Unit 1

Exodus 

1.  Why is Moses’ life in danger when he is born?  Who saves him?  Who saves the other Hebrew
     baby boys?  How?
2.  Why is Moses’ life in danger a second time?  Where does he go?
3.  By what name is Moses told to call God?  Where is he and what does he see when the divine
     name is revealed?
4.  What task is Moses given?
5.  According to Exodus, what story elements are repeated in the cycle of plagues?
6.  What “miraculous” event finally sets the Hebrews free?
7.  What is the difference between myth - as the term is used in religious studies - and history?
9.  What is the “most cherished” story of the ancient Israelite and early Jewish community?
10. What does it mean to say that the textbook will not speak of God but will examine ways in which others have spoken of their god or gods?
11. What kinds of sources are available to scholars seeking historical reconstruction?   What question must one ask of written sources?
12. What evidence is used to date the Exodus to approximately 1300-1200 BCE?
13. How is Crisis and Story structured?  Why?  

1. What is the setting for the giving of the 10 Commandments?
2. What is the content of the commandments?
3. Why, according to Numbers, did the Israelites spend 40 years in the wilderness?

The Origins of Ancient Israel

1.  What  picture of the occupation of Canaan by Israel is presented in Joshua 1-4 and 6-8 and 10-11?
2.  What indications are there in Joshua 9, 23, and Judges 1 that the occupation may have been more
     complex?
3.  What similarities do you see between the crossing of the Jordan and previous reading?
4.  When do historians place the earliest identity of an entity called Israel?
5.  What are the three theories of the conquest of Canaan?  Explain each briefly.
6.  What assumptions made by the first two theories are rejected by the third, most recently developed theory?
7.  How was the earliest Israelite nation organized?
8.  What were judges in early Israel?

Tribal Confederacy

1.  What are the essential elements of Israel’s story that are repeated in its creeds?
2.  What roles do women play in the defeat of Sisera, general for King Jabin of Hazor?
3.  Why does the LORD order Gideon to reduce the size of his army?
4.  What is the common thread that bound the tribes together during the period of the tribal confederacy?
5.  What is form criticism?
6.  What is the function of a creed?  What are the central elements of the early Israelite creeds?
7.  What are the components of the Hittite suzerainty treaties that can be found in the early Israelite creeds and covenant ceremonies as described in Deuteronomy 26 and Joshua 24?
8.  Why was the image of Yahweh as king important to early Israel?
9. What were some similarities between Israelites and Canaanites?  What distinguished Israelites from Canaanites?
10. How does WLH read (i.e. what genre does the textbook associate with these stories) the stories of the crossing of the Jordan and the Battle of Jericho?  Why?

Becoming Like the Nations

1.  What were the earliest attempts to establish a monarchy in Israel?
2.  Why do rape and murder lead to war in Judges 19-21?
3.  How is Samuel depicted as different or special?
4.  What happens when the Philistines capture the ark of the covenant?
5.  What is Samuel’s attitude toward having a king? why?
6.  How is Saul chosen to be king?
7.  What does Saul do to lose favor?
8.  Who were the Philistines and why are they important for understanding the development of monarchy in Israel?
9.  What internal pressures threatened the confederacy?
10. What pattern do the stories of the judges follow?
11. What theme is repeated in the latter chapters of Judges?
12. What weaknesses in the tribal confederacy are reflected in the story of the rape of the concubine and the ensuing events?
13. Who was Samuel?  Why is he important?
14. Who was Saul?  Why is he important?
15. Why were Samuel and Saul in conflict with each other?

1.  What did it mean for someone to be anointed?
2.  How does David become known to Saul?
3.  What is David’s relationship with members of Saul’s family?
4.  How does David seek to demonstrate that he is not a threat to Saul?
5. Why, after a series of initial successes in Saul’s court, did David become an outlaw?
6.  How did Saul die?  How did the Amalekite say Saul died? 
7.  What is David’s response to the deaths of Saul and Jonathan?
8.  Of what tribe(s) did David first become king?
9.  How did David make Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom?
10.  According to 1 Samuel 7, what promise did God make to David?

