Case Studies & Integrative Review

(With Model Outlines and Annotated Keys)

How to Use

• Each case gives you a short brief, primary texts, and tasks keyed to course outcomes (structure of OT; genre; historical context; thematic synthesis).

• After each case: a model outline (what an A-level response should cover) and a brief annotated key (why it matters), with light APA citations where appropriate.

Case 1 — Sinai as Covenant Compass (Exod 19:1–8; 20:1–17; Deut 4:5–8)

Brief: You’re advising a community tempted to define holiness as private piety.
Tasks:

1. Explain how covenant identity (“I carried you… therefore”) grounds Torah.

2. Show how public ethics (weights, wages, strangers) belongs to worship.

3. Name one prophetic text that prosecutes Israel when this link breaks.

Model outline (A-level):

• Grace precedes demand: Exod 19:4–6 establishes identity (“treasured possession… kingdom of priests”) before stipulations (Childs, 1992).

• Torah as public wisdom: Deut 4:5–8—nations “see” wisdom; Lev 19’s social holiness; Deut 15 (debt release) (Wright, 2004).

• Worship ≠ ritual alone: Exod 20’s first table orders allegiance; second table orders neighbor-love; Amos 5:21–24 as covenant lawsuit linking cult to justice (Seitz, 2007).

• Missional frame: Abrahamic vocation bleeds into Sinai (“for the nations,” Gen 12:3; Wright, 2006).

Annotated key: Sinai fuses identity–ethic–mission; Torah is worship extended into courts, markets, and calendars (Childs, 1992; Wright, 2004).

Case 2 — Land as Moral Ecology (Lev 25; Deut 15; Isa 5:1–7)

Brief: A public forum asks if “land theology” is merely ancient geopolitics.
Tasks:

1. Define land as gift/task/test.

2. Use one Torah text and one Prophet text to show how ethics “soaks” into soil.

3. Explain exile as theological geography.

Model outline:

• Gift & tenancy: Lev 25:23—“the land is mine”; Israel as stewards (Levenson, 1985).

• Structures of mercy: Lev 25 (Jubilee), Deut 15 (debt release) reorder time/economy (Wright, 2004).

• Prophetic indictment: Isa 5:1–7—vineyard parable, bloodshed/injustice sour the “grapes.”

• Exile: Lev 26; 2 Kgs 17—land “vomits” out covenant breakers; return as fragile re-planting (Goldingay, 2003–2009).

Annotated key: Land keeps spirituality embodied—neighbors, fields, courts. Exile is not bad luck; it is covenant pedagogy (Brueggemann, 2002).

Case 3 — Kingship Under Torah (Deut 17:14–20; 2 Sam 7; Ps 72; 2 Sam 12)

Brief: A leadership retreat asks: “What does righteous power look like?”
Tasks:

1. Synthesize Deut 17 and 2 Sam 7.

2. Exegete one royal psalm for royal ethics.

3. Show how prophecy guards kingship.

Model outline:

• Limits & literacy: Deut 17—anti-accumulation; king copies/reads Torah.

• Davidic promise: 2 Sam 7—dynasty as viceroyalty under YHWH’s reign (Mays, 1994).

• Ethic of Ps 72: justice for poor; shalom as rain; global scope of blessing.

• Prophetic check: Nathan’s lawsuit (2 Sam 12) embodies covenant prosecution (Seitz, 2007).

Annotated key: Biblical power is curbed by Torah, judged by prophets, aimed at the vulnerable (Mays, 1994).

Case 4 — Prophets as Covenant Prosecutors (Hos 11; Amos 5; Isa 58)

Brief: Your congregation wonders if prophets are “just doom-sayers.”
Tasks:

1. Identify forms (lawsuit, woe, salvation oracle).

2. Contrast Amos 5 and Isa 58 on worship/justice.

3. Show how Hos 11 reveals the heart behind judgment.

Model outline:

• Forms: rîb lawsuit (Mic 6), woes (Amos 5), salvation hymns (Isa 40).

• Amos 5: God rejects festivals where justice is absent; Isa 58: true fast looses bonds.

• Hos 11: parental love; judgment is grief-laden, not capricious (Blenkinsopp, 1996).

Annotated key: Prophets repair the covenant link between liturgy and ethics while imagining futures of mercy (Brueggemann, 1997).

Case 5 — Wisdom & Worship Interlock (Prov 11:1; Ps 146; Lev 19)

Brief: A business guild asks if Scripture speaks to markets.
Tasks:

1. Connect honest scales (Prov 11:1) to Torah.

2. Show how praise (Ps 146) shapes economic ethics.

3. Offer one concrete practice.

Model outline:

• Torah roots: Lev 19:35–36 honest measures; Deut 24 wages.

• Praise as public truth: Ps 146—God defends poor; praise names reality, reforming desire (Mays, 1994; Alter, 2007).

• Practice: transparent pricing; wage justice; sabbath rhythms.

Annotated key: In Israel’s grammar, economics is liturgical ethics (Wright, 2004).

Case 6 — Lament as Faith (Ps 13; Lam 3:19–33)

Brief: After disaster, your community resists “negative prayers.”
Tasks:

1. Diagram Ps 13 (address/complaint/petition/trust).

2. Explain memory’s hinge in Lam 3.

3. Write one pastoral line authorizing lament.

Model outline:

• Form: Ps 13 → “How long?” → petition → trust → vow (Westermann, 1981).

• Memory: Lam 3 “this I call to mind… great is your faithfulness” amid unresolved pain (Dobbs-Allsopp, 2002).

• Pastoral line: “In covenant, protest is worship.”

Annotated key: Lament is not doubt; it is refusing silence before God (O’Connor, 2002).

Case 7 — New Covenant Trajectory (Deut 30:6; Jer 31:31–34; Ezek 36:25–27)

Brief: A study group asks how “New Covenant” relates to Sinai.
Tasks:

1. Clarify continuity & discontinuity.

2. Show role of Spirit.

3. Give one communal implication.

Model outline:

• Continuity: same God, same moral grain; Discontinuity: Torah internalized; knowledge democratized; sins forgiven (Seitz, 2007).

• Spirit: Ezek 36 empowers obedience.

• Implication: communities practice internalized justice/worship, not mere formalism.

Annotated key: The solution to Israel’s failure is heart surgery, not law repeal (Wright, 2004).

Case 8 — Canonical Symphonics (Ps 1–2; Book III crisis; Book V doxology)

Brief: Explain how the shape of the Psalter teaches hope.
Tasks:

1. Gate psalms (1–2).

2. Book III crisis (Ps 89).

3. Book IV–V resolution (YHWH reigns; Hallelujah).

Model outline:

• Torah + King at the gate (Wilson, 1985; Mays, 1994).

• Davidic collapse (Ps 89) → theological crisis.

• Re-centering on YHWH’s kingship (Pss 93–99) → Book V’s praise (146–150) (Brueggemann, 1984).

Annotated key: The Psalter forms communities to move from lament to praise without skipping truth.