The Bible was written over a period of roughly 2,000 years by 40 different authors from three continents, who wrote in three different languages. Some books contain stories, some contain teachings, and some contain poetry.
I will try to give you a simple explanation of the Bible. Pretty much everything from creation up until King David is heavily debated whether it is factual or not. Believers generally take it all as fact, and non-believers generally take it all as myth. There isn’t much concrete proof outside of the Bible for a lot of it.
Genesis: Begins with the story of how God created everything. Goes to the story of Noah where God flooded the earth. Noah’s family repopulated the earth and then God chose Abraham to become the father of a holy nation. The story then follows several generations until you get to Joseph and his 11 brothers. Joseph was separated from his family and became a prominent figure of Egypt. A famine brought his family to Egypt where Joseph could help them, and the entire family settled in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers and his two sons become the basis for the tribes of Israel. Israel was the name of the nation of God, but at this point in the Bible they are simply a group of people living in Egypt.
Exodus: Picks up several hundred years later. Apparently a new pharaoh of Egypt felt threatened by the Jews and enslaved them all. They lived in slavery until a man named Moses came along. He was an Israelite, but was adopted and raised by pharaoh’s daughter. He ran away and in the wilderness God spoke to him and told him that he would lead God’s people out of Egypt. God brought ten plagues to Egypt to convince pharaoh to let His people go. Eventually pharaoh did let them go and all the Israelite left Egypt as free men and women. Pharaoh changed his mind however and went to fight the Israelites, but they were able to escape after God parted the waters of a sea so they could walk across. Pharaoh tried to chase them but drowned along with all his men when God stopped parting the waters.
Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy: contains laws set by God on how the Israelites are to conduct themselves and their upcoming nation. It also documents their time in the wilderness. Because of the people’s lack of faith they were punished to wander the wilderness for 40 years until an entire generation died. The next generation would inherit the land of Israel. God provided food and water to the Israelites during this time and they were entirely dependent on Him.
Joshua: documents the Israelites conquering the land they are to settle. They find it inhabited and are to wipe everyone out. They basically murder everyone and take the land, but there are patches of people here and there who put up some resistance. The land is split into twelve lots and given to each tribe. The tribe of Levi doesn’t receive any land, but they are given the duty of becoming priests.
Judges: describes a time when the nation of Israel had no king. During this time other nation attempted to conquer parts, or all, of Israel and God chose specific people to lead the armies of Israel in a resistance. The most famous story in here is about Samson who was famous for having long hair and superhuman strength. When his hair was cut off he lost his strength and was captured and blinded. Years later (after his hair had grown back) during a party he knocked down two columns and killed thousands of Philistines at once (killing more in his death than when he lived).
Ruth: documents the great-grandmother of David. David will become king of Israel later.
1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles: documents the time when Israel had kings. Saul was the first king, but lost favor with God and was replaced with David who was known as “a man after God’s own heart”. The next king was David’s son Solomon who built the temple where animals were slaughtered according to the laws given in earlier books. The idea being that sin against God demands retribution and the spilling of blood. God’s wrath against sinners is redirected to the animals and the people are saved. Solomon later marries many women of different nations to make alliances with those nations. He was then tainted by the other religions they brought and God decides to punish the nation and splits it in a civil war. The people of both nations begin to fall away from God and worship other Gods, and then God brings other nations to conquer them both. The Israelites are scattered throughout all the lands.
Ezra and Nehemiah: details the time when the nation of Israel is allowed to come back under the nation of Persia. The Israelites travel from all over and come “home” to rebuild the Temple and the nation (although it is still ruled by Persia).
At this point the Old Testament ceases to be in chronological order
Job: a story about a Godly man who is tested by the devil. This is actually the oldest book in the Bible and I’m not really sure when it is supposed to take place.
Psalms: is a book of poetry. Mostly songs the Israelites sung to or about God. King David is attributed as being the authour of many of these songs.
Proverbs: a book believed to be written by King Solomon. It is essentially a guide to his son on how to live a good and Godly life and resist/avoid temptation.
Ecclesiastes: a book all about the meaning of life. It shows how without God one cannot derive meaning from anything. It is also a book believe to be written by King Solomon.
Song of Solomon: yet another book attributed to King Solomon. This one is mainly love poetry.
After this you have the greater and lesser prophets. This is a mixture of stories and prophecies. Many of these prophecies speak of a messiah that is to come and a time when Israel will become a great nation again. These prophets arose at different times throughout the history of Israel, and I honestly don’t know a lot about many of them. The most famous prophet is Daniel who is most famous for being placed in a lion’s den overnight. God protected him and he came out unscathed. He prophesied a list of nations would come and overtake the other. These include Babylon, Persia, Greeks and Rome. After Rome he predicted that God’s kingdom would come.
This ends the Old Testament
The new testament is all about Jesus. Jesus was born around 4 BC when Israel was a nation under Roman rule. There had been a period of silence from God for about 400 years.
Matthew Mark Luke and John detail the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be the long awaited Messiah that the Israelites were waiting for, but he was different that they expected. They expected a great leader to end their subjugation, but this isn’t what Jesus was about.
The basic message of Christianity is that He came to suffer and die and take the full wrath of God for our sins. The slaughtered animals taught in the law was only a symbol of what he has done for us. Anyone who believes in Him can attain eternal salvation and be right with God forever. He taught that Godly living isn’t about following a set of laws, and is about loving God and loving each other.
This message was so radical that the leading Israelites of the time put him to death on a cross (a particularly gruesome and torturous way to die). They thought they were killing a blasphemer, but it was all part of the plan. Through his death, his believers are saved. Three days later Jesus rose from the grave and spent some time with his believers before ascending to heaven.
Acts: details what happened after Jesus. His followers were able to spread the message throughout Rome (the know world) and set up churches in a very short amount of time. It begins by following the acts of Jesus’ disciples (his closest followers and students). About halfway through the book it follows Paul. Paul was an important Israelite who was given the task of persecuting and killing Christians. However, Jesus appeared to Paul personally and converted him and personally taught him in the ways of Christianity. Paul became the first and most prominent missionary of the time.
The rest of the New Testament are letters from Paul and some of the disciples. These are mainly to specific churches, or to certain people. Many are addressing specific issues that arose in those churches at that time, but they lay a foundation for how the church and it’s people are to behave.
The last book of the Bible is Revelation that is a prophetic book about the end of the world. It is heavily symbolic and many sects of Christianity debate on what exactly is meant in this book.
– Sloth859
