God's Old Testament Story

By BC Raglin

God’s Old Testament Story is just that, the true story of the Old Testament. We begin in Genesis with the creation and continue the story chronologically through Malachi in an easy-to-read form, without repetition. It takes us through the Old Testament and the four hundred years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. From beginning to end, each chapter builds onto the previous chapter.

We will see angels and demons, good people and bad people, in an exciting tale of many different relationships.

The reader will see God’s love, God’s disappointments, his expectations, and his steadfastness. This journey takes us to the heart of a nation searching and waiting for the deliverer they call Messiah. This is an exciting telling of mankind and God’s love for his creation.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098086220

Book preview

Chapter 1

Genesis 1:1–5:27

This is a chronological study of the Old Testament beginning in Genesis and ending with the period between the two testaments.

The book of Genesis explains the beginning of many important realities: the universe, earth, people, and God’s plan of salvation. The Bible does not discuss the subject of evolution. It does, rather, assume God created the world. The biblical view of creation is not in conflict with science; however, it is in conflict with any world view that starts without a creator. The Bible tells us who is the creator. It is God. The Bible also reveals God’s personality, His character, and His plan for creation.¹

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.²

On the first day, God said, Let there be light. God saw the light was good. He called the light day and the darkness that followed night. There was evening, and there was morning. This He called the first day.

On the second day, God made the sky (heavens) to separate the waters above the sky from the waters below the sky. Again there was evening, and there was morning, the second day.

On the third day, God gathered the waters under the sky to one place, and caused the dry land to appear. Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants, and trees according to their various kinds. There was evening and morning, the third day.

On the fourth day, God said, "Let there be lights to separate day from night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons, days and years, and to give light to the earth. The greater light shall govern the day (sun) and the lesser light to govern the night (moon) and there was evening and morning, the fourth day.

On the fifth day, God created water creatures and birds. He blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply.

On the sixth day, God said, Let the land produce creatures according to their kind. Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over fish, birds, livestock, and over the creatures that move on the ground. God created male and female; He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and increase in number.

In six days (six mornings and six evenings), the heavens, earth, and creatures were completed in all their vast array. God, knowing His work was finished, rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the order of God’s creation.

Now that we have the order of creation, we begin the Old Testament story of man which started on the sixth day of creation.

On the sixth day, God had formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That was when man became a living being in God’s image to rule over the animals and tend the garden.

For vegetation, God had planted a garden in the east, a place called Eden, where he put man. God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground which were attractive and productive. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There was no rain, but there were streams from the earth to water the ground.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden, and from there split into four different rivers. The first was the Pishon which wound through the land of Havilah where there was gold, aromatic resin, and onyx; the second was the Gihon which wound through the entire land of Cush. The third river was the Tigris which ran along the east side of Asher, and the fourth was the Euphrates.

God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work. (It’s important to know that God said man could eat of the tree of life, but he could not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.)

God created all the animals of the ground and the birds and brought them to man to be named. Whatever the man called them became their name. Thus man gave names to all the livestock, birds, and beasts.

God saw that it was not good to be alone, so he made for man a suitable helper. He caused the man named Adam to fall into a deep sleep and took one of man’s ribs and closed up the skin. God then made a woman from the rib he had taken out of man and brought her to him.

The man said, This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. The woman’s name was Eve because she was mother of all living. (Moses, who lived in a later era, was the one recording this history, so when it was written, man did have fathers and mothers. This precedent, however, was started with Adam and Eve.)³ Adam and Eve had no clothes, but they were not ashamed.

To this point everything God made was good. This was the relationship God wanted to have with mankind, but God, in his infinite wisdom, knew this would not continue.⁴

Genesis 3 tells us the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals God had made. The serpent asked Eve if God had told them they could not eat from any tree in the garden. The woman explained this was not true. They were allowed to eat of all the trees including the tree of life, but the one tree of which they could not eat the fruit was the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. She explained that God told them not to touch it, or they would die.

