Issue 6: An Introduction to the Old Testament
Sr Francesca begins her new series on the Old Testament. What was foreshadowed in the Old is made visible in the New.
Welcome to Issue 5 of the Crombie Burn Reader. This newsletter is designed to be an occasional offering of a more theological or philosophical nature but utterly accessible to all. As GK Chesterton wrote - ‘Theology is only thought applied to religion’. Each writer will have their own topic or series and hence will not follow one another.
As the adage of St. Jerome states, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” While many Christians instinctively apply this to the Gospel passages or other passages of the New Testament that speak explicitly of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, it is just as true of the Old Testament, as well. In fact, this adage comes from the prologue of St Jerome’s commentaries on the prophet Isaiah, as seen in the second reading from the Office of Readings for his feast day. Despite the violence, the moral ambiguities, and apparent contradictions, all of the Old Testament is considered by the Church as divinely inspired and as the written Word of God. In this series of articles, I would like to explore several “troublesome” passages of the Old Testament. My goal is not to give any easy answer that will explain away all difficulties, but to provide some food for thought drawing from the way in which the Tradition of the Church has interpreted these passages. Perhaps all your questions will not be answered, but I hope that you will gain some appreciation of these passages and avoid the temptation to simply gloss them over instead of exploring the resistance felt towards them. As we begin to study and pray with Scripture, we also begin to realise that the wonderful complexities of salvation history may not be so far from those in our own lives.
Before looking at specific passages, it would be useful to first consider the Old Testament as a whole, which is the subject of this first article. In order to do that, we will look at the following question: What is the role of the Old Testament in revelation?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, drawing upon the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in Dei Verbum 15, states:
“Indeed, ‘the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately so oriented that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, redeemer of all men.’ ‘Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional,’ the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings ‘are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way.’” (CCC 122)
Let us look more closely at several points in this paragraph: The Old Testament prepares and declares in prophecy the coming of Christ, the Old Testament contains matters imperfect and provisional, and the Old Testament contains divine revelation, sound wisdom, and a rich spirituality in and of itself.
I. The Preparation of the Coming of Christ and Divine Pedagogy
First, the Old Testament prepares for the coming of Christ according to the patient pedagogy of God. Dr. Matthew J. Ramage elaborates:
“…a sound and satisfying Christian reading of Sacred Scripture must take to heart the divine pedagogy, the reality that the pages of scripture manifest the gradual teaching method by which God led his chosen people to the fullness of truth in Christ. We will see that the hermeneutic of divine pedagogy is precisely the bridge that enables one to reconcile the unity of scripture traditionally emphasized by Christian exegetes with the development, diversity, and apparent contradictions observed by modern scholars. For the hermeneutic of divine pedagogy affirms that scripture has a unity in light of the fact that it proceeds from God’s one wise educational plan for mankind and communicates God himself to man.” (Dark Passages of the Bible, p. 5)
The Old Testament thus is not to be seen as something separate from the New Testament, but rather intrinsically linked with the New Testament through the continuity of divine revelation. As St. Augustine put it, “the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” (see St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept. 2,73: PL 34,623; cf. DV 16, as quoted in CCC 129). As Christ Himself put it, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Mt 5:17)[1] Pope Benedict XVI’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini elaborates, “It must be observed, however, that the concept of the fulfilment of the Scriptures is a complex one, since it has three dimensions: a basic aspect of continuity with the Old Testament revelation, an aspect of discontinuity and an aspect of fulfilment and transcendence.” (Verbum Domini 40) It is in maintaining the tension and unity among these three aspects of fulfilment that the Old Testament can be understood. As mentioned, the aspect of continuity flows from the unity of divine revelation, which came about progressively and in stages. With that being said, there is discontinuity in that there were certain institutions of the Old Covenant that were meant to be provisional and passed away with the coming of Christ. We will speak more about this in the second point of this article. Lastly, the life and mystery of Jesus Christ truly fulfilled the Old Testament, yet in a way beyond the expectations of the chosen people and reaching a perfection never previously attained. Regarding this last point, a sound understanding of typology would be beneficial to understand this. Typology “discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefiguration’s of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.” (CCC 128) As we have already mentioned, this accounts for the unity between the Old and the New Covenant. There is unity in the divine plan even until the ultimate fulfilment at the end of time.
II. The Old Testament Contains Matters Imperfect and Provisional
The second point flows from the first. Precisely because the Old Testament is a preparation, and thus not the final word, it contains matters imperfect and provisional. To illustrate this point, let us look at Christ’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, there are a series of “You have heard that it was said…But I say to you” statements that Jesus makes. In each one of them, he puts forward an Old Covenant precept and then takes it further. For example, in verses 38-39 we read, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Provisionally, in the law of the Old Covenant, vengeance of this sort was permitted. (I would not like to imagine how many eyeless and toothless Israelites were seen wandering around in those days!) Yet when one considers the tendency to inflict a greater vengeance than the crime, this law was actually progress. For example, in Genesis 4 we read the poem of Lamech “I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (Gn 4:23-24) Here we see that for a wound, Lamech has taken a life. The precept of “an eye for an eye” at least renders the vengeance proportionate to the crime. Yet even this step is only provisional and will give way to the ultimate commandment to turn the other cheek and love your enemies. In God’s patient pedagogy mentioned above, He introduces His ultimate law of love in stages. So it is for the other precepts.
