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Firm Foundations: The Bible as a BookLesson One – What’s in the OT?
Thinking Questions (front of student sheet):o Ask these of the group, but don’t let anyone call out the answer till
everyone has had a few seconds to think for themselves!o What is the OT mainly about? (God and his chosen people, Israel)o What is the NT mainly about? (Jesus and the early church)
Today’s Goals:o Get familiar with major sections of your Bibleo Practice locating thingso Talk about the differences between OT and NT
Hands-on Bible (Only works with the kind of Bible that has paper pages!)o These exercises are meant to help students get to know the location
of major sections in their Bibles. (It’s really best if they are using their own Bible, but a general sense of direction will help with any Bible.)
o Midpoint: Open your Bible in the middle. Talk about what you found (which books, what kinds of books). (Do this about three times and see if the results vary.)
Compare notes between Bibles. Does a pew Bible give a different result than a study Bible? Why?
What two books are immediately before and after the book you landed in? (they can write this on the student sheet)
How quickly can you locate the Psalms?
o Beginning of NT: How far from the midpoint is the start of the NT? Practice opening to midpoint, then turning quickly to start of
NT. What books are found just before the NT?
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What are the first 5 books of the NT? OT/NT Distinctions
o What big differences do you already know between OT and NT?o What languages were these written in?o Why was the NT written?o When Jesus read the Bible, what did he read?o Table of Contents Exercise
Scan the names of the OT books. Which ones are you already familiar with, and what are they about? (Don’t explain every single one – you’ll talk about categories in a moment. See what the students can tell each other first.)
Are the books grouped in a certain way? Invite students to actually write these categories in the table of
contents, next to the groups of books they describe: Pentateuch (Gk for “5Books”; also 5 Books of Moses,
sometimes just called “Moses” in the NT)o Note that this includes histories as well as laws
Histories (Joshua-Esther. Job is an overlap!)o Scan timeline to show the history that these cover,
noting highlights (from conquest thru post-exile) Wisdom (Job-Song of Solomon)
o Note that this includes poetry, wise sayings, & philosophy (meaning of life)
Prophets (Isaiah – Malachi)o Note that some are very long, and some very
short! So if you turn to the beginning of your Bible, what are you
likely to find? What are you likely to find near the midpoint? What are you likely to find just before the NT?
Location Practice (as much as you have time for – don’t forget the exit
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o questions!) Beginner: Have students find the following general categories, using the beginning-midpoint-NT rubric:
A story about an OT person (have a couple students share which stories they located)
A song of praise to God (have other students name the Psalm they found and read the first lines)
A very small prophetic book (have some students share which ones they found)
o Intermediate: Find the creation story. (Have someone name the location and
tell how they got there quickly) Find Psalm 119:18. (Have someone read this.) Find something in the five books of Moses that sounds like
rules for Israel. (Share a couple of examples; note which books of the Pentateuch are likely to have laws.)
Find Isaiah 53:5. (Have someone read this. Talk about its relation to Jesus. How did you locate Isaiah? How far from the NT is this book?)
o Advanced Find the book of Jonah without using the table of contents.
(Ask someone for their strategy. What major “landmarks” helped you find this little book?)
Using the timeline and the table of contents, guess which books will tell stories about David. Check your answer. (Ask students to share their thinking process here!)
Find Proverbs 10:12 without using the table of contents. Remember to think first about what kind of writing this is, and what big books are nearby. (Have someone read this. Discuss what it means!)
Exit Questions (On student sheet)
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o What books are generally located at the midpoint of a Bible?
o What is one nickname for the first five books of the OT? Who wrote them?
Extra Location Challenges!o Beginner/Intermediate:
Find the prophet Jeremiah. Find the last minor prophet right before the NT. Find a story about one of the kings of Israel. (Use timeline for a
hint!) Find the last Book of Moses. Find something that was originally written in Hebrew.
o Advanced: Find the story of Joseph. (Use timeline for hint!) Find the book of Ruth. Find a proverb about speech. Find “the hundred and ninety-fifth psalm.” (This is a trick
question! There are only 150 psalms. But Psalm 100 and Psalm 95 are almost the same!)
Find one of the books that takes place during the exile (use timeline for a hint!)
Memorize the names of the first five books of the OT.
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Firm Foundations: The Bible as a BookLesson One – What’s in the Old Testament (OT)?
Thinking Questions: o What is the Old Testament mainly about?
o What is the New Testament mainly about?
