Walking and Talking with God, by
Dr. John Smith, (c) 2016.
70 pages. Published by Pro Ecclesia
Publishers. Available from ILBP, $7.00.
This book is a collection of four
lectures delivered by Dr. John Smith, professor of Old Testament at
CRTS, during a recent six-month sabbatical sojourn in Western
Australia. The Free Reformed Churches of Australia support CRTS, and
it is a blessing to them and to us for the professors of CRTS to
visit them from time to time.
As Dr. Smith wrote in the preface, the
topics dealt with in the four speeches are quite diverse, but they
are held together by a common thread that runs through them, that of
walking and talking with God.
Chapter 1 is entitled “Excavating
Exodus.” Excavating means digging, and this lecture is divided into
three parts: 1. digging into the book, 2. digging into the ground,
and 3. digging into the past.
In the first part, digging into the
book, Dr. Smith gives an overview of the whole Book of Exodus. It is
not meant as an explanation of all the chapters and verses; rather,
two big questions are asked: how is the book set up, and what is the
Bible's perspective on Egypt? As for how the book is set up, Dr.
Smith provides a helpful twelve-point outline of the book. Keeping
this outline in mind will aid someone, or a study society, make the
way through Exodus. The second big question, about the perspective on
Egypt, also provides one with a helpful way to understand Exodus:
Egypt is a place of bondage, of refuge, and of wisdom.
In the second part, digging into the
ground, Dr. Smith gives another overview, of what is called
“Egyptology,” the study of the archaeology of Ancient Egypt. This
is a huge field of study and it is difficult to condense it into a
few pages but Dr. Smith gives a great bird's eye view. For further
study, several websites are referenced.
In the third part, digging into the
past, Dr. Smith explains that what we have come to know about the
history of ancient Egypt is not all that helpful in understanding the
book better. This fact may, at first, be somewhat disappointing.
Archaeology has not found any evidence of the ten plagues, the
exodus, or the drowning of an army in the Red Sea. Also, we cannot
know for sure who the Pharaoh at the time of Joseph was nor of the
time of the exodus. Despite the fact there are not many points of
contact between the findings of archaeology and the history recorded
in the Bible we can appreciate the increase in background knowledge
this science gives. We do well always to remember what Dr. Smith says
on p. 18, “... we do not put our trust in our reconstruction
of the past, our history books, but only in the text of Scripture,
because that's what the Spirit inspired, and that's what the Spirit
uses. Our reconstructions are always fallible, but God's Word is
infallible....”
The second lecture
is “Studying the Psalms as a Book.” The Book of Psalms is one of
the better known books of the Bible since we sing the Psalms in
church, home, and school, and often choose a Psalm for the scripture
reading at all sorts of occasions. But how do you study it as a book?
It lacks the historical flow of many books where a story line is
followed from chapter to chapter. As well there are many human
authors, some of whom are anonymous. When you decide to study the
Psalms as a book, you face a number of questions: “why is the Book
of Psalms arranged the way it is, why are they found in the order
that we have them in, what holds them all together, what makes is a
book?”
In seeking to
answer these questions Dr. Smith introduces the Book of Psalms as 1.
a Bible book, 2. a Law book, 3. a History book, 4. a Poetry Book, and
5. a Prayer book. As he takes us through these five section of his
speech, we learn that Dr. Smith has a deep, broad, and detailed
understanding of the Psalms. He begins by saying that he really loves
the Book of Psalms, and that is obvious from the lecture.
The
third lecture is entitled, somewhat provocatively, “Can we Call God
our Friend?” Does scripture ever refer to God as the friend of his
people? What about the song, “What a friend we have in Jesus”?
Abraham is called the friend of God, but God does not introduce
himself as the friend of Abraham. Jesus called his disciples his
friends but the Bible does not say that Jesus called himself their
friend. Right? Is Psalm 25:7 of our Book of Praise
correct when it has us sing that God has shown us his friendship?
I remember
overhearing – maybe even participating in – discussions about
whether we may call God our friend. What does the Bible actually
teach about this question? To learn what Dr. Smith's answer is on
this you will need to buy the book.
The fourth lecture
is “Vows in the Old Testament, and what we Can Learn from Them.”
This, too, is a very interesting chapter. As Dr. Smith delves into
this topic he addresses the questions: What is a vow? How were vows
made? How were vows paid? Are the laws related to vows still
applicable to us?
This is a gem of a
book. Each lecture concludes with some recommended literature,
several discussion questions, and a few suggestions for devotional
reading and singing. I would encourage all to buy it and use it as a
guide into different aspects of the study of especially the Old
Testament. From a publication such as this we experience that our
professors are not men ensconced in an ivory tower but are busy
studying the Word of God and learning how believers can apply it to
their lives—to walking and talking with God.
__________
(Published in Clarion, 2017 (No. 8)
