INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES

INTRODUCTION
The TaNaK is a word derived from the division of the Hebrew Bible. T stands for the Torah which
is also called the Pentateuch. Some believed that the Torah is the section which is referred to as
the five books of Moses. These books give all the narrative of the people of Israel, the period of
the flood and the Patriarchs, to the Exodus from Egypt, wandering in the wilderness and giving
the law at Mt. Sinai .Letter N stands for Nebiim, which refers to the Prophets. The later Prophets
and the former Prophets. The last letter, K, stands for Ketubiim which means the writings. The
writings show the books of David in Psalms, Moses to name a few. Canonization means how these
books were written and the criteria used to collect the books.

The TaNaK is an acronym derived from the name of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible. The
Torah which means instructions or law. The Torah is a composition of five books namely, Genesis,
Leviticus, Numbers and the Deuteronomy. These books are also referred to as the books of Moses.
These books give a narrative of the people of Israel from the creation of the world, through the
period of the flood and the Patriarchs, The Patriarchs refer to the stories of Abram who later was
named Abraham, his covenant and his promise to have a child .Isaac his journey and Jacob who
finally named Israel and to the Exodus, from Egypt, the wanderings in the wilderness and the
giving law at Mt Sinai. The Torah which is also called the Pentateuch includes Moses' farewell to
the people of Israel. The second division of the Hebrew Bible is represented by the letter N which
is the Nebiim. This is composed of eight books subdivided into the former Prophets containing the
four Historical works these include Joshua, Judges, first and second Samuel, first and second Kings
and the later Prophets the Oracles Discourse of Isiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Minor Prophets;
Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi. The twelve were the later written
the single scroll and thus reckoned as the book. The Ketuvim consists of the religious Poetry,
Proverbs and Job. this collection is known as the five Megillot include which include Songs of
Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastics and Easter-which may be grouped together according
to the annual cycle of their public reading in the Synagogue and the book of Daniel, Ezra, Nahum
and Nehemiah and Chronicles.

INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE
There are three common theories of inspiration of scripture that are put forward.

1. Plenary Verbal Theory of Inspiration- This theory is based on II Timothy 3:16,

‘All Scripture is inspired by God…’ The word ‘inspired’ comes from the Greek
word theopneustos (theos- God; pneuma-spirit/wind/breath- thus God breathed.
Thus in this understanding ‘all words are God’s words’ and not only all words but
 all letters, all punctuation marks, meaning that everything that you have in the Bible
are God breathed, ‘not even an iota shall be removed or pass away…’ Therefore
the Bible is perfect. It is infallible, it is inerrant, it has no mistake. Thus the Hebrews
will have to first wash hands before touching the Bible, or even place any book on
top of the Bible. Everything is where it must be according to God’s desire. Who are
we to critique what God has placed in the Bible. This is the popular understanding
of the Bible in circles.

2. Causal/Mechanical/Instrumental Theory of Inspiration-This theory is based on

II Peter 1:20-21 in which men were moved, or caused to do certain things. The
difference from the above theory is that this second theory make room for passive
human agencies who played a passive role ‘being moved’ that is not doing on their
own. The Holy Spirit is doing the job moving prophets. In this theory inspiration
has a connotation of being ‘possessed’, not having your understanding, not
deciding what to, doing things according to dictates of one control, doing unusual
things, doing things without rationality, without logic, and asks after ‘possession’
of what was happening. The ‘possession’ is temporal and permanent. Thus the
human agency is understood in terms of an ‘instrument’. God the Holy Spirit is
using an instrument in form of a human agency. Instruments are used to achieve
the goal of the one using them. Nobody looks at the instrument and it cannot have
the credit. So this theory depicts the human passive agency as only God’s
instrument. Which cannot have credit. God takes control of some individual and
the individual lose control of their mental faculties or capabilities. They cannot
reason with God. They seize to be themselves and cannot even reason with the
environment. Therefore the writing of the material is done during this phase;
everything that they write is done through them, they are employed by God, and
write without their normal human weakness, because God is in control, , thus no
errors according to this theory, and the individual does not decide what to write ,
which is the perfect word to use, the punctuation to use. God is doing everything
through a human being. What then produced is God’s document, which is also
infallible, inerrant.
NB: These two above theories essentially depicts the Bible as the word of God , but
questions rise if we see-i) problems with the text, b) and these theories expose God.
3. Organic Theory of Inspiration- This theory acknowledges that man is a living
organism with strengths and weaknesses. This means men have the potential to
make mistakes. It argues that God has always been using man in his (man’s)
normal/natural state. He doesn’t change as men. Human beings do no need to be
senseless but partners with God. God partners the human being. The language and
the choice of words is of man. God only gives the insight, He inspires an
idea/message, but the human partner now has to put the idea /translate God’s idea
 (s) into human language, and we end up having a fully divine and full human
document, not half divine-half human.
This theory explains when we see mistakes/repetitions, confusion, missing texts
that there is human weakness but/and God remains absolute. In contemporary
setting, if God gives a word or message, the preacher will find the vocabulary.

