The third chapter of McGrath’s text offers both an historical look at the development of the Old Testament and a review of its contents both in relation to the Hebrew people of Israel (and Judah) and those who claimed those Scriptures as Christians. It’s interesting to note that in the time of Christ Jesus and for several centuries before and after, the Hellenistic Jews of the time used the Septuagint Old Testament; that is, the Old Testament written in the common Greek of that period. Another version written in Hebrew was used called the Masoretic text, which became the preferred text as the Christian use of the Septuagint text became more prevalent. Most striking is that the Masoretic text was ordered in a way to end with Jewish kingship while the Septuagint text was structured to suggest the coming of a messiah.
The Chapter also provides a summary of the canonization of the Old Testament by both Jews and Christians. What I found most striking is that the Jewish canonization of the Old Testament was the work of Pharisee rabbis in the first century of the common era. Fundamentally, Christians adopted the Septuagint as their canon for the Old Testament while Jews adopted the Masoretic as theirs.
The Scripture of the Old Testament offers an understanding of the Hebrew experience with the Divine and their belief in a special relationship between God and them as a people (and later as a nation-state). This special relationship is shared in three ways: laws whereby the people live according to God’s will, prophetical works whereby the people are encouraged to keep living according to God’s will, and wisdom writings that express God’s will. It is important to remember that these scriptures were committed to writing in a time of exile for the Hebrew people so that even when far from their homeland and dispersed into foreign society they could retain and live into their faith. The Pentateuch seems to be the heart of the Old Testament in that it creates the theology of the Hebrew people through an understanding of their special relationship with God in creation and the subsequent events of human history in which God has a direct presence. Particularly important to the Hebrew people is the Exodus story whereby with God’s direct assistance and through his chosen representative they are freed from slavery in Egypt and in a covenant unique to Israel made the chosen people of God. The history of the Hebrew people then follows with an evolution away from prophets – emissaries of God who remind the people to live righteously and in accord with the covenant – to the creation of the nation-state of Israel with a royal house. This history continues to show the demise of the Israel nation-state through sin and political fracture continuing through exile and return to Jerusalem. It’s a brilliant, impressive and marvelous statement of how the Hebrew people see themselves and more importantly how they see themselves in relation to God.
An equally engaging and inspiring part of the Old Testament are those books know for their wisdom. These books offer not only remarkable common-sense to questions of life then and now, but also see to apply the Divine to the mysteries of our existence. This is to say that these works of scripture bring the reader to a place of thoughtful introspection and reflection on matters both quite serious and sometimes mundane. In addition, the Psalter offers words of awe, celebration, praise, and wonder regarding the complexities of human understanding and the incomprehensible nature of the Divine.
The understanding that the Old Testament offers centers on the nation of our existence from creation to our present time. It offers an explanation of both creation and how sin came into the world. In fact, it offers the very definition of sin as human beings making the conscious choice to exercise the gift of free will in a way that separates human beings from God. The scripture also presents the call of Israel as the people of God first through Abraham then Moses in a special covenant unique among all the peoples of the world. The cycle of sin, judgment, and redemption is presented, and this forms the relationship between the Hebrews and God, as well as later between Christians and God. The evolution of priesthood is presented together with kingship, both of which become very important in the theology of Christian faith. In fact, Christians would offer that the Old Testament sets the stage on which the New Testament is revealed in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
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