As noted previously, the Old Testament is the first part of the Bible. Of course, the Jews don’t call this part of the Bible the Old Testament because they do not accept the New Testament. For Jews it is simply the Bible or the Hebrew Bible or the Hebrew Scriptures. As Christians we see Jesus Christ as fulfilling the Old Testament, but Jews do not accept this. The Old Testament contains four kinds of books. These are books of law, history, wisdom and prophecy.
The first five books of the Old Testament are the books of the law. In Hebrew these five books are known as Torah and in Greek as the Pentateuch. They begin with the creation of the world, the sin of Adam, followed by stories of the patriarchs (i.e., Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, etc..). We have the story of the Jewish captivity in Egypt and the Exodus from Egypt. Finally, thee are several books filled with moral and ritual law. Many of the laws are followed by Jews today. Traditionally, it is thought that these books were written by Moses, but many scholars think that these books were written later than the time of Moses and were written from oral and written material from Moses’ time.
The next section of the Old Testament contains the historical books. They tell of the entrance of the Hebrews into the Holy Land, the story of the kings (i.e., David, Solomon, etc.). The historical books also tell of the Jewish deportation to Babylon and the return from Babylon. Again, scholars tell us that these books were written much later than the events they describe.
The wisdom books contain meditation about the meaning of life, the human situation, God’s relationship with humanity. In addition, the Book of Psalms is found here. The psalms are traditionally attributed to King David. The psalms tell of all aspects of human life: psalms of praise, of loneliness, of complaint, of blessing and so on. The liturgical services of the Orthodox Church are filled with psalms either in full or in part.
The final section of the Old Testament contains the books of the prophets. When people hear the word prophet they think of someone who predicts the future. This is true in the sense that the words of the prophecy point forward to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the primary function of the prophet is to proclaim God’s message for His people, regardless of whether they contain predictions of the future or not. For example, when the Jewish people were straying from the one, true God to worshipping idols, the prophets criticized this behavior and called them to return to the true God. On the other hand, when the Hebrews were in captivity God sent prophets to comfort them. Among the prophetic books there are apocalyptic parts. Apocalyptic refers to the end of history and the judgement of God.
We also find the book of Jonah. Many people think of this book simply as a story of Jonah in the belly of the whale and try to research what kind of fish it was, how big it was, etc. However, the real meaning of this points forward to Jesus Christ. In other words, the three days and nights Jonah spent in the whale represent the three days and nights Jesus spent in the grave. Because of this, this book is read at the Easter Vigil.
As we see the primary meaning of the Old Testament is to point forward to Jesus Christ. However, that fact should not make us forget that this preparation is told through the history of the Jewish people, which means that we can never forget the deep connection we have between Jews and Christians.
Fr. John