The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Scripture Review Questions for Ch. 5 the Old Testament

The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Scripture
Review Questions for Ch. 5
The Old Testament: God Reveals Himself to His People

1. Why did God send prophets to Israel and Judah? What was their message of hope? These prophets served as messengers of God, denouncing false gods and calling back the Hebrew people to the one true God. … The prophets also brought messages of hope, promising a new kingdom greater than David’s for Israel. [p. 158]

1. What was cruel about the ways of Assyrian conquest of weak nations like Israel? After taking over a foreign land, the Assyrians resettled the inhabitants and sometimes split up the people so that the refugees lost the resources and spirit to rebel against their new overlords. [p. 158]

1. What had the kings of Judah learned from the fate of their sister state? What were they like? … most of the kings of Judah did not learn from the fate of their sister state. During this era, Judah was ruled by a long line of wicked kings, punctuated sporadically by reformers. [p. 159]

1. What was King Josiah’s response to the rediscovery of the Book of Deuteronomy? … he set out a campaign to reenact the heavenly statutes in his kingdom, bringing Judah back — at least temporarily — to the practice of following the commandments of God. [p. 159]

1. What were the ways King Josiah strove to turn the nation back to God? He read the Book of the Law to his people, and together they swore to keep all the commandments of God. The king also ordered burned all the altars to pagan gods that had been erected throughout the centuries, and he expelled all false cults. Errant religious practices were outlawed, and only the proper worship of the God of Israel, as outlined in the Book of Law, was permitted. [p. 159]

1. Explain what the Babylonians did to the citizens of Judah. Like the Assyrians in Israel, the Babylonians forced all of the leading citizens of Judah into exile in Babylon. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed, and Jerusalem left in ruin. [p. 160]

1. What was the message of the prophets who preached to the people living in exile? Explain. He continued to send them prophets in their exile, reminding them to turn to God and comforting them with the promise of a continuation of the Davidic kingdom beyond the exile. God’s wrath — the inevitable consequence of sin without repentance — was terrible. But God’s mercy was even greater. [p. 160]

1. What was the hopeful promise of the prophets? What was Jeremiah’s message? These were dark times, but prophet after prophet spoke of the same hope — the promise of the Lord’s Anointed. The prophet Jeremiah told how all the horrors of the previous centuries would be reversed, and Israel would be brought back together under the ideal Davidic king. [p. 160]

1. In what sense do the prophets offer a bridge between the Old and New Testament? How did early Christians use them? …because Christians see that these comforting words in exile referred to the coming of Jesus Christ. When the early Christians set out to spread the gospel of Christ, they spoke of these prophecies as fulfilled. [p. 162]

1. Fill in the blanks: While the time of the Babylonian (a) captivity was a period of great hardship and suffering for the people of Israel, it was also a time of spiritual (b) renewal. They turned back to God and saw his (c) truth more clearly in light of the pagan (d) worship of the Babylonians. They returned to the (e) Scriptures and remembered that they were God’s (f) Chosen People. [p. 162]

1. Explain the ways that Cyrus the Great of Persia was unlike previous overlords. … Cyrus did not persecute the Jews. In fact, he allowed any Jew living in exile to return to Jerusalem if they so desired. But Cyrus did not stop there. He went so far as to offer to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.[p. 162]

1. Fill in the blanks: Jews who returned to (a)Jerusalem were determined to (b) rebuild Israel and the Temple but those who returned found Jerusalem in ruins. The new (c) Temple, however, would be barely a shadow of its former (d) glory. The Ark of the Covenant had been lost in the (e) Babylonian conquest so the Holy of Holies would just be an (f) empty space. [p. 163]

1. Fill in the blanks: The Persian king sent (a) Ezra to administer Judah who set about (b) appointing judges and magistrates. He proved to be a (c) godsend because he understood that the success of the (d) restoration of Israel depended on keeping the people of Israel (e) faithful to God and away from (f) pagan practices. [p. 163]

1. Explain the promises of God that seemed unfulfilled and difficult to grasp. Jerusalem was supposed to be the mistress of the nations; instead it was a little provincial town. God had promised that his glory would fill the Temple; instead, the Temple was a pale imitation of the original. David’s line was supposed to rule forever; instead, Judah was just a small part of the Persian province called “Beyond the River.” [p. 164]