Old Testament Articles

The book of Ecclesiastes is notoriously difficult to interpret. In this article I share my best attempt at understanding and explaining what this book is about. Many have argued that the main message of Ecclesiastes is that we shouldn’t look for meaning and purpose in this world or in this mortal life. While that might be a valid application of the truths found in Ecclesiastes, I don’t think that is its primary message. It seems to me that the main purpose of Ecclesiastes is to teach the following conditional: If life ends at death, then life, and the toil of this life, is vanity because it’s fleeting, futile, meaningless, and absurd.

By Adam Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D.

Different Christian groups and denominations have disagreed about this issue over the years.  Thus, just like with any theological disagreement, we should look into the various positions which have been put forth, make a decision as to which position seems most biblical, and then calmly and rationally explain why we hold our position while showing grace, humility, love, and respect with Christians who have taken other positions (Romans 14).

Keep in mind that the Old Testament law was given by God to the Israelites through Moses and includes over 600 commands that cover a wide range of issues including clothing, house styles, worship instructions, governmental society rules and respective punishments, food to eat and not eat, sexual practices, hygiene, etc. 

By Adam Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D.

1 Samuel 15:29 says that God “will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” What is strange, then, is that several times the Bible also says, “God changed His mind”! Some say this is a contradiction, and I could see their point if different Biblical authors were always saying these two things in two different books.

However, the writer of 1 Samuel says both of these things in the very same chapter. 1 Samuel 15:11 says God regretted (changed His mind about) making Saul king.

By Adam Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D.

24 Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.

25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

By Adam Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D.

Yes, I believe you could say that God tested Adam and Eve’s obedience in the Garden of Eden. The Bible never says it in those exact terms, or at least I’m not aware of any such description, but you certainly get that impression from reading the account in Genesis.

Ultimately, it was a test to see if they would trust God or not. Obedience flows out of a healthy trust in God. He told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they trusted God that He knew what was best for them, that He told the truth to them, and that He loved them, then they wouldn’t have disobeyed.

By Adam Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D.

Why is it that God and Satan talk as described in the book of Job? In the book of Job, God let Satan ruin Job. I know that it was a test of Job’s faith, but was God so heartless that it didn’t bother Him to kill off Job’s children for a test of faith? So what if Job had more kids that were more beautiful afterwards? That doesn’t replace the lives lost.

It seems strange to me also that God and Satan still talk. I don’t understand everything about the spiritual world. The book of Job is a good reminder for us that we can’t, nor do we need to, understand everything.