When the musical Hamilton took Broadway by storm, my daughter fell in love with it. Consequently, our household was filled with the soundtrack of the performance.
There are definitely many great songs in that musical. I’ve watched the video of it. And I’ve been to one live performance. King George remains one of my favorite characters.
But one song really sticks out to me. History has its eyes on you.
The meaning of the song is that Alexander Hamilton was a pivotal figure of history. He shaped history. Significant events revolved around him.
He was not an ordinary man. He was a great man. A special man.
Just like what we find in the Old Testament.
This summer, I’m digging into the Old Testament. It’s a part of the Bible that I don’t think a lot of Christians study. Of course when it comes to biblical literacy, that’s quite a shame.
The Old Testament is full of great wisdom and learning. If you know how to get it out.
For a believer with a history of only studying the New Testament, the Old Testament offers some potential traps for the would-be student. Techniques that work well unpacking the Apostle Paul’s writings won’t serve well when looking through the stories of Gideon, Samson or King David.
The biggest one of these is probably what I call “special person syndrome.” This requires special techniques to properly hand.e.
Throughout the Old Testament we see events through the eyes and actions of special people. Samson the Judge, King David, Jonah the prophet. These are special individuals who play a very specific role in the development of God’s plan.
Special People see and do things to drive the sovereign plan of God. History turns around them. God’s plan plays out explicitly through them.
We find “special people” all throughout the Old Testament. In many ways, it’s comprised of the stories of special people.
But special people are not representative people. And when we look to apply the Old Testament to our lives, the special people pose a special problem.
I think lots of people figure this out on their own. They instinctively know that the lives of Moses and Solomon and Isaiah are somehow different than their own.
That’s wise.
But if you want to study the Old Testament, you need to solve for the Special Person Syndrome – or you’ll draw incorrect conclusions.
This is one of the topics I address in my latest book “Study the Bible – Old Testament”. In chapter 8, “Old Testament Application Patterns” I specifically look at the Special Person Syndrome and show how to handle it.
The Old Testament contains too much of God’s word for us to simply set it aside as ‘too complicated to understand.’ The book of Hebrews says that the stores of the Old Testament were given to us for our edification.
I encourage you to lean in on the Old Testament. It’s not something you can just guess about. You need to have the right skills to handle them properly. Hint: it’s not really that hard.
But I recommend that you get some instruction in how to do that. I’m sure there are lots of books and courses that could do that for you. But I suggest you take action.
My book Study the Bible – Old Testament is a great resource to do this. And if you play your cards right, you can get the book AND the guided study of Ruth – so you can put it all into practice and get support as you do so.
https://www.dennis-stevenson.com/product/study-the-bible-old-testament-bundle-paperback/
It’s also available on Amazon – but only on my website can you get the workbook with spiral binding – which I think is a total bonus when trying to write in it.
Thanks for reading to the end!
Until next time,
Dennis
