Bible and Life Old Testament
Fall 1962
Dr. W. Noble King
All Rights Reserved
This document consists of
notes taken by students who attended Dr. King's class at Bethany Nazarene
College. The notes therefore reflect student response to Dr. King's lectures
and do not necessarily represent fully or accurately his thought in all
respects.
***....***
Introduction
The Text for the course was “Exploring the Old Testament”
Beacon Hill Press, Kansas City, Mo.1962. Rev. Duane Snavely sent these
to me in Febuaruy of 2000. We had taken the course together in the basement
of Old Bresee Hall. Please remember that we were freshmen, fresh out of
high school. We have tried to reproduce the essence of the teaching we
received from Dr. King, in this document after 37 years. You who took classes
from Dr. King will remember that Dr king lectured in outline form, but
because of the excessive paragraph indention’s required the out line form
is not observed. However, the Major Headings in the original class notes
are in bold form.
Sept 10, 1962 Monday:
God:
Nowhere does the Bible try to prove the existence of
God.
The Bible accepts the existence of God as self evident,
If such a truth can not be accepted, nothing can be accepted. The universe
and nature were God’s official proofs of himself before the Bible was written.
Psalms 9:1, Romans 2:14-15. Jesus Christ also emphasized the same truth,
John 14: 11b.
Thus God has always had a revelation of himself and his
works and his ways. The world however has been longer without a written
revelation than with one.
Bible:
Granting a rational intelligent and infinite God who
created all things including rational human beings, it is natural to suppose
that he would want to communicate with those finite beings. He did and
the Bible is the result.
The Bible is both one book and many books. It had many
human authors but one Divine author who supervised it all from the beginning
to the end. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”
II Pet. 1:21b The Bible is one in purpose and one in aim, guided and given
by the Holy Ghost, Human instruments were used; (Text Exploring the Old
Testament pages 13-63.)
Sept. 11, 1962
At This point we heard for the first of many times “
Now where were we? Of course Dr King knew, but a lot of us also knew that
we had best keep up with this 68 year old man.”
1. These human instruments vary from Kings and Literary
masters of the first order to the most humble of peasants. God limits himself
to their several abilities with regard to the kind or depth of the message.
2. Thus verbal or Mechanical Inspiration is out. So also
is any representation of inspiration that would grant the possibility of
error or mistake. Plenary inspiration refers to that divine enablement
to communicate without error, and it extends to all subjects dealt with.
3. Thus the Holy Spirit in plenary inspiration stays
within the vocabulary and uses the literary style and the social customs
of each writer. The Spirit by Divine impression on the mind approves or
disapproves the work. The writer kept changing and correcting until he
had the approval of the Spirit on the whole work. Mostly such changing
would be done in his own mind before he wrote it. This would be inspiration
in its lowest level. I think the supervision of the Holy Spirit was as
accurate as that. However, they wrote from their own appreciative, psychological
background, and life experiences.
The Human instruments:
The human instruments Used by God to produce the Bible
varied from learned Kings to humble peasants. God limited himself to the
abilities of those people. He also limited himself to their vocabulary,
style and their idioms. This for us is the human element.
Friday Sept 14, 1962
1. Most of the so-called errors and discrepancies flow
from this human element. Our further knowledge of archeology and ancient
history, their customs, and idioms, their way of saying things and doing
things removes the discrepancies. Some may be due to translators and revisions.
Reading different translations may clarify these errors. If we fully understood
all the matters pertaining to the Bible every error would disappear.
2. The matter of recopying by hand time after time as
those manuscripts were, was a big task. Every time a new copy was made
some idioms would have changed; some places would have changed names. Then
those manuscripts passed from language to language, and finally from version
to version. The bringing of ancient terms up to modern ones would create
a problem.
When the Bible was written
The Bible began to be written
not earlier than 1491 B.C. Modernist or Liberals bring it down several
hundred years later. It would have been finished probably not later than
96 A.D. John Wrote the book of Revelation in 96 A.D. The Liberals have
II Peter much later. God commanded Moses to record in a book the future
destruction of The Amalekites, and then John finished the book on Patmos.
The first part of the Bible written was Exodus 17:9-14.
1. An unknown number of human authors made contributions.
Some books have no stated author. The book of Psalms has seven stated authors
and still there are 50 psalms unaccounted for. Most certainly 40 authors
would be too few.
2. There were writings long before any part of the Bible
was written. Hammurabi’s Code, The Egyptian book of the dead, also some
Indian (India) literature. It is held by some that writing was a pre-flood
invention. Some claim to have several tablets written before the flood.
(H.H. Halley’s, PPS. 44-45).
3. Thus there was writing before the Bible was written.
Some of those were religious in nature, but no such writings claimed divine
inspiration, such as the Bible claims.
Monday Sept 17,1962
This is evident from the following considerations.
1. There is no record of any inspired writings before
Moses.
2. There is no authentic reference to such writings before
Moses’ day, but there are however references to writings after his day.
3. There are no certain or possible remains of any such
writings.
Supposedly Lost Books: There are certain books now lost
that inspired men could have made use of. Such books however were all written
after the Pentateuch was written. (Genesis. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
Deuteronomy). Some of them are:
1. The books of the war of the Lord. It is referred to
in Numbers 21: 14-15.
2.The Book of Jasher referred to in Joshua 10: 13;also
in II Sam 1:18. There is a copy of this book in existence, but it is possibly
a forgery.
3.The book of Nathan the prophet is referred to in II
Chron. 9:29
4.The book of Gad the Seer referred to I Chron.29: 29
5.The prophecy of Abijah the Shilonite referred to in
II Chron. 9:29
6.The visions of Iddo the seer referred to in II Chron.
9:29
7.Luke 1:1 states that “Many had taken in hand to set
forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed
among us.” Hence there were many gospels or fragments thereof. In A.D.
130 Papias gathered and also wrote. There are also the Logos or sayings
of Jesus. We also have the Didache, or the teachings of the 12 apostles.
The Didache is dated generally between 80-110 A.D. Many authentic letters
were written by church officials from the end of the first century. They
are recorded in the first volume of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
8.Some of the letters written by St. Paul are supposed
to be lost. Paul himself refers to one in I Cor. 5:9.
Inspired men as well as some others no doubt wrote letters,
which were not inspired, just private personal letters. Many of the cases
to which we refer became incorporated into their writings.
Tues. Sept 18, 1962
Apocrypha books:
1.I Edras – the Greek word Edras for the Hebrew word
Ezra. It contains much in common with the book of Ezra. It was probably
not written before 100 A.D. It suggests that is was written about 100 A.D.
2. II Edras- it is related in thought and writing to
I Edras.
3. Tobit -A religious tale, it is laid in Nineveh during
the time of the Assyrian captivity. The heroes are Tobit, and his son Tobias.
Then the girl Sara, who Tobias married. The book was written not later
than the fifth century B.C.
4.Judith- a historical romance, with regard to Judith,
a beautiful widow, with Holofirmies a general of Nebuchadnezzar.
5. The rest of the book of Esther: Prayers are added,
a dream of Mordicai’s, two letters from Artaxerxes. It was probably written
about the second Century B.C.
6. The Wisdom of Solomon- it was not written by Solomon.
It is a hymn in praise of Solomon’s wisdom. The Author was familiar with
Greek thought, language, and expression. The purpose is to evaluate Hebrew
faith to the Greeks. It was probably written by an Alexandrine Jew about
217-145 B.C. It is a near masterpiece in literary excellence.
7. The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach. The book is
sometimes called Ecclesiasticus, later just Ecclesiastics. A book of Jewish
wisdom over Grecian wisdom. It is similar to the book of Proverbs.
8. The Book of Baruch- it deals with matters pertaining
to Jeremiah and his friend after Jerusalem had fallen. Written before the
first Century B.C.
9. Song of the three Holy Children- In some Bibles it
appears as an addition to the book of Daniel. The three refers to Daniel’s
eminent friends. This song was used some by the early Christian Church,
and may be used by some Anglicans. It was written before the Christian
era.
10. The history of Susanna- it is a glorification of
the wisdom of Daniel in delivering an innocent person from the charge pressed
against her. It belongs to the book of Daniel.
11.The Story of the destruction of Bel and the dragon.
A glorification of David.
Friday Sept. 19, 1962
12. The prayer of Manasseh-this reports the prayer of
Manasseh.
13. First book of Maccabees- History of 40 years,
namely from 175-135 B.C. during which time the Maccabean family carried
on the struggle for Jewish freedom. This book is fairly accurate history.
It was produced 135- 125 B.C.
14. The second book of the Maccabees; not related in
authorship to the first book. It is not so accurate and reliable. It deals
with events before the ascension of Antiochus Epiphines. He was a most
murderous individual before 175 B.C., to the defeat and death of Nicaneor,
and the triumph of Judas Maccabee. Written about 161-61 B.C.
These books are in the Roman Catholic Bible. They have
six. These were in the early Protestant Bible merely as devotional Literature.
They are still in some Protestant Bibles but were taken out at the beginning
of the present missionary movement.
Quote from the Text P. 58, “Which
I remember, as I have it underlined in my Text. J.R.” “The apocrypha
abounds in historical inaccuracies and misstatements of fact. It contains
teachings at variance with those of the true scriptures, such as justification
for suicide, and prayers and offerings for the dead (II Maccabbees); Almsgiving
as making atonement for sin, The Justification of wrong means by right
ends (Ecclesiasticus and Judith) and superstition and magic (Tobit). The
Leaders of the ancient Church denied its authenticity. Most conclusive
of all, the writers of the New Testament, who make most of their quotations
from the Greek Septuagint, avoid all direct quotation from Apocryphal books.
The reference in Jude 14-16 to the book of Enoch does not relate to the
apocryphal book, but to one of the Pseudepigrapha, for which no claims
to inspiration have ever been made.”
Apocalyptic writing:
The word Apocalyptic is derived from the Greek word for
revelation and is applied to some early Jewish and Christian sages. The
Jew had the problem on his hands of squaring the moral justice and the
righteousness of God with the gentile abuse on the other side.
1. The Apocalypse of Baruch. It reports to have
been written by Baruch, Son of Neriah. It deals with the Babylonian destruction
of Jerusalem and the reconstruction of it. Probably written between 50
and 100 A.D.
2. The Book of Enoch: The overthrow of the enemies of
God. Some of it is supposed to have been written by Noah. Enoch is to have
said much about future events. It is probably written about 150 B.C. Jude
may have quoted from this book. The books of Enoch and Barnabus were held
in high regard by early Christians.
3. The Ascension of Isaiah: An Ethiopic version contains
the only complete text of this book. It contains the martyrdom of Isaiah.
(Hebrews 11:37). It contains a brief history of the early Church, and supposed
vision of Isaiah. This book was written about the first half of the first
century A.D.
4. The Book of Jubilees: This book is a gist of Genesis,
with certain things offensive to the gentiles ‘ ears removed or modified.
It was written either just before or just after the birth of Christ.
5. The Assumption of Moses. Supposed to be the prophesies
of Moses; what was going to happen to Isreal. It was written no later than
30 A.D.
6. The Testament of the Twelve patriarchs. Purported
to give the dying instructions of the twelve sons of Jacob. Written 240-200
B.C.
7. Songs of Solomon. This collection of 18 Psalms by
an unknown Pharisee, of the coming of the Messiah. It describes conditions
in Jerusalem from the time of its capture. Written between 70-40 B.C
8. Sibylline Oracles: In the Ancient world Sibyllic writers
were supposedly unconnected with the official order. Originally there were
14, but 12 remain. It deals with wide areas of interest. They were written
both before and after Christ.
Monday Sept 24, 1962
Three great works should be noted here:
1. The Works of Josephus Flavius, born at Jerusalem in
A.D. 37 and lived to the end of the Century. At the outbreak of the war
with Rome he was appointed Governor of Galilee. His works may be divided
into four sections, usually under one cover.
1Jewish War
2.Jewish Antiquities
3.Treaties against Apion
4.His autobiography.
2. The Targums: An Aramaic word meaning to translate
or interpret. Aramaic took the place of Hebrew. Hebrew than became a dead
language. Hence this was a free paraphrased translation into the Aramaic.
When Isreal came back from the Babylonian captivity the translations were
not accurate.
3. The Talmud and the Midrash: the Talmud was a collection
of explanations, interpretations, and opinions with regard to the Hagiographa.
(Holy Writ) of so called scholars. Jesus referred to the Talmud in Matt.
15:3. It would date from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. The Midrash was also made
up of commentaries on Mosaic written laws. It would probably be dated before
and after Christ.
Ancient Manuscripts
1. Codex Vaticanus: Is dated 325 through 350 A.D. It
is in the Vatican library at Rome and is the property of the Roman Catholic
Church, and contains most of the Bible.
2. Codex Alexandrinus: written 450 A.D. or earlier. It
originally contained both Old and New Testaments. It is kept in the manuscript
room of the British Museum in London. It is the property of the government
of England.
