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Working with the Old Testament can be a challenge for the biblical preacher. The sheer volume and variety of texts in the Old Testament make it difficult for a preacher who wants to honor the text, but still offer a relevant application for 21st century listeners. Bruce Waltke’s An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach is a welcome resource toward that end. Weighing in at more than 1,000 pages, the book might seem as daunting as its source material, but preachers should not be intimidated by the scope of the work. Rather, we ought to welcome the book as a comprehensive resource that can dramatically help to improve the quality of our preaching.
Leaving the critical reviews to the experts in biblical studies, I would like to comment on ways that this resource could help the average working preacher. First of all, I would suggest that such preachers read and study Part One of the book. This comprises about 170 pages of introduction to the theology of the Old Testament. I am convinced that most of us would do well to have a better handle on the nature of the text and our approach to it. What is the purpose of the Old Testament? How do we understand its central themes? How do matters of genre and history affect its presentation of the truth? And how do particular texts participate in the presentation of salvation history? Waltke offers wisdom on all these points.
The next sections offer Waltke’s discussion thematically and chronologically, beginning with creation, moving through the covenants, and toward restoration and reform. The book’s third part treats prophecy and wisdom as its own unique category. In every case, Waltke presents these themes as examples and evidences of God’s gift-giving nature.
Having gained a deeper sense of perspective on the Old Testament as a whole, the rest of the book can be used as a reference source. Preachers will be pleased to discover a thorough text-reference index at the back of the book, so that if, for example, one is preaching on the first Psalm, he or she can easily find the many places where that text is utilized. Such an approach allows the preacher to see how a particular text fits into the overall theology of the Old Testament.
Waltke’s conviction is that the Old Testament is one book, authored by God himself. This holistic approach is best appreciated “by batching major biblical themes and tracing their development as the faith community interacts with its ever-changing environment (p. 10).” It is this concern for the church that makes Waltke’s work so important. “The Bible is the fount of life,” he writes, “the source of identity, and the supreme arbiter of ethics. Therefore it makes sense that a book written about the theology of the Old Testament should be written for the church. After all, this people has more at stake in understanding the Bible’s message than anyone else – they are the ones committed to living out fully the implications of that message to the point of dying for its truth (p. 19).”
Bruce K. Waltke is professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida and professor emeritus of biblical studies at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.
On Biblical Theology “In my view the church is best served when biblical theologians work in conversation with orthodox systematic theology regarding the Bible (bibliology) as the foundation and boundary in matters of deciding the basis, goal, and methodology for biblical theology (p.31).”
On the Texts of the Old Testament “Instead of dated narratives bound to their historical peculiarities, we have texts that have been written and to a certain extent transformed to meet the needs of multiple generations. . . While clarity increased, all waited, anticipating the coming of the kingdom of God in its fullness (p. 85).”
On the Center of the Old Testament “The center of the Old Testament, the message that accommodates all its themes, is that Israel’s sublime God, whose attributes hold in tension his holiness and mercy, glorifies himself by establishing his universal rule over his volitional creatures on earth through Jesus Christ and his covenant people (p.144).”