Lynne's Old Testament Study Notes

  5/30/2022 – Judges 2 - 4 Judges 2 After Joshua died, the Israelites continued their conquest of Canaan, as the Lord had now given the land back to Israel. But during the many years of their stay in Egypt, many others had come to Canaan, and now were firmly settled over much of the land of Canaan. These were people who worshiped idols and did not recognize Heavenly Father, and did not have the same laws of morality as the Lord had given to the Israelites. Because of their wickedness, the Lord commanded the Israelites to push them out of Canaan, and the Israelites did that while Joshua was their leader. When Joshua died, there were still some groups of those who worshiped false gods in parts of Canaan.  Joshua had divided Canaan and given each tribe a specific area of land. Then after Joshua’s death, some of the tribes of Israel did not carry through as the Lord and commanded as they failed to drive out ALL of those who worshiped false Gods.  The first verse of chapter 2 ...

 5/27/2022 – Joshua 23 & 24 Joshua 23 Joshua, as the current prophet for the Israelites, was their leader as they destroyed 31 Canaanite city-states. The inhabitants of Canaan at that time were ferocious and warlike. They were also idol worshipers, and their morality was very different from the morality found in the Lord’s scriptures.  And because of that, in this chapter Joshua brings all the Israelites together and speaks to them, leaving his advice and his warnings with his people. V 1 tells us that “the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about” and that “Joshua waxed old and stricken in age”. And that is why Joshua called them to all come together. He reminds them of the way the Lord has helped them to obtain this land that He had promised them, and to drive out those who had fallen far away from the Lord’s teachings.  Joshua tells them “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses,...

5/26/2022 – Joshua 7 & 8  Joshua 7 The Israelites seem to have astonishingly short memories and extremely poor commitment abilities. After being a part of the miraculous taking of the city of Jericho.  The Canaanites were ferocious and warlike. They resisted bitterly any attempt by others to settle on the land they regarded as their own. It is very evident the difference it makes, as in the battle of Jericho, when the Lord is with you, and you are with the Lord.  Because the next thing we learn is that Joshua sent men to view the town of Ai. V 1 tells us that after the battle of Jericho, men of the tribe of Judah “took of the accursed thing.”  V 2 tells us that Joshua sent men to scout out the town of Ai. The men came back saying they could take it easily. They also told Joshua that they need not cause everyone to come to battle, but that they could take that town with two or three thousand men. So they now have two problems here. First v 1 tells us that there we...

 5/25/2022 – Joshua 5 & 6 Joshua 5 The Lord’s miraculous help once more helped the Israelites in more ways than one: they were able to enter into their promised land, and when the people of Canaan “heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, … their hearts melted, neither was there spirit in them any more” (v 1).  But it is not all good news for the Israelites.  One of the study manuals spoke of their miraculous entry into Canaan: The response of the Canaanite and Amorite kings to their crossing of the Jordan “indicates that all of the land of Canaan was laid at the feel of Israel by the Lord. They had only to physically conquer those who were already defeated mentally, but they lost the advantage the Lord gave them when they begin to forsake their covenants with Him.” In v 2 we see that the Lord immediately worked to help them remember their covenants. During their 40 year journey, they had not ...

 5/24/2022 – Joshua 3 & 4 The Israelites are now at the border of Canaan, at the banks of the Jordon River. The officers come through the camp telling them, no, they are COMANDING them, that when they see the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant, they are to all follow at a distance, for they are going into Canaan! (v 3) One thing this is also telling them is that following the covenants they have made will take them where they want to be. But before they begin their journey, they are told in v 5 to “sanctify yourselves” before starting on that journey. Footnote 5a describes ‘sanctifying  yourselves’ as to “make yourselves clean, holy, by ritual washings and proper behavior.” In verse 7 the Lord tells Joshua that “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” And then the Lord goes on to prompt Joshua, their new leader, in what he should do to direct this huge contingent of people...

