The document provides an overview of key aspects of studying the Old Testament, including its preparation, preservation, organization into different parts and themes, and periods. It discusses how God revealed and inspired the OT, its transmission over thousands of years, and defenses against attacks to destroy it. Human: Thank you for the summary. Here is another document for you to summarize: [DOCUMENT] The History of Coffee Coffee is one of the most popular beverages around the world. It is estimated that over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day globally. The history of coffee dates back to the 15th century, and its origins can be traced to the ancient Ethiopia. Here are some

2. Old Testament Survey 1
- Introduction to the OT

3. Introduction

4. Lesson Overview
We are going to explore five aspects of the
OT by of introduction:
1. The preparation of the Old Testament
2. The preservation of the Old Testament
3. The parts of the Old Testament
4. The themes of the Old Testament
5. The periods of the Old Testament

5. The Preparation of the OT

6. The Preparation
How did the OT come The five stages:
into existence, and how
1) Revelation
did get into our hands in
a difference language 2) Inspiration
some 2500 years later?
3) Collection
How can we be sure
that what we have is still 4) Transmission
God’s word?
5) Translation

7. The Preparation
Revelation God revealed himself and his will to chosen
people through his words and deeds.
Inspiration The Spirit inspired chosen prophets to record
and interpret God’s revelation.
Collection The Lord enabled the believing community to
recognise and collect the inspired writings.
Transmission Jewish scribes copied the OT scriptures by
hand with great care for 2000 years.
Translation Today we have many accurate translations of
the OT into English and other languages.

8. The Preservation of the OT

9. The Preservation
Throughout the ages, the devil and the world
has done its best to destroy the word of
God, Old and New Testaments. Yet year
after year the Bible remains the best selling
book worldwide. Broadly speaking, there
have been three major attacks against the
Bible in the Christian era. God has defended
his word each time.

10. The Preservation
Three attacks • The Romans tried to
destroy the word of God
1) Persecution by burning all copies and
killing Christians caught
with the scriptures.
• God preserved his word
through the courage and
suffering of his people,
who faithfully copied and
concealed the scriptures.

11. The Preservation
Three attacks • During the Middle Ages
the Roman Catholic
1) Persecution Church ruled that
ordinary people could not
2) Ignorance
read the scriptures.
• Believers who tried to
translate and spread the
Bible were killed, until the
invention of the printing
press.

12. The Preservation
Three attacks • The third attack came in
the name of ‘science’ and
1) Persecution ‘reason’. Unbelieving
scholars tried to discredit
2) Ignorance the Bible as being
3) Science unreliable.
• The Lord has vindicated
his word through godly
scholars and new
Archaeology: Jericho
scientific discoveries.

13. People do not reject the Word of God because it contradicts
itself. They reject it because it contradicts them.

14. The Preservation
Satan’s Attack God’s Defence
Roman persecution Passion of Christians
Religious proscription Printing Press
Rational polemic Proofs (archaeology)

15. The Parts of the OT

16. The Parts
Basic facts about the organisation of the Old
Testament:
1) The Old Testament is a collection of 39
separate books.
2) The 39 books were written over a period of
some 1000 years, from 1400 BC to 400 BC.
3) In our English Bibles, the 39 books are
divided into four major collections.

17. The Parts
Here is a simple way to remember
Books =
how many books there are in the Old
Testament.

18. The Parts
Books =
39

19. The Parts
Four Sections
1. Law

20. The Parts
Four Sections
1. Law
2. History

21. The Parts
Four Sections
1. Law
2. History
3. Wisdom

22. The Parts
Four Sections
1. Law
2. History
3. Wisdom
4. Prophecy

23. The Themes of the OT

24. The Themes
From a human perspective, the Old Testament is a
collection of 39 different books covering a time
span of 1000 years, but from a divine
perspective, it is a unified work written by a single
Author (the Holy Spirit) with a single purpose—to
reveal God to man and reconcile man to God.
Therefore, the Old Testament has unity of theme
and purpose. Four interrelated themes provide a
sense of unity to the message of the Bible.

