Rick Harris

Long ago God decided to come down from the glories of heaven and invite mankind into a personal and practical relationship with Himself, and from that moment on He has been communicating His love and purpose to His creation, giving them the choice of receiving His blessings through obedience or His curses through disobedience. This summary of each of these 39 Old Testament books contains that story of love. There is an introduction, settings, and a background to the OT as a whole. It asks the question, "Why study the OT?" and prayerfully that question will be answered during this study. From each book, there is a brief background (which contains information about the author, his audience and what was going on in their lives during the time this particular prophet was communicating God's message to them, and some key verses), an introduction, a brief summary, and some very practical applications that will help us understand from a godly perspective what message God is giving to me that can affect my spiritual growth and walk with God. Then we will look closely at some of the key stories and key people from each book that have been given to us by Almighty God, looking at their successes and failures, and then what practical aspects can I get from them that will help me today. This study is divided into eight sections. Section 1 is an introduction to the OT / the Pentateuch which contains Genesis through Deuteronomy. The main purpose of this study is two-fold: To involve the person studying it in a first-hand survey of the OT text itself and to guide that person into seeing how the message of each OT book is organized structurally, because in order to get the full understanding of the biblical text, we need to know not only what God said, but how He said it. The practical aspect of our study is to allow God to lead us into a time of personal reflection as we consider the practical spiritual applications of each book we have just studied. We will answer "Why study the OT?" and come up with five reasons. 1) The Bible is incomplete without the OT. 2) The ministry of Christ would be an enigma without the OT. 3) The historical setting of Christianity is furnished by the OT. 4) Key revelations of God are found in the OT. 5) The OT is spiritual food for the Christian. In the Pentateuch, Genesis shows Israel's origin and their early years called the Beginnings. Exodus shows Israel's deliverance from bondage in Egypt called Deliverance. Leviticus show Israel's worship directed by the Levites called Legislation. Numbers examines the wilderness wanderings in the Sinai Peninsula which is called Testing. Deuteronomy is the second giving of the Law; awaiting entrance into the Promised Land called Preparation. Section 2 deals with the history of Israel in and out of the land of Canaan. These books are Joshua through Esther. Joshua is about a land and a people. The land is an inheritance promised by God, waiting to be occupied. The people are the elect nation of God, facing human obstacles in the way of taking the land. The obstacles are the occasion for battle a holy war designed by God to oust the idolatrous and corrupt enemies from the land. Judges is a tragic account of how Yahweh was taken for granted by His people year after year, century after century. They were disobedient and idolatrous, leading to their many defeats. Yet God has never failed to open His arms in love to His people whenever they repented from their wicked ways and call upon His name. So through these 15 judges of Israel, God honored His promise to Abraham to protect and bless his offspring (Gen.12:2-3). The short story of Ruth is one of the beautiful love stories found in the Bible. Boaz, a type of Christ the Redeemer, woos and marries Ruth, a type of Christ's Church. This account from a godly family from Bethlehem reveals something of God's mysterious and wonderful ways in fulfilling His divine purposes through a believi

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