Key OT Teachings

[GWH]

PR 22:1 teaches us that “A good name is more desirable than great riches.” It is more valuable because it is more difficult to obtain and once lost is almost impossible to regain. As PR 15:17 says, “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.” Or 16:19, “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.”

Our good character traits are the only thing we can take to heaven. These are the treasures Jesus teaches us to store up in heaven (MT 6:20). How sad it is when people sell their souls for money, and even more tragic when their reputations are just thrown away like trash.

PR 22:6. “Train a child in the way he [or she] should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” This is true most of the time or as a general principle, but of course when a child becomes an adult he/she has a free will and is responsible for his/her own moral decisions. Training means modeling or practicing what we preach, so that a child has no good or valid reason to rebel against the parents--and thus against God.

 

[GWH]

PR 24:23-25. “To show partiality in judging is not good: Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent’, peoples will curse him… but it will go well with those who convict the guilty.” God does not show favoritism (Rom. 2:11, Gal. 2:6, Eph. 6:9, Jam. 2:1&9).

The movie, “The Devil’s Advocate”, portrays the fact that in our criminal justice system, the role of defense attorneys is to keep their clients from being convicted whether or not they committed the crime, GW indicates that it should be everyone’s duty to ascertain the facts including who committed crimes, and the role of defense attorneys should be insuring that their clients’ punishment is fair.

 

[GWH]

Ecclesiastes, like many of the Proverbs, is attributed to King Solomon. This book views life from a secular and almost agnostic perspective.

ECC 1:2. Everything is meaningless if there is no God. Seeking pleasure is chasing after the wind, and working is toilsome.

If there is no God, then there is no authority superior to human opinion, and as existential equals, everyone’s opinion is equally valid, so that Hitler’s Nazi philosophy is no more right or wrong than the teachings of Jesus, and morality is relative. Thus, life is a tragic-farce, especially for those who value meaning and morality and the hope of heaven.

This is why Paul says (in 1Cor. 15:32, quoting Isa. 22:13) that if Christ is not raised from the dead, then “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”, echoing Eccl. 2:24, “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink” if there is no God.

 

[lrs68]

David, Bathsheba, death of Uriah, death of David\Bathsheba's son could equal to saying you Reap what you Sow. For God choosing to come from the lineage of David is incredible when we think about the trainwreck of his wives, sons, and daughters. That is how Merciful our God and Savior really is.

 

[GWH]

David, Bathsheba, death of Uriah, death of David\Bathsheba's son could equal to saying you Reap what you Sow. For God choosing to come from the lineage of David is incredible when we think about the trainwreck of his wives, sons, and daughters. That is how Merciful our God and Savior really is.

Yes, and born homeless, suffered, then crucified. God loves humanity a lot!

 

[lrs68]

Yes, and born homeless, suffered, then crucified. God loves humanity a lot!

Amen and I am so thankful that God loves me the way He does. Gives me the hope needed to make it every day.

 

[GWH]

Amen and I am so thankful that God loves me the way He does. Gives me the hope needed to make it every day.

Yes, and I am aware that God loves everyone that way,
which makes me hope that all on CC share our gratitude,
so we will manifest one Lord, one faith, one hope and one love.

 

[GWH]

Eccl. 1:9. “There is nothing new under the sun.” If there is no God, then there is no New Covenant and no New Jerusalem, and the universe must be like the water cycle cited in verse 7, with no progression from creation to crucifixion to heaven, but rather only atoms evolving into various forms including sentient beings who soon die and devolve back into atoms from which other bodies will come that are no different essentially, although there may be consciousness of existence that involves newness for awhile.

Eccl. 3:1-8. We must discern when various actions are appropriate: For example, the right time to be born is when two parents decide they are ready to raise children; the time to die is after a long life filled with good experiences and loving relationships; the time to kill is when murderers cannot be stopped or reformed; the time to tear down is when old structures stand in the way of progress; a time to mourn is at a funeral for someone whose death was tragic, a time to refrain from embracing is when the relationship is wrong; a time to search is when an answer needs to be found; a time to love is at all times; a time to hate is when evil is the object; a time for war is when ungodly aggressors attempt to enslave and murder people, and a time for peace is when people serve the Lord.

 

[GWH]

Finally, in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes the writer turns from philosophy to theology and states a key truth that we should consider.

ECC 12:14. God will judge the deeds and motives of people. When? Apparently, at the eschaton or end of earthly history.

The next book of the English Bible after ECC is Song of Songs. This book celebrates romantic love, although in terms that do not excite me very much. {Read SofS 4:1-7 as a sample.] The only key teaching I glean from this book is this: Physical beauty is good and romantic love is appropriate as long as sexual intercourse is reserved to express marital commitment.

Am I missing anything else?

 

[GWH]

Now we come to the prophet Isaiah, which was written near the end of the divided kingdom before Israel and then Judah were captured and many of the people were taken to Babylon.

IS points the way to the NT Messiah, but unfortunately Isaiah seems to have been ignored by Ezra when he led the return of the Jews to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity, and so Judaism became very legalistic, which paved the way for the Sanhedrin to crucify Jesus. For example, Isa. 1:13-14 says, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! …Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates.” Compare this with Ezra 3:2-5, “Then Jeshua… and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it…They celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed feasts…”. The reason the offerings are meaningless is because those who offer them are evil-doers.

Isa. 1:17. This verse says to learn to do right, which includes seeking justice, encouraging the oppressed and helping the poor. Jesus had to teach the Jewish religious leaders that it is right to do good works on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:12). GW teaches what is right.

Isa. 1:18a. “Come now, let us reason together.” I view this verse as teaching that that human logic is a divine gift. Other verses that imply this include John 15:25, Acts 17:17, 1Cor. 2:6, 13:11 and 1Pet. 3:15b. These passages indicate that we should at least think and attempt to learn the best opinions or solutions regarding issues, even if we have little power to enact them.

 

[GWH]

Not sure why these key OT teachings do not prompt more commentary, but here are two more for your consideration:

IS 5:20. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” You may be familiar with the “hip lingo” among adolescents in which something good is called bad, and good behavior is considered bad. This is both a symptom and a contribution to the moral confusion so many people have. And loose morality results in unhappy relationships among people and rebellion against God.

Isa. 6:9-10. This verse seems to make God responsible for spiritual blindness and deafness, but we know from NT teaching that God loves all people and wants everyone to be saved (1Tim. 2:3-4 for example), so we should understand this verse as expressing the permissive will of God rather than His intentional will. God allows people to choose to have callous hearts. When Jesus quoted this verse while expressing exasperation for functional atheism like that of the Pharisees (in Matt. 13:14-15), notice how the wording is changed to make the sinner rather than God accountable for callousness/obstinacy.