A Net in Time

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Book Study

The Introduction of Kingship

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For those who are regular readers you know that I have been slowly making my way through Learning about the Old Testament.   This isn’t one of those early read books that I often get into, but one that forces me to take my time and think so I’ve been reading through it more slowly than I initially was.   It’s good to think about the theology of the Old Testament, it is a foundation for New Testament theology. 

The Introduction of Kingship

The last time we met we learned about The Judges and why they were needed.  Today we’ll be looking at the introduction of kingship. Israel so desperately wanted to be like the nations around them. Maybe they thought it would make them safer from attack, I don’t know… I haven’t delved into the book yet!  🙂   Same is the word of the day for the Write 31 Days challenge which I why I’m putting this post on a Monday rather than on my normal Thursday. 

Same

The Introduction of Kingship

HUH!  New thing learned.  I always thought that God “gave in” to Israel’s demand to have a king, but Harman taught me that God knew that Israel would one day have a king.  He had prepared for it long before it happened.

Genesis 17:6, NASB: “‘I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.” 

Genesis 35:11 NIV 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.

Shocker.  Being the same as the other nations, this desire didn’t surprise the Lord.  He had already planned it out.   In Deut. 17:14-20 he even laid out what the king should be like.  He didn’t want the king of Israel to be the same as the kings of the nations surrounding them. 

So God himself laid the groundwork for Israel to have a king.   I find that interesting as I never understood that before.  God himself put into place The Introduction of Kingship.

The request

So the Elders of Israel demanded of Samuel a king.  They had all the wrong motives, but the request in and of itself wasn’t wrong.   Their reasoning

  • fear of Samuel’s sons taking his position when he passed on.  These were boys who were not following the Lord.
  • Insecurity.  They wanted a king to lead them in battle.  Their faith in God was not very strong. 
  • lack of patience.  They wanted a king NOW, not when God willed it, but because they simply wanted a king. 

Their demand was actually a breach of the covenant between God and the Israelites.  He could have acted differently toward them but instead he showed them mercy.   He gave them a king, the kind of king they wanted.  And so Saul was made king.  The people were delighted.   In the end he was shown to be the wrong sort of King, but even that paved the way for the right sort of King.  The king they found in David.

The Introduction of Kingship

King David

We are told David was a man after God’s own heart.  He loved God.  He didn’t live out his love perfectly (do any of us) but God was so loved by David.  When David sinned it grieved him when it was pointed out to him.

David’s kingship did the following for Israel

  • Stability.  No switching out of Judges, just one man with his team of trusted men, leading the country.
  • removed the Philistine threat.  The land God promised them was fully realized under his leadership. 
  • established a lasting dynasty.   This dynasty was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Period of the Judges

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I know, it’s been a while, but I’m finally picking up my Learning about the Old Testament book again.  Last time we met we talked about Worship in Ancient Israel.   Today we are going to talk about the Conquest and the period of the Judges. 

period of the judges

The history So Far

We know that the exodus happened, Mount Sinai happened, and now they sit on the southeast corner of Canaan.  How do they progress?

God has promised them this land.  12 spies, 10 say “It’s a great land but it’s filled with strong, mighty men, it’s a no go”. but two say “we can do this.”

Israel decided to listen to the 10 rather than the 2.  They rebelled against God when they did so. They did rebelled again going in without Moses or the Ark of the Covenant.  Defeat followed.  They then needed to wander through the desert. 

They after a fair few years in the desert ended up on the east side of Canaan. The conquest of the land begins.   Moses giving over leadership to Joshua. 

Period of the Judges

The Conquest

Harman tells us that there are two aspects to the conquest

  1. God’s promises regarding this land.   
  2. The Israelites conquered the land but left pockets of Canaanites. 

This is where the period of the Judges comes in.  Shaking out those pockets of Canaanites.  

Because of the Israelites disobedience, these pockets of Canaanites “were a snare to them” (p 66) as well as a testing ground.  Would the people of Israel call out to God for help?   How would they handle these remaining Canaanites?