The serpent told Eve, You will not surely die. God knows when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

When the woman saw the fruit of the tree looked good, and was desirable for gaining wisdom, she took it and ate it. She also gave a portion to Adam, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Adam and Eve heard the sound of God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, so they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

God called, Where are you? Adam answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. God asked, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat? Adam said, The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it. Then God asked the woman, What is this you have done? Eve replied, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

The Lord God spoke to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity (ill will to the point of hate) between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. (This is the first prediction of a savior for mankind. Notice that it takes place between woman and the serpent, not man and the serpent. God will bypass man to bring the savior.)⁵

To Eve God said, I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain will you give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

To Adam God said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat them by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken. Dust you are and into dust you will return.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve to wear. Then the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good from evil. He must not be able to take from the tree of life and live forever. So God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. After He drove them out, on the east side of the garden He placed cherubim and a flaming sword which flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Adam and Eve had a son which they named Cain. Later they gave birth to another son named Able. Able kept flocks, and Cain grew produce. Cain brought some of the first fruits of the soil as an offering to God. Able brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock for an offering to God. The Lord looked with favor on Able and his offering, but He did not look with favor on Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry.

The Lord asked Cain, Why are you angry? If what you do is right, will you not be accepted? However, if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to have you, but you must master it. Later, Cain asked Able to go into the field with him. While they were in the field, Cain attacked and killed his brother Able.

The Lord asked Cain, Where is your brother Able? Cain replied, I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?

The Lord replied, What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. Now you’re under a curse and are driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crop for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.

Cain said, My punishment is more than I can bear. Today You are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from Your presence. I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. The Lord said, Not so. If anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over. The Lord put a mark on Cain so anyone who found him would not kill him. Cain left the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Cain’s wife gave birth to a son which he named Enoch, then he named the city he was building after his son. Some of Cain’s descendants lived in tents and raised livestock, some became musicians and played the harp and flute, and others forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.

When God made man, He made him in the likeness of God, and he blessed both male and female.

Adam was 130 years old when he gave birth to Seth. Adam had other sons and daughters and died at the age of 930.

When Seth was 105, he had Enosh and other sons and daughters. He lived 905 years and died.

Enosh was 90 years old and gave birth to Kenan and other sons and daughters. He lived 912 years and died.

When Kenan was 70, he had Mahalalel and other sons and daughters. He lived 895 years and died.

Mahalelel was 65 years old when he had Jared and other sons and daughters. He lived 962 years and died.

Jared had Enoch at 162 years of age and other sons and daughters. He lived 962 years and died.

Enoch was 65 years old and had Methuselah. Enoch lived 365 years and had other sons and daughters. Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, because God took him away.

Methuselah was 187 years old when he had Lamech and other sons and daughters. He lived 969 years and died. (Some have done the math and concluded he died the year of the great flood.)

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¹ The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 1984, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97402.

² The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 1984, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97402.

³ The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 1984, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 97402.

⁴ The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 1984, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 97402.

⁵ The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 1984, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publishing, Eugene, Oregon, 97402.

Chapter 2

Genesis 5:28–12:15

Lamech was 182 years old and had a son he named Noah, saying He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed. He had other sons and daughters, lived 777 years, and died.

Men began to increase in number on the earth. The sons of God (Seth’s descendants) saw that the daughters of men (Cain’s descendants) were beautiful and married them.

Then the Lord said, My Spirit will not remain with man forever. He is mortal and his days will be 125 years.

The Nephilim (a race of giants) were on the earth in those days. The sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. These children were the heroes of old, men of renown.

The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and every thought of his heart was evil all the time. He was sorry He had made man, and His heart was filled with pain. The Lord said, I will wipe mankind, whom I created, from the face of the earth, also animals, creatures from the ground, and birds that fly. I am grieved that I have made them. However, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Lamech’s son, Noah, was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. He had three sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all the people because the earth is filled with violence. Make for yourself an ark of cypress (gopher) wood. Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch (tar) inside and out.

