Roots: Let the Old Testament Speak

by J. Alec Motyer, John R.W. Stott (Editor)

"The title, Old Testament, creates difficulties of its own. If it is "Old" and we are people of the "New", surely we may properly let it fade away into history? Besides, it seems very unlike the New Testament, even all those wars when Jesus is the Prince of peace; all those commandments to obey when we are not under law but under grace. And can the God of the Old Testament be a God of love like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?" These are the questions that Alec Motyer, a life long lover of the Old Testament, seeks to answer starting with the conviction that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament Scripture. This is for the Christian who wants to know what the Old Testament has to do with the New Testament and why the Christian should read it. A comprehensive survey of the Old Testament organised around its authors and major characters, the theme of this book is that the Holy Spirit chose, fashioned and equipped the biblical authors to convey distinctive truths through each of them.'

Genres: Old Testament, Theology, Nonfiction, Biblical Studies

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

J. 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.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

The conservative British writer once again provides the layman and the scholar a wonderful tool for understanding the Old Testament. The book provides valuable details on the authorship and other technical elements of the books as well as a powerful explanation of the theme and progression of each book. The only minor problem that comes through some of the discussions is the influence of his amillennial theology. Some passages are interpreted in a non-literal manner to accommodate his theology. On the other hand, Motyer gives sound application and defense against liberal approaches to Scripture as well as nice pictures, outlines, and maps to illustrate his points. If you enjoy this book, you may also want to purchase Motyer's extensive personal commentary on Isaiah (The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary) or his commentary on Isaiah in the Tyndale OT set (Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries)).

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a textbook. It does not examine the Old Testament on its own, but as the first part of the Christian Bible. The discussions of Old Testament dating, authorship, and interpretation are heavily influenced by conservative evangelical positions. The content is generally good, leaning toward a literary reading that emphasizes structure. Outlines are everywhere. The book is littered with full-color maps, charts, boxes, etc. to a distracting degree. Some odd choices were made regarding the placement of material. For example, there is a chapter on Jeremiah that covers Lamentations and Obadiah in two full-color boxes inserted into the flow of the chapter. This might make a good choice for a classroom text, since much of the information is reducible to bullet points, but not for much else.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is mis-titled. It is really the story of Motyer's faith as illustrated by very selective consideration of very narrow texts to glorify God. His puny index hampers any attempt at addressing problem areas of the Old Testament. For example, was David, 'the Lord's annointed', selected as Saul's young, juvenile harper, or was he a mighty man of war already? The Bible says both, our author floats over this.

A chapter title says it all for this tract: "History is his story". This book will confirm believers' faith. It is well written and plows the fields that have been plowed since Calvin's day.

[JD Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good, easy-to-read, short introduction to the Old Testament. It develops the themes and structure of the OT in the context of the whole Bible. By connecting summary statements about each book with the overall message of the Old Testament, readers are much less likely to get bogged down as they read the individual books. For this reason, I've found The Story of the Old Testament to be very helpful for new believers who have questions about the Old Testament.

[Andy]

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[Ian Rees · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbeatable summaries of OT books!