The

Heart of the

Old

Testament

second edition

A Survey of Key Theological Themes

Ronald Youngblood

© 1998 by Ronald Youngblood

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Originally published in 1968 by Harvest Publications under the title Great Themes of the Old Testament.

First Baker edition published 1971.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Youngblood, Ronald F.

The heart of the Old Testament: a survey of key theological themes / Ronald Youngblood.—2nd ed.

p.         -cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 0-8010-2172-3 (pbk.)

1. Bible. O.T.—Theology. I. Title.

BS1192.5.Y65     1998

221.6′6—dc21 98-17841

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Contents

Preface

1. Monotheism

2. Sovereignty

3. Election

4. Covenant, 1

5. Covenant, 2

6. Theocracy

7. Law

8. Sacrifice

9. Faith

10. Redemption

For Further Reading

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Preface

The unity of the Bible has made an indelible impression on the minds and hearts of untold numbers of its readers. Not only does the subject matter of the first three chapters of Genesis bear a remarkable resemblance to that of the last three chapters of Revelation, but also all the chapters in between are so intimately interrelated as to betray the divine purpose that brought them into being. One means by which to demonstrate the basic oneness of the Scriptures is to trace the development of certain key ideas from one end of the Bible to the other. The purpose of this book is to do just that with nine of the themes that constitute the heart of the Old Testament.

In the pursuit of our goal we have attempted in each case to define the concept, describe the cultural setting in which it arose in ancient Israel, delineate the various stages through which God’s people passed as they grew in their understanding of it, and discuss briefly its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. By so doing we earnestly hope that we shall help our readers to see more clearly the fact that the Word of God is essentially one Book.

The bibliography after the final chapter is intended to be representative rather than exhaustive. It would be impossible to express here the debt we owe to all who have taught us, whether in oral or written form, various aspects of the ideas treated in this volume. But we wish to give special thanks to Janice Raymond, who compliled the two indexes at the end of the book. And we are most grateful of all to the ...