3. Codex Siniaticus: It is found at the monastery at
the bottom of Mt Sinai. Produced about the close of the 4th or early 5th
century. Part of it was discovered by Tischendorf in St. Katherine’s Monastery
at Mt. Sinai in 1894. The rest of the document was later secured by him
and brought to St. Petersburg, later Leningrad, bought by the English in
1853 for $ 500,000 and placed in the British museum.
4.Codex Ephream Rescript, written in the 5th century.
It is a Palimpsest and contains both testaments. In the 12th century much
of it was expunged and writings were written on top of it. (It is possible
to review the original writing.) It rests in the Royal Library at Paris.
Tuesday Sept 25 1962
5.Codex Beza; it is a bilingual manuscript with Greek
and Latin on opposite pages. Written about the 5th century A.D. It was
presented to Cambridge England in 1581 by Beza a friend of Calvin. It contains
the Gospels and Acts.
6. Codex Regius: (8th century) Copy of a much older original.
It is said to be written badly. It contains the Gospels almost complete
and is held in Paris at present.
7. Washington Codex; (later 4th or 5th century) it became
the property of Washington in 1906 having been obtained from Egypt by C.L.
Freer.
The Material and the Language:
1. The best material for manuscripts was vellum which
was made from the skins of young calves. The next best was Parchment, which
was made of sheepskin. Another material was Papyrus, a plant which grew
on the Nile.
2. At first the writing was large block letters, all
separate, no breaks between letters, words, sentences, chapters or books.
Those letters were called uncials. About the 9th century flowing connected
letters appeared and they are called cursive. Both types overlapped during
the 9th century and 10th century. But the cursive style then took over.
There are about 170 codices in the uncial style.
3. The Oldest Hebrew scripts are the Qumran scripts.
About 160 B.C. They contain the books of Isaiah, The Habakkuk commentary,
also the Manuel of discipline, hymns or thanksgiving songs, also the War
of the Sons of light and the Sons darkness, and the Damascus Document.
All of them must have been written before 70 A.D. They were well
used before 70 A.D. The carbon test dating puts them in the area of 70-68
A.D. This ruins the idea of two Isaiah’s since there is not even a calf
skin break.
4. The Bible was originally written in the language of
the people of whom it was addressed.
5. Among the earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew
Bible are the former and latter prophets. That Script is now at Cairo dated
895 A.D. The Oldest script of the Old Testament was written in 1009 A.D.
6.The New Testamant preaching age would be between 29
and 50 A.D., and the writing age from 50 through 100 A.D. Then the script
collects age 100 through 175 A.D.
A few ancient and basic versions:
1. The Samaritan Pentateuch, 600 and 700 B.C.
2. The Septuagint: Alexander the great conquered the
known world and founded Alexandria in Egypt. And he made the known world
bilingual. This text was made by 72 or70 scholars with a fine understanding
of Greek. It was probably started 275 B.C. and finished a few years shortly
after.
Friday Sept.28, 1962
3. The Masoritic text: 500-800 after Christ. Written
by Hebrew scholars.
Pre-English and contemporary versions of note.
1. The Syriac version second century A.D.
2. The Vifilias Version
3. The Herapha Version
4. Aquilla’s Version
5. Symmachus Version
6. Theadoction version
7. Vulgate Version (Standard Catholic, 340-420 A.D.)
8. Copic Version (Egypt)
9. Ethiopic Version
10. The Arabian or Arabic Version
11. The Georgian version
12. Slavonic Version.
The early English versions:
1. The Coedmon’s Version: It did not consist of the complete
Bible. It’s possible date 670 A.D.
2. Eadhelm’s Version: Bishop Eadhelm of Sherborne translated
the psalms and some more into Anglo-Saxon about the same time. 670 A.D.
3. Egbert’s Version, about the same time, 670 A.D. It
was a complete revision of the Gospels.
4. Bede’s Version. It was finished about 736 A.D.
It too was not the whole Bible.
5. King Alfred’s version of the Psalms and the
Gospels followed in 849-901A.D.
6. Aelfric Version: Appeared in the 11th century. It
was only part of the Bible. It too was in the Anglo-Saxon tongue.
Later and modern English Versions; The Roman conquest
of Britain began 55 B.C. and closed 410 A.D. The Saxon conquest followed.
The Danish conquest followed the Saxons. The Norman Conquest took place
Oct. 14, 1066. The three following centuries were quiet, hence during the
11th through the 14th centuries the English people and tongue emerged.
1. Wyclif’s Version: it was completed about 1384. He
was the star of the reformation. From text p.30 “ Our Fadir that
art in heuenes, Haledwid by thi name. Thi kingdom comme to. Be thi wills
done as in heuen so in earthe. . Gyve to us this dai oure breed oure other
substance; and forgive to us oure dettis as we forgyven to oure dettouis.
And leede us not in to temptacioun, but delyvere us fro yvel. Quoted from
Ira M. Price, The Ancestry of Our English Bible, p.239
2. Tyndale’s version: It appeared between 1525 and 1553.
He had to leave England. He finally wound up in Worms (Vorms), and there
in 1526 the first English New Testament to be printed came from the printing
press. He died at the hands of his enemies for doing this.
3. Coverdale’s version. It made use of Tyndale’s and
had it completed by 1535. This was the first complete Bible to be printed
in English.
4. Matthew’s Version: It appeared in 1537. It was made
up largely of the other two versions. The translator called himself Thomas
Matthew, this was a however a pseudo name of John Rogers who felt he could
not use his own name, because of his friendship with Tyndale
5. Traverner’s version: It appeared in 1539 as a rival
to Matthew’s Bible. Traverner however closely followed Matthew’s Bible.
He toned down objectionable passages and terms.
6. The Great Bible: up to now the Bible had been produced
by individuals, Coverdale’s and Matthew’s had royal sanction. The Great
Bible was ordered in 1539 to be produced. It was a revision of Tyndale’s
and Matthews.
7. The Geneva Version: 1560 was made by the exiled English
scholars in Geneva Switzerland who had fled from England, from the persecution
of Protestants by the reactionary queen Mary Tudor during the five bloody
years from 1553 to 1558. And was known as the Breeches Bible, as breeches
was used instead of aprons in Genesis.
8. The Bishop’s Bible: 1568. Eight bishops took part
in translating it. It was accurate, but never popular. It was called the
Trade Bible.
9. The Rhiems Douai Version. Made by Roman Catholics
at Rheims and Douai to compete against the interest of the Protestants,
Probably still the Roman Catholic Standard Version. It appeared in 1609.
10. The King James Version: appeared in 1611 with and
by royal decree, and consent. Thus it is called the Authorized Version.
11. The English Revised Version: 1881-1885. It was called
the Revised Version.
12. The American Revised Version: 1901
13. The self-styled Revised Standard Version: Appeared
in 1952 in both Testaments. Quite inaccurate.
14. Phillips Translation
Monday Oct 1, 1962
Theories of Inspiration:
1. Natural Inspirations: Inspiration is here identified
with genius of a higher order; Shakespeare, Milton, Mohamed, Confucius
are inspired in this sense.
2. Universal Christian Inspiration or illumination:
Here inspiration and illumination are identical. The average Christian
today would be as much inspired as Bible Writers.
3. Conceptual or thought Inspiration: Only the great
concepts or thoughts were inspired and the writer supplied the rest unaided
by the Holy Spirit.
4. Partial Inspiration: The Bible contains the word of
God, but who is to determine what is the word of God? Or what is the word
of man. Modernism likes this view.
5. Organic Inspiration: The Holy Spirit acted upon the
writer in harmony with the laws of their own inner beings. Using them just
as they were. Recognizing their personal characteristics, their temperaments,
their gifts, education, vocabulary, and style.
6. Dynamic Inspiration: The writers only were affected.
What they wrote was their own after they were empowered. That is their
mental and spiritual gifts were raised to a higher pitch .It differs little
from Universal Christian Inspiration.
7. Mechanical Theory of Inspiration: God literally dictated
what the human author says. The human authors were passive in the hands
of God like a pen in the hand of a writer. Their own mind contributed nothing
with regard to what was said.
8. Verbal Inspiration: The very words of the Bible were
given by the Holy Spirit. The mind and personality were not set aside,
hence it differs but little from Mechanical Inspiration.
Tuesday Oct.2, 1962
9. Plenary Inspiration: Every part of the Bible is inspired,
but the writers were left to express themselves in their own way with their
own symbols. They were so guided and checked that they were kept from error.
a. Theories that we dislike:
1. Natural Inspiration
2. Universal Christian inspiration
3. Partial Inspiration
4. Mechanical Inspiration
5. Dynamic inspiration
b. Theories that we like in part:
1. Conceptual Inspiration
2. Organic Inspiration
3. Verbal Inspiration.
C. Plenary Inspiration: The Theory that Dr King liked
the most; Most of all the holiness movement holds to the plenary field.
God, however did appear to give at times the very words. Lev. 4:1ff, Jeremiah
1:9, I Corinthians 2:13. At other times great doctrines were stated by
the prophets in their own words. At other times they had dreams and visions
and then dictated these dreams and visions in their own words. At other
times they took pages from histories well known to all or official letters
written by heads of state. Plenary inspiration allows for all such items.
Yet the writers were so guided in their selection of quotations that they
were kept from errors. They had the approval of the Holy Spirit in the
whole book. Church of the Nazarene Manuel 1960 p. 26.” We believe
in the plenary inspiration of the Holy scriptures, by which we understand
the sixty six books of the Old and New Testaments given by divine inspiration,
inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary
to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be
enjoined as an article of faith.”
The canon:
The Canon refers to a measuring reed or line or an official
length measure. It eventually came to mean the accepted books of the Bible.
1. We are told that Moses wrote a book of the law, which
he commanded the Levites to put inside the Ark of God. Deut. 31:24. This
book was commanded to be read by those in authority. Deut 18:19. This would
place a special veneration on this book.
2. Later Joshua made a covenant with the people and wrote
in the book of the law of God. Joshua 24:26.
3. Samuel also wrote a book and laid it up before the
Lord. This too was highly regarded. I Samuel 10:25
4. Under the reforms of King Jehoshaphat the people were
taught out of the book of the law. II Chron.17: 9.
5. During the religious reforms under King Josiah the
book was read to the king and the people. II kings 22:8-10. During this
time the High Priest, Hilkiah discovered the book of the Law in the Temple.
II kings 23:1-23.
6. On the return from Babylonian exile during the fifth
century B.C. in the reforms led by Ezra and Nehemiah the law of the Lord
was read and the people reformed themselves accordingly. Nehemiah 9:38,
10:1ff.
7. The canon of the Old Testamant in the form the Protestants
have it was the work of Ezra and the great Synagogue. The great synagogue
was Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. There is no doubt that
such a book existed during the time of our Lord. Luke 24:27, 44. From this
collection the Septuagint would have been made.
Thus the Old Testament canon was a gradual thing, and
received its final addition between the time of Ezra 536 B.C. to about
330 B.C. Nehemiah 12: 22,23. The question of the Canon emerged again at
a later Synod A.D. Here it was decided that Ecclesiastes and Song
of Solomon polluted the hands. That is those two books belong to the Apocrypha.
Doubts were also entertained about Esther. They did leave the list the
same as our Old Testament with question marks after these two.
8. Jesus accepted the Old Testament substantially as
we have it. Jesus believed in the so-called stories of the Old Testament;
i.e. Lot’s wife, Luke 17; 32;The brazen Serpent, John 3:14, 15, Jonah and
the whale, Matt. 12:40. He referred to the three divisions of the Old Testament;
The law, the prophets, and the Psalms. Again for Jesus The whole Old Testament
was the word of God, Mark 7:8-13.
Tuesday Oct. 9, 1962
9. Paul and Peter were strong on the inspiration of the
Old Testamant. Paul stated that all scripture was given by inspiration
of God, II Tim 3:16. Peter was of the same thought as Paul, II Peter 1:
19-21, Acts 1:16. The expression “ Thus saith the lord’ or similar statements
are used 1960 times in the scriptures.
10. It is believed by many that Jesus inferred when the
New Testament was written it would be similarly inspired, John 14:26.
11. At an early date there were collections of Paul’s
letters passed from church to church by command of Paul himself, Col. 4:16.
In one inspired writing Peter approved the letters That Paul had written,
II Peter 3:15,16.
12. Some of the New Testament books did not make the
Canon at once, largely because of disputed authorship. Twenty were called
Homologoumena “ acknowledge”. They are the four Gospels and Acts, the epistles
of Paul except Hebrews, I John, I Peter. Seven were called Antilegomena,
“Disputed” Hebrews, II & III John, II Peter, Jude, James, and Revelation.
Those books were all accepted early in the third century and were placed
in the canon and accepted by the Synod in Carthage, 397-419 A.D.
