Listen to the Old Testament, Which Still Speaks

I rarely link to book reviews, especially when I haven’t yet read the book being reviewed. But Josh Philpot’s review of 6 Ways the Old Testament Speaks Today by Alec Motyer sounded like something that might interest the readers of this blog.

The late Professor Motyer was a reputable scholar with a commitment to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible. This new book is a posthumous reprint of an earlier work, A Scenic Route Through the Old Testament.

Philpot states the need for Motyer’s book:

With the exception of a select number of psalms, a few passages in Isaiah, and a general outline of famous hero stories, our grasp of the Old Testament can be quite weak. Some have even said recently that the Old Testament is dying in certain churches. Why is this so?

According to Motyer, we’ve lost the “voice” of the Old Testament.

Philpot quotes Motyer:

Instead of Columbus “discovering America,” suppose the American Indians had journeyed east to tell us about themselves and about the marvelous land to the west where they lived. The Old Testament is like that: it is not the account of human voyage of discovery, searching for God, but of God coming to tell us about himself. (121)

And Philpot concludes:

We believers need a relationship with the Old Testament. We need to slay our tendency to read only the stories and psalms that are most familiar to us. We need to dwell in the Old Testament for an extended time, struggling to understand each book. We need to wrestle with God’s message like Jacob wrestled God, even if it means we come away with a limp. The pages of the Old Testament were never intended to be left untouched like dust on an old barn floor. The Old Testament was meant to ransacked. There are hidden treasures, after all (Prov. 2:4), and only by ransacking the Bible for all its worth does one understand the fear of the Lord, and “find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:5).

This indeed seems worth checking out. Here is Philpot’s inspiring review. And if you’d rather go directly to the source, here is Motyer’s book.

Check it out!

Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links. If you click them and buy stuff, you’ll help us continue listening to the voice of the Old Testament, at no extra cost to yourself.