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Old Testament History

Old Testament History

Part One

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Old Testament History

What’s the point?

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Old Testament History

  1. Every story needs a setting.

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Old Testament History

  1. Every story needs a setting.
  2. We foreigners need local insight.

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“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you

are dead.”

- Revelation 3:1b

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Old Testament History

  1. Every story needs a setting.
  2. We foreigners need local insight.
  3. It reminds us that we’re small.

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Old Testament History

  1. Every story needs a setting.
  2. We foreigners need local insight.
  3. It reminds us that we’re small.
  4. It reminds us that there’s nothing new.

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Old Testament History

  1. Every story needs a setting.
  2. We foreigners need local insight.
  3. It reminds us that we’re small.
  4. It reminds us that there’s nothing new.
  5. It reminds us of God’s big Story.

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Old Testament History

A Brief Overview

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Old Testament History

A Brief Overview

  • Primeval history (before Abraham)
  • History of the Patriarchs

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Old Testament History

Primeval History

  • Sources of historical knowledge

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Old Testament History

Primeval History

  • Sources of historical knowledge
    • Primary Sources

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Archaeological Stratification

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Ancient Technology

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Old Testament History

Primeval History

  • Sources of historical knowledge
    • Primary Sources
    • Secondary sources

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“Now Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain....”

- Genesis 4:1

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“When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness and

after his own image and named him Seth.”

- Genesis 5:3

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“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in

our own image, after our likeness. And

let them have dominion over the over

the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,

over the livestock and everything that creeps on the earth.”

- Genesis 1:26

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“I will bless those who bless you,

and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

- Genesis 12:3

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“When you arrive, look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi.”

- 2 Kings 9:2

“The watchman reported, ‘He reached them, but he is not coming back. He drives like Jehu the son of Nimshi.’”

- 2 Kings 9:20

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“A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided into four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah where there is gold....The second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.”

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“The name of the third river is the Tigris which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth is the Euphrates.”

- Genesis 2:10-14

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Eden?

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“Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

- Genesis 4:16

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Eden?

Nod?

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“...and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”

- Genesis 8:4

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“From these [Shem, Ham, and Japheth] the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language,

by their clans, in their nations.”

- Genesis 10:5

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“Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain. He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.”

- Genesis 4:20-22

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“Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

- Genesis 11:4

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Ancient Ziggurat

3000 – 500 BC

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Old Testament History

Primeval History

  • What other civilizations existed before the appearance of Abraham?

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The Akkadian Empire

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The Akkadian Empire

  • 2350 – 2150 BC
  • First empire uniting disparate cultures
  • Precursor to the later Assyrian and Babylonian empires

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Akkadian Manishtushu Inscription

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Indus Valley Civilization

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Indus Valley Civilization

  • 3300 – 1300 BC
  • Detailed urban planning and public works
  • Advanced building construction methods
  • Evidence of larger cities
  • Uniform system of weights and measures

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Indus Valley Civilization

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Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egypt

  • Early evidence of civilization
  • Early Dynastic Period (3150-2650)
  • The Old Kingdom (2650-2150)
  • First Intermediate Period (2150-2050)

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Memphis, capital of the Old Kingdom when the pyramids were built.

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Ancient Sumeria

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Ancient Sumeria

  • 5500 – 1800 BC
  • Early technology (wheel & pottery)
  • First evidence of settled farming
  • First evidence of monarchy

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Ancient Sumeria

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Ancient Jericho

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Ancient Jericho

  • 9000 BC
  • At least 20 settlements on the OT site
  • First city with a protective wall
  • Hunter-gatherer society
  • First examples of burial

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An 8,000 year old defensive tower in ancient Jericho

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Old Testament History

The Age of the Patriarchs

(c. 2,250 – 1,850 BC)

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How can we date the Patriarchs accurately?

  • Back-date from Solomon’s construction

of the Temple

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“In the Four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel...he began to build the house of the LORD.”

- I Kings 6:1

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How can we date the Patriarchs accurately?

  • Back-date from Solomon’s construction

of the Temple (966 BC)

  • Calculate the reigns of the first kings
    • Saul (1050 – 1010 BC)
    • David (1010 – 970 BC)
    • Solomon (970 – 930 BC) The fourth year of his reign (966) plus 480 = 1446 BC (the Exodus)

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How can we date the Patriarchs accurately?

  • Calculate the length of the Israelite captivity in Egypt from Exodus 12.

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“The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”

- Exodus 12:40-41

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How can we date the Patriarchs accurately?

  • Calculate the length of the Israelite captivity in Egypt from Exodus 12.
  • 1446 + 430 = 1,876
  • Slavery began after Joseph’s death.

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“Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph.”

- Exodus 1:6-8

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How can we date the Patriarchs accurately?

  • Calculate the length of the Israelite captivity in Egypt from Exodus 12.
  • 1446 + 430 = 1,876
  • Slavery began after Joseph’s death.
  • Almost certainly there was some delay between Joseph’s death and the beginning of Israel’s slavery (time for them to multiply greatly), so we know that the Patriarch dates are at least this old.

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How can we date the Patriarchs accurately?

  • Backdating from Joseph’s death we come up with
  • Joseph (c. 1,986 – 1,876 BC) (110 years old)
  • Jacob (c. 2,077 – 1,930 BC) (147 years old)
  • Isaac (c. 2,137 – 1,957 BC) (180 years old)
  • Abraham (c. 2,237 – 2,062) (175 years old)

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Old Testament History

The Age of Abraham

(c. 2,250 – 2,050 BC)

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“So Abram went, as the LORD had told him. He was seventy-five years old when Abram departed from Haran...and they

set out for the land of Canaan.”

- Genesis 12:4

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“Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.”

- Genesis 12:6

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“From [Shechem] he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east...and Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.”

- Genesis 12:8-9

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“Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there.”

- Genesis 12:10

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“So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron.”

- Genesis 13:18

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“In the days of Amraphel king of shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorleomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela.”

- Genesis 14:1-3

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Battle of the �Valley of Siddim�(Genesis 14)

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Possible location of Sodom and Gomorrah

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Old Testament History

The Age of Isaac and Jacob

(c. 2,150 – 1,900 BC)

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Isaac lived near Beersheva in the Negev.��(Abraham lived near Hebron)

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Isaac lived near Beersheva in the Negev.��(Abraham lived near Hebron)

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“And Sarah died at Kiriath-Arba (that is, Hebron)....And Abraham said to the Hittites, ‘I am a sojourner and foreigner among you. Give me property among you as a burying place for my dead....entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah at the end of his field.”

- Genesis 23:1 & 8

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Old Testament History

The Age of Joseph

(c. 1,986 – 1,876 BC)

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“Pharoah called Joseph’s name Zaphenath Paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.”

- Genesis 41:45

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Old Testament History

Old Testament History

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