One Bible, many genres

The importance, value of historical books of the Old Testament
 
The 46 books of the Old Testament have many styles or genres. Just as the internet has different websites with different purposes or functions, while at times sharing the same subject matter. The diversity of sites on one subject come together to give a more complete picture.
 
As an example, let’s take the subject of baseball, specifically Major League Baseball. Some internet sites can give you details on the rule book; others on the history; the strategies; biographies of players; major stadiums; poems and music dedicated to the game; famous baseball movies; current standings; box scores and much more.
The Bible also has a common theme, our covenant relationship with God. A covenant that has its greatest expression in the Paschal Mystery we just celebrated.
 
Then, we have in the Old Testament various genres that come together to give us a more complete picture of God’s Plan. Some books speak about the origins or beginnings of the relationship with God; others speak about when and how the covenants went wrong; the promise of a remedy to the broken relationship; the beginnings of the people of God; the various stages of governance of this community; the rules on worship; poetry, songs and romance novels from the community; slavery and liberation; God’s messengers and what they had to say, plus a whole lot more.
 
All of this leading us to the full picture, God’s greatest revelation – Jesus Christ.
 
After the Torah, the next group of books in the Old Testament are the historical books, this is a Catholic perspective. It is important to clarify that the meaning of historical in this context doesn’t intend to establish every detail as a verifiable fact, this would be a misunderstanding. The Bible, and these books, share with us a theology, a religious message. It is the historical development of this theology and religious message that God, through this subset of books from the Old Testament, wishes to share with us.
 
The historical books of the Old Testament, which concentrate on the history of Israel, are: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther and 1-2 Maccabees. While this list is primarily chronological, it doesn’t mean you will find them in this order in your Bibles.
 
Joshua shares the story of Israel entering the promised land, Canaan. Judges share details of the leaders of Israel before the arrival of the monarchy. Ruth will mention how the community of the People of God needs to expand and include Jews and Gentiles. 1-2 Samuel will concentrate on the first king, Saul, and his successor. David. 1-2 Kings take us from David to Solomon and the division of the people of God into two kingdoms, Israel and Juda and the tragedies that follow. 1-2 Chronicles reviews previous material as do Ezra and Nehemiah.
 
Tobit, Judith and Esther are a call to faithfulness to God, a key difficulty with the people of God. 1-2 Maccabees, a sort of bridge between the two testaments, is a call to the Jews to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the law and the temple. A call that will ultimately be fulfilled by Jesus Christ himself.
 
This history forms the roots from which the tree of life, Jesus Christ, will bare the greatest fruit, Resurrection.
Next stop, Wisdom!