1. Bible Books

2. Books of the Bible
You’ve seen the Peaks and Valleys, but what else is there to know?
Your Bible (especially the Old Testament) is not Chronological at all…
Chronological = the order in which events occurred
Our Bible is ordered based not on when they were written, but on their subject matter
The Hebrew Bible is also not Chronological
It is set up according to the status of the author

4. Hebrew Bible Order The Tanakh:
Torah
Nevi’im
Ketuvim
Tanakh is an acronym (TNK); when written in Hebrew would be pronounced tuh-nock

5. Torah “Teaching”
Torah comprises the books written by Moses – he’s most important in Jewish tradition
Without Moses, there would be no Law, and thus, no Judaism
Books:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

6. Nevi’im “Prophets”
The books of the prophets are often divided into two groups : Earlier Prophets and Later Prophets
1. Joshua
2. Judges
3. Samuel
4. Kings
5. Isaiah
6. Jeremiah
7. Ezekiel
8. The Twelve Prophets
a. Hosea
b. Joel
c. Amos
d. Obadiah
e. Jonah
f. Micah
g. Nahum
h. Habakkuk
i. Zephaniah
j. Haggai
k. Zechariah
l. Malachi

7. Ketuvim “Writings” 11 books, everything else in the Old Testament
Books of Truth: Psalms, Proverbs, Job
Five Scrolls: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther
The Rest of the Writings: Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles

8. The Bible
The Bible, though comprising precisely the same books as the Tanakh, is laid out quite differently.
It is based on the book’s subject matter, not its author
History and Law first
Wisdom Literature next
Prophets last
This is because the western mind is very, very different than the middle eastern one – we expect everything to be compartmentalized, separate, they did not.

9. Who did this? Nobody but God. Canonical councils
There were canonical councils – but these were largely a formality.
Canonical councils
OT: Hebrew authors and scholars recognized a book that had been written by God. By Christ’s day, it had been pretty well ironed out.
NT: Apostles a large source for canonicity – they recognized each other’s writings as being from Christ: they knew the guy, after all.

10. Which Books?
There are (or were) dozens of books that could have gone into the Bible - why are the ones we have the ones that made it?
Tests:
Authoritative (God says)
Prophetic (A man of God wrote it)
Authentic (consistent with the rest of the Word)
Dynamic (demonstrates God’s life-changing power)
Received (accepted and used by many other believers)

11. What about the others?
The Catholic Church keeps a series of books in their Bible that will not be in yours.
Don’t worry, they aren’t sinning!
These books, called the Apocrypha, are written by early Christians, are valuable, and teach good things about Christ, but the early church all agreed that they did not pass all the tests for scriptural canonicity

12. List of Apocryphal Books
I and II Esdras
Tobit
Judith
Rest of Esther
Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus or Sirach
Baruch
Song of Three Children
Story of Susanna
The Idol Bel and the Dragon
Prayer of Manasses
I and II Maccabees

13. Apocrypha
The Jews never accepted the Apocryphal books as scripture (important, yes, but not God’s word)
Apocrypha never claimed to be scripture
Apocrypha is never quoted in other authoritative scriptures

14. Torah = Pentateuch
The Torah is the Hebrew word for the first five books of the Bible.
The word Pentateuch is Greek – it means “Five Scrolls”
It comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible – popular during the Intertestamental Period (the time between the testaments). This would have been the version most Jews were reading in Jesus’ day.

15. Remember? Peaks and Valleys:
The Torah or Pentateuch covers the first 3 Peaks and 3 valleys that we looked at earlier.
Peaks
Creation
Promise
Nation
Valleys
Failure
Slavery
Wandering

16. Your Job:
Get with a partner, get a sheet of butcher paper. I will give you a peak or valley to work with. Then, with your partner, figure out a way to illustrate a comic book that describes the events in your peak or valley. Make it look good!
Peaks:
Creation – Genesis 1-2
Promise – Genesis 12 & 15
Nation – Exodus 33-34
Valleys:
Failure – Genesis 3-4
Slavery – Exodus 1-2
Wandering – Numbers 14 & 16