A Brief Walk through the Books of the Old Testament

By Tony Smith

The Old Testament is a formidable book, a historic journey moving from creation, through the time of Noah and the flood to Abraham and his descendants, Moses and the children of Israel, high priests, judges, kings, and the spoken words of God through the prophets. In my studies of the books of the Old Testament, I find that GodaEUR(tm)s purpose and revelations are obscured with pages and pages of detail that makes for cumbersome reading and a somewhat distant grasp of its inspirations. I wrote this book to summarize the main points, from Genesis to Malachi, and to provide the historical elements such as dates to tie the story to historical settings and events. I have also pointed out along the way the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit in these Old Testament writings. Most of the books of the Old Testament are prophetic. There were approximately eight hundred prophesies in the Old Testament; and a large portion, approximately six hundred, have been fulfilled. There is not a single biblical prophecy that pertains to a time that has now passed that is not fulfilled.

My goal is for this writing to serve as an easy and comfortable format for the reader to get to know God, who we are to Him, why we are here, and to discover His wonderful pathway leading to eternal life. I want to reach those who are led to the Word of God and, upon opening up a Bible and reading a few pages, become discouraged by its vastness and disconnect of such long-ago times. The Old Testament truly has a long but remarkable timeline of history, and I have endeavored to tie its writings accordingly, in a brief walk through these inspired books of the Word of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781098050245

Book preview

Book of Genesis

Creation and the garden of Eden.

God created is presented three times in the first chapter of Genesis.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (1:1)

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. (1:21)

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (1:26–27, emphasis added)

God created life and put it on the earth, and for the earth, He created man, during a six-day period, and on the seventh day, God blessed it as the day of rest:

Day 1: God said, Let there be light; and there was light (1:3).

Day 2: God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters (1:6).

Day 3: God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so (1:9).

Day 4: God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years (1:14).

Day 5: God said, Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let gird fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens (1:20).

Day 6: God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind, and it was so (1:24). And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created Him, male and female He created them (1:27).

Day 7: And by the seventh day God completed his work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all the work which God had created and made (2:2–3).

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (2:7–9)

God centered in the garden two special trees—the tree of life of which fruit was good to eat and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which fruit God forbade Adam to ever eat.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, from any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. Then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him. (2:16–18)

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib, which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (2:21–24)

Satan was introduced, and sin was introduced.

Now Adam and Eve are enjoying life in the garden. We are introduced to the fallen archangel Satan, whose spiritual domain had befallen to the earth after being cast out of heaven. Satan was the highest-ranking angel of all (aka Lucifer, Latin name for light bearer or morning light). As heaven’s light bearer, he was the closest angel to the Lord God. Satan wasn’t content to worship and serve his Creator. Full of pride, he rebelled in heaven, leading a third of the angels against God. Unable to match the Almighty God, Lucifer, the ancient serpent, and his legion of angels were condemned to earth’s domain, tempting man to sin in perpetuity, until the second coming of Jesus Christ who will end Satan’s domain on this earth. Jewish apocryphal writings present Satan as the leader of a revolt in heaven and his banishment to the underworld, which is Sheol, also Hades, or hell. This underworld is not the center of the earth; it is a spiritual underworld, of chaos, evil, and separation from God. The earth is now Satan’s domain following man’s fall into sin; it is led by Satan. Jesus said, I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky (Luke 10:18). Isaiah said, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isaiah 14:12).

Now let’s consider God’s two special trees. God planted a great number of trees in the garden, but the two special trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—were planted in the center. Adam was created with no knowledge of good and evil. He was totally dependent on God. He was created morally neutral—he was innocent, and he was holy. God placed these two trees in the center of the garden so man can exercise free choice. He could choose the tree of life, or he could choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These trees represent two distinct plans of life. The tree of life is God Himself—He is life itself, and the fruit of this tree is our Lord Jesus Christ. Man can eat this fruit for life. The fruit is the edible part, the receivable part. Adam taking of the tree of life partakes of the life of God. Thus, he becomes a son of God in that his life is derived from God.

