Learning from others - we all do it
Although much of the Old Testament is written to the nation of Israel, the people God chose to rescue from Egypt and take into a land filled with all manner of blessing, we can learn much by the principles taught and the examples left us there. It is kind of like hearing the stories of our own families from our grandparents and other elders. We learn about their struggles, jumping into the midst of the stories with peaked interest, and come away with tidbits of information we only learn because they shared the story. I kind of think the Old Testament is like that - we come away with peaked interest and tidbits of information which is only available to us because it was written down for our remembrance. Through the combined "sharing" of the truths and historical accounts which are recorded for us in the books from Genesis to Malachi, we observe instruction in how God wants us live, truths about what is like when we do/don't choose to live this way, and what I will ref