The correlation of the Old Testament Books

Rev. Woo Ho Noh (Sharon Church, Principal of Ezrahouse)

When we study the Bible, there are two things we need to study along with it: history and science. If we want to increase our understanding, we have to study the Bible, history and science whole-heartedly.

The contents of the Bible

Overall, there are seven kinds of writings found in the Bible.

First, the Bible contains history. Biblical truth is historical truth, and the Bible contains a lot of history. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther are all historical writings. Genesis includes the history of the world’s origins and the history of the patriarchs. The Torah has the history of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. A large portion of the Bible is related to history, therefore, we need to be able to see it in the Bible.

Second, the Bible has the covenants of God. We call the Bible ‘the Old Testament’ and ‘the New Testament’, which means the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Bible is extremely precious to us because it is the covenant between God and us. Therefore, when we read the Bible, we need to be alert and carefully see what kind of covenant of God is written there.

Third, the Bible contains commandments. God commanded us to do certain things and not to do other things. The books in the Bible that Jews call ‘the Laws’ are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which mainly consist of commandments. These books of Laws have a total of 613 commandments; 245 items to do and 365 items not to do. A lot of these commandments are not relevant to us and we do not have to observe them, but many others are still relevant to us and we need to obey until the end of the world. We need to find those commandments that we need to obey in the Bible and try to obey them.

Fourth, the Bible contains prophesies. The Bible contains a lot of prophesies. Some prophesies have been fulfilled and have became history, but there are still a lot of prophesies that have not been fulfilled. All prophesies in the Bible will come true if they have not come true yet. Therefore, we need to be familiar with those prophesies in the Bible.

Fifth, the Bible contains wisdom. Careful study of the Bible brings wisdom. If you want wisdom, read the Bible. It is not right to ask God for wisdom without reading the Bible. God recorded all the wisdom we need in the Bible. The Bible is wisdom made accessible for everyone. Wisdom comes to those who fully know the Bible. The Bible has a lot of wisdom; wisdom to live well, wisdom to earn money, wisdom to be healthy and wisdom to succeed.

Sixth, the Bible contains precepts. These are true precepts that many people learnt through their lives. The precepts recorded in the Bible are for us. The Bible contains precepts that people acquired, not only through their successes, but also through their endless failures.

Lastly, the seventh writing that the Bible contains is praise. There are countless praises in the Bible. The Bible records many people’s praises to God including David’s psalms.

As we have seen, the Bible contains history, covenants, commandments, prophesies, wisdom, precepts and praises. It is important to carve these into our heart and apply them.

The importance of Leviticus

Let’s take a look at the correlation between the Old Testament and New. Without knowing the Old Testament, it is impossible to understand the New Testament. Some people say “Pastor, I understand the New Testament a little, but the Old Testament is too hard”. I think they don’t really understand the New Testament either. The New Testament can be understood only after understanding the Old Testament.

If we look at the contents themselves, the New Testament is far more difficult than the Old Testament. The New Testament is not on a different level but in a different dimension. You just have to read the Old Testament, then you will understand. It is difficult because people do not read and because it is thick. The contents are not hard to understand at all.

We call the Old Testament by that name because it is the ‘covenant of the past’. This covenant of the past includes the covenant with Adam, the covenant of the rainbow, the covenant of grace for Abraham and the covenant of Sinai through Moses. This covenant of Sinai is in Leviticus. The covenant of God continues in the Bible: the covenant with David that the Messiah will come through the line of Jesse and David; the covenant that God will give a new covenant with Israel and Judah; the covenant that the Israelites would be scattered all over the world but would certainly return to the land of their forefathers at the end of history; and so on.

Thus, although there are many covenants in the Old Testament, generally the Old Testament refers to Leviticus. Leviticus is the covenant that God made with the Israelites on Mount Sinai. When we talk about the Old Testament, we are talking about Genesis to Malachi, but usually we specifically mean Leviticus. We say that the Old Testament is made up of laws, and the laws are Leviticus.

Leviticus was the first book written in the Old Testament, not Genesis. The Israelites stayed at Mount Sinai for about a year, and Leviticus was written during that time. After Leviticus was completed and the tent of meeting was completed, the Israelites had a dedication ceremony and left Mount Sinai.