Getting to know your Bibleo Midpoint: _______________________
Two books just before this book: _______________________ _______________________
Two books just after this book: _______________________ _______________________
o What sorts of books are located right before the NT?
Notes about the Old Testament:
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Thinking Questions:o What books are generally located at the midpoint of a Bible?
o What is one nickname for the first five books of the OT? Who wrote them?
On Your Own:o Practice finding the Psalms quickly. Read some!o Practice finding the beginning of the New Testament quickly.o Memorize the names of the first five books of the Old Testament.
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Firm Foundations: The Bible as a Book
Lesson 2 – The Books of the New Testament
Thinking Questions (on student sheet):o Who wrote the first five books of the OT?o What are the two main types of writing in the NT?o What language was the NT originally written in?
Review:o Open to midpoint. Name the books around the midpoint of a Bible.o Open to midpoint, quickly find the NT.
Name the first five books of the NT. Tell what kinds of books occur right before the NT.
o Name the first 5 books of the OT. Who wrote them? What is the nickname of this set?
o What kinds of books are found in the OT?
New Testamento Why was the NT written?o Who wrote the NT? How do we know?o What is an “apostle”?o How did the writers get their information?o How many of the writers knew Jesus personally during his time on
earth?o What is an “epistle”? Why were these written?
Note arrangement, authors, recipientso What sorts of things did the church need to know?
Practical Theological
o What sorts of problems would the early church have encountered? Movement away from Judaism – what to do with the law? Persecution
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General human sinfulness, without and withino How is Revelation different from what has gone before? What is
involved in this book? Letter, Prophecy, Vision, symbolism
o Where would you find poetry in the NT? Find Luke 1:46-55
o Do the NT writers ever quote the OT? Why? Find an example.
Location Practiceo NT:
Find 2 Tim. 3:10-17 How is God’s Word described here? What is it good for?
Find The Sermon on the Mount Brainstorm where this occurs
Find 1 John 5:13-15 What promise is given here?
Find Ephesians 1:3-5 What incredible information is revealed to us by Paul?
Find a story about Jesus’ birth or childhood. Find a story about Paul’s travels.
o OT: Find the creation story. (Have someone name the location and
tell how they got there quickly) Find Psalm 119:18. (Have someone read this.) Find something in the five books of Moses that sounds like
rules for Israel. (Share a couple of examples; note which books of the Pentateuch are likely to have laws.)
Find Isaiah 53:5. (Have someone read this. Talk about its relation to Jesus. How did you locate Isaiah? How far from the NT is this book?)
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Firm Foundations – The Bible as a BookLesson Three: What types of books are in the Bible?
Review questions:o What are the first 5 books of the NT? What do we call the first 4?
Thinking questions:o Where are you most likely to find poetry in the Bible?
o What is an epistle?
Hands-on Review:o Find midpoint of your Bible – What books are generally found here?o Find the beginning of the NTo What kind of books come just before the NT?
Teaching Types of Bookso Brainstorm on board! But erase the first set before you write up the
biblical ones.o When you go into a bookstore, which shelves attract you first?o What other kinds of books do people read?
o Variety in the Bible: _____ books, ≈____ authors, ≈ ____ years The Bible tells one story in many voices. We’re going to name
some of the kinds of writing that are used to tell God’s story.
o What kinds of writing are you likely to find in the Bible? (Go with their suggestions first, then add the ones they didn’t think of. I put the least likely ones at the end of the list below.)
History Letters
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Poetry Prophecy Laws (for Israel) How to live (for
the NT Church) Genealogy lists Wise sayings Philosophy
(musing about the meaning of life)
Visions Parables Theology
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o Which ones are NOT found in the NT? (only Laws for Israel; Philosophy)
o How does poetry LOOK different on the page?
o What would a poem have that a history section wouldn’t have? NOT rhyme!! Word pictures that you can’t take literally (e.g., “God is my
Rock,” or “He makes me lie down in green pastures”) Arrangement of lines in a special order (e.g., alphabetical by
the first letter in Hebrew – Ps. 119) Usually the speaker’s emotions are very important.
Practice Reading Two Types of Biblical Writingo OT Poetry: Read Psalm 28
Name the word pictures and emotions.
o OT History: Read Genesis 24:10-28 Brief background: Abraham sends his servant back to his
father’s country to find a wife for Isaac. He happens upon Abraham’s great-niece.
What details do you find out about Bible times here?
What questions do you have about this narrative?
o NT Poetry: Read Luke 1:67-79 Note that there is not a lot of poetry in the NT. This is
Zechariah’s song, which is also prophecy about his son John.