1. What god does Abraham honor in Genesis 14?
2. Why was Jerusalem important for David?
3. How are the Moses-Sinai and the David-Zion stories different? How does Yahweh’s promise to David differ from Yahweh’s covenant with Israel?
4. What new ideas were attached to Yahweh because of the god’s identification with El Elyon?
5. How did the claims about Jerusalem and El Elyon support the Davidic dynasty?
6. If Zion is the axis mundi of the Davidic traditions, what is the axis mundi for the Moses stories?
7. What are the three major pieces of the David-Zion traditions?

The Land

1. How would you describe the wilderness areas mentioned in the Hebrew Bible?
2. How are they different from the "Land Flowing with Milk and Honey"?
3. How are they different from your own experience of wilderness?
3. What are some of the different kinds of experiences associated with wilderness in the Hebrew Bible?
4. How are Hagar's, Joseph's and Job's encounters with wilderness similar?
5. What did you learn about the land of Canaan from this pathway?

Unit 2

The Yahwist: Primeval Narratives

1.  According to Genesis 2.5, what was lacking when Yahweh began to create?
2.  Of what was the first human formed?  For what purpose?
3.  Why was woman created?
4.  What limitation did Yahweh place on humans?
5.  How is the serpent identified?  What role does the serpent play?  
6.  What are the consequences of human disobedience?
7.  What kind of conflict is reflected in the story of Cain and Abel?
8.  According to Genesis, why does God send the great flood?
9.  Does the flood solve the problem?
10. What is the story of the tower of Babel about?
11. Where did the term Yahwist come from?  To what does it refer?
12. What is the Pentateuch or Torah?
13. Why have many careful readers of the Torah doubted that Moses wrote it all?
14. What characteristics of the Pentateuch led to the Documentary Hypothesis?  What conclusion does the hypothesis propose?
15. How does the Yahwist change the Moses-Sinai story?  How does it maintain the previous tradition?
16. Why is the Yahwist associated with Jerusalem and the Davidic monarchy?
17. What are the important themes of the prologue, or creation materials, in the Yahwist?  How are these themes related to non-Israelite literature?

The Yahwist:  Ancestral Narratives

1.  What does Yahweh promise to Abram (Abraham)?
2.  What are some of the ways fulfillment of the promise is threatened?
3,  What role does Sarai (Sarah) play in the story?
4.  Why does Abraham send his servant back to his old country?
5.  How does Jacob use deceit in order to become Isaac’s heir?
6.  How is the story of Jacob’s betrothal (engagement to be married) similar to that of Isaac?
7.  What common theme is associated with the wives of all three patriarchs?  What is the meaning behind this theme?  Where have you seen this theme before?
8.  What role does deceit play in Jacob’s life in Haran?
9.  What new name is Jacob given?  What is the situation?
10. Upon his return to Canaan, how is Jacob received by his brother Esau?
11. Who were Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and Esau?  Why is each important?
12. What connections can be made between the promise to Abraham and the promise to David?
13. What is the basic content of the Yahwist?
14. How does the nationalism of the Yahwist differ from the earlier Moses-Sinai tradition?

The Succession Narrative

1.  How is the story of David and Bathsheba introduced?  What is the significance of this introduction?
2.  What is the plot of the story?
3.  How is the character of David contrasted with that of Uriah?
4.  How does Nathan confront David with his crime?
5.  What are the consequences David suffers?
6.  What is the purpose of the Succession Narrative?
7.  What series of events eliminates Solomon’s three older brothers from succeeding their father as king?

1.  According to 1 Kings, how did Solomon acquire his wisdom?  How is this wisdom illustrated?
2.  How was Solomon’s household (court) supported?
3.  Where did Solomon obtain materials and skilled labor for his buildings?
4.  How large was the Temple?  Solomon’s palace?  What does the difference suggest?
5. What characteristics of Solomon and his reign are reflected in the story of the visit from the Queen of Sheba?
6. Who was Ahijah?  Why does he claim that Solomon’s kingdom will be divided?
7. Why can Solomon’s life and reign be described as a series of contradictions?
8. What features of his reign contributed to the break-up of the kingdom?
9. How would you describe the major changes that took place between the time of Saul and the time of Solomon?  

