Introduction to the

Old Testament
 1. Early World
• Books of the Bible
– Genesis 1-11
• Main History
– Creation
– Adam and Eve
– The Fall
– Noah and the Flood
– Tower of Babel
• Before 2000 BC
– No way to know the dates
of these very ancient times
 2. Patriarchs
• Books
– Genesis 12-50
– Job
• Main History
– Call and promises to
Abraham
– Isaac and Rebecca
– Jacob/Israel
– 12 sons of Israel
– Joseph in Egypt
• 2000 BC – 1700 BC
Jacob blesses Judah
 3. Egypt and Exodus
• Books
– Exodus
– Leviticus
• Main History
– 400 year slavery in Egypt
– Call of Moses
– Ten Plagues
– Passover
– Red Sea
– 10 Commandments
– Golden Calf
– Manna
– Tabernacle
• 1700 BC – 1280 BC
 4. Desert Wanderings
• Books
– Numbers
– Deuteronomy
• Main History
– The People rebel against
God and Moses
– 40 years of travel in the
dessert
– Bronze serpent
– Moses strikes the rock from
which water comes
– 12 spies sent into the
promised land
• 1280 BC – 1240 BC
 5. Conquest and Judges
• Books
– Joshua
– Judges
– Ruth
• Main History
– Israel crosses the Jordan
– Fall of Jericho
– Promised land is allotted to
the 12 tribes
– Judges like Gideon and
Samson
• 1240 BC – 1050 BC
 6. Royal Kingdom
• Books
– 1 Samuel
– 2 Samuel
– 1 Kings 1-11
– Psalms
– 1 Chronicles
– 2 Chronicles
– Proverbs
– Ecclesiastes
– Son of Songs
• Main History
– People ask for a King
– God makes covenant with
David
– Solomon builds the Temple in
Jerusalem
• 1050 BC – 930 BC
 7. Divided Kingdom
• Books
– 1 Kings 12-22
– 2 Kings
– 2 Chronicles
– Obadiah
– Joel
– Amos
– Jonah
– Hosea
– Isaiah
– Micah
• Main History
– The 12 tribes of Israel split (North – 10)
(South – 2)
– Both the northern and Southern Kingdoms
fall into idolatry and unfaithfulness to the
covenant
– During the divided kingdom God sends many
prophets to bring people back to God
• 930 BC – 722 BC
 8. Exile
• Books
– 2 Kings (last chapters)
– 2 Chronicles
– Tobit
– Nahum
– Zephaniah
– Jeremiah
– Lamentations
– Baruch
– Habakkuk
– Daniel
– Ezekiel
– Judith
• Main History
– In 722 BC Israel (the Northern tribes) falls to Assyria
– The 10 northern tribes are eventually absorbed into the
Assyrians
– Beginning in 587 BC the Southern tribes are exiled to Babylon
– The Temple is destroyed
– The Babylonian exile last for 70 years
– God sends prophets with a message of hope Exile to Babylon
– It is during the exile that God’s people learn the meaning of
faithfulness
• 722 BC – 540 BC
 9. Return
• Books
– Ezra
– Nehemiah
– Zechariah
– Haggai
– Ester
– Malachi
• Main History
– King Cyrus allows religious
freedom
– Judah begins rebuilding their
temple but with difficulty
– Ezra the priest begins teaching
the people the scriptures
• 538 BC – 167 BC
 10. Maccabean Revolt
• Books
– 1 Maccabees
– 2 Maccabees
– Wisdom
– Sirach
• Main History
– Palestine eventually came into the
hands of the Seleucids who insisted
that all forsake their local religions
and fully accept Hellenism
– Antiochus Epiphanes desecrates the
temple
– Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers
revolt against the Greeks
– Through much courage and
bloodshed they won their
independence for a time
– In 164 the Temple is purified
• 167 BC – 0
 4 Types of Books in the OT
• 1. Law
– The first 5 books of the Bible, most
important in the Jewish Tradition
– Torah – Law
– Pentateuch – “5 volumes”
– Moses traditionally credited as the
author
• 2. History
– History of the people of Israel from
conquest of Canaan to the end of the
Kingdoms of Israel & Judah
– Also includes the Maccabees
 4 Types of Books in the OT
• 3. Wisdom
– Most are verse and poetry about
the greatness, justice and mercy
of God, and the futility of hoping
in things of this world
God blessing Job after
• 4. Prophecy his sufferings
– During the period of the Kingdom
through the Exile
– Prophets sent to warn of
disasters then to comfort and
promise that God will save His
people
The Prophet Isaiah
Creation
 Genesis
• Genesis – means birth or origin
• The book of Genesis is a book of
beginnings
– Origin of the world
– Origin of the human race
– Origin of sin and suffering
– Origin of nations
– Origin of languages
– Origin of Israel
1st Account of Creation

