Old Testament Essays (Examples)

The Book of Genesis shows humanity as having a turbulent relationship with God, as in spite of the fact that He attempts to provide humans with all the resources required for them to thrive, most people fail to behave ethically. Similarly, when considering their position in regard to each-other, it appears that humans are unhesitant about committing immoral acts against other people. Jacob's act and the acts committed by eleven of his sons demonstrate that people are willing to act against their own kind in order to achieve greatness. Women are mentioned to a lesser degree and it seems that their purpose and the purpose of humanity as a whole is to perpetuate the species and live in honesty. In spite of expectations, humans appear to be determined to sin, as they are attracted to material wealth to a larger degree than they are attracted by spirituality.

The general message…

Many Judeo-Christina ethics are found most explicitly in the proverbs. Among them are purity, chastity, humility, and hard work.

Ecclesiastes: Possibly written by Solomon, this book is a philosophical reflection; another work of poetics/wisdom (Fee & Douglas, 1993). The author reflects near the end of his life that much of his life has been meaningless. The exact reason for this despair is unclear, though it could be because it was not in service of God, or because the pursuit of knowledge through reason alone leads to no ultimate truth. The author concludes that doing God's will is man's only duty.

Song of Songs: Again often attributed to Solomon, the Song of Songs has long been one of the most controversial books of the Bible (Harbin, 2005). It portrays the relationship between God and His people in an amorous and even erotic way. Another way of interpreting the poem is as…

Part 2- Does the Noah's Ark story need to be 100% true for it to have meaning? Hardly, and the two (science and spirituality) can certain coexist and find common ground.

When one looks at creation stories from various cultures, one is amazed at the similarities one finds between cultural explanations. This is perhaps because there are certain common questions that people ask about the "big" questions in life, among which, creation is often predominant. It is in the nature of humans to wonder about the unknown and search for answers. At the foundation of nearly every culture is a creation myth that explains how divine inspiration created the world, nature, and humanity. Within each culture, creation mythology provides the very basis of fundamental structure -- who are we as a species? How and why were created? Is there a master plan?

One must then ask if a creation story…

The scenario of outright conquest seems unlikely because of the vast organization in a relatively short period of time that it would have taken. A fully-armed and organized mass invasion of what was to become their homeland by a returning Israelite force seems, even by modern standards of warfare, to be an arduous and gargantuan task. Would the returning Israelites have actually slaughtered anyone who got in their way? One would think God's chosen people would have shown more mercy than such a plan allows.

The idea of quiet infiltration makes sense on a small scale, but it has limitations. Such a plan would take decades and generations to actually affect change. Even after the passing of much time with infiltration, commerce, intermarrying, etc., what is the guarantee that the governing body would actually be impacted and would surrender and shift?

Revolt: a combination of warfare and infiltration is the…

Old Testament Theme

DAY OF THE LORD

The day of the Lod is a majo theme in the Old Testament, and it is mentioned in the New Testament as well. Remembe, the day of the Lod has two aspects: 1) the histoical aspect, whee some pophecies have aleady been patially fulfilled in histoy, and 2) the eschatological aspect, when pophecies will be fulfilled completely in a futue day. The futue day of the Lod includes both the coming tibulation peiod and the coming millennial kingdom of Chist hee on this eath.

The Day of the Lod is clealy chaacteized by a pouing out of divine wath on God's enemies (Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:18-20; Zech 1:14-15). Imagey of natual disaste, devastating militay conquest, and supenatual calamity is connected to Day of the Lod efeences.

On the othe hand, the day is also chaacteized by a pouing out of divine blessing upon…

Old Testament

Traditional theodicy

The ook of Job presents us several faces of theodicy and all of them make excellent examples of traditional Judaic theodicy. What is theodicy and more importantly, what are the characteristics of traditional Jewish theodicy as they appear in the ook of Job?

A discussion on traditional theodicy could probably start with an extract from Leibnitz's book "Theodicy," written in 1710, where he explains the concept of theodicy by using a syllogism:

Whoever makes things in which there is evil, which could have been made without any evil, or the making of which could have been omitted, does not choose the best.

God has made a world in which there is evil; a world, I say, which could have been made without any evil, or the making of which could have been omitted altogether.

Therefore God has not chosen the best."

Leibnitz overthrows this syllogism by…

Old Testament by Elemer L. Towns the organization PDF book review

Noble Attempt

In many respects, Elmer Towns' non-fictional narrative, A Journey Through the Old testament: The Story of How God Developed His People in the Old Testament, serves as a helpful guide for correctly reading, and interpreting, the most influential events and people that occur throughout the first half the Bible (which is, of course, the Old Testament). Towns' writing style is academic, yet not so scholarly that it is difficult for the layman to comprehend. Furthermore, the author offers a number of direct quotations and passages from throughout the Bible (including some passages from the New Testament) to corroborate his findings. One of the key facets about this particular narrative is that it offers a chronological perspective of the people who directly influenced the events that are the most important in the Old Testament. By doing so, Towns…

Old Testament

Genesis 1: The first, foundational book of the Old Testament, defining the relationship between the creator and the creation. It defines that God and one God alone is the creator of the world.