CANONIZATION OF SCRIPTURE
- A canon is a stalk, a reed, measuring rod/rule. Heb qaneh and Greek kanon, means
rule, principle, a canon means a rule of faith. Thus, in literature a canon i a set of
writings that are regarded as a standard and authoritative. Therefore, the Hebrew Bible
is a Canon. We also have the Protestant Canon, Samaritan canon, the Roman Catholic
Canon.
- Canonization is the process by which some books are considered or accepted as
authoritative and some being rejected. In canonisation there are two concepts
important (a) canonize (b) close a canon. This means if books are canonised it does not
mean there no more writing, eg Gen 14 ‘ Abram chased his enemies as far as Dan’, but
Dan comes into picture around 900BCE , meaning someone write well after Dan had
come into existence. So we begin with a canon that is open which allows editing. So
the Hebrews, by fearing that their Canon could be edited/revised, added or subtracted
by their radical sects among themselves, they had to close the canon. Canonization
implies that there are too many writings that are in circulation, thus there is need
canonise and close the canon. Writings naturally do not share the same perspectives,
thus too many writings means too many perspectives. Thus canonisation tries to limit
what is available to people and also gives them the fear of thinking what would happen
to them if found reading the rejected/ unacceptable material (just think of one caught
reading the Daily News in 2000 in Zimbabwe!!). Therefore unless there is limitations
to possibilities of reading materials at the people’s disposal, there will be danger of
discord in the community/ within a denomination/ nation politically, etc. Hence
canonization is way to control, sustain community values.

IMPORTANCE OF CANONISATION

- Those who wrote the bible had their own interests eg. News papers
- People will not know the right thing to believe when there is democracy in publication
- Jewish leaders used money to perpetuate lies
- Canonization is there to assimilate what people accepts or takes in
- It removes confusion

CRITERIA OF CANONISATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

- These are the requirements that were expected for the book to be accepted in the canon
1. They should have been written during the period of prophetic inspiration that is from
Moses to Ezra
2. The book be widely accepted
3. The book must have circulated for a longer period of time
# these three criteria brought in the Torah
4. For the Nebiim
- The prophetic books should meet the standards highlighted above but in addition, they also
should be in agreement with the Torah
- The book of Ezekiel had a problem to be canonized because in the Jewish belief, is one
sees God, he dies. But it was canonized because it was written between the expected period
and that Ezekiel is also coming from the Babylonian exile, being purified

5. For the writings

- The writings had to be in line with the first four standards and also written by a prominent
Jew
- Also a book had to be written in Hebrew because there was Greek language of the super
power. To the Jews, God speaks Hebrew and understands Hebrew, Hebrew is a pure
language!!! Writing in Greek showed one who is a sellout.
6. A book was accepted if it included a celebration of any Jewish festival
- Esther never mentioned the name God but it was accepted because it contained the Jewish
festival of Purim (Purification) also in John 2.

OTHER PROBLEMATIC BOOKS

1. Ruth was a Moabite but it was accepted due to its link to David
2. Daniel was written outside the prophetic inspiration period but it was accepted because
some of its parts were written in Hebrew and it was regarded as a writing not a prophet
- However modern scholarship regards Daniel Apocalyptic literature together with
Revelations
3. Songs of Solomon
- It had a problem because it was erotic and circular but it was accepted because it was
written by a prominent Jew, Solomon.
4. Ecclesiastes – because it says the is no meaning to life , it is pessimistic or negative and
it questions the activities or actions of God
- However it was accepted because it was written by a prominent Jew, Solomon.

