Old and New Testament. Summary with illustrations

bible story Old Testament

The promise of the New Testament through the Old Testament prophets and the features of the New Testament

At the beginning of the disclosure of the titled topic, you need to delve into the understanding of what a covenant is and why it is needed. A covenant is a contract or agreement between two personal parties in which one or both parties undertake to fulfill the subject matter of the covenant.

A covenant is always accompanied by some sign to commemorate the making of the covenant. In today's world, agreements between parties are written down for memory on a piece of paper that can be torn at any time, but this was not the case before.

If one person made a promise to another person, then this was fulfilled without fail, because the responsibility for the spoken word was realized. Often covenants were sealed with blood, which meant taking responsibility in one's own life for not fulfilling the promise in the covenant.

In general, the Biblical teaching about covenants and their signs is serious and necessary for every participant in the New Testament.
But here only the features of the New Testament will be shown, which God Himself spoke about through the prophets who lived during the time of the Old Testament.

In 597 BC, at the beginning of spring, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, and took into captivity more than three thousand people from the best people inhabitants of Judea.

At that time, the prophet of God Jeremiah was in Jerusalem, through whom God spoke to the Jewish people about the reasons for this situation:
“do not rightly judge between a man and his rival, oppress a foreigner, an orphan and a widow, and shed innocent blood in this place, follow other gods to your own misfortune, rely on deceptive words that will not benefit you, you steal, kill and commit adultery, and swear in lies, and burn incense to Baal, and walk in the footsteps of other gods, whom you do not know” (Jer. 7:5-9).

And with all this backsliding of the Old Testament people, God remained faithful to the covenant He made with Abraham and Moses for Israel. Indeed, in the Old Testament Jewish people Abraham's descendants, Isaac, and Jacob, were both blessed for obedience and cursed for disobedience (Deuteronomy chapters 4 to 7, and 28).

Therefore, in such terrible conditions of the spiritual and moral fall of the vast majority of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Lord, through His prophet Jeremiah, gives the people a promise to conclude a new covenant with the people:

Jer. 31:31 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt; that My covenant they broke, though I remained in union with them, says the Lord.

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they will no longer teach one another, brother to brother, and say, "Know the Lord," for all themselves will know me, from the smallest to the greatest, says the Lord, because I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more."

The Lord, through the prophet, gives His word to conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. The people of Israel are already in God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and are also in the Covenant of the Law, which was given to them from God through Moses. During this time, 850 years have passed under the shadow of this Testament from the Exodus.

During these years there was forty years of wandering in the desert with numerous stops. Then, after the death of Moses, Joshua became the leader, who led, under the leadership of God, the transition through the Jordan to the promised land.

Starting from the legendary capture of Jericho, the conquest of the earth was carried out with the expulsion from it of peoples sinful before God. Joshua remained the leader of the settled people until his death, that is, for another thirty years. And after him, for another twenty years, the elders, brought up by Moses and Joshua, ruled.

Then came the time of the judges for three hundred years, during which the people either retreated from God, then, after punishment, again and again returned to the Lord.
Then from the judge of the prophet Samuel there was one hundred and twenty years of a united kingdom, with the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon from 966 to 959 BC. After Solomon, his son Rehoboam divided the kingdom into northern Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

In 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel fell under the blows of Assyria, and the ten tribes of the sons of Israel were resettled throughout the Assyrian empire.
The house of Israel was scattered.

In their place, other peoples were settled, which merged with the remnants of Jews from the poorest families. Later, these settlers were taught the law of Moses and became known as Samaritans. The southern kingdom of Judea, with the religious center of faith in the One God in the Jerusalem Temple, stood against Assyria, but submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, the new king of the rising Babylonian kingdom. The house of Judah was taken captive.

To be continued..

Isagogy. Old Testament Men Alexander

§13 A brief outline of the history of the Old Testament and the history of the creation of the Old Testament (according to modern biblical studies)

1. Why the Covenant was given within the framework of one nation. The books of Holy Scripture were not created by one of the famous and powerful civilizations, but were a Revelation given to a people who lived in a small and poor country, whose history is a chain of severe trials, crises and hardships. But it was there that the spiritual threshold and prototype of the Church of Christ was located. In the Old Testament, the Church, or the People of God, was limited by national boundaries. This is due to the fact that in ancient times the transmission of any spiritual tradition was carried out from parents to children, in the bosom of a certain culture and national tradition. This stage began to be overcome in the Hellenistic era (III-I centuries BC), when the first proselytes began to enter the Old Testament Church. The New Testament Church is already embracing Jews and Greeks, barbarians and Scythians (Col 3:11), becoming the new universal people of God.

