Reading the Old Testament - 4. The Old Testament wasn't written in a day

Unlike the books of the New Testament which were all written within 100 years of Jesus’ resurrection, the books of the Old Testament were written over many hundreds of years. This has a number of implications.

First, most of the human authors of the Old Testament books didn’t know each other. They didn’t collude together or work to a set agenda. They didn’t set out to write “The Old Testament”. It was only after the books were collected together, quite late in Jewish history, that the Old Testament came into being.

Second, each wrote for a particular group of people in a particular situation at a particular time. So although there is an amazing underlying unity to the Old Testament books that results from God’s faithfulness and purposes, each book has its own focus, its own style. At times this results in what may seem almost contradictory attitudes and ideas. For instance, the histories provided by the authors of the books of Kings and of Chronicles are not identical in detail or emphasis.

Third, the culture and faith of Israel changed over time and this is reflected in the Old Testament texts. The people who left Egypt and worshipped in a tent were very different people to those who were worshipping in the temple in Solomon’s reign, although obviously human nature being what it is, they shared some common longings and failings. The people who returned from exile had different experiences, different hopes and consequently different beliefs and practices to those who had gone into exile. Israel’s faith waxed and waned and struggled and matured over time. This is reflected in the text.

Fourthly, the later texts often make reference to earlier texts. So, for instance, Jeremiah assumes that his readers are aware of the contents of the book of Deuteronomy and alludes to it often. The Psalms refer back to Genesis, Exodus and other narratives. This can be helpful in working out when a book was written.

Fifth, there is a gradual unfolding of God’s plans. We read the texts as people who've jumped to the last chapter of the story and have read the ending. But the people in the story didn't always know where the plot was leading, so to speak. We shouldn't expect them to see things the way we do. They were faithful, mostly, to what had been revealed to them, but God revealed himself through the events of history as well as through personal revelation to the prophets.

This post is part 4 of a series on reading the Old Testament:

Reading the Old Testament part 7 - Is the Old Testament misogynistic?
Reading the Old Testament part 6 - Not-so-simple questions about the Old Testament
Reading the Old Testament part 5 - A simple set of questions to use when reading the Old Testament 
Reading the Old Testament part 4 - The Old Testament wasn't written in a day
Reading the Old Testament part 3 - Remember the Old Testament is old
Reading the Old Testament part 2 - Getting an overview
Reading the Old Testament part 1 - Know your history