Books: Should We Read The Old Testament?

I say let's go for it

Oh yes, I love to write in books. This Old Testament version (KJV) has the best margins for notes (Deseret Book)

“You should know the Old Testament because it is the backbone of every other book of scripture in Christian tradition.” -Dr. Avaram Shannon

When I was 23-years-old, and two weeks newly married, (our honeymoon was driving from the west coast to the east in less than a week to make it to faculty meeting on time) I became a dorm parent to 14 adolescent boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. It was fun (and I was completely clueless!)

We had a small apartment that was attached to the boy’s dormitory. I had many memorable conversations with my young lads. Example: Easter. I mentioned how much I loved watching Charlton Heston in the classic Academy Award winning film, “The Ten Commandments.”

“I’ve never seen that,” one of our boys said.

“You know, the story of Moses,” I said.

“Oh yeah…” he said. “…I heard he was a really good actor.”

I stared at him a full ten seconds to make sure he was serious. He was serious.

This was the Moses that I knew: an Old Testament Hebrew prophet who parted the red sea during the great Egyptian exodus, the most important and revered prophet in Judaism… and not an actor.

From that moment on I decided I better not assume anything about anything…especially when it comes to Moses.

As surprising as this was (actually I was shocked), I’m guessing most kids today might know who Moses is only because they’ve watched The Prince of Egypt (great soundtrack, btw). Thoughts?

In college I took a class at BYU entitled, “The Bible as Literature.” Through art, drama and analysis, we read the Old and New Testament through the lens of literary devices, poetry, styles, and devices. Previous to that time, I had only read the stories from a spiritual/religious/literal view. Both ways of reading became helpful and inspiring.

And now I have just finished a year of reading it again. It’s a monster book: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, etc. 39 books in all, with “major prophets” and “minor” ones (only due to the size of the book, not necessarily importance).

It’s fun to talk with my daughter Cope, who has just begun taking an Old Testament class during her final year of college. Her teacher is the Dr. Avaram Shannon, referenced above.

Yesterday she called to tell me these AMAZING things she’s discussing, later emailing me her notes from Genesis.

A small snippet:

“Mom, Sarah Hale (1788-1879) says Eve is the one approached by the serpent not because she is weaker, but because she is the spiritual spokesperson for the couple [the text itself largely silent on motivation].”

Have you ever viewed Genesis from this point of view? That Eve was acting as the spiritual spokesperson for the couple, rather than the woman who “doomed womankind forever?” Ah…interpretation matters! And who is doing the interpreting?

“Did you also know, Mom, that the Hebrew word for ‘helpmeet’ is ‘Ezer.’ And the only other character in the Hebrew bible referred to as Ezer is…God! Mom, only two. Eve and God. She has an exclusive title that literally only God has.”

Have you ever heard that? I hadn’t. I’m totally digging my daughter’s interest.

I will tell you that from my own experience, that until you’ve read the OT and have at least tried to understand the stories, then respectfully, don’t be too quick to throw it under the bus. It’s big, the words are small, it’s sometimes hard to understand. It would take a full-time lifetime to understand everything that’s there, but wow. There’s a lot there.

Some important things I’ve learned and thought about while reading the Old Testament (I am NOT an expert on this text; this is me trying to understand it):

• It’s an oral history, written over hundreds of years by men (assumingly)

• It was an oral history because very few people could read and write (not even kings), so stories were told out loud, to a group, where you had a real sense of communal learning and authorship

• If you were telling a story out loud, might you sometimes use…hyperbole?

• Context matters; the people, customs, and culture it was originally written for was different than our culture, customs, and people today

• It was a living, moving story for the people of that time

• It was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic (and the words used to translate it to English don’t always translate the way the word was used originally. Ex: “submit”)

• The stories, poems, parables, and morals have shaped traditional western culture

• As astounding a text it is, it was written and translated by imperfect humans

• Is it word for word, straight from God’s mouth? Or is it translated to the best of man’s ability to understand inspiration from the heavens?

