CHAPTER 3: SURVEYING THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

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CHAPTER 3 SURVEYING THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

• Formation of the Old Testament
• Inspired record of Salvation History prior to the
  coming of Jesus Christ
• Made up of the Pentateuch, or Torah, and the
  Historical, Wisdom, and Prophetic Books
• Jewish Bible (Hebrew Scriptures) Torah (Law)
  the first 5 books (Pentateuch) Nebiim
  (Prophets) Ketubim (Writings)
• Hebrew Scriptures TaNaK

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• Period of oral traditions stories, songs,
  experiences, celebrations of sacred events
• Written stories (950 BC) scribes during
  Solomons reign last of the OT books
  (around 100 BC)
• Compilations work of several writers and editors
• OT formed over the course of about 900 years
• The Old Testament Canon
• From the Hebrew word kaneh which means standard
• The list of books recognized as the genuine and
  inspired Holy Scripture
• Protestants accept 39 books as inspired
• Catholics accept 46 books as inspired

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• Discrepancy results from which ancient versions
  of the Hebrew Scriptures are used to form the
  canons
• Babylonian Invasion and deportation to Babylon
• Dispersed Jews settled in Rome, Athens, Corinth
  (spoke Greek)
• Septuagint Greek translation of the OT in Egypt
  (3rd century BC)
• Jamnia, Northern Palestine Jewish scholars met
  to consolidate their sacred books (90 AD)
  dropped 7 books (1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith,
  Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom)
• Deuterocanonical second canon books in the
  OT not found in the Hebrew Scriptures also
  called apocryphal books (hidden)

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• SURVEY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS
• Pentateuch
• (Genesis, Exodus,
• Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
• Moses NOT the author
• Four different oral traditions (Yahwist, Elohist,
  Priestly, Deuteronomic)
• Genesis beginning Chapters 1-11 (creation,
  sin of Adam and Eve, Flood) last chapters (story
  of Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Esau, Jacob)

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• Exodus Central book of the Old Testament story
  of the how the Israelites were enslaves by the
  Egyptian Pharaoh and freed by God
• Moses Name means to draw Theophany of God in
  the burning bush Ten Plagues
• Passover Event What did the Israelites have to
  do to escape the tenth plague?
• Kill un unblemished lamb smear its blood on
  their doorposts eat the lamb quickly with bitter
  herbs and unleavened bread
• Wandering in the desert for forty years manna
• The Sinai Covenant (Ten Commandments)
• Instructions for the building of the Arc of the
  Covenant and the tabernacle

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• Leviticus gets its name from the priests of the
  tribe of Levi
• Laws (247) deal with public worship, animal
  sacrifices, ritual offerings
• Theme Gods holiness and our need to worship Him
  with respect and love
• Respect for the sacredness of life and Gods
  presence in ordinary life

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• Numbers records the constant murmurings of
  the Israelites in the desert
• Theme Gods faithfulness
• Deuteronomy Second Law sermons by Moses
• Theme obedience and loyalty to God warns of
  dire consequences choose between life and death
  (sin)
• Joshua (savior) as successor to Moses Moses
  dies

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• Historical Books covers 900 years of history
• (1020 BC to 142 BC)
• Joshua led the Israelites
• into the Promised Land
• Theme God fought for Israel,
• and without His help, the
• Israelites would never have
• settled in Canaan (12 Tribes)

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• Judges local tribal leaders
• Period of Judges Apostasy (denial of God) God
  disciplining Israelites by allowing them to fall
  to their enemies YHWH takes pity and saves the
  Israelite
• Deborah prophetess who instructed the general
  Barak in a successful holy war
• Gideon God gave him a woolen fleece to show that
  He would lead Israel to victory
• Samson fought the Philistines
• strength in his hair

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• Book of Ruth
• Elimelech and Naomi move from Bethlehem to Moab
  during a famine Sons marry Moabite women
  Daughter-in law
• Ruth returns to Bethlehem with Naomi
• Ruth gleaned in the field of Boaz married Boaz
• Son named Obed (Davids grandfather)
• Theme steadfast love (hesed), loyalty,
  kindness, the value of persons

