P 1: A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE LD T · god Dumuzi (known as “Tammuz” in the OT) and to the myth of his dying and rising. Dumuzi spends half the year in the underworld and half

PART 1: A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE OLD

TESTAMENT

Creation, Covenant, & Kingdom A SURVEY OF THE STORY AND MESSAGE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

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LESSON 1: Background to Understanding the OT

GEOGRAPHY The land of Palestine is the chosen stage on which the drama of redemptive history unfolded during the Old Testament age. It has been called “the Fertile Crescent” as its placement along the Mediterranean to the west and the desert to its east provided it with an ideal climate for agriculture. Its placement also served as a major cross road from north to south and west to east. The land itself may be divided into four longitudinal sections: the coastal plain, the central hill country, the Jordan rift, and the Transjordan plateau.

Bodies of water 1. Mediterranean Sea (Great or Upper Sea) 2. Nile River 3. Red Sea 4. Gulf of Aqaba 5. River (or brook) of Egypt 6. Salt Sea (Dead Sea) 7. Jordan River 8. Jabbok River 9. Arnon River 10. Sea of Galilee (Lake Chinnereth) 11. Euphrates River 12. Tigris River 13. Persian Gulf (Lower Sea)

Mountains 1. Ararat 2. Hermon 3. Tabor 4. Ebal or Gerizim (Shechem) 5. Carmel 6. Nebo/Pisgah 7. Zion/Moriah (Jerusalem) 8. Sinai/Horeb


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The Jordan River Valley is part of the larger Rift

Valley that extends from the Sea of Galilee in the

north into Africa in the south. As seen in the photo,

the Jordan River follows a winding path, flowing

some 200 miles to cover the 65 land miles from

Galilee to the Dead Sea.

The region of Galilee,

with its rolling hills and fertile valleys.


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Natural Geographic Regions of Palestine


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Main Routes of Ancient Palestine


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OT CHRONOLOGY

Major Archaeological Periods

ARCHL. PERIOD DATES BIBLICAL PERIOD

Pottery 5,000 BC Pre-Abraham

Chalcolithic 4,000-3,200 BC Pre-Abraham

Early Bronze 3,200-2,100 BC Pre-Abraham

Middle Bronze 2,100-1,500 BC Abraham to Moses

Late Bronze 1,500-1,200 BC Moses to Judges

Iron Age I 1,200-970 BC Judges to Solomon

Iron Age II 970-600 BC Divided Kingdom

Iron Age III 600-330 BC End of the OT

Hellenistic I 330-165 BC Inter-testamental

Hellenistic II 165-63 BC Inter-testamental (Maccabean)

Roman 63 BC – AD 330 New Testament

Set Dates 0f The Old Testament

DATES EVENTS AND BIBLICAL PASSAGES EXPLANATION

2166 Abraham was born (100 years old when Isaac was born – Gen. 21:5)

2066+100= 2166

2066 Isaac was born (he was 60 years old when Jacob was born [Gen. 25:26])

2006 +60 =2066

2006 Jacob was born (he went to Egypt when he was 130 years old [Gen. 47:9)]

1876+130 = 2006

1876

Israelites remained in the Land for 430 years (Ex. 12:40) Pharaoh appears to be Khakaure Sesostris III (1878-1843). Hyksos Dynasty (1675-1567) may be the king that rose up that knew not Joseph (Ex. 1:8).

1446+430 = 1876

1446

Exodus from Egypt (1 Kgs. 6:1) Thutmoses III (1504-1450) Pharaoh who died so Moses

could come back (Ex. 3:1-4:31) Amenhotepe II (1450-1425) Pharaoh of the Exodus

966+480 = 1446

1050 Saul’s reign (Acts 13:21) 1010+40 = 1050

1010 David’s reign (2 Sam. 5:4; 1 Kgs. 2:11; 1 Chron. 29:26-27; 970+40=1010

970 Solomon’s reign (1 Kgs. 11:42; 2 Chron. 9:30 931+40 = 970

966 Solomon started to build the Temple (1 Kgs. 6:1) 970-4=966


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DATES EVENTS AND BIBLICAL PASSAGES EXPLANATION

931 Division of the Kingdom Assumption

734-732 Syro-Ephraimite War (Isa. 7; 2 Kgs. 16:5-12; 2 Chron. 28:5-15)

