THE STRUCTURE OF THE WHOLE BIBLE

In view of the demonstrated fact that each of the individual books in the Bible possesses a symmetrical literary structure, the obvious extension is to see if the whole Bible is organized in the same manner. But the first barrier to doing this is to decide which of the various canonical orderings of the books we should use. It is safe to discard the arrangements of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the various additions they consider as canonical or semi-canonical have been shown to disrupt the symmetrical structures of the books to which they are added. In addition, the traditional arrangement found in the Hebrew Bible may make sense from a Jewish point of view, but it is somewhat lacking when considering it in conjunction with the New Testament. That leaves us with the traditional book ordering found in most Protestant editions.

As a starting point, I had already come up with an approximate structure for the historical books in the Bible by just considering those time periods in which miraculous happenings most occurred. And these readily grouped themselves into a symmetrical pattern.

                                         Figure 1: Periods Marked by Miraculous Activity

    A. Primeval World History (Genesis 1-11)

        B. Moses and the Exodus (Genesis 12-Deuteronomy)

            C. Conquest and Settlement of Canaan (Joshua-Judges)

                D. Divided Kingdom (I Kings 12-II Kings 25:30 // II Chronicles 10:36)

                    1. Elijah

                    2. Elisha

                D'. The Exile (Ezra-Esther)

                    1. Daniel

                    2. Daniel's Three Friends

        B'. Life and Ministry of Christ (Four Gospels)

            C'. Early Spread of the Gospel (Acts)

    A'. Final World History (Revelation)

Parallels between those matching units include:

A and A' are the only periods in which the miracles affect a large geographical region and are effected by God only, without human intervention.

B and B' are times dominated by the major figures of the Old and New Testament, respectively.

C and C' represent the missions of those leaders being continued and expanded by their immediate successors.

D and D' are both difficult times for the nation of Israel in which almost the only miraculous elements are found to be associated with a small group of select individuals: two during the Divided Kingdom period and four during the Exile.

Of course, this scheme needs to be totally revamped in order to also incorporate those historical periods not marked by miracles, the teaching sections, and the poetic books. A possible new arrangement is thus shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Literary Structure of the Bible

A. Creation of the heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1-2:3)

    B. God with the Patriarchs Throughout the Ages (2:4-50:26)

        C. Books of Moses (Exodus-Deuteronomy)

            D. Israel United (Joshua-I Kings 11)

                E. Conflict: Internal and External (I Kings 12-II Kings 25)

                    F. Exile and Aftermath (Ezra-Esther)

                        G. Prophets: Major and Minor

                            H. Poetic Books

                                1. Anti-wisdom (Job)

                                    2. Songs (Psalms)

                                        3. Wisdom (Proverbs)

                            1'. Anti-wisdom (Ecclesiastes)

                                2'. Songs (Song of Songs)

C'. Life of Jesus (Gospels)

       D'. Unity in the Spirit (Acts 1-3)

               E'. Conflict in Israel: Internal and External (Acts 4:1-8:25)

                      F'. Outward Expansion (Acts 8:26-28:31)

                            G'. Epistles: Paul's and General

    B'. Jesus with his church throughout the ages (Revelation 1-20)

A'. New heaven and new earth (Revelation 21-22)

Sections A1-A'1: This is an obviously matching pair dealing with the first and final creations of the universe, respectively.

Sections A2-A'2: Very similar imagery appears in both places. God walks and talks with the first human beings in Genesis just as Revelation begins with Jesus walking among the candlesticks (i.e. churches) and then talks to them through his seven letters.

Sections A3-A'3: This pairing only works if one considers that the bulk of Revelation describes in highly symbolic terms the scope of church history from Jesus' resurrection until the time of the Last Judgment during which we are all living in exile from our true home in heaven (i.e. an amillennial stance). It is during this period that God is continuing to form a people for Himself, just as He slowly and deliberately formed the Jewish people during the time of the Patriarchs from Abraham to Joseph.

It is no accident that Revelation uses twelve and its multiples to express the number of those who are in heaven in view of the twelve chosen tribes of Israel.

Sections B-B': In these parallel units, God reveals his overall plan for His people during the course of history. It is presented in literal terms in B and using symbolic language in B'.

Sections C-C': As mentioned earlier, these respective books are characterized by an emphasis on the major figures of the Old and New Testament. Moses leads the people from slavery to the Promised Land while Jesus similarly leads the people from legalism to the promise of heaven. Additionally, each section contains a mixture of history and legal material. Finally, these four books of the Pentateuch present much of the same material from different perspectives, just as the Four Gospel accounts do.

Sections D-D': These two respective sections are marked by periods of unity and growth between God's chosen people in the Old and New Dispensations.

Sections E-E': In these units, God's people in Israel face conflict both internally and from the outside.

Sections F-F': The above conflicts lead eventually to the bulk of God's people moving outside the boundaries of Israel, although some remain there or eventually return.

Sections G-G': These represent the major blocks of direct teaching in the Bible. And with a little bit of admitted fudging, it can even been demonstrated that each section consists of exactly the same number of individual books. This can be done by breaking Zechariah into its two universally recognized parts as well as combining the two letters to the Thessalonians since they share a common structure (see my post “I and II Thessalonians: Introduction to the Literary Structure”). Also, I-III John can be combined into one since they were all apparently written at the same time.

Additionally, the prophetic books are divided into the Major and Minor Prophets just as the epistles are divided into the Pauline and General Epistles.

Section H1-1': The labels attached above to these two books have been assigned by scholars to reflect the fact that each deals with exceptions to the general rules expressed in the wisdom books.

Section H2-2': These poetic books are characterized by their predominating emotional content and corresponding lack of specific admonitions

Section H3: Proverbs, as the exact center of the whole Bible, is very appropriate in that the following similar injunctions appear at its start, center, and conclusion (see my post titled “Proverbs: Introduction to the Literary Structure”):

        “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” (1:7)

        “My son, fear the LORD...” (24:21)

        “...a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (31:30)

This thought could well be the overwhelming theme of the whole Bible.