CHAPTER 2

THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE BIBLE

Bible – The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word biblia1 – a plural word referring to a collection

of writings (2 Tim. 4:13)

Scripture – The word “Scripture” comes from the Greek word grammata (Latin is scriptura) – in the

context of the religious writings, these are also called Holy Scriptures (NIV) or sacred writings (NASV)

(2 Tim. 3:15 – see also Dan. 9:2)

The words Bible and Scripture are proper nouns and should always be capitalized2

The Bible is a collection of writings. The collection is referred to using the singular nouns Bible,

Scripture, or Canon. The plural noun Scriptures can also be used to refer to the collection.

THE CONCEPT OF “TESTAMENTS”

The concept of “testament” as a record of God’s promise and work comes from Jeremiah

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, "declares the LORD "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (NASV)3

1 In Greek, biblia comes from a word that referred to parts of the Papyrus plant that were used to make the paper-like writing material used in the ancient world.

2 The capitalization of these words is not because of reverence but because all proper nouns in English are capitalized.

3 See also Hebrews 8

THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON

Canon comes from the Greek (kanon) meaning “straight rod, or straight edge, or ruler” (Gal.6:16)

Refers to those writings that conform to the rule or standard of divine instruction and authority

The accepted canon of the Old Testament

Jews and Protestants accept thirty-nine books

Roman Catholics and some Protestants add 15 apocryphal books (although many Catholics and

Protestants do not consider these extra books to be divinely inspired)

Apocrypha comes from a Greek word meaning “hidden away”

DIVISIONS OF THE CANON

References to divisions of the Old Testament In the New Testament

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12)

“Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (John 10:34)4

“Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you - that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:24)5

Traditional divisions (see chart on page 14)

Law

History

Poetry and wisdom

Prophets

Major prophets

Minor prophets

The Septuagint (LXX)

The term “Septuagint” and the Roman numerals, LXX, both refer to the Jewish legend about

how this writing came into existence. The legend is that 72 Jewish scholars translated the

Hebrew Scriptures into Greek over a period of 72 days. The story of this legend is told in the

4 A quote from Psalm 82--Jesus linked it with the “law”.5 Note the mention of Psalms with Law and Prophets

Letter of Aristeas, which dates to about 100 BC. The legend says that Ptolemy II of Egypt (285-

246 BC) commissioned the translation.6

It is important to note that the LXX is a translation from Hebrew into Greek, and that the work

was completed by Jewish scholars hundreds of years before Christianity

The LXX was the primary Old Testament text for New Testament Christians. Approximately 80%

of Old Testament quotations in the New Testament come from the LXX.

Divisions of the Old Testament books are different in the LXX from the Hebrew text, and the LXX

included the 15 books of the Apocrypha7

Law

History

Prophets (divided into Former and Latter prophets)

Writings (Job, some of the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs)

Masoretic divisions

The work of the Masoretes

Jewish scholars who gave the final form to the Jewish Old Testament between A.D. 500 and

A.D. 1000 – working in the city of Tiberias on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee

Developed the vowel and accent point system for Hebrew (in an attempt to preserve the

pronunciation of the words)

Included marginal notes (for explanation)

Were much like scribes

“Scribe” in Hebrew means “counter”

Masoretes counted everything in the Old Testament

There are 400,945 Hebrew letters in the Torah

The middle word in the Torah is “searched” (Lev. 10:16)

The middle letter was in the Hebrew word “belly” (Lev. 10:16)

The Masoretes arranged the books of the Jewish Old Testament in these categories in order

to engage Christian apologists (people who defend doctrinal beliefs)

Torah (the five books attributed to Moses)

Prophets

6 F.F. Bruce, “Transmission and Translation of the Bible”, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library, 1979, p. 41.

7 The fact that the Apocrypha were included in the LXX demonstrates the rich literary output of the Jews during the Intertestamental period.

Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, & Kings

Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve (i.e. the Minor

Prophets)

Writings (Kethubim) – In Greek are called Hagiographa or “Holy Writings”

Poetry and Wisdom – Psalms, Proverbs, and Job

The Rolls (Megilloth) – Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther

History – Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles (1st and 2nd combined)

Dead Sea Scrolls

First discovered in 1947 (with new discoveries up to 1960)

Found in eleven caves on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea near an Essene community

called Qumran

Includes at least partial copies of all Old Testament books except Esther

Includes the complete scroll of Isaiah

Date from about 200 BC to A.D. 70

At least two scrolls refer to “Moses and the Prophets”

Qumran Manual of Discipline

Zadokite Document

The Dead Sea Scrolls have demonstrated the high degree of accuracy of our modern English

translations of the Old Testament

THE TANAK

Our Jewish friends think it is a little presumptuous for Christians to talk about an "Old Testament".

