The Old Testament Blogs

The Old Testament is the story of the Jews, whose GENESIS as a people began when God called Abraham and his descendants to be His special people. Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, took his family to Egypt, where they and their descendants stayed 400 years, until they grew so great in population that Egypt enslaved them and God sent Moses to lead them in an EXODUS from Egypt, first to Sinai, where they received laws recorded in a book named LEVITICUS, after which they were counted and the NUMBERS were huge. They wandered around for forty years, at the close of which Moses made a speech written down in a book called DEUTERONOMY. Then Moses’ protegé, JOSHUA, took over and led them into the promised land, where JUDGES led them for more than 300 years,during which a Moabite girl, RUTH, married Boaz, a kind relative of her deceased husband; their great grandson, David, became king of the whole country. He was annointed by a man named SAMUEL, who had anointed Saul as Israel’s first king. David was the second of three KINGS (Saul, David, Solomon) who ruled over a united kingdom. Someone later wrote CHRONICLES of all the royal families, including those who ruled after the kingdom divided. Elijah and Elisha were strong prophets of this era. Finally, both kingdoms were taken captive by mighty enemies and, after about 70 years, only the people of the southern kingdom, Judah, were allowed to return to their own land. EZRA and NEHEMIAH led them to get reestablished. During the years of exile, ESTHER, a Jewish girl, had become queen and saved the Jews from annihilation. Five books of wisdom emerged: JOB, PSALMS, PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES and SONG OF SOLOMON. Two of the prophets who warned of God’s judgment were ISAIAH and JEREMIAH (famous for his LAMENTATIONS). EZEKIEL and DANIEL were prophets during the captivity in a foreign land. Other prophets who warned of judgment were HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, and ZEPHANIAH. Prophets who appeared after the return from exile were HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH and MALACHI.