8. In the Messianic period God was fulfilling all that he had promised from the beginning as to a Redeemer who was to come. He who had spoken to the fathers through the prophets, and the various types, was now to speak to men through the person of his Son. Good reason then why, at the four periods to which we have called attention, God should provide that the narrative should be more full than at other times, and that simultaneously there should be the marked intervention of the miraculous, to prove that God was truly speaking to men, and giving them divine directions as to how to act, and what to believe.
9. It follows, then, that there are four periods to which we should pay especial attention, as being of unusual importance, and these are the Patriarchal period, the Mosaic period, the period of Elijah and Elisha, and the period of the Messiah. If the student be well posted as to the occurrences during these periods, and their teaching, he will have at least a good working outline of the whole of the Bible history in its most important developments. To emphasize these periods we have added on the chart in the Memory Outline the dots that will be seen, multiplying them at each period somewhat in proportion to the multiplication of the miraculous element in the narrative.
Test Questions
What two ways are there of studying the Bible?
What advantage is there for our purposes in the second method?
Give the nine names that divide the Old Testament times into periods of five centuries each.
What chronological peculiarity do we find in the Bible narrative?
Give some examples of this. (Pick out other instances of this yourself.)
What peculiarity do we find in the distribution of the miracles?
Name the four periods in which the narrative amplifies and at the same time the miracles multiply.