SIG

CLASSROOM COURSE

A Year in the Bible: Term 2

The Old Covenant Is Tested

During this term we look at how God, through wisdom and the prophets, continually called the covenant people, through messages addressed primarily to the leadership of Israel, to enter into the good, fruitful and generous life of willing service for which God had created them and to bring the people to the place where, fulfilling his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they would be a blessing to all the nations of the world.

Since Term 1 brought us to the reign of King David, this term begins in the fourteenth session with a discussion of the book of Psalms, many of which are, in various ways, associated with David. We return to the narrative books in Session 15, as we look at the peaceful passing of Israel's leadership from David to his young son, Solomon. In the next two sessions, 16 and 17, we study the remaining books in the wisdom/poetry section of the Old Testament, devoting Session 16 to the Song of Songs and Session 17 to Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, all of which are to some degree associated with Solomon. In Session 18, we return to the narrative as it is laid out in I Kings and II Chronicles and look at the reign of Solomon's son, Rehoboam and his rival Jeroboam, and the division of Israel into two rival nations, Ephraim/Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Sessions 19-22 weave the narratives of II Kings and II Chronicles together with the various books of the written prophets, including Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Joel, Jeremiah and others until the Babylonian captivity of most of the people of Judah. Session 23 concentrates on the prophetic texts of the period of the Babylonian Exile, Ezekiel, Isaiah 40-55 and Daniel. In Sessions 24 and 25 we read the narratives and prophets of the period of the return to Israel, including Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Finally, in Session 26, we discuss the transition period between the last of the Old Testament writings and the New Testament and look briefly at some of the inter-testamental texts, including I and II Maccabees, Judith and Tobit.

Thus, in the second series of thirteen sessions of the course, we look at the story of Israel, from its heights of power and influence under David and Solomon, through its division, dissolution, restoration and return to the land of God's promises. At the end we look back over this history to evaluate Israel's relative success or failure to become the people God promised the patriarchs they would become. All this leads us inevitably to a nation in bondage in its own land, waiting for God's new visit, God's new work of redemption.

Registration fee includes tuition, Participant Study Guide, The Greatest Song by Calvin Seerveld, and sales tax for this class.