consequences of sin. At every point the picture is true to universal
experience. The most appalling effect of a wrong act is that it destroys
peace and purity of mind. It also makes cowards of brave men, and the
presence and tender affection of the one wronged suddenly become
intolerable. Sin also begets sin. To the cowering fugitives Jehovah
comes, as he always does, with a message intended to evoke a frank
confession which would tear down the hideous barrier that their sin had
reared between himself and them; but, like most foolish, blind Adams and
Eves, they hug their crime to their breasts and raise the barrier heaven
high by trying to excuse their guilt. Thus they pronounce their own
doom. For God himself only one course of action remains: it is to send
them forth from his presence and from the life-giving tree, out into the
school of hardship and bitter pain, that there they may learn the
lessons which are necessary before they can again become citizens of the
true Garden of Eden.
[Sidenote: _The sequel to the story of man's fall_]
Two simple yet exceedingly significant touches lighten the gloom of this
universal tragedy of human life. The one is that for the guilty,
unrepentant pair, Jehovah himself made tunics of skins to protect them
from the inclemency of their new life,--evidence that his love and care
still went with them. The other is the implication that the true garden
of Eden was still to be found on earth, and was closed simply to the
guilty and unrepentant. The Bible is the record of how men learned the
all-important lessons in the painful school of experience. Israel's
teachers, each in his characteristic way, led their race on toward the
common goal. The Gospels tell of how _a man, tempted in all points as we
are_ in a distant day and land found his way again into the abiding
presence of God. He _was one with the Father_, not because he did not
meet temptation in all its power, but because, unlike the actors in the
primitive story, and all other participants in the drama of life, he
yielded only to the guidance of divine impulses. Not content with
achieving the goal himself, he gave his energies and his life to showing
others how they also might overcome the baser impulses within them and
find their way to God's presence and become one with him. Thus, because
of what he did and said and was, he forever vindicated his title of
Saviour of Mankind.
[Sidenote: _The religious teachings of other early stories_]
No other early Old Testament narrative is perhaps so full of rich
spiritual suggestion as the one just considered, and yet each has its
valuable contribution. Even such a story as that of the killing of Abel
by Cain forcibly teaches the great prophetic truth that it is not the
form of the offering, but the character and deeds back of the sacrifice,
that determine Jehovah's favor or disfavor (iv. 7). Graphically it sets
forth the spirit that prompts the greatest of crimes. In contrast to
Cain, defiant yet pursued by haunting fear of vengeance, it also
presents the divine tenderness and mercy in granting him a tribal mark
to protect him from the hand of man. The similar story of Noah, the
first vineyard-keeper, preaches the first temperance sermon in all
literature, and also suggests the inevitable consequences of moral
depravity so forcibly illustrated in the history of the ancient
Canaanites. Even the prosaic table of the nations in Genesis x.
emphasizes the conception of the unity of the human family which was
destined in time to become the basis of Israel's belated missionary
activity.
[Sidenote: _Ideals presented in the early prophetic portrait of Abraham_]
When we pass to the twelfth chapter of Genesis the independent stories
coalesce into cycles, and each cycle, as well as each narrative, has its
own religious purpose. In definite outlines each successive group of
teachers painted the character of Abraham, the traditional father of the
Israelitish race, and held it up before their own and succeeding
generations as a perpetual example and inspiration. In the early Judean
prophetic narratives he is pictured as the friend of Jehovah. His own
material interests are entirely secondary, as illustrated in his dealing
with Lot. Without hesitation he leaves home and kindred behind, for his
dominating purpose in life is simply to know and do the will of Jehovah.
To this end he rears altars throughout the land of Canaan. His chief joy
is in communion with God and in the promises to be realized in his
descendants. Through warring, hostile Canaan he passes unscathed, for
his eyes are fixed on things heavenly.
