old testament
If the Old Testament Law was meant to be temporary why is it always called eternal, enduring, and everlasting?
Why is the Old Testament called eternal?
Most evangelicals say that the Old Testament was meant to be temporary covenant, one that was planned to be replaced by a better covenant, if that’s the case, why is this covenant (or series of them) in the Old testament frequently called an “everlasting covenant” not a “temporary covenant”? In fact, in Psalm 19:7 the Law is called perfect, which leads us to wonder, why should a “perfect” Law need replacing? (See below for examples)
Why does OT eschatalogical prophecy of the future include a restoration of Old Testament Law?
In fact Zechariah has a prophecy regarding the end times (Zech14:4-13) which undeniably shows the “the Day of the Lord.” In this prophecy The Lords feet rest on the Mount of Olives, there is eternal daytime, no night, and God ushers his reign of peace for the whole earth. During this eternal kingdom, God commands all nations to obey Old Testament law and celebrate the feast of Booths (Zech 14:16-19). Likewise, we see temple sacrifices continue in this vision of the future (Zech 14:21).
A few examples of Old Testament edicts described as Eternal/everlasting
“The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as an ENDURING covenant” (Exod 31:16)
“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children FOREVER, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deut 29:29)
“A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an EVERLASTING covenant.” (Gen 17:13)
“God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an EVERLASTING covenant for his offspring after him.” (Genesis 17:19)
“The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the EVERLASTING covenant.” (Isaiah 24:5)
“it is from the people of Israel as a covenant FOREVER.” (Leviticus 24:8)
“It is an EVERLASTING covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your descendants with you.”(Num 18:19)
William Dever, a leading archeologist argues the Hebrew Bible is overlaid with legendary material that can’t be history
The consensus of biblical archaeologists is that the Hebrew Bible contains much history but its “overlaid with legendary and even fantastic materials that the modern reader may enjoy as ‘story’ but which can scarcely be taken seriously as history.”
William G. Dever, commonly referred to as “America’s leading archaeologist of Israelite history” writes: “While the Hebrew Bible in its present, heavily edited form cannot be taken at face value as history in the modern sense, it nevertheless contains much history.
Let me begin by clarifying which books of the Hebrew Bible I think can be utilized by the would-be historian, whether textual scholar or archaeologist. With most scholars, I would exclude much of the Pentateuch, specifically the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. These materials obviously constitute a sort of “pre-history” that has been attached to the main epic of ancient Israel by late editors… As for Leviticus and Numbers, these are clearly additions to the “pre-history” by very late Priestly editorial hands, preoccupied with notions of ritual purity, themes of the “promised land,” and other literary motifs…
All this may be distilled from long oral traditions, and I suspect that some of the stories – such as parts of the Patriarchal narratives – may once have had a real historical setting. These traditions, however, are overlaid with legendary and even fantastic materials that the modern reader may enjoy as “story” but which can scarcely be taken seriously as history.”
(William G. Dever “What Did the Biblical Writers Know & When Did They Know It? – What Archaeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel” 2001 – William B. Eerdmans Publishing )
Bastards are not very well liked in the Hebrew Bible
If you are a child born outside of marriage, there are commands in the Bible forbid you to go to church. (Or perhaps to join the assembly of the people, or the leaders, depending on who is writing the commentary, and how much they are trying to soften this passage for the modern reader.)
“No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 23:2)
This sounds even nicer in the good ‘ol King James:
“A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 23:2)
The great Bible hero Samson ended his life as a “suicide bomber.”
Samsons last great act was the destruction of a building that resulted in the death of 3,000 civilians (including women) who were members of a different religion, while they were not engaged in war, but were at a worship service.
“Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson performed. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might; and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life. (Judges 16:27-30)
The great Bible hero Samson ended his life as a “suicide bomber.”
Incidentally, to help us appreciate the number of casualties, the September 11 suicide attack also left about 3,000 civilians dead.
There are seven different version of the “Ten Commandments”
What we know as the “Ten Commandments” actually has more than 10 laws and sayings, (up to 19-25 separate commands) thus different groups of Christians have had to group these many commands into “Ten Commandments” but they have done it differently.
Here are the seven different versions that group these many commands into ten.
S: Septuagint
P: Philo
T: Jewish Talmud
A: Augustine
C: Catechism of the Catholic Church,
L: Lutherans
R: Reformed Christians
Bible scholars say Moses didn’t write the Torah, David didn’t write the Psalms
Today’s the vast majority of biblical scholars don’t accept the traditional tales of the authorship of many biblical texts.
“Moses did not write the Torah (The Pentateuch, that is, the first five books of the Bible); David did not write most of the Psalms; Solomon did not write the Song of Solomon or Ecclesiastes; Isaiah did not write the entire book attributed to him; Paul did not write the letter to Timothy or Titus or several others published under his name; and it is unlikely that the apostles Matthew, James, Jude, Peter and John had anything to do with the canonical books ascribed to them.” (1)
(Michael Coogan, from Harvard, one of todays most respected Old Testament scholars, editor of the Oxford Annotated Bible.)
Even many conservatives reluctantly agree on these issues, for example Eardmans Commentary on the Bible, written by 67 Christian scholars including well known conservative theologians James Dunn and Bruce Waltke, states that the authors of the Torah are unknown (2) and it was likely edited on many occasions by different people.
There exists a canon within a canon that contains the books Christians actually read
There is a “canon within a canon” that contains the books clergy and laity frequently read and recommend, while there are other biblical texts that are oft hid.
“For centuries there has been a kind of canon within the canon, a selection of biblical texts read in liturgical contexts that are therefore the principal contact most believers have with the Bible. Conspicuously absent from [readings] are most or all of such books as Joshua, with its violent extermination of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan at divine command, or Judges, with its horrifying narratives of patriarchy and sexual assault in chapters 11 and 19–to say nothing of the Song of Solomon, with its charged eroticism, or of Job, with its radical challenge to the dominant biblical view of a just and caring God.” (1)
-Michael Coogan, leading Hebrew Bible scholar
Why didn’t God give the perfect law of love from the very beginning?
Why would God give the Old Testament Law with its harsh and nonsensical rules that allowed slavery, mysogeny, violence, bloody ritual and more? Why not give the perfect law of love from the very beginning? Why make such a drastic change later on?
If the main point was to speak to a culture in it’s own language, doesn’t that mean God accommodated his law based on human culture?
Instead of saying “slavery is wrong, no matter what” he caved in and allowed slavery because “humans were going to do it anyway.” That is like God allowing homosexuality, because that is the language of our culture.
If the main point was to show the terrible consequences for sin, how is it helpful to show the tragic effect of one behavior by encouraging many more brutal and violent behaviors? How is it helpful to give allowance for men to marry their kidnapped victim to show that sin is bad?
The Hebrew Bible is very biased against men without testicles
One of the weirdest verses in the Bible says:
“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 23:1)
As always, the King James is far more poetic.
“He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 23:1)
This brings up plenty of questions, like, did they have an usher/bouncer at the door to enforce this law?
Why did Gods law discriminate against guys without penises?
What if only one testicle is crushed, not both?
On a serious note, aren’t we all glad we don’t live in the Old Testament era?
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