Old Testament

This Combo offers the following courses:

Genesis-Leviticus: God Builds a People for Himself
Genesis – Leviticus: God Builds a People for Himself tells the story of Israel’s roots. From the creation of all things to the creation of Israel as a nation at Sinai, this course studies God’s process of building a nation to represent Him on earth. It is the foundation for understanding the struggles and triumphs of the relationship between God and Israel that is recorded in the rest of the Old Testament books.

Numbers-Joshua: The Tragedy of Fear and the Glory of Faith
Numbers-Joshua: The Tragedy of Fear and the Glory of Faith is a study of contrasts. Israel’s fear prevented them from entering the land God promised to give them, resulting in the story of wandering and death recorded in Numbers. In contrast, the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua record the preparation and triumph of faith as the people allowed God to win the Promised Land for them.

Judges-1 Samuel: Israel’s Choice From God-Rule to Human-Rule
This course, Judges-1 Samuel: Israel’s Choice From God-Rule to Human-Rule, covers the books of Judges, Ruth and the book of 1 Samuel. These books contrast Israel as they rebelled against God’s rule in the period of Judges, but Ruth gives a snapshot of obedience during that same period. 1 Samuel examines Israel’s amazing transition from having God-as-their-King to having men-as-their kings.

2 Samuel-2 Kings: The Difference Leaders Make
2 Samuel-2 Kings: The Difference Leaders Make will guide students through a study of Israel’s kingdom era—as a united nation and as a nation divided into Israel and Judah. It not only covers this critical time in Israel’s history, but also provides an essential foundation for studying Israel’s prophets.

1 Chronicles-Nehemiah: Grace Greater Than a Nation’s Sins
1 Chronicles – Nehemiah describes the fact that while Israel and Judah flaunted their disobedience in God’s face and persecuted His prophets, He kept His commitment to His covenant promises. Chronicles traces the Davidic kings through whom God would bring His Messiah. Although God exiled His people, Ezra and Nehemiah tell how He restored them to their land and life.

Lamentations-Job: God’s Path Through Pain
Pressure and pain are realities of life. One of the verifying realities of the Old Testament record is its openness about the difficulties God’s people often suffered—and were often confused by. This course, Lamentations-Job: God’s Path Through Pain, studies three books that deal head-on with the pain and pressure often associated with being God’s people.

Proverbs-Psalms: Singing the Sounds of Real Life
Times change and life’s issues take new forms. Solomon never sat in a traffic jam on the freeway and we never fret over an attack by the Philistines, but human emotions remain the same. In this course, Proverbs-Psalms: Singing the Sounds of Real Life, students will study the distilled language of Israel’s poets as they sang the songs of their lives. They are, amazingly, like the songs of people’s lives today.

Ecclesiastes-Isaiah: God Guides His People through Poets and Prophets
This course, Ecclesiastes-Isaiah: God Guides His People through Poets and Prophets, takes students through two of the Old Testament books of poetry and then introduces them to the writing prophets—who also used a great deal of poetry in their writings. Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs present the importance of living life under God’s direction. Isaiah introduces the prophetic literature, which is a series of calls to abandon the pursuit of alternative lifestyles and live life God’s way.

Jeremiah-Ezekiel: Human Failure and Divine Success – A Study in Contrast
In this course, Jeremiah-Ezekiel: Human Failure and Divine Success—A Study in Contrasts, students will learn about two prophets whose ministry related to Jerusalem’s fall to the Babylonians. This unthinkable event—that the city where God lived in His temple could be destroyed—is studied as a threat in Jeremiah and as a historical reality in Ezekiel. Both the miserable failure of God’s people and God’s success in judging and yet preserving His people are surveyed in this course that studies these two prophets.

Daniel-Micah: Studies of Integrity – Good Men in Bad Times
God’s prophets stood up and spoke out when it was very unpopular to do so. As men with a message from God, they were preachers with a message that God-rejecting Israel and Judah wanted no part of. This course, Daniel-Micah: Studies of Integrity—Good Men in Bad Times, presents the men, their messages and their times.

Jonah-Habakkuk: The God of Israel and the God of the Nations
Jonah-Habakkuk: The God of Israel and the God of the Nations is a course which demonstrates the fact that while God had chosen Israel as His covenant people, His compassion extended beyond Israel to all people. The course presents prophets whom God sent to Israel’s great oppressor and prophets God sent to Judah.

Haggai-Malachi: No Substitute for Obedience
The prophets studied in this course, Haggai-Malachi: No Substitute for Obedience, ministered after Jerusalem’s destruction and, in Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, during the return and reconstruction of Jerusalem after the exile in Babylon. They demonstrate God’s concern for all His people, Jew and Gentile, and emphasize the essential place of obedience to His moral will.