An Old Testament Overview

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.” Genesis 1:1-4

I was having a conversation with a friend when the topic of the Old Testament came up. He mentioned that he felt he should probably pay more attention to it, but it seemed very daunting so he could never bring himself to read it. “How about this,” I offered, then spent a few minutes giving a breakdown of different parts of the O.T. that I used to make it a little easier to digest. He suggested that perhaps I could write it up as a blog post. So, be prepared for a truly Random Thoughts overview of the Old Testament.

But first, why would you want to become familiar with the Old Testament? Here are some reasons: The Old Testament overall is a description of God’s covenant (testament) with Israel. It shows how Israel is set apart from all other nations and that God now had a people from whom He would provide salvation to all humanity. The Law showed us what sin is, the deadly consequence of it, and that it was impossible for fallen humanity to attain the righteousness of God. It proves it is not possible to comply with the requirements to be in covenant relationship with Him on our own. God’s actions in the Old Testament help us understand the character of God and prophesy reveals God’s plan for the ultimate salvation of humanity. Understanding some of the Old Testament gives us a firmer foundation for the New Testament. Jesus and New Testament authors refer to the O.T.. Knowing where those quotes come from is helpful.

In fact, the O.T. is a number of different books of different types. These include prophesy, history, poetry, lifestyle (or ‘wisdom literature’), etc.. It should be noted that the Bible is not chronological. That is, there is overlap between books. For example, Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus all have stories related to Israel’s travels in the desert. Something else to note is that the ‘histories’ of the Bible are not intended to be historic in the sense of accuracy in detail. Their purpose is revelation of God and His interaction with Israel, not recording history. I found this breakout helpful when I got bogged down:

Genesis – As implied, this talks about the beginning. Genesis describes the phenomenon of God creating everything. Man is the pinnacle of that creation, but went astray. Moving from describing the phenomenon of the origin, Genesis also has genealogies and history. Some Bible stories such as Noah and the Ark, the tower of Babel, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the migration of Jacob to Egypt, among many others are found here.

Exodus – Here is the expansion of the nation Israel in Egypt, the betrayal of Israel by Pharaoh, Moses at the burning bush, the signs performed by Aaron and Moses and the Exodus from Egypt. Exodus also describes the life of rebellious Israel in the desert, the giving of the ten commandments and other laws to the Israelite nation, as well as describing the Tabernacle which was to be God’s dwelling place among the Israelites.

Leviticus – This describes expansion of the laws, including the priesthood, offerings and sacrifices among other laws related to society and social interaction.

Numbers – Named this because of censuses that were taken before and during the time of Israel wandering in the wilderness. Numbers is primarily about the time between Sinai and the arrival at the borders of the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy – Moses rehearses the revelation of the ten commandments and the law, as well as things that happen in the Exodus. It serves as kind of a ‘farewell address’ for Moses, since he was denied going into the Promised Land. It makes a good overview of the situation of Israel.

Joshua – Joshua takes over from Moses as leader of the Israelites. ‘Be strong and courageous for the Lord is with you.’ is the theme of Joshua. The conquest of the Promised Land is described in this book, beginning with the story of the fall of Jericho.

Judges – This is the story of Israel after Joshua dies. In spite of their (failed) promise to keep the covenant with God, Israel is in decline. They turn from the Lord and are harassed by foreign armies. ‘Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’ When the people called out to God for relief, men and women called ‘judges’ came forth to lead them to deliverance.

1 & 2 Samuel – Samuel is the last of the judges, but also has a role as priest and prophet. Israel demanded a king ‘like those of other nations’ and Samuel was called on to provide one. These books describe Saul being anointed king, his adventures and misadventures. Saul is killed in battle and David is anointed king. The life of David ‘a man after God’s own heart’ is described, warts and all.

1 & 2 Kings – These books take up with the death of King David. Solomon is anointed king after him. Solomon is the king who ‘excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom’. After his death, the kingdom is divided between the southern tribe and the northern tribes, called Israel and Judah. We find more emphasis on the role of the Prophet in these volumes. Here you find short stories of the kings, good and bad. The challenge is to keep the different kings of the northern and southern kingdoms straight as the stories are often interwoven.

1 & 2 Chronicles – These largely retell the history of Judah for the exiles returning from Babylonia. There is a focus on genealogies at first, and the reigns of David and Solomon, but then the focus shifts to warning, recalling Judah’s decline into sin which caused their exile.

Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther – These are inspiring (to me, anyway) stories of God using more-or-less ordinary people in extraordinary ways to save his people and return them to the promised land.

Job – This is a story of the sovereignty of God and the inability of humans to comprehend the purposes and work of God.

Psalms – Poetry or songs which are popular because people find them very relatable whether they are having a mountaintop experience or a dark valley experience. The psalmists are very transparent about how they feel in all kinds of circumstances.

Proverbs and Ecclesiastes – These are words of wisdom. They are not written as commands, but rather as observations. A person might consider them words by which to understand and live a good life. Though Ecclesiastes is often thought of as kind of a downer book, the end messages is “Live a good life dedicated to God and enjoy yourself.”

‘Major’ and ‘Minor’ Prophets – The main difference between major and minor prophets is their length, not their importance. There are four major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel) and twelve minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.) The purpose of the prophets is primarily to encourage, warn of the effects of wrongdoing, give glimpses of future times to show the veracity of God’s word, and point to the coming Messiah. The prophetic books use different types of writing to communicate such as narration, biography and poetry. From the prophets comes the relatively well known stories of ‘the children of Israel in the fiery furnace’, ‘Daniel in the lions den’, ‘Jonah and the great fish’ and Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dried bones coming to life.

When you dive into the O.T., be aware that it is not imperative that you read through it sequentially. Start with books that are of most interest to you. Some people like Psalms or Proverbs as a starting point, others the Prophets, and still others Genesis. There are other books not mentioned in this post. That is for brevity, not because they do not add to the O.T. experience. Most Bibles have a short summary of the books at the beginning. That can be helpful to determine if you would like to start there.

I’d be curious if any of you find this post encouraging for you to start looking into, or looking closer at, the Old Testament. Comment and let me know what you think.

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