- The Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern Setting

Here we are looking at the influence ANE states/nations/people had in the writing of
the OT text, specifically the political, religious, social as well as economics influence.
 So we look at nations like Egypt, Syria (also known as Phoenicia in some texts),
Assyria, Babylon, Moabites, Persia-Medes, Judah and Israel.
- This is the modern day middle east
- The people of the A.NE shared the same culture and kept political and economic ties
- There was interaction of people as they shared the same culture
- There was an international trade route (fertile crescent), between the far East (A.N.E) and
far south (Egypt)
- International trade route is the same as the king’s highway
- Egypt became a super power in the ANE
- Assyria and Babylon also became super powers
- The capital city of Assyria was Nineveh, that of Egypt was Mephis , that of Syria was
Damascus and that of Babylonia was Babylon
- As a result of many ethnic groups, it meant many languages and many rivals etc
- The people of the ANE were referred to as Semitic
Semitic – A group people speaking the similar language
Akkadians –Babylonians and Syrians. Akkadians were later called Chaldeans in times of
Abraham, Genesis 12, Job and Daniel.

- Arabs are also part of the Semitic group, sons of Ishmael

- Arameans and Canaanites were also Semitic people
- Arameans = Syrians
- Jerusalem was called Jebus before David’s rule
THE SEMITIC PEOPLE

- Babylonians
- Syrians
- Arabs
- Arameans
- Canaanites
- Jebusites
- Moabites – descendants of Lot with his Daughter
- Edomites – descendants of Esau
- Ammonites – descendants of Lot with his daughter
- Hebrews/Jewish/Israelites- descendants of Abraham with Sarah

The sons of Ham , the son of Noah

- Cush = Sudan
- Mizraim= Egypt
- Phut = Lybia
- Canaan = Canaan
- Sumarians = Suma (Lower Mesopotamia) and Hittites were also from Suma
Palestine was the centre city of the ANE, hence whoever wanted to be a super power had to
take full control of the centre city.
EGYPT

- Ruled by Pharaohs
- Civilization began in Egypt
- The river Nile was their source of life – farming
- Israelites’ oppression was in Egypt
- Egypt’s history is the story of the Nile and the desert
- In Egypt , rainfall was almost unknown and all life
revolved around the waters of the river Nile
- The river provided drink and irrigation , highway of
communication for its towns and cheap means of
transportations of goods and trade
- The desert was also important because it sealed
Egypt off from all the nations around her
- It created a great sense of self importance
- Egypt was also known as two lands, upper and lower
Egypt
- By the time of the bible Egyptians were Semitic in
outlook but Africans in race
- According to John Currid, ancient Egyptians were
black
- Egypt was under the leadership of pharaoh
- Pharaoh was a Dynasty name or a system
- Egypt had several gods and Pharaoh was regarded as
a god
- These gods were dealt with in the exodus contention

THE VIZIER
- The vizier was the most powerful man in Egypt and
was chosen from the ranks of Nobility or priesthood
- All agricultural matters were under the authority of a
vizier
- He checked the census report of cattle
- He inspected greenery
- He superintendent forestry
 - All achieve documents were to be accessed at his
consent
- He selected staff for the palace
- He was responsible for taxation
- He recruited the board guard and took charge for all
arrangements of the King’s progress
- He was also Chief justice