Instead, Adam turned the other way. He chose to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as such, he would develop his own manhood or personhood, apart from God. As a self-sufficient person, he would possess the power to form independent judgment, in a life separated from God. From then on, he was wise (3:6). But the consequence for him is death; by his sin, he allied himself with Satan. Thus, in Adam, we all are sinners, equally dominated by Satan, equally subject to the law of sin and death, and equally deserving of the wrath of God. From this, we see the divine reason for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are consecrated when we reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive unto God in Jesus Christ. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). The Lord Jesus now has a resurrected body, a spiritual body, and since He is no longer in the flesh, He can now be received by all of us. On this, Jesus said, He that eateth me, he also shall live because of Me (John 6:57).

Satan appeared to Eve as a tempting serpent. He persuaded her to turn her back on God and eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree.

And the woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, you surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food [body], and that it was a delight to the eyes [soul], and that the tree was desirable to make one wise [spirit], she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened; and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. (3:2–7)

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (3:8)

Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. (3:13)

Thus, Adam and Eve committed the first sin. The moment of first man’s disobedience, man died spiritually—he became separated from God. The Lord cursed the serpent.

To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam He said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. (3:16–17)

Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

[Note: God slaughtered an animal for the skin. This was the first blood sacrifice; the blood was shed to cover sin. We will see throughout the Old Testament that the sacrificing of animals was necessary to cover or atone for sin. When Christ came as the last man, his death on the cross provided the atonement for all of man’s sin, such that blood sacrifices are no longer necessary for covering sins, for those who are in Christ.]

Let’s consider this further. God created Adam in His covenant of unconditional love. He put some of His love into us and a little of His reasoning powers. This is how we love one another. We love and reason because God loves and reasons. He gave man a conscience, the sense of right and wrong, and throughout history, humanity is a story of knowing deep down inside what is right conduct, and we expect right conduct of one another. But we ourselves fail to obey this moral code given to us by God. God’s good is the real one while disobedience or badness is the less than good or good gone wrong. It is man putting himself first, as the center of it all, as Satan tried and failed to do, to be God. There is nothing in God’s nature that corresponds to man apart from Himself. There is nothing in God’s nature that compromises with sin, as we will follow throughout the Bible. We are made in God’s image, our human nature designed to trust and have faith, and He has our best interest at heart, in ALL things. Throughout the Old Testament, we will see that God selected one particular people, the Jews, hammering into their heads that there is only one of Him, and He cares about right conduct. Over centuries of history, we follow these people as ourselves, in a cycle first of love and adoration and thankfulness for our one and only Lord God, next turning from God in disobedience and in sin and idolatry; next, there’s judgment by God and punishment, next repentance, followed again by love and adoration and thankfulness for our awesome one and only Lord God.

[Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, the Messiah is prophesied to come and save man from his awfulness once and for all. Among the Jews, there suddenly turns up a man who claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. He would die on a cross, taking the sin of mankind as the sacrificial lamb. God will always be separate and apart from sin. His Son, Jesus Christ, comes to become the sin of man, and by His death on the cross, we identify with the death of the sin in us. Christ is in us by His death of sin, and by His resurrection to God’s right hand, we are in Christ, in His resurrection life, in eternity. We learn this is accomplished by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts—the exchanged life—Christ in us by death, us in Christ by resurrection.]

And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life [Christ] and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent the man forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man, and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubim’s, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (3:22–24)

[We will see that God also required cherubim to guard over the holy of holies—the room in the tabernacle or temple, which held the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat, on which the high priest on the Day of Atonement sprinkled the blood of the sacrificial lamb. This day was a great and important Jewish annual event, representing the covering of the sins of the people with the blood of the lamb.]

The three sons of Adam and Eve and the introduction of Noah and his three sons.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord. And again, she gave birth to his brother, Abel; and Abel was a keeper of the flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Abel, on his part brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his suffering. But for Cain and for his offering, He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? And he said, I do not know, am I my brother’s keeper? And He said, what have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you; you shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. (4:1–12)

And Adam had relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. And to Seth, to him also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. (4:25–26)

Enosh had a son named Kenan, who had a son named Mahalaleel, and his son was Jared. Jared had a son named Enoch.

