STUDY GUIDE #1 FOR OT Lit. Exam #1

                                                                   2/11/17

Know the Genesis Bible-robics
Know the memory verses: Gen 1:27; 2:24; 15:6; 50:20; Ps. 23:1-3

The exam is largely over the lectures.  –questions in Quizlet.com have been updated Spring 2017.

To prepare I’d go through your notes, learn the material so you have a context for the questions. 
                Multiple Choice Quizlets listed as links on the web site for Lectures 1-9 (as far as we get into 9
                on Tues. [2/14/17]).
               I’ve built three forms of www.Quizlet.com learning tools:
                                1) Flashcard Style,
                                2) Learn Style, and
                                3) Scatter Game Style –for those lectures as well. 
                I’d master the questions for one lecture and then move onto the next (star any questions that
                                give you trouble so when you review you just hit the ones you don’t know). 
                                Those are the questions that will be on the exam or a subset of those questions.  Enjoy. 

INTRODUCTION

1.             How do the teleological (Green giant argument), Pascal's wager and the Jesus argument that
                                God exists?  Why do you believe or not believe there is a God?

2.             What biblical support would you give for the doctrine of inspiration? Does the Bible itself actually claim to

                speak from God?

3.             What varied processes were used in the God-breathing of Scriptures?

4.             What are the 4 major steps of the movement of God's word to us? 

5.             What biblical support is there that the books of the Bible were immediately accepted as authoritative?

                What NT/OT evidence is given to support that the writers were accepted as writing authoritatively from

                God by others at that same time?

6.             What five criteria are used to establish or question a book’s claim to be canonical? What are the apocrypha

                and pseudepigrapha and what are the difficulty with each of these?  What are the 5 antilegomena books and
                why was each of them questioned?  In a positive sense what does the fact that some books were questioned
                demonstrate?

7.             What external evidence is there supporting the belief that the Bible is the word of God?

8.             What is the problem in 1 Sam 13:1?  Does this show the doctrine of inspiration is flawed?

9.             What kinds of errors did the scribes that copied Scripture make on occasion?  What are conflation,

                metathesis, in the scribal transmission of the OT text? 

10.           What principles are used for sorting out which manuscripts and textual readings are best?

11.           What types of differences are there in translation theory?  What are the two problems with the KJV? 

                                                                                GENESIS

1.             How does Genesis 1:1 deal with the original creation of matter in the title/independent clause view?

                Why was this view favored?

 2.            Understand the 10 tablet "toledoth" ("this is the account of") view of the structure of Genesis.  How does the tablet approach to Genesis work with the "toledoth" pattern?  How is this information relevant to the composition of the book of Genesis?  How does the sequence of genealogy and history work

                in the "toledoth" pattern in Genesis (tablet approach)?

3.             What are the Enuma Elish and Gilgamesh Epic?  How do you explain similarities with ancient creation stories?  Could Moses have borrowed from those documents?  What polemical function did the Genesis story have for Moses and Israel?  What is a Weltanschauung and how is that shaped in Genesis 1? 

4.             What are the 3 major ways of taking the term for "day" (yom) in Genesis 1?  What are the advantages, rationale and problems of each approach?

5.             What does the day-age theory help explain? If one holds literal 24 hour days what conclusion does that
 lead to?

6.             Did God ever use pre-existing materials to create?  Did God ever use processes in the creation?  What is creation ex nihilo?

7.             What was the 5-fold pattern of the MEANS of CREATION as presented in Gen 1?  (Announcement, command...)(know the order and wording of each).

8.             What is the parallel days scheme? Be able to reconstruct the seven days of Genesis by knowing the first and sixth day using the parallel days scheme.  How do the days match?  What is the relationship of days 1-3, 2-5, and 4-6 to forming and filling? From the parallel days-scheme, what was the order of creation?

10.          What type of attitude should we have to the "when" question as opposed to the “what God did” question of creation?  How should evangelicals that hold a different position on the "when" question be viewed?

11.          How would you respond to someone who adds up the genealogies to find out how old the earth is (4004 BC)?  How old does the Bible say the earth is?