The World of the Hebrews

 Orderly Creation
• Day 1: created day
and night (time)
• Day 2: created Sky
and sea (space)
• Day 3: created land
and vegetation (life)
– On the first three days
God creates the
context in which his
creatures will live
The link within the six days is a literary device for remembering and understanding
• Day 4: created the
sun, moon, and stars
• Day 5: created birds of
the air sea creatures
• Day 6: created animals
and man
– On the last three days
God creates the
inhabitants for each
realm he created
 Teachings of the
1st Creation Account
• There is only one God
– No other creature or heavenly body is divine as many in
the ancient world believed
• God is the creator of all
– There is no sub-creator as many Greeks believed
• God created all with his word and without effort or
necessity
– “And God said…and it was so”
– God created freely out of his own generosity
– God created things “out of nothing”
 Teachings of the
1st Creation Account
• All things created by God are good
– Each day (except the 2nd day) God pronounces his
creation good
• Humanity is the summit of God’s creation
– “…it was good…it was very good”
– Creation is meant to serve humanity
– Man is a steward of Creation
• There is a profound order and wisdom in creation
– First three days & last three days
• Answers the fundamental question of our origin
– Not disordered chaos, not meaningless chance, but
divine and good
 Image of God—Gen 1:27
A B C D
• God created man in his image

