Beginning Bible Study #2

How Do We Study the Bible? -- #2

 What is the Bible? – The Book

1)     It is the inspired Word of God.

2)     It is a collection of 66 books.

3)     It has an Old and New Testament

4)     It is to be a guide for our lives.

5)     What and how do we study it?

 The Old Testament contains:

 ·         The story of creation

·         The story of God’s relationship with His people.

·         The prophecies about Christ, and other things to come.

·         The Psalms

·         Great moral lessons that we can learn from.

·         The civil laws upon which many of our civil laws are based.

·         These are only a few reasons to study the Old Testament.

 Time! What about Time?

Remember, it’s God’s book!  He doesn’t keep time like we do! 

Last time we said, “Turn to Genesis 9, and you’ve covered the first 2,000 years of history.  God doesn’t keep time like we do!”  Well, almost 2,000 years.  F. LaGard Smith sets the date at 1,656 years after the creation.

Now our math problem:

(Gen 5:27 NKJV)  So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

Year of the flood	1656
Age of Methuselah	969
Year Methuselah was born	687

(Gen 5:5 NKJV)  So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

Adam lived to the year	930
Methuselah was born	687
Age of Methuselah when Adam died	243

 

The point is that between Adam and Methuselah, they could recount the history of the world for the first 1,656 years. 

Noah lived much of his life during the days of Methuselah, so much of history could be passed on the Noah who, of course, went on to live after the flood.

What about People’s Ages?

Before the flood	Methuselah 969
After the flood	Abraham     175

(Gen 25:7-8 NKJV)  This is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years. {8} Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.

 The Flood!

 (Gen 7:11 NKJV)  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 In other words, the great water vapor canopy collapsed!

Some scientist have suggested that before this happened, the earth was a rather uniform temperature from pole to pole.

(Gen 2:5-6 NKJV)  For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; {6} but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

 What Difference Does it Make?

 The UV rays!  Some scientist feel that the UV rays which now bombard us, ultimately leads to our shortened life.

We can question the science, but one thing is sure, man’s life expectance was dramatically shortened.  Then we have this statement:

(Psa 90:10 NKJV)  The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,

How does time flow in the Old Testament?

Genesis – ends with the death of Jacob

About 2,140 years after creation.

Exodus – basically begins with the birth of Moses and Moses wrote the book.

The year is about 2,500 after creation

Then we look at Moses life:

Life in Palace	40 years
Life in Desert	40 years
Life in Wilderness	40 years

It’s that last 40 years that gives us:

 Leviticus – Various laws for the children of Israel

Numbers – Counting the people, but other stories including Balaam and the donkey that talked.

Deuteronomy – the second giving of the law.  It concludes with the death of Moses.

To sum up:

2,100 years of history in the book of Genesis.

120 years of history in the next 4 books combined, but most of that was 40 years.

Chronological order goes well for the next several books.

 

I Samuel	From Samuel to Saul
II Samuel	Life & reign of David
I Kings	Solomon & Divided Kingdom
II Kings	From Jehoshaphat to captivity.  Basically the end of Old Testament history.
I Chronicles	Begins with Adam ends with David
II Chronicles	Ends with Cyrus sending some of the Jews back to their homeland.

Timeline? We are at the end of the Old Testament

 What about the rest?  It took place during the time we are talking about in the books we have covered.

But what about the Divided Kingdom?

Saul	40 years
David	40 years
Solomon	40 years

Trouble came with Solomon and his 1,000 wives!

God, speaking through His prophet Ahijah, says to Jeroboam,

(1 Ki 11:35-36 NKJV)  'But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you; ten tribes. {36} 'And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.

Ten plus one does not equal 12!

The one tribe is Judah!  The southern kingdom came to be known as Judah, but it consisted of Judah and Benjamin.

Kingdom	Location	Condition
Israel	Northern	Always ungodly
Judah	Southern	Became ungodly
Kingdom	Captivity	End
Israel	Assyrian	10 lost tribes.
Judah	Babylonian	Remnant Returns

Christ comes through Judah – David’s Lineage.

 But before that happens, there are three other books that we must consider:

Ezra	Rebuilt the temple
Nehemiah	Rebuilt the walls
Ester	Saves her people.

Each of these books is an inspiring story of men and a woman who sacrificed much for God’s people and made a tremendous impact on the history of the Jewish people.  They are called Jewish because they are of the tribe of Judah – Israel is largely lost.

 God leaves promises, but are they to be acted upon?

(Ezra 1:1-5 NKJV)  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, {2} Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. {3} Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. {4} And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. {5} Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.

(Neh 1:3-5 NKJV)  And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire." {4} So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. {5} And I said: "I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,

(Neh 1:11 NKJV)  "O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer.

Then there is Esther!

(Est 4:14 NKJV)  "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

(Est 4:16 NKJV)  "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"

The Rest of the Story! – She didn’t Perish

Why the Old Testament?  It’s our teacher!

But what a teacher!

What stories of inspiration!

What promises of Hope for God’s People!

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