This is how you are to build it: 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Make a roof and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks. I’m going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. I will establish My covenant with you, your sons, and your wives, and you will enter the ark. You will also bring two, male and female, of all living creatures to keep them alive with you.

Two of every kind of bird, animal, and creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for them and you."

Noah did everything just as God commanded him. The Lord told Noah, Go into the ark, you and your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every clean kind of animal, a male and its mate. Take two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate. Take seven of every kind of clean bird, male and its mate, to keep the various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the earth every living creature I made.

When Noah had done everything the Lord had commanded him, the Lord shut Noah and his family in the ark.

Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. On the seventeenth day of the second month all the springs of the great deep were opened and burst forth. The floodgates of the heavens were opened, and rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark high above the earth. All the mountains were covered to the depths of more than twenty feet. Every living thing, including the birds of the air, were wiped from the earth. Only Noah and his family were left. The water flooded the earth 150 days.

God remembered those in the ark and sent a wind over the earth making the water recede. Since then the springs of the earth and the floodgates of the heavens have been closed. At the end of 150 days the waters began to go down. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark rested on Mount Ararat. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

After another forty days Noah sent out a raven, but it kept coming back until the waters had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water was still on the ground, but the dove could not find a place to set its feet because of the water, so it returned to Noah in the ark. After seven days, he sent the dove out again. When it returned in the evening, it had a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew the water had receded, so he waited another seven days and sent out the dove again. This time it did not return.

On the first day of the first month of Noah’s 601st year, Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the whole earth was completely dry and God said, Come out of the ark and bring out the animals that are with you.

Noah built an altar to the Lord. Taking some of the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart, Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. Never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night, shall not cease.

God blessed Noah and his sons. He commanded them to be fruitful and fill the earth. He told them, The fear and dread of you will fall upon the animals and birds, for they are given into your hands. Everything that moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants, now I give you everything. However, you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. For your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.

God established His covenant with Noah and his descendants and with every living creature and beast of the earth. This is the sign of the covenant between Me and you, and for all generations; I will set My bow in the cloud. When I bring a cloud over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud and I will remember My everlasting covenant.

Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank wine from the vineyard, became drunk, and uncovered himself. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it across both their shoulders, and walking backward, covered Noah’s nakedness.

When Noah awoke, he knew what his younger son had done. He cursed Canaan saying he would be a servant of servants to his brothers. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May God be with Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

Noah lived another 350 years after the flood, and at the age of 950, he died.

The whole earth used the same language and spoke the same words. They traveled east, found a plain in the land of Shinar, and settled there. They decided to make a city of bricks and tar, and to make a tower whose top would reach into heaven.

The Lord came down to see the city and tower which the sons of man had built. He said, They are one people with one language, so nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Let Us go down and confuse their language so they cannot understand one another’s speech.

The Lord also scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Its name was called Babble, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth and scattered them over the face of the earth to live apart from each other.

Genesis falls mostly silent concerning the earth’s inhabitants except for the descendants of Shem. The line flows down to Terah and Abram, who will later be known as Abraham, who will become the father of the Hebrews. This is the family through whom God will preserve religion and moral truth. It will be through the Hebrew nation that God will ultimately speak to the whole world. It is important for future proof of Christ’s ancestry to trace Abram’s ancestry back to Shem, who descended from the first man, Adam.⁶

There is a gradual decline in the longevity of Shem’s descendants. Shem lived five hundred years, but by the time of Abram, the typical age of death was two hundred.⁷

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot—son of Haran, and Abram’s wife Sarai (who was barren), and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to journey to Canaan. When they came to the city Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 125 years and died in Haran.

The Lord said to Abram, Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to a land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Abram obeyed the Lord and did as he was told. He was 75 years old when he left Haran with his still barren wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their possessions, and people they had acquired in Haran.