2. Patriarchs and oral stories. The ancestors of the Israelites, called patriarchs, came to Palestine from the East, from Mesopotamia and Syria. Their resettlement was connected with a call from above, which prompted Abraham to leave "the house of his father." At this time (about 1900-1700 BC), the first legends about the beginning of the world and man, as well as the legends about the patriarchs themselves (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, etc.) ). This tradition was reinforced in oral form.

3. From Moses to Joshua. At the beginning of the 17th century BC. the Israelites (Sons of Israel) moved during the famine to the border region of the Nile Delta. This happened under the Asian Hyksos pharaohs, who patronized immigrants from Palestine. But under the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, their situation worsened. Some groups of the Children of Israel left Egypt (this is hinted at in Isa 8:33; 1 Chron 7:21,24). The life of the Israelis became especially difficult under Ramses II, who, having moved his residence to the Delta, attracted foreigners to the construction work.

In the 13th century, Israel left Egypt under the leadership of the Levite Moses, who became its leader, prophet and legislator. At first, the people wandered through the desert in the vicinity of Mount Sinai and the oasis of Kadesh. There God through Moses gave the first Law, from which the Holy Tradition of the Torah (Pentateuch) originates. Part of it was written down by Moses himself (eg, Exodus 20), part was kept orally among the Levites. Nevertheless, the spirit of the Torah remains Mosaic (see $15,16). In the same era, hymns were composed (Exodus 15; 16:17; Numbers 10:35), which were included in collections that have not survived to our time.

Around 1200, Israel begins settling Canaan, gradually penetrating into its northern and southern regions. During the years of the conquest, epic tales of wars with the Canaanite kings arise.

4. The era of judges. In the XII-XI centuries, they tried to capture Canaan Philistines (who came from the Aegean) and nomads. Israel at that time was an alliance of tribes, bound only by religious ties. Opponents, taking advantage of its fragmentation, established their power in the country. Speeches of Deborah, Prop. Samuel and groups of the Sons of the Prophets uplifted the spirit of the people and contributed to the struggle for independence. The religious centers in those days were the cities of Shechem and Shiloh. In Shechem, representatives of the tribes gathered for the holidays, in Shiloh the Ark was kept. The knees were controlled by "shofets" - judges.

In the era of the judges, legends about the fight against the Philistines were composed and, possibly, processed (in accordance with settled way life) legal parts of the Torah (Book of the Covenant, Ex 20-23).

Through the work of Samuel, the Philistine yoke was weakened. To fight him, the people wanted to elect a king. Samuel agreed, not without hesitation. It was revealed to him what trials the monarchical power would lead to. The first king was Saul, who was successful as long as he reckoned with the prophet, but when he broke the connection with Samuel, failure began to follow him. Saul died in battle with the Philistines. His successor David managed to utterly defeat them and push them back to the sea.

5. Kingdom of David and Solomon. Around 1000, David formed a multinational empire (it included, in addition to the Israelites and southern Jews, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites and Syrians) and made the Canaanite fortress of Jerusalem his capital. David laid the foundation for the book of Psalms (the earliest of them are 17, 29, 31).

During the reign of the son of David Solomon (970-931), Israel lost Syria, but its state prospered and carried on a brisk trade with its neighbors (Egypt, Phoenicia, the Kingdom of Sheba). Under Solomon, the builder of the Jerusalem Temple, a corporation of court chroniclers, sages and scribes (sofers) was created. They collected parables, aphorisms and legends (the basis of the Book of Proverbs), stories about judges and the first kings. According to the generally accepted opinion in biblical science, it was under Solomon that the collection of the Holy Moses History (Yagvistic) was processed, which was based on the pre-Moses and Moses Tradition (see § 16 and Appendix # 5 at the end of the book).

6. Israel and Judah before the prophet-writers. After the death of Solomon around 922, his power fell apart into two kingdoms : Northern (Israel, or Ephraim) and Southern (Judah). David's dynasty ruled in Judah. Several dynasties changed in the Northern Kingdom. Samaria became its capital. The Mosaic tradition was kept in the north by the Levites of Shechem. As most biblical scholars believe, it was they who processed their (second) version of the Holy History (Elogistic) and the code of Deuteronomy. These monuments of sacred writing already reflect the influence prophets . The prophets (Elijah, Elisha, etc.) fought against paganism, which easily infected the masses. Israel and Judah competed with each other, which weakened them in politically and made defenseless against the onslaught of Assyria.