[Sidenote: _Its significance_]
It matters little whether or not, far back in the primitive days of
Israel's history, a Bedouin sheik anticipated in actual character and
life all that was gradually revealed to the prophets of a much later
age. The supremely significant fact is that the noble ideal of Israel's
earliest teachers was thus vividly and concretely embodied in the
portrait of him whom the Hebrews regarded with pride and adoration as
the founder of their race. In Hosea and Jeremiah, and less imperfectly
in the nation as a whole, the ideal in time became an historical
reality.
[Sidenote: _Later portraits of Abraham_]
The early Ephraimite school of writers picture Abraham as a prophet
(Gen. xx. 7), and therefore as an exemplification of their highest
ideal. In the remarkable fourteenth chapter of Genesis he is a
courageous, chivalrous knight, attacking with a handful of followers the
allied armies of the most powerful kings of his day. Returning
victorious, he restores the spoil to the plundered and gives a princely
gift to the priest of the local sanctuary. In the later priestly
narratives the picture suddenly changes, and Abraham figures as the
faithful servant of the law, with whom originates the rite of
circumcision, the seal of a new covenant (xvii). Later Jewish and Moslem
traditions each have their characteristic portrait. One, which pictures
him as in heaven the protector of the faithful, is reflected in the New
Testament (Luke xvi. 23-30), Thus each succeeding age and group of
teachers made him the embodiment and supreme illustration of its noblest
ideals, and it is this ideal element that gives the Old Testament
stories their permanently practical value.
[Sidenote: _Practical teachings of the Abraham stories_]
Having noted the teachings that each individual story and the cycle as a
whole conveyed to the minds of their first readers, it only remains for
the teacher of to-day to translate them into modern terms. Some of the
most important implications of the Abraham stories thus interpreted are,
for example: (1) God calls each man to a high mission. (2) He will guide
and care for those who are responsive. (3) To those who seek to know him
intimately, and to do his will, he will reveal himself in fullest
measure, and for such he has in store his richest blessings. (4) _He
that findeth his life_ (Lot) _shall lose it, and he that loseth his
life_ (Abraham) _shall find it_.
[Sidenote: _Significance of the character of Esau_]
The Jacob and Esau stories contain marvellously exact and realistic
portraits of the two races (the Israelites and the Edomites) that they
respectively represent. Of the two brothers, Esau is in many ways the
more attractive. He suggests the open air and the fields, where he loved
to hunt. He is easy-going, ingenuous, and impulsive. His faults are
those of not being or doing. As long as he had enough to eat and was
comfortable, he was contented. He is the type of the world's drifters.
Since Aram was far distant he disregards the wishes of his parents and
marries one of the daughters of the land. No ambition stirred him and no
devotion to Jehovah or to the ideals of his race gave content and
direction to his life. Thus he remained a laggard, and the half-nomadic,
robber people that he represented became but a stagnant pool, compared
with the onrushing stream of Israel's life.
[Sidenote: _Jacob's faults_]
Jacob's faults are also presented by the early prophets with an
astonishing fidelity. Rarely does a race early in its history have a
portrait of its weaknesses as well as its strength held up thus
prominently before its eyes. Jacob is the antithesis of Esau. While his
brother was hunting care-free in the fields, he was at home plotting how
he could farther his own interests. When the opportunity offers, he
manifests a cold, calculating shrewdness. To make good the title to the
birthright thus acquired he does not hesitate to resort to fraud and
lying. Then he flees, pursued by his own guilty conscience, and, tricked
by Laban, he serves as a slave fourteen years to win the wife whom he
loves. At last, again a fugitive from the consequences of his own
questionable dealing, he returns with quaking heart to face the brother
that he had wronged.