13. The common Christian body of believers both Pastors
and People made the selection of books through the years to be regarded
with special revelation. The council merely ratified the selection already
made. (B. Field; Christian Handbook of Theology, pp 40-73.)
The people made the selection on the following grounds.
A. The honor paid by our Lord to the Holy Scriptures.
B. The wonderful unity that is apparent in the sacred
scriptures.
C. The grandeur and the sublimity of their content.
D. The absolute veracity of their teachings no matter
whom was involved.
E. The Moral and Spiritual influence which the scriptures
exhort
The Books of the Bible
A .The Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy.
B. The Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel,
II Samuel, I kings, II kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles Ezra, Nehemiah,
and Esther
C. The Poetic and Wisdom Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.
D. The Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel, and Daniel.
E. The Minor Prophets: Hosea Joel, Amos, Obbediah, Jonah,
Micah, Nahum, Habakkah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Monday Oct. 15, 1962
Only in one place in the Old Testament is a will called
a disposition. In the New Testament it meant to come to an agreement between
a group of people.
Complements Customs, and divisions of the Bible.
1. There is a fine list of compliments to the Bible from
men of all ages in H.H. Haley’s Handbook of the Bible PPS 16-17.
George Washington: “ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without
God and the Bible.” Abraham Lincoln: “ I believe the Bible is the best
gift God has given to man. All the good from the Saviour of the World is
communicated through this book.” Napoleon: The Bible is no mere book, but
a living creature with a power that conquers all that oppose it.”
Patrick Henry: The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been
written.” Horace Greeley: “ It is impossible to enslave mentally
or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the
ground work of human freedom.” Andrew Jackson: “ That Book Sir is
the rock upon which our Republic rest.” Robert E. Lee: “ In all my
perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light
and strength.” John Quincy Adams: “So great is my veneration for the Bible
that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be
my hope that they might prove useful citizens of their country and respectful
members of society. I have for years made it a practice to read through
the Bible once every year.” Sir Isaac Newton: “There are more sure marks
of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.”
2. God must accommodate his revelation to the thinking,
social customs, and the religious understanding of the times in which the
revelation is given. That is, The Bible is written in ancient thought form.
Certain areas of the Bible, I do not think should be read in the average
mixed group. The ancients could and did discuss such matters freely in
mixed groups without embarrassment and without hesitation. To us they are
taboo. God used certain methods then to speak to them or to drive home
truths or to bring warnings to them, but he would disapprove of them today.
In the New Testamant setting these taboos disappear. Some of these
scriptures references are Isaiah.20: 2-4,Eze.4: 12,14-16, II kings 18:27
(for the meaning here read Adam Clarke’s commentary) Exodus 32:25, I Samuel
19:20-24, II Chronicles 28:9-15. Again God would tell them to do certain
things, Namely punish their enemies. But often the way they did it was
according to the customs of the times. Thus God can not always be held
responsible for the way his will is carried out. In fact God sometimes
punishes them for the way they fulfilled his orders.
The message of the Bible is Omni-temporal (always present),
but often the mold is very temporal and changes as man changes. Man’s knowledge
has been progressive and God’s revelation has been progressive.
3. Periods of the Old Testamant down to the New Testament.
It goes from the Creation down to the birth of Christ.
A. The Antediluvian Period: From creation to the Noahic
flood.
B. The Post-diliuvian period: From the flood to the call
of Abraham 1921 B.C.
C. The Patriarchal Period: From the call of Abraham (1921
B.C.) to the migration to Egypt. (1706 B.C.), about 215 years. Adam Clarke’s
commentary Genesis 12:41 “ From Abraham’s entry into Canaan to the birth
of Isaac was 25 years, Gen12: 4, 17:1-21, Isaac was 60 years old at the
birth of Jacob Gen 25:26;and Jacob was 130 at his going down into Egypt,
Gen.47: 9; which three sums make up 215 years And then Jacob and his children
having continued in Egypt 215 more years, the whole sum of 430 years is
regularly employed. “
D. The Sojourn in Egypt: From the migration to Egypt
to the departure therefrom.(1921 B.C. to 1491 B.C. 430 years Exodus 12:41;
Gal. 3:17
E. The sojourn in the wilderness: From the departure
from Egypt to the crossing of the Jordan. 1451 B.C.
F. The conquest of Canaan: From the crossing of the Jordan
to the death of Joshua.
Tues. Oct. 16, 1962
G. The period of the Judges corresponding with the book
of Judges. From the death of Joshua to the anointing of Saul by Samuel.
1400 to 1095 B.C.
H. The United Kingdom (12 tribes under one monarch):
From the anointing of Saul to the ascension of Rehoboam .1095 B.C. to 975
B.C.
I. The two Kingdoms: From the ascension of Rehoboam to
the fall of Samaria 995 to 722 B.C.
J. Judah alone: From the fall of Samaria to the fall
of Jerusalem. 722- 586 B.C.
K. The Exile: From the fall of Jerusalem to the return
under Zerubbabel 586-536 B.C.
L. the Post –Exilic period: From the return of Zerubbabel
to the close of the Old Testamant Canon
M. The Inter-Testamantel Period. From the close of the
Old Testament Canon to the birth of Christ. 400ff – 4 or 5
Old Testamant
The Ante-Deluvian Period:
From the creation to the Noahatic flood: Gen. 1:1-8:19
A. The Bible does not try to prove the existence of God,
but merely states the facts and then proceeds accordingly. Given God’s
creation it is expected that God is said to fill immensity and to inhabit
eternity. There was a time when creation was not, but God always was.
“In the beginning God created” the word “beginning” or
“Bersheath” means at the commencement of time. That is the only date we
have in creation. In what form substance was when it was created we do
not know. It is said to have been “ without form and void.”
B. Three words are used for creation. Bara meaning, “
to come to be “ i.e. original substance was caused to be. Gen. 1:1 animal
life etc. was caused to be, Gen 1:21. The spirit of man was caused to be
Gen 1: 26. Yatzar meaning “to form from a given substance: Gen 2:7. Asah
meaning “ to make from a given” Gen 8:6
Friday October 19 1962
C. The time relation in regards to the acts of the creation
are not to clearly stated. The days and hours are not easily determined
with regard to length of time. Yom (day) see Matt. 11:24, John 8:56,Mark
6:11. There were also great gaps between father and son relationships.
According to the Bible Leah and Rachel are said to be mothers of their
grandchildren and Jacob is said to be their father.
D. Most theories of creation are of the evolutionary
nature. They may be placed under these categories.
1. Materialism: Matter is regarded as the only real substance
and is eternal. Originally it existed in the form of fire mist. From it
everything including man evolved.
2.The second theory holds to the same fire mist
idea, but states that the origin of life was the act of the creator. From
this origin all other forms evolved.
3.The third theory also starts with God creating the “fire Mist”. Then
God created life in its lowest level and then guided it up to its highest
level. Theistic evolution.
The Biblical view is something like this:
God created everything other than himself. By the term
God- I mean the Trinity. Original creation was ‘ without form and void.”
Then a period of development followed. Then a new creation, then a period
of development, then a new creation etc. The Biblical steps are these:
1. The creation of matter: Bara, then an indefinite period
of development. Gen 1:1
2. Then another new creation: then another development
period Gen 1:11
3. Then another new creation followed by a period of
development
4. Then another new creation followed by a period of
development.
5. Then another new creation: God created man, followed
by a period of development. Each creative act could have been a 24-hour
period in which many new things could have been created within the same
time.
The six days of Creation:
Those days are of uncertain length. The period of primordial
waste or period of time is a time of organized energy when the spirit of
God moves. There are Six successive periods of order called days.
Monday Oct. 22, 1962
1. Light “ let there be light and there was light” Gen.
1:3b. The light was good and it was divided into day and night. The Light
was either heat or hot cosmic stuff or the filtration of the sun through
the mist provided this light. Evening and morning the first day.
2. Firmament or expanse: this expression probably refers
to the area between the seas and the clouds alone.
3. Continents, seas, and vegetation began: Apparently
there was a time when all the waters covered the earth. God spoke and continents
and islands rose and the sea beds were formed. Vegetation also appeared
and covered the barren earth.
4. Sun, Moon, and stars appear: the heavenly bodies could
have been created before the fourth day, but they were invisible from the
earth but appeared on the fourth day. The word create/ Bara is not used
in this section of the creation. Days and years and seasons as of yet are
not set up.
5.Lower Life appears: creeping things, great monsters,
mollusk, fish, fowl and the sea and expanse are filled with life.
6. The Sixth day higher Life: Higher animals and man
appear. Man is distinct and separate creation from all else. Dust is used
to make his body, but the spirit is an outright causing to be, or creation
from nothing (Bara).
Non Biblical accounts of Creation.
Some of them go back to pre-Abraham times.
1. Epics of creation have been found in recent years
in the ruins of Nineveh, of Babylon, Of Nipper, and Ashur. They are similar
to the Genesis Epic. The names of the gods and men differ. Heathen geography,
history and mythology are interwoven as would be expected. In these there
are seven tablets, one for each day of creation. Much of this has been
found in the great library in Nineveh.
2. There are also similar stories in the ancient places
with regard to the flood. Names differ, but the overall picture is astonishingly
similar. For records of both creation and the flood see the following
a. Dummelow ( Intro. 32,33,34 )
b. Bliakly- “ A Manuel of the Bible” (12-15)
c. Dean-“An outline of Bible History (12&13)
d. Halley’s pocket Bible handbook ( 64-35)
e. Geikie “ Hours with the Bible. (Vol. 1 ch 8)
The Creation of Man: Neither the cosmos or man is self-originated.
Man’s body was formed from the dust of the earth, and his spirit was inbreathed
by the father of Spirits himself. Thus man is a rational person. This does
not refer to the physical body, but to the spiritual self (Gen. 2:7).
1. This spiritual selfhood inhabiting the body has eternity
as an attribute of selfhood. Thus eternal existence is a gift of God as
creator and is possessed by sinners and saints alike ( Ecc. 3:11).
2. Man was created pure and holy, in heart and mind, and
fallen in nature and deathless in body. As long as he remained
sinless; being finite, he had to be tested in the line of conduct to develop
holiness in character development.
3. Eve was also created indirectly in body from the dust
and with regard to spiritual selfhood hence they were one creation physically,
and evidentially two distinct and direct creations with regard to their
spirits. Hebrew 12:9
Location of the Garden of Eden
All the earth was probably an Eden, eastward, at least
from the standpoint of the writer. In this Eden a special garden
was prepared for man.
Three statements that may be made with regard to
its location.
1. Totally unknown, as the earth was probably
given a new topography after the flood. Continents arose and continents
became sea bottoms, thus no one can now know where it originally was.
2. The highlands of Armenia. Answer
in a measure to the Biblical description of the four rivers, which arose
from within it. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow easterly into
the Gulf, the Kizil and the Phsis, which would answer to the Biblical Pisin,
these flowed into the Black Sea, The Araxes, and the Ghion, which flows
east to the Caspian sea. Here in this Caucasus region scientist
supposes that the human race arose. Here we know that many of our
fruit and vegetables originated, as well as grains, and the domestication
of animals.
3. In Babylonian at the junction of
the Persian gulf with the Tigris and Euphrates, this would have been where
Abraham's Uz was, and in popular belief this area would be held by most,
that would be between the two rivers that flow to the Gulf,
The fallen Angels and Satan:
1. There were an innumerable company of angels
who were individually created, possibly about the same time. They
were wholly spiritual and in a wholly spiritual order. We know nothing
about their creation. We do know they were in existence before man.
We also know they had to pass through a period of probation. Through
that probationary period, one third fell, including Lucifer.
2. Lucifer and Gabriel. The angels
had tasks to perform in God’s creation, in regard to human needs.
We find that angels guard children and adults (Acts 12:15). Angels
guard nations and lands, like Persia (Daniel 10:13) Greece (Daniel 10:20),
Israel (Daniel 10:21 and 12:10). In this lies the kernel of truth
from which polytheism sprang.
3. Three of these angels are named.
First Michael: protector of persons and nations physically. Then
Gabriel: revealer of knowledge and truth from God (Daniel 8:16 9:21 Luke
1:19). Then Lucifer: reflector of the glory of God. The director
of the worship to the Trinity, who then filtered the glory back.
These Angels were apparently connected to the Son. These three could
have been the special servants of the Trinity. If so, then it was
the Son’s special servants who fell and became the Devil and Satan.
4. Those three could have been each one,
in charge of one third of God’s creation. If so, Lucifer would have
been the superior being of the three. He was nearest to the throne
of God, and he walked in the midst of the stones of fire and reflected
the Glory of God. He was a Being of splendor and Glory and talent.
Types are described in Isaiah 14:12-16, and Ezekiel 28:12-17.
If one third of God’s creation were in charge of each one of these three
angles, then our area would have been Lucifer's. Since he was declared
to be the god or prince or ruler of the earth (John 12:31 John 14:30 John
16:11 Ephesians 2:2 Luke 4:6 Mathew 4:8-10).
