Monday, 28 January 2008 01:00 | and posted in Old Testament
The book order of the Old Testament explained in a way that actually makes sense!
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The first 17 books of the OT are basically story books, telling the history of the Israelite people and God's interactive relationship with them.
The five poetry books form the heart of the OT in many ways. Significantly, they appear in the middle, but they are also intimate portrayals of people relating to God from their heart, from love to fear and from peace to anger.
The prophetic books reveal God's heart for his creation. God uses the prophets to call his people away from idolotary and religious hypocrisy, and to walk in justice and love towards the poor and oppressed. They also highlight the future consequences of disobeying God in order to bring about change in the way God's people are living their lives.
DISLAIMER: This is an overly simplified description of genre within the OT. I have used it because it helps us grasp why the OT books have been ordered as they have been. However, there are loads of genres and sub-genres used throughout the OT and in some books several genres have been employed by the authors to help them communicate with their audience. To understand the OT properly we will need to understand texts within their genres.