My Blueprint
As you pick up your Bible, you discover it is not just a single book. The Old Testament itself comprises 39 separate pieces of literature! As you look closer, you find the Old Testament is divided into five different sections. Men through the centuries grouped these books into logical categories.
1. Books of Moses (Law). There are five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
2. Books of the History of the Jews. There are twelve books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, two books of Samuel, two books of Kings, two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
3. Books of Poetry / Widsom. There are five books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs).
4. Books of Major Prophets. There are five books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (also written by Jeremiah), Ezekiel, and Daniel. These are called “major” because they are longer books.
5. Books of Minor Prophets. There are twelve books: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These are called “minor” because they are shorter books.
In each of the categories above, the books have been placed in chronological order (as close as possible). The books of Moses contain a lot of history as well as the law and Joshua picks up where Deuteronomy leaves off.
Most of the Poetry and Wisdom literature was written by kings David and Solomon and by others during their time period.
The books of the Prophets all fit back into the history somewhere. These extra writings aren’t exactly history but were written by characters in the history. For instance, the prophets Isaiah and Hosea both prophesied during the reign of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (read about them in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles). The prophet Amos also prophesied during the reign of king Uzziah, but he prophesied to the kingdom of Israel to the north of Judah.
A good understand of how the Old Testament is compiled is extremely helpful in our studies. I always like to start from the high-level look and then work down to the details. And remember these stories were not recorded as a comprehensive history, but these sections of Scripture were selected by the Holy Spirit to be recorded and preserved for our sakes today! Every writing in the Old and New Testaments are for our learning (1 Corinthians 10:6: “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved”).
God bless,
Nathan