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• First and Second Books of Samuel
• Samuel priest and prophet, last and most
  significant judge
• Samuels mother (Hannah barren)
• Theme fidelity to God leads to success
  disobedience leads to disaster
• Saul chosen as king by lot disobeyed and lost
  kingship
• David second and greatest of all Israels kings
• Skilled harpist defeated Goliath (Philistine
  giant)
• United the tribes into a single nation
• Established Jerusalem as Israels capital
• Affair with a married woman (Bethsheba)
• Annointed Solomon to be his successor

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• First and Second Books of Kings
• Death of David and reign of Solomon (wisdom)
• Construction of the Temple in Jerusalem
• Solomons death kingdom split into two
• (North Israel South Judah)
• First and Second Books of Chronicles
• First and Second Books of Samuel and Kings retold
  from a priestly perspective

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• Ezra and Nehemiah
• Probably the same authors as the First and Second
  Books of Chronicles
• Story after the Babylonian Exile
• Rebuilding of the Temple
• Only the tribe of Judah survived (known as Jews)
• Tobit, Judith, and Esther
• Three short novels
• Theme God works in peoples lives God rewards
  people who remain faithful

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• First and Second Maccabees
• Greek rulers tried to destroy Jewish identity and
  impose Greek culture
• Antiochus (cruelest Greek ruler) desecrated the
  Jewish Temple
• Judas Maccabee (hammer) led a rebellion for
  religious and political freedom
• Hanukkah (Festival of Light) celebrates the
  rededication of the Temple
• Roman general Pompey
• conquered Palestine in 67BC

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The Wisdom Books

• How God works in our daily lives
• Instruction on the right way to live
• Book of Job
• Why do bad things happen to good people?
• Story of an innocent man (Job) pious, well-off
  non-Jewish
• God on trial
• Driving need for answers to human suffering
• Book of deep consolation for those in grief

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• Story of Gods mercy
• Characteristics of Job patient, honest, devout
• Selflessness for the love of God
• Theodicy an attempt to justify the ways of God
  to humans

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• Psalms
• songs sung to a harp (span 500 years)
• Collection of 5 books of poetry (150 songs and
  prayers)
• Thanks, praise, lamentations, royal poetry,
  lessons
• Authorship? David (73 psalms)
• Parallelism second line restates, contrasts, or
  advances the thought of he first line
• Psalm 117 (shortest)
• Psalm 119 (longest)

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• Proverbs
• Wisdom versus foolishness
• A book of short sayings
• Setting family, court, school
• Attributed to Solomon
• Educating the reader on how to live a moral life
• Mother to son
• Father to son
• Teacher to student
• Person does the right thing blessed
• Person does the wrong thing punished
• Theism an individual stands before God

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• Ecclesiastes
• Qoheleth (preacher)
• Personal, autobiographical in tone
• Theme Enjoy the simple pleasures of life which
  are gifts from God
• 3rd Century BC (Solomon and his successors)
• Inevitability of death nothing is permanent
• Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
• All humans efforts to find happiness apart from
  God are without result

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• Song of Songs (Canticle)
• Allegorical God and Israel God and the Church
• Author Solomon or dedicated to Solomon
• Female and male courtship consummated
• Feminine perspective
• Language seductive
• 117 verses

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• 1st Century Palestine sung in taverns
• Middle Ages most copied book by the monks
• Alluded to in Revelations 3 20
• Pope John Pope II Theology of the Body
• Messianic Interpretations

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• Wisdom
• Deuterocanonical
• Author Jew from Alexandria, Egypt (Greek)
• Personification
• Splendor of Divine Wisdom
• Gods mercy
• Folly of idolatry
• Glorious event of Exodus
• Gods justice is vindicated
• Chapter 2 Prophecy of Jesus
• Passion
• Gospel of Matthew testing,
• Suffering Servant

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• Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
• Ethical teachings
• Single author (Ben Sira Jewish scribe from
  Alexandria) unlike Proverbs
• Theme Wisdom is fear of God (respect)
• Knowledge of the human heart
• Distrust of women
• Disillusionment of experience
• Fraternal sympathy with the poor and
• oppressed
• Connection to the New Testament
• Magnificat, description of the seed in
• Mark, Messianic interpretations

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Timeline of Jewish History

• Northern Kingdom (Israel 10 Tribes)

Year/Event Prophet
860 BC Elijah
Elisha
790 BC Jonah
Hosea
Amos
Conquered by Assyria 722 BC
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• Southern Kingdom (Judah, Benjamin 2 Tribes)

