Engaging the ot 2a

Engaging the Old Testament

2

Incarnation: A Key Idea

• In the New Testament, God revealed Himself to humanity through the incarnation — that is, God took human form in Jesus of Nazareth.

• In the Old Testament God revealed Himself to a specific group of people, the Israelites.

(2) Where and When Did the Events of the Old Testament Take Place?

• Where Did the Events of the Old Testament Take Place? – Three Regions of the Ancient Near East – Four Subregions of Israel – Highways of the Ancient Near East

• What Events Does the Old Testament Describe? – Israel’s Ancestry: The Patriarchs – Israel’s Beginnings: Moses and Joshua – Israel’s Statehood: David and His Dynasty – Israel’s Exile and Restoration: Ezra and Nehemiah

Regions of the Ancient Near East

The Fertile Crescent

• Mesopotamia • Syria-Palestine • Egypt

Ancient Writing

• Cuneiform — Latin “wedge-form”

©Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Life in Mesopotamia

• Sumerians • Akkadians • Amorites • Babylonians (south) • Assyrians (north)




Egyptian History

Kingdom Dynasty Dates Old Kingdom 3–6 2700–2200 BC Middle Kingdom 11–13 2200–1700 BC New Kingdom 18–20 1550–1100 BC




Subregions of Israel

• Coastal Plains • Central Mountain

Range—The Ridge • The Jordan Rift • The Transjordanian

Highlands

Subregions of the Coastal Plains

• Plain of Acco • Jezreel Valley • Sharon Plain • Philistine Coast • Shephelah • Negeb or Southern

Desert

Highways of the Ancient Near East

Israel’s Ancestry: the Patriarchs

Covering the . . .

• Stone Ages — Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic

• Bronze Age

• Iron Age

Archaeology Periods Prior to the Old Testament

Dates Periods Before 14,000 BC Old Stone Age 14,000–8000 BC Middle Stone Age 8000–4,200 BC New Stone Age 4200–3300 BC Copper-Stone Age 3300–2000 BC Early Bronze Age

Early Bronze Age — 3300 — 2000 BC

• The invention of writing and human history. • Mesopotamia and Sumerians first used

cuneiform • Egypt — hieroglyphics • Syria-Palestine — city states begin to

develop. • Addax (2334-2193) • Egypt — Old Kingdom period — the great

pyramids

Middle Bronze Age — 2000 — 1550 BC

• Ur III dynasty 2112-2004 BC • Amorites rule Mesopotamia • Hammurabi rose to power in 1792 —

establishing the old Babylonian Empire which endured until 1595 BC.

• Egypt — Middle Kingdom period — Hyksos (Semites) take control of Northern Delta region

• This is the the time of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob and his 12 sons.

Old Testament Archaeological Period

Dates Periods 2000–1550 BC Middle Bronze Age 1550–1200 BC Late Bronze Age 1200–930 BC Iron Age I 930–539 BC Iron Age II 539–332 BC Iron Age III

Israel’s Beginnings: Moses and Joshua and the Judges

• Late Bronze Age (1550 — 1200 BC) • Egypt’s New Kingdom era (1550 — 1100 BC) • Babylonian dialect of Akkadian became the

lingua franca of the day. • Syria-Palestine — “factory farms” ruled

largely by warlords holed up in fortified cities.

• The world of Moses and Joshua and the Judges

Who was Pharaoh during the Exodus?

• Scholars have proposed two possible dates for the exodus event: @1446 or 1275 BC (more later)

• So, was it Thutmose III (or perhaps Amenhotep II) of the 18th Dynasty, or,

• Rameses II of the 19th Dynasty?

Israel’s Statehood: Saul, David and His Dynasty

• @1200 BC cataclysmic changes began to occur in the Near East. Major powers — the Egyptians and Hittites — suddenly declined.

• Most scholars assume this began with the fall of Troy (@1250 BC), and the fall of the Mycenaean cities on the mainland of Greece.

• Survivors fled by sea along the Mediterranean — disrupting major powers of the ancient world.

• One group of these survivors were the Philistines — known in Egypt as the “Peleset” from which the term “Palestine” was derived.


Impact of the Sea Peoples — the Philistines • 300 year old political order dissolved

leaving a power vacuum. • Regionalized conflicts — Arameans of

Damascus; Israelites in the highlands; Philistines on the coast.

• Philistines brought new technology — iron working (see 1 Samuel 13:19-22)

Old Testament Archaeological Period

Dates Periods 2000–1550 BC Middle Bronze Age 1550–1200 BC Late Bronze Age 1200–930 BC Iron Age I 930–539 BC Iron Age II 539–332 BC Iron Age III


Impact of the Sea Peoples — the Philistines • It is at the end of the late Bronze Age that

Joshua and the Israelites took Canaan and settled in the central highlands.

• Followed by Judges — loose confederation of 12 tribes

• Followed by kings — 1 Samuel 8:19b-20


• Saul • David — final defeat of the Philistines and

ushered in a period of stability and relative peace.

• Solomon — expanded Israel’s borders to the North — to the Euphrates.

Israelite Kingdom Under Solomon

The Divided Kingdom

• 1 Kings 11:4 • Rehoboam — and the Kingdom divides (1 Kings 12 • Northern Israel (931—722 BC) falls quickly into

religious apostasy under Jeroboam I. Fell to the Assyrians

• Southern Judah (931—587 BC) — under the Davidic dynasty for nearly 350 years — politically stable, religiously growing apostasy — Fell to the Babylonians

Exile and Restoration: Ezra & Nehemiah

• The Persian Age (539—332 BC) — aka Iron Age III.

• King Cyrus — one of the largest empires of the ancient world (see map).

Persian Empire: 6th and 5th centuries BC


• The Persian Empire controlled the ancient world for two centuries.

• Or, until Alexander the Great • Back to Cyrus — tolerance and benevolence

— ended the Jewish exile — fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy — see 2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4


Three returns to Jerusalem:

1. Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua (Ezra 1-6) — rebuilding the temple (see Haggai and Zechariah)

2. Ezra — 458 BC — (Ezra 7-10) — rebuilding the country

3. Nehemiah — 445 BC — (Nehemiah 1-13) — rebuilding the walls

Spiritual

Engaging the ot 2a