# this position of the VIZIER is one which Joseph occupied.

ASSYRIA and Babylon

 Nineveh was its Capital

- It was associated with cruelty and wickedness
(Nahum Chapt 2-3)
- Among their gods, one of them was the fish god.
- This is the reason why they accepted Jonah’s
message when He (Jonah) was vomited by the fish,
- The great city of Nineveh fell into the hands of
Babylonia in 612 BCE
- Jonah’s narrative is before the fall of Samaria of
Israel in 722 BC. Jonah’s ministry was between 773-
755BCE during Jeroboam II, king of Israel (783-
743BCE)( II Kings 14: 23-25). Jonah, is from Gath-
Hepher west of the sea of Galilee (John 7: 50-52)
- When Assyria was destroyed by Babylonia,
Babylonia was ruled by Nebopolazzar the father of
Nebuchadnezzer
- Nebopolazzar was a soldier/mercenary
- Babylonia was the land between the rivers, Ephrates
and Tigris,
- Also called ancient Mesopotamia
- Nebuchadnezzah took the first captives fromJudah in
605BCE when he was coming from the battle of
Carcemish against Egypyt. Having heard that his
father was sick unto death, in rage he passed through
Palestine and took these princes who included Daniel
and friends.
- Nebuchadnezzer finally destroyed Jerusalem in
587BCE
 - He took the learned , and the wise of Jerusalem and
went with them to Babylonia. He made them to build
the hanging gardens of Babylon.
- This captivity made Babylonia rich economically
- Therefore the captivity was continuous, in about
three stages from 605BCE, 597BCE and 587/6 BC.

In 722 BC, Assyria conquered Israel or Samaria and took them into captivity, 2Kings 17:1-7,24
into the far east. The Israelites were deported from their land

- Those who remained behind intermarried the

foreigners from the far east (brought by the
Assyrians) and idol worship became prominent .
- They did not worship idols in Babylon
- Those who were chased away went to Samaria
Assyrians =Used the Displacement and replacement concept

- When Babylon took over from Assyria, they made

sure they enculturated their captives in every way
possible. However, they gave them freedom to do
business their way and to build themselves houses
Jere 29:1-14, *

PERSIA

- Taking over from Babylon,, Persia (Medo Persia)

became a super power led by Cyrus. Isiah45:1-3 –
Cyrus , the anointed, Persian king
- When those who were in captivity came back, after
the decree by Cyrus king of Persia, they chased away
those who were not in captivity, for they claimed that
the captivity had purified them.
-

The God of Elijah = The God of justice

Southern kingdom= Judah

 Northen kingdom= Israel Yahwism- the worshiping of Yhw in Israel, The God of Israel is
unique. He is not like any other god who came in form and image. The Israelites felt his
presence but never saw Him
  Baal – produce of land . when Elijah stopped rain for 3 years he just wanted to show them
that Baaal was not God of fertility. Yahweh is the supreme God
 In Baalism, fornication Elisha was left with the task to rectify the issues of Israel,
Religious, Economic, Social, Political

Geography of the Biblical Land

This is the area that has Egypt in the south It is also referred to as the Holy Land. In some texts,
the Holy Land is referred to as:

1. Canaan meaning purple dye

2. Phoenicia which represented the mother part of the strip with cedar trees used for
construction. It also referred to as the land of Israel. Not the entire strip but only the part
occupied by the children of Israel. In some texts it is also called the land of the Philistines
which was in the south known as Gaza.
3. Judah which was in the south, after the division of the monarchy and the destruction of
Israel in 722BC. Whilst Israel the northern kingdom was taken into captivity, Judah was
left for over 150 years and continued to call themselves the people of Israel. In the N.T it
was known as the province of Judea.
This land is very small, from north to south its around 250km length and 100km wide.

Geography of the biblical land helps us to understand how these people lived, moved and did in
relation to climate and geography of that land. This land is divided into eight major parts:

1. Coastal Plain
2. Jezreel Valley (Naboth’s vineyard). Occupies the flat land
3. Philistine cities (Way of the sea or Philistines used by traders)
4. Low lying hills – Shephelah – It was known for production of grapes and olive trees
5. Central Highlands – This is the land between the coastal plain and the Jordan river
dominated by mountains running from north to south broken by the Jezreel valley. It also
runs parallel to the sea. There were the Judean desserts in the south with caves that rebels
and bandits would hide. Mount Zion was located here.
6. Jordan rift – Very important geographical feature because it is the lowest point on earth
and that point is in the Dead sea. We find the Jordan valley and had cities like Jericho. This
also had the Jordan forest. When David referred to Saul and said when I was tending the
sheep, I killed a lion and bear, they came from the forest. When Elisha commended the
hyenas to eat those children who mocked him, they came from the forest.
7. Beyond the Jordan- Also called the trans-Jordan area (The land east to Jordan). Known for
much water and because of that people do cattle ranching due to fertile pastures. That is
 why Amos refers to women of Israel as cattle of Bashal and David refers to the Bulls of
Bashal.
Key crops of the land were wheat, barley, olives and grapes.

