The Message of the Old Testament

Book excerpt: For far too many, the Old Testament remains almost a sealed book. And it isn't that it has been tried and found to be difficult, but rather that it has been thought difficult and simply not tried. Ellison's wide circle of readers will surely benefit from this primer for understanding the Old Testament as a whole. With his established reputation in Old Testament studies, he is uniquely qualified for what might seem a Hurculean task, particularly when it has to be accomplished in 96 pages! Yet a brief survey of the Contents page will show that he has succeeded. As he says in his Introductory chapter: The Old Testament is incomplete without the New, for in all its portions it is looking forward to its fulfillment, but the New is also incomplete without the Old. To use it alone is like taking the roofs and towers of a great cathedral in isolation and suggesting that the walls exist only that they may suppport the roof.