- Jesus quotes the book of Deuteronomy the most of any book in the Old Testament
- Jesus is the 2nd Adam - like the Israelites, He fled to Egypt, crossed the Jordan river, endured 40 days (vs.years) of struggle and temptation.
- HE is the God of abundance!
Topography and Climate
- In the Ancient days, Israel was the center location - surrounded by Asia, Africa and Europe.
- Water is a sign of fertility.
- Tigris and Euphrates - two important rivers (Tigris is the Top or northern river)
- Assyria defeated the north. It's capital is Ninevah.
- Babylonia defeated the south. It's capital is Babylon.
- In general, traveling East is a bad choice - it symbolizes leaving the sanctuary. (Example: Genesis 13:11 - Lot leaves Abraham, and well, we know his life wasn't that easy after that...)
- Israel isn't that big: 250 miles long, 80 miles wide
- When it comes to topography, high pressure = good (no, rain); low pressure = hurricanes and tornadoes).
Agriculture
- The main industry of ancient times was agriculture, therefore most of Old Testament scriptures comment or refer to weather patterns and seasons.
- When it came to agriculture - there were two main seasons: plowing and planting (Proverbs 20:4)
- Israel's location was dependent on the weather - which we know is controlled by God, therefore bringing dependence on God.
- There are 3 main things harvested: grain, grapes and olives (Deuteronmy 7:13)
Festivals
- There are three main festivals:
- Passover/Unleavened Bread/First fruits - done before the harvesting grain(start grain)
- Lord's supper - fulfilled
- Festival of Weeks - celebrating the end of harvest (end grain)
- Fulfilled at Pentecost with the giving of the Spirit
- Festival of Tabernacles (Booths) - wine is ready for consumption (enjoy grain)
- Not yet fulfilled - eschatological feast - time of final "in-gathering"
- Each happen once a year and last a week!
- They also rest for the New Moon (once a month) and Sabbath (once a week)
- "The river" in the Old Testament, refers to the Euphrates (southern river)
Archaeology
- Tell/tel - Hebrew: "ruin", Arabic: "mound"
- Stratigraphic - layers in the ground
- Layer method (studying layer by layer - time and money) vs. Trench method (dig a trench and take a sample of each layer - better method)
- Archaeology can corroborate general historicity and reliability of Biblical record
- It cannot prove theology of the Bible
- It can illustrate Biblical context
- Whenever the ancients finished something, they celebrated with a party
- Even in heaven, we will be approximating - we will never have all of God's knowledge.