The Judges show this result. 

  • The people call out to God in distress
  • God helps them. 
  • The people again become unfaithful.
  • Repeat this cycle.

Eventually the Israelite people settle the land.   They are sometimes slow in the doing so, but eventually the land is there.   They have two problems.

  • Threats from within: the Canaanite faith system threatens the faith of the Israelites to the Lord.  At this point the synagogue had not been built.  Regular instruction of the things of God were infrequent and not well-organized.  Some of the similarities in the Canaanite religion and Jewish religion would have confused some and attracted others. 
  • Threats from without: the surrounding nations attack frequently.  The surrounding nations had establish governing systems.

By the end of this period the people of Israel were becoming unsatisfied with how they were governed.  They wanted stable continuity, and they wanted to be more like the nations around them.  Israelis wanted a king.

Worship in Ancient Israel

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Worship in Ancient Israel is important to understand.  Understanding how worship happened helps to broaden our knowledge of God in action in the entirety of the Bible. 

Worship in Ancient Israel

How Worship is Conducted

Worship in Ancient Israel from the time of Moses on moved from separate family worship to corporate worship.   We see God dwelling among his people. He lived right among them talking with them.  When they broke covenant with him he lived outside the camp for a while (Exodus 33).

The Tent of Meeting

The Tent of Meeting is where God met with his people. It was called several different things depending on how it was used. 

  • The Tent of Meeting: God meeting with Israel by appointment. 
  • Dwelling Place: God abiding with his people.
  • Holy Place: Places an emphasis on God’s holiness
  • Tent of Testimony: How God is active as a guide in the lives of his people. 

The Tent became the Tabernacle

During the time of Solomon God’s dwelling place in the tent which could travel and move with his people became a permanent structure.   The temple was a foreshadowing of God’s continued presence with his people.   God’s dwelling place would be in the hearts of his people. 

Creation of the Priesthood

Moses served as priest intervening as mediator between the people and God.  Aaron later was given this responsibility.   They stood in the gap between God and his people.  Teaching them, helping them offer sacrifices and enabling them to understand God’s laws. We know in the New Testament that Jesus fulfilled the role of High Priest forever.  Without understanding this role in the Old, we can’t grasp the significance in the New. 

System of Sacrifices

There were SO many sacrifices.  Daily, weekly, and annually.  

  • Burnt offering: forgiveness for sins, devotion to God
  • Peace offering: Thanksgiving, fellowship, 
  • Grain offering: Voluntary offering of devotion to God
  • Sin offering: For unintentional sin
  • Guilt offering: Making reparation for sin. 

But the highlight of this system is the Day of Atonement.   Two goats, one which was sacrificed for the sins of the people.  The second was released into the wilderness where symbolically it carried away the sins of the people. 

All these sacrifices didn’t really do anything, they were just symbolic of God’s relationship with his people, and their needful response to him.   God removed the sin of his people and accepted the animal as a substitute.   This points to the way to Jesus being accepted as substitute.

 

Everything in the Old Testament points the way to Jesus Christ.   The People and their relationship to God, the sacrifices, the roles of the priests… it all points to Christ. 

Others in this Series

 

The Sinai Covenant

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Well, the last time we chatted about Harman’s book Learning about the Old Testament we discussed The Exodus.   Today we will look at the covenant at Sinai.

The Sinai Covenant

Mount Sinai is located in the Sinai peninsula.  The mount is traditionally seen in being smack in the triangle between the dead and red sea. 

Explanation of Sinai Covenant

Anyways, the Sinai covenant is the first time that God went from having individual covenants with people to having one with the whole nation.   God made this covenant in a manner they were familiar with (Hittite covenant style). 

God also called Israel his son (Ex.4:22-23),not only his son but his FIRST-born son. That position has authority and expectations with it. As such God expected Israel as a nation to act in a manner befitting that relationship.  They were to be holy, a treasured possession, a people who worshipped and served him. In 1 Peter 2:9 we find those expectation repeated for the Christian church.  They are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that (they) might declare the praises of him who called (them) out of darkness into his marvellous light.  

