The Old Testament

I'm nearing the end of my (it turned out) 18-month project to read the Old Testament, which I'd never done before.

As a kid, I read Old Testament Stories, and I always new the narratives, their details, and the characters.

But there is a lot in the OT that isn't narrative.  Readers of this blog perhaps know this, but it was a surprise to me.  Many of the longest books (Ezekiel, Jeremiah) are records of prophecies that all predict the same thing (Israel's destruction), over and over.

I've heard that the god of the Old Testament is the angry one and that the god of the New Testament is the loving, forgiving one.  Since they're the same God, this didn't make sense to me, and it turns out to be untrue.

There is plenty of destruction and consequences for poor choices in the Old Testament, but there is also the same love and redemption that we find in the New Testament.

The Book of Micah is kind of a microcosm of the entire Old Testament. I enjoyed reading it because it was short--its prophecies of destruction only took five chapters instead of sixty.  Chapters six and seven of Micah are a wonderful summary of God's direction to and love for His children.

What does the Lord want of us?  Micah 6:8--"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

And what does the Lord have in store for us at the end? Micah 7:18-19

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

So really, I've found the Old Testament, summarized nicely in Micah, to be a good allegory for life.

1. We receive commandments from a loving God.
2. We forget Him often and fail to keep those commandments
3. We suffer the spiritual and temporal consequences of disobedience
4. When we repent we are forgiven
5. When we sin again, we suffer; when we repent again we are forgiven
6. A merciful and loving Father wil again have compassion upon us and cast away our sins