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When studying Exodus, we may ask: “Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?” Read what Martin Luther said about this difficult question in the post below.

Isaiah wrote to warn the people of Judah to repent so that they might escape God’s judgment, poured out through the Assyrians. However, the range of his prophecies of judgment spread in all directions to include virtually all nations known to ancient Israel and, indeed, all people throughout the world. The universal scope of judgment in Isaiah’s prophecies is complemented with the good news of Zion’s redemption, which also becomes the means of salvation for all people.

The Song of Solomon celebrates love, a common theme for all people of all times. What distinguishes the Song, however, is the way it connects human love to God’s greater love in poetry that mingles the earthly with the heavenly, the royal with the rural, and the ordinary with the eternal. In this selection, read an overview of the book and understand how the characters and narrative of the Song of Solomon point to God’s Gospel message.

This blog post is adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 1: Introduction and Old Testament.

When the book of Ecclesiastes highlights judgment, it can arouse questions about the apparent contradiction between the grief of Ecclesiastes and statements of abundant mercy elsewhere in the Bible. This excerpt from the Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 1: Introduction and Old Testament provides clarity in understanding God’s character of both justice and mercy.

The Book of Psalms contains songs and prayers for every occasion. In fact, the Psalms collectively cover so much of the faith that they were rightly called a “little Bible” by the Church Fathers. This selection provides a summary of each of the 150 psalms, serving as both an overview of the Book of Psalms and a guide. The psalms are grouped by their traditional “books,” or series of Psalms, ending with a doxology.

Job is renowned as the archetypical “suffering man” of the Old Testament, and rightly so. His losses were immense. But his comfort amidst his suffering is the knowledge that God Himself is perfectly steadfast and desires to act in mercy toward His servants.

The following is adapted from volume 1 of The Lutheran Bible Companion on the Book of Esther.