In | Review of the Old Testament

For those of you who have been with us since Genesis in Bible Journey, the Old Testament needs no introduction. For those who have not, this is a good time to do a brief introduction, since the Old Testament was the most important set of books during the Second Temple period in Israel. This is clear in Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels when He or others quote the Old Testament.

See the image above showing the main groupings of book in the Old Testament:

Pentateuch/Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Also known as the Five Books of Moses)

History: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra Nehemiah, Esther

Poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon (Also known as the Wisdom Books, or Wisdom Literature)

Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel

Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

The Old Testament or Hebrew Bible covers everything that happens up until about 400 years before the birth of Jesus, starting with creation. In the Jewish faith there is no distinction between “Old” and “New” Testaments, since the second testament is not recognized as divinely inspired by YHWH. 

The Old Testament is called the “Tanakh” by Jews, using an acronym for the three main groups of Old Testament books—Torah (“Pentateuch”), Nevi’im (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Writings”). These three consonants, T-N-K, are pronounced “Tanakh.”

Notice that the Jewish grouping is more general and that the term “Prophets” includes the genres of history and prophecy. This can remind Christians that history contained a prophetic viewpoint and it was not simply a record of historical events.  

See the chart below that compares the Protestant Christian way of organizing the books of the Old Testament with the Jewish Canon, or Tanakh.