And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah and he had other sons and daughters. And Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. [He didn’t die; he was taken up.] Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty two years after he became the father of Lamech, and had other sons and daughters. And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, this one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed. (5:21–29, emphasis added)

And Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Noah found special favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; And Noah walked with God. (6:8–9)

And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me. (6:12–13)

God gave Noah instructions for building the ark. God said:

And behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee, I will establish my covenant, and you shall come into the Ark, and thy sons, thy wife, and the sons’ wives with thee. (6:18, emphasis added)

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (8:20)

And it came about, after seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. (7:10)

So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of the flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him. (7:15–16, emphasis added)

And it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Then God spoke to Noah saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your son’s wives with you. (8:6, 15–16)

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. (9:1)

Then God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark; even every beast of the earth. And I will establish My covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations. I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and you. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth. (9:8–17)

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. (9:18–19)

Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and he was uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces turned away, so they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke he knew what his younger son had done to him [Noah cursed Ham’s son, for Ham was not covering him]. So he said, cursed be Canaan a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers. He also said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. And Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died. (9:20–29)

We will see that Ham and Canaan and their descendants were the basis of Babylon and Egyptian civilization. Noah’s curse would follow the Canaanites throughout the Old Testament. The Canaanites have pretty much disappeared now.

Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. (10:1–2, emphasis added)

From Magog: the Scythians, Slavs, Russians, Bulgarians, Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, and Crotians

From Madai: the Indians and Iranic races—the Medes, Persians, Afthans, and Kurds

From Javan: the Greeks, Romans, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italians

From Tirus: the Germans, Thracians, Teutons, East Germanic and European races—North Germans and Scandinavians, West Germans, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; from them the Anglo-Saxon race and the English people

And the sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan (10:6).

From Canaan: (the accursed) the Phoenicians, Hittites Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, and Hivitesites

From Cush: the Africans, Ethiopians, Egyptians, and Libyans

Nimrod and Babylon—Tower of Babel.

Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shilnar (10:8, 10). Nimrod wanted to pull together all the splintered races which had spread out after the flood so he could become the great world ruler. He was lawless, a type of foreshadowing of antichrist who is yet to come. He conquered all nations from Assyria to Libya. He brought the people of Babylonia under subjection to him and began his kingdom of Babylon, centered in the city of Nineveh, a land known throughout its time for lawlessness and corruption.

Nimrod built the Tower of Babel in the center of the city to be tall enough to reach heaven. All the people of the earth, Noah’s descendants, spoke the same language. But God, observing the city of Nimrod and the tower construction, confounded the speech of the Babylonians so they couldn’t understand one another. Nimrod died in the collapse of the tower which God destroyed, according to historic references. The people of Babylon scattered around the world. Nimrod was black, and these Babylonians primarily were the black races, which became great civilizations. As to Babylon, And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth (Revelation 17:5). This is what the apostle John sees written on the apostate church, just before the judgment on her. Babylon over history worshipped thousands of gods, the Chaldean Mysteries referring to Rhea, the great mother of the gods, with atrocious rites identified with the Grecian Venus, mother of all impurity. Cush, Nimrod’s father, was deified in Egypt under the name Hermes or Mercury. He was recognized in religious rites as the great prophet of idolatry and the interpreter of the gods. Persian records show that Nimrod was deified after his death by the name of Orion and placed among the stars (The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop.)

From Shem: Israel, the Syrians, Lydians, Armenians, and the Arabians from Joktan. The sons of Shem made a tremendous impact upon this world during the time of David and Solomon.

Abraham was introduced.

