A paper from my Old Testament Survey course, looking at the overarching plan of redemption…
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, breathed life into Adam, placed him in a garden, and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). As simple as it sounds, I believe that this small statement announces the desire that will give meaning to the whole of human history that follows. Though marked by the folly of human rebellion, the painful weakness of fallen flesh, the agony of divine lovesickness and jealousy, the redemptive story of God tumbles through all barriers to fulfill the churning desire of the Father; it is the story of the search for a helper suitable for the greater Adam, Jesus (Romans 5:14).
The foundation of this epic saga is the history of the Jewish people, chronicled in what we as Gentile Christians call the “Old Testament.” Luke tells us that Jesus “explained to [the disciples on the road to Emmaus] all things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). The story of redemption did not just begin in a manger in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, but is built upon millennia of the faithfulness of the Lord suffering long with a people. I will look at four sections of the ancient texts as glimpses into the lover-God and the desires fueling His holy plan to reconcile to Himself all things (Colossians 1:20). First, in the Law (or Torah) God’s desire for intimacy with humanity leads Him to join Himself to a people. Second, the historical books show the Lord looking for a heart that is fully His in the midst of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Next, the wisdom literature displays the superior, prevailing beauty of the God of Israel. Finally, the prophets unveil the bleeding heart of a jealous Husband who pleads for and demands the affections of His beloved.
The Law begins with the book of Genesis, and Genesis begins with the beautiful creation story followed soon by man’s tragic fall. The generations after that fateful choice are marked by increased moral decay in the hearts and lives of men as the wages of sin play out in the earth. In the midst of the dreary landscape of humanity’s rebellion, though, there remain a few whose hearts are faithful to God: Seth, Enoch, Noah. Then, from His holy habitation the Lord sees a man named Abram and speaks to Him, commanding him to go to a land He will reveal and delivering a promise: “…in you all of the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).While until now there were faint glimmers of understanding, in the Lord’s reach towards Abram is a shocking and beautiful revelation that He will not relent in His pursuit of humanity. The man’s name is changed to Abraham, and through the miraculous birth of his son Isaac, the promise of blessing continues on to the next generation, narrowing to a specific land (Canaan) and a specific people (the descendants of Isaac). Isaac’s son, Jacob (later named Israel by God), is himself encountered by the Lord and receives the promise that God will make Him a great nation.
Four hundred years later the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons have indeed become a great nation, but they groan under the burden of slavery in Egypt. God encounters Moses and tells him His intentions in delivering the Israelites from their bondage: “Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God…” (Exodus 6:7). Partnering with His servant, Moses, the Lord God of Israel works miracles in Egypt, sets his people free from their Egyptian captivity and leads them into the wilderness on their way to the promise land of Canaan. On Mount Sinai He made a covenant with the people: “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples…and you shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Israel agreed and in the wilderness God betrothed Himself to a people, knitting His name and His glory forever to them. In the priesthood YHWH established the point of contact between God and man, mediated by the ever present sacrifices that speak of the blood to come that would do what the blood of bulls and goats could not.
Yet the people are soon unfaithful to their covenanted One and as such spend forty years in the wilderness before entering the promise land where they again fall into adultery with the gods of the nations. The historical books tells of how hundreds of years pass with men stumbling and doing what seemed right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25) until the people cry out for a king. The Lord answers them first with Saul, a ruler who seems qualified according to the estimation of man but turns wicked under the pressure of leadership. But God had seen a shepherd boy in Bethlehem, David, who had a heart after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). The Lord’s favor rests upon David and he becomes king of Israel and ushers the nation into its days of glory. In spite of all His earthly successes, David is honored in the courts of heaven because of his heart; he is one whose heart belongs to God. Because of this, the Lord promises to establish the throne of David forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16).
David’s son Solomon carries the Kingdom of Israel to its zenith, but as he reaches the end of his life Solomon’s heart moves away from God and starts a downward spiral in Israel’s history. The nation is divided in two: the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah to the south. As kings rise and fall in both kingdoms, each man’s worth is measured by a simple criterion: did he do right or evil in the sight of the Lord? Sadly, the overwhelming testimony is the latter; of the forty kings that came to power in both kingdoms, only eight, all from Judah, were considered good kings by God. Though history clearly showed them that “the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9), few kings turned from their wicked ways to put their trust in God.
Now that we have followed the history of Jewish people, we can explore the two other genres which speak to the very concrete realities above. The wisdom literature offers a testimony to Israel across generations of the superior, prevailing beauty of Yaweh. In the story of Job, readers learn that though suffering may come even to the righteous, God is still sovereign over all the earth and that His wisdom is far superior to that of man. The Psalms extol the excellence of the Lord in all His acts and character. The Song of Solomon carries through the theme of a God who is a lover committed to his people in the story of Solomon and his Shulamite bride.
Finally, the prophets continue to express the heart of God as a husband for His people, Israel. At first glance, the God of the prophets may seem harsh and angry, but when you place the word of the Lord in the context of millennia of history of a God covenanted to a people who are repeatedly unfaithful and turn their own way, it begins to make more sense. Add to this understanding the revelation of the emotions of God as a jealous lover who desires the whole affections of His beloved and the writings of the prophets become a tragic love song to the nation of Israel.
This truth cannot be illustrated more clearly than in the book of Hosea. God commands the prophet to marry a harlot and continue to love her, care for her, and buy her back even as she gives herself time and time again to adultery. Hosea’s life then becomes a living and breathing testimony to the people of Israel that their unfaithfulness with the things of this world pierces the heart of God, but that He will never give them up. This motif is echoed in the prophets Isaiah (1:21, 54), Jeremiah (2:2, 3:20), Ezekiel (16) and others. Even those prophets where it is not implicitly mentioned, we must read the anger of God against Israel and the nations as the jealousy of a husband, and His judgments as alarms meant to wake up the people and turn them back to Him.
Throughout the Old Testament, the redemptive plan of God is clear for those with eyes to see. His faithfulness to Israel from generation to generation provides the backdrop before which Jesus appears as the hero of the story who will in the end have a bride made ready, a helper suitable for him.