5. Thus Lucifer wished to be equal or superior
to the most High (Christ). This appeared to be his character test
as the forbidden fruit was a character test for Adam and Eve. He
became proud of his own beauty, his gifts, and his high office. He
sinned and he was cast down. The name “Lucifer” in Latin means “light
bearer or reflector”. “Lucifer's” name originated in
Isaiah 14:12. He then became the Satan. He is the enemy of
man and all the good that man does. He is against God and all his
doings; the cosmic war thus began, and will continue until the second judgment.
6. Many of the heavenly hosts fell with him. Thus
Satan is described as their leader. No salvation, as far as we know,
has ever been offered to them. How sin could enter holy hearts and
a holy universe, and why God would allow it to enter we do not know.
He does not let anything enter which he cannot control. Why those
fallen beings are allowed a limited freedom for a time at least, we do
not know. We are only told what we must know so we can guard ourselves
against them. We must, ever remember, it has pleased God to hold
something from us (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Monday Oct. 29, 1962
7. We are told something of the activity
of the Satan, on the earth, and we are also told his end (Genesis 3:1-7
Genesis 2:15). Adam was to dress and guard the garden from the sin
of Satan (1 Timothy 3:7 Luke 10:18 2Peter 2:4 Jude 1:6). So Satan
and his angels are to be cast into hell fire, which was originally prepared
for them. (Mathew 25:41).
The fall of Man
God is a Holy spiritual Being, composed of three Holy
spiritual persons. Those three persons are concurrently in possession
of one set of attributes that are also in possession of self-consciousness,
self-perception, self-direction, they are thus infinite. Man is created
in God’s spiritual and personal image, but is finite.
1. Man is not a machine, mechanically guided
or an animal instinctively guided, but is a free spiritual self with the
power of self-direction. “ Probation is the moral trial of a free
spirit, continuing for a season under conditions appointed by God, and
issuing in the confirmation of an abiding and unchangeable state. The Christian
scheme, as administered by the Holy Ghost, has not abolished probation,
but has invested it with a new and peculiar character of Grace, which however
leaves it probation still.” (Pope Vol. 3 page 101).
2. This probation demanded a restriction.
Man was free to obey the restriction or to disobey it. He chose to
disobey it. Sin and death entered human experience and the curse
appeared upon the whole earth (Romans 5:12-19 and Gen 3:17-18 Gen 6:11).
How a holy and a free spirit like Lucifer in heaven or like man in Eden
could be tempted to sin is a mystery. How sin could enter was through
the mystery of man’s freedom of finite personality.
3. Two special tree’s stood in Eden, one
was a symbol of immortality, it was called the “Tree of Life” (Gen 2:9
Gen 3:24). The other was the “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”
(Gen 2:17). Adam and Eve had access to both but were forbidden to
eat from the latter tree. This was their probationary test. They
were to leave it alone at the price of an apparent loss to themselves.
4. While the woman was alone and near the
tree, Satan came and spoke through a serpent to the women. He slandered
God, he accused God of jealousy and taught them to doubt God’s word (Gen
3:1-5). He pointed out to the women that the tree was good for food,
it was pleasant to the eye, and it was a source of knowledge (Gen 3:6-8).
She listened, she looked, she took, she ate, she gave, to Adam to eat,
he ate, and they fell (Gen 3:6b).
5. When they heard God approaching, they
fled and hid among the trees of the garden. God stood just exactly
where he had left them and exactly where they should have been, and he
called them. He did not go in after them. They heard the voice
of God; they responded and voluntarily came out and stood quietly in the
presence of God. God solicited a confession by asking them what happened.
Step by step they told him how it had happened. Judgement was passed
on each in turn, first the serpent, then the women then the man (Gen 3:
7-19).
Tuesday Oct. 30, 1962
The Redemption of Man
The garden was the home of indescribable blessing, it
was the starting point of a wonderful task, the arena of a mighty conflict,
the scene of a tragic collapse and the long fore yard of waiting mankind.
1. Immediately after Adam and Eve’s joint
confession, God disclosed result the of his will and foreknowledge.
That is a promised redeemer (Gen 3:15-21). The serpent was to strike
this redeemer’s heel and this redeemer was to crush the serpent’s head.
Here we have the promise of the cross of the Christ and the final overthrow
of Satan.
2. God then slew an animal and clothed them
with its skin. Blood was shed, then they were clothed. Previously
evidently they were clothed with the glory of God as was Jesus on the mount
of transfiguration. Now they are clothed with second hand garments,
ever to remind them of their fall and of the fact that they were to be
clothed spiritually with the Blood of the Lamb (Gen 3:21).
3. They were expelled from Eden, from God’s
presence, as they were no longer fit to dwell in that Holy presence.
Cherubim and a flaming sword guarded the East gate of Eden. Apparently
here they later sacrifice as the Glory of God was reflected through those
Cherubim (Gen 3:24). Being cut off from the symbolic
tree of life they were to return to the dust of the earth by way of death.
4. We have three great areas setting forth
or symbolizing regeneration. First, the promise of a Redeemer Gen
3:9-13), Second the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5-10), Third the Prodigal son (Luke
15:17-24) There is now a righteous remnant that has run right through time.
In the very first home the human race was split. Cain was afraid
to admit himself a sinner, and offered a bloodless offering. Able
admitted he was a sinner and he offered a Blood offering. Cain’s
jealousy waxed hot and he slew Able and Able became the first martyr, the
first of many that pointed to Christ. There was a split in the human
race (Gen 4:1-16 and Heb 11:4).
Antediluvian Patriarch:
Adam and Eve had apparently many children, both
boys and girls (Gen 5:4). Cain and Able must have been the first,
possibly twins, and Seth is the last named one. Seth was born when
Adam was about 130. Apparently the mantel of Able fell on Seth and
Seth became the religious head of the race. From here a righteous
remnant, often small, runs through time surrounded by a great multitude.
1. When Cain was born Eve thought she had
gotten the promised son from the Lord. “I have gotten a man from
the Lord” (Gen 3:13; Gen 4:1c). Then when the second was born she
called him Able. Able means “not needed” as the man of the Lord is
already here.
A. Cain was punished by God for slaying
his brother. He was separated from the face of the Lord. He
was driven from his fellows. The earth was additionally cursed as
a result of his sin. (Gen 4:14). He journeys eastward to the
land of Nod. Nod meaning the land of trembling, and he trembled as
he left (Gen 4:16). God marked Cain so that no one would kill
him for having killed his brother. So the mark could have been a
visible mark or a promise from God. (Gen 4:16).
B. Cain determined to conquer in spite of
the curse. He got married, built a residence or city, and called
the city after his son Enoch. (Gen 4:17) Then Enoch’s son was Irad;
Irad’s son was Mehujael. Mehujael’s son was Methusael: Methusael’s
son was Lamech. (Gen 4:17&18).
C. The family of Cain reached the zenith
of its wickedness in Lamech. He introduced polygamy and married two
wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah had at least two sons, Jabal and Tubal.
Zillah had at least two children, a son Tubal-Cain and a daughter Naamah.
Jabal introduced personal wealth and weaving, for garments and tents, and
cattle raising. Jubal was the inventor of music as a fine art, and
musical instruments. Their half brother Tubal-Cain was the father
of the art of metal work. Tubal-Cain’s sister Naamah is said by the
Jews to be the first to put jewelry and the like on her face. (Gen
4:19-22).
D. Lamech climaxed his career in sin by
murder as indicated in his “sword song”. First poem ever written.
“ Adah and Zillah hear my voice ye wives of Lamech hearken to my speech,
for I have slain a man for wounding me and a young man for bruising me,
if Cain shall be avenged seven fold truly Lamech seventy and seven fold”
(Gen 4:23&24). The line of Cain from Cain to Lemech, gives
us the following firsts; first murder; first city life; first case of polygamy;
first metal workers; first poetry; first musicians. Two observations
may be safely made;
1. Material civilization, as such
are not a religion and not a substitute for it.
2. The godless have ever striven to
beautify the earth
2. In Seth religious hope revived.
In Cain’s line seven were given. In Seth’s line ten were given.
They are; Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah,
Lamech, and Noah.
A. In the days of Seth and his son Enoch,
man began to call upon the name of the Lord. To the children or Sons
of God the promise of the redeemer came. (Gen 4:26b and John 10:35)
Jesus called them gods to whom the promise came.
B. In the graveyard chapter (Gen 5) Enoch
walked with God and was not for God took him. Thus we have the resurrection
and rapture typified in the Sethite line. (Gen 5:24).
C. Noah was a righteous man and in his generation
perfect and led where few bid to follow. God used him as a remnant
to begin anew.
D. Thus the Sethite line did not beautify
the earth but “They looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker was God.”
Post Diluvium Period: from the flood to the call of Abraham
(1921BC)
1. The population had increased greatly and
the sons of God (the Sethites) married the daughters of man (the Cainites).
This brought the final moral collapse. Their children inherited the
stability of the Sethite line the cunning and wickedness of the Cainite
line. “The sons of God” does not mean angelic creatures at all.
2. The giants mentioned were the children
of the sons of God and the daughters of men. Wickedness increases,
violence filled the earth, and moral corruption was the order of the day.
God decided to destroy all except Noah and his family. Thus again
a small remnant is saved (Gen 6:2&3; 5&8; 11&12).
3. God told Noah to build an ark. This
ark was neither a house nor a ship. It was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits
wide and 30 cubits in depth with stories and apartments with a door and
a window redemptively meaningful. It does not say there was only one window
and door. It is generally agreed that Noah took 120 years to build
the ark. This was a period of mercy for the race as a race.
Then it took Noah and the animals 7 days to load the ark. Then the
flood came and destroyed all.
4. It rained for forty days and the waters
continued to rise for 150 days and then it subsided for 225 days.
On the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah’s life the
flood began. He left the ark on the 27th day of the second month
of the 601st year of his life. He and his family left the ark.
After God had bolted the door presumably at the end of 7 days. They
were in the ark one year and ten days or 375 days. If the Jewish
year were used the 375 would include the 7 loading days
5.Noah had taken into the ark a few extra animals
for sacrifice. Hence his first official act after he left the ark
was to offer a sacrifice. “And Noah built an alter unto the Lord
and took of every clean beast and every clean fowl and offered a burnt
offering” (Gen 8:20).
A. God was pleased with the offering and
promised that he would not curse the ground further, and that the race
as a race would not again be destroyed. And that the seasons would
remain as they now are.
B. The Noahatic family was to be fruitful and multiply
and replenish the earth and be Lords over it. Flesh was given them
to eat as well as herbs. The responsibility of human government was
turned in a fuller sense over to Man. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen 9:2-6).
Tuesday Nov. 6, 1962
C. The laws of the Sabbath and marriage had
been revealed to Adam. Now in the Noahatic covenant the following
additions are now made;
1. Abstinence of blood; 2. Prohibition
of murder; 3. Recognition of civil authority. Man thus
takes over government for himself. Also there was to be no more such
a flood. The sign of this covenant was the rainbow.
D. Ham was to be a servant of servants.
He and his four sons settled in the lower Euphrates and Nile valley as
well as small settlements elsewhere. Shem received the promise of
the Messiah. He and his five sons settled in southwestern Asia.
Japhet was blessed and was to dwell in the tents of Shem. He and his seven
sons settled and became the Medes, Greeks, Europeans, Persians and Romans.
Japhet has produced the dominant race of the last 2400 years.
E. It was in the days of the fifth generation
from Noah (namely Peleg) that the earth was divided among the colors.
Population at first centers on the plains of Shinar, where the people built
a town. Apparently they wanted to build a world empire with a universal
center. But God confounded their speech and they separated themselves.
The Patriarchal Period (1921-1706 BC) from the call of
Abraham to the migration of Egypt.
1. The race quickly lapsed into wickedness
again. So God selected the family of Abraham to raise a nation through
which nation he would present the prophets to the world, the Bible, and
the seed of the woman, and the savior of the world. From Shem to
Abraham ten generations are mentioned: Shem; Arphaxad; Salah; Eber; Peleg;
Reu; Serug; Nahor; Terah; Abram.
2. Abram journeyed on from Ur to Haran and stayed
there for five years. Then when his father died he moved into Canaan
proper and built his first altar there and received his first intimation
that this was to be the home of the promised seed.
3. From Shechem he moved 20 miles south to
Bethel. There the famine drove him to Egypt. There he declared
Sari his sister. She was taken into the harem of the Pharaoh but
unharmed. Egypt was plagued and she was restored. Abraham was loaded
with many gifts and obliged to leave Egypt. Hagar was given to Sari
to be a handmaid. This Pharaoh is unidentified.
