Why The Old Testament Matters: Intro to History Books

Why The Old Testament Matters: Intro to History Books

As we continue our study of why the Old Testament matters, we move from the first five books (the Law) into the next major section: the History books. This twelve-book collection—spanning from Joshua to Esther—picks up immediately after the death of Moses. It covers roughly 900 years of Israel’s history. Reading nearly a millennium’s worth of history might sound daunting, but these books read less like a dusty textbook and more like an epic saga. Filled with battles, betrayals, political marriages, and unlikely heroes, they create an engaging narrative that brings the rise, fall, and rebuilding of the nation of Israel to life.

However, there are a lot more important reasons to read the History books than just for entertainment. For starters, while it’s logical to assume that the rest of the Old Testament continues in chronological order after Esther, actually, almost every subsequent book takes place during this specific span of time, from the Israelites entering the Promised Land (Canaan) to the return from exile. Put another way, the History books are the stage on which the rest of the Old Testament takes place. If you pay attention, you’ll see many of the prophets who wrote the last books of the Old Testament pop up in the storyline of 1 and 2 Kings, and you may even be able to recognize the events that prompted many of David’s Psalms in 1 and 2 Samuel. By reading the History books, we can understand the context in which the rest of the Old Testament was written.

the History books are the stage on which the rest of the Old Testament takes place.

For some of us, however, reading epic tales doesn’t sound any more exciting than reading a dusty, old history textbook, and if we still aren’t sold on the importance of the Old Testament as a whole, then maybe that background context isn’t a compelling reason to read through this section. Even if that sounds like you, there’s still a good reason to read through the History books—they teach us a lot about the character of God. Now, maybe you’ve heard people say things like, “The God of the Old Testament is just mean and angry. I prefer the kind, loving Jesus of the New Testament.” Maybe you’ve even thought that. At first glance, it can be easy to get that impression. We see instances of God commanding the Israelites to wipe out whole people groups, God allowing His “chosen people” to be enslaved and exiled, and even someone described as “having a heart like God’s” (1 Samuel 13:14) sleep with another man’s wife and then have the man killed, all while already being married! But it’s important to remember Hebrews 13:8, which says, “Jesus Christ [God] is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” If God doesn’t change, then He can’t be loving in the New Testament and angry and vengeful in the Old. And if we truly believe that the Bible is perfect, without error or contradiction (which is a fundamental and necessary belief of Christianity), that means that any apparent contradiction is not truly a contradiction but rather a lack of understanding on our part. That can be a hard lesson to hear and learn, but it is essential to studying the Bible. Let’s take a look at how God’s love, grace, mercy, and patience are displayed in the Old Testament History books.

The Law books established that there has to be an accounting for sin; our perfect, just God would not be perfect or just if He coexisted with evil. God brought order and life out of chaos and the absence of life. When we sin, we are separated from God. And, when we are separated from the author of order and life, we are left with chaos and death. In order to come back to a relationship with God, to come back to order and life, something has to take our place in death. We have the benefit of living post-resurrection, where Jesus has satisfied this requirement for us, but the people in the Old Testament didn’t have that reality yet. If you flip back to Genesis 15:13–16, God tells Abraham that the reason his descendants aren’t going to be taking the Promised Land for 400 years is because “the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” In other words, God knew that the people living in the Promised Land were going to continue living in sin—worse and worse sin over time. Even though He knew that was going to happen, He still waited over 400 years for them to turn and repent before finally using the Israelites in Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 Samuel to bring punishment to them for their sins. When viewed from this perspective, we see how patient God is, rather than angry and randomly ordering the destruction of innocent people. Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death,” and in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The fact that God allows anyone to live is an expression of mercy we could never deserve.

The books of History in the Old Testament present some unique challenges to us as readers, but if we’re willing to push through, study them, and step back and view the bigger picture, they are highly rewarding. If you’d like some more specific examples of how to look at History books in the Old Testament, stick with us over the next few weeks, and we’ll break some of them down even more.

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