In this episode of Bible Talk, Alex Duke chats with Jim Hamilton and Sam Emadi about canonical order.

How Should Our Old Testaments Be Ordered?*

Show Notes

1:49 / How should the books of the Old Testament be ordered?

3:04 / Why is this conversation even important?

5:28 / Where does Jesus talk about the order of the Old Testament?

12:15 / Where did we get the order of the Old Testament in our English Bibles?

15:18 / Where do we get the names of the three sections of the Old Testament—law, prophets, writings?

22:14 / How does ancient technology suggest that there’s long been a commonly held arrangement to the Old Testament?

24:35 / How is the message of the Old Testament clearer when the books are accurately arranged?

32:41 / Were Kings and Chronicles not written at the same time?

36:06 / If the Old Testament is a chiasm, does it matter what’s at the center?

37:41 / Are we overcomplicating this? The beginning of Ruth sounds like it’s supposed to come after Judges.

38:15 / How does Jim think the Old Testament should be ordered?

40:27 / What reason do we have to believe in a particular Old Testament order?

42:00 / What about the order in the Septuagint?

Resources Mentioned

The Unity of the Hebrew Bible, by David Noel Freedman

Tracing the Old Testament Canon Through Time, by Casey Croy

Dominion and Dynasty, by Stephen Dempster

Psalms Two Volume Set: Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary, by Jim Hamilton

* Chart from James M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgement (Crossway), following the order set forth by Roland Kenneth Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969; reprint, Prince Press, 1999), x–xi.