Sunday School Notes for 8/15/04

Introduction to the Old Testament II: Some Common Themes of the Old Testament
Relationship Builders Sunday School
Sunday, August 15 2004

I. Seed of the Woman vs. Seed of the Serpent—Gen 3:15
a) All men, including all biblical characters, fall into one group or another
b) Can be thought of not as “marble and granite” (two different kinds of the same thing) but as “Yankees and Red Sox” (two different eternally opposed teams or armies)
c) Can be seen throughout biblical stories (some more obvious than others); examples . . .
i) David and Goliath (1 Sam 17)
(1) Note how Goliath is described (v.5)—“coat of mail” actually means “scales” (not used in any other description of armor in the bible)
(2) How does Goliath die? (vv.49-50)
ii) Other “head crushings”
(1) Abimelech (Judges 9, esp. v. 53-57)
(2) Dagon, the Philistine god/idol (1 Sam 5:1-7, esp. v. 4)
iii) Saul and Nahash (1 Sam 11)
(1) “Nahash” means “serpent”
(2) Saul’s first test as king is a battle against a “serpent”
(3) Compare to Adam in the Garden (Gen 3) and Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4)
II. Death and resurrection—God often uses death (or near-death) in the process of making (or re-making) things
a) The flood (Gen 6-9)
i) Wickedness is rampant, culminating in the Sethites (“son’s of God”) intermarrying with the Cainites (“daughters of men”)—Gen 6:1-2
ii) God breaks and destroys the world (note: He does this by water)
iii) Out of that death, He delivers a “remnant”—Noah and his family
iv) The world is renewed—note the parallels in language between Gen 9:1-7 and Gen 1:27-31
v) Compare all this language with the story of Moses’ deliverance as an infant from the Egyptians (Ex 2, esp. v. 3)
b) Joseph (Gen 37-50)
i) Jacob’s sons (God’s “people”) act wickedly
ii) Joseph “dies” by being sent to Egypt as a slave
iii) God raises Joseph from nothing to a position of power and influence
iv) God’s people are “saved” and “reborn” through the faithfulness of Joseph
c) Israel in the Exodus
i) God delivers His people “with a mighty hand” from Pharoah
ii) Israel turns to wickedness and grumbles
iii) God “destroys” His people (an entire generation) in the wilderness
iv) His people are reborn through “a remnant” being saved
v) The world is renewed in the Promised land
d) Exile and restoration
i) God destroys and exiles His people at the hands of Assyria (northern kingdom) and Babylon (Judah)—2 Chron 36, 2 Kings 24-25
ii) God “saves” a remnant of his people (e.g., Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah)
iii) His people are “reborn”, and Jerusalem is “renewed” (though less gloriously)
e) The death of “deep-sleep”; examples:
i) Adam “dies” in order that Eve may be “born” from him (Gen 2:21-23)
ii) Abram “dies” in order that God may covenant with him, promising him new life as father of nations (Gen 15)
III. Miscellaneous Other Themes
a) Faith vs. unbelief (as opposed to Law vs. Gospel)
b) Water
i) Flood/baptism (compare 1 Peter 3:20b-21)
ii) Wells (throughout Genesis)
(1) Digging wells (or having them filled up—Gen 26:15)
(2) Meeting and marrying by wells (Isaac/Rebecca, Jacob/Rachel, Moses, Jesus [Jn 4])
iii) Red Sea (Exodus 14) and Jordan River (Joshua 3)
(1) Both waters divided
(2) Both delivered God’s people into a “land of promise”
(3) Again, note the inescapable connection to baptism—water kills the wicked and delivers the righteous
c) Garden/Promised Land/Tabernacle/Temple vs. “east”, “wilderness”, etc.
d) Kingly lordship (often associated with wearing robes) vs. slavish servitude
i) Example of Joseph (Gen 37ff)
ii) Jacob (“robe” of animal skin) and Esau (mess of porridge)
iii) Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4)
iv) Israel as a whole
(1) Was supposed to rule the nations for God’s glory (“creation mandate”)
(2) Saw great splendor during David/Solomon
(3) Ended up servile under pagan rulers (Ezra/Nehemiah)
e) Egypt
i) Many of the great among God’s people either sojourn in or arise from here
ii) Abraham (Gen 12)
iii) Joseph (Gen 37ff)
iv) Moses (Exodus)
v) Jesus