The Old Testament

The Old Testament is made up of four major parts:

–  The Pentateuch and its five books (“Penta” for 5);

–  The Historical books.

–  The Poetic (or wisdom) books;

–  The Prophetic books.

The three fundamental thoughts of the Old Testament are :

–  God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3); 

–  The covenant of God with the Hebrew nation which was founded so that the whole world might be blessed by it; it is the messianic nation;

–  God’s promise to David: Israel, the messianic nation, will be blessed by King David’s family from which the Messiah will emerge. And through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, all the nations of the earth will also be blessed and grafted on to the “clear olive tree”, Israel.

The dispensations of the Old Testament

Five Dispensations (or eras) appear in the Old Testament.

This word “dispensation” comes from the Epistle to the Ephesians, where it is about the Dispensation of God’s grace in which we are presently and which is coming to an end. 

1/ The Dispensation of Innocence (Genesis 1:1 to 3:24): it goes from the creation of the world to the fall of man; its length is unknown to us;  

2/ The Dispensation of Consciousness (Genesis 4:1 to 8:14) : from the fall of man to Noah, lasted for 1,656 years. This Dispensation was called « of Consciousness » because man obeyed the voice of his conscience and there were no written laws yet;

3/ The Dispensation of Human Government (Genesis 8:15 to 11:32): this Dispensation lasted 427 years, between the flood and the call of Abraham. Man has begun to establish governments;

4/ The Dispensation of the Promise (Genesis 12:1 to Exodus 12:39): this is the time of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This Dispensation began with the call of Abraham and ended with the Exodus of the people of Israel to Egypt, which lasted about 430 years. The scope of God’s promise to Abraham was threefold; it concerned his seed, the land and the blessings that God would bestow upon him. 

5/ The dispensation of the law (Exodus 12:40 to John 20:21): from the departure of Israel from Egypt until the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is about 1,720 years. God had given His people Commandments for all areas of life, but they disobeyed and worshiped the idols; and judgment came upon them.

The Dispensation of grace in which we are since the death of the Lord Jesus will be followed by the Dispensation of tribulation, which will last seven years; then the Millennium will begin, according to The book of Daniel.

World Empires in the Old Testament

Six world Empires marked the history of the Old Testament. In chronological order, these are:

1/ The Egyptian Empire;

2/ The Assyrian Empire which conquered the Northern Kingdom in 931 BC (the Kingdom of Israel had already been divided into two);

3/ The Babylonian Empire which overthrew the Assyrian Empire and conquered the Kingdom of the South;

4/ The Persian Empire;

5/ The Greek Empire of Alexander the Great which engaged in a Hellenization of the world. There was 400 years of silence between the two Testaments during the Greek Empire;

6/ The Roman Empire: this is when the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth.

Currently, a 7th World Empire is being formed through alliances and treaties between nations. From where the Antichrist will emerge, according to the vision in the book of Daniel.

The Old Testament Overview – Focus on the book of Genesis

The term “Pentateuch” literally means “the five scrolls” and refers, in effect, to the first five books of the Bible. One reason for the unity of the Pentateuch would be its writing by one and the same author, Moses. Jesus himself referred to the Pentateuch as “the book of Moses” (Matthew 12:26) or the   “writings” of Moses (John 5:46-47).

The five Books of the Pentateuch have in common two main themes: the activity of God, first in the creation of the universe and then in that of a community of believers characterized by faith: the people of Israel who were to attest that God is holy, majestic and transcendent.

The book of Genesis

The Book of Genesis covers a period of about 3,300 years, from about 5,000 to 1,700 BC.

The Book assumes that God exists without seeking to demonstrate it and that He revealed Himself in words and deeds to the ancestors of Israel. The essential subject of Genesis is the work of God, who also established Israel as a means of blessing for all the families of the earth.

The book of Genesis is the introduction to the main theme of the Pentateuch: the foundation of theocracy, the reign of God over all creation.

The ancient Near East

Two peoples often clashed for power in this region: the Assyrians, with the famous city of Nineveh, occupied the northern part of Mesopotamia which roughly corresponds to today’s Iran; and the Babylonians, their opponents, who lived in the southern part, roughly present-day Iraq. Egypt covered a large part of North Africa. Between Mesopotamia and Egypt, there was Syria-Palestine also called the land of Canaan.

No country had a real supremacy in this region.

Polytheism was widespread and deities often associated with elements of nature. Baal, one of the best known, was the Canaanite god of storm and fertility and people invoked him for good harvests.

The modern principle of separation of powers, politics and religion, was not yet known. The Pharaoh in Egypt was considered a god-king, a divine monarch in human form. In Mesopotamia and Syria-Palestine, it was thought that kings ruled in the name of the divinities. And because they had both political power and religious authority, they were very powerful.

Societies were, to a large extent, organized on the model of kinship networks.

Egypt and Mesopotamia contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge and early invention of writing systems.