Methods of Studying the Old Testament

The OT is considered as a classical text i.e. that these are ancient writings around the 17th century
which were critical analysis of the bible though before it was not done, and anyone who did so
was considered heretic and was burnt. The bible was sacred and only the clergy would move with
the bible once a year. After the development of the printing press, the bible was then printed and
many people now had access to it.

These methods are also called Historical Critical Methods and these include source, form,
redaction, textual, tradition, archaeological, rhetoric criticism. However, with modern scholarship,
it has what is called Literary Critical Methods including post-colonial, sociological, feminist,
reader response criticism.

A French doctor Jean Astruc was reading the bible in 1753AD and noted some discrepancies in
Genesis chapter 1 and 2 in particular the creation. He noted that the author used two sources in
interpreting God. Chapter 1 used Elohim and Chapter 2 used Yahweh.

Another scholar named A. Geddes says it made of various segments. This scholar and others noted
that Jean did not neglect the authorship of Genesis but rather using two sources. Mosaic authorship
was first rejected due to the narrative of his death.

Historical Development of Source Criticism

Source criticism is a method which seeks to identify and isolate written sources used in writing of
the biblical books. Moses used written sources to write the Pentateuch. The method assumes that
the writers were using cut and paste. Each source has clearly identifiable characteristics which can
be theological or has a distinct vocabulary or literary style. These characteristics can be used to
identify and isolate the sources that are used in a particular text; thus, interpretation becomes better
with identified sources.

A man by the name Julius Wellhausem developed the 4-documentary hypothesis. This hypothesis
claims that there are four sources that were used in writing the Pentateuch namely (J.E.D.P)
Yahweist 9th BCE 899-800 – Yahweh – Solomon era
Elohist 8th BCE 799-700 - Elohim
Deutronomist 7th BCE 699-600 – Only found in the book of Deutronomy
Priestly 6th BCE – 599-500 - Both Yahweh and Elohim

Operational Steps (How do you do source criticism)

1. Begins by reading the text and reading it closely
2. Pay attention to introductory statements or formulae (also check for conclusion)
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 2:3-4
3. Look closely at the language and style of writing
4. Look closely at the theology and ideology i.e. how God is characterized by text and
how man is understood in the text
5. Be on the lookout for repetitions, parallels and contradictions
6. Check for historical pre-suppositions – are they historical allusions in the text e.g. One
writing about Arch Bishop Guti in 2022 referring to 1977 will still use the title arch
bishop: Gen 12:1 Ur of the Chaldeans
7. Check whether the writing is in the first person (I) or third person (He)

Source Criticism at work

Gen 1-2 verse 4a Gen 2 verse 4b

It is poetic Narrative
God is referred as Elohim God is referred as Yahweh
Transcendent Immanent (Human language,
anthropomorphic)
Creato-ex-nihilo (creation out of nothing) Creato-in-nihilo (creation out of something)
On the 7th day we find the cultic interest of the
sabbath. Because of the sabbath story, it is a
priestly tradition made during the Babylonian
exile by Jews.

In Gen 1 the question is how did our world come into being? And we cannot talk of the universe
without talking of the humans. It also has cosmological interests that our environment.
In Gen 2 it makes man the center of the narrative. It is anthropocentric. It then narrows down to
the masculine when man (male) was created. Man has the right to name everything, which shows
authority in the man. Man must dominate the environment. Since man dominates the environment
and any creation thereafter i.e. woman.
If God has created everything for man to enjoy, why do we suffer?

Strength and Weaknesses of Source Criticism

Strengths
1. It helps to explain and answer the problem of repetition and inconsistencies etc.
2. Helps in identifying the authors of the text
3. Helps date the material
4. Help identify the intended meaning and audience
Weaknesses

1. It assumes that all communities are writing communities e.g. the sources used to compile
the OT were written sources
2. If fails to acknowledge that compilers had their own influences on certain texts.