7. The first prophet-writers. In the era of the struggle with Assyria, prophet-writers came forward, the first of which was the Jewish shepherd Amos (VIII century), who preached in the Northern Kingdom. He predicted God's punishment for apostasy from the faith. His younger contemporary was Hosea of ​​Samaria. Both of them are the earliest biblical authors who own the books attributed to them almost entirely. At the end of the 8th - beginning of the 7th century, Isaiah prophesied in Judea, the inspirer of the religious reform of King Hezekiah, who fought against the remnants of paganism. Prop. Isaiah warned the king against political alliances, believing that his main business was to protect the purity of the faith. Through the labors of Isaiah, a whole direction, or school, was created. The book bearing the name of the prophet is composed of the writings of both Isaiah himself and his divinely inspired disciples and successors. Isaiah himself in it belongs to chapters 1-11, 17-19, 22, 23, 28-33. Chapters 20 and 34-35, containing episodes from the biography of the prophet, are taken either from the annals or from the "life" of Isaiah. The books of the prophets were written on small parchment scrolls, which were then sewn together. This explains the lack of chronological sequence in their speeches, which biblical scholarship is trying to reconstruct. The time of the activity of the prophet Micah dates back to the VIII century, the compilation of ch. 25-30 Book. Proverbs, as well as parts of the "royal psalms".

8. Judea after the fall of the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom fell in 722. Judea and Jerusalem became the center of religious life. There, the northern Levites bring the scrolls of the Law of Moses, which were kept in Shechem and Samaria.

Under the son of Hezekiah, Manasseh, the prophets were persecuted, but his successor, the pious Josiah (640-609), began a complete transformation of the cult and life in the spirit of the prophetic teaching. In 622 he found the Book of the Law, which he solemnly promulgated. All sanctuaries, except for the Temple, were abolished. Under Josiah, the prophets Zephaniah, Nahum and Habakkuk preached and wrote. Under him, in 626, the prophet Jeremiah began his ministry, the author of an extensive book, which included (probably by his student Baruch) and parts of his biography. It is believed that at the same time they began to process the historical annals into the Holy History, which began with Moses (Historical books of the OT, or Deuteronomy history). The collection was completed in captivity around 562. The prophet Jeremiah witnessed the agony and destruction of Jerusalem, destroyed and burned by Nebuchadnezzar in 587. Most of the population of the cities was taken into exile in Babylon. Some of the Jews fled to Egypt, where Jeremiah went with them. He believed that God, after trials, would give people the New Testament in place of the old one, which they had not kept.

9. The era of captivity. In exile, the Old Testament Church did not lose her faith and looked back at her past with repentance. She was helped in this by the prophets, among whom was the priest Ezekiel (d. c. 570). In exile, the Torah took on its present form, and many psalms were collected.

Around 450, the hope of liberation arose: the Persian king Cyrus began to threaten Babylon. During this time, one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament was writing and preaching. His name remains unknown, and the writings are included in the Book. St. Isaiah, probably because the prophet was a follower of the Isaiah school. In biblical science, this herald of salvation, the singer of the suffering Servant of the Lord (Messiah), is called DeuteroIsaiah. He owns Isaiah 40-55. Chapters 56-66, apparently, were written by him, but after returning from captivity in 538. Isaiah 13-14 is also attributed to Deutero-Isaiah and his circle; 21.1-10; 34-35.

10. Restoration. After the capture of Babylon by the Persians, the Jews received permission to return to their homeland. Only part of the people returned, headed by the high priest Joshua (Jesus) and prince Zerubbabel. In 520, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah issued a call to restore the Temple burned by the Chaldeans. It was rebuilt in 515, but the hopes for independence and revival did not come true. The spiritual life of the people in the devastated country fell into decay. Book testifies to this. prophet Malachi (5th century).

11. Lawyers. In 445, an official of the Persian king, the Jews Nehemiah, arrived in Jerusalem. He rebuilt the walls of the city and tried to revive the life of the Old Testament Community. He was prevented Samaritans (the remnants of the population of the Northern Kingdom, mixed with immigrants from Eastern countries). Nehemiah wanted to counteract the general decline with the Law. He was helped by the scribe and priest Ezra, who came from Babylon. Ezra convened a people's assembly in Jerusalem and brought the Jews to the oath - to strictly observe the covenants of the Torah. Since then, the process has begun separation of Judaism . The reaction to the extremes of Ezra were Book. Ruth and Prince. Ions that were directed against national narrowness.

