A Journey Through the Old Testament

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The bible has been printed and sold more than any other book in history. Despite the difficulty that most people have in reading and understanding it. The Old Testament, is the first 39 books of this larger work called the Bible. The Old Testament section of the Bible, easily the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, is comprised of 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of history. If that isn't enough to take on, the Old Testament brings us multiple styles of authorship and formats. Books of law, history, proverbs, ethics, philosophy, treatises, dramas, letters, epics, biographies, and songs. Many books have been written and published to explain, and/or illuminate the Old Testament, but few more helpful to me than the subject of this paper, entitled “A Journey Through the Old Testament”, the work of Dr. Elmer L. Towns. The book's title gives a clue about the book's topic. But a better description of what the book is actually about is found in the book’s subtitle, “The Story of how God Developed His People in the Old Testament”. Dr. Towns’ book focuses on the people who influenced the events of the Old Testament, unlike most Biblical survey books that provide the outline, information about the author, and a commentary of the Old Testament content. It does more than just locate the people and events on a time line, it interprets the Old Testament chronologically through the influence of the people that made and helped form Bible history. Starting from the beginning of his book, Dr. Towns explains his purpose and reasoning behind his unique approach and style of writing for this work; “God’s people want to know about God’s people… they will love reading about Old Testament people like themselves.…The people who lived before Christ were not much different from us today. They have the same desires, family
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