Enjoying the Old Testament

A Creative Guide to Encountering Scripture

Eric A. Seibert

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781514001219
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Estudios bíblicos

ECPA Top Shelf Award WinnerIs it really possible to enjoy the Old Testament?Christians know they are supposed to read the Old Testament. Yet many struggle to do so. They often find it confusing, theologically troubling, or just uninteresting. Eric Seibert understands this dilemma and provides a solution. His goal is to help people learn to love the Old Testament and actually want to read it.Seibert demonstrates how this part of the Bible is extremely valuable for Christians and offers dozens of practical suggestions and creative activities for hands-on interaction with the biblical text. Equipped with a variety of tools and approaches, readers discover how even the most seemingly dry passages can come to life.With Enjoying the Old Testament, readers of all ages will be inspired to pick up the Old Testament over and over again.

1

When inspired, I pick up the Bible for a few minutes at the beginning or end of the day. But often I am tired, and I do not get very far. I enjoy the feel of the pages; I glance over the chapter headings. Yet, over the course of days or weeks, I rarely make it through an entire book of the Bible, despite my best intentions. I have often found it more interesting to pick up a book about the Bible than to read the Bible itself.

JOHN P. BURGESS, WHY SCRIPTURE MATTERS

OVER THIRTY YEARS AGO, in the spring of 1989, something unexpected happened: I fell in love with the Old Testament. I was a first-year student at Messiah University (then College) and was enrolled in Old Testament Literature, a required course for my major. In that course, in an otherwise unremarkable classroom in the Sollenberger Sports Center, the Old Testament came alive for me in ways I never dreamed possible.

To be honest, I had never really paid much attention to the Old Testament while I was growing up. My knowledge of this part of the Bible mainly came through what I was taught in church—and I attended a lot of church: Sunday school, Sunday morning worship, Vacation Bible School, Sunday evening services and, for a time, even Wednesday evening prayer meetings. Still, for all that, I did not spend much time with the Old Testament on my own. I certainly had not read most of it, and my knowledge of what it contained was quite limited. Though I had heard many of the most popular Old Testament stories, I had little real knowledge of how they fit together into Israel’s larger story. Had someone pressed me to put twenty different Old Testament events in order, I am sure I would have done quite poorly.

True, I had once spent hours listening to sermons by Chuck Swindoll on the life of Moses. I can still picture myself sitting at home in my room in rural Pennsylvania, listening to Pastor Swindoll while I worked on an art project for school. It was a latch-hook rug I had designed that contained the symbol of a popular Christian rock band surrounded by lots of black yarn. As I was latch-hooking, I passed the hours listening to this mesmerizing preacher draw out lessons from the life of Moses. It was fascinating. Still, for all that, it did not propel me to dive into the Old Testament on my own. Instead, I spent most of my time focusing on that “other” part of the Bible, the New Testament.

Armed with a beautiful, burgundy-bound, one-volume Wycliffe Bible Commentary, I spent countless hours working through individual study guides on various New Testament books. The New Testament intrigued me. It contained so much wisdom and practical advice for Christian living that was easy to extract and export.

But that college class in 1989 really turned things upside down for me and charted a new course for my future. The professor, Dr. Terry Brensinger, brought the Old Testament to life in ways I had not previously experienced. Time and again he demonstrated how relevant the Old Testament was for people of faith like me. I was amazed that these ancient texts contained such profound insights about God, the world, and the way human beings were to relate to God and others. I was captivated.

Since I had neglected the Old Testament for so long, I had to make up for lost time. There was so much new terrain to cover, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking many Old Testament classes over the next three years of my college career. It was a blast! I loved those courses and the world they opened up to me.

Ultimately, this led me to seminary and graduate school where I earned a PhD in the area of Old Testament. Now, I have the good fortune of teaching the Old Testament to undergraduate students at my alma mater. Not many people get to talk about the Bible for a living, and I consider myself very fortunate in that regard.

A VERY REAL DILEMMA

Teaching the Bible for many years has made it abundantly clear that not everyone shares the same level of enthusiasm for the Old Testament that I have described here.1 Truth be told, many Christians really struggle with this part of Scripture, especially with its archaic laws, tedious genealogies, strange customs, and prophetic tirades. They know they are supposed to read the Old Testament but feel little desire to do so. While some stalwart churchgoers continue reading out of sheer duty, others give up on the Old Testament altogether, opening it only occasionally to revisit a few familiar psalms, stories, or well-known verses. And though many feel guilty about their lack of love for the Old Testament and may sincerely wish they could get more out of it, they have no idea how to make that happen.

Perhaps this describes you. Maybe you tried to read through the Old Testament in the past but got discouraged when you ran into material that failed to capture your interest. Or maybe you feel confused by what you have read and are unsure how to make sense of it all. Perhaps you find some parts morally offensive or theologically troubling. Or maybe you have been personally harmed by the Old Testament and have felt the sting of verses used to judge or condemn you. Or maybe you just find this whole part of the Bible largely irrelevant to your life today. Whatever the case may be, if you don’t really like the Old Testament and want that to change, you have come to the right place!