12. Wise men of Israel. Between the 5th and 3rd centuries, in parallel with the lawyers, the sages began to occupy a significant place in the Old Testament Church. They were alien to national isolation, although they zealously guarded the foundations of faith. They wrote the Book. Job (c. 400), Book. Ecclesiastes (c. 300), and the books of Proverbs and the Song of Songs were revised. One of the last wise men was Jesus the son of Sirach (c. 190).

The clergy of Jerusalem compiled the 5th Holy History (III century BC), which considered the history of kings, captivity and return in the spirit of the Old Testament church tradition: 1-2 Chronicles.

The prophetic tradition is continued in those days by Joel, Deuterochariah (Zechariah 9-12) and the apocalyptics of the Isaiah school (Isaiah 24-27), in whom we find the first evidence of faith in the resurrection of the dead.

The guardians of the legalistic tradition were the Men of the Great Council, who extended the rules of the oral and written Torah to all spheres of life.

13. Judaism and Hellenism. In 332, Judea passed from the hands of the Persians under the rule of Alexander the Great, and after his death was included in the Greco-Egyptian kingdom of the Ptolemies. Ptolemy I Lag resettled many Jews in Alexandria. There, around the year 250, under Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247), the translation of the Pentateuch was begun, and then other sv. books on Greek language (Septuagint ).

In 189, the king of the Seleucid dynasty, Antiochus III the Great, conquered Judea from Egypt. The Seleucids spread Greek customs and beliefs everywhere. From this time begins the severe struggle of the Old Testament Church against the Hellenic temptations. Written at the beginning of the III century BC. Book. Tobit, Book. Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah aimed to strengthen the moral and religious ideals of Judaism, to protect it from Greek influence.

In 168, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163) attacked Judea with bloody persecutions, trying to eradicate its religion. The temple was turned into a pagan temple, the books of Scripture were set on fire, and all Old Testament rituals were banned. The persecuted and martyrs in those days drew consolation in the prophecies of Book. Daniel, which was compiled around the year 165 on the basis of ancient traditions. At the same time, apparently, the book was written. Judith (later translated into Greek). Close in spirit and time to the Book. Daniel was 1 Book. Enoch, which was then supplemented over a number of decades.

In 164 B.C. The Jews rebelled against Antiochus. Under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus of the Hasmonean line, they made rapid progress. Around the year 140, the country was already completely independent and was ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty. By this time the entire Hebrew Bible had been completed.

14. At the turn of the two Testaments. Judea remained an independent kingdom until 63 BC, when it was conquered by the Romans. Under the Hasmoneans, several currents arose within the Community, each of which created its own literature. In the environment Pharisees the first records of the "Oral Law" appeared (preceding the Talmud), 2nd Book. Maccabees (c. 120) and Psalms of Solomon (c. 63). Supporters of the Hasmonean dynasty, close to Sadducean party, created the 1st Book. Maccabees (c. 100). In circles belonging to the order Essenes , Qumran literature arose, Book. Yubileev and other apocrypha (II-I centuries BC).

In Alexandria, the Hellenized Jews of the diaspora had their own rich literature: treatises, dramas, commentaries, historical writings. Among them, the most famous are Prince. Wisdom of Solomon (c. 50 BC) and the writings of Philo (25 BC - 40 AD), who sought to combine the Old Testament teaching with ancient philosophy.

Many of the books written in the last two centuries BC are already outside of the biblical tradition. But they are important for the interpreters of Scripture, because they form, as it were, a bridge between the Old and New Testaments. The messianic aspirations of the apocalyptics, the ethical teachings of the scribes created the atmosphere that preceded and prepared the preaching of the Gospel.

Review questions

1. Why did the Old Testament Church develop within national boundaries?

2. In what era did the first oral biblical tradition develop?

3. Tell us about the fate of the Israelites from the patriarchs to the Exodus.

4. Why is the Pentateuch called Moses?

5. What characterizes the era of judges?

6. What parts of the Bible date back to the time of David and Solomon?

7. When did the division of the kingdoms take place?

8. Who was the first writer-prophet?

9. What was the significance of captivity to biblical religion?

10. What prophets preached during the Captivity?

11. Under what circumstances did the Babylonian Captivity end?

12. Who contributed to the separation of Judaism?

13. What was the relationship between Judaism and Hellenism?

14. What currents existed in Judaism on the eve of the New Testament period?