Preaching Hard Texts of the Old Testament

by Elizabeth Rice Achtemeier

"Achtemeier launches out on a campaign to stir preachers to preach the toughest texts of the Old Testament with courage and conviction. Her book is a delight and a challenge. She never fails to provoke, enlighten, encourage."
—William H. Willimon, Duke University Elizabeth Achtemeier has carefully chosen thirty-one Old Testament passages that are difficult to understand and more difficult still to preach. The sacrifice of Isaac, God’s command for Hosea to marry a harlot, Moses’ use of the bronze serpent to heal snake-bitten Israelites—these and many other passages are illumined for the preacher who no longer wants to fear these texts. In each chapter, Achtemeier discusses the text and then offers suggestions for forming a sermon based on that text. In treating specific unsettling passages, Achtemeier also addresses thematic difficulties found throughout the Old Testament, such as the frequent militaristic portrayals of God, the often perplexing behavior of Old Testament prophets, and the many anthropomorphic descriptions of God. "Many find it hard to preach from Old Testament texts. In this collection of sermons Elizabeth Achtemeier shows that even the hard texts of the Old Testament can produce significant and profound preaching."
—James Luther Mays, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia

Genres: Biblical Studies

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd collection of 'hard' texts- some handled masterfully like Psalm 137, whereas others like Genesis 22 were handled far too basically

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth A is a highly regarded OT scholar who comes from a different background to me. The texts she selected came from discussions with pastors & other preachers & seem to be a fair selection. Two factors were off-putting to me because of our different backgrounds. Firstly, each text was placed with reference to its use in the lectionary - a tool that no church I know uses. This has the unfortunate effect of resulting in text choices that may not include a whole preaching periscope. It also distracts the author from discussing the text with reference to its place in salvation history.

The second factor was the authors assumption of the common critical views: 3 "Isaiah", etc.

Despite these factors, I found almost every chapter to provide helpful direction into how these difficult passages relate to Jesus and the gospel. She is an egalitarian. Aside from that controversial position, every other theological position she espoused was orthodox & conservative.