Old Testament Timeline

7. October 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Hello: 

Okay, let’s return to our study from the book of Matthew.   We ended on last week with taking a test on the disciples.    Today, we want to talk about the mission that Jesus gave the disciples. 

Here is our text. 

Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.  

As you can see the disciples were instructed not to go among the Samaritans. Today, I want to give you some history about the Samaritans.  All throughout the New Testament, you will notice that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.  This history will be instrumental in understanding passages that we will be encountering as we continue our journey throughout the book of Matthew.  

The controversy actually begins in the Old Testament.     When I teach classes on the Old Testament, I always give a chronological time line which in 10 steps gives you the history of the Old Testament.  I will list it for you and it will help us with the study of the Samaritan issue.  

Period                                 Key Figures/Places

1.     Creation                                Adam, Eve

2.     Flood                                     Noah, Ark 

3.     Patriarchal                            Abraham, Isaac, Jacob 

4.     Wilderness Wandering      Moses, Aaron

5.     Judges/Conquest               13 Judges, Joshua 

6.     Monarchy                             Saul, David, Solomon 

7.     Divided Kingdom                Israel, Judah 

8.     One Kingdom                      Judah

9.     Exile                                      Babylon 10.  Restoration                        Cyrus, Nehemiah  

In summary, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth along with the first man and woman then God destroys the earth through a flood and uses Noah to build an ark so that the nation would be repopulated through Noah and his sons and their wives.  God puts his promise in place through Abraham and is continued through Isaac and Jacob.  They are known as the Patriarchs.    The people of God end up in Egypt through Joseph when a severe famine hit Israel and the only place to find food was in Egypt.  Joseph moves his family there and generations later there arises a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph.   The new Pharaohs enslave the Hebrews because of their growth and were paranoid that the Hebrews might gather together and come against the empire.  

God raises up Moses to lead the people out of bondage and their exodus leads them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.  After 40 years Moses dies and Joshua is raised up to lead the people into the promise land.  Once the people get to the promise land, they are governed by judges.  The people of Israel would sin and God would punish them by using an outside enemy in the land and the people would cry out to God for help and God would raise up a judge to deliver them out of the hand of the enemy.   This situation of sin, repentance, restoration went on through 13 judges.   

The Hebrews begin to cry out that they wanted to be ruled by kings as the other nations around them.  This takes us into the monarchy where Israel is ruled by first Saul, then David and finally Solomon.  After Solomon dies, the kingdom is turned over to his son Rehoboam.    His son angers the people and causes the people to rebel and there is a split in the kingdom.   Two tribes stay under Rehoboam and the other 10 tribes are ruled by a man named Jeroboam. 

The kingdom is now divided and the two nations Israel and Judah emerge. Samaria becomes the capital city of Israel and Jerusalem becomes the capital city of Judah.   The Israelites began to worship other Gods and God warns them through the prophets yet they refuse to obey.  God allows the Assyrians to come in and conquer the Israelites and they take people from the capital city of Samaria and they relocate them to other lands and create a mixed population in the city of Samaria which now leaves only one kingdom standing (Judah). 

Later Judah does the same thing as her sister country Israel and the Babylonians come in and take over Judah forcing them into Babylonia exile for 70 years.  At the close of the 70 years, God raises up a Persian ruler by the name of Cyrus and allows the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their land resulting in the restoration period.  

The restoration period is the last period before we enter into the New Testament. This is the brief history of the Old Testament through the chronological line that I gave you above.    Memorizing it is a phenomenal way to learn the Old Testament history.   Should you decide to use it as a part of your study pattern, you will find that reading each book in the Old Testament will give you the complete details of those periods and will help you retain the information.    Okay, I did all of this in order that you will be able to understand the conflict with the Samaritans.  Tomorrow, we will get to that issue.  God Bless!!!!!!! 

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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