Wisdom and Solomon

1.  What similarity in form do most of the Proverbs share?
2.  List some of the issues, values, and life experiences dealt with by Proverbs?
3.  According to Proverbs, what are the characteristics of a wise person?  a fool?
4.  Which of the above characteristics are exemplified by Joseph?
5.  How does Joseph change in the course of the story?
6.  How does God communicate in the Story of Joseph?
7.  Why do Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery?
8.  Why is Joseph thrown in jail after serving effectively in Potiphar’s house?
9.  How does Joseph rise to power?
10. Why do Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt?
11. How do Joseph’s brothers (Judah, in particular) change during the story?
12. What is the significance of the story in the overall narrative of Israel? 
13. Why is wisdom associated with Solomon? The court?
14. What assumptions underlie Proverbs in particular and wisdom literature in general?
15. What is the connection between Proverbs and the wisdom of Amen-em-opet?
16. What view of God’s role in human life does the Joseph Story present?

The Division of the Kingdom and the Elohist

1.  Why did the northern tribes rebel against Rehoboam?
2.  Who was Jeroboam?
3.  How did Jeroboam seek to establish his independence from Jerusalem?
4.  What similarities can you see in Exodus 32 and 1 Kings 16?
5.  Summarize the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.  What is its primary message?
6.  How does Jacob obtain great wealth?
7.  What place has particular significance for Jacob?  What is the significance?
8.  Who was Rehoboam?  How did he contribute to the division of the kingdom?
9.  What did “Israel” mean after the division?
10. Why were David-Zion traditions rejected in the northern kingdom?
11. How does the Elohist differ from the Yahwist narrative?  Why?
12. What does Torah mean?

1.  What were the issues in Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal?
2.  What similarities do you find between the story of Elijah’s flight from Jezebel and the Moses-Sinai story?
3.  How does Ahab acquire Naboth’s vineyard?
5.  What is a prophet?
6.  Why were prophets often in conflict with kings?
7. Who was Jezebel?  How does her background shape her role in the Elijah stories?

Unit 3

1.  For what kinds of behavior does Amos condemn the Israelites?
2.  According to Amos, what can the people expect on the Day of Yahweh?
3.  Who was Amos?  What did he say that got him kicked out of the northern kingdom?  What was the basis of his message?
4.  What distinctive interpretation did he give to the events of his time?
5.  What human experiences does Hosea use to explain the relationship of Israel and Yahweh in chapters 1-3? Chapter 11.1-9?
13. How does Hosea apply “the language and motifs” of the Baal cult to Yahweh?  What attributes of Baal does he not identify with the Israelite god?
14. Why would many people fail to recognize the existence of a conflict between worshipping Yahweh and worshipping Baal?
15. How does Hosea’s condemnation of Israel differ from that of Amos?

Micah and Isaiah

1.  For what does Micah condemn Judah?  In particular, what groups of people does he indict?
2.  In Isaiah 6, how is Isaiah “called” or prepared to speak God’s message?
3.  What is Isaiah’s message to Ahaz as he anticipates the attack of Israel (Ephraim ) and Syria?
4.  What characteristics does Isaiah associate with a new king?
5. Why was Judah more stable than Israel?
6. Why did Micah, a Judahite, focus on the Moses-Sinai traditions?
7. What was the Syro-Ephraimite War?
8. What set of traditions does Isaiah draw upon?  What challenge does he see implied in those traditions?
9. What is Ahaz’s response to the Syro-Ephraimite War?  How does Isaiah respond to Ahaz’s actions?  

1.  What is Isaiah’s vision of the future?
2.  What role does Egypt play in the years after the Syro-Ephraimite War?
3.  What is Isaiah’s attitude toward entering alliances with Egypt?
4.  What reasons does 2 Kings give for the fall of Israel to Assyria?
5.  How does the siege of Jerusalem by Assyria in 701 BCE conclude?
6.  How does Isaiah’s attitude toward Jerusalem compare with that of Micah?
7.  While Isaiah continues to predict disaster, in what does he place hope for the future?
8.  Who was Hezekiah?  What is Isaiah’s message to him?
9.  How did the Assyrian invasion of 702-701 BCE impact Judah’s religious traditions?

