Old Testament survey

The Bible might be conveniently divided into six main parts; the Old Testament into three, and the New Testament into three. The Old Testament Scriptures are familiarly spoken of as "Moses and the Prophets" (Luke 16:29; Matt. 11:13); but a fuller division of the 39 sacred books of the former revelation will be found contained in Luke 24:44 — "The law of Moses, the prophets, the psalms." The first comprises the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy; the second embraces the historical books from Joshua to Esther, and the more direct prophetic section from Isaiah to Malachi; the third, the remaining five books from Job to Song of Solomon.

The historical books of the Old Testament, outside of the books of Moses, form a most natural division of it, and their unity in this way one would think impossible to be questioned did we not know that in fact among the Jews generally another order obtains. This we must consider presently. The order in our Bibles is that of the Septuagint, and we assume it for the present as the true one. According to this, there are nine historical books which follow Deuteronomy; but these fall easily into five divisions, Ruth being but a supplement to Judges, Samuel and Kings giving together the history of the monarchy, with the events which gave it birth, while the three books of the captivity, or the times of subjection to Gentile rule, similarly come together. Thus we have, — Joshua. Judges, with Ruth. The Books of the Kings (Samuel and Kings). The Books of the Captivity (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther). Chronicles.

Thus, while as history these books fill their place, and are (except, for a plain reason, Chronicles,) in necessary chronological order, the five divisions into which they fall are confirmed and explained by the numerical structure, which, in common with all Scripture, they thus exhibit. But we cannot pass on until we have fairly looked at and answered as we may the objection that will be raised on the ground of the different arrangement of the Hebrew canon. Is this authoritative? and if not, is there any that is so?

A reader of our English Bible finds one invariable arrangement of the books throughout, and is naturally apt to think this as much inspired as are the books themselves; but this is only the result of such a uniformity of copies as has been brought about by printing. The order in our books is, in general, as to the Old Testament, the order of the Septuagint, the Greek translation, which was in general use in our Lord's time among those that spoke Greek. But this is very naturally spoiled, for many, by the introduction of apocryphal books among the canonical ones. The Hebrew has also, as being such, quite intelligibly, the preference in the minds of most. In the Hebrew arrangement, there is a classification of books under three heads, — "the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings." Here, the Prophets come next to the Law, — i.e., the five books of Moses; but the four historical books — Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, — these, and no more than these, — are counted among these as "former prophets," clearly upon the ground of their being presumed to be written by such. The rest of these are referred to the Kethubim, or "Writings," as well as Daniel and Lamentations from the Prophets; and the "Writings" fall thus into three divisions: first, the Psalms, Proverbs, Job; secondly, the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther; thirdly, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

The divisions are — The Books of the Law, in which are enforced God's almighty power and sovereign rights. The Covenant History. 2 is the number of legal covenant, and this characterizes the whole. Thus it is a history of discord, division, and the enemy's power, though with divine interventions in deliverances, which stand as types and assurances of the final deliverance to come. The Prophets then give us God's voice — the reasoning of divine holiness with man, that he may be partaker of it, as it is seen in the visions of the future he shall be, and the glory of God be then fully displayed. The Psalm-books are the books of experience and trial in the world, — speaking of the lessons he has learned in it, the wisdom which is their outcome, and the goodness of God which turns sorrow into song.

We may here add that the sixteen prophetical books from Isaiah to Malachi (Lamentations included in Jeremiah) are, in our English Bibles, arranged in the main in chronological order; the first four are strictly chronological, although preceded by some of the lesser prophets. But what is of more value to us, and manifests moreover the hand of God, is the moral arrangement of these writings. The last historical book of the Old Testament is Nehemiah, while the last prophetic book is Malachi. Thus from Genesis to Nehemiah you have sixteen books, the sum of Old Testament history; while from Isaiah to Malachi you have sixteen books, the sum of Old Testament prophecy.

All Jews and Jewish writers in ancient times regarded the book as a sacred one, and it has always formed part of the Hebrew canon unquestioned till modern times. It also received the seal of the risen Lord as contributing its quota of testimony to Himself — His sufferings and glories (Luke 24:44).

The Prophets.

Prophecy and God's government of the earth, having Palestine as the land, Jerusalem, then Babylon, and again Jerusalem as city and centre, Judah or Israel as the people, and the glory of Christ as the object, form the ground-work and basis of the prophetic revelations contained in the books from Isaiah to Malachi. The Prophets are divided into "four greater" and "twelve minor prophets," Lamentations being included in the prophecies of Jeremiah. These books are so divided and termed because of the extent of their writings. Prophetic utterances and prophetic signs were generally communicated by "vision" (Isa. 6) or "word of the Lord" (Jer. 2:1).

Thus, the second of the Pentateuchs is composed of the historical books. Here, we have in Joshua, a new beginning, a new Genesis. In Judges, an Exodus with its bondages and deliverances. In the books of the Kings (Samuel and Kings), we have the temple as the sanctuary and centre for a new Leviticus. The books of the captivity, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, are a book of Numbers,with wilderness wanderings and mercy; while in Chronicles, we have that which answers to Deuteronomy, a resume of history, with the special object of reviewing and applying the lessons which have been before us.

The last of the Old Testament books, the poetical, are also grouped into a Pentateuch. Here, the book of Psalms stands in its prominence for a Genesis as a seed plot of all. Job narrates, in the language of experience, the deliverance of the individual not only from the bondage of trial, but from the more galling bondage of self-righteousness. The Song of Songs is the sanctuary or Leviticus of experience; while Ecclesiastes, as Numbers, points out many a weary road over the wilderness which faith can avoid; and Proverbs again gathers up the experience of the way into practical lessons answering to Deuteronomy.

The Prophetic Books. Name of Book — Corresponds To — Spiritual Theme. Isaiah — Genesis — God's Counsels for His Chosen People. Jeremiah and Lamentations — Exodus — Divine Sorrow and Salvation for a Sinful People. Ezekiel — Leviticus — Cleansing and a Sanctuary for a Defiled People. Daniel — Numbers — Times, Testing, and Failure of the Gentiles. The Minor Prophets — Deuteronomy — Principles and Ways of Divine Government.

We could not think of putting the Pentateuch in any other but its present place, at the beginning of the entire Book of inspiration. Morally, historically and doctrinally, it forms the introduction to all that comes after. If, for instance, we plunged into the history of Israel in Joshua, we would be ignorant of the antecedents of the nation, of God's ways with them, and of the reasons which had led Him to take them up in distinction from all other nations. Similarly, if we placed the Pentateuch at the close of the Old Testament, we would have found that the remaining books of the Prophets and Psalms were largely inexplicable. The same may be said of the New Testament. This is too obvious to dwell upon, but it is important to see how the historical and biographical facts, the account of the moral condition and development of the race as a whole, and of Israel as a nation, the nature of the relation of God to man in its inception and progressive character, are all recorded in the Pentateuch, and are absolutely essential to our understanding of what comes after, either in the New or Old Testament.