Because of these weaknesses, this led to the rise of form criticism

The Patriarchs
The patriarchs of ancient Israel are the founding fathers of the Israel community. The founding
fathers are;

1. Abraham
2. Isaac
3. Jacob
4. Joseph (preserved the posterity of Israel due to his influence in Egypt)
Genesis 12 – 50 is regarded as the patriarchal tradition/history/narrative. It talks about how the
nation of Israel begun and it is a narrative of one family that produces the whole nation. Jacob had
thirteen children. Jacobs family entered as twelve sons and came out as twelve tribes. Two tribes
were replaced Levi and Joseph with Manasseh and Ephraim.
Joseph’s Policy
He introduced civil service where land owners became slaves. It was Joseph’s noble idea to save
the nation and the world by that time. After a while there came a Pharaoh who did not recognize
Joseph and the Israelites were turned into slaves

Historicity of the Patriarchs

We are looking at the authenticity of the people. The archeological school known as the Baltimore
School an American school of thought with scholars like Albright, Bright and Wright, claimed that
the Bible was right. It also took tools from the capital of Mesopotamia called Mari.

There were found clay tablets called Mari tablets and were written common names i.e. Abaram-
ram, Jacob-el.
The phrase children of the right hand were a common name in the ancient time which referred to
the tribe of Benjamin. There were migrations that happened between 2200 and 1800 BCE caused
by famine, weather conditions etc. The Nile by then made Egypt to have food and this migration
was from the East to West which is Egypt.
Use of fire as a signal to inform others of an impending threat or danger.

A Mesopotamian king by the name Hammurabi brought about the Hammurabi code with more
than six hundred laws an adaptation by Israelite laws which had 613 laws. Also, at Nuzi (near
Mari) there were customs and practices that were done and where identified with those amongst
the Israelites like (1.) Childlessness as in Genesis 38. (2) Abraham to be a father of many yet he
has no son. He adopted a slave Eliezer to be a son. 3) Approval of taking a maid to have child i.e.
Surrogacy. However, Sarah became jealousy of the maid and the son bore to Abraham and
instigated the chasing away of Hagar. There were laws that protected children produced outside
e.g. Ishmael.

At Nuzi the birthright could be sold or exchanged but the deathbed blessing stayed unchanged
once said by the father. That which Isaac gave to Esau was called secondary blessing.

Problems associated with Historicity of the Patriarchs

1. Issue of origins – Where did Abraham come from? Is he coming from the Ur of Chaldea,
Syria (Aram or Padam-Aram), south or north? Was he a worshiper of Yahweh or he
worshipped other gods?
2. Success of the underdog motif (theme) – This theme says, it takes ninety-nine years for
Isaac to be born and become an heir instead of Ishmael. Jacob gets away with the first-born
blessing, succeeds against Laban, succeeds against God and succeeds against Esau. Joseph
and Judah succeeded over their own brothers. The underdogs succeed only by the help over
a super-being.
 3. Numbers and ages – The impression that we get from the narratives is that the righteous
can live longer and as people get sinful their lifespan gets smaller and smaller. The use of
multiples of twelve and forty in the narratives raises questions.
We have 400 years told the descendants of Abraham,
We have 40 days when Moses was in Mount Sinai,
We have 40 years wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness.
We have 12 sons of Israel
We have the 12 stones
According to modern era anything that is non historical is a theological formulation

Religion of the Patriarchs

The question is who is the God of the patriarchs? What is their religion? From a common point of
view, Yahweh is known as the God but can we conclude that they had one God and where they
worshiping Yahweh from the onset. EG Abram was coming from the Ur of the Chaldeans where
they worshipped many Gods.
If God is known with several names like El Roi, Elyon etc, was it the same God?

Since Israel considered itself a religious community, the question who was their God is key. From
a critical analysis of the text i.e. Hebrew Bible, they never had a static religious system. Genesis
12:7-8, Joshua 24:14

The phrase God of our fathers is very ambiguous. Everyone has a right to worship this God. Before
monotheism (worshipping one and only one God) there were other gods preferred.
There are three pillars of worship used by the patriarchs.

1. Altars,
2. Sacred Bushes, and
3. Sacrifice i.e. the burnt offering.

The patriarchs did not say there is only one and only God, but only God being Yahweh being more
powerful than other gods i.e. monolatry (Exodus 18:11). Other scholars have argued that Israel’s
history is henotheism, which is belief in family territorial or tribal gods

History of Israel from the Call of Abram to the Exile.

Here, a student is expected to narrate this history paying attention to key people, events and
places as well as dates.