[Sidenote: _The elements of strength in Israel's character_]
The character is far from a perfect one, and yet the ancient stories
suggest its elements of strength. By nature he was selfish and crafty;
and yet he has what Esau fatally lacks: energy, persistency, and a
commanding ambition. From the first his ambition looks beyond himself to
the future of his descendants. Measured by our modern standards, his
religious professions seem only hypocrisy; but as we analyze his
character we find that a faith in Jehovah, narrow and selfish though it
be, was ever his guiding star. Out of the tortuous windings of his
earlier years it ultimately led him to a calm old age. Imperfect though
his character was, like that of the race which he represented, the
significant fact is that God ever cared for him and was able to utilize
him as an agent in divine revelation.
[Sidenote: _The noble teachings of the Joseph stories_]
Even more obvious and universal are the practical lessons illustrated by
the Joseph stories. In the early prophetic narratives, Abraham is the
perfect servant of God, Jacob the type of the Israelitish race, but
Joseph is the ideal man of affairs. Graphically the successive stories
picture the man in his making and reveal his true character. He is
simple, affectionate, and yet strongly ambitious. His day-dreams make
him odious, as in the case of many a boy to-day, to his unimaginative
brothers. A seemingly hard fate rudely snatches him from the enervating
influences of his childhood home and places him in the severe school of
experience, where he is tested and trained. It also opens wide the door
of opportunity. Fidelity to every interest and an unselfish response to
every opportunity for service soon bring him into the presence of the
Pharaoh. His judicious counsels, diplomacy, and organizing ability win
for him the highest honors Egypt can confer. With modesty and fidelity
he endures this supreme test--success. Toward his brothers, who had
bitterly wronged him, he is nobly magnanimous, and to his kinsmen, who
belong to the shepherd class especially despised as boors by the
cultured Egyptians, he is loyal and considerate. Above all, not by
professions, but by deeds, he reveals the true source of his strength,--
a natural faith in the God of his race and an unfailing loyalty to him.
[Sidenote: _Conclusion_]
In the same way Moses, the exodus, and the great men and events of
Israel's dramatic history, all have a religious importance and
significance far surpassing the merely historical. At the same time the
methods of modern literary and historical investigation reveal rather
than conceal the deeper spiritual truths that they illustrate. The more
light that can be turned upon them the more clearly will their essential
teachings stand forth. Like the Old Testament as a whole, they grew up
out of real life and truly reflect and interpret it, and therefore have
a living, vital message to life to-day. Any interpretation that does not
ring true to life may well be questioned. Finally, the authority of
these ancient narratives depends not upon the historical or scientific
accuracy of the individual story that is used as an illustration, but
upon the fact that through the experiences and hearts of those who
employed them God was seeking to make men free by the knowledge of the
truth.
XV
PRACTICAL METHODS OF STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT
[Sidenote: _The various methods of approach_]
The Old Testament may be studied as literature, as history, as the
record of an important stage in the evolution of religion, as the
revelation of God to the race, or as a practical aid to the individual
in living the true life. Each angle of approach calls for different
methods and yields its correspondingly rich results. Studied in
accordance with the canons of modern literary investigation, a
literature is disclosed of surpassing variety, beauty, and fascination.
After the principles of historical criticism have been vigorously
applied, the Old Testament is found to contain some of the most
important and authentic historical data that have come down to us from
antiquity. To the general student of religion there is no group of
writings that equals in value those included in these ancient
Scriptures. As a simple, clear revelation of the character and will of
the Divine Ruler, present and regnant in all life, the Old Testament is
surpassed by only one other volume, and that is its complement, the New.
[Sidenote: _The supreme aim of Old Testament study_]
It is, however, as the guide to right thinking, and being, and acting,
_that the man of God may be perfect, completely equipped for every good
work_, that the Old Testament is and always will be studied by the
majority of people. In so doing they will be realizing its primary and
supreme purpose. Like true religion, it is not an end in itself, but
simply an effective force, drawing and binding individual men to God and
to the right. Any method of study that fails to attain this definite
and practical end does not achieve the chief aim of the Old Testament
writings.
[Sidenote: _Necessity of studying the Old Testament as an organic
whole_]
This practical and personal end, however, cannot be attained at a leap.
