Lesson 9 -
The Books of the Old Testament
DIVISIONS:
There are a total of 39 books in the Old Testament (see Chart 2). The books are neither arranged
Historically nor Chronologically. However, they may be divided according to the following
categories or subjects: .
- The Books of Law: The first five books (called the Pentateuch) of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy were written by Moses and are called the Law of Moses.
- The Books of History: There are twelve books that
contain accounts of God's chosen people, their Judges (see Table 1) , their Kings, (see Table 2) ,the
dissolution of the nation (the Divided Kingdom), the final destruction and captivity of
Israel and Judah, and the post captivity era. Sequentially these books are: Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra,
Nehemiah, and Esther. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther are accounts of events that
followed the period after the return from captivity. Only a remnant of a once great nation
returned.
3.
The Book of Psalms: The book of Psalms is poetic in
literary form. It contains writings which were set to music and
sung in a congregational
setting during the devotional services of the people. It is the longest book in the Bible.
4.
The Books of Wisdom: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Solomon, are called the Books of Wisdom. However, they
are sometimes classified as Poetry
because of their structure.
5. Major Prophets: There are 5 books of major
prophecy: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. The Major
Prophets are
considered to be: Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah They are called "major" only
because they wrote
rather extensively (longer books) in comparison to the Minor Prophets.
(see Table3 for the major Prophets)
6. Minor prophets: There are 12 books of Minor
Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi. The Minor Prophets are no less important than the Major Prophets
because
they also are God's spokesmen. They are called minor only because their writings
are shorter than those of the Major
Prophets. This designation, however, should not
diminish, in our minds, their role in conveying God's messages to the
people. (see Table 3 for the minor Prophets)Top
Home Previous Table of Contents
Next
Page last updated:
March 03, 2003