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In your view, what was/is the core theme of the Old Testament?

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kathydixon

kathydixon

 
Member
In your view, what was/is the core theme of the Old Testament?
Definition of Theme
Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Definition of Theme
In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic a text treats.[1] Themes can be divided into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what readers "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject".[2] Themes are often distinguished from premises.

Definition of theme
1a: a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation
guilt and punishment is the theme of the story
b: a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern
the campaign has lacked a theme

In reading the Old Testament, what do you believe the core theme was and for what purpose was it written-?
 
Hi and welcome!
You may enjoy Old Testament Theology, Flowering and future by Ben C. Ollenburger which is a compilation of many OT Theologians with varied views on this very subject including Walter Brueggemann, Paul House, Gerhard Von Rad and many, many others each with a different perspective.

Personally, I see exile and redemption as the underlying theme throughout the entire Bible, but is more pronounced in the OT.
 
Both the Old and New Testaments "themes" are about finding out who God is: God wanting from all eternity to reveal Himself to man and to share His life with man.

Put another way, the Bible reveals why God chose to become man.

Happy Thanksgiving.
 
I just posted this yesterday in another forum but it applies here as well so I'll share it again.

About four years ago as I was listening to an audio version I kept noticing a particular theme or phrase or thought that seemed to poke at me. At first, I didn't pay too much attention. The following year, I was using the audio again and again I kept getting poked with this same thing. It was capturing my attention enough that I finally felt I had to do a study of my own and put it to rest.

What I kept hearing was a recurring reference to statements from God to the effect that He wants us to know Him. There are statements by God affirming who He is such as, "I am the Lord" and "I am God" and "I am your Shield" and "I am your Salvation" and so on. If my memory is correct, I found somewhere around 130 references like this throughout the Bible.

Then there were statements by God affirming what He wants from us such as "So you will know I am God" and "So they will know that I am Lord" and "So you will know Me" and so on. Here again, I believe I found somewhere around 150 references like this too.

I believe God most definitely wants a personal relationship with us just as He did with Adam. The problem is that we are in a state of rebellion and do not want the same. We would rather be our own gods.
 
WIP said:
I just posted this yesterday in another forum but it applies here as well so I'll share it again.

About four years ago as I was listening to an audio version I kept noticing a particular theme or phrase or thought that seemed to poke at me. At first, I didn't pay too much attention. The following year, I was using the audio again and again I kept getting poked with this same thing. It was capturing my attention enough that I finally felt I had to do a study of my own and put it to rest.

What I kept hearing was a recurring reference to statements from God to the effect that He wants us to know Him. There are statements by God affirming who He is such as, "I am the Lord" and "I am God" and "I am your Shield" and "I am your Salvation" and so on. If my memory is correct, I found somewhere around 130 references like this throughout the Bible.

Then there were statements by God affirming what He wants from us such as "So you will know I am God" and "So they will know that I am Lord" and "So you will know Me" and so on. Here again, I believe I found somewhere around 150 references like this too.

I believe God most definitely wants a personal relationship with us just as He did with Adam. The problem is that we are in a state of rebellion and do not want the same. We would rather be our own gods.
Click to expand...

Good post!

Thankfully He is patient. Some of us keep Him knocking at that door for quite a while before we open it and invite Him in to sup with us.
 
WIP said:
I just posted this yesterday in another forum but it applies here as well so I'll share it again.

About four years ago as I was listening to an audio version I kept noticing a particular theme or phrase or thought that seemed to poke at me. At first, I didn't pay too much attention. The following year, I was using the audio again and again I kept getting poked with this same thing. It was capturing my attention enough that I finally felt I had to do a study of my own and put it to rest.

What I kept hearing was a recurring reference to statements from God to the effect that He wants us to know Him. There are statements by God affirming who He is such as, "I am the Lord" and "I am God" and "I am your Shield" and "I am your Salvation" and so on. If my memory is correct, I found somewhere around 130 references like this throughout the Bible.

Then there were statements by God affirming what He wants from us such as "So you will know I am God" and "So they will know that I am Lord" and "So you will know Me" and so on. Here again, I believe I found somewhere around 150 references like this too.

I believe God most definitely wants a personal relationship with us just as He did with Adam. The problem is that we are in a state of rebellion and do not want the same. We would rather be our own gods.
Click to expand...
Reminds me of Deuteronomy 30:11-15 emphasis on verse 14.
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction
 
kathydixon said:
In your view, what was/is the core theme of the Old Testament?
Definition of Theme
Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Definition of Theme
In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic a text treats.[1] Themes can be divided into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what readers "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject".[2] Themes are often distinguished from premises.

Definition of theme
1a: a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation
guilt and punishment is the theme of the story
b: a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern
the campaign has lacked a theme

In reading the Old Testament, what do you believe the core theme was and for what purpose was it written-?
Click to expand...
Theme - God is with us - abide with Him and in His ways

Purpose - to share with the world that they too can abide with God and in His ways - His ways are the only ones that work - abiding with God and in His ways is peace joy love safety prosperity truth strength etc
 
The one true living God who revealed Himself to the world mainly through the interaction of raising and leading a people for Himself who were at the time set apart from the rest of the world by His promises,commands and decrees. (OT)
 
In the Old Testament God talked about His chosen. God stated why He chose them, and God changed His mind, noting that His chosen failed to follow His commandments. Does anyone here remember those verses as well?
 
