Today I started a class called "Foundations of the Old Testament." I'm taking this one, not teaching it. It is offered free of charge by RBC Ministries, and you can access it at ChristianCourses.com. The "RBC" many years ago stood for "Radio Bible Class," and I suppose the courses on the web are simply the 21st century equivalent.
This one is taught with videos featuring Dr. Douglas Stuart, professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. All I had to do was click on the link and for the next half-hour I was able to watch and learn from a well-produced online video.
I actually learned something, too. Stuart discussed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and asked the question, why would God not want Adam and Eve to know those things? I honestly had not given that a lot of thought before. But he went on to explain that "good and evil" is a Hebrew merism, and "a merism is a category of speech in which totality is expressed by polarity." In other words, "what God is forbidding is that human beings should know everything. And of course, that is exactly what Satan tries to get them to know," according to Stuart.
Interesting stuff. It's free, and it's available anytime. Pretty cool.