 5/23/2022 – Joshua 1 & 2 I love the study manual’s introduction to Joshua: “After Moses was translated, the Lord directed Joshua to lead Israel into the promised land. The Lord assured Joshua that He would be with him and commanded him to be strong and courageous, Keep the Law of Moses, divide the land among the people, and study and meditate on the word of God continually.” These are especially good instructions for all of us!  The Israelites are on the verge of reaching a long-awaited goal after 40 years of learning by trial and error in the desert. Every Israelite who was over 20 years old when they left Egypt is now dead except for Joshua and Caleb…and Moses has been translated. I found it quite interesting to learn that Joshua is of the tribe of Ephraim.  This chapter begins with the Lord speaking directly to Joshua, telling him to take everyone into “the land which I do give to…the children of Israel”. That is a huge undertaking, especially when the Canaanites ...

 5/21/2022 – Deuteronomy 34 The Israelites are now at the boarders of Canaan. V 7 tells us that Moses is now 120 years old and “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated”, and then we learn that Moses climbs to the top of the mountain Nebo where the Lord showed him all of the land that He had sworn to give unto Isaac and Jacob and their seed. (v 2) He told Moses: “I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.” (v 3) V 6 says that Moses was buried “by the hand of the Lord” in the land of Moab. But the Book of Mormon account in Alma (remember that Nephi had gotten the Brass Plates that were with Laban as it had the Old Testament scriptures in it, and evidently some verses were different from the Bible translation we use today.  Here Alma’s writing is from the Plates of Brass: “The scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself; and we suppose that he has also received Alma in the spirit, unto himself.” (Alma 45:18-19) This record of...

 5/20/2022 – Deuteronomy 30 In this chapter the Lord continues to teach the Israelites about covenants with the Lord.  Very simply, when they keep the covenants they’ve made with Him, blessings will come to them. And when they fail to keep the covenants they drift further away from the Lord, and will experience many more problems—one of which is that they will be scattered because of their failure to keep their promises to the Lord. At this point, the Lord has certainly gathered them together. He has worked to teach them during their 40 years in the desert. They are now entering Canaan, the land of their fathers. He then explains how the Lord will help them: He will “circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (v 6)  He is teaching them (and us) that He can help us all to become more tender in our thoughts and actions. In the following verses the Lord assures them that He ...

 5/19/2022 – Deuteronomy 29 In 29:2 Moses is talking to the Israelites, reminding them of their leaving Egypt and all the amazing blessings that the Lord “did before your eyes”. He then goes on to name them: “the signs and the great miracles” AND “the great temptations”.  The footnotes interpret ‘the great temptations’ they passed through as trials and tests, which were their opportunity to prove themselves. Moses reminds them of the fact that they are now in Canaan, and that they need to remember that this has happened because of the Lord’s help. He goes on to caution them to “keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, they ye may prosper in all that ye do.” (29:9). Moses is also preparing them to make and keep their covenants with the Lord. He reminds them of the good things they should keep in their lives, and he also speaks of the feelings they have in their hearts, their secret thoughts and how these can be a help or a hindrance to themselves. He assures them...

 5/18/2022 - Deuteronomy 18 In chapter 15 the Lord told the Israelites to strive to be holy, to care for the poor, and to remember His blessings. Doing this would bring them closer to the Lord, and their lives would be filled with good purposes and with the ability to grow in goodness. In chapter 18, He tells them of the problems they will have to face if they ignore His commandments, and if they do the opposite of the commandments He has given them. The Lord has called the tribe of Levi to be the priests in Israel, and He has explained the work the priests will do. He then tells the eleven other tribes that because the Levites are serving them, ministering to them, and helping them in their worship, that they will need to care for the Levites by providing their food. Next the Lord warns them to stay clear of the bad things that the Canaanites have been practicing: spiritualism, divination, enchanters, witchcraft, charmers, consulting with familiar spirits, and even forcing their c...

5/17/2022 – Deuteronomy 8 & 15 Deuteronomy 8 I was surprised as I started reading in Deuteronomy, and as I read the Lord’s instructions to the Israelites as they are now so close to Canaan, the land the Lord had promised them. They were directed to kill so many—and then I found this in one of my study manuals: “By the time Israel approached the promised land, these Canaanites had become an extremely wicked and idolatrous people. When Abraham was told that his seed would inherit the land of Canaan, the Lord also told him that Israel would first be taken into captivity in Egypt because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16). Now, several hundred years later, that fulness of iniquity had come. Certain acts are so evil and so destructive to the order of the society that the only just reparation is the death of the guilty parties (see Exodus 21:12–17). Nephi was told that Laban’s death was justified because his wickedness threatened the spiritual existence of an ...

