Questions and Answers on Principles of Historiography - Paper Example

Question 1.) What Are the Conventions and Guiding Principles of Ancient (Israelite) Historiography?

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Every society has guidelines and principles that are their grassroots. With this said, the Israelite community has its principles and conventions. The Israelites have their grass roots. The Israelites had their culture and rules written according to the Judaism law (Hill and Walton, Introduction to the Historical Books, 169).

The Judaism law provides that God is the God of the Israelites ancestors. It states that their ancestors were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It shows that the three ancestors had to worship God alone and obey his commands. The covenant between Abraham and God was the basic foundation of the existence of the Israelite community. As shown, Abraham entered into a covenant with God which governed how the Israelites conducted themselves (Walton, Understanding the Past: Historiography, 217). In the covenant, God assures Abraham that he is going to remain faithful to His covenant. God said that the covenant was to last to everlasting. God enters into a covenant with Abraham and promises him to give him land and possessions. Also, God promises to give Abraham a son.

The son of Abraham who is the second generation of the Israelites is given to Abraham in unusual conditions. Abraham begets a son when he cannot get babies biologically. His wife, Sarah, also bears a son in an age that is past age bearing for women. God changes the names of the couple and agrees with them that he is going to be their God if they serve Him alone. Abraham teaches his son Isaac the laws of God and instills in Him a character that pleases God.

Isaac marries from his fathers lineage showing that according to the Jews tradition, marrying from a different tribe was not acceptable. Isaac was given by God two sons. One son, Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Isaac remained faithful to God, and he became prosperous more than his father. He even owned land in a foreign place and was able to bring up his sons in ways that were God-fearing just like Abraham, his father. He observed the feasts of the Israelites and their traditions. His sons were quite different since they were the third generation. He had two sons Esau and Jacob. Esau was a hunter while Jacob was a shepherd. Esau sold his birthright to his brother. Later in life, we see the mother of the two sons Rebecca helping Jacob fool the father into blessing him as the first born. Coincidentally, history repeats itself when Jacob is deceived into marrying a woman who he was not supposed to marry. He later marries the woman he loved after fourteen years of taking care of the uncles flock. Since he was skilled, he was in a position to cause the sheep of the uncle to increase in number until his father-in-law orders him to leave his home. At this age, Jacob was an old man with twelve sons. However, he loved the sons born to him by the woman he loved. This was Rachel who bore him Joseph and Benjamin. The sibling rivalry is intense to the point Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph being blessed of the Lord, as believed by the Israelites he became the governor of Egypt because of his gift. He was gifted in interpretation dreams. The king was well pleased with him which made him be promoted to being a governor. This is when he reconciles with his brothers who become apologetic.

He also reunites with his father. However, when this father Jacob is of age and is blessing his twelve sons as the twelve tribes of Israel. He gives a birthright to the sons of Joseph to become his sons. Mysteriously enough Jacob blesses the sons of Joseph Ephraim and Manasseh according to just like the way he deceived his father only that this time he understood what he was doing. He blessed the younger son with the blessings of the firstborn and vice versa. When Joseph enquired from him what he was doing, he said that is how it should be. He blessed his sons according to their characters. These blessings are evident in the stories of the Bible up to the time Jesus was born to the Israelites. The story continues to the point God makes a covenant on Mount Sinai with the children of Israelites about the ten commandments. The first three are about God, the fifth about the Sabbath day, the six about our parents, the last four about our neighbors. As discussed above, the different traditions of the Israelites were followed by the various ancestors of the Israelites. The fathers blessed their sons and left behind an inheritance for them. The women were given in marriage according to their age such that an elder woman was to be married first. The firstborn son was looked up as and authority by his smaller brothers.

However, in the case, the father blessed the younger sons with the firstborn blessing this was done with or without their knowledge. The women were taken care of by their husbands and were to be submissive to their spouses and bore children for them. The most consistent thing about their ancestors is that they worshiped God and all of them had different experiences with God as established (Walls, Reading the Historical Books, 172).

Also, all of them had different gifts that a were stored in them and these gifts are the ones that God used to show Himself to them. Therefore, these principles were to be followed by all generations until when Moses came to lead the Israelites to the promised land. The people were given the ten commandments which they were to follow everyday of their lives. Failure to follow the ten commandments led to serve judgment. These were the common laws of Moses. They included honoring God, Parents and the people who were neighbors. Summarized in three major laws. In the old Testament, there was no mercy until Jesus shows up and mercy is shown to sinners who deserved judgment. The laws are hard to live by since they permitted that people are punished accordingly.

