What are the historical books of the Bible?

The Historical Books, including Joshua to the end of Esther.

Having concluded, through the mercy of God, the five books of Moses, or of the Law, ordinarily known as "the fivefold book," or Pentateuch, we now enter upon what is in fact a second Pentateuch, answering in its main divisions to the first, not only in the number of books, but in their character also.

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.

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 next group of sacred writings is from Joshua to Esther, twelve books in our Bibles, but reckoned by the Jews as six.

Our division is — 1st, the law; 2nd, the historical books in their chronological order; 3rd, the devotional books in their presumed order; and 4th, the prophetical in order, partly of time and partly of importance.

And undoubtedly what would seem most natural, in view of the one limitation which Scripture itself has imposed on us, would be in the main what we have in our Bibles, only reversing the order of the poetical and prophetic books. The historical books would thus stand first, in two divisions, — the Pentateuch, or Law, and the rest from Joshua. Here, the chronological order would apparently be the necessary one, with perhaps an exception in the case of Chronicles, which is a rehearsal of the history with a special purpose. Then we should have the Prophets, larger and smaller. Finally, the five poetical books.

The Prophets' (Heb. Nebiim) were divided by the Jews into the 'earlier' and 'latter'; the earlier comprising Joshua, Judges, and the Books of Samuel and Kings, now together generally called the 'Historical Books,' to which, it may be, reference is made in Zech. 7:7, 12 (see the Heb.); and the latter, Isaiah to Malachi, omitting Lamentations and Daniel. Of 'the latter' Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were called 'the greater;' and the order observed in our Hebrew Bibles of the Books bearing their names is that of the Spanish Hebrew MSS. The Talmudic or old Rabbinical arrangement places Jeremiah first. The other Prophets are called 'minor.'

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 three great classes here are thought to be recognized by our Lord Himself in Luke 24:44, where He says to His disciples that "all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me." Here, there are three divisions; and the Prophets come, as in the Hebrew, before the Psalms. This much is clear; but it is not certain, from this, that He meant to put the historical books among the prophets, nor would they come so naturally to be mentioned where He is speaking of fulfillment of prophecy. And again, the mention of the "Psalms" still less sanctions the whole division of Kethubim, strangely composite as it is. The numerical arrangement recognizes the divisions in general, and the order, as the Lord appears to do, while it restores the two prophetic books to what surely seems their natural place, and the five historical books also to their natural connections.

This, the only historical book of the New Testament, supplements the Gospel history and serves as an introduction to the study of the Epistles.

The second group of books comprise what are ordinarily known as the Historical Books, or the Former Prophets. Answering to the second place, they treat of the development and progress of the nation, of the breach which speedily came in, and of God's manifold deliverances. In one sense the book of Judges, with Ruth, would give us the sample of all.