For them, there is just one testament. They view the Old Testament as the story of their religion.

The English version of the Hebrew Scriptures is called the TANAK.8 The word TANAK is an acronym

for the three divisions of the Hebrew canon:

Torah

In Hebrew, Torah means “teaching.” The Torah is made up of the first five books of the Old

Testament. The traditional view is that these were all written by Moses. The Hebrew Torah is

the same as the Pentateuch. Both refer to the first five books of the Old Testament.

8 The TANAK is published by the Jewish Publication Society.

Nevi’im

Also spelled "Nebi'im". In Hebrew, "b" and "v" are the same letter. The word means "prophets"

See the discussion on prophets on page Error: Reference source not found

Nethuvim

In Hebrew, Nethuvim means "writings". It is interesting to see how the Hebrew canon and the

Christian canon arranges these books differently.

Of course, Christians view the Old Testament as part of the body of inspired writings that make up

the entire Bible. For Christians, the Old Testament and the New Testament are one canon of

religious writings

THE ANTILEGOMENA

There have always been critics of some Old Testament books. The following books were disputed

for the reasons given:

Song of Songs – some think the book is too erotic to be included in the Bible

Ecclesiastes – some think the book is too pessimistic

Esther – omission of the name of God

Proverbs – contains several difficult passages – some argue that that verses such as these

demonstrate contradictions within the biblical text – others suggest that the critics simply do

not understand the writers or the cultural settings of the texts

Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes” (Prov. 26:4-5)

Ezekiel – descriptions of the temple in the last ten chapters of Ezekiel differ from those of the

Solomonic temple

COUNCIL OF JAMNIA

Jamnia is thought to be located 13 miles south of Joppa on the Mediterranean coast of Israel

Jewish legend suggests that some of their scholars met in Jamnia from c. A.D. 90-100 to settle

disputes about the Old Testament canon

One concern at these meetings was the Christian use of the LXX. Jewish scholars believed that the

Old Testament Scriptures related to their own religious traditions. They were concerned that

Christians were reinterpreting the Hebrew writings to advance the teachings of Christianity.

MODERN CRITICAL APPROACHES TO OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES

THREE GENERAL APPROACHES TO BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

Literalism - Everything described is historically accurate and to be taken at face value

Minimalism - Some event (mostly later historical events) are accurate, but some events are nothing

more than legend.

Nihilism - The stories of the Old Testament may occasionally correspond with history, but the

writings were almost entirely created by later writers or editors, and are not to be taken literally

IMPORTANT TERMS

Biblical Criticism

Defines the broad range of scholarly study of the Bible in which various presuppositions and

approaches to the biblical material are used in an effort to determine the origin, development,

transmission, and meaning of the text

The term “criticism” should not be taken to mean destructive criticism. The word has more to

do with careful analysis and critical thinking.

Higher Criticism

Refers to a variety of interpretive methods that generally look at the biblical material from a

high-level perspective (i.e. the 30,000 foot view of the biblical material).

1. Historical Criticism – looks at the biblical material from the perspective of its historical

origins

2. Literary Criticism – looks at the biblical material from the perspective of its literary forms

(genre of literature used by the writers, literary forms and structures, and possible themes.

3. Source Criticism - looks at possible sources from which the writers may have drawn their

material (the JEDP Theory is an example of Source Criticism)

4. Form Criticism – looks at the various forms that may have been used to transmit the ancient

stories until they were written down. Hermann Gunkel is identified with this field of

criticism and for suggesting that each biblical passage may have unique origins (such as oral

legends, or even religious interpretations of events before the participants understood

enough to know what was happening to them).

5. Tradition Criticism – looks at various cultural and religious traditions that may have

influenced the formation of the biblical writings – as well as how these traditions may have

been affected by the Bible

6. Redaction Criticism – looks at the biblical material for evidence of editors who may have

collected, organized, or emended the biblical material – in an effort to understand how the

biblical material came to be in its final form

Lower Criticism

Also referred to Textual Criticism

The term “lower”

1. Does not suggest a less worthy approach to biblical interpretation

2. The focus of the study is the actual words and manuscripts of the biblical material

3. Seeks to discover which manuscripts are closest to the original writings

4. These search for the ipsissima verba (Latin for “the very words”) of the authors

5. Studies age and quality of manuscripts, scribal errors, emendations, etc

This approach is necessary because none of the original writings (called autographs) exist

Hermeneutics

The science of biblical interpretation

The term science here acknowledges the importance of scientific fields such as archaeology,

anthropology, philology (the study language development), history, etc.

