Page 45 - Biblical Ethics Course

Study Section 7: Biblical Ethics of the Old Testament - continued

7.1 Connect

About one half of the Old Testament is historical…like reading a history book. It starts at the very
beginning of when God created all things and moves through the history of a specially called people
– Israel. In this history we can read about hundreds of people who did all kinds of things. Some
followed God and His precepts, and many did not. Through the history, we can see that everyone
had the opportunity to freely choose to obey God or not. Sometimes they did, and sometimes they
did not. Even some of the greatest men and women God used to accomplish His plans in history did
not always do the right thing. Sometimes, like we do, they messed up and disobeyed.

Remember, my college professor used the stories in the Bible to “prove” that lying is sometimes OK? He told us
the God blessed Rahab because she lied. But is that true? Later I learned that he was using trick logic on the
class. The logic was that if someone did something in the Bible then it must be the right thing to do. But is that
true? David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband. Was that the right thing to do? I
later learned a very important lesson: “Never build a theological doctrine on what someone did in the Bible.”
We build our doctrine on what God says, not on what somebody does. Let’s continue to build our doctrine of
ethics on what God says….

7.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain the ethics of the various books and authors to be studied in
this section.

2. The student should be able to explain how the New Testament expanded the ethics of God to the
church.

3. The student should be able to derive the general principles presented in the New Testament to formulate a
complete Biblical ethics philosophy.

7.3 The Ethics of Solomon.

The ethical side of the religious practice of Israel reaches another height of expression in the
writings of Solomon (970–930 BC). Next to the Pentateuch, the Bible’s lengthiest block of
moral teaching appears in the Book of Proverbs. These pointed statements of Hebrew
wisdom may be organized under categories of personal, economic, and social ethics, and
they cover in detail the principles laid down in the Decalogue.

Proverbs consists of many wise sayings, compiled into a book. These sayings offer practical advice for daily
life and vary widely in their content—ranging from work and money to speech, integrity, and discipline. But
the wisdom in Proverbs is not just about practical advice; Proverbs reminds us that true wisdom derives
from the fear of Yahweh and has its source in Him (Prov 1:7; 2:6; 9:10).

Personal religious life commences with God: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”
(Prov.1:7). The pious Israelite restrains pride (Prov.11:2; 16:18) and exhibits composure (Prov.14:30),
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