Year/Event Prophet
750 BC Isaiah
Micah
625 BC Jeremiah
Zephaniah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Obadiah
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Conquered by Babylon 586 BC Ezekiel
Daniel
Persia Conquers Babylon (Exiles Return Home) 520 BC Haggai
Zechariah
Ezra
Nehemiah
Malachi

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• 334 BC Greek Conquest
• 167 BC Judas Maccabee Revolt
• 63 BC Roman Conquest

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Prophets

• Nabi (one who speaks for another)
• Mouthpiece for God (Speak Gods message to Gods
  people)
• Irresistible call from God
• Often unpopular
• Functioned as preachers (Interpreted Mosaic Law
  to the nation)
• Functioned as predictors (Announced coming
  judgment, deliverance and events relating to the
  Messiah)
• Functioned as watchmen over he people of Israel

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Minor Prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habukkak, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Major Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel
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• Elijah Northern Kingdom (860 BC)
• Next to Moses, greatest of Old Testament prophets
• Called down a famine to shock Israel back to
  fidelity
• Challenged King Ahabs pagan prophets to ask
  their gods to send a fire to consume a sacrifice
• Taken to heaven in a whirlwind
• Viewed as a precursor and partner of the Messiah

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• New Testament Jesus believed to be Elijah
• Transfiguration (Jesus appears with Moses and
  Elijah)
• Jesus Fulfills the Law (represented by Moses) and
  the promises of the prophets (represented by
  Elijah)
• Elisha succeeded Elijah
• Performed many miracles
• Sides with the poor

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• Jonah Northern Kingdom (793-750 BC)
• Name means dove
• Sent to Ninevah (capital of Assyria)
• Theme God of Hebrews has concern for the whole
  world God is sovereign over nature
• Key Word prepared
• Only minor prophet ever mentioned by Jesus
• Allegory
• Parable
• Myth
• History

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• Hosea Northern Kingdom (755-715 BC)
• Among the first writing prophets
• Influenced Jeremiah
• First prophet to use marriage as a metaphor of
  the covenant between God and Israel
• Cultured upperclass priest married the
  prostitute Gomer
• Gomer represents the Northern Kingdom Hoseas
  marital problems represent the adultrous
  relationship of Israel with polytheistic gods
• 3 Children God Sows, Not Pitied, Not Mine

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• Theme steadfast or unfailing love of God for
  Israel in spite of her unfaithfulness (corruption
  in moral life both privately and publicly
  rebellion against authority, dependence upon
  human defenses and foreign alliances, corruption
  of priests, corruption of worship)
• Key Words harlot, harlotry

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• Amos Northern Kingdom (750 BC)
• A native of Judah a herdsman and tender of
  sycamore trees
• Knowledge of out-of-doors way of life
• Name means to lift a burden
• Theme worship of God must show itself in deeds
  of mercy and justice to the weak and poor
• God would come as a warrior to judge the nations
  that had rebelled against his authority
• God would preserve a repentant remnant
• Had 5 visions

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• Northern Kingdom
• 730 BC Conquered by Assyria
• Lost tribes of Israel (10) intermarried with
  peoples of new lands after being exiled by the
  Assyrians

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• Isaiah Southern Kingdom (740-680 BC)
• Son of Amoz (influential and distinguished Jewish
  family)
• Well-educated student of international affairs
• Name means Yahweh is salvation
• Evangelical Prophet
• Theme Salvation only by grace,
• by the power of God repentance
• Chapters 1-39 Called First Isaiah
• Isaiah as author
• Compared nation to a vineyard that
• God cultivated (needs pruning to keep
• it growing)

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• Chapters 40-55 Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah
  (555-539 BC)
• Author lived in Babylon compassionate, anonymous
• Different in language and style from First Isaiah
• Chapter 53 Suffering Servant (Messiah who must
  suffer and die for our sins)
• God chose servant before his birth
• Chosen One will bring justice
• Parallels Jesus suffering, death, resurrection
• Chapters 56-66 Third Isaiah (539-500 BC)
• Written after the Babylonian Exile

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• Micah Southern Kingdom (750 BC)
• Name means Who is like God?
• From the country prophet of the poor and
• downtrodden

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• Theme Judgment and restoration
• Key Word hear
• Closing Scene Courtroom
• God has a controversy with His people, calls the
  mountains and hills together to form the jury as
  He presents His case Only one verdict guilty
  Scene closes with hope
• First prophet to threaten Judah with the
  destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple

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• Jeremiah Southern Kingdom (626-586 BC)
• Name means God establishes
• Weeping Prophet Prophet of Loneliness
• Reluctant prophet
• Commanded not to marry
• Theme Warning of Gods judgment against sin
• Story of a Potter God reshaping
• the nation

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• Chapters 26-45 written by Baruch (friend) after
  Jeremiahs death in Egypt
• Chapters 46-51 unknown author
• Lamentations Jeremiah as author (586 BC)
• Mourning over the woes of Judah and the
  destruction of Jerusalem
• People of Judah experiencing starvation and
  cannibalism
• Cause sinful behavior of the people

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• Zephaniah Southern Kingdom (630-625 BC)
• Name means Hidden of God
• Noble birth 4 generations of ancestry mentioned
• Theme Judgment- Coming of the Day of the Lord
  (nearness)
• Key Word Day of the Lord
• Fire, smoke, darkness, ruin everywhere

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• Nahum Southern Kingdom (663 BC)
• Name means comforter
• Theme Gods judgment on Assyria (written to
  comfort Judah)
• Ninevah will be destroyed

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• Habakkuk Southern Kingdom (606 BC)
• Name means One who is embraced
• Priestly background Member of the Temple choir
• Key Word faith
• Theme Allow God to be God
• Growth of faith from perplexity and
• doubt to absolute trust
• Why did God permit increasing evil to
• Judah to go unpunished?
• How could a Holy God use sinful nations
• like Babylon as His source of judgment?
• Theodicy a defense of Gods goodness vs. evil

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• Obadiah Southern Kingdom (845-400 BC ?)
• Name means servant or worshipper of Yahweh
• Not Jewish but an Edomite (Descendent of Esau)
• Theme Pride goes before a fall Being
  invulnerable is an illusion
• Prophecy against Edom
• Shortest Book (21 verses)
• Jeremiah familiar with this book

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• Ezekiel Southern Kingdom (570 BC)
• Name means God strengthens
• Priest married
• Prophesied to Jews in Babylonian captivity
• Influenced by Jeremiah
• Visions
• God with chariot and 4 winged
• creatures (4 faces lion, ox, eagle,
• man)
• Standing in a field of dry bones
• Prophesied the building of a new
• Temple, a new Jerusalem, the
• nations return
• Father of Judaism

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• Daniel Southern Kingdom (530 BC)
• Name means God is my judge
• Jewish upper class taken as a teen to Babylon
• Position in King Nebuchadnezzar's court
• Interpreted dreams of the king
• Apocalyptic (predicts the end of the world)
• Theme God as the one true God who judges and
  destroys rebellious powers
• Humility before God

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• Respected by King Cyrus (Persia)
• Envy by companions landed Daniel in the lions
  den (King Darius)

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• Haggai Southern Kingdom (520 BC)
• Name means festival
• Post exilic prophet encourage the spiritual and
  moral life of he remnant
• Rebuild the Temple and nation
• Theme God blesses His people when they put Him
  first
• We should not grow weary
• in the service of the Lord
• Key Word house
• Second shortest book simple and direct

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• Zechariah Southern Kingdom (520 BC)
• Name means Yahweh remembers (common name)
• Theme Encourage remnant from Babylon to complete
  their work in rebuilding the Temple
• Key Word Word of the Lord, Lord of Hosts
• Messianic figure
• Most difficult to interpret
• Mention of angels, visions

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• Malachi Southern Kingdom (450-400 BC)
• Authorship?
• Name means my messenger
• Theme Sincerity toward God and a holy manner of
  life essential in Gods eyes
• Initial enthusiasm had worn off
• Worship mechanical,
• ritualistic, unspiritual
• Restore Jews to a
• fresh relationship with God
• Financial abuses,
• intermarriage, divorce,
• corruption of priests
• Key Words You say
• Didactic Method a running debate

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• Southern Kingdom
• 586 BC Babylonian Invasion
• 538 BC Persians conquer the Babylonians
• Remnant returns to Jerusalem to rebuild the
  Temple
• Refuse the help of Samaritans (Mixed population
  of Israelites and Assyrians)
• Exiles in Egypt, Babylon form synagogues/rabbis
  (teachers)
• 334 BC Greeks conquer the Persians
• 167 BC Judas Maccabee leads rebellion
• 63 BC Romans (General Pompey) conquer Jews