I think many of us got off on the wrong foot with the Bible. It has, in most cases, been thrown into our laps like an assignment that takes us away from our “productive and meaningful” lives. Yet we fail to see that the Bible is the very secret that gives clarity, meaning, and strategy to life so that it can truly be productive and meaningful. To interpreters, there are tremendous benefits to exploring the depth of the Bible, but this depth can be seen either as a task or an adventure. Here go my hope and daring attempt to make it the latter.
A map will be helpful for this adventure, and I don’t mean the division between the Old and New Testaments. Let’s dive a bit further, shall we?
The Old Testament can be organized into 5 sections, the first being the Pentateuch [PEN-tuh-tyook] 摩西五經 {mo2-xi1-wu3-jing1}, but don’t let the word scare you. Pentateuch simply means “5 scrolls”, namely, the 5 Books written by Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, spanning across the history from Creation to the Promised Land. In Judaism, this collection of Books is known as Torah.
Then we have the 12 Historical Books 歷史書 {li4-shi3-shu1}, covering Israel’s big roundabout journey from its first moment stepping into the Promised Land, to the creation and destruction of the Two Kingdoms, then to the exiles’ return to the Promised Land. They include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1/2 Samuel, 1/2 Kings, 1/2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Up to this point, the Bible reads like a history book, but that’s about to change.
The first turn leads us to the 5 Wisdom Books 詩歌智慧書 {shi1-ge1-zhi4-hui4-shu1}: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, each having its distinct writing style. Job is like a conversation transcript. Psalms are poems and songs written by David and others. Proverbs is a collection of aphorisms composed by Solomon and others. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon elaborates on practical, theological, and philosophical wisdom, which btw, is better contemplated than strictly followed as commandments. Let’s save Song of Songs for another day.
Moving on, we have the 5 Major Prophets 大先知書. As we already know, Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) are “major” only because they are longer. As a result, they also get quoted more often than the Minor Prophets. These Books contain mostly prophecies because… they were written by prophets, but they are also diverse in their styles. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel contain quite a bit of history in them as well, some even echoing the Historical Books. Lamentations resembles Psalms because it is also poetic in nature. Daniel and Ezekiel record many fantastical visions of the prophets. So, not a dull moment!
That takes us to the 12 Minor Prophets 小先知書, which are again mostly prophetic. These 12 Books, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, belong to a single Book in the Hebrew Scripture: The Twelve. Some, such as Jonah and Zechariah, are quite well-known to contemporary Christians, while others are regrettably obscure even to seasoned believers. So, maybe it’s time to fix that. How about this, if there’s any one of them you can’t remember what it’s about, grab a coffee/tea over the weekend and read it. 8 of those Books are no more than 4 chapters long!
So there we have it, the Old Testament, Ladies and Gentlemen. 5 sections in total: 5 books, 12 books, then 5, 5, 12 books. I mean, you can’t make this up.😇
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