Genesis 2: Defines the relationship of God to humanity. Humanity is lionized as superior to the other animals. Adam is given the task of naming all of the animals. Eve is portrayed as coming 'from' Adam, suggesting an inferior position of women in the eyes of many readers in successive generations.

Genesis 3: Eve's sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge is deemed greater because of her influence over Adam. Her condemnation to bear children as well as being expelled from the Garden of Eden after being tempted by the Serpent further underlines the inferior position of women in the eyes of many readers. Protestants often read this first major narrative as defining Original…

Old Testament and the Pentateuch

The Old Testament & the Pentateuch

The Pentateuch is the Greek word for the first five books of Moses, which is also the Torah. The first five books of Moses make up the legal and ethical religious texts of Judaism. The Torah is written on a parchment scroll and referred to as the book of Torah, or Sefer Torah in Hebrew (McDermott, 2002). A specially trained scribe writes the Torah in a traditional manner that has formalized strict requirements.

The founding religious document of Judaism consists of three main parts and, in its totality, is referred to as the Tanakh. The Torah is the first of the three parts of the Tanakh (McDermott, 2002). . The Torah has five books, the Hebrew names of which are the incipits -- the first few words in the initial verses of the books -- also known as the…

Jesus Through the Old Testament

There is no denying the impact of Jesus on Christianity and on many of the fundamental tenets that form the core of this particular religion. However, the fulfillment of the prophecy that Jesus manifested is merely one in a long line of prophecies that stem from the Old Testament. Oftentimes, this fact is overlooked by modern evangelism and teaching about Christianity. However, this very topic provides the subject of Christopher J.H. Wright's Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, which provides a prolonged, analytical look at how various facets of the Old Testament were instrumental to the life and times of Christ. In fact, one may successfully argue that it is because of the Old Testament that Jesus was able to fulfill his prophecy and provide redemption and salvation to the world at large and to Christians in particular. Therefore, the author is careful to denote…

In Genesis 3:15, God said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." According to some biblical experts, this is an oblique reference to the coming of Messiah.

This is taken by many as one of the earliest Messianic prophecies describing Satan's brief victory over the Messiah and the Messiah's ultimate victory over Satan. It is mentioned here because the offspring (Messiah) is described as being of the woman (Eve). This is extraordinary as the nation of Israel has always been patriarchal; people are mentioned in terms of their fathers, not their mothers. Because of this, many see this verse as also being a prophecy of Messiah's birth through a virgin

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus)

The Book of Genesis also makes reference to the importance of the lineage or the heritage…

Jesus through the Old Testament

Christopher J.H. Wright's Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament is a book written to connect the two halves of scripture, in a way that helps Christians better understand that "…it is Jesus that gives meaning and validity to the events of Israel's Old Testament history."[footnoteRef:0] Wright is an Old Testament scholar -- an Ulsterman whose own parents had been Presbyterian missionaries in razil, although he would convert and become ordained in the Anglican church, and now resides in London where he directs an international ministry. His academic background is in historical study of the Old Testament, and his first full-length book was a study of economic ethics in the Old Testament. (He confesses endearingly, but unnecessarily, in the present work that he feels much less at ease with the New Testament as a scholar.) Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament is his second work, first…

God of the Old Testament is one that must not disappear from the minds of those that embrace the Christian faith. Brueggemann notes, "The Old Testament is indispensable...because it is a peculiar witness to elusive, irascible, multilayered, multivoiced holiness that can affect agency in the world" (Brueggemann, 2015, p. 263). It is in the Old Testament that God shows His presence not just in the sense of the beginning, but also the end. Brueggemann mentions this inhabiting God as a keeper of the world as well as people's pretensions, penultimate and open, helping believers resist deadly idolatries that come packaged in the guise of something precious.

With regards to Holiness or the term 'holiness' Brueggemann mentions the irreducible otherness of God'. Meaning, God supersedes and defies a formulation, domestication, and morality in pathos/power. God then becomes through holiness, a multifaceted topic of scriptural discourse. Is then that the Old Testament…

.....prophets influence the monarchs?

By deriving their power from divinity, prophets possessed an incredible amount of credibility and influence. They provided a divine foundation of power for monarchs, and could influence the policies of monarchs because of their prophetic power. Prophets were "closely connected with kings," part of the "royal establishment," (Coogan, 2011, p. 301).

Historically, the period of prophecy roughly overlaps the period during which the ancient monarchies arose (Coogan, 2011, p. 301). The two phenomena are therefore linked. In fact, it was not until the establishment of the monarchy that prophets started to feature prominently in the Biblical narrative. This shows the close connection between religious and political power in ancient times, as well as the direct ways prophets could influence the reputation of monarchs and the decisions that those monarchs might make. Prophets continued to influence monarchs by claiming to know the word and will of God.…

Christian religion, the Old and New Testaments form a whole upon which its belief system is based. The transition between the Old and New Testaments resides in the person of Christ, who came to earth as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Messianic prophesy.

