OLD

T E S TA M E N T
S U RV E Y
3rd E D I T I O N
A R C H I E W. 
ENGLAND
a n d
ERIC A. 
MITCHELL

WO R K B O O K
 Old Testament Survey Workbook, 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2023 by Archie W. England and Eric A. Mitchell
Published by B&H Academic
Brentwood, Tennessee

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-0877-6353-8

Dewey Decimal Classification: 221

Subject Heading: OLD TESTAMENT

Except where noted, Bible translations are the authors’.

Scriptures marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News
Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NASB95 are from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright
© 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the
time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change.

Cover design by Brian Bobel. Cover image: King David Bearing the Ark of the Covenant
into Jerusalem, by Domenico Gargiulo. Sourced from Album / Alamy Stock Photo.

Printed in the United States of America

28 27 26 25 24 23 VP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 CONTENTS

Preface ix
How to Use This Workbook xi
Beginning the Study xv

Part I: The Law (Torah)

Chapter 1: Genesis: Creation, Corruption, and Covenant 3
Chapter 2, Part I: Exodus 27
Chapter 2, Part II: Leviticus 37
Chapter 3, Part I: Numbers 45
Chapter 3, Part II: Deuteronomy 53

Part II: The Former Prophets

Chapter 4: Joshua 65
Chapter 5: Judges 77
Chapter 6: 1, 2 Samuel 93
Chapter 7: 1, 2 Kings 111

Part III: The Latter Prophets

Chapter 8: Isaiah 133
Chapter 9: Jeremiah 147
Chapter 10: Ezekiel 159
Chapter 11: Book of the Twelve 171

Part IV: The Writings

Chapter 12: Psalms 215
Chapter 13: Job 221
Chapter 14: Proverbs 231
Chapter 15: Ruth 235
Chapter 16: Song of Songs 243
Chapter 17: Ecclesiastes 245

vii
viii Contents

Chapter 18: Lamentations 249

Chapter 19: Esther 257
Chapter 20: Daniel 265
Chapter 21: Ezra–Nehemiah 275
Chapter 22: 1, 2 Chronicles 287
 PREFACE

T his book attempts to supplement the beginning student’s study of the Old Testament. As with the Old
Testament Survey textbook, we here define “beginning student” from our experiences with college fresh-
men, serious church study groups, and seminary students. Such students range in age from eighteen to eighty.
They are intelligent and willing to learn, but they need guidance and motivation to study a part of the Scriptures
often thought irrelevant in our culture. We have tried to write this workbook for the benefit of both students
and instructors—offering basic questions for further study, mapwork, etc.—to facilitate the use of the textbook
in the classroom to whatever extent the instructor and students require. It is a workbook challenging the student
to think and delve further into the Bible as well as into Old Testament Survey, 3rd edition by Paul House and Eric
Mitchell. This text also offers flexibility, leaving instructors plenty of room to use it as daily assignments, daily
quizzes, or as testing material.
We want to thank Paul House for the opportunity to contribute to this project. I was his Garrett fellow at
Southern Seminary, and ever since, he has been a good friend and mentor.

Eric Mitchell and Archie England

ix
 HOW TO USE THIS WORKBOOK

FOR THE STUDENT

This workbook is designed to assist you on your daily journey through the study of the Old Testament. The
questions contained in the following pages have been tried and proven in various classroom settings. Spending
the time and effort to answer these workbook questions should enable you not only to learn the Old Testament
but also to do well on weekly quizzes and sectional exams. This workbook is designed to be used with both your
Bible and the Old Testament Survey textbook open at your side. Our prayer for this effort is that God will bless
those who hide His Word in their hearts. May this workbook enable you to show yourself approved as God’s
worker.

