We begin with the beginning, Genesis, which describes the creation of man, the fall of man and God’s plan for the redemption of man. There is however a little break…called Job. Job is believed to be a contemporary of Abraham. In his life we see the glorious purpose of suffering in the life of the righteous. Next is Exodus which continues to show God’s faithfulness to the covenant and provide Israel with guidelines for healthy living. Leviticus follows and was a book written to instruct Israel on how to be holy and to be a blessing to others. Numbers is a reminder of what happens when people rebel against God and is named for the two censuses that take place at the beginning and the book’s end.

Deuteronomy means the ‘second law’ and is Moses’ final address to the people. The book of Joshua picks up after Moses’ death and speaks of the assurance that obedience to God is rewarded. Just as Jesus leads us into the Promised Land…so does Joshua lead the Israelites into the promised land of Canaan. The book of Judges speaks of a very dark time in Israel’s history when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. It covers a time period of about 400 years and stresses the importance of remaining loyal to God. We then enter the Ruth is a beautiful story which speaks of God’s redemptive work in the midst of darkness. We then enter the era of the kings. This will begin the breakdown of continuous flow through a whole book. We will begin to bounce to and fro covering the life of David, Solomon and then entering into the days of the divided kingdom. Remember that the idea of this format is to give you a full picture of what is going on in a particular time frame, don’t let the skipping around throw you off. In 1 Sam we will see the demise of the judges and the establishment (against God’s desire) of a king to rule Israel.