The Bible: Is it Out of Order?

Hello Friends!

You may have noticed that the Bible isn’t always in chronological order. Why is this? Does it really matter? Are you concerned? These are all very good questions!

Let’s take a brief look at some of the important details surrounding these questions/concerns for our further clarification, edification and understanding of God’s Holy Word…

The Bible: Is it Out of Order?

The books of Psalms and Proverbs come after Nehemiah and Esther. However, much of Psalms and Proverbs is set before Nehemiah and Esther. In looking at the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians was actually one of the first books written. However, it appears after the book of John – one of the last books written. The examples could go on…

What is a Bible reader to make of this potentially confusing arrangement of books?

First of all – don’t panic! In large part, the Bible is organized chronologically. Reading the Old Testament straight through from Genesis to Nehemiah will provide you with a generally chronological account of human history from Creation through the Jewish return from exile.

Secondly, departures from a chronological presentation often are obvious even to novice Bible readers.

For example, 2 Kings ends with a description of the deportation to Babylon. The narrative portion of the next book – 1 Chronicles – begins with King Saul. Most readers will easily recognize this as a jump back in time. And though the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John each restart the narrative at the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry, this point is hardly confusing. But if the order of the Bible’s books still seems puzzling, keep in mind why our Bible is arranged the way it is…

The Old Testament books are based on the order of the Septuagint – the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. It divides the books into three sections based on their literary style. They are as follows:

The “Narrative” books ~ Genesis through Esther

The “Wisdom” books ~ Job through Song of Solomon

The “Prophets” ~ Isaiah through Malachi

The New Testament similarly is arranged in three sections with the books sorted according to their literary style. They are as follows:

The “Historical” books ~ Matthew through Acts

The “Pauline Epistles” ~ Romans through Philemon

The “Non-Pauline Epistles” ~ Hebrews through Revelation (a book in the Apocalyptic genre and unlike any of the other New Testament writings!)

Remember: The sacred writings of other false world religions are also not presented in chronological order.

As adherents of varied religions have recognized, a strict timeline is not always the best way to convey “theological” principles. For instance:

The Qur’an is divided into 114 chapters – Suras – with the longer ones generally appearing first.

The Buddhist scripture the Sutta Pitaka opens with three sections of teaching attributed to Buddha and his disciples organized by length.

The Jewish people organized their Scriptures in a manner that was partially non-chronological for centuries before Christianity was “born.” In fact, the Hebrew Scriptures place the book of Ruth immediately following the book of Proverbs, suggesting that Ruth embodies the principles of godly womanhood described in the final chapter of Proverbs.

In closing:

Take heart when Bible books seem to be “out of order” so to speak. As you can see, what appears at first glance to be quite puzzling, has a very good explanation!

In fact, rightly understood, it can help you know God and His Word more fully…

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth – 2 Timothy 2:15

Praise the Lord!

May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect love, mercy and grace!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

 

Blessings!

Shane <><

This Changed Everything

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  Luke 2:15:18

My wife and I have known each other for over thirty-one years.  It is crazy to think of the first day that I met her.  She described me as a spoiled kid.  I think she might have been right  J  I thought about our first date, which was thirty-one years ago yesterday, and how much fun we had.  I knew she was different from the other women I had dated, but I had little experience then.  There was no way that I could know then the blessing she would become, but with the context of those thirty plus years, I have a true appreciation for that moment because that changed everything in my life.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the day that really changed everything; the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.  We have heard lots of stories about the importance and stories of Christmas, Our relationship with God, forgiveness of our sins, the gift of eternal life, a love for something greater than ourselves, and an infinite number of blessings from above all come from one source, and none of it would be possible without Jesus Christ.  Few back then could appreciate what the His birth would mean, but over two thousand years later, we can.  Why?  It is because much like the shepherds in today’s verses, we have both the context of history to understand its significance and our own personal moment to know what it meant for our lives.

Yes, Christ Jesus is the reason for the season.  We are assured a place on Mount Zion where He will reign forever.  So many things we have been blessed with, and it all started one day.  Tomorrow, we celebrate His birthday.  Isn’t that just the coolest thing?  What will you give thanks for to Christ?  How can you share the greatest gift of all to those you know?  My prayer is that we appreciate this Christmas knowing on that day, it changed everything.  Amen. 

Tues Devo: Christmas stress?

Matthew 11:29-20 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (NASB)

Hello,

This time of year I hear a lot about stress. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are hosting others or travelling; if it is your side of the family, or the in-laws; if it is turkey or ham….still people feel stressed. (quick note, I am not grouping grief with stress – to me those are completely different)

But why the need to feel stressed? I believe that instead of sensing stress and getting more stressed that you are stressed (yup…that’s you isn’t it?....) we have an opportunity when it comes to stress. We have the chance to allow the recognition of stress to become a signal that we need to re-focus. You see, when we are stressed we are too focused on the things of this world and temporary impacts – not on how God wants us to be dealing with the situation we are in. When we see that we need to remember that God told us His yoke was easy and His burden is light. When we aren’t feeling that way, we either haven’t put given Him our struggle, or we don’t have His perspective – and this is a clue to change that.

A personal story on this from a few years ago….Christmas was at my house and the only pie that was brought was Pumpkin and one other (I forget which)…but there was no apple or pecan…..and I chose to get stressed and irritated. I was a quiet jerk for a while, until I decided to remedy the situation and the day after Christmas I went to the store and bought a pie and brought it back. There were many strange looks, and I had this momentary proud feeling until I replayed the whole thing in my head and realized I had mentally wasted an opportunity to be with family and dwelling on things that mattered. If I would have let the stress I was feeling trigger me to re-focus or give it to God I would have had a much better time and had an opportunity to serve and be used.

Silly story, but be on the lookout for stress – and use that as a trigger to refocus!

Have a Merry Christmas,

Will Hill