How to Select Books of the Bible for an Old Testament Survey

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Humanities: Introduction to the Old Testament - Book Selection

Before launching into "Introduction to the Old Testament," you must select which biblical books that you will read. The State of Florida does not require students to read the entire Old Testament nor does the state specify individual Old Testament books as necessary. However, it is reasonable to accomplish most (if not all) of the entire Old Testament over this one-year course. Students must read a sample of each major category of writing.

My goal when teaching a survey of the Old Testament is to expose the student to each major style of writing and to books focused upon various segments of Old Testament biblical history. Upon completion of a survey, each student should have a broad understanding of the major characters, events, concepts, and literary forms of the Old Testament.

The chart below sequences the Old Testament books according to a traditional Western table of contents, as is used by Balancing the Sword. I've marked select books as "Primary" if I would certainly include the book if I were teaching you personally. If time permitted, I would add to the primary books those marked as "Secondary." Ideally, you will read the entire Old Testament. I gave favoritism towards

books which include major characters not substantially addressed elsewhere,
books which target transitional periods of history,
books which covered large spans of history or give clearer historical perspective,
books which give representation to each literary form and timeframe, and
books which are heavily quoted by New Testament writers.

This prioritizing of the biblical books is somewhat subjective.

	Book	BTS Page	Guidance	General Literary Form
	Book	BTS Page	Guidance	General Literary Form
The Law
Before National Israel
1	Genesis	1	Primary	Historical Narrative and Genealogy
Israel's Wandering before Their Settlement
2	Exodus	21	Primary	Historical Narrative and Statutory Code
3	Leviticus	39	Secondary	Historical Narrative and Statutory Code
4	Numbers	52	Primary	Historical Narrative and Enumeration
5	Deuteronomy	70	Secondary	Historical Narrative and Statutory Code

The Writings
Era of the Judges
6	Joshua	84	Secondary	Historical Narrative and Enumeration
7	Judges	97	Primary	Historical Narrative
8	Ruth	107		Historical Narrative
Era of the Monarchies – Preexilic Focus
9	1 Samuel	109	Primary	Historical Narrative
10	2 Samuel	125		Historical Narrative
11	1 Kings	137		Historical Narrative
12	2 Kings	153		Historical Narrative
Era of the Monarchies – Preexilic Focus – Summation of Genesis to Exile
13	1 Chronicles	166	Primary	Historical Narrative and Genealogy
14	2 Chronicles	176	Primary	Historical Narrative
Era of the Governors – Postexilic Focus
15	Ezra	191	Primary	Historical Narrative and Enumeration
16	Nehemiah	196		Historical Narrative and Enumeration
17	Esther	201	Secondary	Historical Narrative
Poetic Prose
18	Job	206	Secondary	Poetic Dialogue
19	Psalms	216	Primary	Lyrical Poetry
20	Proverbs	245	Primary	Proverbial Poetry
21	Ecclesiastes	253		Proverbial Poetry
22	Song of Solomon	257	Secondary	Lyrical Poetry

The Prophets
Preexilic Major Prophets
23	Isaiah	261	Primary	Poetic Oracles
24	Jeremiah	282	Secondary	Poetic Oracles and Historical Narrative
Postexilic Major Prophets
25	Lamentations	304		Poetic Oracles
26	Ezekiel	306	Secondary	Poetic Oracles and Historical Narrative
27	Daniel	327	Primary	Historical Narrative
Preexilic Minor Prophets
28	Hosea	335	Primary	Poetic Oracles
29	Joel	338		Poetic Oracles
30	Amos	340	Secondary	Poetic Oracles
31	Obadiah	342		Poetic Oracles
32	Jonah	344	Primary	Historical Narrative
33	Micah	346		Poetic Oracles
34	Nahum	349		Poetic Oracles
35	Habakkuk	350	Secondary	Poetic Oracles and Lyrical Prophetic Poetry
36	Zephaniah	351		Poetic Oracles
Postexilic Minor Prophets
37	Haggai	352	Primary	Historical Narrative
38	Zechariah	353	Secondary	Poetic Oracles
39	Malachi	358	Primary	Poetic Oracles

Create your reading schedule or course itinerary now: BTS Reading Planner software. You may wish to reference the sample reading plan for this course.

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