The Structure of the Books of the Old Testament According to the Hebrew Canon
This Is Appendix 1 From The Companion Bible.
I. THE LAW (Torah).
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GENESIS. The beginning. All produced by the Word of God (Genesis 1:3). Israel as a "family" (Genesis 15:1).
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EXODUS. History. Israel emerging from Families and Tribes to a Nation. Called "Hebrews" according to their "tongue."
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LEVITICUS. Worship. Jehovah in the midst. He, Israel's God; and they, His People.
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NUMBERS. History. Israel, now a "Nation," numbered, and blessed as such (23, 24).
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DEUTERONOMY. The end. All depending on the Word of Jehovah. Israel regarded as in the "Land."
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II. THE PROPHETS (Nebi'im).
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JOSHUA. "The Lord of all the earth" giving possession of the Land. Government under Priests.
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JUDGES. Israel forsaking and returning to God; losing and regaining their position in the Land. "No king." Bethlehem. Failure under Priests.
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SAMUEL. Man's king "rejected"; God's king (David) "established."
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KINGS. Decline and Fall under the kings.
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ISAIAH. Final blessing under God's King.
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JEREMIAH. Human kings "rejected." David's "righteous Branch" "raised up."
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EZEKIEL. God forsaking Israel, and returning in glory, to say for ever of His Land and city "Jehovah-Shammah."
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MINOR PROPHETS. "The Lord of all the earth" giving restored possession of the Land, and foretelling final and unending possession.
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III. THE PSALMS (Kethubim Writings).
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PSALMS. Tehillim. "Praises." God's purposes and counsels as to His doings in the future.
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PROVERBS, that is to say, Rules: Words which govern or rule man's life. God's moral government set forth.
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JOB. "The end of the Lord" shown in Satan's defeat, and the saints deliverance from tribulation.
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CANTICLES. Virtue rewarded. Read by the Jews at the Passover: the Feast which commemorates the deliverance from Pharaoh, the Jews' oppressor.
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RUTH. The stranger gathered in to hear of, and share in, God's goodness in Redemption. Read at Pentecost, which commemorates God's goodness in the Land.
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LAMENTATIONS. "Alas!" The record of Israel's woes. Read at the Fast of the ninth of Abib.
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ECCLESIASTES. "The Preacher." The People collected to hear of man's vanity. Read at the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates God's goodness in the wilderness.
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ESTHER. Virtue rewarded. Read at the Feast of Purim, which commemorates the deliverance from Haman, "the Jews' enemy."
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DANIEL. "God's judgment." Here are shown the final defeat of Antichrist, and the deliverance out of "the Great Tribulation."
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EZRA-NEHEMIAH. Men who governed and ruled God's People in their resettlement in the Land.
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CHRONICLES. Dibrae hayyamim. "Words of the Days"; or, God's purposes and counsels as to Israel's doings in the past, and until the time of the end.
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