4. From Egypt he returned to Bethel and again sacrificed.
Their herds and flocks increased to the extent that he and Lot split them
and went their separate ways. Lot was given first choice. He
chose the plains of the Jordan to the East and Abraham remained in the
hill land. Abraham lived at Mamre near to Hebron. Mizraim the
son of Ham on his journey south had founded Hebron. Seven years later
Mizraim founded Zoan in Egypt and founded the empire of Egypt. For
the third time the promise was stated to Abraham.
5. Hebron and Beer-Sheba were quite close together.
It was between them most of the great events of Abraham's life occurred
and most of his visions of God were received and many of his great promises
were received. Just outside of Hebron is the cave of Machpelah in
which to this day the remains of Abraham and his family repose, six in
all; Abraham and Sarah; Rebekah and Isaac; Leah and Jacob.
6. The battle of the four eastern kings headed
by Chedorlaomer and Amraphel against the five kings of the cities of the
Plains. Lot and his wife and family were taken captive and later
rescued by Abraham. The strange figure of Melchizedek (king of Salem)
appears. His kingship and priesthood are types of the Christ,
but he was not Shem as some supposed. The promise is again renewed
and Abraham offered his second most famous sacrifice. (Not counting
the near offering of Isaac).
7. Here also God declares that Abraham's’ descendents
would be strangers in a strange land for 400 years or for four generations
but they would return after the 400 years were over. Thus Isaac was
later born in a strange land, but 400 years after his birth the Israelites
returned to the land and made it theirs. (Gen 15:13&16; Gal 3:17; Ex
12:40). Paul’s 430 years (Gal. 3: 17) is undoubtedly from Gods first
promise to Abraham while yet in Ur (Gen 12:1-3).
7. As yet God had not stated that Sari had to be the
mother of Abraham's heirs. Hence childless Sari followed the customs
of the times and gave Abraham her handmaiden. Thus Hagar gives birth
to Ishmael. Ishmael was and is the source of endless trouble to the
Israelites.
Monday Nov. 12, 1962
A. Thus God renewed the covenant again with
Abraham. He was given the covenant sign of circumcision and promised
that Sari would be mother of his seed and heir both to the spiritual seed
and the physical seed (Gen 17:16&17).
B. Three angels came to Abraham in human
appearance and again Sari is promised a son. And the destruction of the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was made known. Abraham prays (what
we call the first prayer) but they were destroyed. Lot and his two
daughters were saved from the overthrow.
C. Lot and his two daughters brought the
father of the Moabites and Ammonites into the world. Do not judge
Lot and his two daughters by our standards. Ruth the Moabitess entered
the messianic line; thus David and Jesus the Christ were descendents of
both Lot and Abraham.
9. Abraham then dwelt at Gerar that was surrounded
by Philistines. He then declared that Sari was his sister.
He then dwelt in the general area known as Beer-Sheba for some time.
Beer-Sheba was about 30 miles from Gerar. It was at Beer-Sheba Isaac
was born. Sari was 90 years old and Abraham was 100
10. Two or three years thereafter Ishmael and his
mother Hagar were sent away and were properly taken care of. Then
Abimelech and Abraham entered into a covenant of peace with regard to themselves
and their posterity.
11. Abraham then came near to offering Isaac as
a sacrifice on mount Moriah. Isaac was probably 33 or 35. God
substituted a ram caught in the thicket nearby. It was apparently
on the very spot where later the temple was built.
A. The idea originated with God and not
Abraham.
B. Isaac was Abraham’s only son as far as
the promises of God were concerned. (Being between 25 and 35 Isaac
had to volunteer to die)
C. For three days Isaac was as good as dead
in Abraham’s mind as it was a three days journey to the mountain.
D. God intervened and substituted a ram,
as Christ’s human nature was the only one to be sacrificed for sin.
It was a perfect picture of the Christ on the same hill although not necessarily
in the same spot.
E. At the age of 127 Sarai died. Abraham
was 137. Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah from the sons of Heth
for four hundred shekels of silver. Thus he buried Sarah. (First
of six to be buried in the cave.) (Gen 23:1-20). It was in a small
field of trees and a great cavern under ground; it has been in the land
of the Mohammedan for centuries. The Prince of Wales and Dean Stanley
were allowed to enter the cave and see the stone tombs of the six. (According
to Halley’s hand book).
F. Abraham then sought a wife for Isaac and
planned for him to marry his second cousin Rebekah. Abraham did this
to save his descendents from the idolatry of the surrounding people.
He wanted to insure his family the worship of the one true God.
G. Abraham then married Keturah and by her
he had six sons. These he sent away with gifts while he yet lived
so that the inheritance would be Isaac’s.
H. Abraham died at the age of 175.
He was also buried at Machpelah. Abraham’s children were all eliminated
except Isaac. Of Isaac’s sons Esau is eliminated and Jacob is chosen.
All of Jacob’s sons were chosen. Ishmael became the father of the
Arabians. The sons of Keturah became the originators of the Midianites
and other tribes. Esau became the father of the Edomites. All
were originally embraced in the Arabic world. And all were bitterly
opposed to the descendents of Jacob.
12. Isaac was mediocre in every respect except
in submission to God. In this respect he was a sort of Christ.
His life was overshadowed by Abraham for 75 years, then by Jacob for 126
years.
A. He was under the influence of his mother
and father, and after his marriage, his wife, then his son Jacob.
He was easily fooled as evidence by Jacob’s getting the birthright and
by yielding well after well to the Philistines rather than quarrel.
He also declared to Abimelech that Rebekah was his sister, as did Abraham.
B. He spent all of his life in or around
Hebron in the South country. He was prosperous and wealthy and tenaciously
held on to Abraham’s promise.
13. Jacob was the younger twin and as such did
not have the birthright. He got it by stealing it from Esau and then
by deception got his father to ratify the transfer. As a result he
had to flee to his mothers brother, Laban.
A. Jacob was at Hebron for either 20 or 40
years. If 20 he would have been about 75. If 40 years he was
about 65. He married laban’s two daughters and other two women and
returned with twelve children; girls not numbered.
B. On his way back he settled up with Esau
by way of a present or restitution. Later Benjamin was born and then
he reached his father Isaac. Rebekah had died before he returned.
Rebekah suffered for the scheme, as she never saw her favorite son again
after the deception over the birthright.
C. Jacob/Isreal remained about 33 or 34 years
in Canaan and then the whole family tribe went down into Egypt and he died
there 17 years later. His sons too, laid him in the grave at Machpelah.
14. Joseph is one of the best known characters
in the Old Testament and also one of the best characters if not the best.
He unites the strength of Abraham, the patience of Isaac and the affection
of Jacob. There is not a blot in his life, even by New Testament
standards. His faith in God was clean and strong. He was used
as a type of Christ.
A. He was born in Hebron 30 years before
the death of Isaac and about five years before the family returned to Canaan.
His father Jacob was about 90 years old when he was born. He was
17 when he was sold into Egypt and spent 13 years in prison and he was
30 when he became ruler of Egypt and he died at 110.
B. The coat of many colors (pieces each of
different colors) was more than a badge of favoritism from the father.
It could have also indicated that he would be the spiritual heir.
In any case the coat and Joseph’s dreams detected beastly jealousy in his
brothers.
C. Leah was Jacob’s first wife and Reuben
was her first born son. Thus Reuben was Jacob’s spiritual heir.
He lost the birthright by incest with one of his fathers concubines.
Simeon and Levi were the next two sons, both by the same mother.
They both lost the birthright by murder of the Shechemites. The fourth
son was Judah by the same mother. The whole family looked at him
as the spiritual heir, but fear apparently gripped Judah’s heart.
D. As Joseph came to them dressed in his
coat of many colors they wanted to kill him. Reuben had him cast
into the pit. In Reuben’s absence Judah sold him to the Ishmaelites.
Here the rivalry between Judah and Joseph arose.
E. This rivalry continues through out history.
The tribes of Judah and Joseph contended for the national supremacy.
Judah under the leadership of David and Solomon gained supremacy.
Then Joseph through his son Ephriam gained supremacy at the division of
the kingdom under Jeroboam.
F. The special blessing was spiritual with
regard to the Messiah and material with regard to wealth. Jacob could
not deprive Judah of the spiritual blessing without the divine command.
So the spiritual blessing remained with Judah. But Jacob on his deathbed
passed the physical blessing to Joseph. Thus the patriarchal blessing
was divided between the two, Judah and Joseph.
15. Thus at the end of this period Jacob and all
his family and household servants and their possessions went down into
Egypt. The immediate cause was a famine. Joseph being the ruler
under the Pharaoh could prepare the way for them and finally settled them
in Goshen.
From the Migration to Egypt to the Departure There From
(1706-1491 BC)
1. The Hyksos or the shepherd kings of the middle
Egyptian Empire (2100-1650 BC) were Semitic intruders from Asia.
Under those Semitic Kings Joseph rose and ruled. When they fell the
new Dynasty (the remains of the old Egyptian Dynasty) refused to recognize
the service that Joseph had rendered. Hence the oppression of the
Israelites was great.
2. Isreal was in Egypt somewhere between 215 and
400 years. The records are not clear. Paul dates the oppression
from the birth of Isaac to the arrival at Mt. Sinai that is a little over
400 years.
3. The new Dynasty ground down the Israelites until
they reached the limit of human endurance. God then raised up Moses
and trained him in the royal court and then in the wilderness. He knew
life at the top and also at the bottom. When he was 80 years old,
God called him into action.
4. After ten plagues terminating with death to
the first born of all unblood sprinkled homes; the king of Egypt kicked
them out. They slew the Paschal lamb that night and before the next
morning they were on their way. They crossed an arm of the Red Sea
with supernatural aid. Behind them the Egyptians were drowned.
The Wanderings In The Wilderness (1491-1451 BC)
They journeyed 40 years but wandered only 38.
1. Over 600,000 men over 20 years of age and able
to go to war left Egypt. This did not include the men of the tribe of Levi,
who were priests and Levites. (Numbers 1:46-47). This number would
suggest a possible group of over 3 million. The mixed multitude was
at least several thousand.
2. By going direct it would have been a journey
of 11 days. God said that when they saw war they would fear so he
led them in a round about way, which took two years. They refused
to cross and enter the promise land so they were driven back into the wilderness
for 38 years. With the exception of five or six all over twenty when
they left Egypt died before they actually crossed into Canaan proper.
Of those five or six only two actually crossed, Caleb and Joshua.
3. They reached the base of Mt. Sinai fifty days after
they crossed the arm of the Sea. They stopped at the base for about
11 months. There the Ten Commandments were given audibly, the pattern
of the Tabernacle and much of the ceremonial law was given; both secular
and religious. The outstanding incident of rebellion was the Golden
Calf. The sacrificial system was given (Ex 19 Leviticus 27&34)
(The book of Hebrews interprets it).
Tuesday Nov 27, 1962
4. They then journeyed onto Kadesh Barnea.
They sent spies over to view the land. Two of the twelve spies sent
over brought back a favorable report (Joshua and Caleb). The others
discouraged the people saying there were giants. Then all refused
to cross over. As a result they were driven back into the wilderness
to wander for 38 years.
5. About two years before they crossed over, Miriam
died. (Numbers 20&22) Moses and Aaron had erred in bringing water
from the rock and were not allowed to enter the land physically.
Moses died; Aaron died, inside one year of each other. Moses
died inside of three months of the last year; he was about 120 (Numbers
20- Deut. 20). God himself buried Moses. Thus Isreal was wielded
from twelve separate tribes to become a nation and was given laws at the
base of Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai was the Old Testament Pentecost.
Fifty days after Christ died the New Testament Pentecost came (Acts 2:ff)
Conquest of Canaan Under Joshua (1451-1427 BC)
1. Joshua took command when he was about 80 and
he died when he was about 110 (Joshua 24:29)
2. They crossed over the river Jordon and took
Jericho. Then they moved westward and took Ai. Thus the country
was cut in half by two battle strikes. Then there was just the North
and the South to take.
3. Five kings from the South collected their forces at
Gibeon. Those kings were The King of Jerusalem, The King of Hebron,
The King of Jarmuth, The King of Lachish, and The king of Eglon.
Joshua marched all night against them and met them in a surprise attack
and defeated them. Here God rained hailstones upon their enemies
and also caused the sun and moon to stand still.
4. The people of the North made one more mass effort
to resist Joshua. Joshua met and beat Jabin. This brought mass
organized existence to a close.
5. The land was then divided according to plan
as Moses had directed. Later they did not do the work with
the thoroughness as God commanded. They intermarried and then fell
into heathen idolatry and were punished for it.
6. Joshua was a great military commander.
That was his main talent. He then delivered his final charge to them
and died and was buried in Mt. Ephriam. The last great leader of
the old age had passed away.
From the Death of Joshua to its anointing of Solomon by
Saul (1427-1095 BC)
1. If the 40 years spoken of in Acts 13:21 includes
the judgeship of Samual then Saul would have reigned 20 years instead of
40.