722 Samaria Fell to Assyria (2 Kgs. 17:6)

701 Jerusalem Saved by God (2 Kgs. 18-19; 2 Chron. 32; Isa. 37)

612 Nineveh Fell to Babylon

605 1st Deportation (2 Kgs. 24:1-5; 2 Chron. 36:6-8)

597 2nd Deportation (2 Kgs. 24:10-16; 2 Chron. 36:10)

586 Jerusalem Falls to Babylon; 3rd Deportation (2 Kgs. 24:20-25:21; 2 Chron. 36:13-21)

539 Jews Return from Babylon (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1-3) Cyrus’ Decree

520 Restart to Work on Temple (Ezra 5; Haggai, Zechariah) Darius’ Reign

516 Temple Rebuilt (Ezra 6)

458 Ezra Returns to Jerusalem (Ezra 7-10) King Artaxerxes

445 Nehemiah rebuilds Walls (Neh.) King Artaxerxes

400 Final book of OT written Chronicles, Malachi


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ANE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

PEOPLE GROUPS/NATIONS

Nations in the OT (west to east):

1. Caphtor (Crete): cp. Deut. 2:23

2. Kittim (Cyprus): cp. Gen. 10:4; Num. 24:24; Isa. 23:1,12; Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:6; Dan 11:30

3. Egypt/Rahab: Gen. 10:6f; 105:23; 106:22; see also Psa. 87:4; 89:10; Isa. 19-20

4. Philistia: Exod. 15:14; Ps. 60:10; 83:8; 87:4; 108:10; Isa. 14:28-32

5. Edom (descendants of Esau): Gen. 32:3; 36:16,17,21; Jer. 40:11; see Obadiah

6. Moab (descendants of Lot): Gen. 19:37; Num. 21:13, 29; 22:1ff; Jer. 48

7. Ammon (descendants of Lot): Gen. 19:38; Num. 21:24; Deut. 2:19; Judg. 10:6; 11:13; Jer. 49:1-6

8. Phoenicia/Lebanon (Sidon): Gen 10:15,18-19; Deut. 1:7; 3:25; 11:24; Judg. 3:3; 18:7; Ezek. 32:30; Isa. 23


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9. Syria/Aram (descendants of Shem): Gen. 10:22, 23; Num. 23:7; 1 Chr. 1:17; 2:23

10. Hittite/Anatolia (descendants of Heth): Gen. 10:15; 23:10; 2 Sam. 11:3

11. Arabia: 2 Chr. 9:14; 17:11; Ezek. 27:21; Isa. 21:13; Jer. 25:24

12. Assyria: Gen. 10:8-12; 2 Kings 15:19, 29; 17:3-6, 24-27; Isa. 7:17-25; Jonah

13. Babylon/Chaldeans: Gen. 10:10; 11:1f; Hab. 1:5-11; Isa. 13

14. Persia/Medes: Isa. 13:17; 21:1-10; Jer. 49:34-39; 51:11-64; Dan 2:31-45; 5:28; 7; 8; 11:1-4

LANGUAGE The OT was written in biblical Hebrew with a few portions in Aramaic. Hebrew is a tri-root, consonantal language

which originally lacked letters for vowels (these were devised by Hebrew scribes after the 600’s AD).

EARLIEST MANUSCRIPTS

Pre-Christian Qumran Scrolls 300 BC-AD 50 Varied OT Texts

Post-Christian British Museum Oriental AD 850 Pentateuch Codex Cairensis AD 895 Major & Minor Prophets Aleppo Codex AD 900 OT Leningrad MS AD 916 Minor Prophets Leningrad MS B-19A AD 1010 OT

Greek Versions Septuagint 250-150 BC OT Aquila AD 130 Fragments Symmachus AD 170 OT Theodotion AD 180 OT

Aramaic Versions Onkelos Targum AD 200 OT

Syriac Versions Peshitta AD 100-200 OT Hexapla AD 616 OT


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CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES (according to geographic location)

EAST SEMITIC SOUTH SEMITIC NORTHWEST SEMITIC PRIMARY Akkadian Arabic Canaanite Aramaic DIALECTS Babylonian North Arabic Eblaic Old Aramaic

Assyrian South Arabic Ugaritic Biblical Aramaic Minean Phoenician Imperial Aramaic Hadramautian Hebrew Nabataean Qatabanean Ammonite Syriac Ethiopic Moabite Amharic

RELIGIONS

EBLA – EARLY BRONZE AGE

1.1. Ebla was an ancient city which lay near the modern city of Aleppo. As a major city-state, it thrived in two periods, around 2,000 BC then again between 1800-1650 BC. Ebla was destroyed around 2200 BC by the Akkadians only to be rebuilt 400 years later by the Amorites. After a second destruction by the Hittites, it existed only as a village and finally vanished around 700 AD until its rediscovery by archaeologists in 1964.

