Old Testament Texts

The more things change, the more they remain the same. And so it was for Naomi and Ruth. Notwithstanding a change of address from Moab to Bethlehem, the same old problems and uncertainties continued to plague the lives of these two widows. Their plight was a desperate one. In a cruel irony, thoug...

In recent years a number of Seventh-day Adventists have begun to apply the time prophecies in Daniel 12:5-13 to the future. Rejecting the traditional Adventist understanding, which places the 3 1/2 times, the 1290 and 1335 days as prophetic times in the past, they claim these time periods are to...

The phrase “image of God” is found four times in the OT–Genesis 1:26, 27 and 9:6. In the Pentateuch the Hebrew term “image” occurs also in Genesis 5:3 and in Numbers 33:22. Whereas Seth is son of Adam according to his image (Gen 5:3), the text in Numbers talks about idolatrous images, in which we...

The interpretation of the 1,290 days and 1,335 days of Daniel 12: 11, 12 as 1,290 years and 1,335 years respectively can be found already among the Jewish expositors of the eighth century A.D. This interpretation, based on the year-day principle (see Num 14:34; Ezek 4:6, 7), continued to be advoc...

Genesis 2:4-3:24 contains terminology and concepts associated in the Old Testament with the theology of the sanctuary. This has led some to suggest that the Garden "was a type of archetypal sanctuary." Although Eden was not a sanctuary in the sense in which the Israelite tabernacle was, we find ...

During the last 25 years the scholarly world has been interested in the study of the rituals performed in connection with the Israelite tabernacle. Linguistic and theological studies have contributed to a better understanding of the book of Leviticus and the sacrificial system of the Old Testamen...

Establishing the specific date for the beginning of the prophecy of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 is of great importance for Adventists as well as for those who find there a messianic prophecy. Identifying that date has been a challenging task for biblical scholars and consequently differen...

Our century has witnessed the phenomenal rise of the state of Israel in the Middle East. A multitude of questions of great importance are raised by these extraordinary events. The claim of the land of Canaan by Jews after almost two millennia of existence in the diaspora seeks a hearing. Indeed, ...

General Observations The task of this study will be to survey the role of women in the OT outside the Pentateuch. Since the Pentateuch reflects the legal more explicitly than the social aspects of this subject, a study of the historical, prophetic, hymnic, and wisdom literature will allow for a w...

The opening chapters of Genesis (1-3) are of crucial importance for both the origins of our world and also the origin, beginnings, and determining relationships of man and woman. As such they set the stage for a biblical concept of man’s interrelationships, without which any understanding of the ...