St. Tikhon's Orthodox University for the Humanities

Priest Gennady Egorov

SCRIPTURE

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Course of lectures

Moscow

2011

The book contains a generalized presentation of the course of lectures on the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. The course is introductory and covers all sections of the Old Testament books.

The publication is supplied with an extensive anthology, designed to expand the horizons of students in the field of patristic and scientific commentaries on various books of the Holy Scriptures.

It is recommended as a textbook on biblical studies for students of higher educational institutions studying in the field of "Theology", as well as for students of the advanced training system.

(c) Egorov G.V., 2011

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Preface

This textbook is an edited course of lectures on the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, intended for students and listeners of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University of the Humanities, and is an introduction to the study of the Holy Scriptures. The main goal of the course is to prepare students for independent study of the Bible and, if possible, to instill a taste for this activity. In addition to a general overview of the content of the Old Testament books, the lectures consider the data of isagogy and exegesis, give examples of patristic interpretations, and also clarify the soteriological and messianic significance of sacred history.

The limited volume of the lecture course does not allow us to consider in detail the content of the biblical books and the events of Old Testament history. Since students studying this course already have a general understanding of Old Testament history, attention is paid to fundamental issues, the understanding of which is necessary to achieve this goal. At the same time, to facilitate the perception of the educational material, quite voluminous quotes from the Holy Scriptures are included in the text of the synopsis.

In the process of presenting the material at the lectures, the author tried, as far as possible, to draw the attention of the audience to the three inextricably linked semantic layers of the Scriptures. First of all, this is a theological sense – a revelation about God and His economy. Then there is the edifying meaning – the rules of relationships between people, the moral law. And, finally, mystical meaning, which affects the inner life of the soul.

As an epigraph for many modern textbooks on this subject, the words of the Savior have been chosen: "Search the Scriptures, for you think through them to have eternal life; but they bear witness of Me" (John 5:39). His listeners were experts in the Scriptures, which means that the main meaning of this phrase is that the Old Testament testifies to Christ. Within the framework of the course, an attempt was made to demonstrate to students the indissoluble unity of the Old and New Testaments, the Christocentricity of the entire Divine Scripture and, finally, its enduring significance and relevance.