Bible Books

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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)

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

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

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

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.

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

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