It is impossible to achieve the best results by taking a truth or a
passage here and there and applying it at once to the individual. Both
the Old Testament and the individual are something organic. Each book
has a unity and a history that must be understood, if a given passage is
to be fairly interpreted or its truths intelligently applied, Individual
books are also related to others and to their historical background.
Also, as has already been shown, to appreciate fully the vital message
of a given writer it is necessary, not to know his name, but his place
in history, his point of view, his method of expression, and his
purpose. The Old Testament and Israelitish history as a whole are the
best and most essential interpreters of individual books and passages.
The most serious handicap to the ordinary Bible teacher and scholar
is the lack of this broader, systematic, constructive knowledge. Much
earnest, devoted study, especially in the Old Testament fields, is
deficient in inspiration and results, because it is simply groping in an
unknown land. It is all important, therefore, to ascend some height and
spy out the land as a whole, to note the relation of different books and
events to each other, and to view broadly the great stream of divine
revelation which flows out of the prehistoric past on through the Old
and New Testaments to the present.
[Sidenote: _Remarkable adaptation of the Old Testament to different ages
and degrees of moral culture._]
In order effectively to apply the truths of the Old Testament to life,
it is also necessary to regard the point of view of the individual to
be taught. This fundamental principle of all education was fully
appreciated and applied by Israel's great spiritual teachers. The result
is that the Old Testament contains truths marvellously adapted to every
age and type of mind. The importance of the religious culture of the
child is emphasized by the comparatively large proportion, of writings
especially fitted to hold the attention and arouse the imagination and
shape the ideals even of the youngest. Nearly half of the Old Testament
consists simply of narratives. Those inimitable stories, which come from
the childhood of the race, have a perennial fascination for the child of
to-day. They find him on his own mental and moral plane, as they did the
primitive child, and by natural stages lead him on and up to the higher
standards and broader faith of Israel's later prophets and sages, and
thus prepare him to understand and appreciate the perfected life and
teachings of Jesus.
[Sidenote: _The prophetic stories the children's Bible_]
In the modern use of the Old Testament, the faithful application of this
fundamental principle also leads to a most practical conclusion; the
stories peculiarly adapted to children are not the mature, legalistic
narratives of the late priestly writers, but the early prophetic
stories, which begin in the second chapter of Genesis. If children are
taught only these, they will not be disconcerted by widely variant
versions of the same events. Above all, they will be delivered from the
inconsistencies and erroneous impressions which are often the cause of
stumbling to the child. The later process of unlearning, which is
always dangerous, will be avoided. If the problems presented by the
priestly narratives be reserved until they can be studied from the
broader and truer point of view, they will be readily solved, and the
great positive teachings of these later didactic stories will be fully
appreciated.
[Sidenote: _The prophets the best story-tellers_]
The subject-matter, therefore, supremely suitable for the earliest
moral and spiritual culture of the child, is clearly the simple and yet
profound prophetic stories of the Old Testament. It is very questionable
whether the many excellent paraphrases now current are a gain or a
hindrance. The ancient prophets and the generations who have retold them
were inimitable story-tellers. To attempt to improve upon their work is
futile. A simple, clear translation is all that is required. [Footnote:
A Children's Bible is now being prepared according to the plan suggested
above.] The interpretation and application of their practical teachings
can best be left to the intuition of the child and the direction of the
intelligent parent and teacher.
[Sidenote: _Their effective methods of presenting truths_]
It is also astonishing how readily even a little child appreciates the
essential lessons, as, for example, those regarding the nature and
consequences of sin, presented by the story of the Garden of Eden. Under
the charm of the attractive personalities that figure in them, and
the stirring achievements, so dramatically presented that they command
breathless attention, the early prophetic narrations unconsciously and,
therefore, all the more effectively, instil into the mind of the child
the most essential truths regarding God and life and duty. At the same
time, as they study in order the deeds of the heroes and makers of
Israel's history, they are becoming familiar with the real background of
the earlier revelation recorded in the Old Testament.
