“Merciful Father, as you have sent the Holy Spirit on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to write all that You wished and wanted, we pray You, send the same Holy Spirit on us, so that we may understand, appreciate Your Word, and make it our plan of life. This we ask for the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
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This is how the Books of the Old Testament are classified; Pentateuch are the first five Books, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Jews call them the Torah.
Historical Books, there are sixteen of them, namely, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel I, II, Kings I, II, Chronicles I, II, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Macchabees I,II.
Books of Wisdom, seven Books, include, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Kohelet, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Bin Sirach.
Major Prophets, there are six of them, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel.
Minor Prophets, these together total twelve, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Michea, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The Old testament Books total forty six.
Theological Romances or Stories, these are five Books, namely, Judith, Esther, Tobit, Jonah and Job. This is not a Historical Book, though we find Judith placed in a historical setting, in the time of Nebuchadnessar, the Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem in the year 587BC. But the Author’s aim was to instill in the people the importance of turning to God in time of worry and trouble, for He always helps them, even when faced by an overwhelming force of the enemy. Very often God uses as His instruments, weak people, or women leaders (Judith) or others renowned for their persuasion, (Queen Esther) and through them, God’s people were saved, and they turned back to God. Then, God would punish their persecutors.
In the New Testament we find four versions of The Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We find twenty one Apostolic Letters, one Acts of the Apostles, one Apocalypse according to John. These total twenty seven. Together we have seventy three Books.
It is believed that the first printed book in the world was in 1454. This was the Bible, printed by John Gutenberg, on the fifteenth August, feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.
The Bible is the most sold book in the world. It is worth saying that every year 30,000,000 copies of the Bible are distributed free. Blessed be God.
Studying the Time-Line of the Story of Salvation, we find that Abraham lived circa 2050 BC, then follow the other Patriarchs, Isaac, Jacob till we come to the days of Moses. The line stops with Nehemiah in circa 450 BC
Now, what happened in that ‘in-between period’ of about four hundred years? That was a’Dark Chapter’ for the Israel and Judah. They had no more Prophets, nor any inspired Authors. The little we know, we owe to the historian Josephus Flavius., to the Apochryfal Writings, Latin writings and Greek references.
The Persian Empire had ceased to exist and we find ourselves under the Roman Empire. This was a period of about four hundred years. The last Emperor mentioned in the Bible is the Persian, Cyrus in Chronicles II. .....6/
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