Helps for Understanding and Loving the Old Testament

Helps for Understanding and Loving the Old Testament


To accompany your study of the Come Follow Me material for December 29, 2025, to January 4, 2026, entitled “An Introduction to the Old Testament.”

Points to Ponder

1. A former general authority, Elder J. Golden Kimball, once said, “I read the Old Testament once. And if the Lord will forgive me, I promise never to read it again.” What could possibly prompt a general authority to say such a thing?

2. Some time back “An English rector startled the convocation of Canterbury … by asking that he not be required to read spiritual junk and poison from the Old Testament to his congregation.”  What is there in the Old Testament that could have prompted such a remark by a religious leader?

3. What could you say to one who wondered what value could come from reading the Old Testament, when there is so much good modern scripture and Church literature that could be studied instead?

4. What you prefer to approach this year’s course as a study OF the Old Testament or a study IN the Old Testament?  Why?  What is the difference? 

5. President Spencer W. Kimball was the nephew of Elder J. Golden Kimball, who was quoted above. How did President Kimball’s experience with the Old Testament compare to that of his uncle?

6. Is it really okay to consult modern language translations of the Bible, or are we bound to use only the King James Version?

7. What are the best free, online tools available which can help make our study in the Old Testament this year even more enjoyable and profitable?

Possible Answers to Points to Ponder

1. A former general authority, Elder J. Golden Kimball, once said, “I read the Old Testament once. And if the Lord will forgive me, I promise never to read it again.” What could possibly prompt a general authority to say such a thing?

Growing up on the frontier and working as a mule driver, J. Golden Kimball was known for his rough language and for having a lively sense of humor. With his limited education, he presumably found the Old Testament long, dull, difficult to understand, and largely irrelevant, as do many of us today. I suspect that by now, Elder Kimball has changed his opinion. If you share his feelings about the Old Testament, I hope this year will provide you with reasons to change your opinion, as well!

2. Some time back “An English rector startled the convocation of Canterbury … by asking that he not be required to read spiritual junk and poison from the Old Testament to his congregation.”  What is there in the Old Testament that could have prompted such a remark by a religious leader?

The rector evidently felt that such statements as Deuteronomy 32:24 “They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust” were spiritual poison.  A God of love would never send a beast to devour his children, be believed.

3. What could you say to one who wondered what value could come from reading the Old Testament, when there is so much good modern scripture and Church literature that could be studied instead?

We could point out such things as:

  • The Old Testament provides a background to our understanding much of the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. See, for example, D&C 1:13, 16, and 36.
  • This is the Bible Jesus and the apostles had and of which they spoke so highly.
  • The Old Testament probably shows the role of prophets and our relationship to them better than any other book of scripture.
  • The Old Testament has many wonderful stories and lessons which are applicable to us.
  • The Old Testament contains many prophecies, both of Jesus Christ’s mortal mission and of the latater-day restoration of the gospel and the Savior’s Second Coming.
  • The Old Testament, and related passages from the Pearl of Great Price, are the source of our understanding of such basic gospel principles as the premortal life, the Creation, and the fall of Adam.
  • When we come to understand it better, we’ll find the Old Testament comes from the same loving Father in Heaven as do the other standard works and can bring us closer to Him.

4. What you prefer to approach this year’s course as a study OF the Old Testament or a study IN the Old Testament?  Why?  What is the difference? 

A study IN the Old Testament, looking for principles applicable to us, is much more interesting and profitable than a literary study of the book itself. My own experience in reading the Old Testament for the first time as a senior in high school led me to consider the Old Testament much like a diamond mine. What do we find the most of in a diamond mine? Certainly, not diamonds. It is mostly rock and dirt. But the occasional diamonds found there make it more than worthwhile to look through all of the debris. I felt that way especially about the Book of Isaiah. There was so much I didn’t understand. But those passages I did understand were some of the most beautiful and powerful to be found anywhere in the scriptures.

5. President Spencer W. Kimball was the nephew of Elder J. Golden Kimball, who was quoted above. How did President Kimball’s experience with the Old Testament compare to that of his uncle?

He said:

With diligence one can read all the scriptures. From infancy I had enjoyed the simplified and pictured Bible stories, but the original Bible seemed so interminable in length, so difficult of understanding that I had avoided it until a challenge came to me from Sister Susa Young Gates. She was the speaker at the MIA meeting of stake conference and gave a discourse on the value of reading the Bible. In conclusion she asked for a showing of hands of all who had read it through. The hands that were raised out of that large congregation were so few and so timid! It seemed that some of them were trying to explain: “We haven’t read it through but we have done much studying of parts of it.” I was shocked into an unalterable determination to read the great book.

As soon as I reached home after the meeting I began with the first verse of Genesis and continued faithfully every day with the reading. Most of the reading was done in my attic bedroom which I occupied alone. I burned considerable midnight oil and read long hours when I was thought to be asleep.