Jeremiah

1.  What similarities do you find between the call of Jeremiah (in chapter 1) and that of Isaiah (Isaiah 6)?
2.  How does his attitude toward the temple and Jerusalem compare with that of Isaiah?  Micah?
3.  Why does Jeremiah mourn?
4.  What explanation does Jeremiah give for the coming destruction?
5.  Why do the people want to put Jeremiah to death after his Temple Sermon?  What convinces them not to kill him?
6.  Who was Baruch, and why is he important?
7.  Why was the fall of Assyria a matter of rejoicing for Judah?
8.  What kinds of materials are found in the Book of Jeremiah?
9.  What similarities does the prophet Jeremiah share with other prophets that you have studied?
10. Who is Josiah?  Why is he significant?

1.  Why was Jeremiah considered a traitor when the Babylonian army invaded Judah?
2.  What was the conflict between Jeremiah and Hananiah?
3.  What did Jeremiah write to the exiles in Babylonia?
4.  What happened in 598 BCE?  587?
5.  What emotions are expressed in Psalm 137?  By whom?
6.  What does Jeremiah do as an expression of hope for the future?
7.  What is the basis for Jeremiah’s new covenant?

Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History   

1.  What punishments does Deuteronomy prescribe for failure to obey the covenant laws?
2.  What reason does Deuteronomy give for observing the Sabbath?  
3.  What does Deuteronomy have to say about where offerings and sacrifices should be made?
4.  What does Deuteronomy say about kings?  About priests?  About prophets?
5.  What hope for the future does Deuteronomy offer to the exiles?
6. What is the connection between the Book of Deuteronomy and Josiah’s reform?
7. While Deuteronomy represents a return to the Moses-Sinai story, it also reflects what influence from David-Zion traditions?
8. What is the Deuteronomistic History?
9.  In what way does the Deuteronomistic History (2 Kings) end on a note of hope?
10. When was the first edition of the Deuteronomistic History completed?  What was its purpose?
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Unit 4

Second Isaiah

1.  What difference in overall message is reflected in Isaiah 40-55 as compared to Isaiah 1-39?
2.  What does Second Isaiah say about idols?
3.  Who is the LORD’s messiah, according to Second Isaiah?  What will this messiah do?
4.  What claims does Second Isaiah make about Israel’s God?
5.  What does Second Isaiah say about Yahweh’s servant?
6.  Why can chapters 40-55 of the Book of Isaiah be distinguished from chapters 1-39?
7.  How does the Exodus provide a typology for interpreting the future, according to Second Isaiah?
8.  What was the historical situation addressed by Second Isaiah?
9.  How does Second Isaiah use, yet modify old David-Zion traditions?
10. What arguments does Second Isaiah use to encourage people to see the future in Yahweh rather than Marduk?
11. What are some of the issues raised by the servant songs of Second Isaiah?
12. What made return from exile possible?
13. Why did some exiles choose to stay in Babylonia?
14. What problems were faced by those who returned to Jerusalem and the surrounding area?

1.  What was Haggai's program for restoration?  
2.  What part of Haggai's program was successful?  What was not?  Why?
3.  What made return from exile possible?
4.  Why did some exiles choose to stay in Babylonia?
5.  What problems did those who returned to Jerusalem and the surrounding area face?

Job

1.  Who is Satan - or the satan - in the Book of Job?
2.  What bet does Satan make with God?
3.  How do chapters 1 & 2 of Job differ from the following chapters?
4.  How does Job respond to his afflictions?
5.  What do Job’s friends say to him?
6.  How does Job respond?
7.  What does Job want from God?
8.  How does God respond?
9.  What conclusion does Job reach?
10. How is the Book of Job structured?
11. What two central questions does the book raise?
12. What solutions are given by the story?
13. What claims does Job make in the dialogue?
14. Why are the friends rebuked while Job’s speech is affirmed?  