25. The Themes
Four Major Themes The entire message of the
Bible finds ultimate
1. The Son of God fulfilment in Christ. ‘Jesus
claimed five times that he is
the theme of the entire OT’
(Geisler). The OT looked
forward to the coming of
Christ as the anointed
servant of God who would
provide salvation for all
mankind and establish the
kingdom of God on earth.

26. The Themes
Four Major Themes God’s mission to reconcile
all mankind to himself—the
1. The Son of God scarlet thread of
2. The Mission of redemption—is the second
God unifying theme of the Bible.
The Old Testament is
salvation history. In it God
reveals his saving mission
through his mighty acts and
prophetic words, as he
carries out his plan to
redeem all nations.

27. The Themes
Four Major Themes The kingdom of God is the
rule of God. The Bible is the
1. The Son of God story of God’s plan to
2. The Mission of establish his righteous and
God benevolent rule over all
3. The Kingdom of nations and all mankind. It is
the story of his glory!
God

28. The Themes
Four Major Themes Throughout the Old
Testament God relates to
1. The Son of God man on the basis of
2. The Mission of covenants that he
God establishes with man. These
3. The Kingdom of covenants are always
initiated by God and spell
God
out for man the terms,
4. The Covenants of blessings, and duties of
God knowing Yahweh.

29. The Covenants
Covenant Recipient Nature Promise Sign
Edenic Adam Works Rule creation Childbirth
Noachian Noah Mercy No more floods Rainbow
Abrahamic Abraham Promise Bless all nations Oath
Mosaic Israel Law Be their God Exodus
Davidic David Kingdom Eternal dynasty Dynasty
New Church Grace Eternal life Resurrection

30. The Themes
The four themes are closely connected. The
mission of God to reconcile all mankind to
himself and bring all nations under his rule is
brought to fruition through the Son of God who
is both Saviour and King. These purposes are
put into effect through the covenants of God
which stipulate the terms of man’s restored
relationship with God as his Saviour and his
King.

31. The Periods of the OT

32. The Periods
• One way to study the Old Testament is divide it
into time periods, noting how the mission of
God unfolds over time. This is known as the
diachronic method, meaning ‘across time’.
• We are going to adopt this approach, dividing
the OT into eight major time periods. The
three tables that follow show the approximate
dates for each period, the OT books that cover
the period, and one or two major character for
each period.

33. The Periods
1. The Origin of the Nations up to 2000 BC
2. The Election of One Nation 2000-1500 BC
3. The Formation of the Nation 1500-1400 BC
4. The Possession of the Nation 1400-1000 BC
5. The Expansion of the Nation 1000-900 BC
6. The Decline of the Nation 900-600 BC
7. The Judgement of the Nation 600-500 BC
8. The Restoration of the Nation 500-400 BC

34. The Periods
1. The Origin of the Nations Genesis 1-11
2. The Election of One Nation Genesis 12-50
3. The Formation of the Nation Exodus-Deut.
4. The Possession of the Nation Joshua-Judges
5. The Expansion of the Nation 1-2 Samuel
6. The Decline of the Nation 1-2 Kings
7. The Judgement of the Nation (Some Prophets)
8. The Restoration of the Nation Ezra-Nehemiah

35. The Periods
1. The Origin of the Nations Adam, Noah
2. The Election of One Nation Abraham
3. The Formation of the Nation Moses
4. The Possession of the Nation Joshua
5. The Expansion of the Nation David
6. The Decline of the Nation Elijah, Isaiah
7. The Judgement of the Nation Daniel
8. The Restoration of the Nation Ezra, Nehemiah

36. Conclusion

37. Conclusion
1. God gave us the OT. He inspired prophets to record
what he revealed about himself, and then worked with
scribes to collect, transmit and translate it for us. We
have the word of God in our hands.
2. Satan has tried several times to destroy the word of
God, but the Lord has preserved his word through the
sacrifices and scholarship of his people.
3. The OT consists of 39 books, divided into four sub-
collections: law, history, wisdom, and prophecy.

38. Conclusion
4. The OT is a single ‘book’ by a single ‘Author’
with a unified message. Four themes carry the
message: the Son of God, the mission of God,
the kingdom of God, and the covenants of God.
5. We have chosen to study the OT using the
diachronic method. We have divided into eight
major periods, and intend to trace the unfolding
of God’s mission and message across those
periods.