To me...
The whole of the Old Testament can be summed up by the Exodus Story which is symbolized by Passover and the Sedar.

The 4/5 cups talk all about the 5 "I Will" statements by God which talk about how God saved them from slavery, redeemed them, made them a nation, made them a people with a future, will lead them to the promised Land permanently...

And the same theme is seen once again in the New Testament.... different manner of doing the same things...but it's essentially the same message. All other laws, rules, ordinances, and holidays refer back to this one Holiday.
 
JohnDB said:
To me...
The whole of the Old Testament can be summed up by the Exodus Story which is symbolized by Passover and.,..,
Click to expand...
I have been confused about "passover". I tried to understand it and so far I have come up short.
Please explain "passover"
(:-
 
It comes from the "Angel of Death" passing over their house because of the Lamb's Blood on the door frame but it visited every Egyptian household and killed their firstborn son. This "sorrow" allowed Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from their slavery in Egypt and become the nation Israel.

The "cups" can be viewed here
 
kathydixon said:
In the Old Testament God talked about His chosen. God stated why He chose them, and God changed His mind, noting that His chosen failed to follow His commandments. Does anyone here remember those verses as well?
Click to expand...
God chose Israel as a promise to Abraham. You can read this in Genesis 15. In this chapter we see Gods promise to Abraham and how God substitutes Abrahams role with himself in covenant. In other words, if God fails to keep his end of the promise, may it be done to God as has been to the covenant animals. Since God substituted himself in place of Abraham, may it be done to God if Abrahams defendants break the covenant. ( a preface to Christ)

Chapter 15 also points toward the book of Exodus. Exodus in Hebrew is Sha-Moi which means "The book of names". It is called this because it starts with, These are the names.... And it lists the names of the offspring of Abraham through Issac. It starts this way because Exodus is about identity in exile. Lots can happen in 400 years while they were in Egypt instead of their land, but through it all, they never lost their identity.

Which answers another part of your question. Prior to Exodus, God was known as the God of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. In Exodus 4:21-23, we see God call Israel his Son, which makes them children of God. But it also starts the preface to Passover.

The Israelites lived in the choices land in Egypt. Things were pretty comfy till a bad pharaoh came to town and was threatened by them. So, he had the boys killed at birth. Moses escaped this fate, but you can read this for yourself. In essence, God sent 10 plagues against the Gods of Egypt. Each plague was targeted at a specific Egyptian God all the way to Pharoah who claimed to be the God who controlled life or death. This is what Passover represents, and so much more.

The Israelites are then driven out of Egypt and make their way to Mt Sinai where they cut a covenant with God. With one voice they agree to the terms ( exodus 24). Moses then goes on the mountain only to return to some of them worshipping a golden calf.

They broke the deal. God owed them nothing. Moses goes back on the mountain for 80 days and intercedes for the people. God wants to let them die, but Moses intercedes and they are spared. God repents. ( Exodus 33 )
 
kathydixon said:
In your view, what was/is the core theme of the Old Testament?
Definition of Theme
Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Definition of Theme
In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic a text treats.[1] Themes can be divided into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what readers "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject".[2] Themes are often distinguished from premises.

Definition of theme
1a: a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation
guilt and punishment is the theme of the story
b: a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern
the campaign has lacked a theme

In reading the Old Testament, what do you believe the core theme was and for what purpose was it written-?
Click to expand...

The core Theme is Love.



JLB
 
kathydixon said:
In the Old Testament God talked about His chosen. God stated why He chose them, and God changed His mind, noting that His chosen failed to follow His commandments. Does anyone here remember those verses as well?
Click to expand...
He did not change His mind. He made a new covenant with them first.

The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them, ”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God.

children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Those that rejected Gods Christ and the covenant introduced by His blood were set adrift. (cut off)
 
kathydixon said:
I stumbled into this site and after reading it I am confused by it. So I attached the link and now I await your comments--
no animosity intended or implied

universalknowledge.net - Google Search

www.google.com
Click to expand...
I click on the link and seen their site...
Their site isn't the best laid out...I really haven't gotten in depth on what they are promoting.
The poor website construction and layout will keep me from really digging in to see what exactly they mean by what they say.

There are plenty of other resources to look at and get ideas for what you want to know.
 
JohnDB said:
Their site isn't the best laid out...I really haven't gotten in depth on what they are promoting.
Click to expand...
When I visited the site it was squished together and the pages warped to the point I could not read it. I had to widen the view to see it correctly. I agree it’s a bit mixed up. Some parts are biblical verses and other parts are historical events. I was able to piece it together after several tries. What struck me the hardest was the reports of IDF shooting children. This brought me to tears.
(:-
 
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