Genesis chapter 10 lists seventy nations from the sons of Noah: fourteen from Japheth, thirty from Ham, and twenty-six from Shem. Shem begot Nahor, who begot Terah, who begot Abram. (Abraham was the great-great-grandson of Noah.) Terah also begot Haran. Abram took Sarai as his wife. Haran’s son was Lot. At God’s urging, they all went forth from Ur of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan (Genesis 11:10–32).

[Note: The line of Abraham from Shem follows directly to the cross of Jesus Christ. (Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul, was also of the lineage of Shem.) After the Tower of Babel, God turned from the races of mankind to one individual—Abraham. From Abram, God would bring a nation, and to that nation Israel, He would deliver His revelation, and out of the nation Israel, He would bring the Redeemer, the Messiah Jesus Christ.]

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your descendants I will give this land [Canaan]. So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. (12:7)

Then Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Then Abram said to Lot, Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me: if to the left, then I will go to the right, or if to the right, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord [Eden], like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. This they separated from each other. Aram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly, and sinners against the Lord. And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. (13:1–15)

[Note: Along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, ancient scrolls were found in caves there, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, estimated authorship dating to 300 BC. They were very brittle and delicate, and for years, scholars withheld trying to open them for fear of destroying them. Israeli museum experts began to moisten and soften them until they were able to begin unrolling them. The scholars had unrolled details of Genesis 12, 13, 14, and 15 and, in them, had confirmed the story of Abram and Sarai in these chapters of the Scripture, described as a first-person account by Abram of his journeys.]

In the land of Sodom, Lot got caught up in a civil war between the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zoar, and he was taken captive by those who fled to the hill country with the spoils of the war.

And when Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and the women, and the people. Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh, that is, the king’s valley. (14:14–17)

Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem.

And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God most high. And he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him a tenth of all. And the king of Sodom said, give the people to me, and take the goods for yourself. (14:18–21, emphasis added)

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, do not fear Abram I am your shield; your reward shall be very great. And Abram said, O Lord God, what will Thou give me since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus, since I have no heir, the one born in my house is my heir. And He took Abram outside, and said, now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, so shall your descendants be. (15:1–5)

And he said, O Lord God, how may I know that I shall possess it? So the Lord said to him, bring me a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. (15: 8–9)

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, a great terror and darkness fell upon him. And God said to Abram, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years [the Egyptian captivity]. But I will judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace, you shall be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. And it came about when the sun appeared, a smoking oven and flaming torch passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. (15:17–18)

[Note: Melchizedek blessed Abram as a priest of God; also, he was a king. Mekhi means king while Zedek means righteousness—together to justify a king and priest. This was before the giving of the Law of Moses. The law of Israel never allowed a king to also be a priest. There was the House of David, the king, and the House of Aaron, the priest. It was prophesied that the Messiah would be king and high priest. Jesus was born of the House of David, but the priesthood required he receive the blessing from the House of Aaron since no one could be born of both houses. Jesus went to the Jordan River and received the blessing from John the Baptist, who was of the House of Aaron. This signified the transfer of the priesthood to the Messiah. Jesus would now be the king and priest—the Messiah. Melchizadek vanished from the Scripture following the blessing with bread and wine. In Hebrews, we read of the Lord, Thou Art My Son. Today I have begotten Thee, just as He says also in another passage (in Psalm 110). Thou art a Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:5–6). Christ’s priesthood followed the order of Aaron, the priests of Israel and the tabernacle, and with no beginning or ending of days, His priesthood is of the Order of Melchizedek.]

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps she shall obtain children through her. And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. (16:1–4)

Hagar ran off into the wilderness, and while wandering along in distress, an angel of the Lord appeared.

Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority. Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count. Behold you are with child, and you shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand shall be against him, and he shall live to the east, in the presence of all his brethren. (16:8–12, emphasis added)

[Note: These are the Bedouin tribes of the desert. Through the centuries, the Bedouin or Bedu are clans of nomadic Arabs, people who have inhabited the desert regions of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and the Levant. Most of these people by far adhere to Islam. Significant populations are in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Algeria, Iraq, and Palestine. These were also known as the Qedanites and Assyrians in the Old Testament.]

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless; and I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. (17:1–5)

This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised.