D A B C
• In the divine image he created him

D A B C
• Male and female he created them

• This kind of repetition is a Semitic literary device

which gives emphasis and understanding
• Male and Female together are in God’s image
 Image of God
• God
1. God knows all truth and is truth
2. God is all loving and love itself
3. God is a communion of persons:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
4. God is the creator of all things
visible and invisible
5. God’s providence guides the
universe in every particle
• Man
1. Intellect – can know the truth
2. Will – can love
3. Entering into Communion –
can have relationships
4. Co-creator with God – can
become parents
5. Steward of creation – can
cultivate the worlds resources
 Purpose of Creation
• The world was created for the glory of God who
wished to show and communicate himself
through creation
• Glory of God – manifestation of divine attributes
– Goodness
– Truth
– Beauty
– Eternal
• “The glory of God is man fully alive; moreover
man’s life is the vision of God.” (St Irenaeus.)
– The human person fully alive reflects God’s glory
more than all creation
 Creation and Evolution
• There is no innate contradiction between creation and
evolution
– If one acknowledges God as the source and the guiding principle
of all things
– This even applies to the human species so long as one holds
that the soul is immediately created by God
• St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. 395) and St. Augustine (d. 430)
both introduced the idea of a dynamic universe
– ‘Seminal energy’ – there was an initial seed/germ of all things
that developed toward the natural order planned by God
• In fact the Big Bang theory was proposed by Monsignor
Lemaître who was a Catholic priest, physicist and
astronomer
2 Account of Creation
nd
 Unity of the Human Race
• All peoples are part of the unity of the
human
– All people have a common origin in God
– All nations descent from our first parents (cf.
acts 17:26)
• “…the LORD God formed man of dust
from the ground” (Gen 2:7)
– humble origin
– Despite individual, racial, or national pride we
are all one race
 Marriage among Relatives
• How we all came from Adam and Eve
– God desires the human family to extend
outward not inward (St. Augustine)
– This explains why marriage between close
family relatives (e.g. brother and sister) were
forbidden only after the human race had
grown into several nations
– In the early world marriage between close
family relatives worked to expand the human
family
 The Body and Soul
• “God…breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living being” (Gen 2:8)
• The human person is at once bodily and spiritual
– Soul and body form one nature
– We are not souls trapped in bodies
– Nor are we simply material and biological beings
• Soul – first principle of natural life
– The body lives because of the soul
– The spiritual soul includes our intellect and will
– The soul is immortal and continues to exist after one’s
death
 Man and Woman
• Equal in dignity
– “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”
– Men and women are equally human persons
• Reciprocal complementarity
– Man and woman form a communion of persons
– Each different and unique
– God has willed them one “for” the other
• “one flesh”
– They are called to transmit life by forming in
matrimony “one flesh”
 Original Holiness
• Original holiness & justice
– Shared God’s divine life
– Integrity of body and soul
– Immortality (no death)
– Impassibility (no suffering)
• Four harmonies
– God with man
– man within himself
– man with woman
– man and creation
 The Fall
• The First Sin
– Deception of the Devil
– Distrust of God
– Disobedience
• Dynamic of Sin
– Adam blamed God and Eve
– Eve blamed the serpent
• Punishment
– Adam and Eve lost for
themselves and their
descendents the original
grace of holiness
 Original Sin
• Original Sin
– State of being deprived of
original holiness and Justice
• Effects of Original Sin
– Ignorance
– Suffering
– Death
– Concupiscence – inclination
toward sin
• Wounded in our natural
powers but not totally
corrupt
 Original Sin
• All human beings are born with Original Sin
– It is “contracted” by us not “committed” by us
– Transmitted to the descendents of Adam not by
imitation but by propagation
– It is a state of birth and not a personal sin
• Lost Inheritance
– If one’s parents are very wealthy their children would
inherit that wealth (wealth = Original Holiness)
– But if at any time one’s parents squandered their
wealth their children likewise would have no
inheritance (lack of inheritance = Original Sin)
 Protoevangelium
• “I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed; he shall
crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
(Genesis 3:15)
• Protoevangelium = First Gospel
• Mysteriously foretells God’s plan of salvation
– The woman: Mary
– Her seed: Jesus
– Crush/bruise: victory over evil
– Through Redemption God brings
a greater good than even before
the fall
Epic of Gilgamesh
Table 1. Parallels between Creation and the Flood

Creation Flood
1:2 the deeps (tehom) 7:11 the deeps (tehom)
1:2 the wind 8:1 the wind
1:6-7 splitting of waters 7:11 reuniting of waters
1:14 rhythm of nature 8:22 rhythm of nature resumed
1:26-27 create humanity 6:7 wipe out humanity
1:28 divine blessing 9:7 divine blessing
1:11-12, 21, 24-25 classification of animals 6:20, 7:14 classification of animals
1:29-30 provisioning of food 6:21 provisioning of food
1:28 divine blessing 9:7 divine blessing
Adam: first man 5:28-29 Noah: Second Adam

Adam has 3 sons Noah has 3 sons

 Table 2. Parallel Structure of Genesis 1-11

Creation to Noah Flood to Abram

(10 Generations) (10 Generations)
A. Creation (1-2) A. Re-creation (8:1-9:17)
        1. Deeps (1:2)         1. Deeps (8:2)
        2. Blessing (1:22)         2. Blessing (8:17)
        3. Mandate (1:28)         3. Mandate (9:1-2,7)
        4. Food (1:29-30)         4. Food (9:3)
        5. Adam worked the ground (2:15)         5. Noah worked the ground (9:20)
B. Adam and Eve ate fruit of the tree (3) B. Noah drank fruit of the vine (9:18-28)
        1. Fruit of the tree (1-7)         1. Wine (20-21)
        2. Nakedness exposed (3:7)         2. Nakedness viewed (9:21-23)
C. Ham sinned and Canaan was
C. Cain sinned and was cursed (4)
cursed (9:25-27)
D. Genealogy: Adam to Noah (5) D. Genealogy: Sons of Noah (10)
E. Sons of God (6:1-4) E. Tower of Babel (11:1-9)
        1. Divine-human mix (6:1-2)         1. Reach heaven (11:4)
        2. Men of a name (6:4)         2. Make a name (11:4)
The World of the Hebrews