The Old Testament is the story of the creation of the world by a God, and His subsequent involvement in the lives of His 'chosen people', the Israelites. It describes God's relationship with Israel's leaders, priests, and prophets; it lists God's commandments and decrees; it tells stories of Israel's politics and wars; and it is a compilation of religious poetry and sayings.

The God of the Old Testament is a fiction created by ignorance, fear, nationalism, and  superstition. He is a God that rules by fear. He demands blind obedience and conformity, and to that ends any means is justified. He is an authoritarian, racist, genocidal, homicidal, passive-aggressive, sexist, cruel, blood-thirsty, and spiteful father figure. He is sometimes described in the text as 'merciful, loving, and impartial', but there is no evidence of these qualities.

Biblical archaeologists state that many of the stories of the Old Testament, including the story of creation and the story of the flood, are derived from Egyptian and Babylonian mythology. These stories were changed from their original polytheism to monotheism to conform with the 'One God' of the Jews, and their traditions and laws. For example: Genesis states that God created both light and vegetation before he created the sun. This impossible order of creation is a near-perfect match with the Egyptian creation story.

The claimed authorship of the Old Testament, and its honest translation, are highly questionable. The claimed author of the first five books, Moses, writes in Deuteronomy (his fifth book) about where he is buried and notes that his tomb has not been found 'to this day'. The original Hebrew source document of the book of Samuel says that David's brother, Elhanan, killed Goliath, not David, but this was changed, in defiance of the original text, to elevate David, later King David, as a bible hero. Further information on this can be found in the article An Intiguing Book.

The Bible is inconsistent, derivative, reverse engineered mythology, with a backbone of historical truth, some wise sayings, and some beautiful poetry. There are also some good moral laws, but the bulk of the Old Testament is so racist and blood-thirsty that these are overwhelmed. The murder of children and the treatment of women in the name of God is especially deplorable. The moral law ‘Thou shalt not kill’ is so swamped by mass murder – by God, under God's explicit instructions, and in the name of God – that it is meaningless.

The attitude of punishment, singular authority, and blind obedience exhibited by the God of the Old Testament has contributed to many of the darkest events in human history. This attitude created the Dark Ages, where civilisation collapsed as the Church took control of medicine, education, and science. It created the butchery of the Crusades where Christians and their forces marched into the Middle East. It created the Inquisition with its terror, torture, and plundering. It created the Protestant and Catholic Counter Reformation where Christians slaughtered Christians; and it created the atrocities of the witch hunts with its torture and systematic killing of women.

I wish that more people would take the time to read the Old Testament with an attitude of sceptical scrutiny. In my opinion, when read carefully with an adult mind, it is little more than folk stories, deplorable cruelty, and nonsense. The Old Testament offers no value to anyone wanting to live an intelligent and ethical life.

The Bible Tour continues with the Apocrypha before moving onto the New Testament.

The books of the Old Testament prophets are not in chronological order. The Old Testament concludes around 400 BCE with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, with the land of Israel under Persian rule. Between this date and the stories of the New Testament, where Israel is under Roman rule, is a period of about four hundred years. The only sources of information about Jewish history during this time, except for some Greek, Persian, and Roman writings, come from a small collection known as the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha illuminates Jewish thought during the years between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. These books can be found in Catholic and Greek Orthodox bibles, but were omitted from Protestant bibles as they were not considered to be divinely inspired.

Back to Malachi. Forward to The Apocrypha– 1 Esdras.