• Translations matter. A gazillion modern-day books and translations have been written about the Old Testament. Which translations are correct? What qualifications do the authors have?

• The record keepers are flawed humans. Inspired? Yes, but human. Did they get it all right all the time?

• “The Old Testament is a record of a conversation between God and man.” The conversation is the point. It’s not a static record; we see changes in the ways God is perceived and represented. That’s the point - God speaks to his people in ways that we don’t always understand because we live in a different time and place

I took a year to read The Old Testament, trying to read a little every day in 2022. And due to my own faith traditions and lens, I’m sure I approached it different than you do or would. I used a couple of different sources like the King James Version of the Old Testament and biblehub.com, but my favorite resource was a podcast.

Nearly each week I listened to Hank and John who had an extremely educated guest expert with a Ph.D in biblical studies, history, near eastern studies, and/or ancient Hebrew (just to name a few) digging in and dissecting, reminding and teaching their listeners of context, geography, politics, and spiritual insights. It was a weekly two-hour highlight that I mostly listened to while driving. I often went back to read the transcripts so I could make notes in my own scriptures.

*I didn’t used to be this person - but here we are. I’m a nerdy adult and I like learning!*

There are thousands of books, references, websites, and translations. If you want to read and understand the Old Testament, there is no shortage of free information available. But before reading everyone else’s commentary, I would first start with the book itself. The next question is - do we even want to know?

The majority of American society used to read the bible. A Pew Research Center study showed that as of 2020, about 64% of Americans identify as Christian. Fifty years ago, that number was 90%.¹

Even if you don’t want to rely on biblical stories, it is present in all great literature prior to this century. It’s so often mentioned casually in books, like those written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Toni Morrison’s Beloved (thanks, Shauna!), where you’re just supposed to “get” a reference. But if you haven’t studied the book, you gloss over it, and don’t get it.

Perhaps you have no experience with Christianity, or you have a negative view of it based on what you read online, or have had painful experiences with imperfect people or churches who have tainted your lens or even hurt you. This is legit. I humbly submit…try again with the book itself.

One of our heroes is a man who read the book and got it: Frederick Douglas. I love this commentary:

“Douglass suspected that the answers he heard from white southern Christians could not be right. How could God, in perfect wisdom and goodness, have made black people to be slaves and white people to be masters? Perhaps, he thought, it “was not color, but crime, not God, but man” that created slavery.”²

Scripture and religion will likely always be misused to minimize women, enforce harmful patriarchal orders, and enslave. In a twisted way, it speaks to the power of the book if one can interpret a book of scripture and use it to justify evil. I’m going to say it again: translation and interpretation matters!

I believe that a truer understanding and enlightening of the Old Testament will lead you another direction. One that is holy and good and fair to all.

For the Creatives:

If you’re a creative type (everyone!), you might really dig this next part. Before the massive societal reform known as The Reformation (1500s) most or nearly all of our greatest painters took inspiration from the bible. And after:

• Rembrandt’s painting of Jeremiah (1630)

• Handel’s Messiah (fabulous PBS story of George Frideric Handel’s life and the making of the famed oratorio, first performed on April 13th 1742)

• Renowned French poet and novelist, Victor Hugo (Les Miserables), wrote

  "Tomorrow, if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, I should save Job."

  • Why? Perhaps because Job’s story transcends his own; our spiritual and physical lives will be tested…and we can survive, our faith in tact.

• Min Jin Lee reads the bible daily (National Book Award Pachinko), in The Atlantic:

“For inspiration, she looks to the biblical story of Joseph, a tale that’s helped to shape the way she thinks about good and evil. She explained how the story instilled her with a radical belief that supercharges her fiction: If suffering and injustice can be recast as opportunities for empathy and forgiveness, even life’s worst events can feel like divine fate.”

• Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar (this is New Testament)

• The Prince of Egypt (Egyptian Prince Moses learns of his identity as a Hebrew and his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people)

• Oprah’s faith

• Bono and the faith of U2’s core

• Prophets, Priests, and Queens: James Tissot’s Men and Women of the Old Testament

Some Favorite Old Testament Take-Aways:

• That God is the same yesterday, today, and forever

• God is often split into two beings: the “jealous, judgmental God” in The Old Testament and the kind and loving God in the New, but if he’s the same God, then he’s the same God. I believe it’s our interpretations of language or incorrect translations that make it appear so differently

• In every book of the Old Testament, there is always another chance at redemption for the hero of the story, another way forward

• Jehovah always keeps His promises

• The comforting and empowering stories of my childhood: Esther, Jonah, David, Noah…

• Hebrew translations. Ex: Covenants. “Hesed” describes a covenant relationship where both parties are loyal and faithful to one another. “Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together.” -President Russell M. Nelson³ You'll see this theme repeated over and over in the OT

• We are not alone. They have endured so we can, too

• God uses flawed people to do good work; trace the genealogy of Christ himself, and you’re going to have four grandmothers whom society deemed “less”

• The WOMEN! Eve, Sarah, Tamar, Ruth, Esther, Abigail…

  “Next time you remember Abraham, remember Sarah, and when you remember Sarah, remember Hagar. Remember that in Hagar God has affirmed the marginalized in their desire to be included in history. Remember so that you will be more open to those not like yourself. Remember so that your heart will be opened to the outcast and downtrodden. Remember so that you will believe that God sees and hears, that the cry of one lonely and fearful person in the wilderness does not go unheard.” -Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, American Old Testament scholar, Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis Emerita at Princeton

Why You Might Want to Study the Old Testament:

• The writing (symbolism, POV, metaphors, foreshadowing, literary devices, hero’s journey)

• Incomparable poetry (Isaiah, Psalms, Job)

• The STORIES (are they all to be taken literally or figuratively?)

• Because it’s hard and requires thinking

• It will help you ponder the really big questions of life

• For the questions the text will prompt

• Do you like history? This is your book

• Comfort

• Anticipation. Read the prophecies and how they’ve been fulfilled. It makes one think that the coming of a future Messiah wasn’t so random after all - because in the New Testament a Messiah did come…

• Because it is our oldest, oral history. We should know our history

I suppose that is all for now. There’s always more reading to do, more uncovering and discovering.

Here are some other perspectives from faith writers that I enjoy reading:

Mari Andrew

(Mari is a chaplain)

Nadia Bolz-Weber

("a space for spiritual misfits")

Tsh Oxenreider

Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship

(I like Nina's take on her Jewish faith), Hank and John, Emily Belle Freeman, Charlie Bird.

I don’t usually have a one-word “theme” of the year, but this year the word Seeker emerged. While seeking, I’m learning this to be true: the more you know, the less you know. So I’ll keep seeking. It’s really rather exciting.

This year I’ve turned my attention to The New Testament, a rich and much smaller text that I’m definitely more familiar with. I look forward to all the discoveries to come. (more media: Have you seen The Chosen?)

It might just be the perfect book: drama, intrigue, miracles, love, betrayal, mystery, death, life, resurrection. The true hero’s journey.

How about you? Have you read The Old Testament? Does it still have relevance today? Are you a Seeker, too? Do you want to be?

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Good News and Story Links

• The Atlantic: What Writers Can Take Away From the Bible

• ICYMI: World Read Aloud Day. Only two spots left; sign up now!

• Obsessed with: Muji pens

• Finished Watching: Harry and Meghan on Netflix

• When a writing Discipline = Freedom

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1. https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123289466/americas-christian-majority-is-shrinking-and-could-dip-below-50-by-2070

2. The Radical Christian Faith of Frederick Douglass

3. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/10/04-the-everlasting-covenant?lang=eng