1.2. Given its location, Ebla was a religious crossroads and melting pot. Sumerian gods such as Enki and Ninki were worshiped there as well as Canaanite gods such as El. Other well-known Semitic deities appearing at Ebla include Dagan, Ishtar, and Hadad.

1.3. The site is famous today for its well-preserved archive of about 17,000 cuneiform tablets, dated from around 2250 BC. An Eblaite creation hymn was discovered among the tablets, existing in three distinct versions, all of which contain the following verse:

Lord of heaven and earth: The earth was not, you created it The light of day was not, you created it The morning light you had not [yet] made exist.


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MARI – MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

1.1. Discovered in 1933, Mari lay on the eastern flank of Syria, near the Iraqi border. It flourished between 2900-1759 BC and for a time, was engaged in a drawn-out war with Ebla

1.2. Like Ebla, worship in Mari included both Sumerian and Semitic deities. Dagan was chief of the Mari’s pantheon and the god Mer was their patron deity. Other deities included Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, Athtar, and Shamash, the sun god.

1.3. Since the beginning of excavations, over 25,000 clay tablets in Akkadian language written in cuneiform have been discovered. In one letter, preserved on a tablet, is a reference to the god Dumuzi (known as “Tammuz” in the OT) and to the myth of his dying and rising. Dumuzi spends half the year in the underworld and half the year in the world above in order to make the land fertile. Accordingly, worship involving both mourning and celebration was observed in connection with this god. That Dumuzi remains a significant influence is validated in the fact that 1,000 years after his mention in Mari, we see Israelites worshipping him in the Temple in Jerusalem (cp. Ezek. 8:14)!

EGYPT – LATE BRONZE AGE

1.4. Situated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt, the ancient Egyptians independently built one of six ancient civilizations which would rise to global dominance. Beginning around 3,150 BC, Upper and Lower Egypt would be unified under its first true pharaoh, Menes. Egyptian history continued in a series of stable Kingdoms: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age. Between these stable periods were periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods. The pinnacle of its power was during the Ramesside period during the New Kingdom.

1.5. The Egyptians have left behind a wealth of archaeology and history from which we have obtained a clear picture of Egyptian religion and worship. The structure of the Egyptian


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pantheon evolved as new deities were promoted in the hierarchy. And there seems to have been no effort to organize the diverse and sometimes conflicting myths and stories into a coherent cosmological system. The Egyptian pantheon was large; populated by gods who could be called on for help or protection in their area of power or expertise. Not all gods were benevolent, however, and Egyptians sought to appease the gods with offerings and prayers.

1.6. Regarding Israel, Egypt was at times a threat and at other times an ally. Given its proximity to Israel’s kingdom, and given the fact that the nation itself grew into a people group while in Egypt before the Exodus, the religion of the Egyptians impacted the Hebrew people in a variety of ways. Most significantly is the story of the “golden calf” in Exodus 32. It is likely that the Israelites fashioned this and others gods after what they had known in Egypt – the “golden calf” itself resembling the god Apis or Osiris or most likely, Osiris-Apis.

UGARIT – LATE BRONZE AGE

1.7. Ugarit was an ancient port city, perhaps inhabited before 6,000 BC. Its ruins are located at what is now called Ras Shamra in northwestern Syria. The city was at its greatest heights between 1800-1200 BC.

1.8. As with Ebla and Mari, many cuniform tablets have been found which detail the religious and political life in Ugarit. These tablets reveal a tantalizing connection between Canaanite and Israelite worship. For example, reference is made to the practice of levirate marriage (Gen. 38:8, 11; Deut. 25:5-10), which the people of Ugarit had adopted.

Documents

P 1: A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE LD T · god Dumuzi (known as “Tammuz” in the OT) and to the myth of his dying and rising. Dumuzi spends half the year in the underworld and half