A friend of mine asked me to help him understand the Old Testament. He’s reading it, but he wanted a framework for thinking about its individual parts, the 39 books that make up the Old Testament. Here are two different perspectives on the big picture of the Old Testament.
The first is a framework for thinking about its construction–how we got the books that we got. The second is a framework for thinking about its meaning or spiritual significance. In each successive age, God revealed new things about His plan for the world.
Construction of the Old Testament
- The first major period of construction of the Old Testament was in the lifetime of Moses. He described how Israel became a nation and gave them a constitution for the religious and political life of the divinely chosen nation. You find this material in Genesis-Joshua.
- The second major period was the establishment of the Monarchy under David and Solomon. David built the temple to replace the portable tent for God’s worship. He then wrote and compiled songs for temple worship. We call these “psalms,” a word that really just means “songs.” Solomon wrote a significant amount of what is called the wisdom literature, applying God’s wisdom to all of life. You can read the history of this period in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and the first part of 1 Kings. The wisdom literature of Solomon is found in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.
- The next three periods of revelation related to the challenges the Israelite nation faced in a divided monarchy: Israel in the north and Judah in the south (where the descendants of David ruled). The first of these major crises was the threat to the nation’s existence from the Assyrian Empire. This was addressed by Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum. The history is found in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
- The second major crisis was the threat from the Babylonian Empire and the consequent exile of the people of Judah to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). This was addressed and interpreted by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. You can read of the history of this crisis at the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
- The third major crisis was the exile and the return from exile. The people of Judah were relocated in Babylon and elsewhere. In fulfillment of God’s promise, they returned to the land of Canaan/Israel. This was a spiritual renewal as well as a physical return. This crisis was interpreted in the books of Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezekiel, and Daniel. You can read the history of this return in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. To this era, we also owe the final compilation of the histories of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel in 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles (Chronicles is the last book in the Jewish ordering of the books of the Old Testament).
The Spiritual Significance
- The first 3 chapters of Genesis are crucial because they show the pattern for the proper ordering of human life under god. It also tells how the harmony of the original creation was disrupted by mankind’s rejection of God’s order.
- Most of Genesis is the story of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). In them, God gave us a pattern of faith as well as promises redemption of the world through one of their descendants (see, for example, Gensis 12:1–3).
- When Israel became a nation, God raised up a prophet, namely Moses, to speak on His behalf and explain to people how to be reconciled with God and live according to His divinely appointed order. God promised that there would be a prophet who definitively revealed God’s full plan for the redemption of the world (Dt. 18:15–18).
- God was present in a tent with the people of Israel (the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). This tent was the place of worship. It pointed to the work of the coming Messiah (see Is. 53 and Hebrews). This portable tent for God’s worship was later replaced with the permanent temple in Jerusalem but with the same basic function and purpose.
- God established a king (David) and promised his son (read: “descendant”) an eternal kingdom. The glory of that future kingdom was pictured in the glorious reigns of Solomon and David. You can read meditations on the connection between the reign of David and the future Savior-King of the world in Psalms 2, 22, 45, 72, 110, and others.
- The prophets interpreted history and called for spiritual renewal and repentance in preparation for God’s coming kingdom and judgment. They also further explained God’s gracious plan for the salvation of the entire world in spite of the people’s regular rejection of God’s purposes and plan.
- The return from exile illustrated the spiritual renewal that God will effect in the lives of His people throughout the world at the coming of the Messiah. The failure of the restoration of a monarch in a kingdom also served to illustrate the spiritual and universal nature of His kingdom.
No doubt you can slice this up in other ways, but these are two ways that I have found helpful for thinking about the Old Testament. I hope that you’ll pick up your Bible or open the app of it on your cell phone. It is my heartfelt belief that anyone who does will be blessed in the reading of this amazing collection of books from the ancient world that reveal God’s own thoughts and purpose for the world.