 5/16/2022 – Deuteronomy 6 & 7 We shouldn’t skim through Deuteronomy…. Marion G Romney brought our attention to that fact. Elder Romney taught  “Jesus’s thorough knowledge of the scriptures is evidenced by the fact that He repeatedly cited them. When the devil tempted Him to turn the stones into bread, He countered by quoting from Deuteronomy: ‘. . . It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ (Matthew 4:4; see Deuteronomy 8:3.) When the tempter challenged Him to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, He responded by quoting from the same book: ‘It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’ (Matthew 4:7; see Deuteronomy 6:16.) For the third time He quoted from Deuteronomy (6:13) when Satan offered Him the kingdoms of the world, saying: ‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’ (Matthew 4:10.)”  Deuteronomy 6...

 5/13/2022 – Numbers 24 I came across an interesting item. It was about the very unusual event of having an animal speak to a person, as the ass spoke to Balaam: “The rebuke received by Balaam from an animal wrought upon by the Spirit of God is a singular event in history. Speculation on how the deed was accomplished is useless. It is certain that the beast spoke in a way understandable to Balaam. Other scriptures indicate that when animals are filled with the divine Spirit and celestialized, they will be able to express themselves in ways previously denied them. (see Revelation 4:6; D&C 77:2-4 And Balaam’s story continues….after their burnt offerings Balaam has a vision and he prophesies of the great density of Israel. The king Balak is angry: “I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou has altogether blessed them…” (v10) Then Balaam follows with more prophecy that tells of Israel’s growth and power, and of the eventual fall of Balak’s  Moab. The study manual h...

 5/12/2022 – Numbers 22 & 23 Numbers 22 The Israelites continue to travel. “They have now come close to the land of Moab. Balak, king of Moab, saw them and was quite fearful for his country. He knew that two mighty kings of the Amorites had been defeated by the number and power of the Israelites. The Moabites were filled with such alarm that Balak sought assistance, not from his own god, Baal, but from Israel’s own God whose power had been so marvelously manifested.” So Balak sent a message to a prophet, Balaam, saying “there is a people come out from Egypt; behold they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me.” Balak knew that, as a prophet, “whom thou blesses is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.” (v 6) Balak was prepared to offer Balaam great rewards. (v7) Balaam asked them to wait while he consulted with the Lord. His answer from the Lord was “thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed” (v12) Balak sent hi...

5/11/2022 – Numbers 20-21 Numbers 20 The Israelites moved on after what one would hope to be a well learned lesson. Their journey took them into “the desert of Zin”. It must have been a difficult time. Miriam died and was buried there. (v 1) And then there was the significant problem of no water at all. Instead of going to the Lord in prayer, the Israelites fell back on their previous behavior as they “gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and the people chode [contended] with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died…why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?” (v’s 2-3) They then went on to wish they were back in Egypt, forgetting the hardships of being slaves, and forgetting the miracles the Lord had used in helping them to leave, and also forgetting to live the in the ways He had instructed them to live. But Moses, who has always relied on the Lord, took Aaron an...

5/10/2022 – Numbers 13-14 Numbers 13 The student manual has an important paragraph in its covering of Numbers 13-36. It speaks of the great stories of the Old Testament, and then it reminds us: “But the Old Testament also records many tragedies. The tragedy was not so much in what happened, but in what was lost in what could have been…” It goes on to go over so many who started wonderfully along the right path, but then let their own selfishness, or the let their humility turn into puffed up pride, or they decided they were so good that they could do fine creating their own way instead of the way the Lord had directed them…. But I’m here today to learn from Numbers 13-14. So, in answer to Moses pleas for help, the Lord tells him to choose one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and those men are to be “every one a ruler among” their tribe. (v 2) One of the duties of these men occurred as they “sent to spy out the land of Canaan” to determine “whether it be good or bad” (v 19) as ...

