What separates Christianity and Judaism from other religions is that their primary emphasis is on a transcendent God who reveals himself in historical events. The central concepts of religion are not mythical, theoretical, mystical, or even legal, but the mighty acts that God has done in history which objectively reveal His person, character, and will.

That the Old Testament is a historically oriented work can be seen in the fact that fifteen of its books are devoted to telling the history of God's dealings with man. From this it is obvious, even to the casual observer, that history is an important aspect of Biblical religion. Christianity proclaims that this ancient story continued to unfold in the lives of Jesus and his disciples and would continue to unfold even in the lives of those believers in later generations. This course is designed to help the student understand the earliest stages of this historical process of which of which he finds himself a part.

In the course of Old Testament history God worked among his people through intermediaries who were either a central part of the establishment or who were peripheral to it. Within the legal and historical literature kings/judges, priests, prophets, and wise men/women appear to fulfill this role. Three of these divergent groups wrote large portions of scripture.

The first of these was the prophet. A prophet was simply a man who stood in the council of Yahweh and both saw and heard the word of God. He then boldly announced this word to the people and their leaders. His message was always one that was at variance with popular thinking and thus put the prophet's life in danger even though he was supposed to be inviolate. So imposing was his person that often his opposition would try to counter him prophetically. A false prophet would appear and the people would be forced to make a choice as to which prophet was from God. Usually the true prophet in his public addresses would be a "doom and gloom" preacher and the false prophet would be speaking "smooth words"

The second type was the wise man who observed man, read the law and other books, watched nature, thought, reflected, etc. His role could be either a secular or religious role. Some very evil Israelites were considered to be wise (Ahithophel, Jonadab) and some very good gentiles (Lemuel, Amenemope, Ahikar, Agur) were also put into this category. It is obvious that evil can produce a false wiseman and it equally obvious that God through natural revelation can raise up one from even the Gentiles.

The third group was the priesthood. Because of their faithfulness at the golden calf incident the tribe of Levi was set apart as the priestly tribe. The descendants of Aaron would be the priests and the rest of the tribe would be Levites (priest's assistants). They were responsible for some of the historical works (I & II Chronicles, Ezra) and several prophetic books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel). They had two primary functions: teaching and managing temple worship.
 

Upon completion of this course the student who has applied himself should . . .
 

• know the outline of Israel's history from creation to the Peace of Persia. To demonstrate his mastery of this material the student should be able to . . .
• draw a timeline chart with the major periods, events, and personalities in their proper Near Eastern context.
• trace the movement of the people of God as they made their earthly journey during the various stages of history.
• explain the theological significance of the overall story and of each period as well.
• know how the faith of Israel was similar to and different from the beliefs of her neighbors.
• identify the role and function of the charismatic and institutional leaders of Israel.
• identify and critiques the larger questions of life with which the Old Testament contended.
• see how his faith is a continuation of that revealed in the Old Testament. His perception would be that the story of his life is a part of a much larger story of God's dealing with men.
  
  

Craigie, Peter C. The Old Testament: Its Background, Growth & Content. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1986. 

Two tests will be administered to measure a student's progress in the course. The tests will measure the student's mastery of the lectures and reading. A student may increase his score on any test by writing a position paper on a topic on which he did poorly in the test. Any paper submitted must state that it is a position paper that is being done for extra credit. 

Weeks 1-2: Introduction

Reading Assignment:

    Genesis 1-2; Hebrews 1:1-4; Colossians 1:15-18; John 1:1-18

    Craigie, pp. 9-78.

Lecture Topics:

    The Structure of the Old Testament
    A Christian View of History
    The Structure of OT History
    The Literary Presentation of the History

Weeks 3-11: The Periods of History

Reading Assignments:

    Genesis -Nehemiah
    Craigie, pp. 79-146.

Lecture Topics:

    Man's Earliest Ages & Patriarchal Narratives
    Sojourn, Exodus, & Wandering
    Conquest & Judges
    United Monarchy
    Divided Monarchy
    Exile and Return

Measurement of Student Progress

Test #1 The student who wishes to do well should be able to outline the history of the OT from creation to the Exile. The student will choose one period he wishes to master more than the others. The test will be taken during the ninth week of school.

Weeks 12-13: Wisemen, Priests, and Prophets

Reading Assignment:

Craigie, pp. 137-254
Lamentations 1; Proverbs 1-10; Psalms 1-25; Leviticus 1-7; Song of Solomon; Ecclesiastes 1-3, 12

Lecture Topics:

    The Temple, Priests, and Sacrifice
    Wisdom
    The Problem of Undeserved Suffering
    Lamentations: Deserved Suffering
    Song of Solomon: Forming a Relationship
    Proverbs: Family Life
    Ecclesiastes: The Issues of Old Age

Weeks 14-15: The Problem of Prophecy

Reading Assignment:

Isaiah; Hosea;  Zechariah; Daniel

Lecture Toics

    False Prophets
    Prophetic Topics

Test #2: The student should be able to do the following:
 

• Draw a label a floorplan of the tabernacle/temple.
• Tell the Basic Procedure of Levitical Sacrifice.
• Discuss the questions of life with which the wisdom literature dealt.
• How does one deal with a false prophet? 
  
  

The student will do the following:

• Write a report on the course textbook.
• The student will do one of the following:
  
  
• 300 pages from other works that have been approved by the professor.
• Read articles dealing with the Old Testament from 30 issues of the Biblical Archaeology Review. The student may do this either as a paper notebook or an electronic notebook. If the later is chosen the student must have the professor approve the format. The student will summarize the issue with which the article was dealing, comment on the relevance of the article, and outline the arguments presented.

Each test will count as 25 % of the student's grade and the reading will count as 50%.

The following grade scale will be used to determine the student's grade:
 

• A+    97-100
• A      94-96
• A-     90-93
• B+    87-89
• B      84-86
• B-     80-83 
  -----BELOW SEMINARY LEVEL WORK------------------------------------
• C+   76-79
• C     70-75
• C-    65-69
• D     55-64
• F        0-54