2. The name of the book of Judges is derived from
the heroes mentioned in the book of Judges (Ch. 2:7 & 16:31).
Those men were warrior-Judges or military leaders as well as civil judges.
3. The period of the judges was the dark ages of
the history of the Hebrew people. There are 412 years worked into the book.
The events overlapped, hence there would not be 412 total years of historic
time; probably, but little over three hundred years.
4. In all there were 6 leading Judges, Othniel,
Ehud, Barak &, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. There were
quite a number of Judges. There were 6 foreign oppressions in all,
lasting 113 years and 299 years were spent in sectional freedom.
5. There are three other interesting events associated
with the book of Judges.
A. First the migration of the greater part
of the tribe of Dan to the north.
B. Second, the civil war against the Benjamites
by a large army of the Israelites. This event shows the sordid state
of the morals of the time, and also the low level of social living.
C. Third the record of the book of Ruth occurs
during the time of the book of the Judges. A Bethelemite family
went down from Moab to Isreal because of a famine. The man was Elimelech,
his wife was Naomi. Mahlon was the eldest son, Chilion the other
son. The two sons married Moabitish women, then all three men died.
Naomi then wished to return to Isreal. She forced back one girl;
Orpah, wife of the younger, but the other refused to be forced back, Ruth.
Ruth went back later and married Boaz. Ruth then became the mother
of Obed; the father of Jesse and Jesse was the father of David. Thus
David’s great grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite, and his great grandfather,
Boaz (Whose mother was Rehab of Jericho, a Cannanite) was half Cannanite.
This is the beginning of the history of the messianic
family. David was like Ruth in character. Ruth was one of the
religious wonders of the world.
The United Kingdom (1075-975 BC)
From the anointing of Saul to the ascension of Rehoboam.
1. Samson was the last warrior judge.
Eli was a priest-judge. Samuel was a prophet-judge. God was
supposed to be their king. Thus they were a theocracy.
2. Eli was concurrent with Samson, but Eli
was weak and had a wicked family. His sons Hophini and Phineas caused
Isreal to fear another priest-judge. Besides the Israelites wanted
to be like the other people. So they asked for a king to rule over
them.
3. Isreal desire for a king cut Samuel to
the heart. As the people by so doing were not merely denying Eli’s
sons but also the person of Samuel and his sons. In doing this they
rejected God and rejected the Theocracy.
4. Abimelech, the son of Gideon also called Jerubbaal,
was king over part for three years. Then he met death. Gideon
himself, however, had already been offered the kingship, but had refused
it. So he felt that it was not the will of God (Judges 8:22)
5. Samuel then anointed Saul who was a goodly
person and who started well but he was self-willed and head strong.
In the matter of Agag, he disobeyed God and was ultimately set aside by
God. Then Samuel anointed David.
6. David was of the family of Jesse, the
Bethelemite and he was a skilled musician and a warrior and later slew
Goliath. (I Samuel 16:18). He was then taken to the court of Saul
where he had plenty of trouble and had to flee for his life. He also
lived as an outcast. Later when Saul was defeated at Gilboah he,
David became king over Hebron. Then seven years later he was made
king over all Isreal. About 40 years.
A. David’s reign was a military and literary
one.
B. His house was established forever as
the messianic house. (Ps. 89:34; 132:11fl)
7. Solomon succeeded David at Israel’s highest
point. Before his reign had closed Isreal was coming down.
A. Solomen sought foriegn alliances.
He married foriegn or heathen women and introduced idolatry in a big way.
He increased taxes to the braking point and caused much dissatisfaction.
B. He also built the first temple; which
stood from 970-586 BC, about 400 years. Zerubbabel’s temple stood
from 520-20 BC, about 500 years. Herod’s temple stood from 20 BC
-70 AD or about 90 years.
C. He also built many other buildings and
ships and expanded trade and was famous for his wisdom. He however,
left this world under a shadow. “When Solomon was old his wives turned
his heart away to other gods”.
The Two Kingdoms (975 or 930-722BC)
From the ascension of Rehoboam to the fall of Samaria
1. The disruption of the kingdom was the
work of centuries from Joshua to David. The tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh and Benjamin held the preeminence and not Judah. Ephriam
had shown a desire to break away and be independent.
2. Solomon had a thousand wives and only
one son and that son was a fool. When that son Rehoboam ascended
the throne a commission waited on him to have taxes and other abuses lighten.
He refused and the revolution was on. The kingdom was then divided.
3. The Northern Kingdom called Isreal chose
Jeroboam as king. He was an officer in the army and opposed Solomen
and Solomon knew it. Judah and Benjamin stayed with the house of
David or with Rehoboam. Judah held Jerusalem, the temple, and Hebron.
Isreal held Shechem, Shiloh, Bethel, Ramah and Gilgal.
4. Jeroboam instituted calf worship at Dan.
So that the people would not have to go back to Judah at Jerusalem to worship.
Thus the Northern Kingdom Isreal became idolaters.
5. In Judah there were twenty kings in all.
(One was a Queen). They averaged 17 years each. Of the twenty,
seven are declared bad, one is declared devilish (Athaliah the queen),
one is said to be wicked (Jeroboam II), two are declared as the worse (Manasseh
and Amon), two are said to be the best (Hezekiah and Josiah). Six
are said to be good. Ahaz was also said to be wicked. They
were: The kings and Queen of Judah:
1. Rehoboam 17 years mostly
bad
2. Abijah 3 years mostly
bad
3. Asa 41 years
good
4. Jehoshaphat 25 years
good
5. Jehoram 8 years bad
6. Ahaziah 1 year bad
7. Athaliah 6 years devilish
Queen
8. Joash 40 years mostly
good
9. Amaziah 29 years good
10. Uzziah 52 years good
11. Jotham 16 years good
12. Ahaz 16 years wicked
13. Hezekiah 29 years the best
14. Manasseh 55 years the worst
15. Amon 2 years the worst
16. Josiah 31 years the best
(638-608BC)
17. Jehoahaz 3 mo. bad
18. Jehoiakim 11 years wicked
19. Jehoiachin 3 mo. bad
20. Zedekiah 11 years
bad
From numbers 17 through 20, these kings served under
Nebuchadnezzar.
6. In Isreal there were 19 kings. They averaged
11 years each. In most cases father and son overlapped. Eight
of the nineteen met violent death. 17 are said to be bad, one as
unusually bad (Omri), one is said to be the worse (Ahab).
1. Jeroboam 22 years bad
2. Nadab 2 years bad
3. Baasha 24 years bad
4. Elah 2 years
bad
5. Zimri 7 days bad
6. Omri 12 years unusually
bad
7. Ahab 22 years the worse
8. Ahaziah 2 years bad
9. Joram 12 years mostly
bad
10. Jehu
28 years mostly bad
11. Jehoahaz 17 years bad
12. Joash 16 years bad
13. Jeroboam II 41 years bad
14. Zedekiah 6 mo. bad
15. Shallum 1 mo. bad
16. Manahem 10 years bad
17. Pekahiah 2 years bad
18. Pekah 20 years bad
19. Hoshea 9 years bad
7. The priests fell under the spell of those wicked
kings. Hence God had to raise up a school of prophets who reproved
everyone when they needed it from the king on his throne to the one in
the dungeon. Starting with Samuel some of the prophets were:
1. Gad
2. Iddo
3. Nathan
4. Ahijah
5. Elijah
6. Elisha
Friday Dec. 7 1962:
From The Fall Of Samaria (the northern kingdom) To The
Fall Of Judah (the southern kingdom) (722-586 BC). The period in
which Judah is alone.
1. Josiah (638-608 BC) came to the throne when
he was only eight. After he grew up a bit he led many reforms with
the help of Jeremiah. At sixteen, Josiah turned to God personally.
At twenty, he began to remove idolatry from Jerusalem. At twenty-six
he repaired the temple of the Lord.
2. Pharaoh-Necho marched an army through Egypt
to meet prince Nebuchadnezzar on the Euphrates River at Carchemish.
Josiah tried to stop him from going through Judah and was slain at the
battle of Megiddo. With his death the hope of Jeremiah fell.
He was the last good king who walked in the ways of David his father.
The other kings who followed were for the most part puppets of Babylon.
3. The reforms and revival started by Josiah stopped
or died with him. A small group however continued to walk with God.
Apparently Daniel and his three friends were converted in this revival.
Jeremiah probably wrote the book of Lamentations, lamenting the death Josiah.
Isaiah prophesied during the fall of Samaria. Now Jeremiah prophesied
during the fall of the Southern kingdom before Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar
in 606 BC. The second time by Nebuchadnezzar it was 597 BC.
The third 586 BC. Daniel and his friends were carried away in 606
BC. At this point the 70 years of captivity began. Daniel knew
that the 70 years were about over by the study of Jeremiah. (Jer 25:11
& 29:10: Dan. 9:2)
The Exilic Period (606-586 or 536)
Fall of Jerusalem to the return from Babylonian Exile
under Zerubbabel.
1. Jeremiah was given the right or privilege
to go wherever he wanted. So he stayed for a short time at Jerusalem,
then he went down to Egypt where he was slain by his own people for rebuking
idolatry.
2. Ezekiel landed at the river Chebar.
Some say it was 300 miles up the Euphrates River quite near its source.
Others say it was the name of a canal quite near Babylon. There Ezekiel
did his best to guide the captives and to keep them God conscience.
There he probably wrote his book and there also Psalms 137 was written.
3. Daniel rose high as a statesman.
First with Nebuchadnezzar and then with the Persian Darius then in Babylon
Daniel wrote his book and there we are told of the fiery furnace and the
Lions Den. Apparently he was about 94 and he did not return to Jerusalem.
The Post Exilic Period (536-about 400 BC)
From the return of Zerubbabel to the end of the Old Testament
Canon.
1. The return was as distinctly foretold as the captivity.
The return was closely connected with the fall of Babylon. Babylon
had caused Jerusalem to fall in suffering and now it falls and suffers.
This return, like the captivity itself was in three sections.
Monday Dec. 10, 1962.
A. Cyrus issues the Edict to return to the city
of Jerusalem in 536 BC and Zerubbabel (a prince of the royal line) headed
a group of probably fifty thousand and also carried back the temple vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar had taken and Belshazzar had it defamed at his infamous
feast. Much history with regard to this first return is found in
Ezra 1-6. After this first return but before the second return the
events of the book of Esther takes place.
1. Ahasuerus the Xerxes of Greek and Persian history
was displeased with his queen, Vashti and divorced her. (She was
the only decent person in the whole group).
2. He then married a beautiful Jewish
girl. The uncle of this girl was Mordecai.
3. Haman, a high Persian officer and
captain, hated Mordecai. So he planned to have him hung. He
also planned to exterminate the Jews as a people, for the civilized world
was under his sway. Haman’s plans backfired and he was hung on the
gallows on which he had prepared to hang Mordecai on. The Jews were
spared and were given a chance to avenge themselves of their enemies.
(Footnote: if Saul had taken care of Agag and destroyed the Amalekites
(I Samuel 15:9) then there would have been no Haman). The lesson
in this book in which the word God does not appear once neither does the
word prayer, is that God is able and will look after his own people, even
in the most sinful environment that can be forced upon them. He will
do this during the tribulation.
B. The second major return was directed
by Ezra himself (Ezra 7-10) 458 BC. This was about 80 years after
the return under Zerubbabel. Ezra was a priest and led about 7000
back to Jerusalem. He found that the Jews in Judea had intermarried
with the surrounding people. He then staged a great reform and read
the law of God to them.
C. The third return was under the direction
of Nehemiah. 445 BC. Many of the Jews never returned at all
but remained scattered throughout the Persian Empire. He, too, corrected
mixed marriages and Sabbath breaking and other abuses. Shortly after
this time the last prophetic voice sounded in the person of Malachi (400
BC).
Notes: the seven annual feasts had its rise
during the time of Esther. The seven in order are:
1. The Passover Feast: about April 14; a
weeklong. It commemorated their departure from Egypt.
2. The Feast of Pentecost; about June 6;
a weeklong. It commemorated the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai.
3. The Feast of Trumpets; about October 1;
it opened the civil year.
4. The Day of Atonement; about October 10;
it completed the yearly atonement for the people.
5. The Feast of Tabernacles; about October
15; it commemorated their wilderness experiences before entering Canaan.
6. The Feast of Dedication; about December 25;
it commemorated the re-dedication of the temple during the time of the
Maccabees.
7. The Feast of Purim; the 14 Th of Adar,
or about March 14 or 15; it commemorated their deliverance from the hand
of Haman during the time of Esther.
The seventh day was the Sabbath and also at special feasts
the eighth day was a Sabbath. Also the seventh year was a year the
land and everyone rested. The 50th year was the great Jubilee in
which almost all debts were cancelled and slaves were released and the
land was restored to its original Jewish owner.