At this point, it may be useful to say that if you have ever been tempted think that the Old Testament has been rendered void by the teachings of Christ or that the God of the Old Testament differs from that of the New, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that you are not alone. The bad news is that you may have fallen into the Marcionist heresy. This heresy originated in the second century with Marcion, the son of the Bishop of Sinope in Pontus. His doctrine states that the God of the Old Testament differs existentially from – and is inferior to – the good God of the New Testament. Seeing the crudity and cruelty contained in the Old Testament as a stumbling block for the Christian, Marcion concluded that it had to be put aside. The notorious atheist Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion describes the God of the Old Testament as “a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” (p. 31) When faced with the difficulty of certain passages, do we not find in ourselves faced with the same images of God? Did He not, after all, order the entire city of Jericho to be devoted to Him for destruction? (Cf. Joshua 6:17) Why did God not prevent David from striking the land, and leaving neither man nor woman alive in his military feats (Cf. 1 Samuel 27:9)? In the end, does it not make more sense to set aside the Old Testament like Marcion?
The answer must be a resounding “No!” because to do so would not only be falling into heresy, but it would also be to set aside a significant part of divine revelation. More profoundly, to set aside the Old Testament because of these difficulties would be to worship a false God who as opposed to seeking to know God as He actually is and as He reveals Himself to us. It would be settling for an easy feel-good God whose image does not challenge our intelligence to seek nor our faith to deepen. As I mentioned in the introduction, the complexities found in the Old Testament mirror the complexities in our own lives. Are we not living in an era where the convolutions of family life seem to mirror those of the patriarchs? Are not the political violence in the world and the apparent silence of God reminders of the violent wars of the Old Testament and the apparent inaction of God therein? Perhaps through these apparently troublesome Old Testament passages, the Lord is speaking to us as we find ourselves today after all.
III. The Old Testament Contains Divine Revelation, Sound Wisdom, and Rich Spirituality in and of Itself.
Lastly, the Old Testament in and of itself contains a rich deposit of divine revelation. In other words, the value of the Old Testament does not simply stem from its relation to the New Testament, although this is obviously not to be neglected. The quotation from the Catechism in the introduction gives three aspects: sublime wisdom on God, sound teaching on human life, and a treasury of prayers.
The portrayals of God in the Old Testament are not to be limited solely to those disturbing images discussed in Section II. The divine attributes revealed in these passages are many but suffice it to mention three. First, the Old Testament reveals God as merciful and slow to anger. Starting with Moses who proclaims God as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness, keeping merciful love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex 34:6-7), the wisdom literature and the prophets continue to extol this attribute of God. (see Ps 78:38, 103:8, 111:4, 116:5; Jer 3:12; Joel 2:13, etc.) Secondly, the Old Testament reveals the truth that there is one God and there is no other. Countless times this phrase is repeated to the Israelites through Moses and the prophets. (see Dt 4:35, 4:39; Is 37:20, 44:8, 45:5, 45:18, etc). Lastly, God is a God who enters into covenant relationships. Unlike the gods of the nations, the God of Israel chose a people to be His own and entered into a covenant relationship with them, beginning with Abraham. The other nations did not enjoy a mutual belonging with their gods comparable to that of the Israelites.
The Old Testament also gives sound teaching on human life. One only needs to think of books such as Sirach or Proverbs to recall the wealth of wisdom contained therein. Both books contain practical advice on leading a good and moral life, written in a style that suggests the transmission of experiential wisdom to the next generation. Another example of sound teaching on human life is found in the Ten Commandments. Most of them (although many would argue all of them) are already written in the human heart, as one does not need to be a religious person to know that killing, adultery, stealing and the like are harmful both to oneself and to others.
Lastly, the Old Testament contains a treasury of prayers. The most obvious example is the book of Psalms, which still occupy a privileged place in the Church’s liturgy. In addition to the Psalms, there are many canticles and poems that cry out to God in prayer. One of the beautiful things about these prayers is that we can find one for every occasion. There are Psalms and canticles that extol God’s goodness in a joyful exultation of praise and thanksgiving. There are others that cry out to God amid pain and suffering. There are yet others that unload the anger and bitterness felt in the face of injustice. As a wise man (whose name escapes me) once said, “God in His infinite mercy gives us the words with which to complain to Him.”
In conclusion, there is much more that can be said on this subject, and this introduction does not even begin to do justice to the subject at hand. Yet I hope that these few points will help you enter into the Old Testament despite the complexities contained therein. Just as one must persevere to find a hidden treasure, so must one persevere in trust to move past the aspects that are disturbing at first sight (or rather, first read) to unearth the meaning hidden beneath.
In the next article in this series, we will look at the placement of Jericho under the ban, which required the Israelites to com
[1] All Biblical citations are taken from the Revised Standard Version: Second Catholic Edition, Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2006.