The Structure of the Bible

The Bible is very special. It is more than a book. It is a whole library. If you go to a public library you will notice something. The books for each subject are in the same place. There are different shelves. Each shelf has a clear mark. And each subject has its own place. History and Geography are there. There is a place for Religion. There is a place for Business Studies. Plays and Poetry are there. There are also Music and Songs. There is a place for Life Stories. And other subjects are there too. So, it is easy to find the book that you want. You do not have to look at every book.

Think about a library. It has many books. There are many subjects. And the Bible is the same. God knows men and women. He knows that they are all different. The things that interest them are not the same. Their ideas are not the same. The way that they give a message varies too. One person may not like a particular method. But another person may agree with it. Then that person will want to obey it.

God has a message. It is for every person. That message is in the Bible. And God used all sorts of people to write it. So, they gave God's message in different ways. The Bible is a library. We will have a brief look at it. And we will notice the variety of its books.

The OLD TESTAMENT has three main divisions:

  • History
  • Poetry
  • Prophecy.

History

This is a group of 17 books. It is the story of God's people. It records major events in their history. But it is much more than this. It explains about the Covenant or the Law. God made a special agreement with the Jews. And this group of books explains how they obeyed it in the next centuries.

  • Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. These books tell us about the early history of the Jews. This was before they owned the land that God had promised to give them.
  • Joshua, Judges, Ruth. The Jews entered the land. And the story continues in these books.
  • 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles. These books start with the story of the first king of the Jews. The books continue until the time of the exile. This was the time when a powerful nation attacked the Jews. The nation was called Babylon. And the Jews became their slaves.
  • Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. God caused the enemy to release the Jews. And they returned to the land that God had given to them.

Poetry

This includes the songs that the Jews used to worship God. The advice of Israel's ‘wise men’ is also there. They told their people important truths. They were truths about life. God used them to do this. They showed people how they ought to live. And they showed them how to enjoy life. The name for this group of books is ‘Wisdom Writings’.

The Bible books are: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs.

Prophecy

[Note: A prophecy is a special message. It comes from God, and it often tells about the future. A prophet is the one who gives that message.]

This is a large group of books. They are the words of famous Jewish prophets. They spoke in public. But only a few loyal people followed them. And they wrote down the prophets’ messages. These books contain much history too. There are approximate dates for each prophet. They will be with the details about each book. They are as near as possible to the right years.

  • Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah (with Lamentations), Ezekiel, Daniel.
  • Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

[Note: The word ‘minor’ is about their size. It has nothing to do with their importance.]

Notice something about Daniel. We could almost put this book on its own. Jews do not think that it is prophecy. There are two types of writing in Daniel. There is history. Then there are ‘apocalyptic ‘ words. This means words that ‘take off the cover’. It speaks about the future.

The NEW TESTAMENT has three main divisions:

  • History
  • Letters
  • Prophecy.

History

  • The life of Jesus on earth: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
  • The work of the first church members: Acts.

Letters

  • Letters by Paul: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon.
  • Letters by other Christian leaders: Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1,2 & 3 John, Jude.

Prophecy

  • The Book of Revelation.