Getting Through The Old Testament Doldrums
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
-2 Timothy 3:14-17, ESV
With any new year, many Christians begin a quest to read through the entire Bible that often gets bogged down and fails just like many health and fitness resolutions. Interestingly, the reason is the same: people lack a greater purpose for wanting to read through the entire Bible. They get lost in the confusing history of Genesis, the seemingly-insignificant tabernacle details of Exodus, the puzzling ceremonial laws of Leviticus, or the endless genealogies of Numbers. Then they face a myriad of difficult names in Joshua, a bewildering barrage of strange stories and more genealogies in the history books and cryptic language in the poetry, wisdom, and prophetic books. When you see little of relevance in these passages, it is easy to become discouraged and quit reading, returning instead to the familiarity of the New Testament. If your sole reason for reading the Old Testament is because you are supposed to since it is part of the Bible, that reason will not sustain you through “the doldrums”. In this post, I hope to give you reasons not only to read the Old Testament, but to love the Old Testament.
Inspired and Profitable
The doctrine of Scripture is the foundation of all other doctrines, which is why my theology page and posts on theological illiteracy begin with the doctrine of Scripture. A biblical theology of Scripture holds that every bit of the Bible is inspired by God and that the Bible in its entirety is sufficient to equip us for life and godliness: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). While this certainly applies to all of Scripture, we can see from context that this is particularly referring to the Old Testament. Paul started the letter by recalling the faith of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5), so they are the ones who taught him “the sacred writings”. Eunice was a Jewish Christian, but Timothy’s father was a Gentile (Acts 16:1-3) so he was not brought up in the Jewish community. Still Eunice and Lois taught Timothy the Old Testament. Therefore, Paul is reminding Timothy that the Old Testament is able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. So along with the New Testament, every word of the Old Testament is inspired and profitable. Additionally, Paul specifically says that they are useful because they “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”. Yes, the Old Testament is able to make you wise for salvation. The New Testament did not come in a vacuum but into the context of the Old Testament. This is seen in countless direct quotes and references to the Old Testament found throughout the New Testament, especially in its first and last books. Written to Jews to prove that Jesus was their King, Matthew includes numerous references to Old Testament prophesies. And Revelation contains more Old Testament references than any other New Testament book, so you cannot hope to understand Revelation if you do not understand the Old Testament. Therefore, studying the Old Testament will greatly enrich your understanding of the New Testament.
Jesus is the Point
We are tempted to focus on the New Testament not only because it is often easier to understand but also that we find Jesus there. But you can find Jesus in the Old Testament as well—and not just a few places. If you have a keen eye, you can spot Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament because the entire Old Testament like the New Testament is about Him. He said as much on the Emmaus road after the resurrection:
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
-Luke 24:25-27, ESV
Notice how Jesus interpreted “in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” in Moses and the Prophets—i.e. the entire Old Testament. He is even clearer to his disciples:
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
-Luke 24:44-47, ESV
Here Jesus sums up the meaning of the Old Testament in statement that followed: He would suffer, die, and rise again, bringing forgiveness through faith and repentance that would start in Jerusalem and spread to all the nations. The entire Old Testament therefore points to Christ and prepares the way for Christ, so if you diligently search for Jesus throughout the Old Testament, you will find Him.
Finding Jesus in the Old Testament
If Jesus can be found throughout the Old Testament, how do we find Him? The first step is to properly interpret that passage within the context of redemptive history. Since the Old Testament covers thousands of years, observing where a passage falls within that history is vital. Every passage was written to specific people at a specific time in a specific context, so bear in mind how the original audience would have interpreted the passage. Remember, the Bible was written for us but not to us. Still, we have an enormous advantage over the original audience because we have the entirety of God’s revelation in the form of the complete Bible. We can read the Old Testament with the New Testament in mind and therefore see how Old Testament passages fit within the greater story of redemption. In addition to what we discussed on how to study the Bible, look for what the passage teaches us about who God is, who we are, and the plan of redemption. God steadily reveals His plan of redemption throughout the Old Testament, starting with the first hint of the Gospel right after the Fall and progressing through His covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David as well as various prophecies. So with each passage we can ask what the original audience knew about God, themselves, and the redemptive plan beforehand and what this passage reveals about them. This historical context is especially important when dealing with prophecies, so the historical books (Genesis to Esther) give the context into which the prophecies are written. The same is true of the psalms. These passages make much more sense when you consider their historical context.
