For the last year or so, I've been digging. After a lifetime of studying the New Testament, I'm finding out more about it by studying the Old. It began when I heard a Rob Bell video, and it's accelerated ever since. I'm even thinking about going back and studying Hebrew.
Putting the New Testament in context. That's basically why it is fascinating me.
So much of Jesus' sayings and doin's, as Clarence Jordan would have put it, rest in the culture of the time in which He lived. Subjects like divorce and Torah were talked about in rabbinical schools and marketplaces like immigration and Iraq are today at the coffee house. We come into the gospels, see Jesus teaching apart from that context, and we only hear one side of the conversation. The Truth side to be sure, but why did He say that? What was going on in society? Learning about the OT really opens it up.
Some of the places that I regularly go for help in this on the internet are:
Follow the Rabbi
Ray VaderLaan's site opens the Bible with great OT insight.
Jesus Through Jewish Eyes
iTanakh
Ancient Hebrew Research Center
There's more, but that will give you a start.
David
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