Overview of the Bible

The Bible is two collections of books
      The Old Testament — written in Hebrew
            Covered 2100-2400 years of history
      The New Testament — written in Greek
            Covered 90 years of history

The Old Testament

Genesis 1-11

• The intro or salutation of the Bible... the orientation
• The history from eternity past through the origins of nations
• Seven firsts of prehistoric or historic information
  1. Beginnings of Creation — 27 verses in outline form — Chapter 1
  2. Beginning of man — Chapter 2
  3. Beginning of sin — Chapter 3 (Fall of man)
  4. First murder — Chapter 4
  5. Story of the great flood — Chapter 6
  6. Capital punishment — Chapter 9
  7. Confusion of language and beginning of nations — the Tower of Babel — Chapter 11
• Not much information . . . very general treatment of history

The Bible begins to give vital information and detailed history in Chapter 12. These are the keys to the rest of the Bible and to world history.

Genesis 12-50 (2100-1875 BC)

• The story of one man's family — Abram or Abraham [Major Date: Abraham 2000 BC]
• Abraham was told by God to leave Ur of the Chaldees (polytheistic) and go to a land that He would show him . . . Took his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot, and began to travel . . . took 14 years to get to Canaan (Palestine)
• Abraham had two sons — Ishmael and Isaac
• Isaac inherited the promises made to his father
• Isaac had two sons — Esau and Jacob
• Jacob inherited the promises made to his father and grandfather
• Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter.. the next to last son was Joseph
• Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Egypt
• In Egypt, Joseph went from slavery to prison to being the Prime Minister
• Because of a famine in Palestine, all of the Hebrews (Abraham's descendants) went to Egypt where they were reunited with Joseph and given favor

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (1450-1400 BC)

• The Hebrews stayed in Egypt 430 years, most of it as slaves (1875-1450 BC)
• God chose Moses to lead His people out of bondage. About 2 million people (Hebrews) left Egypt [Major Date: Moses & Exodus 1500 BC]
• Moses led them across the Red Sea and on to Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)
• Moses received all of the law: Moral (Ten Commandments), Ceremonial (Worship), and Civil (Government)
• Twelve spies were sent to spy out the land that God had promised to the Hebrews. When they returned, only two (Caleb & Joshua) believed that the land could be taken
• The Hebrews decided not to follow Moses to inhabit the land. God banished them to wander in the desert until that entire generation had died off before they would be allowed to enter the promised land
• After forty years, Moses led them back to the Jordan River to cross over and begin to take the land. Moses died there.

Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1400-1050 BC)

• Joshua became the leader and led the Hebrews across the Jordan and through the years of fighting to take control of the land (about 1400 BC)
• After the death of Joshua came the period of the Judges when different leaders were raised up from time to time to lead and "judge" the people — this was a 350 year period of good and bad times

1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles (1050-580 BC)

• Then came the period of the Kings. The Hebrews wanted a king like other nations, so God gave them Saul and then David and then Solomon who ruled over the united kingdom. (1050-950 BC) [Major Date: David 1000 BC]
• After Solomon, the nation was split by civil war and divided into the Southern Kingdom — Judah, and the Northern Kingdom — Israel. Each nation had 20 kings over the next years.
• After 20 kings and 200 years, the Northern Kingdom — Israel was defeated and taken into captivity by the Syrians. (722 BC)
• After 20 kings and 300 years, the Southern Kingdom — Judah fell to the Babylonian Empire and was taken into captivity. (605 BC)
• The Babylonian captivity lasted 70 years, then over the next 100 years, 50,000 were allowed to return to Palestine and resettle the land and rebuild the Temple.

Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester (580-450 BC)

• Written about the returns of a remnant of the Hebrews to Palestine

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

• Wisdom or Poetry writings

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel (740-537 BC)

• Writings of the Major Prophets during the time of the kings and during captivity

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (835-400 BC)

• Writings of the Minor Prophets during the time of the kings and during and after captivity [Major Date: Beginning of Return to Jerusalem 500]

The last of the Minor Prophets wrote in 400 BC. Then came the 400 "silent" years until the coming of Messiah, Jesus.

The New Testament

The account of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah (or the Christ)
The accounts of the early followers of Jesus and the development of doctrines

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John (55-90 AD)

• The Gospels — The eyewitness accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus (Matthew and John were with Jesus . . . Mark and Luke wrote for Peter and others)

Acts (61 AD)

• Written by Dr. Luke who was a traveling companion of Paul the Apostle
• The early accounts of the spreading of the message of Jesus

Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon (51-56 AD)

• The Epistles or letters written by Paul to churches and groups of believers
• The doctrine of the early church begins to take shape as problems are faced among the believers

Hebrews (64-68 AD)

• The authorship is uncertain

James (45-50 AD)

• Written by James the half brother of Jesus who was leader of the Church in Jerusalem

1 & 2 Peter (63-66 AD)

• Written by Peter the Apostle

1 & 2 & 3 John (90s AD)

• Written by John the Apostle, the author of the Gospel of John

Jude (70-80 AD)

• Written by Jude, the half brother of Jesus

Revelation (90s AD)

• Written by the Apostle John as revealed to him by Jesus Christ
• The account of the end of times and the future beyond that end