Question 2.) How Are They Different from Our Modern Conventions and Principles of Historiography?

The modern conventions and principles are different to the ancient Israelites laws that they observed. The Israelites lived in the two dimensions when God appeared himself and when he sent his son Jesus to redeem everyone even the non-Israelites. This dispersion has a different form in which people related to God through the Holy Spirit. This is believed to be the Spirit of God. His Spirit was absent when the Israelites lived, and they could not relate to God as we do today. As opposed to the traditions of Jews, that said that the priests must offer sacrifices to God. Nowadays we are known as a royal priesthood thus everyone can be a priest of God. The love of God is demonstrated for all which makes us able to appear in the presence of God because Jesus suffered for our sins already. Then Jesus had not suffered, that is why people were punished, and the suffered the consequences of their sins. In Jesus, we all sons and daughters of God. In the past, the children of Israelites knew about God and his miracles. However, nowadays we develop a relationship with God because Jesus was our only bridge to God.

The rules of engaging with the society are also different since we are told to forgive as many times as possible. In fact, we have urged that God is the vindicator so we cannot take revenge on people. This was not the case in the past since there was no love for the neighbors. People avenged for everything. Also, people judged the sinners and killed them. However, when Jesus came, he said that forgiveness is for all even those that are condemned by the law. The blood of Jesus is all powerful, and it cleanses every one. However, in the past, the Israelites used a scapegoat to be cleansed, but this story changed when Jesus came. There are differences in the Bible. The commandments are summarized into only two bits of loving God and our neighbors. Thereby, there is the undeniable difference between the New Covenant and the Old covenant that God had with Abraham.

Question 3.) How Does This Affect How We Interpret the Old Testament?

All believers believe in the whole Bible. However, we are to engage with God according to the new testament, but we can borrow the revelation knowledge that is hidden in the old Testament. The old testament shows how deep covenants can affect the lives of people and method by which covenants were administered. Comparing the two times makes the Old Testament look like a scary and harsh time to leave in since people were brutally punished. However, it through the stories of the various people in the Bible that our faith grows and we are encouraged that God is a God of seasons. The easy of operating at a time when there is grace. This makes our relationship with God easy. Although we see people who lived after the time of Jesus were full of the power of God. This is different from the miracles seen in the old testament. In fact, most of the miracles of Jesus were performed by only one prophet in the Bible. This shows that the power that is manifested is showed differently thus there is a clear difference of how we interpret the old testament. Also, the people of the old testament did not experience the love of Jesus. Thus, their hearts are void of that love. In the old testament, there are very few people who are in a position of receiving the love of God. Thus, the old testament is a place of knowing God from a perspective of God as God. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are not as evident as in the New Testament. The power that is bestowed upon those that work through the gifting of the Holy Spirit is intense even than the old Testament which shows that people perceive the New Testament as the place that the power of God exhibited. Additionally, the presence of God is felt in different ways that are not shown in the old testament again making it look a bit traditional and formal.

In conclusion, the differences showed in the two testaments are evident, and these differences are unavoidable. However, the whole Bible is used to reveal the character of God. It indicates that God is a God who is above our understanding. It proves that God is an everlasting God who was the past and the present. The significant similarity of the old and new testament is that the character of God is consistent. Even when he dealt with the different people differently and people would relate differently to him. People are now in a position to know God from the point of relationship and understand who He is on a personal level.

Bibliography

Hill, Andrew E. and John H. Walton. Introduction to the Historical Books. Pages 169-76 in A Survey of the Old Testament. 2nd edition. Zondervan, 2000.

Walton, John H. Understanding the Past: Historiography. Pages 217-38 in Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2006.

Dutcher-Walls, Patricia. Reading the Historical Books: A Students Guide to Engaging the Biblical Text. Baker, 2014. 172 pages. $21.99. ISBN 0801048656

DeRose, John J. "Back to the Future with Textbooks: Using Textbook Passages from the Past to Help Teach Historiography." History Teacher 42, no. 2 (February 2009): 229-237. Professional Development Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed May 5, 2017).

Walton, John H. and Kim E. Walton, The Bible Story Handbook: A Resource for Teaching 175 Stories from the Bible. Crossway, 2010.