READING THE OLD TESTAMENT: BLESSING OR BURDEN?

The purpose of this book is to offer some suggestions that can help you take joy in reading the Old Testament. I want the Old Testament to become something you are eager to return to time and again, not because you feel obligated to do so, but because you genuinely want to engage it. My hope is that you come to regard reading the Old Testament as a blessing rather than a burden, something to anticipate, not dread.

This is precisely what happened to Philip Yancey many years ago. In his book The Bible Jesus Read, Yancey talks about how he “came to stop avoiding and start reading—ultimately loving—the Old Testament.”

From initial resistance, I moved to a reluctant sense that I ought to read the neglected three-quarters of the Bible. As I worked past some of the barriers . . . I came to feel a need to read, because of what it was teaching me. Eventually I found myself wanting to read those thirty-nine books, which were satisfying in me some hunger that nothing else had—not even, I must say, the New Testament. They taught me about Life with God: not how it is supposed to work, but how it actually does work.2

Yancey’s journey from resisting the Old Testament to relishing it represents the kind of movement I hope this book inspires. Even if you don’t currently enjoy the Old Testament, I hope you feel more enthusiastic about it after reading this book.

But be warned. Some people start having so much fun with the Old Testament that they devote their lives to it. Take my friend David Lamb, for example. David is professor of Old Testament at Missio Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Early in his academic career, he needed to decide which part of the Bible would be his focus. Although drawn to the New Testament, he opted to study the Old Testament instead. He was especially intrigued by the rich and multifaceted portrait of God he found there. As Lamb describes it:

The most compelling factor drawing me toward studying the Old Testament was God himself. . . . God in the Old Testament was complex. There was so much about God in the Old Testament that I didn’t understand. I thought I could study the Old Testament for the rest of my life and never feel bored.3

His feelings have not changed. “I still can’t imagine getting tired of studying the Old Testament,” says Lamb. “I love the Old Testament, and in particular examining the God who is revealed there.”4

One of my primary goals as a college professor is to get people excited about reading Scripture. While I may not be able to persuade everybody to love the Old Testament the way David Lamb does, I can at least help them learn how to like it a whole lot more. When I teach a Bible class, I want people to leave that class with a greater desire to read the Bible than when they began. If this does not happen and students leave the class less interested in reading the Bible than when they began, I have surely failed. After all, what good is it to produce students who know lots of facts about the Old Testament but leave class vowing never to read it again? This book, like my classes, is designed to leave you wanting more of the Old Testament.

The benefits of reading the Old Testament are enormous, and we will have an opportunity to explore some of these in chapter three. For now, suffice it to say that reading the Old Testament can strengthen your faith, deepen your relationship with God, and show you how to live faithfully with hope, conviction, and joy. These texts have nurtured and sustained communities of faith for centuries, and they continue to be vital for the spiritual health and well-being of the church. Treasures await those who open its pages.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS BOOK

Before we get too far along, it might be helpful to say a few words about what to expect in the pages that follow. We’ll begin with what the book is not. This book is not intended to be a general introduction to the Old Testament, and it makes no attempt to offer any kind of systematic summary of the basic content and themes of various Old Testament books. This book also does not concentrate on the context, background, and historical setting of Old Testament literature, or on historical-critical questions related to the study of this part of Scripture. While all these things are important, there are already many books on the market that cover them quite well.5

Instead, this book is designed to increase your interest in the Old Testament by demonstrating how reading it can be both pleasurable and rewarding. You will find an assortment of creative approaches to the Old Testament that are interactive, engaging, and enjoyable. This practical, “hands-on” approach will encourage you to return to this oft-neglected part of the Bible time and again with renewed interest and enthusiasm.

Along the way, numerous examples are included that illustrate the Old Testament’s contemporary relevance and applicability. Hopefully, this too will persuade you to open the Old Testament more frequently and discover for yourself its profound value and worth for spiritual growth and theological reflection.

WHY THIS APPROACH?

The approach taken in this book is rooted in the conviction that having a variety of ways to encounter the Old Testament is what keeps people engaged with it over the long haul. Although some people do the same thing with the Bible year in and year out—and seem to enjoy it—most of us cannot sustain such a routine. We need different ways to connect with the text. Otherwise, we get bored and lose interest. As the saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life.” If you want to enjoy readi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Part One: Preparing to Read the Neglected Testament
• Part Two: Having Fun with the Old Testament
• Part Three: Encountering the Old Testament in New Ways
• Appendix: Additional Resources to Enhance Your Enjoyment of the Old Testament
• Bibliography
• Author Index
• Scripture Index
• Notes
• Praise for Enjoying the Old Testament
• About the Author
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press
• Copyright