 5/9/2022 – Numbers 11-12 Numbers 11 The first line of the first verse is: “And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord”. Their complaints were so loud and long that the Lord’s “anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” That got the Israelites even more worried, and riled up, and crying for Moses to do something. Moses’s answer was to go to the Lord in prayer again…and “the fire was quenched”.  But unfortunately, the Israelites were not satisfied for very long, as they started to cry and complain that even though they had manna every single day, they missed eating meat and fish, and melons, and cucumbers, leeks, onions, garlic…. That did it for Moses. He went back to the Lord asking why he had to deal with ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS! Moses told the Lord that he, Moses, was not their mother! And there was not any way that he could deal with all their multitude of picky complaints, and the...

 5/6/2022 -Leviticus 19 This chapter speaks of ethics. The Lord has certainly given the Israelites His law, but there is more to life than simply obeying the law. The Lord wants them to have more in order to BE more. V 2: “Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. As parents, we try to teach our children, not just how to obey the law of the land, but how to also work to learn how to be a friend, how to grow in compassion, how to think of others as much as we think of ourselves… The Lord starts this scripture by reminding them of the things He has tried to teach them thus far: honor your parents, keep the Sabbath (that’s honoring our Heavenly Parent), have nothing to do with idols that so many other groups worship (v’s 3-5). He then tells them to always help others: “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, nether shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard neither shat thou gat...

 5/5/2022 – Leviticus 1 & 16 Leviticus 1 This chapter tells the Israelites just how they must prepare for and give their sacrifices to the Lord. The things they are told to do in this preparation are given them to teach them of what Christ will accomplish on this earth. The Bible Dictionary says: “Sacrifices were thus instructive as well as worshipful. They were accompanied by prayer, devotion and dedication and represented an acknowledgment on the part of the individual or his duty toward God, and also a thankfulness to the Lord for his life and blessings upon the earth. Under the law of Moses, sacrifices were varied and complex, and a multitude of rules were given to govern the procedure, in keeping with the general character and purpose of the Mosaic law. Under the law, offerings made to God must be the offeror’s own property….Alter sacrifices were of three kinds: sin offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings.”  These offerings were teaching them about the purposes...

 5/4/2022 – Exodus 39-40 In the 1978 General Conference, President Kimball charged the Church with the responsibility to become perfect. He said that such a goal is possible, inasmuch as each of us has the power to become like our Heavenly Father. In this effort, he wanted us to turn our vision toward the temple.  Chapter 39 gives a list of all the items that were made to be used, or worn, in the temple. Every one of them was symbolic of something important to the Lord and reminders for us in our path of learning more about Heavenly Father’s plan, thus coming to a better understanding, and thus coming closer to Him due to the things we did and thought.  They made robes to wear in the temple. The robes were woven in one piece: more difficult to make, but it was to teach them “the idea of wholeness and spiritual integrity”.  They were told to make a fringe in the border of their robes, and when they looked at that fringe, they were to remember those commandments th...

 5/3/2022 – Exodus 37 & 38 Chapter 37 describes all the things Bezaleel, made for the temple: the ark, the mercy seat and the cherubims that stood next to the mercy seat covering it with their wings, the table, the vessels, and the candlestick, the incense altar….  this was the man that the Lord “hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” (chap 35 v30-31).   The Israelites were in a desert, and yet the Lord had made sure that they would have the able people, and the items necessary to build His tabernacle. It is His house in that long ago time, just as His temples are today. I loved reading 38:18 “And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen….”  I have always enjoyed hand work. I appreciated that there was beautiful hand work created and put “at the gate of the court”.  The Israelites worked hard and “made a...

 5/2/2022 – Exodus 35-36 Exodus 35 Once again, the Lord reminds the Israelites of the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy. He then goes on in v 5 offering them an opportunity to give service to the Lord as they are building the tabernacle, although he states that those who bring gifts to the Lord should do it only if they do so with a willing heart.  In v’s 5-19 the Lord gives them multiple examples of what they might offer. In our time, we also have been offered multiple ways we can give gifts to the Lord by helping those around us.  In v 10 He reminds us that “every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded” [of the items needed for the tabernacle]. V21 “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing…”  To me that is an alert to us to pay close attention to the promptings that come to us, and when we feel them, we should immediately follow them. The Lord was speaking to ALL. They...