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR

This workbook carefully follows the chapters of the revised Old Testament Survey by Paul House and Eric A.
Mitchell. It draws questions directly from the text and then, at appropriate junctures, provides an overview of
the emerging historical periods of the Old Testament. The workbook is dually designed. It can be used as a
student workbook and as testing material for your class. Great care has been given to provide you with a variety
of testing material, easily usable in SCANTRON or other formats for both weekly class quizzes and sectional
exams. With the addition of Topics for Further Study at the end of major sections, we hope this workbook will
also promote more engaging classroom discussions from better informed students. Moreover, as teachers, we
have designed this workbook to be used in whole or in part, based on your individual needs for an account-
ability tool for the study of the fundamentals of the Old Testament. An answer key is available from Lifeway as
well. In the main, the maps herein are black-and-white versions of the maps in the 3rd edition. However, since
some maps differ from the textbook, all maps are provided in the Student Guide in two versions: (1) a complete
version for study and (2) a blank version for quizzing. A small number of maps do not have a blanked-out ver-
sion, but these have following questions.
Eric Mitchell and Archie England

xi
 NORTHERN 35 E 36 E

ISRAEL
City
Sidon
City (uncertain location) Damascus Abana
River
Mountain Peak Mt. Hermon
iver
par R
Phar
0 10 20 30 40 50 Miles Litani R
iver
Tyre Dan
0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

Rosh HaNiqra
UPPER
(Ladder of Tyre) GALILEE

r
Hazor
33 N 33 N
Mt. Meron Huleh
Basin
Acco LOWER Capernaum

Acco Ashien of
Mt. Carmel GALILEE SEA OF

Plain of Pla
Sepphoris BASHAN
GALILEE

Kis
Cana

hon
ree
Nazareth er

R
Riv

lV
k

Jez iver
Dor
all
ey Mt. Tabor r mu
N. Ya
Megiddo Ha
AD

Caesarea ro Ramoth-gilead

Plain of Dor
dR
.
Mt. Gilboa Beth-shan
GILE

Sharon
SAMARIA
f Tirzah
ME D ITE R AN E AN SEA
W
.
Jordan River

Mt. Ebal
F

Plain o
ar
ia

ver
R.

kon Ri Shechem Jabbok River

N. Yar Mt. Gerizim
Eastern Plateau

34 E Joppa Aphek
Jordan Rift

Shiloh
 Bethel Rabbah (Amman)
SOUTHERN Jericho

in
Gezer

a
ISRAEL Mizpah Heshbon
Ashdod

Pl
Jerusalem Medeba
City

ela
Ekron

a
al
h
Ashkelon

t
sti
City (uncertain location) Gath MISHOR

ili
ep

as
Ph
Mountain Peak

f
Co
Sh
Gaza Hebron Dead

e
Dibon

ino
Sea

N
Pla
En-gedi Arnon

Ju d a h ss o f
ld
JUDAH

. Be
River

sor
Wi er n

Riv
Beersheba

er
Arad
Syro

MOAB
-

Kir-hareseth
Negev

31 N W. 31 N
e
Arab

l-A
i

ris Ze
hR Tamar red
a

ive
r Wilderness Rive
n

of Zin r
bah
EDOM

Bozrah
Ara
Des

Kadesh-barnea
ert

Sinai

Petra
0 10 20 30 40 50 Miles
0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

34 E 35 E 36 E
 BEGINNING THE STUDY

   1. What do we call the Scriptures used by the first disciples of Christ?

a. The scrolls and parchments   b. Hebrew Bible   c. None of the above
d. The Word of God e. Old Testament

   2. What three divisions of the OT did the Hebrew Bible contain?

a. Wisdom  b. Prophets  c. Hexateuch  d. Law  e. Writings

   3. The New Testament authors did not view the Old Testament as inspired.
a. True  b. False

   4. The Hebrew book order affirms the unity of the Old Testament in which of the following ways:
a. The historical order of the earlier books gives the setting for the later books.
b. The reader can observe how the “Writings” comment on how the faithful lived in Israel’s various
historical situations.
c. Joshua-Malachi interpret Israel’s history in a particular way, with the prophets presenting a
united message.
d. all of the above.
e. none of the above.