This transition then occurs not only through the ultimate sacrifice of Christ at his death and resurrection, but also in his ministry during his lifetime. Christ uses the Old Testament in various ways in order both to establish the new order of the New Testament, but also to validate the authority of the Old.

As the son of God, Christ shows his relationship to the Father through his respect for the validity and authority of the Old Testament. He does this in various ways, of which one is his acceptance of the history of the Old Testament. Jesus refers to various persons of the Old Testament,…

Greidanus' Preaching Christ from the Old Testament and Merrill's Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament may be compared and contrasted on the grounds that both approach the Old Testament Scriptures, though each does it a different and unique way. Greidanus' method of examining the Old Testament is to approach it from the perspective of the New Testament -- namely, to show how Christ is evident all throughout the Old Testament Scriptures and why and how the latter link directly to the coming of the former. Specifically, Greidanus' objective in his book is to show that Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Merrill, on the other hand, takes a much more immersive approach to Old Testament and examines it thoroughly and in great detail, looking at everything from the creation of man to the fall to the prophets, the kings, the covenants and the commandments. It is,…

He considers that one would be an ignorant if he were to declare himself a true Christian without being acquainted with parts of the Old Testament.

It would be wrong if someone were to interpret the Old Testament on the basis of the information in the New Testament. This would mean that the New Testament is the perfect interpretation of the Old Testament. However, the truth is that the more recent text is only one of the interpretations that people can make when relating to the Old Testament, thus meaning that the older document can be interpreted in a series of ways, each being different from the other. The New Testament is however one of the most accurate interpretations made by people with regard to the Old Testament.

Similar to how the information in the New Testament offers little to no occasions to be fought, right's book contains numerous solid…

Wisdom and Woman in the Old Testament

Women and Wisdom in the Old Testament

In recent years, scholars and Bible commentators have analyzed extensively the way in which women are portrayed in the Old Testament. The matter has also been the focus of many feminist studies that research the role of the women in the patriarchal Israelite society. However, in spite of the fact that there are indeed many instances of harsh treatment of women in the Old Testament, as their social roles were constrained by many serious restrictions, there are also a few cases where women are associated with divine wisdom and understanding. For example, in Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a feminine figure that directs the believers towards true understanding and godly illumination. Likewise, in Judges 4 and 5, Deborah is described as both a judge of Israel and as the leader of the army, whereas Jael, another…

The healing of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:1-11 explains that God can provide proper treatment for terminal illnesses and add years to life, but the necessity is to heal your inner self, your soul, which is in your hand. ("The biblical basis of healing in Old Testament," n. d.)

The idea is considered to be very true. Anxiety, distress and tension because of bad habits, irrational ways of living and improper routine practices often brings up the illnesses in a healthy body. By healing one's inner self and practicing meditation and patience, one can improve their inner health that provides strength to improve the physical health. This strength works as perfect aid for the outside healing process assisted by doctors and physicians.

eferences

Siegel, Bernie. (1990) "Love, Medicine and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-

Healing from a Surgeon' Experience with Exceptional Patients," Harper Paperbacks.

John ev. (2009) "The Currency of…

We cannot look at what happened to the Canaanites as cruelty against a race because what God was dealing with was not a race of people, but rather, he was dealing with evil people (independent of race).

Wright doesn't spiritualize Israel's Conquest of Canaan because he believes that there is a difference between any kind of violent acts that appear to be arbitrary -- like the conquest of the Canaanites, which also appeared to him as selfish -- and an act that appears to be the consequence or punishment because of an act. Wright likens it to a parent smacking their child for no good reason as compared to a person who enacts a punishment because of disobedient behavior.

What is interesting is Wright's first framework, which refers to the conquest of Canaan as being merely an act of God (p. 90) as opposed to a war of some sort.…

In Genesis 2, God rested on the seventh day. Then, in Genesis 2, God creates the first man and the first woman. God created "a garden eastward in Eden" (Genesis 2:8, p. 58), where he put the first man he had formed (Adam). Then God created "every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (2:9, p. 58). God made a river to water the garden, and the river had four heads: Pison; Gihon; Hiddekel; and Euphrates. Then God said "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (2:18. p. 58). God then sent Adam into a deep sleep, and as he slept, formed a woman (Eve) from Adam's rib to be his companion in the…

Old Testament Bible Dictionary Project:

I Samuel

The book of 1 Samuel is largely considered as one of the historical books and Deutronomistic writings that attempt to display the history of Israelites as well as showing how the Laws of God were explained to the Israelites under the guidance of the prophets. It also highlights the life of Israelites in Canaan as they transitioned from the leadership of the judges to being ruled by Kings, indeed, it was Samuel who acted as the last Judge and it was him who anointed the first two Kings of Israel; Saul and David. A significant part of the book is also dedicated to the life of Samuel and Saul. Though the author(s) of this book is largely anonymous, some of the chapters therein are attributed to Samuel, Nathan and Gad (). The authorship of the book took place over a span of 100…

