The Bible has had a profound effect upon Western Civilization in general & the United States in particular. Depending on which survey you look at, the typical American household owns between 3 to 5 Bibles. Millions of Americans read the Bible regularly, finding encouragement, inspiration & guidance. However, slightly more than half of all Americans (53%) have read very little of the Bible or none at all. It seems that many of those Bibles are on the shelf gathering dust.
Many Christians – even avid Bible readers – have never asked themselves where the Bible comes from. Who wrote the Bible? When was it written? Who decided which writings would be included and which would be left out? What criteria were used to make those decisions? These are some of the questions we shall attempt to address in this blog series.
The collection of writings acknowledged to be a part of the Holy Scriptures is referred to as the canon. The term canon comes from the Greek word kanon which means “rule” or “measuring standard.” The idea is that these sacred books are recognized as, in some sense, coming from God and bearing his authority. They are therefore the standard by which we discern truth from error & right from wrong.
The Protestant Bible contains 39 Old Testament writings or “books” grouped in four general categories.
(1) The Torah or Pentateuch contains the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. These books are foundational for the rest of the scriptures. They describe how the one true God created the heavens and the earth & formed humankind to govern the creation on God’s behalf. Yet humans tragically turned away from God & plunged the creation into misery, violence & death. In response, God called a solitary figure named Abraham & promised that through his family, blessing would be restored to the whole creation. Abraham’s descendants – the people of Israel – were eventually trapped in slavery in the land of Egypt. But God sent Moses and delivered them from bondage. At Mt. Sinai, Israel received the law & entered into a solemn covenant with God.
(2) The historical books recount the long, winding story of the nation of Israel. They describe the conquest of Canaan, the golden era under Kings David & Solomon, the nation’s defeat & exile at the hands of the Babylonians and the eventual return of a small remnant of Jews to the land of Israel. These twelve books include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther.
(3) Next come the poetic books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.
(4) Finally, there are the prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel & the 12 “minor” prophets.
The Hebrew scriptures are identical to the Protestant Old Testament in content. They both begin with the same five books of the Torah or Pentateuch. The Hebrew word Torah means “teaching” or “instruction.” The Torah is also referred to as “the Law” since much of the Torah contains the covenant law given to Israel through Moses.
However, after the Torah, the two canons are ordered quite differently.
The second major section of the Hebrew Bible is called the Nevi’im, meaning “prophets.” They’re divided into the former prophets and the latter prophets. The former prophets include the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. The latter prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and “The Twelve.” “The Twelve” refers to the minor prophets; the Hebrew scriptures lump these writings together & consider them as single book. Similarly, the Hebrew scriptures consider Samuel and Kings as single books, whereas the Christian Bible divides them each into two volumes.
The last major section of the Hebrew scriptures is the Ketuvim, which means “the writings.” The Ketuvim contains the three books of Emet or “truth”: Psalms, Proverbs & Job. There are also the five Megillot or “scrolls.” These include the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther. These shorter writings are traditionally read during certain Jewish festivals or observances. For example, Esther is read during the festival of Purim since it describes the origin of that celebration. The book of Lamentations mourns the fall of Jerusalem & the destruction of temple in 586 BC at the hands of the Babylonian armies. This writing is associated with Tish B’Av, the day of Jewish fasting which commemorates not only the razing of Solomon’s temple, but also the demolition of the Herod’s Temple at the hands of the Roman legions in 70 AD.
Finally, the Ketuvim contains the books of Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah & Chronicles. The Hebrew scriptures consider Ezra & Nehemiah as a single book & does not divide the Chronicles into two volumes as does the Christian Bible.
To reiterate, the Hebrew scriptures contain the same content as the Protestant Old Testament. However, the two canons have a different arrangement. While the Protestant OT has 39 books, the Hebrew scriptures recognize 24 books due to the combinations mentioned above.
Moreover, some Jews even reduce the number of books to 22. (This number is meaningful since this there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.) They consider Ruth to be a part of the book of Judges since the story of Ruth transpires during the era of the Judges and include Lamentations in the book of Jeremiah since Lamentations was probably written by Jeremiah as the culmination of his prophetic career.
Thus, the Hebrew scriptures have three major divisions: the Torah, the Nevi’im & the Ketuvim. The Hebrew Bible is sometimes referred to as the Tanak, an acronym containing the first three letters (T+N+K) of these sections. (The term Tanak however was not used in the ancient world.)
Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five scrolls.” The Torah or Pentateuch is also referred to as the “books of Moses,” since Moses is indeed the dominant figure who leads the children of Israel out of slavery in the land of Egypt and brings them to the verge of the promised land.
Many conservative scholars believe that Moses is the author of the Pentateuch. However, this claim should be taken with a small grain of salt. The scriptures never explicitly claim that Moses is the sole author of the Pentateuch. Moses does not even appear in the book of Genesis. It’s not until Exodus chapter 2 that we find the dramatic tale of Moses’ birth. The last chapter of Deuteronomy records the prophet’s death on Mount Nebo, which obviously was not written by Moses.
There are however quite good reasons for believing that Moses is indeed responsible for much of the Pentateuch’s content. Moses was famously adopted by the Pharaoh’s own daughter. There should be no doubt that Moses was highly literate, having received an excellent education commensurate with his status as a member of the royal family.
Additionally, several passages in the Pentateuch explicitly describe God commanding Moses to record certain crucial events. For example, Exodus 17 describes how the Israelites were attacked by the marauding Amalekites. After emerging victorious in battle, the LORD commands Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered…” (This episode is the first time in the Bible that we read about something being written down for the sake of posterity.)
Later in the Exodus narrative, the Israelites reach Mount Sinai where the covenant was established. God gave Moses the ten commandments as well as many additional decrees & stipulations. When Moses presented the covenant obligations to the people of Israel, “they responded with one voice, ‘Everything the LORD has said we will do.’ Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said…Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.'” (Exodus 24:3-4,7)
In the book of Numbers, we learn that Moses (again at the LORD’s command) made a record of Israel’s stepwise journey from Egypt to the promised land. (Numbers 33:2)
The book of Deuteronomy is essentially one long farewell speech by Moses, given to the people of Israel before they entered the promised land. Moses repeats & elaborates on Israel’s covenant obligations. Near the end of Deuteronomy, we again learn that “Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.” (Deut. 31:9)
These passages clearly indicate that much of the Torah was indeed originally written by Moses. This is not to say that Moses is the author of the entire Torah. Nor does it preclude the strong probability that the Torah underwent some amount of editorial revision over time. But it does indicate that the accounts we read today are backed by solid, historical truth.
