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6 Ways the Old Testament Speaks Today: An Interactive Guide
What does the Old Testament have to do with us today? To many of us, the Old Testament can seem distant, foreign, and confusing, with difficult language and events disconnected from our present-day lives. But with a little guidance, it is quickly evident that the Old Testament still speaks today. In this engaging book, late pastor-theologian Alec Motyer leads us to discover the everyday significance of six key themes that resonate throughout the Old history, religion, worship, prophecy, wisdom, and theology. Each chapter focuses on one theme, featuring a week’s worth of Scripture readings paired with accessible commentary on the biblical text. Clear, accessible, and warmly pastoral, this book will help you see what this collection of ancient texts from the past has to do with our day-to-day lives in the present.
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 1994
46 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
J. Alec Motyer
36 books44 followersJ. Alec Motyer (M.A., B.D., D.D.) was formerly principal of Trinity College in Bristol, England. He has extensive experience in parish ministry and is well known as a Bible expositor. He is author of The Prophecy of Isaiah, and he is Old Testament editor of IVP's commentary series, The Bible Speaks Today. He has written several volumes in that series.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 5, 2024
Great for giving big picture categories and mental hooks for understanding different genres and parts of the Old Testament. Would be best suited for an individual devotional reading or meeting one on one with someone.
July 7, 2018
This book did more to bring the Old Testament to life than anything else I’ve read. From the very first pages where he extends a warm invitation to “come with me for a country walk through the first and larger part of his Word," Motyer is totally disarming, making you feel as though you're just having an easy chat with a dear friend.
He continues that accessible style throughout. Here’s his description of King Rehoboam: “[He] was the sort of person we would today call a ‘loser’”. How great is that?
He also fills the pages with illustrations—a stone tossed in water, an equestrian and his horse, maps of the UK and Australia—that transform the complex into the simple.
But this is no watered-down patsy of a book. Motyer dives deep, and each time he does, he emerges with a pearl. For example: Motyer draws a line from the OT sacrificial system of animals to the Mercy Seat covering the Ark of the Covenant through to the atoning work of Christ. He weaves the thread with total clarity; the result is simply stunning.
I'll keep this one close. It's a treasure.
He continues that accessible style throughout. Here’s his description of King Rehoboam: “[He] was the sort of person we would today call a ‘loser’”. How great is that?
He also fills the pages with illustrations—a stone tossed in water, an equestrian and his horse, maps of the UK and Australia—that transform the complex into the simple.
But this is no watered-down patsy of a book. Motyer dives deep, and each time he does, he emerges with a pearl. For example: Motyer draws a line from the OT sacrificial system of animals to the Mercy Seat covering the Ark of the Covenant through to the atoning work of Christ. He weaves the thread with total clarity; the result is simply stunning.
I'll keep this one close. It's a treasure.
December 1, 2018
If you ask me, the best authors are those who can take a subject and write about it in such a way that the reader nods his head and says: "of course! That is exactly how I've always understood that subject, but I couldn't quite put it into words," or, "how is it that I missed that particular point all this time. It seems so obvious." This is the way I felt reading Alec Motyer's excellent book Six Ways the Old Testament Speaks Today.
In his introductory chapter, Mr. Motyer points out that the Old Testament was Jesus' Bible, and asks the question: "Should we not prize—and go all out to understand—what was so precious to our Savior?" The answer to that question for anyone who loves Jesus is, "absolutely!" So we immediately have all of the motivation we need to wrestle with the Old Testament in order to understand it.
The thing that sucked me in about Mr. Motyer—who passed away in 2016—is his faithfulness to the Scriptures. In his introductory chapter he writes:
"It is fair to say that the major tendency of outside evidence is to confirm what we read in the Bible. But we have a much surer foundation to rest on than this piece of evidence or that. Our great privilege is to look beyond specialist opinion to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he referred to stories in the Old Testament, it is plain that he accepted them as the wholly reliable Word of God, and we who follow him need have no hesitation in accepting as true whatever the Old Testament is found to affirm about events and their sequence."
Having sat through a New Testament Introduction class at the University of Southern California and had a professor whose main desire appeared to be to tear away any belief his students had that the New Testament was accurate and truthful, I greatly appreciate Mr. Motyer's emphasis.