Philosophical Wisdom

1.  What does Proverbs say about Woman Wisdom?  What does she do?
2.  What are the three types of wisdom?  Define each.
3. What sets late wisdom writings apart from other attempts to deal with the crisis of 587 BCE?

2.  What theme is repeated throughout Ecclesiastes?
3.  What things does Ecclesiastes investigate?
4.  What conclusions does he reach?
5.  What is Ecclesiastes’ attitude toward creation?  God?  Old age?
7.  How does the picture of divine-human relations in Ecclesiastes differ from the picture in the bulk of the Old Testament?  

Priestly Material in Genesis

1.  How does the creation account in Genesis 1-2.4a differ from that in 2.4b-25? 
2.  What does the rainbow at the end of the flood story represent?
3.  What features of the P creation account suggest that it is liturgical in form?
4.  What features of the P creation account suggest that it is intended to counter the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish?

1.  What reason is given in Exodus for observing the Sabbath?  What was given in Deuteronomy?
2.  What are some of the issues addressed by laws in Leviticus?
3.  How are the poor to be fed in ancient Israel?
4.  What is the year of jubilee?
5.  What effect does ending with Deuteronomy have on the perspective of the Torah?
6.  What are some of the characteristics of the P source?
7.  What series of covenants is presented in the P edition of Torah?
8.  What is the primary emphasis of P?
9.  What features of P provide for a distinctive Jewish identity?  Which anticipate a different future?   

Unit 5

1.  Who was Ezra?  What contribution did he make to post-exilic Judaism?
2.  What “problem” did he seek to solve?
3.  Who was Nehemiah?  What was Nehemiah’s major accomplishment?
4.  Why is Ezra sometimes called a second Moses?
5.  What regulation did both Ezra and Nehemiah seek to enforce?

1.  How does the Chronicler’s account of Israel’s history differ from that of Samuel and Kings (part of the Deuteronomistic History)?
2.  What purpose(s) explains these differences?

Jonah and Ruth

1.  How is Jonah different from other prophets?  How is his mission different?
2.  What is the result of his prophecy?  What is Jonah’s response to that outcome?
3.  What view of God led him to try to escape his mission?
4.  What does the section about the bush and the worm reveal about Jonah’s character?
5.  What is the primary problem around which the story of Ruth revolves?
6.  Who is Ruth?  Naomi?  Boaz?
7.  How do the characters resolve the problem?
8.  What is the difference between exile and diaspora?
9.  How does Jonah reflect openness to pagans?
10. How does Ruth reflect openness to pagans?

Daniel

1.  Who were Daniel and his three friends?
2.  Why is Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream so impressive?
3.  What is the point of the stories of the fiery furnace and lion’s den?
4.  Describe two types of tales in Daniel 1-6.  
5.  What picture does one get of pagan kings in Daniel 1-6?
6.  What picture is painted of the ideal Jew?
7.  How are chapters 7-12 of Daniel different from chapters 1-6?
8.  How is Daniel different from other prophetic books?
9.  What is the difference between the setting of the stories and visions and the historical context for the writing of the Book of Daniel?
10.  What were the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires?
11. How was Greek rule different from Persian rule?
12. Who was Antiochus IV, and why is he important?
13. Who were the Hasidim?  How did they differ from “Hellenistic” Jews?
14. Who were the Maccabees?  What did they accomplish?
15. What are some of the characteristics of apocalyptic literature?  How is it similar to or different from prophetic literature?
16. What response did the book of Daniel provide to the crisis provoked by Antiochus?

1.  What point does the story of Bel and the Dragon make?  Susanna?
2.  How does the book of Malachi conclude?  What is expected?
3.  What is the Song of Songs about?  Why is it in the Old Testament?

Canon

1.  What does the word canon mean?
2.  What is the Septuagint (LXX)?  The Apocrypha?
3.  How do canons of Jews, Samaritans, Roman Catholics, and Protestants differ?
4.  What important criterion was used by Jewish leaders to limit the Hebrew Bible?