The Importance

THIS is the importance of the Sinai covenant.  Learning who God’s people are.  HIS sons!  First-born none-the-less!

But issues

God has set up this covenant and now it time to set the terms.   He meets with Israel’s representative and gives out the ten commandments.    We aren’t told how they were written down, just that they were on stone tablets. As a people chosen it was expected they would live in a particular way.   The Decalogue would help them know how to live. 

The people sinned.  Moses intervened.  The tablets were broken to show that the covenant had been broken and it was remade. 

Beyond the 10 Commandments God issued other commands to help the people retain their differences from the nations around them.  How they dressed, ate, and worshipped needed to show their uniqueness. 

He also showed his uniqueness by dwelling among them in the “tent of meeting”.   God lived in a tent just as they did…foreshadowing how Christ would dwell among people…becoming man himself.    

He taught all the important elements of worship

  • Sacrifice is a part of worship
  • meeting together in a place of his choosing
  • The need for a humble and contrite heart
  • and the symbolism of the goat, sheep and bull blood.  It didn’t remove sin, it was just a sign of God’s action and encouragement to look forward to the completion that would come.
The Sinai Covenant

My Reflection

You know I haven’t really thought about how the covenants of the Old Testament showed us things in the New.  Like I have understood the concept up until this point but never truly stopped to THINK on it.  

Like God dwelling with his people.  The tent of meeting being a foreshadowing of Christ.   I just never connected those ideas. It’s a powerful one if you really stop to think on it. 

I also have to ponder on.. how do I show my uniqueness to the world around me?  How do other people see my faith?  Or don’t they?  I don’t always know.  I’m often tired, and I like to do things my own way, and I don’t know if that shows Christ’s love.  Doubt is something I live with.

Sometimes I think it might be easier to live like the old-order Mennonites.  Having my unique dress and standoffishness from the world show my faith, but I don’t truly think that’s the answer. Is my relationship with the Lord readily apparent?  

I love that verse in Peter eh?   When I die.. I want a GOOD sermon preached on that text.  It’s the verse that reminds me of who I am in Christ.  Chosen, wanted, desired, with a PURPOSE…to glorify God.  I just … I don’t know.   Struggle with the execution I suppose.  Or at least thinking I execute at all in the showing of God’s glory.  

The Exodus

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In the time leading up to the Exodus, God remembered his covenant with Noah, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham.  This led the way to the birth of Moses. A man, born into a people enslaved in Egypt.  Pulled out of that, pulled away from his Jewishness, and yet he intervened into the life of a Jewish slave and his life fell apart. 

The Exodus

Moses, a well-educated man, took off.  Afraid of the repercussions from his actions.  He met a gal and worked for his father-in-law. 40 years passed.

God came to him.

Moses learned three important details

  1. God was holy.
  2. God was a covenantal God.  God is the same God who made covenants with forefathers. 
  3. This covenantal God has the special name. Jehovah. YHWH. LORD. This name is indicative of a gracious, loving God who works to redeem his covenantal people. 
  4. Moses would be his messenger, the one through whom he would deliver his people from slavery. 
  5. God would display his power against the Egyptians.  This would be God’s work, not the work of Moses.  God’s alone. 

This information was pivotal to Moses as he was prepared to lead the exodus.

The Exodus

And so God acted.  Moses, his chosen instrument. The Exodus took place with God doing much in the lives of his people.  His grace was shown clearly to his people. The Passover meal became a part of their lives.  The Israelites saw miraculous signs and wonders accomplished by their God.  YHWH God worked in their lives. 

There is much more in this chapter, but this is what I picked out as easiest to share. 

Thinking on what I read

God’s grace was poured out on his people.  He remembered his agreements that he made with Noah and Abraham. So when they called out to him in their distress, he remembered and then acted.

He made it clear to Moses that he would use him as his chosen instrument that it was not Moses who would be saving the people, but God and God alone. 