 Approximately a year later I reached the last verse in Revelation. It was formidable, but I knew if others did it that I could do it. I found that there were certain parts [of the Bible] that were hard for a fourteen‑year‑old boy to understand. There were some pages that were not especially interesting to me, but when I had read the 66 books and 1,189 chapters and 1,519 pages, I had a glowing satisfaction that I had made a goal and that I had achieved it.  Now, I am not telling you this story to boast; I am merely using this as an example to say that if I could do it by coal‑oil light, you can do it by electric light. I have always been glad I read the Bible from cover to cover.

6. Is it really okay to consult modern language translations of the Bible, or are we bound to use only the King James Version?

It is not only permissible but advisable. See my paper on the subject at Bible–Value of modern versions.pdf.

7. What are the best free, online tools available which can help make our study in the Old Testament this year even more enjoyable and profitable?

They include:

  • The Latter-day Saint edition of the Old Testament, found in the Gospel Library or at Old Testament. Be sure to become familiar with the wonderful study aids, including footnotes, the Bible Dictionary, the Topical Guide, and excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. For a potentially fun exercise in learning to use those tools or to see how well you can use them, you can go to something I created called Using the study aids–Old Testament version.pdf. For answers, after you have done your best using the study aids themselves, you can go to Using the study aids–Old Testament version (answers).pdf
  • Bible Gateway at https://www.biblegateway.com/ A free searchable online Bible with over 150 versions and 50 languages.  A passage which is confusing in one version is often easier to understand in another. It is also available as an app for both IOS and Android.
  • In the Gospel Library (or online at the Church’s website)
    • Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Old Testament 2026
    • Institute Old Testament Student Manual, volumes 1 and 2 (in Gospel Library)
    • Seminary Old Testament Study Guide for Home-Study Seminary Students
    • Old Testament Seminary Student Manual
    • Many articles in the Church magazines
  • New Media Bible.  Excellent non-denominational video recreations of Genesis, faithfully following the King James Version.  The Church at one time sold these.  They have now been discontinued, but high definition copies have been uploaded to YouTube.  You can see the first at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tncNTHeabmI&list=PLHdHfiwn51u7X7wLjeL_8E2L-11jkm77I&index=1&t=584s, and the others are nearby.
  • Lots of podcasts by Latter-day Saint teachers and others on YouTube. Potentially useful, but probably not as helpful as your own study of the Old Testament and use of the manuals cited above.
  • My own Points to Ponder which have been created for each week’s Come Follow Me study and are posted at Latter-day Saint and Happy – What God has revealed about how we can have peace and joy now and forever through membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  • Various AI (Artificial Intelligence) sites such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Claude can be helpful in providing an easier to understand summary of the content of a given Old Testament chapter. Be sure to doublecheck any such summaries against other reliable sources, however, as any AI app can “hallucinate” at times.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Points to Ponder in Judges 2-4, 6-8, 13-16

Image
Points to Ponder in Judges 2-4, 6-8, 13-16 To accompany your Come Follow Me study for May 25-31 In addition to reading these chapters from Judges, you may enjoy: Cualquiera o todos los siguientes videos, ajustando la configuración al español cuando sea necesario: Reading the corresponding material from the Institute Student Manual found in the online Gospel Library Reading the remaining chapters from book of Judges, which while probably less spiritually uplifting may give you an increased appreciation for why the Lord was so reluctant to bless the Israelites of that day. If you would like a Kahoot game related to this material, either for your own amusement or to use with your family or class, click here:   https://create.kahoot.it/share/judges-2-4-6-8-13-16/912c472f-b299-4270-9701-56aca8cf30a6 Points to Ponder in Judges 2-4, 6-8, 13-16 1.  How did the “judges” of the Old Testament differ from what we normally think a judge to be? 2.  What was potentially so good abo...
Read more

Points to Ponder in 1 Samuel 8-10, 13, 15-16

Image
  Points to Ponder in 1 Samuel 8-10, 13, 15-16 To accompany your Come Follow Me study for June 8-14 In addition to reading these prescribed chapters, you may enjoy: Reading the corresponding material from the Institute student manual found in the online Gospel Library Reading the remaining chapters of 1 Samuel, to get the “rest of the story.” Watching any or all of the following videos: If you would enjoy seeing a Kahoot game related to this material which you could use for your own amusement or with your family or class, click here:   https://create.kahoot.it/share/1-samuel-8-10-13-15-16/8f4455cf-3c15-4ab0-a8b1-f44618f68a21 Points to Ponder in 1 Samuel 8-10, 13, and 15-16 1.  What do you consider the five most important points to be learned from 1 Samuel 8? 2.  What do you consider the major principle to be learned from 1 Samuel 9? 3.  What do you consider the three major points the author of 1 Samuel 10 would want us to remember from that chapter? 4....
Read more