Why is the Bible ordered as it is?
Question:
I want to and I am trying to understand the Bible completely. After reading your answers to my former questions, I realized I have to read the books you mentioned as references so that I will have the context of the verses and why they are written the way they are written.
So, do we have any order of books to study the scripture? Like a topologically sorted order of contexts such that one book leads to the next book.
And I'm curious why the Bible is indexed the way it is indexed. Is this the order I must follow to understand the Bible such as from Genesis to Revelation?
I really appreciate your answers to my questions and those are very rich in the content. I am still trying to understand every part of your answers.
Thank you so much for your time and patience.
Answer:
Our current order of the Bible came about by various influences. The Bible was originally written on scrolls. You don't want a book split between two scrolls, so scribes used to fill scrolls starting with the longest book and ending with the shortest book. People also wish to locate information easily, so related material was placed next to each other.
Overall, the Bible is divided between two major covenants of God. The Old Testament covenant between God and the Israelites and the New Testament covenant between God and Christians.
See Notes on the Organization of the Bible.
See What is the background of each book in the Bible? for summaries of the books.
There is no set reading order for the Bible.
