With this lesson, you are beginning an intensified study of the greatest book ever to be delivered into human hands. The Bible is the book of books. It has done more to change the course of human events than any book ever printed.

Through thousands of years, the Bible has been the center of the moral standard of the civilized world. It has been a source book for much of our historical knowledge. It has been the spark which has prompted numerous scientific advances. It has improved the condition of very nation which has received it with the respect and honor it so richly deserves.

The Bible has been a star of hope to countless millions, a comfort to the dying, and a compass to the living. It is a book without equal, but most important of all, it is "the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter 1:23).

May the Lord richly bless you in this study of His Holy Word, and may the zeal which has prompted your present interest, lead you into paths of ever-increasing usefulness in the service of Him who died for us all.

The Bible is separated into two main divisions, the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament, which was originally written in the Hebrew language, includes all of the writings of the Bible from the Book of Genesis though that of Malachi.

Although the Bible is generally thought of as a single book, it is actually a composition of many books which are in themselves distinctly separate from each other, but which are written in such perfect harmony and unity that they may be considered as mere parts of the one great book, the Bible. In the Old Testament alone, there are thirty-nine separate writings or books. They cover the period from the time of the creation to the end of the book of Malachi which was written in about 425 B.C.

The first five books of the Old Testament are almost universally considered to have been written by Moses in about 1450 B.C. The remaining thirty-four books were written during the next one thousand years. Some of the authors were shepherds, some were kings, some captives in foreign lands, some were men of great education, others men of little formal training, yet all wrote in such harmony and unity that non one single contradiction has ever been found in their teachings.

Atheists through the centuries have scoffed; tyrants have threatened the Bible's utter destruction, yet they, like all of God's opponents, have passed into oblivion and the Bible shines brighter today than ever before.

The following is a brief outline of Old Testament history and is designed to acquaint the student with the relation and time order of its various important events and people.

1. After being cast out of the Garden of Eden because of their sin, Adam and Eve had two sons - Cain and Abel. Abel was the more righteous, and Cain, being jealous, killed his brother, thus becoming the first murderer (Genesis 4).

2. Because of his wickedness, Cain was driven out and Adam and Eve were given a third son, Seth, who was to be the forefather of such great characters as Noah, Abraham, David and Christ (Genesis 5).

3. When several centuries had passed the world became so wicked that God decided it must be destroyed. Only Noah and his family had remained faithful enough to God to be spared. While the ark was being prepared, Noah preached, but the world, being so sinful, refused to hear. Only eight souls were saved (Genesis 7; 1 Peter 3:20).

4. These eight were Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, their wives and Noah and his wife. The Jewish people were descendants of Shem.

5. The next great Bible character was Abraham, who lived in about 2,000 B.C. Two of his sons were Ishmael (who was the forefather of the mixed Arabs), and Isaac. We will be most concerned with Isaac since the nation of Israel came through him (Genesis 17:21). After Sarah, Abraham's wife, died he married Keturah and had other children (Genesis 25:1-2).

6. Lot was the nephew of Abraham. Though him sprang the Moabites and the Ammonites (Genesis19). These later became bitter enemies of Abraham's descendants.

7. Isaac also had two sons - Esau and Jacob. Esau's descendants were the Edomites. Jacob had twelve sons who went with their father into Egypt. Their descendants formed the Nation of Israel sometimes called "children of Israel" or "Israelites" after their father Jacob whose name was changed to "Israel" by God (Genesis 32:28). A very interesting story of one of these sons, Joseph, is found in Genesis 37-50.

8. After being in Egypt for several years, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and, after many years of hard bondage, were led out of the land of Egypt by Moses, in about 1450 B.C. (some scholars say 1280 B.C.) Because of King Pharaoh's stubbornness, God brought ten terrible plagues upon the Egyptians before the people were actually allowed to leave (Exodus 7-12). By a miracle of God, they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and thus escaped the Egyptian soldiers who were drowned when they tried to follow (Exodus 14). It is estimated that by this time, the Israelites numbered more than two million people.

9. Shortly after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites came to Mt. Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God (Exodus 20). During the period that followed they were allowed to wander in the wilderness for forty years because of their lack of trust in God. (See Numbers 14).

10. After the death of Moses, Joshua led the people across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land of Canaan, which they finally conquered and divided among the tribes (Joshua 1-22).

11. When Joshua died, God gave the people judges to lead them. During this period such famous leaders as Samson, Gideon and Samuel lived (Judges 3-21). After a few hundred years, the Israelites began to want to like the nations around them. They rejected their last judge, Samuel, and demanded a king to rule over them. God was highly displeased this, but allowed them to have their king as they wished. The first three kings of Israel were Saul, David and Solomon, David's son. Each reigned for 40 years during a period surrounding 1,000 B.C.

12. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided. Ten tribes under Jeroboam rebelled and formed the Northern Kingdom (still known as "Israel) while two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) under Solomon's son, Rehoboam, formed the Southern Kingdom, known simply as "Judah" (1 Kings 12). During the period following the division of the kingdom, sixteen prophets from Isaiah through Malachi lived and prophesied.

