OT Events and Books & Sets of Books in the OT

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Primeval History

• Creation
• Fall
• Flood
• Tower Babel

Noahic Covenant

Patriarchs (~2100)

• Abraham
• Isaac (Remember Ishmael)
• Jacob = Israel (Twin Esau)
• 12 sons → 12 tribes
• Joseph & the entry into Egypt

Noahic Covenant ends
Abrahamic Covenant

Bondage in Egypt (~1876)

• 400 years in Egypt

Exodus & Sinai (1446)

Traditional date of the Exodus 1446.

• Moses
• 10 Plagues
• Exodus
• Law given at Mt. Sinai

Abrahamic Covenant ends
Sinai Covenant (with Israel)

40 Years Wandering in the Wilderness

• 12 Spies (Joshua & Caleb)
• Spy out the land for 40 days
• Disobedience at Kadesh-Barnea
• 40 Years Decreed
  • Punishment
  • Teenagers lived (19 and below)

Conquest (1400)

• Joshua
• Jericho

Judges (1000)

• Failure to drive out the Canaanites
  • God will no longer go out with their armies
• Samson - last judge
• Had no king everyone did according to their own eyes

United Monarchy (966)

• Saul
• David
• Solomon
• Temple

Davidic Covenant (with David & his Son)

Divided Kingdom (931)

• Kingdom splits after the death of Solomon
  • 10 Tribes in the North
  • Judah & Benjamin in the South

Judah Alone (722)

• Fall of Samaria
• 19 kings (all bad)
• Captive by the Assyrian Empire

New Covenant prophesied

Exile (587)

• Fall of Jerusalem
• 1st Temple Destroyed
• Captive by the Babylonian Empire

Post-Exilic Period (516)

• Return from exile in Babylon
• 2nd Temple (Re-)Built
  • 500 years before Herod by Ezra / Nehemiah
  • Herod add to it
• PEP (They are under the PErsia empire)

Covenants

Key Events

Supplemental Dates

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• (1-4) The creation, the fall of mankind into sin & judgment; Noah & the flood; the tower of Babel.

• (5) The call of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac & Jacob/Israel). God gives them three main promises:

  • He will make them into …
  • He will give them …
  • He will …

  These promises are also called the Abrahamic Covenant . Gen 12, 15, 17, 22. In the New Testament, important chapters for the Abrahamic covenant are:

• (6) Joseph, and the entry of the patriarchs into Egypt. They spend 400 years there. Over time, they are oppressed more and more by the Egyptians, until they cry out to God.

• (7) The exodus: God’s delivers Israel from Egypt via the 10 plagues & the Red Sea. 1446 BC.

• (8) The nation of Israel arrives at Mt. Sinai.

  There they have a monumental encounter with God through Moses.

  • They receive the 10 Commandments and the rest of the Law.
  • They build the golden calf (Exod 32).
  • They build the ark of the covenant and the Tabernacle.

• (9) The Sinai Covenant .

  In particular at Mt Sinai, Israel enters into a special relationship with God, namely, the ‘Sinai covenant’ (Exod 19–24).

  The main dynamic of the Sinai Covenant is this: (Exod 19, Lev 26, Deut 7, Deut 28)

  • If → Israel will …

    then, God will …

  • But if → Israel dishonors Yahweh, breaks the laws of the Sinai covenant, and if they worship other gods, then …

  So note carefully:

• (10) After the 12 spies spy out the land from Kadesh-Barnea, Israel decides not to enter the land.

  Their subsequent punishment is 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, while the entire unbelieving generation dies off. Num 13 & 14; 26:6-65; then later Deut 1 & 2; Josh 5:5-7. See also Psalm 95:8–11.

• (11) After the 40 years are completed, they enter the land under Joshua. Israel is generally faithful to God at this time. Joshua, esp. chs. 1-2, 7, 11, 22-24.

• (12) But not long after Joshua dies, Israel becomes unfaithful to God, and even begins to worship idols and other gods. This is the time of the Judges. The book of Judges repeats the refrain, “And again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” There is a downward cycle in the book of Judges (see Judges ch. 2). // Israel cries out for a king.

• (13) Saul becomes Israel’s first king. But he disobey God, and loses his kingship. He persecutes David for no good reason. Saul is eventually rejected by God.

• (14) David becomes king; he wins many victories. He brings the ark to Jerusalem. ±1000 BC.

• (15) The Davidic Covenant

  God promises David that a son of his (“God’s anointed”) will reign on the throne forever; David’s son will be God’s Son. 2 Sam 7; 2 Chron 17; Ps 2, Ps 89, Ps 110, Ps 132.

• (16) David’s personal failures: His adultery with Bathsheba and effective murder of Uriah the Hittite. David’s own son Absalom (a handsome but godless young man) rebels of against him. David is succeeded by his son Solomon.