For Santiago, there is nothing that gives him more pleasure than baseball so he uses it to preserve himself and give him the strength he needs to survive one more day. He is not thinking about pleasing Christ when he refuses to resort to despair but his goal is a more earthly one. He wants to be able to make DiMaggio, his baseball hero, proud. Santiago is an ordinary fisherman and for him, a dream of DiMaggio is far more accessible than pleasing Christ. He just wants to be "worthy of the great DiMaggio, who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel" (68)

Similar in order to survive, Santiago keeps thinking about baseball. For example when the fish finally surfaces, it conjures up images of baseball in his mind as he muses: "his sword was as long as a baseball bat" (62)…

Pastor Timothy (2013) points out, "The prophets spoke volumes on idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism." These are three of the most important topics in the Hebrew Bible. Idolatry was a primary concern for the God of the Hebrew Bible. From the time of the Exodus, when God offers Moses the Ten Commandments and states outright, "You shall have no other gods before me," God and the Prophets understood that idolatry was a major challenge to overcome. During the time in which the Hebrew Bible was written, idolatry and paganism remained common. It took great effort on the part of the Prophets to steer people away from false idols and to the one true God. Isaiah tries to frighten people away from creating idols, saying that craftsmen who make idols should be ashamed of themselves. "They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things…

This covenant pre-dates the covenant that God will eventually make with Abraham and his children, and suggests a mutual obligation that now exists between God and humanity that did not exist before -- thus Noah's covenant with God will 'echo' with other Biblical narratives of later date, much as the stress upon the disobedience of humankind in the Flood epic recalls the disobedience of humanity in the Garden of Eden. At the end of the narrative, God says that he will never destroy humanity again, despite its inherent tendency to act in a wicked fashion.

In both Genesis 6 and Genesis 7, the repetitive language used to describe the animals under Noah's care -- their duality, the fact that some creep and some fly -- underlines man's mastery of the natural world. Humanity may be commanded by God and must submit, but it is humanity that saves the rest of…

Fortunately for me, these things do not occur regularly enough for me to consider them a habit.

A do, however, habitually pray when I am confronted with difficulties in my life. These prayers differ from the ones for trivial problems like the ones listed above; those prayers are more recriminations about my own bad-behavior. The prayers when I face real difficulties in my life are real prayers. I do have a deep and abiding faith in God, and I believe that He desires to help people with their problems. When confronted with something that I cannot resolve on my own, such as a family member's illness, I call upon Him for assistance. I also have enough faith to believe that God does answer prayers, even if those answers are not always favorable. I do not believe that God is like a friend to whom I should stop speaking, when He…

The fact that God seems to be taken surprise by human action, and the fact that the Lord can also change his mind in the last verse of the passage, Exodus 32: 14, suggests free will exists, or the ability of humanity to change the world through prayer, and the idea that not all of the future is already decided -- the 'maybe' exists in the form of humanity's to show free will to obey or disobey, and to beg for forgiveness.

In Numbers 14:11-23, God again seems taken by surprised by the sins of His children, in this case Moses' sister Miriam and his brother Aaron, who criticize Moses for marrying a Cu*****e woman. God punishes Miriam with leprosy, and Moses and Aaron beg God to heal their sister. God bargains with the men, refusing to heal her outright, but agrees to heal her after seven days, showing the…

Sledge was instructed during basic training that if fighting "Japs," he should "kick him [a Japanese soldier] in the balls before he kicks you in yours," and was counseled that knives were especially effective fighting the Japanese because of their underhanded tactics. (18) The Japanese enemies were seen as less ethical and more desperate combatants than the Germans, because of their kamikaze warplane tactics. The idea of the Germans as more compassionate adversaries seems ironic in light of the revelations of the Nazi death camps in the aftermath of V-E day, but Sledge's account shows how, at the time, racial views of 'the enemy' permeated even the American side. The eyewitness depiction of this attitude also shows why Japanese-American's patriotism was called into question by the American government over the course of the war, unlike German-American's patriotism.

Sledge's book even contains photographs of dead Japanese soldiers, lying on the fields…

Gospel: Gospel is a message that has contents on Jesus, God, salvation, the Kingdom of God, and everything that is done to reach out this message to the believers. Gospel is also one of the books in the New Testament talking about the life, death, resurrection, and the works of Jesus Christ.

• Original sin: Original sin refers to the tendency and deprivation to the evil that is seen as innate in all humankind and it is passed from Adam to all human beings, resulting from the sin engaged by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The sin is naturally adapted to every born human being, born of Adam being the initial sinner.

• Fundamentalism: Fundamentalism is a 20th-century religious movement emphasizing on a strict belief in the literal understanding and interpretation of the religious texts.

• Heresy: Heresy is a theory that is developed to be at…

The moment when the line first cut into his hands in similar to the one when Christ's hands were nailed to the cross. Most readers are likely to make a connection between the two images at this point as the stigmata is an element which is present in both Santiago and in Christ.