13. The Northern Kingdom lasted a little over 200 years after which it was taken captive by Assyria (734-721 B.C.) and never heard of as a nation again.

14. About 120 years later (606-586 B.C.), the two Southern tribes were taken captive by Nebuchadnessar, king of the powerful Babylonian Empire. During this period, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego lived. After 70 years, the Babylonians were conquered in 536 B.C. by the Medes and Persians and the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls and the temple under the direction of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah.

The remaining Old Testament history has to do mainly with the general activities of the returning Jews and leads toward, but does not include, the Birth of Christ.

For many centuries the Old Testament has stood as the lone historical record of numerous events, places and people of the ancient world. Many of these records were once publicly ridiculed by skeptics of the Bible as being unauthentic and incorrect. It was reasoned that since no mention of them had been found in any other historical writing that this proved once and for all that the Bible was incorrect. Recent archeological discoveries, however, have proven the Bible to be correct in great detail and those who opposed it to be false.

In Genesis 11:31, for instance, Abraham (Abram) is said to have lived in the city of Ur. The existence of this great city was often scorned until recent archeological diggings uncovered its ancient ruins. Temples, houses, and even the king and queen's tombs have been discovered.

The existence of the Hittite nation, mentioned in Genesis 15:20 was also once unknown outside the Bible. Ancient records of Egypt and Assyria have since been unearthed, however, which show that the Hittites actually did exist as a mighty nation which stood for nearly seven centuries. Again, the Bible has been proven correct and the skeptics who opposed it to be false.

The ancient Egyptian city of Pithom has been uncovered and storehouses fitting the description of those built by the Israelites have been found, the lower portion containing brick with straw and the upper portion containing brick without straw. (See Exodus 1:11; 5:7). The mummy of Meneptah II, widely believed to be the Pharaoh of the exodus, has been discovered. A hymn to him mentions Israel and the inscription tells of the death of his young son, possibly the one mentioned in the last plague (Exodus 12:29).

The account of the fall of the great city of Babylon recorded in the book of Daniel was also once strongly questioned because of the statement that Belshazzar was the city's last ruler (Daniel 5:30). Until 1853, no mention of Belshazzar was ever found in Babylonian records. Ancient inscriptions have since been unearthed, however, which show that Nabonidus, Babylon's last known king, had a "first-born, favorite son" 'called' Belshazzar" who reigned as co-regent with his father. One cuneiform inscription reads: "He freed his hand, he entrusted the kingship to him. Then he himself undertook a distant campaign..." This explains the Bible's statement that Daniel was the "third ruler in the kingdom" since Nabonidus and Belshazzar were the first two.

The location of the land of Goshen, Shishak's sculptured account of his campaign against King Rehoboam, Sennacharib's history of his invasion of Palestine, mentioning King Hezekiah, the city of Ninevah, Moabite battle records mentioning "Omri, King of Israel," and "Jehovah," an inscription "To the Unknown Gods" like the one described in Acts 17:23, and multitudes of other Bible facts have likewise been recently discovered. Surely he is blind indeed who sees not the hand of God on the pages of His sacred Word.

1. STUDY WITH AN OPEN MIND: Try to find what the Bible actually teaches instead of trying to make it prove what you already believe. Remember, the Gospel is God's power to save and not our opinions (Romans 1:16).

2. STUDY THE BIBLE SYSTEMATICALLY: This is the purpose of this course. A student in school could not learn chemistry, math or science if he skipped around haphazardly from one subject to another. The same principle holds true in Bible Study.

3. STUDY THE BIBLE DAILY: In Acts 17:11 the Bible says of the people of Berea, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." If these disciples were encouraged to check the teachings of the apostles, how careful we should be today.

4. REALIZE "TRUTH" EXISTS: We sometimes hear the statement that "you can prove anything by the Bible." Such a remark borders on complete blasphemy of God's Word. If this is true, then the Bible is full of contradictions and falsehoods teaching opposite doctrines on every page. Most people would become very angry if someone said that their character was such that "you could prove anything by them," yet make the same accusation against God's own Word. Remember that the truth never contradicts itself. If religious beliefs contradict one another, it is because at least one, and perhaps both of them are not in harmony with the truth.

5. STUDY WIDELY: If we could learn everything God wants us to know in one single verse there would be no purpose for the rest of the scriptures. In studying a certain scripture we should always consider the context (verses surrounding the verse under consideration) as well as to whom, when, and under what conditions the scripture was written.

6. APPLY ITS TEACHINGS PERSONALLY: One of the greatest Bible tragedies was the Rich Young Ruler of Matthew 19 who inquired of the Lord what he must do to inherit eternal life. Upon receiving an answer the Bible says that "he went away sorrowful..." Bible knowledge is wonderful, but is of little real value unless it is actively put to use. May the Lord richly bless you in this study of His Word.