Tuesday Dec. 11, 1962
The Book of Psalms
I. The book of Psalms is called in Hebrew, Tehillim,
meaning psalms of praises. Some times called Sepha Tehillim (book
of praise). In Greek it is called Psalmos and Psalmai (plural).
Thus the term psalm refer to metrical composition written and able to be
sung. It is the Hebrew hymnbook.
II. The book of Psalms is sometimes called the
Psalms of David because more of them were composed by him than by anyone
else. For this reason it is called the Book of David.
(Second Maccabees chapter 2:13)
The Book of Psalms grew from Moses’ time to the post-exilic
time. It was the Hebrew hymnbook, which they always used in the temple
services.
III. The known authors are:
1. David wrote at least 73
2. King Solomon wrote at least 2 (Ps. 72&127)
3. Korah and his house wrote 10
4. Asaph and his house wrote 12
5. Heman wrote at least 1 (Ps. 88) (it is
the saddest Psalm in the book. He was supposedly a leper when he
wrote it).
6. Ethan wrote 1 (Ps. 89)
7. Moses wrote at least 1 (Ps. 90) (the most
majestic Psalm).
We are reasonably sure about who wrote 100 and we don’t
know for sure who wrote the other 50.
IV. There are five sections to the book. Thus
we have a Pentateuch to the Psalms as well as to the books of Moses.
Those five sections are:
1. Psalms 1-41; This section ends in a doxology
and a double Amen. It begins with one of the most beautiful literary
psalms in the whole book. (Ps. 1 was probably written by Ezra but
not stated as his.
2. Psalms 42-72; This section ends in a doxology
and a double Amen. The divine being in this section is spoken of
as Elohim. There is then a post script “The prayers of David, the
son of Jesse are ended” (Ps. 72:20).
3. Psalms 73-89; This section ends in a doxology
and a double amen (so let it be). The divine being is also
spoken of as Elohim.
4. Psalms 90-106; This section ends in a doxology
and a single Amen and a hallelujah (meaning praise the Lord). The
divine being is usually referred to as Jehovah.
5. Psalms 107-150; This section ends with a crescendo
of Hallelujahs. The divine being is Jehovah.
V. Psalms 119 is the longest Psalm and the longest
chapter in the Bible. It is a perfect alphabetical or acrostic Psalm.
There are 22 stanzas in it and there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
Each stanza corresponds to a Hebrew letter. There are 8 verses in
each stanza and each 8 verses begins with a Hebrew letter. The subject
of the Psalm is Jehovah and the perfections of him. It is a magnification
of Jehovah. (176 verse).
VI. Psalms 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible.
It is the central chapter of the Bible and is a doxology and declares that
Jehovah is the center of worship of the whole earth. So it probably
should be the center of the Bible.
VII. Psalms 23 is declared to be the best known
chapter of the bible. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.
It could be that what we call the Lords Prayer could be better known in
churches.
VIII. Psalms 137 is referred to as a funeral hymn or
a durge. They, the Israelites, were asked to sing the Lords songs
while in captivity, and they thought they could not sing them there.
They should have sung them while they were in captivity.
Friday Dec. 14, 1962
IX. Some Psalms are regarded as Messianic in that
they set forth-different aspects of Jesus Christ’s life.
1. Christ is set forth as king in several
Psalms. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” Ps. 2.
Verse 12 of the same chapter suggests that Christ is King. Psalms
35; 72; 110; 132 are all Messianic psalms.
2. The sufferings of the Christ upon the
cross are better described in the book of Psalms than in the Gospels.
We have this in Psalms 22 and also Isaiah 53. We are told of much
that happened on the cross. Verse 1 is the first word from the cross.
Psalms 41:9 describes the betrayal of Judas. Psalms 65: 12-14 describes
Judas’ actions in betraying Christ. Psalms 69: 20-21 we are told
that they would give him vinegar to drink and they did.
3. In Psalms 16:9-10 we are told that his
physical body was to be raised from the dead without harm to it and that
his physical body was to arise. Paul and Peter both refer to this
Psalm as having been fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ. (Peter
in Acts 2:25. Paul did it in, Acts 13:25-30)
4. The accession is set forth in Psalms 68:18.
“Thou hast ascended on higher, thou hast lead captivity captive and has
received gifts for man”.
5. Pentecost and pardon are also set forth
in Psalms 25; 32; 38; 51; 130. Psalms 51 is the great classic on
repentance.
6. Then conversion and heart purity are also
set forth in psalms. Three great Psalms on heart purity are Psalms
40:24; 4; 51; 10; 73:1-24.
7. The imprecatory psalms are those psalms,
which denounce and threaten judgement or even pray for punishment upon
souls. An imprecatory in the Psalms is a prophecy for that person
if he does not change. Psalms 35; 52; 59; 69; 109; 137.
X. There are also Psalms of Praise or Hallelujahs
Psalms. There are Psalms of adoration. There are Psalms of
Thanksgiving. There are pilgrim’s Psalms. There are historical
Psalms. There are prophetic and didactic Psalms. There are
creation Psalms.
The Book of Job
I. The book of Job is stated to be one of the greatest
pieces of literature known to man. Victor Hugo said it was the greatest.
There was no written revelation in its day at least none is referred to
in Job. Just writings and the sayings of those currently alive were
their only authority.
II. It probably refers to the great pyramid in
Egypt in ch. 3:14. And it probably refers to the Noahic flood in
ch. 22:16. Destruction by fire of the city plain 15:34. No
later event than that is mentioned in the book. Not even the Exodus
from Egypt.
III. Job lived 140 years after his calamity was
removed and he was supposedly to be an elderly man when the calamity came.
He was about 70 when all this happened to him. He would be 210 at his death.
Terah died at 205, Abraham died at 175, Isaac died at 180, Ishmael died
at 187, Jacob died at 147, Joseph died at 110, Moses died at 120, and Miriam
died at 135.
IV. Before Moses and the burning bush God was generally
known as El Shaddai or Shaddai. This is a name, which God is called
in the book of Job. The father was the priest and the king of the
clan. This was true of Job.
V. The land of Uz was thought to be east of the
Dead Sea. The names of the places from which Job’s friends came were
right around there, too.
VI. The book does not say by whom it was written
or when it was put into writing. It might have been written by Job
himself after all the trials were over or by Moses when he was herding
the sheep in the desert, or by Solomon, or by Isaiah, or by Baruch or by
Jeremiah himself or by Hiriski.
VII. The problems discussed on earth were:
1. Upon what grounds were prosperity and
adversity, happiness and unhappiness bestowed?
2. Is there such a thing as disinterested
Goodness, that is, will man serve God for love of God alone, even when
he loses when so doing?
3. What of future destinations? Does death
end it all? If death ends all, then this world is it, if death does
not end it all, then this earth is a small piece of the whole.
4. Can man be just before God?
5. To what extent can we know God?
VIII. The problem discussed the question; can God
fix up man so that he will serve God in pure disinterested love without
being paid for it in this life? God said that it could be done, Satan
said it could not. Man had to be paid before he would serve God.
Satan declared that if God removed all that Job had; Job would renounce
him. God said not so but that Job would still serve him.
IX. The contenders in the spirit world were God
and Satan. The contenders on earth were:
1. Job, who delivered ten speeches in all.
2. Eliphaz, who delivered three speeches
in all.
3. Bildad, who delivered three speeches in
all.
4. Zophar, who delivered two speeches in
all.
5. Elihu, who delivered one long speech or
four shorter ones.
6. God who delivered one long speech or two
shorter ones.
X. There were thus twenty-four speeches in all
and six speakers. The main argument went in cycles of six speeches
each, that is Job made one then Elihu made one then Job then Bildad then
Job then Zophar failed to appear the third time.
XI. The three friends relied on nature and the
sayings of the ancients. Job relied on these but he also relied on
his inner-God consciences. When the arguments were over, God declared
that the three had not spoken the things, which were right about him.
Whereas Job did. They had to provide a sacrifice and then they had
to ask Job to pray. God heard Job when he prayed for them and also
lifted Job’s calamity.
XII. This debate lasted between two and one-half years
and three and one-half years. It is probably the first part of our
scriptures to have been written and is in relation to heart purity.
Job said that there was such a thing and that he had it. His three
friends said he did not have it and that no one had it.
Jan. 4.1963 1963
1. Job himself claims heart perfection (Job
9:21&22 27:5&6).
2. Job’s wife testified to the fact that
Job had heart perfection (Job 2:9&10).
3. His three friends claimed that he said
he was perfect. (Job).
4. Satan said that Job claimed, but was paid
by God for so doing (Job 1:9&10; 2: 4&5).
5. The inspired author declares Job to be
perfect. (Job 1:1&22).
6. God states that Job was perfect. (Job
1:8 2:3 42:7) God’s statement really should settle it.
XIII. Job was a descendent of Uz “The son of Nahor
who was the brother of Abraham” (Gen 22:20 &21) Nahor and Abraham were
believers in the one true God. Hence it says that “the God of Abraham
and of Nahor” Gen 31:5 3
The Major Prophets
The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and
Ezekiel.
I. Isaiah was a courier in Jerusalem, he was a historiographer.
He wrote and preached during 740-700 BC. His book falls into three
major divisions.
1. Chs. 1-35 are prophetic and deal with then or
near present. It also deals with his own call and his own sanctification
and with the surrounding nations.
2. Chs. 36-39 deals with Sennacherib's attempt
invasion of Judah in the times of king Hezekiah. Hezekiah prayed
and God relayed the answer by way of Isaiah to Hezekiah. Sennacherib's
camp was hit. (Isaiah 37:6ff).
3. Chs. 40-66 are also prophetic and deals with
the distant future; Namely the Babylonian captivity. Some use the
term Isaiah and then deutro-Isaiah meaning the second Isaiah. Then
would divide the book into two sections. Those two sections would
be Chs 1-39 & 40-66. They hold that the second section was written
later and by a different author. We hold to one Isaiah.
II. Jeremiah was also in Jerusalem and lived through
the Babylonian invasion of Judea. He was thus living and writing
about 600 BC and before. He was called when he was quite young, about
16 and given a message that the people would not hear. His book records
constant battles between himself and the ruling people of Jerusalem, with
the religious people giving him more trouble than the secular princes do.
He advised surrender to the enemies. This placed him in a peculiar
position. His first copy of the book was burned but God had him reproduce
it and add a little too. He was a man of sorrow and probably died
in Egypt at the hands of his own people.
III. Lamentations was also written by Jeremiah.
It lamented the fall of Jerusalem or possibly the death of Josiah.
It is a book composed of five poems and is alphabetically acrostic.
IV. The book of Ezekiel was written by the man
whose name it bears down in Babylon. It naturally falls into three
major divisions.
1. Prophecies of Judgement of Isreal (ch. 1:1 24:27)
2. Prophecies of Judgement concerning foriegn nations
(ch. 25:1 &32:32)
3. Prophecies of mercy concerning Isreal (ch. 33:1&48:15).
V. The book Daniel is believed to have been written by
the man whose name it bears and it probably would have been written between
586-536. It was written at Babylon or Persia. It falls into
two basic divisions. There are two major languages, Hebrew, Aramaic.
The first part takes up to ch. 6:28. The second part 7:1-12.
Chpt.1 - Daniel, and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah.
Hebrew names. Those names (all 4 of them) are changed to Belteshazzar,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Ch. 2 - Nebuchadnezzar dream.
He was the first world power: the dream was about a metal image.
He is represented by the head of the image. And that image is Gold,
the Medes and Persians kingdoms are represented by the silver arms, The
Greeks are represented by the Brass belly and thighs, and the Romans by
the feet of Iron and clay. Therefore the Medes and Persian kingdom
would overthrow Babylon. The Greece Empire would overthrow the Medes
and Persians, and the Romans with Iron mixed with clay would overthrow
the Greeks. Ch. 3 - Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
cast into the fiery furnace. Ch. 4 - the dream of the tree, where
Nebuchadnezzar goes mad and Daniel predicts it. Ch. 5 - Belshazzar's
has a great feast. He was thirty on the day of the feast of Bel.
This was a peak in blasphemy. Ch. 6 - Daniel is cast into the lion’s
den. Belshazzar was not king now. Daniel’s three friends were
absent at this time (Daniel is between 88 & 94) Ch. 7 - vision of the
four beasts. They all rose up out of the sea. They are a repeat
of the metallic dream. Ch. 8 - Daniel’s vision of the ram and the
he goat. Ch. 9 - Daniel prays and God gives him a vision of seventy
weeks and explained how long before the return of Isreal. Ch. 10
- Daniel again prays and God informs him that he, God, will look after
the Hebrew people when danger comes and that he, Daniel, would go his way
and rest and at the end of the day he would stand in his lot before God.
Tuesday Jan. 8, 1962
A Sketch of the Minor Prophets.
Some of the so-called Minor Prophets are important persons.