Hermeneutical methods

Allegorical method – views names, terms, and numbers used in the text as suggestive of other

realities

Historical-grammatical method – a literalist approach that accepts the narrative as true and

acknowledges that God was able to work through the unique languages, cultures, and historical

settings of the authors to tell a true story.

Post-modernism – a recent and skeptical view of scripture (and of all things thought to be

knowable. Post-modernists do not think that anything can be known for certain. This is a denial

of all notions of absolute truth.

THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS OF THE PENTATEUCH

An excellent example of how Biblical Criticism was carried out

Emerged from observations made in early 18th Century A.D. by H. B. Witter and Jean Astruc

Different names used for God in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2

Third-person references to Moses in writings traditionally attributed to Moses

Different names used for places (Mt. Sinai, Mt. Horeb; Jethro and Reuel)

Julius Wellhausen - late 19th Century summary of Documentary Hypothesis

J Yahweh is used as the principal name for God - may have emerged in

days of Solomon

E Elohim is used as the principal name for God - may have emerged around 750 BC

D A history given by the Deuteronomist - thought to have emerged around 550 BC

(Reign of Josiah)

P A history written by priests around 450 BC - legal materials and genealogies added

About 400 BC, the JEDP traditions had combined into the Pentateuch as we know it today

IMPLICATIONS OF CRITICAL APPROACHES

If the Documentary Hypothesis were true, then Moses could be nothing more than one of the

editors of the books traditionally attributed to him.

So, the question of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch has become an issue that defines one’s

approach to biblical interpretation

In the Gospels, Jesus often attributed teachings of the Pentateuch to Moses – Mat. 8:4; 19:8; Mark

7:10; 10:5; Luke 24:27; John 1:17, 45; 5:46

Franz Delitzsch (c. AD 1890) – rejected the Documentary Hypothesis and argued that Moses wrote

the Pentateuch

CRITICAL VIEWS OF MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH9

References to Moses in the third person (Num. 12:3)

9 Taken from: Harris, Stephen L., and Robert l. Platzner, The Old Testament, An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003, pages 80-84. The views of Harris and Platzner are provided here to give students the arguments held by those who are skeptical of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

Note the reference to the humility of Moses in Num. 12:3

This hardly seems like something that Moses would have written about himself.

References to “to this day” (Gen. 19:37; 22:14; 47:26; Ex. 10:6; Deut. 3:14; 34:6)

Note that there are similar references in many other non-Mosaic books of the OT.

The significance here is that the use of “to this day” in the Mosaic books suggests that someone

much later than Moses must have inserted the remark.

Deuteronomy’s description of Moses’ death (Deut. 34)

Note the lavish eulogy of Moses in Deut. 34:10-12

This hardly seems like something that Moses would have written about himself.

Anachronisms (something out of its historical context)

“At that time Canaanites were in the land” (Gen. 12:6; 13:7)

References to territories lying “beyond the Jordan” suggests that the writer has a vantage point

that is West of the Jordan when the narrative has the Israelites still wandering in the wilderness

(Gen. 50:10; Num. 21:1)

Gen. 36:31 - gives a list of Edom’s kings who ruled “before any king reigned over the Israelites”

Gen. 32:32 - in the account of Jacob’s encounter with a messenger from God at Penuel we find

the statement that since Jacob was wounded in his hip socket the Jews do not eat meat from a

thigh muscle “to this day” - and yet there is no such prohibition in the laws of Moses

Duplications in narrative

Two versions of creation story (Gen. 1 and Gen. 2)

Two versions of flood story (interlaced in one continuous narrative)

Three variations of the story of irresistible beauty of Israelite women

Abraham asks Sarah to lie to Pharaoh about her being his sister instead of his wife (Gen 12)

Abraham asks Sarah to repeat the lie to Abimelech (Gen. 20)

Isaac repeats his father’s mistake to Abimelech (Gen. 26)

Two versions of Jacob’s encounter with God and having his name changed to Israel

At Penuel (Gen. 32:22-32)

At Bethel (Gen. 35:9-15)

Two versions of Joseph’s capture and journey to Egypt

Ishmaelites take him to Egypt (Gen. 37:25-27)

Midianites retrieve Joseph from well and sell him to Ishmaelites (Gen. 37:21-25, 28-30)

Two versions of God’s theophany and revelation to Moses

At the burning bush (Ex. 3:1 - 4:17)

“I am the LORD [YHWH]” (Ex. 6:3) - God (YHWH10, pronounced Yahweh) says that he was

formerly known as El Shaddai (God Almighty) not as Elohim as Ex. 3:6 suggests

Note that YHWH is a part of the name used for God in Gen. 2 - long before Exodus 3.