With the redemptive historical context in mind, you can start looking for shadows and types that point to Christ. These may be overt like Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac in Genesis 22 or subtle like the requirement that the Passover lamb have no broken bones (Exodus 12:46)—pointing to Jesus at the crucifixion (John 19:32-36). But in this, we must be careful to avoid the error of many early church fathers to view everything as an allegory for Christ, thus committing eisegesis—bringing our own meaning into the text rather than drawing the meaning out of the text.[1] While some passages are certainly allegorical, others (especially history) are to be taken more literally. We must read historical narratives as history while recognizing the frequent allusions to Christ therein. Take Boaz for instance. As the kinsman redeemer, he certainly foreshadows Christ. But as I pointed out in my leadership paper, he is also an example of a righteous man and a good boss. Sometimes Jesus even shows up literally in pre-incarnate form as “the angel of the LORD” (e.g. Exodus 23:20-33). The divine language used in such passages mean this angel can be no one else. But at other times, these shadows and types will not be evident, so in many passages we find Christ by remembering our total depravity and justly-deserved condemnation apart from Christ. In this way we can connect any passage back to Christ even if a direct connection is not readily apparent. Personal examples of this would be my meditations on Joshua 7, 2 Samuel 12, Esther 5, and Malachi. With some effort, the Christian can see Christ everywhere in the Old Testament.
Profiting from Any Text
Armed with this knowledge, you can approach many Old Testament passages with the anticipation of receiving much benefit from reading them. Using certain methods you can profit from any passage. First, recognized that there are themes woven throughout the text, so look for those themes in the passage. One example is the contrast between the people of God and others, which we looked a year ago. Another is the way in which God saves His people while judging His enemies, such as the Flood, Sodom, and the Red Sea. There is also the contrast between God and false gods. The plagues of Egypt come immediately to mind, but there are many subtle—and often humorous—ways in which the text mocks false gods. The first reference to false gods is one of these, when Rachel (perhaps out of spite for her father) steals the household gods and then sits on them (Genesis 31). Other themes include the offices of prophet, priest and king; the contrast between the wisdom of righteousness and the folly of wickedness; the obedience-comfort-idolatry-oppression-deliverance cycle; and many more.
Also pay attention to directions: east is often away from God while west is towards God. Look at geographical features like mountains (where worship often takes place), trees, rivers, and wilderness. Along those lines, cities are often signs of rebellion against God until God chooses to make one His dwelling place, leading to a theme of the righteous city contrasted with the city of the world (often depicted as Babylon). Pay attention to specific names and their meanings. One example would be Bethel (“house of God”), where Jacob saw the vision of the ladder (Genesis 28), ultimately became a hotbed of idolatry as we saw recently.
This brings up another useful tool: cross-references. Many passages are referenced by other passages. For example, Psalm 110 is cited 14 times in the New Testament and itself references other psalms and several other Old Testament books. Some New Testament passages explain Old Testament passages, with Hebrews being the most notable example. Since those interpretations are inspired by the Holy Spirit, they must be correct, so they are extremely helpful when studying the Old Testament. Consulting a concordance to study how certain key words or phrases are used can also be helpful. I recently considered “gathered to his people” in Genesis. This term for death is only used of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Aaron, and Moses. When combined with “Sheol” (the place of the dead) first used by Jacob in Genesis 37, this traces the hope of the resurrection all the way back to Abraham. Commentaries and study Bibles can also be helpful, especially in understanding the historical context of a passage, but they must be used with extreme care. They are often skewed by the views of their authors, so it is always best to study the Scriptures for yourself and use the whole of Scripture to help you interpret each passage. Ultimately, it is important to bear in mind that even a lifetime of study cannot bring mastery of the entire Bible. If it is your first time reading through the Old Testament, I recommend reading more quickly for context before doing in-depth study, though a balance of both is required for a healthy diet of Scripture.