12.          What is the doxological function of the creation account?  Was the original intent to fight evolutionary theory?  What was the original purpose of writing Gen 1 for Israel?

13.          What are 4 aspects of the image of God in man?  What support is offered for each approach?

14.          What are the possibilities for understanding the "us" in "let us make man in our image”?

15.          What are the moral, practical and eschatological implications of the image, etc.? 

16.          What is the replica aspect of the image of God in humans (on what basis is this supported)?  How were the ancient Near Eastern materials used to support the concepts of the image of God in man?  

17.          What are two ways of looking at the tree of life?  Could Adam and Eve eat of it before the fall? (yes/no, why?)  Where else does the tree of life crop up in the Bible?   

18.          After they ate of the fruit, how were Adam and Eve more like God?  Where exactly did Satan trick them?  How were they not like God?  Understand the chart good/evil//objective/subjective.  Why do you think God put this tree in the garden?  How significant is human choice?  How does choice relate to love?  

19.          What curses come as a result of the fall?  (Serpent, woman, man) 

20.          What does Gen 3:16 mean?  What is the woman's desire?  How does Gen. 3:16 relate to Gen. 4:7?  How is the woman's desire a curse? How should people respond to the curse? 

21.          What are some arguments for the inferiority of women in Gen 1-3 and how were they dealt with in class?  e.g.:

                                1) Eve was to be a "help mate" to Adam, therefore inferior

                                2) Adam named Eve thus showing his power over her

                                3) How does Galatians 3:28 and Eph. 5:21 play into the discussion of gender roles?

22.          What is the proto-evangelium?  How does the curse specify male/female role distinctions?  Is work a curse?

23.          What does Eve's name mean and what does that show in regard to her relationship with Adam?

                                Why was Adam’s name probably not literally “Adam”?  What does his name mean in common

                                English?

24.          Why was Cain's offering rejected?  What internal and familial realities moved Cain to kill his brother?

25.          What are the various options for understanding the "sons of God" marrying the "daughters of men"?  What view did Hildebrandt take this year and why?  What does it mean that "God was sorry" or "God repented"?  Are there tears in heaven (support)? Can God change His mind? What are the implications of this?

26.           After the flood who did Noah curse? How does this relate to racial distinctions?

27.          What was Abraham's title in relation to God? 

28.           Know the map of Mesopotamia from your atlases (Ur, Nuzu, Mari, Haran, Damascus, Ebla, Ugarit; Babylon, Nineveh, Tigris River, Euphrates River, Nile River, Goshen, Sinai).

29.          What two human solutions did Abraham consider in an effort to produce a son?

30.          In what modern contexts did we parallel Abraham's relationship with Hagar? How does Abraham's

                relationship with Hagar show the interactiveness of culture and one's faith?  How did God respond? 

31.          What three things was Abraham to receive through the covenant (i.e. the Abrahamic Covenant)? What
 is the significance of each?

32.          When Abraham cut the animal in two what was its meaning?  What other two "cuts" demonstrated Abraham's faith? What is circumcision and what is its relationship to the Abrahamic covenant?

33.          How do you understand Abraham's lying about his wife/sister? Was Abraham trying to protect her?

34.          When Abraham bartered with God about sparing Sodom, what implications did that have for one’s view

                of a fixed, static and deterministic view of predestination? 

35.           Was the main issue at Sodom hospitality?  What does the Sodom story tell us about God's view of
                 homosexual rape?  Are all sins alike?  How are they similar and how are they different?  What should be our
                response to those struggling with the gay lifestyle? What does the Bible say in other places about it?

36.          Why is there no mention of Abraham's emotional struggle in the binding of Isaac? What did Abraham learn about Christ & God in the Akedah?  What are 3 stages of faith?  How did Gen 22 relate to Abraham's being God's friend?

As many of these as we get to on Tues (2/14/17)

1.             Connect the themes of strife and deception to the names and the events of Jacob's life. 

2.             What do we know about Esau selling his birthright.

3.             How do you understand God's choosing Jacob over Esau before they were born?  Did Esau ever have a chance?  What are the significance of the names Jacob and Esau/Edom?

4.             What consequences followed Jacob's lie to his father Isaac, Esau, himself and Rebekah?