Mr. Motyer points out what seems obvious after one reads it, the Old Testament doesn't approve everything it records. The writers of the Old Testament are often perfectly happy to present events the way they unfolded and allow the reader to figure out whether or not the event or action was right. We discover then, that since the Old Testament is about people, that they make a lot of mistakes, sin a lot, and fail a lot. Mr. Motyer writes:
"In other words, the history books of the Old Testament not only reveal God but also reveal people. Even the best of them were sinful—lustful, ambitious, cruel, mistaken. Like us, they failed, and their failures are faithfully recorded in this most honest of books. Indeed, isn’t it one of the greatest of the “mighty works of God” that he continues to bother with such people?"
In one of those “of course!” moments, Alec explains:
"One major lesson of all the history books, and one reason why so much of the Old Testament is occupied with history, is that we may see that behind all events and behind their whole sequence is a great and wonderful God engineering and controlling everything and working his purposes out in the flow of history."
Now why didn’t I think of putting it that way?
The most important point in the whole book for me was this: “In its apparently simple way, this beautiful description of how and where it all began contains a truth that is going to prove central to all the history writing in the Bible: obedience to God’s Word is the key to blessing and fullness of life; disobedience brings disaster and loss of blessedness.” (p.27)
Mr. Motyer writes that the Old Testament Speaks to us today in these ways:
The Voice of History
The Voice of Religion
The Voice of Worship
The Voice of Prophecy
The Voice of Wisdom
The Voice of God
For each of the chapters and subjects, Mr. Motyer gives the reader daily readings in the Old Testament to emphasize the point he is making and he comments on the readings, and the bits of knowledge and wisdom that he drops, seemingly in an off-handed way, are the best parts of the book. He manages to summarize a lot of truth in a sentence or two. Here is one example. In his discussion in the chapter on The Voice of Wisdom we get to read an excerpt from Ecclesiastes. Mr. Motyer comments:
"Here is one way to approach Ecclesiastes with its unpredictable mixture of negatives and positives, its viewpoint now of pessimistic bewilderment, now of positive faith. Think of it like this: becoming a Christian believer does indeed make “all things new” (see 2 Cor. 5:17), yet we are still in the same baffling set of events as before we knew Jesus, and life’s experiences confuse our logic. We still lack explanations. The world around us still does not add up."
And there you have the shortest, most concise and simple explanation of the book of Ecclesiastes that I have ever read.
In his introductory chapter, Mr. Motyer points out that the Old Testament was Jesus' Bible, and asks the question: "Should we not prize—and go all out to understand—what was so precious to our Savior?" The answer to that question for anyone who loves Jesus is, "absolutely!" So we immediately have all of the motivation we need to wrestle with the Old Testament in order to understand it.
The thing that sucked me in about Mr. Motyer—who passed away in 2016—is his faithfulness to the Scriptures. In his introductory chapter he writes:
"It is fair to say that the major tendency of outside evidence is to confirm what we read in the Bible. But we have a much surer foundation to rest on than this piece of evidence or that. Our great privilege is to look beyond specialist opinion to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he referred to stories in the Old Testament, it is plain that he accepted them as the wholly reliable Word of God, and we who follow him need have no hesitation in accepting as true whatever the Old Testament is found to affirm about events and their sequence."
Having sat through a New Testament Introduction class at the University of Southern California and had a professor whose main desire appeared to be to tear away any belief his students had that the New Testament was accurate and truthful, I greatly appreciate Mr. Motyer's emphasis.
Mr. Motyer points out what seems obvious after one reads it, the Old Testament doesn't approve everything it records. The writers of the Old Testament are often perfectly happy to present events the way they unfolded and allow the reader to figure out whether or not the event or action was right. We discover then, that since the Old Testament is about people, that they make a lot of mistakes, sin a lot, and fail a lot. Mr. Motyer writes:
"In other words, the history books of the Old Testament not only reveal God but also reveal people. Even the best of them were sinful—lustful, ambitious, cruel, mistaken. Like us, they failed, and their failures are faithfully recorded in this most honest of books. Indeed, isn’t it one of the greatest of the “mighty works of God” that he continues to bother with such people?"