• (17) Solomon builds the temple; the ark of the covenant is brought to reside there. 966/960 BC.

• (18) 931 BC. Solomon dies, and the kingdom divides into two kingdoms:

  • Northern-kingdom ‘Israel’ (“NKI”, 10 tribes), whose capital is __; and,
  • Judah (2 tribes), whose capital is __ . 1 Kgs 11 & 12.

• (19) Jeroboam (1st king of NKI) sets up centers of worship at Bethel & Dan (“The sin of Jeroboam”).  // Shortly after this time is when …

• (20) As the result of scorning God, worshipping other gods and breaking the Sinai covenant, Samaria was laid waste by the Assyrians. Most of the northern 10 tribes were scattered into Assyria’s empire, and Gentiles were imported into the region of Samaria. 2 Kings 17. 722 BC.

• (21) The prophet Jeremiah announces a ‘new covenant’ , which will come in the future (Jer 31). Its two main dynamics are:

  • (1)
  • (2)

• (22) As the result of scorning God, worshipping other gods and breaking the Sinai covenant, Jerusalem is laid waste by the Babylonians, the temple is destroyed, and the nation is dragged off into exile to Babylon (587 BC). 2 Kings 25, 36; Jer 39 & 52; Ezek 20-23, 33. 587 BC.

• (23) The Jews return from exile (announced in 2 Chronicles 36, and in Ezra ch. 1), after 70 years.

• (24) They rebuild the temple. Ezra 1-6. The 2nd Temple is completed in 516 BC.

• (25) They later rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1-6).

  The people are back in the land, and there is no more idolatry. The promises to Abraham and the promise of a son of David, the Messiah, remain. But the mood is not positive, and the people are not as faithful to God as could be hoped (Neh 10-13; see similarly Haggai & Malachi). That is where the Old Testament ends.

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A. Some Basic Facts about the Books of the Bible:

As you probably know, the two main divisions in the Bible are the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The total number of books in the Bible is:

The Old Testament has … The New Testament has …

Q: Is the “Old Testament” the same thing as what the Bible calls “the Old Covenant”?

Q: Is the “New Testament” the same thing as what the Bible calls “the New Covenant”?

Answers:

• The Old Testament is …
• The old covenant is …
• The New Testament is …
• The new covenant is …

B. What are the Main Sets of Books in the Old Testament?

The books of the Old Testament fall into four natural sets, four natural groupings:

• The Pentateuch,
• the Historical Books,
• the Wisdom Books,
• and the Prophets.

1. The Pentateuch / the Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy

   We will provide a brief summary of the Pentateuch in H/O #06.

2. The Historical Books:

   The OT historical books fall into two main groups:

   1. The books that tell the history of God working with and through Israel before the exile:

      Joshua, Judges, & Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings.

   2. The books that review that history up until the exile, and then continue that history after the exile.

      1 & 2 Chronicles, and then Ezra & Nehemiah, and Esther.

3. The Wisdom Books: (sometimes called the “Poetic Books”)

   The OT wisdom books give us wisdom for living. Many of the psalms were written by … Two wisdom books, Proverbs & Ecclesiastes, are associated with … The five wisdom / poetic books are:

   • Job
   • Psalms
   • Proverbs
   • Ecclesiastes
   • Song of Songs (also called ‘Song of Solomon’)

4. The Prophets / the Prophetic Books:

   There are total of 16 books of the prophets in the Old Testament.

   The prophets are commonly divided into the major prophets, and the minor prophets.

   There are three major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel) and 12 minor prophets. Jews sometimes refer to the minor prophets as …

   The major prophets are simply much longer than the minor prophets.

   • The major prophets are each approx… .
   • The minor prophets, on average, are about …
   • All of the minor prophets taken together add up to be about the length of one major prophet.

   There is one prophetic book that is in a category by itself:

   Daniel is not one of the major prophets, and Jews do not include it with “the Twelve.”

   The three major prophets are (Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel) are in the order that they fall into chronologically.

   [The book of Lamentations is associated with … . ]

   The twelve minor prophets naturally divide into three groups:

   1. The books that take place during the …

      Joel; Hosea, Amos, & Micah; Jonah // Obadiah (?)

   2. The books that take place during the …

      Nahum, Habakkuk, & Zephaniah // Obadiah (??)

   3. The books that take place after the …

      Haggai & Zechariah; Malachi.

   There is broad agreement that the last historical book written was:

   There is also broad agreement that the last prophetic book written was:

   They were both written around 450 BC. The period of time from after them until when Jesus comes is often called “the 400 silent years.” It is also called “the inter-testamental period.” It ends when people recognize that John the Baptist is a prophet.