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Class II, Fall 2001            “Hallowed Be Thy Name”

 The Old Testament

Opening Prayer

Reflections on last week      Any responses?

A list of scriptures used is available. 

Opening – What is holiness or what does it mean to be holy?  (“Hallowed” means holy.)

What does it mean for God’s name to be holy?  What is God’s name?  Talk about the Hebrew language and the business with consonants and vowels and the great “Jehovah” business.

 A history time line of the Old Testament period was discussed.  Your Bible may have one in some of its help pages.

 I.  Types of Old Testament literature

II.  Pentateuch:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Sample texts:  Exodus 20 & Deut 5;  Genesis 1:1-3 & Genesis 2:4b-7

How is this kind of literature an effective way for God to communicate to us?  How does this communicate God’s holiness and ours?  God reveals Godself, and calls a people to be holy.  The law is the recipe for how to be holy.

 III.  History books

Samuel, David, Solomon, divided kingdoms to the Fall of Jerus. to Babylon.

Find stories of David:  as a shepherd, fighting Goliath, Bathsheba.  What stories in the histories are you familiar with?

Sample text:  Judges 4:1-10. 

How is this kind of literature an effective way for God to communicate to us?  How does this communicate God’s holiness and ours?  The history shows the struggle of this people to be different.

 IV.  Poetry  -  Psalms, Proverbs, Job.

Parallelism in Hebrew Poetry

Sample texts:  Ps 23 & song of Solomon 8:6-7

How is this kind of literature an effective way for God to communicate to us?  How does this communicate God’s holiness and ours?  The poetry shows the struggle of the people to be holy and God’s opening a way for prayer to include the range of human emotions..

 V.  Prophets        The Three great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the 12 minor prophets

What is Hebrew Prophecy versus telling the future.  Heb prophecy is about the present first.  It is about keeping the people holy, reminding them whose they are, where they have come from and how they are to behave.

Sample texts:  Isaiah 40:1-5; Jeremiah 31:31-35, Amos 5:21-24.  these are familiar.  Hosea 11:1-7 is less familiar

How is this kind of literature an effective way for God to communicate to us?  How does this communicate God’s holiness and ours?  God is calling us back to holiness through reminding us of our past and of God’s wonderful deeds.

Integrating activity:  We will match opening lines to the various genres of literature.  These will be passed out and the class will work on them in small groups.

Question for reflection:  How can we see ourselves in the story and make it our story.  How can we understand the story of our ancestors in the faith to be our story.

Deut 5:1-4