History Books

I have always been a history nerd. When I was in school US History was my favorite subject, and I still love to read biographies and even textbooks. I like to see how some events impact events that come later. For example, the Kennedy assassination affected the war in Vietnam, which affected Nixon and Watergate, which continues to affect the presidency today. We can also see how global events during the Cold War era set the stage for the ongoing War on Terror. Reading history books helps connect these dots for people like me who were not around when those events were current.

History books were much different in the Ancient Near East. Our English Bibles contain a grouping we call the historical books (they are the Former Prophets and the Writings in the Hebrew Bible), which are the books of Joshua-Esther. These books give us a good history of the conquest of Canaan, the days of the judges, the days of the kings, the divided kingdom, captivity, and the return from exile. The books follow the pattern of the history books of their time, which greatly differs from history books in the west.

Western history books are chronological and natural. They present events in the order they occurred, and they provide a natural explanation for everything in history (there are no miracles; God does not intervene). Conversely, ANE history books blame or credit the gods for everything, and their history is cyclical, not chronological. That is why we read things like, “In the third year of Josiah.” Everything was measured in terms of the cycle of seasons, sun/moon, or changing kings. If anything disrupted these cycles it was believed the gods must have been upset; if the rain didn’t fall, the crops didn’t come, or the cattle didn’t reproduce, the gods must have been punishing the people. The problem was, they didn’t know why the gods were angry or what they needed to do in response. The gods were fickle and could change on a whim.

The Old Testament, in contrast, presents Yahweh as being an unchanging God who only operates in accordance with His expressed word. He made covenants with Israel, and they dictate all of His actions. God is faithful, not fickle. Although the Mosaic Covenant does not apply to us, the new covenant cut in Jesus does. We do not have to wonder what God thinks or guess how to please Him. We do not need to hope He will keep His promises of forgiveness, adoption, or a home in heaven. We have a host of history books that demonstrate the unchanging nature of our faithful God, so we can rest assured that He will keep His promises to us.

“I am the Lord. I change not.”

Malachi 3:6