Old Testament Essentials: Creation, Conquest, Exile and Return

by Tremper Longman III

"Christians love the Bible, but they often do not know what to do with the Old Testament," writes Westmont College professor Tremper Longman. Further, he points out that it includes many types of writing—history, prophecy, poetry, wisdom and apocalyptic. In this helpful volume he offers different strategies for understanding each of these important types of writing.

Jesus made a point to tell his disciples that the whole Old Testament anticipated his coming (see especially Luke 24:25-27, 44-45). And so each session includes a special feature called "Anticipating the New Testament." Through this you will begin to discover the links between the two testaments and gain a fuller sense of our unfolding salvation history.

Following the format of the other volumes of the Essenitals series, originally designed by Greg Ogden, author of Discipleship Essentials, each session includes the following elements:


a memory verse
a Bible study
a reading
"Anticipating the New Testament"
a life application section


Designed to work well on your own, with a partner or triad, or in a small group, Old Testament Essentials offers a comprehensive overview that will enrich your knowledge and deepen your faith.

"Tremper Longman is for me—and countless others—a treasured 'go-to' resource to uncover the treasures of Old Testament wisdom. This survey will be of huge value to anyone who wants the big picture of the Great Story." —John Ortberg, senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and author of Who Is This Man?

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 10, 2013

About the author

Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Before coming to Westmont, he taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for eighteen years. He has authored or coauthored numerous books, including An Introduction to the Old Testament, How to Read Proverbs, and commentaries on Daniel, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Jeremiah and Lamentations, and Song of Songs.

Reviews

[Amanda Himes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read but an important one. I'm thankful for the small group of women from my church who read and discussed it each week: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The upside: this book helped me grow in my faith and nuanced my understanding of both God's work in ancient Israel and in the present day. The downside: often the second set of questions in each chapter wasn't as illuminating as the first. The vast majority of the content was excellent, however.

[Jon Anderson]

Solid but not extraordinary

[Shaun Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brilliant resource for a small group leader, elder or a pastoral staff member in charge of teaching! Longman III's book is tailored to the relatively more bible literate audience, as the lengthy but so very theologically rich commentaries (and the very many questions in each segment) would hint at. Sadly, because my target recipients are extremely bible illiterate (having eisegetical sermons as sunday main service fare for decades), I am unable to use the material without significant summary and omissions. Which of course is a great pity! But that is not the reason why I gave 4 out of 5 stars. As a final year seminary student, my hunch is that most lay people would find it difficult to find the answers to some of the questions without formal theological education (and therefore the knowledge of how to search bible encyclopedias or commentaries for help). I guess if the group is fine with not knowing the answer to some of the questions, or if they have access to a pastor who is willing to answer their queries, then the resource would be 5/5 stars. Would love for Longman III to release a companion teacher's resource with basic guidelines to explore and provide methods on how to respond to (especially the more difficult) questions.

As one of the best Old Testament scholars, Longman III brilliantly provides a framework to embark on an exciting and fulfilling journey of Old Testament basics, or as the title puts it, "essentials." It would be immensely helpful for any small group or leadership core to have their major OT themes grasped, for that is where Holy Scripture begins and builds upon. Of course, no good OT resource would be complete without reference to the typological pointing forward to Christ as the perfect and coming Priest, Judge (better understood today as Chieftain), King, Prophet etc.

I received this book from IVP in exchange for this review.

[Jamie Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty intense exploratory stuff. Goes deep. A good read.