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but that after this generation entered the promise land they would rebel and leave the commandments of the Lord and He would afflict them and scatter them. But then they would turn back and He would forgive them and not forget the covenant He made with their fathers and would draw them back together and bless them again. Moses then, got Joshua ready to lead the people into Canaan and gave all of the law to the Levites to be read to the Israelites every seven years. God gave Moses a song to teach to the people so that after the rebelled and the song would still be on their lips, they would still be singing that truth of the One true God and their rebellion from Him. Then God commanded Moses to go up to Mount Nebo and view the land of Canaan and die. So Moses blessed all the tribes of Israel and went up on the mountain to die. So Joshua took his position as leader of the people of Israel. At the end of Deuteronomy, it says of Moses: And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face Ultimately, Jesus came to be the true and better Moses, to speak to God face to face with no sin.

Bibliography: 1. Marty, William H., A Survey of the Old Testament Student Notes, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1992. Print. 2. Marty, William H., A Survey of the Old Testament Student Notes, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1992. Print. 3. Arnold, Bill T. and Bryan E. Beyer. Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1999, 2008. Print. 4. Marty, William H., A Survey of the Old Testament Student Notes, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1992. Print. 5. Arnold, Bill T. and Bryan E. Beyer. Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1999, 2008. Print. 6. The English Standard Version Study Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.