Hemingway himself wants readers to be certain that the injured hand is an essential factor working as support to the comparison made between Christ and Santiago. The "Ay" exclamation also reinforces this belief. "There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood" (Hemingway, 1984, p. 82). Both the sufferings experienced by Christ and by Santiago have been made so that life will go on in peace.

Santiago stands as a living martyr (if such a…

Testaments to Truth

Roman Catholicism and Mormonism Compared

There are many varieties of Christianity, some of them very old, and some of them of quite recent origin. The Roman Catholic Church boasts an uninterrupted existence of two thousand years. Its hierarchy, and its beliefs, have adapted to changed conditions. Yet truth is not so easily discovered. Rome may have purified her Church during the Counter Reformation, but not all were satisfied. The Protestant Churches of estern Europe spawned an even greater number of sects in the New orld. Some of these creeds held beliefs similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church, while others developed in remarkably different ways. In mid-Nineteenth Century New York, Joseph Smith was privileged to receive an entirely new Revelation. This Book of Mormon was at odds with the teachings of virtually all other Christian denominations. The followers of this brand new Church of Jesus Christ…

Vera rittain

The advent of the First World War brought with it the stark reality of the 'progress' which modern man had made. Mankind found out that despite the eloquence of the enlightenment, and the wonderful advancements made in medicine, education, literature, and the arts that man could still take up arms against his brother, and fight hand to hand if necessary in order to gain a foot of ground, or in retaliation for yesterday's loss of a comrade. The First World War plunged the entire western world into a deep pit, governed by the engines of war, empowered by the newly mechanized assembly line manufacturing of the industrial revolution. Fro all his advancement, and enlightenment, mankind was still closely related to the Romans who burned and conquered peopled under their iron fist, and the Huns where known to destroy everything in their path. Civilized, and enlightened, we still were…

E.B Sledge starts with his marine training in company K. in the 3D battalion in the 5th regiment of the 1st Marine Division. The memoir is based on two horrific battles which ultimately destroyed the Division. The initial one of these battles was fought at Peleliu. There were over 8769 Americans killed, wounded or missing in action in 10 weeks of battle. Almost the whole enemy garrison on the island was cleared. About 11,000 Japanese perished in the battle. The main concern that Sledge has is to do with his 235 colleagues who survived in company K. His company lost 150 people declared dead, missing or wounded. There is no ill feeling about the mistake that was made to take on Peleliu. The next operation dubbed operation Iceberg that was conducted the following year and meant to capture Okinawa came with worse outcomes. This particular mission was the most disastrous…

Quijote

Cervantes' Don Quijote is, above all, the story of a reader. The real question of the novel perhaps is why more readers do not behave like Quijote himself, and attempt to act out the things that they find so engaging in print. I would like to explore the way in which the main character's status as a reader in Cervantes' novel gives some clue to us as readers as to how we ought to behave. It seems evident that Cervantes' strategy in the novel is largely rhetorical and ironic: he uses the language of the books Quijote reads, while imparting an ironic distance to how this language fits into the actual world where Quijote finds himself. But the ultimate result for Cervantes' reader is to get a deeper form of literary enjoyment than Quijote is capable of: we are inside and outside the satisfactions of the storytelling at the…

According to Hebraic tradition, the chronological period in the book consists of the second month of the second year (measured from Exodus) to the beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year -- in all, roughly 39 years 9 months of wandering, with, of course, fewer in number at the end of the journey than at the beginning. Again, according to tradition, Moses was the author of all five books of the Torah, but stylistically, at least in both Hebrew and then Aramaic, the prose in Numbers is far dryer and more scholarly, leading most to believe that this particular section was derived from several priestly sources tentatively dated at 4th-6th century BC (Harris, 1985).

Since Numbers is divided into three parts, it is useful to provide an overview of the literative focus and consequences of each section:

Number's the eople of the Lord -- God ordered Moses to…

The literal meaning of the word is the place for the dead. Literal meaning of both words is the grave. This can be confirmed with a comparison of the Old Testament and the New Testament (West 34). For instance, it has been mentioned in the Psalms 6.10;

"For You, will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption." This verse has been referred in Acts 2.27 by the apostle Paul saying that the verse talks about Jesus Christ.

If the Old Testament is taken into account there are many who have highlighted that there is no mentioning of hell to the Israel by the God. There is no place in the Old Testament where God has said to the Israel that if they follow the teachings of the God, they will see and remain in heaven and if otherwise, they will seek…

Women in the Old Testament

The Bible never says that women are evil, sexually wanton or inferior to men; instead, it says a lot of good things regarding women. In the Old Testament / Hebrew Scriptures, most women are described as enterprising, resourceful, intelligent as well as, courageous. However, there are some many stories in the Old Testament that involve demeaning treatment of certain women. For instance, women were restricted to roles of no authority as well as, not allowed to testify in court. In summary, this paper will discuss on the depiction of Women in the Old Testament using two sources; Bible Harper Collins Study Bible and the Encountering Ancient Voices by Corrine Carvalho.