Note also that YHWH is the name being called upon by Enosh, Grandson of Adam (Gen.

4:26)

Note, too, that Abraham referred to God as YHWH in Gen. 22:14.

UNDERSTANDING OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE

Preliminary considerations

First, it is important to remember that scholars rely upon their own observations and then try to

explain what they see in terms (such as used below) they hope will explain what they mean.

Humans are limited in our ability to express divine and eternal truth.

Terms such as narrative, poetry, synthetic parallelism, and chiasm are not found in the Bible –

these are terms used to describe literature. They are useful, but we should be cautious in

limiting the Bible to any of these categories.

The Bible is revealed knowledge about God. There is no category in literature for inspired

revelation. Keep in mind that the narrators, editors, and others who contribute to the biblical

text did so within a greater work of God. God was at work to tell us things about himself and

about our relationship to Him.

God needed no help in revealing things about himself to us, but we need a lot of help in

understanding these things of God. The Holy Spirit was the one who inspired the Scriptures, and

the Holy Spirit helps us understand.

When we do not understand something in the Bible, it does not mean that something is wrong.

It usually means that we have just not arrived at the point where we can understand.

Sometimes, we need historians, archaeologists, or others to give us more insight into the

circumstances of the text. Sometimes, we must wait for newer manuscripts to be found to give

us a better understanding of what was originally written. Sometimes, we need to be educated a

10 The four consonant name for God is called the Tetragrammaton (meaning “four consonants”)

little more before we can understand a new concept. All of these things take time and patience.

We should be diligent and continue studying in our pursuit of understanding (2 Timothy 2:15).

Narrative

A story told by a narrator

About 40% of the Old Testament is narrative

Perspective – refers to the relationship of the narrator to the story – e.g. 1st person, 3rd person,

an observer, or as a messenger

The story may be told in poetry, prose, historical narrative, epic, idyll, or other genres11

Epic – a long narrative that focuses on the life and experiences of an individual

Idyll – a short narrative that focuses on rustic life (e.g. the story of Ruth)

Legend

A narrative describing events that are understandable within the human experience

Legends are usually considered true but embellishments over time can change the truth

in the legendary exaggeration

The central characters in legends are usually human

Myth

A narrative describing events that are beyond anything that humans can experience

Myths can be legendary, fictional, or supernatural

The central characters in myths are non-humans

Folktale

A narrative about humans in a real-world experience

Folktales are presumed to be false

Poetry

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and portions of other books

Parallelism – two lines of verse that contain ideas that together convey an idea

Synonymous parallelism

The two lines of verse each contains a similar idea

E.g. Ps. 19:1; Prov. 9:10

Antithetic parallelism

The two lines of verse provide contrasting ideas

11 Not all of these literary types are used in the Old Testament. These definitions are given to help understand how scholars categorize various types of literature.

E.g. Ps. 1:6; Prov. 10:4

Synthetic parallelism

The second line of verse completes the idea begun in the first line

E.g. Ps. 1:3; Eccl. 11:1

Chiasm

Definition – an organization of words in a piece of literature where the first words or ideas are

written in reverse order in the last half of the piece

E.g. “Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you”12

Chiasm is always analyzed using special notation such as ABBA, or A B B’ A’ (see the diagram on

page Error: Reference source not found).

The purpose of chiasm was to help the listener remember the story (a type of mnemonic device)

Example in Gen. 9:6

A B CC

’B

’A

’Wh

oevers

hedst

heb

loodo

fm

anb

ym

ans

hallh

isb

loodb

es

hed

Wisdom literature

Discursive wisdom – literature that tries to understand difficult issues of life – often expressed in

pessimistic stories (e.g. Job)

Instructional or didactic wisdom – literature that offers more optimistic teachings about how to

live life (e.g. Proverbs)

Legal Material

Covenant Code

Deuteronomic Code

Levitical Code

DATING OLD TESTAMENT WRITINGS

When dating an Old Testament writing, two things must be kept clearly distinct12 Mardy Grothe, Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You. New York: Viking, 1999. This phrase is the title

to Dr. Grothe’s book.