They set out for the land of Canaan, and arriving there, they traveled through the land as far as Shechem where Canaanites were living. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring will I give this land. Abram built an altar there to the Lord and called on His name who had appeared to him.

Abram set his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, then he continued toward the Negev.

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⁶ The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 1984, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publisher, Eugene, Oregon 97402.

⁷ The Daily Bible NIV, copyright 19894, F. Legard Smith, Harvest House Publisher, Eugene, Oregon 97402.

Chapter 3

Genesis 12:16–17:27

Canaan had a severe famine, so Abram went down to Egypt. He was about to enter Egypt when he said to Sarai, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see that you are my wife, they will kill me to have you. Say you are my sister so I will be treated well, and my life will be spared for your sake. (Sarai was, in fact, a half-sister to Abram since both had the same father.)

When Pharaoh’s officials saw her beauty, they praised her to Pharaoh and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and he acquired sheep, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

However, the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai. Pharaoh asked Abram what he had done to him to cause this calamity to fall on his household, and why had he not acknowledged her to be his wife instead of his sister? Then he gave orders to his men to send Abram on his way with his wife and everything he had acquired.

Like Abram, we too can have times of low faith when we put our fate into our own hands rather than the hands of God. God knows we will not live a perfect life, but He does expect us to strive for perfection and to do the best we can. However, since He knows we will fail, He has made future provisions to ensure the redemption of man.⁸

Abram, Sarai, and Lot left Egypt and traveled to the Negev. Abram had become very wealthy while in Egypt with livestock, silver, and gold. They traveled from place to place until they returned to the altar to God Abram had built between Bethel and Ai.

Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents, and the land could not support both Abram’s possessions and Lot’s possessions while they stayed together.

Quarrels arose between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen, so Abram approached Lot and said, Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me or between our herdsmen, for we are brothers. Let’s part company. Look at the whole land and choose left or right. If you choose left, I will go right, or if you choose right, I will go left.

Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord and the land of Egypt, so he chose the plain of Jordan. When the two men parted company, Abram lived in Canaan, and Lot pitched his tents toward Sodom. The men of Sodom were very wicked and sinned greatly against the Lord.

After Lot left, the Lord told Abram, Lift your eyes and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, more than anyone could count. Go, walk throughout the land, for I am giving it to you. So Abram moved his tents near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he had built an altar to God.

For twelve to fifteen years a power struggle had been taking place among the various kings of the east, among whom the king of Elam (Kedorlaomer) was the strongest. Five kings in the Dead Sea region joined forces to oppose the Elam confederates. The kings of the east defeated the kings of the Dead Sea region, sacked Sodom and Gomorrah, and took away the inhabitants of the two cities. Among the hostages were Abram’s nephew Lot and his family who were living in Sodom.⁹

When word of Lot’s capture reached Abram, he responded quickly. He gathered a small force of men, and set out to rescue his relatives. Abram and his men executed a surprise attack at night, completely routed the enemy, and liberated his relatives.

As Abram was returning home, he was met and welcomed by King Melchizedek of Salem. (Salem could possibly be the ancient name of Jerusalem.)

Melchizedek paid honor to Abram’s heroism by feeding him and his men. Abram responded by giving Melchizedek a tenth of all he carried. Abram recognized Melchizedek as not only a king, but a priest in the service of the same true and living God who Abram worshipped.

Melchizedek blessed Abram saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.

Later, the word of the Lord went to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward. Abram replied, O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I am childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.

God told Abram not Eliezer but a son from his own body would be his heir. He took him outside and told him to look up in the heavens and to count the stars if he could, because his offspring would be the same. The Lord told him He had taken him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give him this land as a possession.

Abram said, O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? The Lord replied, Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.

Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds he did not cut in half. Agreements were commonly sealed in this manner. By custom, the two parties would pass between the split carcasses of animals