On the Bible and Business

The Fall semester is almost over. Next week Tuesday is the last day of class for my course before finals week. In the Fall, I teach Old Testament History and Theology for the certificate program. This week we studied the period between the Old Testament and the New. The question I try to answer for the students in this lesson is: How do we go from the return to Jerusalem from exile and the rebuilding of the temple at the end of the Old Testament to the Roman occupation as it is in the Gospels? The rebuilding of Jerusalem is basically done by 500 BC and Malachi is thought to have prophesied about 430 BC. This means that there are about 500 years of history between the Testaments. I find the history of this time to be rather depressing. It is a time of constant change for those who live in Judah and there is no word from God about what it means. Throughout the Old Testament, there are times of trouble. For the most part, these times of trouble are related to immoral kings...

In Old Testament class this week, we covered a survey of the first few of the Minor Prophets. Reading the Minor Prophets can be overwhelming. So much of the content is focused on the anger and wrath of God against the sins and persistent unrepentance of his people. It is just so sad, almost depressing. We know from the history of that time the people did not repent and the Assyrian army destroyed not only Israel but many of the nations around them. It makes me wonder how God's wrath is manifested today. It is hard for us to think about God being angry. We like to focus on the love of God in Jesus Christ. It is a great comfort to know that we do not need to fear God, to know that we are his beloved children. We don't like to think of God as being angry. We like to think of him as being gentle, kind, compassionate, loving, and merciful. How can a loving God also be an angry God who hurts people? The author of Hebrews talks about it in terms of discipline, but that does not s...