Then God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, oh that Ishmael might live before thee! But God said, No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall all his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. (17:15–19)

Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. (21:1–3, emphasis added)

God tests Abraham.

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And Abraham said, here I am. And God said, take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah,* and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, I and the lad will go up and we will worship and return to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, my father! And he said here I am my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide for Himself the Lamb for the burnt offering my son. So the two of them walked on together. They came to the place God had told them, and Abraham built an altar there, and arranged wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, here I am. And he said, do not stretch out your hands against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in place of his son. [This parallels Jesus Christ offering up himself as the sacrificial lamb in place of us.] And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it will be provided. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in all your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice. (22:1–18)

When Sarah died, Abraham picked a burial spot for her and for himself, located twenty miles south of Jerusalem at Hebron, in a cave.

[Note: A mosque called Ibrahim Mosque (Ibrahim is the Muslim name for Abraham) now sits over the burial site. It has in the past been dangerous for Christians to visit there, but Hebron discovered the value in tourism and now provides tours to Christian groups into the floor of the mosque to the cave, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah are buried (Rachael is buried at Bethlehem). This mosque is considered the second most important mosque in Islam because the Arabs trace their lineage to Abraham; they don’t include Ishmael.]

[*Mt. Moriah, where God sent Abraham to build an altar and make the burnt offering of his son, is also the location the temple was built on centuries later by Solomon. This is also the place where our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, just outside the city wall of Jerusalem. The temple site and Golgotha are on the same ridge, and it has a street cutting through there now, called Moriah Street. Of note, both Isaac and Jesus were offered as sacrifice there. Sitting on top of the site now is a mosque called Dome of the Spirits.]

After Sarah’s death, Isaac was delivered Rebekah to be his wife by Abraham’s top servant, Eliezer, following Abraham’s request to find Isaac a non-Canaanite wife. Isaac married Rebekah, and she bore him six children. One of the children, Midian, is of interest as noted in the Scripture. (Moses went to the land of Midian and took a wife from there.) Abraham died.

And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. (25:5)

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord answered him, and his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her, and she said, why am I this way? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb; and two people shall be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. (25:21–23)

Jacob and Esau, twins born to Isaac and Rebekah; the birthright went to Jacob.

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; And Esau said to Jacob, Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished. But Jacob said, First sell me your birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die, so of what use then is the birthright to me? And Jacob said, First, swear to me. So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (25:24–34)

[Note: Let’s consider the significance of this birthright. It meant that the one who had it was the head of the household. It also meant that the one who had it was the priest of the family. In this particular family, the one who had it would be the one who would be in the line that would lead to Christ.]

Isaac blessed Jacob and charged him not to take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. (All the way through the Old Testament, we find that God does not want the godly to marry the ungodly.) The blessing of God to Abraham was passed on to Isaac, who understood this and passed it on to Jacob. Abraham was basically a Syrian, not a Jew. There were no Israelites until Jacob’s time—when through an encounter with God’s angel, his name was changed to Israel. Thus, Jacob’s twelve sons would be Israelites—the Jewish people. The high point of Jacob’s spiritual life was when he was visited by God one night in a dream when traveling to Beth-el (now part of Palestine, located twelve miles north of Jerusalem).

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angles of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, and the land where thou liest, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed. (28:12–13, emphasis added)

This is the same area where God first appeared to Abraham after he reached the land of Palestine. (The ladder is Christ; the angels ascending and descending were upon the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, when he would walk this earth.)

Jacob’s twelve sons:

Born to Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issacher, and Zebulun (and one daughter, Dinah)

Born to Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher

Born to Rachael: Joseph and Benjamin

Born to Rachael’s maid: Dan and Naphtali

[Note: Jacob’s first wife Leah’s fourth son, Judah, would be the kingly line of David and, later, Jesus. Benjamin, the last son of Jacob, and Judah would be the two tribes of the Southern kingdom after Jeroboan, a son of a servant of Solomon led the northern ten tribes of Israel against King Solomon and split the kingdom (approximately 930–900 BC.)