   5. Stories that end sadly, typically with death, are described as having what kind of plot?
a. Epic  b. Homeric  c. Comedy  d. Tragedy

   6. Antithetical poetry uses the second part of parallel lines to express (a) an opposite thought,
(b) a similar thought, or (c) a thought that is completed in the second half of the parallelism.

   7. The order of the Hebrew Bible is the same as the order of the English Bible.
a. True  b. False

   8. As a group, what name is given to the first five books of the Bible?
a. Hexateuch   b. Laws of Moses
c. Pentateuch   d. Pentagram
e. None of the above
xv
xvi Beginning The Study

Match the appropriate genre for the following books, in which prose and poetry predominate
(a = Prose, b = Poetry).
   9. Genesis    12. Psalms
   10. Ruth    13. Numbers
   11. Song of Solomon    14. Joel

Match the following Bible books to their respective part of the Hebrew Old Testament
(a = Law, b = Prophets, and c = Writings):
   15. Genesis    20. Psalms    25. Ezra
   16. Ruth    21. Numbers    26. Judges
   17. 1, 2 Kings    22. Malachi    27. Exodus
   18. Isaiah    23. Proverbs    28. Daniel
   19. Job    24. 1, 2 Samuel    29. Esther

   30. Which of the following nations/people groups would have existed in 3000 BC?
a. Sumerian b. Moabites
c. Persian d. None of these

   31. One possible date for Moses’s composition of Genesis–Deuteronomy would be      .
a. 2200 BC b. 1900 BC
c. 1100 BC d. none of these

   32. Which of the following is not a people group that impacted Israelite history?
a. Assyria b. Babylon
c. Persian d. Syria
e. Elam

   33. The “Fertile Crescent” best describes which ancient territory of the Bible?
a. From Egypt through Syria curving south into Mesopotamia
b. From Dan to Beersheba
c. From the second cataract of Nubia to Ugarit north of Tyre
d. Gaza, Israel, Moab, Edom, and Syria

   34. The Akkadian-speaking peoples are best known through the two most powerful resulting empires
of the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
a. true b. false

   35. Which collection of tablets provide biblical scholars with an excellent perspective on aspects of the
political climate between Egypt and their northern vassals?
a. Nuzi tablets b. Amarna letters c. Ebla archives d. Gilgamesh
 Beginning The Study xvii

Match the following deities to the appropriate nations:

   36. Asshur a. Egypt
   37. Marduk b. Babylon
   38. Ahura-Mazda c. Assyria
   39. Amun-Re d. Canaan
   40. Baal e. Persia

Provide dates for the following major events in Israelite history:

41. Writing systems that began in Egypt and Sumeria:                
42. Lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph:        -       
43. Covenant with Abraham:                
44. Egyptian Period:        -        or        -       
45. The Exodus and Sinai Covenant:              or             
46. Wilderness Era/Moses writes Genesis-Numbers:      -      or      -     
47. Moses writes Deuteronomy/Re-constitution of Israel and Conquest of Promised Land:
             or             
48. Period of the Judges:        -        or        -       
49. Pharaoh Merneptah attacks/mentions “Israel” on his Victory Stele:             
50. The United Kingdom:        -       
51. Davidic Covenant (Eternal rule of House of David):                
52. The Divided Kingdom:        -       
53. The Prophets call Israel back to the Deuteronomic Covenant: A day of judgment and restoration is com-
ing, marked by the rule of the Davidic Messiah:        -       
54. Assyria controls Northern kingdom of Israel:                
55. Assyria conquers Samaria/Israel; end of Israel’s monarchy:                
56. The Kingdom of Judah:        -       
57. Isaiah prophesies of the Davidic Messiah’s person, work, and rule:        -       
58. Jeremiah prophesies of the New Covenant:        -       
59. Judah made a vassal of Babylon; Daniel and friends taken into exile as hostages:           
60. Babylon conquers Judah/Jerusalem; Zedekiah made King; Jehoiachin and leaders (with Ezekiel) taken
into exile:              
69. The fall of Jerusalem and the temple destroyed; end of Judah’s monarchy:               
70. The Babylonian Exile:        -       
71. The decree of Cyrus:                
72. Return to the land:        -       
73. Temple rebuilding completed:        -       
74. Careers of Ezra and Nehemiah:        -       
xviii Beginning The Study

