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PGA Chaplain Bible Studies

An Overview of the bible - Summary of Old Testament History

God who has always existed created the heavens and the earth and all that is in it and everything was very good. God created human beings as the peak of his creation in his likeness to rule the world, to take care of his environment and to live in fellowship and friendship with God in a special place the Garden of Eden under his rule.

Adam and Eve our first parents rebelled against God and his will; failed to trust God and wanted to be like God and rule their own life. We call this rebellion sin and resulted in expulsion from the garden and death. Even though God punished them, his love and mercy remained. As human life increased; the same results of sin and destruction is told from Adam, to the flood and the tower of Babel until the time of Abraham.

The spread of the nations of the world is told in genealogies used extensively in the Old Testament to highlight mostly the promises of God that were fulfilled through nations, tribes and families. These genealogies connect the whole Old Testament together.
God chose to bless Abraham with promises to restore his favour that included making him into a great nation; a land to live in; greatness, blessing; and to be the means of a blessing to the whole world. Abraham’s faith in God’s promises and his obedience became the cornerstone of his relationship with God. The Circumcision of every male became a sign of the relationship God had established with Abraham’s descendants. The rest of the book of Genesis concerns the growth of this nation from Abraham to the 12 sons of Jacob and their families who ended up in Egypt because of a drought.

A Pharaoh arose in Egypt who was concerned about the size of Abraham’s descendents so he made slaves of them. God called Moses to set his people free and to return them to the land of his promise. God delivered them by great miracles to show he alone is God. He set them free through the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and a miraculous deliverance through the Red sea. This deliverance or exodus will be remembered forever as the way God established his people. The nation now free, was given laws by God to live by; at the heart of these laws was to honour and worship God first, to respect their families and others. These are called the 10 commandments. To these laws was added a place to worship God on their journey with a tabernacle and the setting apart of Priests to offer acceptable sacrifices for their many sins. God would live among his people as in the Garden of Eden at this tent of meeting. This worship would show the holiness and uniqueness of God and the need to offer sacrifices for their sins. Israel was the name given to the people of God and they often failed to follow or trust God resulting in a generation failing to enter the land of promise.

They arrived in the Promised Land by a great victory at Jericho under the new leadership of Joshua. He was told to be strong and to trust God for the victory which he did. Israel secured their land and divided this among the 12 tribes of Israel with the Levites set apart for worship being given cities to live in. Israel unfortunately failed to get rid of all the inhabitants of the Land and was again led astray to follow their gods. God sent Israel Judges to lead them back to him, but after they died Israel returned to their sinful ways.

After some time Israel sought after a King and leader like the other nations. This disappointed God, but he gave them their request in appointing Saul as their first King.

This was only a temporary measure as God also called David a man after his own heart to lead the nation and be king. Saul was jealous of David and his popularity and tried to kill him on a number of occasions. When David became king after Saul’s death he settled in Jerusalem which became the capital of the nation. David was able to defeat all his enemies and God gave him a promise that one of his sons would always sit on the throne and he would establish his rule forever and that he would be a father to him and he his son. While David showed signs of weakness in character with Bathsheba and the census of counting his army; God kept his promise and Israel enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity never experienced before. David’s son Solomon followed David as King and built the Temple a permanent place for God to live among his people. Under Solomon Israel enjoyed unparalleled prosperity as the world came to see Solomon in all his glory. It seemed all the promises God made to Abraham had come true.

After Solomon, the nation split into two after the heavy burden Solomon and his family put on the northern tribes. The ten tribes that split from the north were called Israel with their own king and city. This led to the falling away of the north as none of their Kings followed God and their eventual demise. Their land was invaded by the Assyrians and many of their people departed as slaves to other countries.

Judah with Jerusalem, the descendants of David and the capital in the south was the dominant tribe. The south where Judah ruled and God had promised to bless had a more faithful leadership, but in the end but the people refused to listen to prophets that God had sent. Elijah and Elisha are two prophets whose ministry to Israel is described in detail and other prophetic books give more detail of their messages and rejection.

Judah’s unfaithfulness to God also led to the unthinkable; their defeat, the ruin of their city and temple by the king of Babylon. Judah too suffered loss and exile to foreign lands. This exile is at the heart of a lot of questions about Israel’s future and God’s promises and his mercy. The prophetic books however speak of a restoration and a new beginning and this is how the Old Testament ends in its history.

After 70 years of exile God softened the heart of world powers to allow them to return to their Land to rebuild the city, temple and their life. While they faced local opposition, they rebuilt their temple and the walls of Jerusalem and they celebrated the completion.

They did fall way again by marrying foreigners but their reform and revival was established as they looked forward to the time when God would restore them fully as he had promised. The return from exile did not mean a return to the glory days of David and Solomon, but the people believed God was to come to re-establish their life.

The New Testament takes up these hopes in the person of Jesus.

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