I love the scriptures. Some days they are the only things that brings me peace. I particularly enjoy the Old Testament, as odd as that sounds. Even though it is a loooong book of scripture, the stories within it are rich and instructive.
Generally speaking, the first five books of the Old Testament are sometimes known as “the law” or the books of Moses. These books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They address the Creation of the world all the way through Moses’ instruction to the Israelites after they fled Pharaoh in Egypt.
The next section of the Old Testament is often known as “the history” portion of the Old Testament. These books are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. In fact, if you want to read the Old Testament quickly, simply read 1 & 2 Chronicles. This is a concise summary of the history of the ancient Israelites boiled down into two summary books called 1 and 2 Chronicles.
The next section has been sometimes called “the wisdom literature” of the Old Testament. These are the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The rest of the Old Testament (other than Song of Solomon) are records of specific prophets that are not in any chronological order, but are from different historical parts of ancient Israelites’ experiences: Isaiah, Jeremiah (and his book of Lamentations), Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
All of this creates a pathway or a map for us to follow. And it is an important map for our children to be familiar with, for what befell the Israelites befalls all people who forget their God and leave His protecting care and insist on living dangerous lifestyles (did you know that the ancient Israelites turned to killing their infants during pagan ceremonies? No wonder the Lord decreed certain consequences for their behavior!).
Today I was reading in Obadiah. The Lord gave him a vision and a direct message for the ancient Israelites who insisted on going after false gods and false practices. Here are the Lord’s words given through His prophet Obadiah to the Israelites:
“The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou…whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? (Obadiah 1:3).” The Lord soon enough did bring them down to the ground, for their sakes, to attempt to keep them from self-destructing.
So often as I see other peoples’ choices in today’s world, rather than judge them, I sorrow and I wonder about myself. Are there any dangerous pieces of pride within me leading me on, as Obadiah mentions? For truly we learn from his clear “map” that pride leads us into paths where we can be deceived and wherein we deceive ourselves.
Obadiah also mentions many other mistakes on the part of these ancient Israelites; for example, they cold-heartedly looked on–without helping other Israelites–during the demise of those in Jerusalem. The Lord noted their many grievous choices and simply said, “…As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee” (Obadiah 1:15).
Indeed, there are many rich stories amongst the Old Testament that create a sure and steady map or pathway for me to help teach my own children the way to peace and the way to God Himself. If you would like to explore the Old Testament yourself, feel free to explore these free online scriptures!