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Name any word pictures or emotions.
o NT History: Read Acts 20:7-12 What details do you find out about Bible times here?
What questions do you have about this narrative?
On your own at home ideas (on student sheet, too):o Memorize the first 5 books of the OT and the NT.o Practice finding the NT.o Read any of the suggested passages that we didn’t get to in class.
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Firm Foundations – The Bible as a BookLesson Three: What types of books are in the Bible?
Review questions:o What are the first 5 books of the NT? What do we call the first 4?
Thinking questions:o Where are you most likely to find poetry in the Bible?
o What is an epistle?
What kinds of books are in the Bible?
What would a poem have that a history section wouldn’t have?
OT Poetry : Psalm 28o Name the word pictures and the emotions:
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OT History : Gen. 24:10-28o What details do you find out about Bible times here?
o What questions do you have about this narrative?
NT Poetry : Read Luke 1:67-79 Name any word pictures or emotions.
NT History : Read Acts 20:7-12 What details do you find out about Bible times here?
What questions do you have about this narrative?
Final Thinking Question: o Name three kinds of writing found in the Bible:
On your own at home:o Memorize the first 5 books of the OT and the NT.o Practice finding the NT.o Read any of the suggested passages that we didn’t get to in class.
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Firm Foundations – The Bible as a BookLesson Four: Where do the Books of the Bible Fit on the Timeline?
(Students will need a copy of my biblical timeline, which is in a separate document.) Review questions:
o What are the first 5 books of the OT? What do we call them? What genre(s) are they?
o What are the first 5 books of the NT? Who wrote them? What genre are they?
Thinking questions: (See if anyone can answer these – if not, save them to return to when you’re examining the timeline.)
o What time period does the book of Ezra tell about?
o Where would you find stories of King David?
Some Vocabulary:o exile:
o monarchy:
o post-exilic:
o primeval: the name given to the truly early part of the story – Gen. 1-11.
o Second-Temple period: the interval between the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian Exile (around 516 B.C.) and the final destruction of it in 70 A.D. This encompasses all of the “Inter-testamental” and New Testament periods.
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o Inter-Testamental period: Roughly 400 years between the last writing prophet of the OT (Malachi) and the time of Jesus, told in the Gospels.
Playing with the Timelineo Depending on the people you’re working with, you may wish to take a
few minutes here to familiarize them with how information is laid out on the timeline. Revisit the “thinking questions” above.
o Do you have a favorite Bible story or passage? (Take down a few examples, then work together to do this exercise for a couple of the examples. You can choose whether or not to read the passages aloud together – some stories could be quickly sketched from memory.)
o Can you locate it in the Bible? Old or New Testament? What genre of writing is it?
o Use the timeline to locate the particular book that this passage or story came from. What was going on in Israel’s history at that time?
Give an example of an event in biblical history that happened BEFORE your passage was written.
Give an example of one that happened AFTER your particular passage was written.
Extra: Which came first?o Using the timeline or your memory, decide which of these figures or
events came before the other one. Locate each pair on the timeline and tell what time periods & biblical books they belong in. (Show how a concordance can help here, whether in Bible or online!)
(Jesus, Jonah) (Esther, Ruth) (Gideon, David) (Paul, King Saul)(Temple built by Solomon, Tabernacle built by Moses) (Tower of Babel, Daniel in lions’ den)
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Firm Foundations: The Bible as a BookLesson Four – Where do the Books of the Bible Fit on the Timeline?
Thinking Questions: o What time period does the book of Ezra tell about?
o Where would you find stories of King David?
Some Vocabulary:o exile:
o monarchy:
o post-exilic:
o primeval:
o Second-Temple period:
o Inter-Testamental period:
Advanced Study: Which came first?o Using the timeline or your memory, decide which of these figures or
events came before the other one. Locate where each pair fits on the timeline and note what time periods & biblical books they belong in. If you aren’t sure where to find them, you might need to look in a concordance (back of your Bible or online)!
( Moses, Abraham) (Hannah, Miriam) (Peter, Samuel) (Flood, Exodus)(David kills Goliath, Jonah gets swallowed) (Joseph goes to Egypt, Ten Commandments are written on stone)(John the Baptist, Elijah) (Baalam’s donkey talks, Naaman is cured of leprosy) (Stephen, Nicodemus) (Jacob, Isaiah) (synagogues, Tabernacle) (Jezebel, Mary Magdalene)
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