J.M. Maclnnis The Historical Order of the Books of the Old Testament BSII8 MI5 S^ //67 w ' / ^^ V^V Of Ffi DEC17 : %ac lAl S' ffhe yiistcrieal ^rder cfthe i^cch cf the ^Id Testament n 1 5 ffhe Mstcrieal ^rder ^^ITps/a cfthe DEC 17 li A %3.GIALSy i^oek^ ct the ^Id Testament REV. J. M. MacINNIS. A. M. LITT. PASTOR FIRST, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.I MONTROSE, PA. THE INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN PRINT, MONTROSE, PA. The Historical Order of the Books of the Old Testament. The purpose of the following outline is three- fold-- First— To enable the scholar, by the law of As- sociation, to remember the books of the Old Testa- ment. Skoo^d — To cultivate an historical sense and in- terest in the study of the Old Testament. Third — And most important of all, to set the messages of these books in their zfrz/e historical setting in order that they may be more easily understood and more intelligently appreciated. In order to fully understand and appreciate the Old Testament it is necessary to constantly remember that it is the history of a people chosen, called, and prepared of God for a special purpose, and that pwvpo^e w lis world-wide in its interests. On the one hand the people w^ere under the government of God, while on the other hand they were in the world and in touch with the great woi'ld powers. The message of the Old Testament can be proper- ly understood only when studied in the light of this twofold relation. History Of Israel. I. The first general Period in the history of Is- rael we will call : The Origin and Fre'paration of the People Outside the Promised Land. The story of this part of their life is told in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. //. TTte people in the promised land — 1 — The Theocracy. Joshua, Judges and Ruth. 2 — The Monarchy. 1 & 2 Sam., l'& 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chron. During the first part of the monarchy this King- dom was united under one King who had his residence ai: Jerusalem, 1051—931 B. C. At the death of Solomon the ten northern tribes revolted against the house of David and crowned Jer- oboam King and finally established their capital at Samaria. III. The people under foreign rule — Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. About 587 B. C, to the close of the Old Testament history. This gives us five historical books for the first pe- riod, three double books for the second, and three for the third period. During the development of this history the peo- ple passed through several crises in which they were threatened with utter destruction. During these crit- ical times God raised up prox)hets who warned and in- structed the people. They were the great preachers of righteousness in their day, and their messages were born of the supreme need of the hour. This was the origin of what are known as the Prophetical books of the Old Testament, and in order to be intelligently studied these books must be studied in the light of the crises that gave them birth. The first group of writing prophets (the prophets whose message is preserved in the Old Testament) Avere raised up to save Israel and Judahfrom destruc- tion by Assyria. World Powers. Here we will give the order of the predominance of the great world empires with which Israel came in- to contact and are mentioned in Old Testament histo- ry and prophecy. Abraham was called from "Ur of the Chaldees," which was on the Western bank of the Euphrates and a part of old Babylonia. This is the nation from which the chosen people were called out, and it was a strong, flourishing em- I)ire as early as 5000 B. C. Khammurabi, whose code of laws was discovered a few years ago and is one of the oldest codes in ex- istence, was one of the greatest Kings of this nation. He reigned about 200 years before Abraham entered Canaan. About 2297-2254 B. C. The next nation with which Israel came into con- tact was Egypt, and it played a most important part in the development of the national life. From about 950 to 606 B. C, Assyria was the dominant world power. This empire flourished in the Valley of the Tigris and Nineveh was one of its capi- tal cities. During this time Israel also came into contact with Syria which had its capital at Damascus. Ben- hadad III was one of the best known kings of Syria. Ill about 606 B. C. Babylonia under the guidance of Nabopolasser gained the ascendancy and flourish- ed until 536 B. C , wlien it was overthrown by Cyrus, King of Ansan, who founded the Medo-Persian em- l^ire. This great world power was the leading power until about 880 B. C, at which time it was overthrown by Macedonia, which in its turn gave way to the iron power of Rome. By this outline you will notice that the Assyrian Period in world ])ower corresponds with the last part of the second half of the II Period in the history of Israel, which is designated as "^Ae time of the divid- ed kingdom.''