The Old Testament

The Old Testament is still relevant! "Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4)
It’s an ongoing story that we are a part of. But the Old Testament is difficult for us to get into! There are so many books that we just don’t know where to find who or what we are looking for, a lot of it seems to be boring lists and genealogies, the culture is alien to us, and the names are impossible to pronounce!

Layout
In our Bibles, the first five books are the books of the Law, sometimes called ‘the books of Moses’. When we read in the psalms (for example, Psalm 119:97) how wonderful the Law is, it is these five books that they are referring to. Whether or not Moses actually wrote them himself, their contents date back to his time. Almost every major doctrine has its roots in these books, which are (if you like) the foundation on which the whole of the rest of the Bible is built. The rest of the Old Testament is the superstructure (explanation, clarification & outworking), and the NT is ‘the icing on the top’ (the nicest and most easily digested bit, of course)
The next group of books, from Joshua to Esther, are what we would call “history”. They are pretty well in chronological order, and they tell the story of the nation of Israel from when they first settled in Palestine to when they resettled in Palestine after the Exile (more about this later).
The events in these books are recorded not just because they happened, but because they were significant. Long periods of time may be summed up in one or two sentences, while the reigns of David and Solomon occupy two whole books – and then get repeated all over again!
We learn about God largely through stories of individuals – Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samson, Ruth, David, and so on. We have to bear in mind that not everything we are told about them is good! (Daniel is the only OT hero who has no sins recorded) David did things right 90% of the time (apart from his relationship with Bathsheba), Abraham only about 50% of the time, and Samson did just about everything wrong! (but God used him nevertheless)

After this come the poetry and wisdom books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Songs.
Finally there are the prophets: Isaiah to Malachi.
A word of warning: the OT contains many different forms of literature (law, history, poetry etc). Each of these needs to be interpreted in a slightly different way.

Timeline:(very roughly)
2000BC Abraham (give or take 100 years, best estimate 2100 BC)
1500BC Moses and the Exodus (traditionally 1450BC)
1000BC David
500BC the Exile (actually 586 to 538BC)
0BC Jesus