In Leviticus 12:1-5, a woman who gives birth to a boy is considered to be ritually unclean for 7 days. However, if the woman gives birth to a girl, the mother is unclean for 14…

Jesus' Testimony to the Pharisees in John 8:58

The Gospel of John reveals a number of "I AM" assertions made by Jesus Christ. They are bold declarations through which Christ makes a powerful point, namely that he IS divine. However, the language that Jesus uses also conveys a message about the mystery of His Person. He uses words and formulas that are deeply meaningful for the Hebrews to whom He speaks. "I AM" after all is more than a mere subject followed by a predicate. It is the name of God as He called Himself when He spoke it to Moses in the Old Testament. Therefore when Jesus says to the Jews, "efore Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58), he is deliberately equating Himself with the God of the Old Testament by using the language of that God.

At its most basic level, Jesus' "I AM" assertion in John 8:58…

Christian Church acknowledges its missionary function as truly the core of Christianity, the heart of the Church. Through Christ's teachings, mission is the foreground of His legacy to the Church, the instrument for redemption. The guiding principles at the basis of the Church's mission exist as transparently related by the ible which in itself transcends all worldly knowledge and phenomena. God, as the Holy Trinity, reveals Himself through the biblical record in order to communicate with man candidly and openly, sends His only son into the world in order to claim Him back to the offspring of wholeness, and puts forth a missionary pattern for His followers: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John 13:34, 15:17 King James ible) "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the…

David

Notable religious events and figures often serve as the inspiration and subject matter for great works of art across human history and across every culture. Events and notable figures from the Judeo-Christian Bible have inspired a great many of some of the most famous works of art in the Western world. Within the Bible, there are two primary sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

One of the many significant figures of the Old Testament is the man David, who was a simple boy who herded sheep, who ultimately led his people and others to triumph over a tyrant warrior, Goliath. David was a young man, armed with a slingshot and brought the vicious leader down. David was quite a popular figure artists depicted during the enaissance era in the arts, particularly in the area of sculpture. There are three most notable sculptures created in Florence during the…

" (8.6-7)

Humanity, this suggests, cannot serve two masters -- God and a king, and humanity in the form of Israel chooses kingship. Thus, humanity is far more servile and weak and in need of divine guidance, than human beings who actively resist tyranny, in Herodotus, whether it be in their schema of governance of not. "This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots." warns Samuel. (8.11) Unlike Herodotus, failures to come are moral, rather than active events in battle, and they are the failures of Israel, not of her opponents alone.

Thus, Herodotus' vantage as an outsider to Persian customs, and Samuel's view as an insider to the land of Israel affects their points-of-view as well. Both authors take…

The Jews, of course, were as antagonistic to hearing Stephen preach the life of Christ as they were to Christ Himself -- ho is the way of salvation, and hom they have rejected. Stephen's speech is fiery and full of love and fury -- love for Christ, fury for the Jews who rejected Him: "You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised." (Here Stephen as much as says, "You are not real Jews. Real Jews would have recognized their Redeemer.) "You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" The reaction of the Jews is to stone Stephen to death. Stephen accepts his martyrdom and dies as Christ died, with a prayer for his persecutors -- and out of that prayer comes (through the mercy of God) the conversion of St. Paul.

In conclusion, "we may say that perseverance as a Christian is the only…

In Babel, Hassan, the former guide sells the rifle he received as a gift to his neighbor, a goat herder who needed it to protect his goats from the jackals. So far, the gun was not used to destroy human lives. It was used for hunting and it was further intended to be used against animals attacking a herd.

The Moroccan who bought it, Abdullah (what a symbolic name), father of two boys and a girl, goes carelessly about having a rifle around his children and even encourages them to use it to prove their hunting skills. He does not think about the major implications of a gun in the hands of two children left alone. He does not find necessary to explain the dangers of using such a powerful weapon when people are around and even the danger of hurting themselves with it. They will finally transform an innocent…

Old Testament books, Deuteronomy, Samuel and Kings, establishing a monarchy for Israel and Judah proved somewhat problematic. This was due both to the divinity of God and the inevitable humanity that would be part of a human king. Throughout the historical books of the Old Testament God repeatedly states that he is a jealous God, tolerating no others. Kingship then might be seen as an attempt to usurp the power of God, or indeed to detract from worshiping God as the nation's ultimate leader. Furthermore a monarchy is a pagan idea that has penetrated Israel from the foreign nations they have been in contact with through battle. This of course connects further negativity with the idea of a king for God's people. The demand of a king is thus in effect the rejection of God as ruler over Israel and Judah. An issue closely related to this is the problem…

However, Pharaoh's heart was heartened and he refused. ecause of this, Aaron was instructed to lay down the rod in front of the Pharaoh and it became a snake. The pharaoh then ordered his sorcerers to throw down their rods and they also became snakes but Aarons snake ate the other snakes and the Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not release the children of Israel. Then the Lord turn to River into blood and there was no water for seven days.