Getting Through the Doldrums
This is helpful for any text in general, but there are some specific “doldrums” that can cause many Christians to stall when reading through the Old Testament. These passages can be described as tedious, confusing, or difficult. Tedious passages include genealogies and detailed instructions for Levitical worship. These present the greatest challenge for me personally. We must constantly remind ourselves that not a pen stroke of the Old Testament is wasted, so every word is there for a reason. For genealogies, we can usually find names that are familiar, but even if we can’t we should meditate on the fact that God is working in a nation of specific people. In other cases, it means that specific people are rebelling against Him. As for the detailed Levitical instructions, we should marvel at the specific provision of God for sinful people to approach Him in worship and be reminded that He cares deeply about how He is worshipped. We also find many shadows of Christ in these passages. For example, my quiet time in Exodus this morning included the fact that consecrated objects made anything that touched them holy (Exodus 30:29), reminiscent of how Jesus did not become unclean when he touched lepers but instead made them clean. Additionally, Aaron’s priestly garments caused him to symbolically bear the nation on his shoulders and over his heart when he ministered before God on their behalf (Exodus 28:12,28-30) much as Jesus would later bear the judgment for our sin. Looking for such things can help us not only get through the tedious passages but also profit from them.
Then there are the confusing passages. These can be narratives that make little sense or metaphors where we lack the required cultural context, but most of them are poetry (like Job) or prophecy. When approaching historical narratives, we must remember that they are often descriptive rather than prescriptive, telling us what people did sometimes without any commentary on whether they are provided as examples to emulate or avoid. Often there is a bit of both, reminding us that even the ”good” people in Scripture are sinful. The lesson often lies in the ramifications of their actions, so the best course of action is often to read on. For poetry and prophecy, the themes woven throughout the Bible often serve as the framework for the figurative language used. Cross-referencing is also very helpful here, but we must acknowledge that these will be difficult to understand.
Finally there are the passages I will simply call “difficult”. They are not tedious or confusing but hard to stomach, including vivid narratives of judgment, imprecatory psalms (calling out curses on the wicked), and difficult laws. These are favorites of skeptics because they make God appear unjust, vindictive, and even evil. We previously saw that difficult laws were quite progressive for their time, displaying God’s provision for the good of His people while also highlighting our inherent wickedness that cannot be overlooked. The same logic can be applied to passages like Genesis 19 and Judges 19-21. Our stomachs should turn as these passages show us the evil we are capable of, and we should remember that we deserve every curse of the imprecatory psalms but for the atonement of Christ. Such a mindset can help us to get through the doldrums to be enriched by the whole of Scripture, not just the New Testament.
We Aren’t Alone
And remember, it is impossible to understand the Scriptures without the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had to reveal the true meaning of the Old Testament to His disciples after the resurrection despite the fact that they had been acquainted with it their entire lives. We too have no hope of understanding Scripture unless the Spirit reveals it to us as Jesus promised He would. So we must pray for His guidance to understand the Scriptures He inspired whenever we read them. Finally, all theology should lead to doxology (worship), so read any passage looking for things that can aid your worship. In my own quiet times, I use whatever passage I read as the basis for the worship that begins my prayer time. For example, my worship yesterday focused on the Passover and how it points to Christ, the crossing of the Red Sea and the songs of Moses and Miriam, and the awesome Mt. Sinai scene. All of our Bible reading should lead us to worship Jesus Christ to whom it points. So press on in your Old Testament reading and trust that God will use it to strengthen your faith.
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
-1 Corinthians 10:11-13, ESV
NOTES:
[1] Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing: 1999: 70-89.