In one of those “of course!” moments, Alec explains:
"One major lesson of all the history books, and one reason why so much of the Old Testament is occupied with history, is that we may see that behind all events and behind their whole sequence is a great and wonderful God engineering and controlling everything and working his purposes out in the flow of history."
Now why didn’t I think of putting it that way?
The most important point in the whole book for me was this: “In its apparently simple way, this beautiful description of how and where it all began contains a truth that is going to prove central to all the history writing in the Bible: obedience to God’s Word is the key to blessing and fullness of life; disobedience brings disaster and loss of blessedness.” (p.27)
Mr. Motyer writes that the Old Testament Speaks to us today in these ways:
The Voice of History
The Voice of Religion
The Voice of Worship
The Voice of Prophecy
The Voice of Wisdom
The Voice of God
For each of the chapters and subjects, Mr. Motyer gives the reader daily readings in the Old Testament to emphasize the point he is making and he comments on the readings, and the bits of knowledge and wisdom that he drops, seemingly in an off-handed way, are the best parts of the book. He manages to summarize a lot of truth in a sentence or two. Here is one example. In his discussion in the chapter on The Voice of Wisdom we get to read an excerpt from Ecclesiastes. Mr. Motyer comments:
"Here is one way to approach Ecclesiastes with its unpredictable mixture of negatives and positives, its viewpoint now of pessimistic bewilderment, now of positive faith. Think of it like this: becoming a Christian believer does indeed make “all things new” (see 2 Cor. 5:17), yet we are still in the same baffling set of events as before we knew Jesus, and life’s experiences confuse our logic. We still lack explanations. The world around us still does not add up."
And there you have the shortest, most concise and simple explanation of the book of Ecclesiastes that I have ever read.
October 19, 2018
Get To Know Motyer
If J. Alec Motyer is not on your list of authors to read, it’s probably about time to get to know him. Though he recently entered his heavenly abode (August 2016), Motyer’s voice is still very present through his numerous commentaries, devotional books, and other writings. For me, reading Motyer was like unearthing a gold mine of Old Testament theology. I haven’t yet seen Old Testament writings with more scholarship and personal warmth than Motyer. He takes a largely neglected and misunderstood section of scripture and reminds readers why the Old Testament is such flavorful and vital food for our souls.
How Do You Feel About The Old Testament?
Motyer opens this book with a much-needed question: “Do you find the Old Testament more than a little bit daunting?” This is a question many people will answer with, “yes, of course!”. This book is written to help those who not only feel it is daunting, but also carry a misguided view that keeps us from actually reading the Old Testament much. Notice that I said “us”. I, too, do not read much of the Old Testament and feel lost in a foreign world that I have been told doesn’t correlate with the New Testament Christian experience.
A Devotional Work
Motyer traces 6 Old Testament themes throughout this devotional book. Why do I consider it devotional? Frankly, because Motyer clearly states in the introduction that “the readings are more important than the introductions, so if you find any chapter best left for later, why not get on with the readings and then come back to it?” He desires communion with God in His inspired Word rather than merely reading his words and missing out on the treasures of the scriptures themselves. For each major theme, he offers 6 days of readings with some brief commentary to supplement the readings.
The 6 themes he shares will help readers enjoy the Old Testament in a more organized and accessible way than they may have tried before. Rather than aimlessly picking up in a random place or dreadfully trudging through the law with no concept of what’s going on, Motyer gives brief overviews of the themes of history, religion, worship, prophecy, wisdom, and God as they present themselves in the Old Testament. In the appendix, he also provides 24 weeks worth of short daily readings with more brief commentary to help readers explore the riches of the Old Testament for themselves.
A Swiss Army Knife
Swiss army knives are known for their numerous practical uses. Motyer has presented the Church with a swiss army knife on the Old Testament. This book could be used for personal devotion, discipleship, small group classes, or even a sermon series. The six themes are easily identifiable, and the readings are brief enough to illustrate the theme while not forcing the theme onto the biblical text. The commentary is brief enough to illuminate some truths in the passages while also giving readers the hunger to do more digging for themselves.
Get your copy of “6 Ways The Old Testament Speaks Today” here!
