BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT THESIS: INTRODUCTION

BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY


By Eternal Flame, Member of the Marked Elect


INTRODUCTION

For as long as the human race has existed on the earth, man has sought to worship some deity, or multiple deities as he understood them to the best of his knowledge. All of these deities have been created by man, either physically, or they have been raised up by men and worshipped for their great philosophies; usually after they died, and men usually, greatly exaggerated their deeds while living, and usually added to, and even created their own religions, using the deceased great man as the source of their religion. Always, the religion usually consisted of some type of "works" doctrine, whereby the worshipper would follow some plan of good works to earn salvation, and either achieve a perfect existence here in this life, or in the hereafter, depending on the system and deity followed.

Since the purpose of this thesis is to study the one and only genuine God, the Creator of the entire universe and every living thing, the deities created by man will not be studied within the contents of this thesis except, only to identify certain incidents spoken of in the Bible, if they at all.

Assumming that the Bible is a God breathed, inspired word of God (1 Tim.3:16); this thesis will present a study of the true God of the Bible, as He has presented Himself in the Old Testament of the Bible. The events with His revelation to man will be listed chronologically, with special emphasis directed to the Covenants made between God and man.
PART I
(1) Bible Chronology; Sacred Scripture gives us the required information stating how God revealed Himself at specific points in time. In order to identify the relation of these events to other historical events, the need to know the dates of the biblical events themselves becomes a necessity.
(A) The word "chronology" comes from the classical Greek word "chronos" which signifies time viewed as a flowing stream, a stream that cannot be stopped, but can be measured. "Chronology is simply the dating of historical events within the "stream" of time. Since the Bible devotes a great amount of space to matters of chronology, God wants us to know why He said what He said, and did what He did at each particular time. Since it would require another entire thesis just to present Bible events in chronological order as to dates, because of the difference in various calanders, exact dates will not be dwelled upon in this thesis in Gods chronological revelation to man in Old Testament Theology. To compare exact dates and prove them would require much space, because Jewish people, for instance followed their calendar with great care, which differed from other calendars which may have been used in particular quotations in the Bible to list specific dates. Therefore, to avoid confusion when quoting dates, the dates quoted will be quoted just as scripture quotes them, without attempting to explain how the inspired writer arrived at the dates quoted. However, as will be shown later, since Gods Covenant people in the Old Testament were the Hebrews, the Jewish calendar will be used when most of the dates are listed, since God revealed Himself to the Hebrews in Old Testament.

(B) Since no specific date for the flood of which Noah was spared in an ark, it would be next to impossible to proceed backward to the exact date of Adam and Eve. All that can be done is the tracing of the family line of Adam to the Flood,using the chronologies found in Genesis 5 and 7:11. Assumptions only, therefore, are given by Bible scholars that Adam and Eve were created by God approximately 4,000 B.C. Therefore, for a quick simple overview of the approximate chronological date era of God dealing with the Hebrews might be listed as follows: Creation in Genesis; from the fall to the flood; the flood; from the flood to Abraham; the Patriarchal History of Israel concerning Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph would bring the date to approximately 1600 B.C. God dealt with Job about 1800 B.C. to 1575 B.C. Exodus begins about 1550 B.C. and describes the Hebrew peoples bondage in Egypt; a deliverer being raised up; struggle with Pharoah and the ten plagues; Israel in the wilderness; Israel at Sinai with the Law given and the Tabernacle and the priesthood established; then approximately 1425 B.C. to 1420 B.C. The Book of Leviticus describing the Law of sacrifice; priesthood; laws of purity, ethics,

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Blessings!
Marked Elect