Pharaoh's heart continued to be hardened and several other plagues followed. According to the Old Testament these plagues included frogs, flies, lice, the death of cattle, boils, hail, locust, the plague of darkness. Finally, the Lord killed the entire first born of Egypt. He instructed the people of Israel to cover their doors with the sacrificial blood of a lamb so that death would pass over them.…

high degree of misinformation I had received from traditional teachings about the church and the beginning of Christianity. Moreover, I was struck by the notion that most other people in the Western world receive this same degree of intentional misinformation, so much so that I have even heard people defend the idea that knowledge of the historical church is irrelevant to modern Christianity. Reading through the class material, I was struck by how critical this historical information was to the understanding of the actual church. One critical piece of information is the idea of Jesus as the head of the church, despite him not establishing Christianity as a separate religion. Another critical idea was that prophets could play a continuing role in Christianity, when my traditional understanding had suggested that after Jesus there would be no more Jewish prophets. I also found myself wondering about the very obvious and significant…

She answered that no one had condemned her. Jesus then said to her, "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11).

Because the woman was not stoned in the end, many interpret it to mean that Jesus changed Mosaic law and then this argument is extended to capital punishment in general. However, Jesus still left the opportunity for her to be stoned. If one of the people in the crowd had been without sin, then the woman would have still been stoned. He did not tell them not to stone her, he only set a condition on who should cast the first stone. He said nothing about the second or third stone, only the first. Luckily, for the woman, there were no qualified takers who could cast the first stone. Therefore, Jesus did not abolish capital punishment in this passage.…

" Further, as previously stated, in the Jewish tradition, it is believed that the Messiah (whom Christians believe is Jesus), must be a descendent of David's line.

The New Testament in fact introduces Jesus as the son of David and of Abraham (Mt. 1:1). Further, in the Gospel of Luke, he describes how Mary, the mother of Jesus, was descended from King David through one of his sons, Nathan. This leads contemporary Christians to believe that Jesus is the prophesied messiah, as well as the rightful king of Israel.

It is interesting that Jesus, despite the fact of David's obviously sinful nature, follows him in matters of conduct. Indeed, the reader notes that Christ used the actions of the pre-descent David as justification for his own (Luke 6:1-5) concerning the eating of wheat from the fields on the Sabbath. (McCall, 1999). However, even more interesting than David's use as a…

Gnostics believed that they belonged to the "true church" of an elect few who were worthy; the orthodox Christians would not be saved because they were blind to the truth.

Part E -- Content - if we then combine the historical outline of the "reason" for John's writings with the overall message, we can conclude that there are at least five major paradigms present that are important in a contextual analysis of John.

John 5:13 - I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This seems to point that John saw a clear difference between those who believed in Jesus as the Son of God, but were unsure about eternal life. However, if we look back at other parts of his Gospel, we do find repetition of this theme. In John 1:5-7,…

recurring themes in literature is the exploration of the relationship between the human and the divine. Several different literary works have explored that relationship. Interestingly enough, many of those works are from antiquity, so their stories are considered fictional. Others of those texts refer to living religions, so people are less likely to consider the stories from the basis of fiction or allegory, and approach them as if they are non-fiction. As a result, it becomes far too simple for a modern Christian to embrace the relationship between the divine and humanity in the Old Testament without critically examining that how that work actually portrays the relationship. A critical analysis reveals a much more complex relationship than the message conveyed by modern Christians, and makes it easier to compare that Old Testament with the polytheistic mythology that forms the background of a work like Gilgamesh. A religiously-invested inspection can hamper…

Here we have an account of the definitive formation of the twelve-tribe league incorporating people who may well have had ancient ties with Israelite tribes but who only now pledge their undivided allegiance to the God of Israel."

Thus, Shechem is, according to Hillers, one of the most important place for the Covenant renewal, since it was the first that was witnessed by the united Israelite tribes.

John Van Seters, on the other hand, offers a different explanation for the origins of the text in Joshua 24. He concludes that the resemblances in form between the Covenant at Shechem and the Deuteronomy Covenant makes it plausible that the Joshua 24 has to be just an addition to the Deuteronomy work:

There is only one solution to this dilemma and that is that Joshua 24.1-27 was composed as an addition to the Dtr. work. It is post-Dtr. And was inserted before…

Bible

To many people The Bible is the word of God and its status as the word of God means that it is infallible and its origins should not be questioned. However, such an approach to the Bible ignores facts that are known about its history and how it is written. A better, more informed approach examines the history of the Bible, when it was written, how it was written, the original books in the Bible, and how modern books have been selected or omitted. Furthermore, one also has to consider that there are actually multiple versions of the modern Bible, so that it is virtually impossible for any person to say what the contents of the Bible are. This fact should be enough to demonstrate the fact that the Bible is a living document, which has changed throughout time, and will continue to change as Christianity continues to develop…