[Sidenote: _The present position of these stories_]
Therefore scattered throughout Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges,
Ruth, Samuel, Kings, and the older sections of Ezra, Nehemiah, and I
Maccabees, are to be found in rich profusion the material for the
earliest years of Bible study. These should naturally be supplemented by
the stories of the prophets, found in such books as Isaiah, Jeremiah,
and Haggai. Their sequel and culmination are the corresponding stories
in the Gospels and Acts.
[Sidenote: _Study of the direct personal teachings of the Old
Testament_]
In connection with the earliest study of the achievements of Israel's
heroes and spiritual leaders, many of their greatest teachings would be
appropriated and applied, but when the years of early adolescence are
reached, the prophets in their sermons, the priests in their laws, the
usages in their proverbs, and the psalmists in their psalms, each have
certain personal messages, superbly adapted to the critical, formative
years, when childhood begins to unfold into maturity. To make this
material available, judicious selection and interpretation are required.
The organism of each book and of the child must both be carefully
regarded to make the adjustment perfect. Naturally this most vital line
of study would be the introduction to a corresponding study of the
direct, personal teachings of Jesus and the apostles.
[Sidenote: _Study of the origin and growth of the Old Testament_]
This intensely practical work could profitably be preceded or followed
by a study of the origin and growth of the different books and groups of
Old Testament writings and the gradual stages whereby these Scriptures
attained their present form and authority. The guides in this
investigation should not be the Jewish rabbis or even the traditions of
the Church Fathers. We have been misled too long by the pious guesses of
the mediæval saints; but rather the testimony of the Bible itself and
the evidence of contemporary writings should be the guides. The spirit
should also be frank and constructive. The results cannot fail to be
practically helpful in a great variety of ways. Thus on the basis of
facts, in the light of history, and by the use of those methods of
research which alone command respect and acceptance in other kindred
lines of investigation, the questions which come to every thoughtful
boy and girl will be fairly and truly answered. In this way those
experiences which are inevitable in this critical age will deepen and
broaden rather than destroy the foundations of individual faith.
[Sidenote: _The historical method of approach_]
With this general introduction, many students and classes will find it
profitable to approach the Old and New Testaments from the distinctively
historical point of view. Beginning with the unfolding of the
civilization and religion of ancient Babylonia, they will study in
conjunction the history, the strong personalities, the literature, and
the thought of each successive period. The advantages of this method of
study are many. Each book will be read and its messages interpreted
in the light of the conditions and forces that constitute its true
background. The different characters will live again, and the
significance of their work and words will be fully appreciated as they
are viewed in the clear perspective of history.
[Sidenote: _Its practical aims and results_]
Above all, such a synthetic study of the unfolding of the supreme truths
of revelation lays a foundation for the individual faith as broad as
human experience. This is to attain one of the chief aims of all study,
which is to put the individual into practical possession of all that is
vital and best in the experiences and achievements of the past, that,
thus equipped, he may go forth to fight the battle of life, valiantly
and successfully.
[Sidenote: _Its natural sequel_]
This last course of study would call for several years, and, more than
that, for enthusiasm, devotion, and real work. It would also take the
student in time through the New Testament period, with its literature
and commanding personalities and events, and perhaps beyond to the great
epochs of Church history. Many would not stop until they had studied
the latest chapter in Church history, the noble missionary activity and
achievement of the past and present century.
[Sidenote: _Advances courses of study_]
When the Bible had thus been studied, the scholars in our schools would
not be ready to graduate, but rather to enter upon that still deeper
and more fundamental study which would mean an ultimate conquest of the
broad field that it represents. Then it might be safe and profitable to
adopt the topical method and study some one of the vital themes that are
treated from many different points of view in the various parts of the
Bible.
[Sidenote: _Study of Old Testament history_]