I wonder how often we forget that.  It is not us who lead people to God.   It is not us who clearly presents God to people.  It is YHWH God himself.  The Lord God himself who works through us to present himself to the people around us.  Do we remember that?  I don’t know about you, but it something I often forget.  I’m to be a vessel for God.  Just like Moses needed to learn and act as God told him to.  

Others in this series

Covenant with Noah

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We have talked about covenant of creation, and God’s covenants.  Today we talk about the covenant with Noah.  Sin had kept increasing in the world, to the point of murder.  People were still calling upon the name of the Lord, so the worship of God was still happening.   But more and more, as the generations passed, people were doing their own thing and boasting about their sinfulness. 

Then there is Noah.  We are told that he is a righteous man, in Genesis 6:9 “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”  He had that kind of relationship with God, a close personal relationship where it can be said that he walked with God.

covenant with Noah

God comes to Noah, tells him his plan.  Gives Noah a commission.  Build me a boat, a big boat.   And Noah, being the man that he was, a faithful righteous man, accepted that commission and stood by it.  Nay-sayers, mockers and all, he kept his word to the Lord and built it. 

This commission was a covenant between Noah and God.  God made his promises…he would save the animals of the world and Noah and his whole family. Noah in response, would build the ark, working to complete it before it was needed. 

At the end of the flood, God remembered the people, opened up the ark and let them out.  Noah offered a sacrifice “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.“

God promises not to do this again because… man’s heart is evil from his youth.   You know something, I KNOW the story of Noah but this verse is a revelation to me tonight.  God destroyed the people because of their evil hearts, but it didn’t work you know?  Man’s heart continues to be evil so God knows another way must be found to turn men’s hearts away from evil.   He knows it, so using a flood to enact judgement isn’t the answer. 

In Genesis 9 we learn the following from God

  • Man is made in God’s image and therefore is precious.
  • Mankind is to procreate, to fill the earth.
  • God won’t destroy mankind like this again. In fact he built in ways for them to be fed and sustained.

Then we get the rainbow, a highly recognizable promise from God.  We see it and remember God’s promise.  God sees it and remembers his covenant with us. 

covenant with Noah

The Covenant of Creation

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Have you ever noticed that the Bible starts with a bang? God comes out of nowhere and makes everything. He speaks and things happen! It is simply amazing what the Lord God puts into place. This Covenant of Creation is how the bible begins.

God looked upon the world and said “it was good”. Did you know that it doesn’t mean good as opposed to bad. But Good as in a job well done, a job that meets the purpose for which it was intended. The work of God making creation resulted in a world with all it’s inhabitants that meant the purpose for which he intended it to.

Covenant of Creation

The Creation of Man

God created the world in a specific order. The end result, the culmination of his creation, was man. Man and woman, made in the likeness of God, remarkably different than the rest of creation. The only part of God’s creation meant to be in relationship with God.

Man, created in God’s likeness, given authority over the rest of creation. Able to name everything, Able to care for everything… in a manner that God would want them to care for it. Everything was good, working just the way it was intended. Adam and Eve tending the garden, minding the animals, and talking with God.

Trouble

Then trouble happened. A tempter shows up. God’s design allowed for this. God wasn’t surprised.

Satan had bad designs in mind. He wants to be first in the lives of God’s imagebearers. He starts with Eve, and then used Eve to reel in Adam. The consequences were immediate.

Consequences

Consequences happened all round. Adam and Eve lost their happy relationship with God. Not only that they were kicked out of the garden for their own good, but still kicked out. Relationship between each other was fractured as well. Work became harder, and child-birth more difficult.

Satan himself was cursed. He would now meet with degradation crawling on his belly.

These negative consequences, the judgement of God, didn’t change the positives though. Even in his judgement God left room for hope. He clothed them, helped them and promised to crush the head of the serpent (Satan).

The whole of the Old Testament in built upon the opening chapters. God’s relationship with man broken and a promise of a Serpent defeated. We can’t skim over them. We need to see God’s purpose and the on-going nature of what he created. It’s an integral part of the Old Testament.