OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY - Salt Lake Bible College

1 OLDTESTAMENTSURVEYa workbook by:Dr. VanBuskirk 2002 - 2007 byDr. T. E. VanBuskirkNo portion of this book may be reproduced by anymeans without written permission from the to copy is granted to the purchaserfor use in their own church only but copies maynot be given away to anyone outside of the churchor sold at any of this book is an outline of material gleaned from the bookThe Bible Book by Book by TidwellEerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids MIThe author expresses gratitude to brother Tidwell for His service to Godwhich prompted his studious assembling of the material in his information on this and other materials by Dr. VanBuskirkcontact:Dr. T. E. VanBuskirkc/o Salt Lake Baptist College3769 W. 4700 , UT 84118(801) materials are also available on CD book was produced at the multi-media - audio-video labs of Salt Lake Baptist OF CONTENTSG eneral OneInspiration of the Old TwoThe cannon of the Old ThreeThe Bible as a Unified OneTHE Bible as a unified EightJUDGES & NineI TenII ElevenI & II TwelveI & II ThirteenEZRA & SeventeenPROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, SONG OF NineteenJEREMIAH & Twenty-TwoHOSEA, JOEL, & Twenty-ThreeOBADIAH, JONAH, & Twenty-FourNAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH, Twenty-FiveZECHARIAH and.

2 133 Old TESTAMENT SURVEY p. 1 General IntroductionOld TESTAMENT SURVEY p. 2 IntroductionWhile teaching various classes at Salt Lake Baptist College , I became aware of a need in thearea of textbooks and workbooks. Many of the texts were written for the experienced scholar,not for the student. Also, workbooks were not commonly available; and when they were itnecessitated the extra expense of buying two books for each class. Therefore, a series ofconcise text/work books were written, of which this present volume is but one of many. Thesebooks are published in two formats. For those who are students, they are laid out as combinedworkbooks/textbooks for class-room use. For those who are not students, these books areprinted as concise textbooks.

3 They do not attempt to delve into their subjects in an exhaustivemanner. There are many readily available volumes that fill that purpose. They are, instead,written to fill a particular niche; that of small, concise volumes, that relay the basics in an easilycomprehensible form. This allows both the present student of the Word as well as the moreeducated seeker of truth to gain a basic understanding of the subjects addressed. Many timesthis type of basic information is not easily gleaned from the more ponderous volumes. Sometimes the overload of information presented in them prevents one from knowing andunderstanding the basics of the faith, the Bible , and its doctrines. This series of text/workbooks is presented as an attempt to get back to the basics.

4 If the seeker of truth reads thesebooks and it fills his need for a simple grasp of the basics, then his needs have been met withoutthe sometimes frustrating swim through the entangling weeds and fronds of the deeper pool. If, on the other hand, these books serve to encourage him to swim further out into the deep, thenhe is better prepared for the deeper waters and its attendant dangers because of the basics thathe has already mastered. Either way, a basic need has been pray that you will find this present volume informative and useful. If it fills your need thenPRAISE GOD! If it encourages you to delve further and deeper, then PRAISE GOD again! May God be glorified, Christ exalted, and you the reader edified. My prayer for you is that youwill use the knowledge gained here to serve Christ better than you did before starting this study;and, that you will then pass the knowledge gained on to someone else to help them also serveChrist Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God,a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,rightly dividing the word of 29, 2002 - SLC, UtahOld TESTAMENT SURVEY p.

5 3 Chapter OneInspiration of the Old TestamentThe uniqueness of the Old thing that is easily seen about the Old TESTAMENT is that it is a unique piece of literature. It started as the religious literature of a particular race, the Hebrews, and a particular nation,Israel (speaking of old Israel, not modern Israel), and spread from there until it eventuallybecame the accepted scriptures of three of the world s major religions- Judaism, Islam, andChristianity. And concerning Christianity, it is one-half of the ONLY accepted scriptures, also is unique in that it covers a span of time from what is called the Neolithic revolutionto the Age of Greek Supremacy. And this uniqueness is even more striking in that, contrary towhat the world believes, it actually recounts events that occurred before the beginning ofrecorded history; , it gives a historical record of a time that is considered by the seculareducators to be pre-history.

6 That record is, namely, the creation of the Universe in general and,as it specifically relates to the history of mankind, the very creation and population of the relation to secular literature, its uniqueness becomes even more striking. No other pieceof literature has been subjected to so many attacks by so many people. It has been banned,burned, shredded, and corrupted more than any other piece of literature in all of recordedhistory. Some of those who attempted to destroy it, both physically and through corruption ofit, were its professed enemies and many, as hard as it may be to comprehend, were its professedfollowers. This combined attack both from within and without is extremely unusual and placesits current physical existence as well as its preservation in an uncorrupted form not only in thecategory of unique but also in the category of wondrous.

7 No other literature subjected tosuch extreme measures has ever survived so completely relation to the Bible as a whole, the Old TESTAMENT is unique in that it presents, in theirprimal form, all of the doctrines that are developed in the rest of the Bible , meaning the NewTestament. As a whole, the Bible conveys one coherent message- the redemption of mankindthrough Christ. It is the will of God for man conveyed from God through men to all men of allages and for all the different peoples of the world. Therefore, the Old TESTAMENT truly is uniqueas it relates to the Bible as a relation to the New TESTAMENT , the Old TESTAMENT s uniqueness is that it is the will andwork of God concealed; while the New TESTAMENT s uniqueness rests in presenting the will andwork of God revealed.

8 The Old presents types, shadows, symbols, sacrifices, , the overallforms of redemption; while the New presents the reality in Christ. Therefore, the OldTestament truly is unique as it relates to the New : Because of the bulk of material in the Old and New Testaments, it is common toseparate the study of the two. This is extremely dangerous unless one keeps foremost in theirmind that the two are inseparably conjoined. Exactly in the way that conjoined twins who share a vital organ, say parts of the brain or a single heart, cannot be separated without causing theOld TESTAMENT SURVEY p. 4death of one or both of the twins; so the Old and the New Testaments cannot be separated butmust be viewed as a single whole and used in that manner. Due to the bulk of the material itis necessary many times to study them separately but never make the mistake of believing oracting as if they can ever really be separated the one from the other.

9 To do so would cause thedeath of both. They share one mind, the mind of God; one purpose, the redemption of mankind;one heart, the gospel of Jesus Christ; and the death or elimination of either one of them willirrevocably cause the death of God s purpose- the revelation of redemption through Christ andthe death of the Bible as a single unit giving that one purpose of God. Even the terms OldTestament and New TESTAMENT are a construct that did not come to be until the completionof the Christian Scriptures. Upon which, the Latin Fathers used the designations to distinguishbetween the Jewish and the Christian scriptures. The Old TESTAMENT (Covenant) gives the storyof the original Covenant and the later Mosaic Covenant between God and His people and thefailure of His people to live up to the latter.

10 The New TESTAMENT (Covenant) gives the story ofthe new and living Covenant in Christ s blood. In addition, the New gives the story of howthrough the New the Old is accomplished by God in spite of the failure of Israel to keep theirend of the Mosaic Covenant. We speak here of the Abrahamic Covenant which God said Hewould bring about with no strings attached. The strings were attached to the later MosaicCovenant which was broken before Moses could even get down the mountain with it to presentit to the people. Upon the failure of that covenant with His people, God reverted to, andbrought about, the earlier covenant made with Abraham through which He would bless allpeople, not just Israel. As Unger put it, The New TESTAMENT is erected on the failure andruin of the Old Covenant.