The theme of Leviticus: Be holy as I am holy

When the Israelites were in Egypt, they ate like Egyptians, clothed themselves like Egyptians and worshipped the gods of Egypt. However, after making a covenant with God they could not live the way they used to in Egypt, and neither could they live like the people in the land of Canaan where they were moving to. They had to live completely differently from other people, according to the laws and regulations of God. Thus, living differently and distinctively from other people is the meaning of holiness.

Therefore, the theme of Leviticus is “Be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:26).

We call people who believe in Jesus ‘saints’: holy people. Therefore, people who believe in Jesus should live a life of holiness.

Jewish people are people whose sins are washed with blood of lambs, goats and calves. God called them holy. Christians who believe in Jesus are people whose sins are washed with the blood of the Son of God. We should be far holier than Jews.

We have to be different from the people in the world. How different? Everything has to be different: the way we eat, dress, talk, sing, do politics, farm, sell and educate.

But how do Christians live these days? Are there any differences? They are so similar to the world that even demons cannot tell the difference. The lives of people who believe in Jesus are not transforming, and many of them get even more corrupted than those of non-believers, doing all kinds of evil things without any sense of guilt. That might be the reason that demons do not care about people who believe in Jesus. There is no reason to tempt them because they are just like the people in the world.

What happened? The church did not learn Leviticus, and did not learn the meaning of God through the Leviticus. If Christians have read Leviticus, they will not eat and live just like the people in the world. Christians do not read the Bible, but just say that “We believe in Jesus so we will go to heaven”. That is why Christians are fallen.

The relationship between Leviticus and the Torah

We have to remember that Leviticus is the center of the Torah and the core of the Old Testament. The main theme of Leviticus is that “people who have a covenantal relationship with God should not live like people in Egypt or Canaan, but be different”.

Numbers is the book that trains people to live according to the Levitical teachings: “While we are in the desert, let’s live according to the teachings of the book of Leviticus as people of God”. In other words, the book of Numbers is a record of the people of God being trained in the desert.

After the training there is a graduation ceremony. Moses gives a commencement speech at this ceremony, preaching on Leviticus. Deuteronomy is the commencement speech where Moses preaches and explains Leviticus once more.

Deuteronomy is the ‘farewell sermon’ that Moses preached before leaving the Israelites. Therefore, this farewell sermon is the first sermon and a model for sermons.

Exodus is a historical recording of how the Israelites made a covenant with God: Leviticus. Exodus records the purpose, spirit and process that the Israelites had until they made a covenant of Leviticus with God on Mount Sinai.

Here is a summary of Exodus. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, baking bricks out of clay, they called out to God and God sent Moses and Aaron and saved them with his mighty hand and outstretched arm. Then, when they arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, God was in the fire on the mountain and the Israelites were at its foot, and Moses went back and forth between God and the Israelites to make this holy Levitical covenant.

What is the book of Genesis? Genesis explains who the God is who made a covenant with us. He created the heavens and earth in the beginning. He is the God who closed the way with a flaming sword when man broke the covenant with God by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He is the God who wiped out the world with a flood when the world was filled with sins of men, but he did not forget to show his mercifulness and saved Noah’s family and started a new history from Noah. He is the God who confused the people’s language and scattered the descendants of Noah when they did not believe in Jesus and built the tower of Babel as a rebellion. God is the one who chose the most faithful person, Abraham, out of these scattered people. God is the one who blessed Isaac, protected Jacob, and led Joseph to save many lives and to lead his people to Egypt. Genesis is the book that explains that God led the descendants of Israel out of Egypt and made a covenant with God. Genesis is the book which introduces God as the main focus of the Levitical covenant.

Therefore, the center of the Torah is Leviticus. It is not Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, nor Exodus. Leviticus is the center of the Torah, and without acknowledging this one can never understand the Old Testament, no matter how many time he or she reads it.

Leviticus and historic writings

In the Old Testament, twelve historical writings are arranged right after the Torah: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

The Israelites made a covenant with God, heard expository teachings, and were trained in the desert. Now the only thing left to do was to enter the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. However, it was Joshua, not Moses, who was giving the task of leading Israel into the land of Canaan. The historic writings begin as Joshua starts to conquer Canaan.

