The Old Testament is the first major part of the Bible, giving an account of God's interaction with the Jewish people through their history. To Christians, the Old Testament is, throughout its pages, building up to the coming of Jesus.

It consists of 39 books, that are often divided into the categories of law, history, poetry (or wisdom books) and prophecy. Within these categories, it gives an account of creation, and then follows the story of God's interaction with the Jewish people, through their slavery in Egypt, conquest of the Promised land, strengthening kingdom, and finally its division and the people's exile. An brief approximate timeline of the Old Testament is shown below:

Although all of these books were written before the birth of Jesus, they still show a picture of the same God that the New Testament does. In particular, the Old Testament also reveals a loving God of forgiveness and grace.

To Jewish people, the Old Testament is known as the Tannakh, which is an acronym for the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy), Nebiim (Books of the prophets) and Kethubim (or Writings).

Books of the Old Testament

The Old Testament is divided into 39 books in English. These books are not all written in the same style, but are different types of genres. Loosely, the genres are sometimes categorized as

• Law
• History
• Poetry and Wisdom
• Major Prophets
• Minor Prophets

A full list of all the books in order as they appear in the Bible is: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi

Torah - Books of the Law

The Torah consists of the first five books of the Bible. The first book, Genesis, tells about the creation of the universe and God choosing a person (Abraham) to be the father of his people. The next four books (Exodus to Deuteronomy) describe God saving his people from slavery in Egypt and giving them the law by which they were to live, including the Ten Commandments.

Historical Books of the Old Testament and Poetical Books of the Old Testament

Writings range from the historical, such as the Book of Joshua, the Samuels, Chronicles, or Kings to poetry such as Song of Solomon, or Psalms and wisdom such as the Book of Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs. They describe the nature of God such as Psalm 23, the wisdom of God and man's reaction such as in Job, or the History of Israel and God's involvement such as establishing King David and his legacy which led to Jesus, his most famous descendant of all.

Prophetic Books of the Old Testament

The Prophets take up a large body of space in the Old Testament. They range from the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Jeremiah who are classified as the Major prophets to the books of Hosea, Joel, and Jonah who are Minor prophets. Prophets were divinely appointed spokesmen for God. The Hebrew word for prophet 'nabi' means spokesman. They preached about the corruption of Israel, God's judgement and His future restoration. One vital cornerstone that has bearing for us would be the coming of the Messiah. This is mentioned, for example, in Isaiah 53 and last chapters of Zechariah.

Old Testament History

The Old Testament tells the story of God interacting with his people. It is history. It records stories about real people with real experiences and real emotions, living in a real society. The majority of this history is focussed on the history of the lands of ancient Israel and Judah. However, this history is not exhaustive - it doesn't record all that happened. The focus of its history is to outline:

• God's overall plan for his creation
• Israel's role in that plan
• Individual people within that plan

A brief timeline is shown below:

Old Testament Themes and Theology

The Old Testament sets the stage for what happens in the New Testament. Its overall theme is about God reaching out his hand of love and mercy to his people. Some of the key themes in it include:

• The one true God, Yahweh
• Israel
• Promised Land
• Covenant
• Sin
• Salvation
• Hope

Old Testament Geography

An understanding of the geography of the region can help bring the stories of the Old Testament to life more. There are 4 geographical north-south regions of Israel, in order of west to east:

• Flat and fertile plains along the coast
• Valleys and hills
• The Jordan Rift Valley
• Highland regions (now in modern day Jordan)

The people living in this part of the world varied through the history described in the New Testament. When Abraham, the father of the Jewish people arrived, there were already people living in towns in the area. After his descendants moved to Egypt and were enslaved there for 4 centuries, these towns grew and developed and when the Israelites returned from Egypt, numerous battles were fought with the land finally becoming filled with the people of the Jewish nation. For a number of centuries the land was almost exclusively Jewish, although it did divide in a civil war into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. This division lasted until waves of attacks by Assyrian and then Babylonian armies resulted in capture of the people and forced exile of the Jews. But by the time of Jesus however, many of the Jewish people at returned, although the country was by this time under the control of the powerful Roman Empire.

Other literature from the Ancient Near East

Apart from the Old Testament, there is other literature from that time and region. Some of this literature includes creation stories and myths (such as the Enuma Elish), records from royal courts, conventants and laws, and poetry and wisdom literature from other ancient civilizations. These can be useful to help give more context (both in terms of type of literature and also in dating) to the Old Testament.

Category: Bible | Category: Old Testament