Note: I received a free copy of this book from Crossway. I was not required to write a positive review.
If J. Alec Motyer is not on your list of authors to read, it’s probably about time to get to know him. Though he recently entered his heavenly abode (August 2016), Motyer’s voice is still very present through his numerous commentaries, devotional books, and other writings. For me, reading Motyer was like unearthing a gold mine of Old Testament theology. I haven’t yet seen Old Testament writings with more scholarship and personal warmth than Motyer. He takes a largely neglected and misunderstood section of scripture and reminds readers why the Old Testament is such flavorful and vital food for our souls.
How Do You Feel About The Old Testament?
Motyer opens this book with a much-needed question: “Do you find the Old Testament more than a little bit daunting?” This is a question many people will answer with, “yes, of course!”. This book is written to help those who not only feel it is daunting, but also carry a misguided view that keeps us from actually reading the Old Testament much. Notice that I said “us”. I, too, do not read much of the Old Testament and feel lost in a foreign world that I have been told doesn’t correlate with the New Testament Christian experience.
A Devotional Work
Motyer traces 6 Old Testament themes throughout this devotional book. Why do I consider it devotional? Frankly, because Motyer clearly states in the introduction that “the readings are more important than the introductions, so if you find any chapter best left for later, why not get on with the readings and then come back to it?” He desires communion with God in His inspired Word rather than merely reading his words and missing out on the treasures of the scriptures themselves. For each major theme, he offers 6 days of readings with some brief commentary to supplement the readings.
The 6 themes he shares will help readers enjoy the Old Testament in a more organized and accessible way than they may have tried before. Rather than aimlessly picking up in a random place or dreadfully trudging through the law with no concept of what’s going on, Motyer gives brief overviews of the themes of history, religion, worship, prophecy, wisdom, and God as they present themselves in the Old Testament. In the appendix, he also provides 24 weeks worth of short daily readings with more brief commentary to help readers explore the riches of the Old Testament for themselves.
A Swiss Army Knife
Swiss army knives are known for their numerous practical uses. Motyer has presented the Church with a swiss army knife on the Old Testament. This book could be used for personal devotion, discipleship, small group classes, or even a sermon series. The six themes are easily identifiable, and the readings are brief enough to illustrate the theme while not forcing the theme onto the biblical text. The commentary is brief enough to illuminate some truths in the passages while also giving readers the hunger to do more digging for themselves.
Get your copy of “6 Ways The Old Testament Speaks Today” here!
Note: I received a free copy of this book from Crossway. I was not required to write a positive review.
January 23, 2020
Whenever I read Alec Motyer, I can always sense the delight and excitement he had about studying Scripture. This book is something of a grab-bag of his insights on the Old Testament, broken out into six topics or themes (History, Religion, Worship, Prophecy, Wisdom, God). It also includes selections of daily readings with short devotional reflections, and I think the best way to use the book would be as a companion tool for daily devotionals.
There are plenty of great quotes to chew on, but at the same time the organization was the book's biggest weakness, in my opinion. Again, I think "grab-bag" is the best term I can think of to describe the format of the book, and there were parts where the writing seemed a bit rambly to me. But still, for anyone looking for a helpful devotional on the Old Testament that has a lifetime of scholarship and pastoral passion behind it, this is worth picking up.
There are plenty of great quotes to chew on, but at the same time the organization was the book's biggest weakness, in my opinion. Again, I think "grab-bag" is the best term I can think of to describe the format of the book, and there were parts where the writing seemed a bit rambly to me. But still, for anyone looking for a helpful devotional on the Old Testament that has a lifetime of scholarship and pastoral passion behind it, this is worth picking up.
October 28, 2019
A kindly, intelligently, insightfully written overview (and a study guide) of main themes and genres in the Old Testament that encouraged me to study it with more attention, and love it (even :)) more.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
January 22, 2022
A great devotional
I have enjoyed reading this bok. It explains the Old Testament in words that are easily read and I understood. It's a wonderful way start your day.
I have enjoyed reading this bok. It explains the Old Testament in words that are easily read and I understood. It's a wonderful way start your day.
June 27, 2012
Insightful - a must read!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews