January 15, 2008 ASK TIM. Have any questions or comments about tonight s presentation, send Pastor Tim an at:

Transcription

1 The Bible FOR DUMMIES January 15, 2008 ASK TIM Have any questions or comments about tonight s presentation, send Pastor Tim an at: tim@faithcapecoral.org 1

2 TODAY S OUTLINE 1. An All Too Brief History of Palestine 2. Some Book Trivia 3. Genesis Chapters Three Major Issues in Interpretation 2

3 1. AN ALL TOO BRIEF HISTORY OF PALESTINE The Land of Jesus and The Land of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) 3

4 The Early Times Abraham and the Patriarchs 1800 BC - Abraham leaves Haran (Iraq) BC - Ramses II is Pharaoh of Egypt, slaves work under him BC - Wilderness and Exodus Period (Moses) 4

5 THE UNITED MONARCHY BC Saul, David & Solomon The zenith of Israel! THE DIVIDED MONARCHY BC Israel (north) and Judah (south) 5

6 ASSYRIA CONQUERS JUDAH BC (Assyrian Invasion, 721BC) The lost tribes of Israel; the loss of Identity THE BABYLONIAN CONQUEST 586 BC - Southern tribes conquered by Nebuchadnezzar; Jerusalem is destroyed! BC - The Babylonian Captivity 6

7 THE PERSIAN PERIOD THE PERSIAN PERIOD BC King Cyrus encourages a return of Israelites to their homeland. Cyrus supports local culture and thus Judaism is re-established. Many Jews return to Israel (some stay in Babylon and thus continues the Diaspora ). Temple rededicated 515 BC Ezra (457 BC) leads a second return restoration of the Law; Religion of the Book Israel s life now becomes governed by the interpretation of the Bible. 7

8 THE GREEK PERIOD BC THE GREEK PERIOD Alexander the Great begins hellenization Greek education, culture, etc. Greek becomes language of the area (thus New Testament written in Greek) 8

9 THE ROMAN PERIOD THE ROMAN PERIOD 167 BC - The Temple is plundered to support Roman military campaign against Egypt 63 BC - Pompey conquers Jerusalem. Herod s family becomes prominent Kings of Palestine 69 AD - Turmoil in Palestine, Titus torches Temple 9

10 2. SOME BOOK TRIVIA We begin in the beginning (Genesis) 39 books in the Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament) Scripture literally means the word I command you today Bible from Greek word biblion meaning book Written in Hebrew and Aramaic on leather and papyrus Collected in 3 categories Law, Prophets, and Writing By 400 BC everything is written. Materials collected between New and Old Testament named the Apocrypha. The Reformers saw them mostly as interesting, but not inspired from God, thus they are not included in Protestant Bibles. 285 BC Hebrew Scriptures translated into Greek 10

11 Translation known as the Septuagint from the Latin word for 70; Tradition says it took 70 scholars 70 days to complete the task. The Divine is not named in Hebrew the name Yahweh or Jehovah is a derivative of the word to be (I am). The Divine causes to be what comes into existence Heilsgeschicte = salvation history The Old Testament is a history of redemption and promise. The New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ is the heilsgeschicte Faith (Hebrew) means to be secure in Yahweh The fundamental affirmation of the Old Testament is the sovereignty of God. God creates and defines, God is the sole source of life all that is through God. 11

12 AMERICAN AFFINITY FOR OLD TESTAMENT Mayflower Compact modeled after Sinai Covenant America as the new Israel, the Promised Land Pilgrims were on Exodus leaving decadence for new hope Theory of law based on nature of man (Adam) It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the bible are the groundwork of human freedom. Horace Greeley The black experience related to Israel in Egypt seeking promised land 12

13 3. GENESIS CHAPTERS 1-3 Genesis or beginning covers the time from Creation to the Israelite sojourn in Egypt. Chapters 1 11 Chapters Chapters Chapters Chapters The primeval history The history of the fathers / patriarchs Abraham Isaac and his twin sons Esau and Jacob Jacob s family, chief member of which is Joseph GENESIS ONE Very sophisticated theological argument the God of the cosmos creates, from chaos, something that is apart from himself. 13

14 GENESIS TWO God is good and creation is good how to explain evil? Where does it come from? It comes from man! Man, free to choose, makes bad choices. In Mesopotamian religion (of same time) man is created as an afterthought while god (Marmaduke) is in a drunken stupor; for the Hebrews, however, God gives man dignity and choice, created only slightly less than the angels. GENESIS THREE THE FALL -from bliss (Eden/Garden) where man is secure in God, man chooses freedom and must live with the consequences of this freedom (anxiety, suffering, death). Man is not God man is finite, free to act and be judged by his decisions. 14

15 4. THREE MAJOR ISSUES IN INTERPRETATION 1. Who wrote Genesis and when? 2. Is the God of Genesis the God of Jesus? 3. Is Genesis Chapters 1-3 History or Saga? The Young Earth Old Earth Controversy WHO WROTE GENESIS AND WHEN? Tradition: the first five books of the Bible are written by Moses 1250 years before Jesus is born. What many scholars think today: The Old Testament comes from an oral tradition it was not put into written form until a major crisis (the destruction of Israel by the Babylonians in 587 BC) caused the exiles, while living in this strange and alien 15

16 place called Babylon, to give a written account that their traditions and laws and culture would be preserved as a unified collection. To write something and ascribe it to another (Genesis The First Book of Moses) is to give Moses honor as the one who began the oral tradition. By having Moses the author of the oral, but not written tradition, explains how he could die in Deuteronomy Chapter 34. This theory holds that the oral tradition began as early as 1400 BC but was not written down until much later Job, for example, is very old and circulated among oriental sages in the second millennium BC. 16

17 THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS THEORY Genesis is written by an editor (call him P ) who draws on two different oral traditions the oral stories/ traditions of the north (Israel) call it J ; the oral traditions of the south (Judah), call this tradition E. THE DIVIDED MONARCHY BC Israel (north) and Judah (south) 17

18 J is so named because in the north, when people spoke of the divine, they used the name of Jahweh (*translated as Lord God or Lord in RSV) E is so named because in the southern part of the country, people used the name Elohim (the God of hosts; translated as God in RSV) whenever speaking of the divine. Thus, in exile, the stories of the heilsgeschicte (salvation history) as told by the Hebrews who lived in the north and south were combined (edited) to form a new oral tradition for a people in exile the exiles from north and south were now united in a common narrative. 18

19 A FOOTNOTE: COMPARING J AND E: CREATION NARRATIVE E = Genesis 1.24a J = Genesis 2.4b-25 Comparing the Creation Narrative Group 1: Genesis 1:1-2:4a Group 2: Genesis 2:4b-25 How long did creation take? Where did creation take place? When in the process was man created? When in the process was woman created? From what substance are man and woman created? What is the relationship between male and female? What is the relationship between human beings and God? What is the main point or message of the narrative? CONTROVERSY #2 IS the GOD of the Old Testament the GOD of Jesus? Is the God as depicted in these stories (1400 BC 400 BC) consistent with the revelation of Jesus? OR Did Israel s understanding of God develop over time and finally find its culmination in Jesus of Nazareth? 19

20 Karen Armstrong: The History of God argues that our understanding of God has evolved from tribal God (patriarchs) to an ethical God (prophets) to a universal God of compassion (Jesus) Reformed Tradition: Jesus Christ is the word of God, and therefore we are to read and understand the Old Testament through the revelation of Jesus. CONTROVERSY #3 Old Earth or New Earth History or Saga NEW EARTH Read Genesis Chapters 1-3 as history as a rendering of facts - about the creation of the world; literal truth. The Universe is less than 6,000 years old. Scientific evidence for fossil records, carbon dating and any other support for the universe being billions rather than thousands of years old is seen as false. Desire to teach Creationism (young earth in schools along with other theories evolution, etc.). 20

21 OR OLD EARTH Read Genesis 1-3 as a saga (a poetical narrative of historical origin) about God s creation of the universe. Its truth is not limited to literal sense, i.e. the Sun is not created until the fourth day; therefore, the argument goes, these days do not need to be literal, 24 hour days, but each day could represent a time period of undetermined length (even billions of years). WHAT WE BELIEVE The Study Catechism (approved by 210th General Assembly (1998) Question 27: Does your confession of God as Creator contradict the finding of modern science? 21

22 No. My confession of God as Creator answers three questions: Who? How? And Why? It affirms that (a) the triune God, who is self-sufficient, (b) called the world into being out of nothing by the creative power of God s Word (c) for the sake of sharing love and freedom. Natural science has much to teach us about ultimate reality, which points to mysteries that science as such is not equipped to explore. Nothing basic to the Christian faith contradicts the findings of modern science, nor does anything essential to modern science contradict the Christian faith. NEXT WEEK THE LAW The Pentateuch (5 scrolls) 22