Supplemental Books Notes Document #: TX The Bible Course Notes Nov. 10, 2015

Notes = Write it down Background = Don’t write it down

Notes Patriarchs – Job Egypt and Exodus – Leviticus Desert Wanderings – Deuteronomy Conquest and Judges - Ruth

Notes - Job The Book of Job is the first Wisdom book in the Old Testament. It addresses the theme of God’s justice in the face of human suffering. It asks the question: “Why do good people suffer?” Job’s Trust and Faith in God in the face of suffering is a strong witness. It has been called the greatest poem of ancient and modern times.

Notes – Important quote from Job “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” - Job 1: 21

Notes - Leviticus Leviticus is the third book of the Old Testament and the third of five books of the Jewish Torah. The name is from the Latin Leviticus, and is a reference to the Levites, the tribe of Aaron, from whom the priests descended.

Background - Leviticus The book addresses all the people of Israel though some passages address the priests specifically. Most of its chapters consist of God's speeches to Moses which he is commanded to repeat to the Israelites.

Background - Leviticus This book takes place within the story of the Israelites' Exodus after they escaped Egypt and reached Mt. Sinai. The book of Exodus narrates how Moses led the Israelites in building the Tabernacle based on God's instructions.

Background - Leviticus Then in Leviticus, God tells the Israelites and their priests how to make offerings in the Tabernacle and how to conduct themselves while camped around the holy tent sanctuary. Leviticus takes place during the month-and-a-half between the completion of the Tabernacle and the Israelites' departure from Sinai.

Background - Leviticus The instructions of Leviticus emphasize ritual, legal and moral practices rather than beliefs. Nevertheless, they reflect the world view of the creation story in Genesis 1 that God wishes to live with humans.

Background - Leviticus The book teaches that faithful performance of the sanctuary rituals can make that possible, so long as the people avoid sin and impurity whenever possible. The rituals, especially the sin and guilt offerings, provide the means to gain forgiveness for sins and purification from impurities so that God can continue to live in the Tabernacle in the midst of the people.

Background - Leviticus The traditional view is that Leviticus was compiled by Moses, but scholars are practically unanimous that the book had a long period of growth, and that although it includes some material of considerable antiquity, it reached its present form in 332 BC.

Notes – Important Quote from Leviticus “These are the commandments which the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.” -Leviticus 27: 34

Notes - Deuteronomy The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Old Testament, and of the Jewish Torah. The title means "the second law". The book consists of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land.

Background - Deuteronomy The first sermon recalls the forty years of wilderness wanderings which have led to this moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law, later referred to as the Law of Moses.

Background - Deuteronomy The second sermon reminds the Israelites of the need for exclusive allegiance to one God and observance of the laws he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends.

Background - Deuteronomy The third sermon offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored.

Notes - Authorship Deuteronomy is seen as the words of Moses delivered before the conquest of Canaan.

Notes – Quote to Remember One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord alone."

Background Deuteronomy 6:4–5 were also quoted by Jesus in Mark 12:28–34 as part of the Great Commandment. Deut. 6: 4 – 5: Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.”

Background Mark 12:28–34: The Greatest Commandment. 28 One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!

Background 32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Background 30 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Background 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Notes – The Book of Ruth The Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel. It is named after its central figure, Ruth the Moabite, the great-grandmother of David.

Notes The book tells of Ruth's accepting the God of the Israelites as her God and the Israelite people as her own.

Notes – Quote to Remember In Ruth 1:16 – 17 Ruth tells Naomi, her Israelite mother in law, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me."

Background The book is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel. A date during the monarchy is suggested by the book's interest in the ancestry of David, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BC, when intermarriage had become controversial (as seen in Ezra 9:1 and Nehemiah 13:1).

Notes Timeline Lesson 5 – Royal Kingdom / Divided Kingdom