The history of Israel is not a normal history but a covenantal history. The focus is on whether Israel carries out their covenant or not. Therefore, without understanding Leviticus it is hard to understand the history of Israel.

God said that if his people kept the covenant and obeyed the commandments, they would be blessed. In what ways? They would be blessed when they came in, went out, in both the city and in the field. Their lambs and family would be blessed. Their enemies would come in one direction but flee in seven directions. They would lend to many nations but would borrow from none. They would be the head but not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

On the other hand, when they do not carry out the commandments, they don’t just fail to receive the blessings; they are cursed. According to Deuteronomy 28, 14 verses are dedicated for blessings while 54 verses were dedicated to curses from verses 15-68. God spent four times longer talking about curses then about blessings.

We have to keep in mind that God never fails to keep his promises. This is why we find that people who tried to be holy by living according to the covenants were blessed by God, even though they were not perfect. We see this in David or Solomon; although they were imperfect, when they tried to keep the covenant they received great blessings from God. But, throughout Israel’s history, people did not keep the covenant enough to receive the blessings of God.

Leviticus and poetic writings

Those who received grace and blessing from God by keeping the covenants can do nothing but thank God. They express their thankfulness through psalms, praise, spiritual songs and wisdom. Poetic writings are a complimentary to these; Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are poetic writings. Therefore poetic writings are the writings of people who were blessed by God by keeping the covenants.

Leviticus and prophetic writings

The Word of God says that if you do not keep the covenant, you will not only be unblessed, but also you will be cursed. We tend to think that the Israelites would have been punished as soon as they violated the covenants, but close examinations of Scripture reveals otherwise.

God prepares the punishments for Israelites when they violate the covenants, but he puts up with their behavior for a time. He sends people to Israelites who say to them, “Why are you not keeping the covenants with God? Return to God now and keep the covenant so that you will be blessed.” These people that God speaks through are the prophets.

Therefore prophets are people who did not come to give compliments but to rebuke. But when the Israelites are rebuked they get angry and kill the prophets. Nevertheless, God does not give up but keeps sending prophets. God speaks through the prophets: “The reason I send prophets to rebuke is not that I hate, but that I love you. I can bring curses on you, but I am sending my servants to give you one more chance to repent of your sins.”

However, Israel did not pay attention to the prophets but beat them up and killed them. When sending servant after servant had little effect, God sends his own son. The Israelites crucify the Son also. This is the history of Israel.

It is clear at this point that the history of Israel is the history of violating the Levitical covenants. The history of Israel is full of pain, suffering, trials and punishments rather than of receiving blessings from God.

We need to feel the heart of God in every book of the Bible

When we read the Old Testament, we need to read the heart of God, and empathize with him. We have to understand how sad God would have felt.

When you take a close look at sermons or seminars in today’s church, they are filled with affirmative messages; if you believe in Jesus, everything will work out. Everything is positive. They are telling stories that are completely different from the heart of God. As God was in tears when he watched Israel, he is in tears as he looks down on today’s churches... Yet the church is dancing and proclaiming only blessings. This is the result of not reading the Bible, not understanding it, and not knowing its history.

We have to read the Old Testament and empathize with God completely. Only after sympathizing with God, are we able to understand the new dimensions of the New Testament, which started as Jesus came.

Because churches do not know the Old Testament and the heart of God, they speak only of a kind God and a God who blesses. They know well the verses talking about blessings, but not about the verses describing God’s judgment. As a result, we cannot understand the New Testament well, and cannot understand the book of Revelation at all.

When we take a close look at the Bible, we find that God is a kind God and who blesses; he is also a God of fury, the God who holds a sword, and a God of judgment.

Therefore, the first thing that churches and Christians have to do is to kneel before God and humbly read his Bible from cover to cover, to understand the heart of God. If once is not enough, do it twice. If twice is not enough then do it three times, ten times, twenty times, or more.

If we want fellowship with God, to communicate with God, to empathize with God’s heart and understand him, we have to first plant all 66 books of the Bible in our hearts. Only then can we truly become who God intended. Let us all plant all 66 books of the Bible in our hearts. Let’s plant the Bible without adding to, subtracting from, or mixing it up. Let’s plant it in our hearts as it is written. Then we will be the people of God who empathize with God.