Living in the palace as a prince was no doubt an indulgent experience, and likely contributed to the temper that Moses was so famous for. As an infant, he is the very image of innocence and hope, just like the baby Jesus. But as his life went on, his character became much more complex. The first story form the Old Testament that clearly illustrates Moses' inability to contain his temper comes in the second chapter of the book of Exodus: "He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand" (Exodus 2:11-12). This episode is especially telling because it does not show simply a rash display of temper -- Moses takes the time to make sure no one will witness his actions before he kills the Egyptian. He is…

Chris's biblical statement "I am the light of the world." Specifically, it will describe the events that surround the "I am" statement, how the "I am" statement relates to the revelation of God in the Old Testament, and how the statement reveals the deity of Christ. The semantics of the Bible are awesome. Since it was written in ancient tongues, they can be translated in many ways, and so it is with this passage where John repeats Christ's words, "I am the light of the world." Light can mean many things to many people, but here, light really means love, and Christ is a reflection of God's love of all the people of Earth.

A am" also has many contextual meanings in the Bible, and together, these words affirm Christ as a deity and the Son of God. Thus, Christ not only affirms his own place and purpose on Earth,…

The poems Catullus wrote to the woman Lesbia are among his best known. How would you characterize their affair?

Catallus describes a conflicted and stormy affair with the women of Lesbia. Sexual tension is evident in his poems, which have a strong erotic content. Therefore, his affairs were passionate and physical.

If the gender roles were reversed and the woman were the narrator, do you think this series of poems would read differently? Explain.

The poems would read differently not because their content would have changed but because they would subvert social norms. As a male, Catallus is allowed, almost expected to write such explicit details about his physical affairs including references to love and hatred. Females would have been more subtle because of the widespread social persecution they might suffer if they admitted to promiscuity or tumultuous romantic interludes especially with married people.

Catullus ends up calling his lady…

The messiah, or "anointed one" is referred to also in the book of Psalms: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows," (Psalm 45:6-7). These and many other Old Testament references illustrate the importance of the messiah for the Israelites, and the role that the messiah would play as a spiritual leader.

Because of the abundance of historical and prophetic material substantiating Christ, countless Christians have spread the word of the gospel around the world. From the personal testimony passed down for two thousand years, individuals like me have been able to develop our own relationship with Christ. We draw upon the wisdom of those who have gone before us, reading scripture and participating in the Christian community. It…

This does not mean that the image is supreme, as is often counseled in an idol-worshipping and media obsessed climate, but rather that the human being him or herself is intrinsically good, because the human form and moral compass was created in line with a larger plan and a larger divine order -- like human history, like the organization of the books of the Pentateuch itself. The person does not need to worry about creating his or her image, or intrinsic goodness; rather it is already there, waiting to be found.

The goodness of humanity, as affirmed by the beginnings of humankind outlined in the Old Testament are some of this text's most powerful notions for creating a Biblical vision of counseling. Much of secular and sacred counseling involves creating a tale of one's origins. Often these tales of individual origins, in a troubled mind with a troubled past, may…

Personal Power

Though the figure and invocation of God is of course central to the power and purpose of Ezekiel's prophecies against the foreign nations, and indeed in all of his prophecies as a whole, there is also necessarily a great deal of personal power in the voice and words of the prophet. Without this, his exhortations and condemnations would not be heard or heeded. This leads to a third possibility for the essential purpose of his prophecies against the foreign nations -- that of strengthening his position within the community of exiled Israelites.

Despite the commonality of oracles and prophecies condemning and predicting the downfall of foreign nations in the prophets of the Old Testament, it is highly unlikely that these words ever reached the leaders or the people of these foreign nations, or that the prophets or writers of these texts ever intended them to (Tuell 2009, pp.…

" (This statement appears to fly in the face of his detailed emphasis on trying to be terribly thorough at other times throughout the book; and his seeming editorial neurosis creates doubts in the minds of the reader as to precisely how consistent and valid his values are vis-a-vis what he believes to be true.)

Those biblical students probably read his book and had a sense that he was in a classroom, behind a podium, lecturing to them, when, on pages 18-20, he discusses pre-history (Stone Age) and Neolithic Jericho. His bias towards places and people who are in some way connected to Scripture comes across numerous times in obviously favored passages.

To wit: one can almost hear his voice as he describes the relative distance in time to make his point about the advent of the Israel we know today. "Difficult as it is for us to realize, it…

Anatomy/Christianity

The Breath of Life

Throughout scripture the concept of breath represents life. Genesis 2:7

It is evident that we need to breathe to live and that without our respiratory system, we would die. But why is this? Can we know why other than to say that this is how our Creator designed us to be? Perhaps an understanding of our own respiratory system can help us to better understand our Creator? I think so.

What do we find in our nose? A kind of filter that keeps out of our lungs harmful particles and spores that would otherwise pollute them. This can be a symbol of how we should filter our minds of impure thoughts so as to keep our souls clean. It can also be a symbol of how important God's grace is in our souls -- it is to our souls as oxygen is to our bodies.…