Esau had become furious about his birthright now blessed by Isaac, and word got to Jacob that Esau was heading his way to find him and kill him. Jacob was now on the run from Esau, and as Jacob’s scouts reported Esau was near, Jacob stopped at a desolate spot between two hills in a rugged part of Jordan. He sent his wives and sons away, over the ford at the river Jabbok (32:22).

Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, let me go, for the dawn is breaking. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So the man said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. And the man said, your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. But the man said, why is it you ask my name? And He blessed him there. (32:24–29, emphasis added)

Jacob made peace with Esau.

Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachael and the two maids. And he put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachael and Joseph last. But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. (33:1–4)

They then assembled together their respective people to go their ways.

And Esau said, please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me. But Jacob said, what need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of the Lord. Then he erected there an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel. (33:15, 20)

Jacob was now seeing the hand of God in his life.

Then God said to Jacob, Arise and go up to Bethel and live there; and make an altar there to God who appeared to you [the wrestling man] when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me wherever I have gone. So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. (35:1–4)

Then God appeared again to Jacob when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. And God said to him, your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you. So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel [meaning House of God]. (35:9–12, 15, emphasis added)

Rachael died giving birth to Benjamin. Then Isaac died and was buried by his sons Esau and Jacob. Esau had settled in the land of Edom. He married a daughter of Canaan (Ham’s son who was cursed by Noah) and a daughter of Ishmael (Abraham’s son by Hagar, cursed by God to be a wild man roaming the deserts, clans of nomadic Arab tribes).

Introduction of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers and became leader in Egypt.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors (37:3). His brothers hated him for being their father’s favorite. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told his brothers, and they hated him even more (37:5). This dream was that he would rule over his brothers. Then he had another dream which he shared with them, saying, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me (37:9). And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. And he said, I will go (37:13).

When they saw him from a distance and before he came to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. And they said to one another, here comes the dreamer! Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say, A wild beast devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams! But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, Let us not take his life. Reuben further said to them, shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and do not lay hands on him, that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father.

So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his varicolored tunic that was on him, and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them to Egypt. And Judah said to the brothers, what profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him. Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. (37:18–28)

So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not. Then he examined it and said, It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces. So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard. (37:31–34, 36)

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him, and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and became his personal servant, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.

Joseph was then tempted by Potiphar’s wife; he declined, and she framed him. Potiphar then had Joseph thrown into prison.

Now it happened at the end of two years that Pharaoh had a dream. And he dreamed a second dream. And it came about in the morning that his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh. His chief cupbearer mentioned an experience he had by a servant named Joseph at the house of the captain of the bodyguard, that he interpreted their dreams.

Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream; but no one can interpret it, and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. And Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. (41:14–16)

Pharaoh described his two dreams to Joseph.

Now Joseph said to Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same. God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do. Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt, and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and famine will ravage the land. Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about. And now let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let them exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. Then let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it. And let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish during the famine. (41:25–36)

Pharaoh was very pleased with Joseph and had him released and appointed him overseer of the entire land of Egypt.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than thee. Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. And during the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly. So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt, and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. Thus Joseph stood up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure. (41:39–49)

When famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. And the people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth. (41:56–57)

The famine had spread in the land of Canaan, and Joseph’s brothers were sent by their father to travel to Egypt seeking food. They encountered Joseph but didn’t recognize him. In Joseph’s inquiry of who they are and who they represent, they described themselves.

We are all sons of one man, we are honest men, your servants have come to buy food. Joseph replied, no, you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land. But they said, your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more. And Joseph said to them, it is as I said, you are spies; by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies. So he put them all together in prison for three days. Then Joseph said to them on the third day, if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in prison, but for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die. Then they said to one another, Truly we are guilty concerning our brother Joseph, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen, therefore this distress has come upon us. And Joseph turned away from them and wept. But when he returned he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey home. So they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed. One of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder, and saw his money in the mouth of the sack. He said to his brothers, my money has been returned. Their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, what is this that God