I was reading in my text for my introduction to Old Testament I class tonight, and I ran across this great quote:
“Since the covenant is the instrument used by God to effect self-revelation, the Old Testament often appears to be a history of the covenant, or of aspects of it, more than a history of Israel. So Genesis 15-20
is a history of the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant. Exodus-Deuteronomy is a history of the establishment of the Mosaic covenant at Sinai. Joshua is a record of God’s faithfulness to the covenant, while Judges is a record of Israel’s unfaithfulness to the covenant. The books of Samuel and Kings are a history of the covenant of kingship (the Davidic covenant). It is the covenant as God’s plan that is more in focus than the people who are involved generation after generation.”
To this I would add that the prophetic writings (the nevi’im) can be seen as a call back to covenant faithfulness, as well as pointing to the covenant which was to come in Jesus Christ. This perspective of the OT leads me to wonder- what do the wisdom books show us on covenantal history?
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1. If you get the time this Lord’s day try to read through Deut-2 Kings in the day and jot down common sayings. I won’t test you, but it should open it up more for you. There are a lot of repeated sayings.
2. In terms of the Psalms, note the uses of “righteous” and “lovingkindness”. Both of these are covenantal. As is the expression “my God” as it casts our mid to the covenant formula of “I will be your God and you shall be my people”.