^ First Group Of Prophets. It was during this time, then, that the first group of writing prophets flourished. There are seven in this group, three belonging to the Northern kingdom, three to the Southern king- dom and one to both. Hosea, Amos and Jonah belonged to the Northern kingdom; Joel, (Jbadiah and Isaiah belonged to the Kingdom of Judah, while Micah had a message for the north and the south. The activity of these pro- phets is connected with the reigns of Tiglathpileser III, Shalmanesser IV, Sargon, and Sennacherib of As- Syria; Benliaclacl TIT, and R- zin of Syrii; Jeroboam II, Zeohariah, Shallura, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea, of Israel; and Araaziah. Uzziah, Jotham, Aliaz, and Hezekiali, of Judah. The work of tlie northern men failnd to bring the nation to repentance, and it was consequently destroy- ed by Sargon about 721 B. C. The work of the southern prophets was crowned with great success and the nation was saved under Hezekiah, and continui^d for about 185 years. Second Group Of Prophets. The next group of propht-ts belonged to the Baby- lonian Peiiod. and were raised up to save Jerusalem from destruction by Babylonia (new Babylonia). This group was com[)osed of Naliurn, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and Jeremiah, atid were contemporaneous with Josiah, Jehoikim, Jehoiacliin and Zedekiah, Kings of J udah;^'a])0])ola.'-ser of Assyria; and Ne- buchadrezzar of New Babylonia — about' G27-586 B. C. JSotwithstanding the clearness, earnestness and self-sacrifice wirh which these preachers of righteous ness set forth the issues of this crisis in the nation's life, Judah turned a deaf ear to tliem, and consequent- ly was overcome and led into captivity by the King of New Babylonia about 087 B. C. But God did not forsake the people. Two of the most intejesting of all the Hebrew prophets were sent to them during the Babylonian captivity— Ezekiel and Daniel. This is known as the Babvlonian Period and was about 70 years long. 606-536 B. C. Third Group Of Prophets. The next group of pi'0[)hets belonged to the Per- sian or Restoration Perioii. Cyrus, thefounder of the Medo- Persian empire overthrew the new Babylonian empire about 538 B. C, and immediately issued an edict allowing a considerable number of the Jews to return to their own land, and to rebuild the temple which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. This work of restoration was carried on under the leadership of Zernbbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and the people were encouraged by Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Poetical Books. Besides these historical and prophetical books, there are poetical books. These are six in number, and are expressive of the inner religious life of the nation. They can be conveniently grouped into two groups. We have first Didactic, or teaching Poetry — Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. In the second group we have Lyric, or emotional poetry — Psalms, Song of Songs, and Lamentations. The key to all this History, Prophecy and Poetry is to be found in the fact that God was endeavoring to teach the chosen people, and demonstrate through them, the fundamental and underlying principle of the universe — Obedience to God is life: Disobedience to God is death. Outline Of Old Testament. In the following chart the books are approxi- mately placed. Naturally some of them overlap, and regarding the exact date of some others there is a dif- ference of opinion. But having carefully considered the facts in the case I feel that the chart is approximately correct. The distinction of **major" and "minor" prophets is not noticed in this outline, for the simple reason that it is superficial and arbitrary and has no real ba- sis in fact. /. The call and preparation of the nation. 1— History, Gen., Ex., Lev., Num., Deut. 2— Poetry, Job. //. Til e people in til e promised land. l_The Theocracy. {a) History. Joshua, Judges and Ruth. 2 — Monarchy. (a) Undivided (1) Hi«5tory— 1 Snni., 2 Sam., I Kings 1-11; and I Chron. (2) Poetry— Psalms 1-90; Proverbs, Ecc, Song of Songs. {h) The monarchy divided. 931-586 B. C. (1) History. 1 Kings 12-22; 2 Kings; 2 Chron. (2) Prophets, Assyrinn Period, Hosea, Amos, and Jonah in Northern kingdom; Joel, Obadiah and Isa- iah in Southern kingdom; and Micah in North and South. Babylonian Period, Nahum, Habak- kuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah. (3) Poetry, most of the later Psalms and Lamentations. ///. The people under foreign rule. 1 — The captivity. (a) History. The most of the history is to be found in the writings of the two prophets of this period, Ezekiel and Daniel. (b) Poetry, some of the later Psalms un- doubtedly belong to this period. 2 — The Restoration. (a) History — Ezra; Nehemiah; Esther. {b) Prophets — Haggai; Zechariah; Mai- achi. (c) Poetry — some of the later Psalms. BS1187.M15 The historical order of the books of the .M!','.",':!^°".T!:'^°'?9'cal Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00051 2014 ^■^^^^•^^