The date (or call it the historical setting) of the story

The date when the story was actually written

The earliest possible date

The latest possible date

How to Designate Years

BC AD

3 BC Jan. 1 to Dec 312 BC

Jan. 1 to Dec 311 BC

Jan. 1 to Dec 31AD 1

Jan. 1 to Dec 31AD 2

AD 3

How to Designate Centuries

BC AD

300 to 201 BCThird Century

200 to 101 BCSecond Century

100 to 1BCFirst Century

AD 1 to 100First Century

AD 101 to 200Second Century

AD 201 to 300Third Century

CHAPTER AND VERSE DIVISIONS

CHAPTER DIVISIONS

Modern chapter divisions are attributed to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. AD 1228).

Langton’s work on chapter divisions was completed in AD 1205. His work was so popular that even

the Jews adopted his chapter divisions for their Scriptures.

VERSE DIVISIONS

Old Testament verse divisions generally correspond to processes used during public readings.

Divisions were created for major sections, paragraphs, and phrases. The texts were marked to show

the reader where to end vocalization.

Some chapters (e.g. Psalm 119) were written as acrostics using the Hebrew alphabet to begin each

verse or stanza

Old Testament verse divisions pre-date the process of versification in the New Testament

CHAPTER AND VERSE NOTATION

References to chapters and verses in the Bible follow a well-established notation

Book titles or abbreviations13

Chapter numbers are always given in Arabic numerals

A colon is always used between chapter and verse numbers

Verse numbers are given in Arabic numerals. If more than one verse in a given passage is

included, use the following notation

Comma – use a comma followed by a space to denote individual verses within a chapter

Hyphen – use a hyphen between the verse numbers to denote a specific range of verses

The letter “f” – use the single letter “f” to denote the next one or two verses

The letters “ff” – use “ff” to denote the next several verses

Semicolon – a semicolon is used to separate passages

Passages within the same chapter – Gen. 1:3-5; 14-19

Passages that include more than one book – Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15

Passages that included multiple passages and books – Ps. 23:1ff; 28:9; Isa. 13:14, 20

13 Abbreviations for book titles are shown on the chart of canonical divisions on page 14

CANONICAL DIVISIONS

THE TRADITIONAL DIVISIONS THE HEBREW CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

DIVISIONS ENGLISH NAMES CLASSIFICATION ENGLISH NAMESWITH ABBREVIATIONS OF THE BOOKS FOR THE BOOKS

Law Genesis (Gen.) Law (Torah) GenesisExodus (Ex.) Exodus

Leviticus (Lev.) LeviticusNumbers (Num.) Numbers

Deuteronomy (Deut.) DeuteronomyHistory Joshua (Josh.) Former Prophets Joshua

Judges (Judg.) JudgesRuth (Ruth) 1 Samuel

1 Samuel (1 Sam.) 2 Samuel2 Samuel (2 Sam.) 1 Kings1 Kings (1 Kings) 2 Kings2 Kings (2 Kings)

1 Chronicles (1 Chron.)2 Chronicles (2 Chron.)

Ezra (Ezra)Nehemiah (Neh.)

Esther (Esther)Poetry/Wisdom Job (Job) Latter Prophets Isaiah

Psalms (Ps.) JeremiahProverbs (Prov.) Ezekiel

Ecclesiastes (Eccl.) HoseaSong of Songs (Son.) Joel

AmosObadiah

JonahMicah

NahumHabakkukZephaniah

HaggaiZechariahMalachi

Major Prophets Isaiah (Isa.) Writings (Hagiographa) PsalmsJeremiah (Jer.) Job

Lamentations (Lam.) ProverbsEzekiel (Ezek.) RuthDaniel (Dan.) Song of Songs

EcclesiastesLamentations

EstherDanielEzra

Nehemiah1 Chronicles2 Chronicles

Minor Prophets Hosea (Hosea)Joel (Joel)

Amos (Amos)Obadiah (Obad.)

Jonah (Jon.)Micah (Mic.)

Nahum (Nah.) Habakkuk (Hab.)

Zephaniah (Zeph.)Haggai (Hag.)

Zechariah (Zech.)Malachi (Mal.)