75. Artaxerxes decides to rebuild Jerusalem:                

76. Malachi emphasizes repentance, purification of priest and temple; prophesies the coming of Elijah before
the Messiah:                
77. The author of Chronicles emphasizes return, renewal, and hope for a restored Davidic kingship:
               

Questions for Reflection

1. How might reading the Old Testament in the order of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings affect
your understanding of the Old Testament?
2. How does focusing on the Old Testament’s literary aspects change your attitude about its contents?
3. What are your basic assumptions about studying the Old Testament?

Study the two-part map of Israel on pages xiii–xiv, then in blue ink, write in the following regions, rivers,
and bodies of water on the blanked-out two-part map of Israel below using the following list of 94 features:

Abana River Sinai Caesarea (Maritima)

Arabah Syro-Arabian Desert Damascus
Arnon River Upper Galilee Dan
Bashan Wadi el-Arish Dibon
Coastal Plain Wadi Faria Dor
Dead Sea Western Mountains Ekron
Eastern Plateau Wilderness of Judah En-gedi
Edom Wilderness of Zin Gath
Gilead Yarmuk River Gaza
Huleh Basin Zered River Gezer
Jabbok River Hazor
Jezreel Valley Place the following mountains on Hebron
Jordan Rift the two-part map of Israel: Heshbon
Jordan River Mount Carmel Jericho
Judah Mount Ebal Jerusalem
Kishon River Mount Gerizim Joppa
Litani River Mount Gilboa Kadesh-Barnea
Lower Galilee Mount Hermon Kir-haresheth
Mediterranean Sea Mount Meron Medeba
Mishor Mount Tabor Megiddo
Moab Mizpah
Nahal Besor Place each city below on the two- Nazareth
Nahal Harod part map of Israel: Petra
Nahal Yarkon Acco Rabbah (Amman)
Negeb Aphek Ramoth-Gilead
Pharpar River Arad Rosh HaNiqra
Plain of Acco Ashdod Sepphoris
Plain of Asher Ashkelon Shechem
Plain of Dor Beersheba Shiloh
Plain of Philistia Bethel Sidon
Plain of Sharon Beth Shan Tirzah
Samaria Bozrah Tyre
Sea of Galilee Cana Tamar
Shephelah Capernaum
 NORTHERN 35 E 36 E

ISRAEL
City
City (uncertain location)
Mountain Peak

0 10 20 30 40 50 Miles
0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

33 N 33 N

34 E
SOUTHERN
ISRAEL
City
City (uncertain location)
Mountain Peak

31 N 31 N

0 10 20 30 40 50 Miles
0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

34 E 35 E 36 E
 The Old Testament Survey Workbook
is a revision and expansion of the sec-
ond edition, offering an increased number
of interactive sections and improved maps.
Instructors and professors will find it helpful for
structuring lessons, improving student engagement,
and evaluating biblical understanding. A companion
to the third edition of Old Testament Survey by
Paul House and Eric Mitchell, this workbook
is accessible enough to be used in Bible
studies, college and seminary classes,
and pastoral research alike.

ARCHIE W. ENGLAND (PhD, Mid-America

Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as professor of
Old Testament and Hebrew at New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary.

ERIC A. MITCHELL (PhD, The Southern Baptist

Theological Seminary) serves as professor of Old
Testament and biblical backgrounds at Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary.

RELIGION/Biblical Studies/Old Testament/General

978-1-0877-6353-8 $29.99 USD

52999

9 781087 763538