God’s Covenant Plan, Lesson 5.1

God’s Covenant Plan

Lesson Five: To Kingdom Come

Lesson Objectives

  1. 1. To finish reading the Old Testament (from Joshua to Malachi) and to read with understanding.
  2. To understand the broad outlines of the history of Israel in light of God’s covenant with Abraham.
  3. To appreciate the crucial importance of God’s everlasting covenant with David.

I. Review and Overview

Get ready: This is a long lesson. We’re going to move from the Book of Joshua through to the Book of Malachi.

Don’t try to tackle all the material in one sitting. But know that when you’ve completed this lesson, you’ll have reached the end of the Old Testament. You will have read each Old Testament book in its historical context and according to the religious meaning given to that book by the Catholic Church.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to see - in a broad outline - the entire sweep of salvation history as it’s recorded in the Old Testament. After this lesson, you’ll be ready for a far deeper understanding of the New Testament - which we will read in our next and final lesson.

Before we resume the story of Israel’s journey to the Promised Land, a brief reminder of what we’re hoping to accomplish in this Beginner’s course:

We want to give you an outline - a roadmap - to help you find your way through the Bible. We aren’t able to go verse-by-verse through every book. But if you study and re-study these lessons you’ll have a good grasp of the key themes and issues that run through each book, and a good understanding of the "story" the Bible tells - from its first page to its last.

To get the most out of these studies, be sure you read along with your Bible open and take the time to either click-on or look up all the citations we provide. We’ve selected and arranged these citations so you’ll see how the Bible is bound together by certain distinct themes and concerns, and so you’ll see how these connect one book in the Bible to the another. If you simply read all of the citations in each study you will have read a significant portion of the sacred Scripture.

Now let’s return to the story of our salvation.

Continue to Section 2

Lesson Outline

  1. Review and Overview
  2. Entering the Promised Land
    1. Joshua at Jericho
    2. Barbs and Thorns Remain
    3. Judging By Their Weakness
    4. Born in Bethlehem
  3. The Rights and Wrongs of Kings
    1. Hannah the Handmaid
    2. Making a Monarchy
  4. Israel’s Shepherd - Priest and King
    1. The Lord’s Anointed
    2. Capitalizing Jerusalem
    3. An Everlasting Covenant
    4. Abraham’s Covenant Remembered
  5. Entering the Kingdom
    1. The Shape of Things Under Solomon
    2. Psalms and Wisdom
  6. Two Nations Under God
    1. North-South Divide
    2. Raising Prophets
    3. Good Kings, Bad Kings
    4. Punished by Babylon
    5. Writing in Exile
  7. After the Exile
    1. Restoration and Rebuilding
    2. Persecution and Revolt
    3. Hasmonean Times
    4. The Consolation of Israel
  8. Study Questions

Other Lessons

  • Lesson One: How a Catholic Starts to Read the Bible
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To learn how to read the Bible the way the Catholic Church has always read it.
    2. To understand the concepts of “salvation history” and “covenant” and their importance for reading the Bible.
    3. To learn the key points of the creation story in the Bible’s first book, Genesis.

    Begin Lesson One

  • Lesson Two: Creation, Fall and Promise
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Genesis 1-3 with understanding.
    2. To learn God’s “original intent” in creating man and woman.
    3. To understand the sin of Adam and Eve and understand God’s promise of a New Adam and a New Eve.

    Begin Lesson Two

  • Lesson Three: East of Eden, Headed to Egypt
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Genesis 3-50 with understanding.
    2. To understand God’s covenants with Noah and with Abraham and to see how these covenants look forward to, and are fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
    3. To appreciate the key figures in the story of Abraham - Melchizedek, circumcision, the sacrifice of Isaac - as they are interpreted in the Church’s tradition.

    Begin Lesson Three

  • Lesson Four: On the Way to the Promised Land
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy with understanding.
    2. To understand God’s covenant with Israel at Sinai and to see how this covenant looks forward to and is fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
    3. To appreciate the key figures and events - Moses, the Passover, and the vocation of Israel as “a kingdom of priests” - as they are interpreted in the Church’s tradition.

    Begin Lesson Four

  • Lesson Six: Into the Kingdom of the Son
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read the New Testament with understanding.
    2. To understand how the New Testament depicts Jesus as the fulfillment of the covenants of the Old Testament.
    3. To appreciate, especially, the importance of God’s everlasting covenant with David for understanding the mission of Jesus and the Church as it is presented in the New Testament.

    Begin Lesson Six