For the most part they were more preachers than writers and because such
was the case they are called Minor Prophets. During the monarchy
of the Northern Kingdom the Minor Prophets who were living and prophesying
were Jonah, Amos, Hosea and Micah. The prophets of the Southern
Kingdome, Judah: Joel, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk. During the
captivity we have Obadiah. After the captivity we have Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi. The period during which they prophesied was from 800
BC or 750 BC down to 400 BC or 397 BC.
Minor Prophets:
I. We shall deal with those of the Northern Kingdom.
1. Jonah prophesied with some success during
the reign of Jeroboam II. 750 or 800 BC. He was contemporary
to Hosea and Amos and he was the famous foreign missionary to Nineveh.
2. Amos was an older contemporary to Hosea
and probably went from Judah to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom.
Amos is called the prophet of Justice. 775 BC.
3. Hosea wrote during the time of Jeroboam
II. 781-741 BC. He is called the prophet of love. He
set forth the love of God for his erring people by his own unhappy marriage
relations.
4. Micah dates his work during the reigns
of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. 750-714 BC. He condemned the
rich of his day and upheld the poor. His greatest statements had
to do with the coming of the Messiah. (Micah 5:2 & Matt 2:46
& Micah 6:8)
II. The Minor Prophets of the Southern Kingdom
1. Joel’s book was presumed to have been
written quite early. The King James Version places it at 800 BC.
He is the great foreshadower of Pentecost and of the full outpouring of
the Spirit at the beginning of Christ’s life.
2. Nahum prophesied of the destruction of Nineveh
or Assyria when it was at the zenith of its power. Nineveh was destroyed
by the Persians and Babylonians. 607 BC. Hence he must have
prophesied some time before then 663 BC.
3. Zephaniah; called for repentance and warned
of the day of wrath and told of the coming of the day of the Lord.
4. Habbakkuk is the prophet of revival.
He saw the Babylonians about to sweep up on the Hebrews as God’s instrument
to punish sin in Judah. He therefore called the Hebrews to repentance.
626 BC.
III. The One Minor Prophet During the captivity
is Obadiah. His book is dated about 587 BC. His book has but
one chapter and deals with the destruction of Edom and the salvation of
Jacob’s Isreal.
IV. After the Return of Babylonian Captivity.
1. Haggai was elderly and probably remembered
the former temple. He returned and boosted the construction of Zerubbabel's
temple. He also prophesied of the restoration of Isreal and the fall
of Babylon.
2. Zechariah dated about the same time as
Haggai. 520 BC. He too, was concerned with temple reconstruction.
There are also some strictly Messianic passages in the book. (9:9-12).
3. Malachi is the last of the twelve Minor
Prophets in their order and point of time. He calls them back to
the life of righteousness, he tells of John the Baptist by his references
to Elijah. (Malachi 4:5 & Matt 11:13&14). He refers
also to the cleansing of the people at Pentecost, (Mal. 3:1ff) and called
for a revival in honest with God.
Bible and Life: Tuesday Jan. 22, 1963
13th Major division: Intertestemental period; from the
close of the Old Testament canon to the birth of Jesus the Christ.
400 BC down to 4 or 5 BC.
Introduction
I. Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets
to write and preach. His time of prophecy is thought to have been shortly
after Nehemiah’s second visit to Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s first visit
was about 445 BC.
II. There was thus a period of about 400 years
of silence or semi-silence as far as the voice of prophecy was concerned.
Malachi himself intimates that the next voice will be that of the forerunner
of Christ, John the Baptist, who would introduce the Christ. Malachi
4:5 - “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
Lord”
1. The Jews asked John the Baptist if he
was Elijah, meaning the person of Elijah. Without explanation he
merely said no (John 1:21)
2. Jesus told his disciples that John was
Elijah, not in person but in office and in message and in power and in
manner. In this sense Elijah was a type of John and John was the
fulfiller of that type (Matt. 11:14). There is no discrepancy with
those three passages of scripture.
III. We shall divide the 400 years period into
six sections for the sake of convenience instead of the usual four.
1. The Persian Period
2. The Macedonian Period.
3. The Egyptian Period
4. The Syrian period
5. The Maccabean Period
6. The Roman Period
The literature of the general area for the most part.
1. The Apocrypha Books
2. Josephus Antiquities
3. Herodotus
4. Other Greek and Roman Writing
I. The Persian Period (538-332 BC)
1. This period begins with the capture of Babylon
by Cyrus the Great and ends with the capture of Babylon by Alexander the
Great. The Jews had been carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
The first group in 606 BC, the second in 597 BC, the third group in 586
BC. Thus the Jews merely transferred their allegiance from one conquering
overlord to the other.
2. Judea formed part of the province of Syria and
was governed by a Satrap although Judea had its own local government.
The Jews were left alone and could worship as they pleased and enjoyed
freedom and many of them rose to high office.
3. The power of the high priest grew. He
was the religious head and often the political advisor or head of the Jewish
group. His office was a hereditary life office. The office
became the office of great ambition and several disgraceful contests for
it took place. Jeshua (Joshua) a brother of Jonadab endeavored to
secure the honor for himself but was slain by Jonadab in the temple.
The Persian governor Bagases imposed a tax of 50 drachmas for every lamb
offered in the temple for seven years. Each drachma was worth 19
cents.
Thursday Jan. 24, 1963
4. The Samaritans were descendents of both Jews
and Assyrians. (II Kings 17:24). According to Josephus, Jonadab was
succeeded in the high priesthood by his son Jeddah, whose brother was Manasseh,
married the daughter of Sanballat, governor of Samaria. Sanballat
and his helpers offered to help build the temple. Zerubbabel and
his helpers and Nehemiah scornfully rejected the offer (Ezra 4:1-3 &
Nehemiah 13:28). Manasseh then went with a group to Samaria and built
the temple on Mt Gerizim where the Pentateuch was used and God was worshiped
and Jacob was the father patron, 400 BC or before (John 4:20)
5. Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and their helpers formed
what later was known as the great synagogue that ruled and governed Isreal
pretty well. Persia was also mild and tolerant to the Jews and many
Jews rose high in governmental offices. The Jewish nation in Judea
however was caught in a squeeze between Persia and Egypt. Egypt finally
fell (346 BC fall of Egypt.)
II. The Macedonian Period (332-328 BC) Alexander
at the age of twenty (336 BC) assumed command.
1. About 334 BC. He conquered the Persian
Empire and moved against Tyre and took the city after the siege of seven
months.
2. He then moved toward Egypt to settle matters
with her. She held Tyre. He was to pass Jerusalem while going
to Egypt. The Jews in response to a promise made to the king of Persia
helped the Tyrians and had refused to help Alexander. Alexander was
going to punish them but Jeddah the high priest led a procession in homage
to Alexander. He then read part of Daniel’s prophecy foretelling
Alexander, that he was going to conquer the world. Alexander was
moved and spared them and even worshiped their God in their temple.
3. Alexander spread Greek culture and Greek
language over the world. Then the world became BI-lingual.
Alexander also founded cities, among them Alexandria in Egypt. He
then encouraged the Jews to settle in these cities. Alexandria became
a Jewish center and seat of learning.
4. Thus Alexander tried to Helenize the orient.
“Alexander himself married the Bacterian princess, Roxanne, called “the
pearl of the Orient” Eighty of his general as well as thousands of Macedonian
soldier followed the pattern he set. They celebrated five days in
a brilliant fashion. Held in the Persian City of Susa or Shushan
”. Alexander died 323 BC. And that brought the union of the East
and West to an end. Had he lived it is hard to say how the union
of the two would have gone.
III. The Egyptian Period (323-204 BC)
1. After Alexander’s death his empire was
divided among his four leading generals. Ptolemy was the first, Lysinsachus
was another, Cassander the third, Seleucus was the last. The eastern
section, Syria and Persia went to Seleucus and Egypt and close lying areas
went to Ptolemy.
2. Palestine first went with Syria but shortly
(310 BC) it went to Egypt. It remained with the Ptolemies for
about a hundred years. (197 BC) The century under the Ptolemies
was in the main a period of prosperity. The most noteworthy event
was the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek. It
was called the Septuagint. It was made for the Great Alexandrian
Library. This was done by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285 BC)
3. Many Jews went to Egypt and built synagogues
in all their settlements. The city of Alexandria became very influential.
IV. The Syrian period (204-167 BC)
Seleucus founded the famous city of Antioch on the Orontes
River as his capital. Thus the Syrian period would be administered
from Antioch.
1. The Seleucidae finally recovered Palestine
from the Ptolemies (198 BC). This Syrian Period for the Jews was
the darkest of the four hundred years. The Seleucidae were dissolute
tyrants.
2. Antiochus Epiphanes (rulership 175-164
BC) was the worse of them all. He met a few setbacks at the hands
of Rome, once in Egypt he was defeated by Rome. The Jews heard that
he had died and so they celebrated. He was not dead and this angered
him and he returned to Jerusalem and tried to persecute the Jews and their
religion. (168 BC)
A. He devastated Jerusalem and put to death
forty thousand Jews and sold many into slavery.
B. He forbade the people to worship in the
temple and to observe Hebrew customs.
C. He destroyed all copies of the scriptures
that he could get and slaughtered everyone who had in their possession
a copy.
D. He defiled the temple by sacrificing
a sow on its altar and sprayed the broth all over the sacred and holy area.
December 25th 168 B.C.
E. He erected an alter to Jupiter and demanded
that the people worship at that altar and if not, death.
F. Many of the Jews fled to other cities
and areas. Thus was Jerusalem’s darkest hour. Darker by far
than its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar.
V. The Maccabbian Period (167-63 BC)
This was Israel’s proudest hour during the four hundred
years of Intertestemental period.
1. A family of the priestly class led a revolt.
This family is sometimes referred as the asamanaeans or the Maccabees.
There are two possible sources for the name Maccabees.
1. Makkal, from which the word Maccabee
is derived, means hammer.
2. The first letter of the Hebrew words
in this sentence: “Mi camoka babeiem Jehovah “meaning who is like
unto thee among the god’s Oh Lord.”
2. The father of this family was Mattathias
who was a priest and had five sons like himself in Hebrew patriotism.
The eldest was Johanan, next Simon, next Judas, next Eleazar, and the youngest
Jonathan. The emissaries of Antiochus Epiphanes came to Mattathias and
urged him to conform to heathen worship. He flatly refused.
Later he saw a Jew sacrificing to heathen gods and he killed him and then
fled.
3. He hid in the caves and dens of the mountains
as did David a thousand years before, and collected a group of like-minded
people and defied Antiochus Epiphanes. He was successful in several
battles but being a very old man he died, not living to see the triumph
of his family. When he died his son Judas took over and won three
or more brilliant victories close together and gained independence.
4. The temple was rededicated and the religious
life of the people was restored. But they were again attacked by
the Syrians and Judas was slain. His brother Jonathan assumed leadership
and was murdered. Simon then took over and was recognized by the
Syrians. Simon was followed by his son Jon Hyrcanus I. This
person established the Hasmonean line of priesthood. The Hasmonean
house came to and end when Herod the Great had his queen Marianne murdered
and saw to it that her brother Aristobulus III who was the high priest
was drowned (37BC).
VI. The Roman Period (63BC-70AD)
1. Judas Maccabees had appealed to Rome for help.
And several others of the Maccabean house had appealed to Rome.
Palestine became a Roman province in 63 BC. Under
the first triumvir consisted of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus.
The Jews were granted full religious and political liberty.
2. These appointments were made by Caesar:
A. Hyrcanus was appointed king.
B. Antipater was appointed procurator of Judea
C. Herod, the son of Antipater was appointed
governor of Galilee (47 BC).
3. After the assassination of Caesar, Syria
and the East fell to Anthony who made Herod king. Under Jewish pressure
Herod made Aristobulus III high priest. Herod the Great married Marianne,
the sister of the priest. Those two were the grandchildren of Jon
Hyrcanus. Herod, fearful of his position had both Marianne, and Aristobulus
III murdered and thus the Hasmonean house came to an end and Esau was ruling
Jacob.
4. At first Jerusalem refused to accept Herod
as king. The result was the second siege of Jerusalem in 37 BC after
which the Jews accepted him as king. He respected the religious freedom
of the Jews and rebuilt the temple in 20 BC. This structure was not
fully finished until 60 AD. Just ten years before it was destroyed
(John 2:20)
5. Summarization
A. The world was bilingual- Greek was known
as well as their native tongue. This was Alexander’s contribution.
The early missionaries had no language problem.
B. The dispersion of the Jewish people had
scattered the Jews everywhere with their knowledge of God and Gentile followers
with which Paul worked. Pilate’s wife was a member.
C. Roman roads where everywhere over which
Paul and others traveled. They connected the whole Mediterranean
area.
D. Roman law and order to which Paul appealed
often for protection was everywhere.
E. The Jews had been socialized by every
great world power that existed during those 400 years. Thus they
were aquatinted with the customs of the people to whom they were to carry
the gospel.
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