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1. Where Does It Say That in the ?

1.0 From Genesis

This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. (Gen. 11:27-28)

Chaldea was a country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid- 6th centuries BC, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into Babylonia

Abram/Abraham lived somewhere around 1800 BCE. The Chaldeans didn’t even enter the region of Mesopotamia until about 800 years after Abram/Abraham’s death.

1.1 From Exodus

At a lodging place on the way to Egypt, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. But Sipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.) Ex. 4:24-26

Why did God think of killing Moses?

Miriam, too, and Aaron had complaints to make against Moses; the Kushite wife he had married was the cause of it. “Has the Lord”, they asked, “sent his word by Moses and no other? Has he not spoken to us too”? Such were the complaints the Lord must needs listen to. As for Moses, whom they attacked, never was a man more patient on the whole face of the earth. (Num. 12:1)

Who was the Kushite wife of Moses? Was not Sepporah (Zipporah), the daughter of a Midianite priest the wife of Moses?

1.2 From Samuel and Chronicles

“Thus David prevailed over the Philistine Goliath with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand” (1 Sam. 17:50) First Samuel 17:50 makes it clear that David killed Goliath.

“And there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan, the son of Jaare- oregim the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.” (2 Sam. 21:19)

This just in. Second Samuel 21:19 informs us that David got too much credit for defeating Goliath. Goliath was actually killed by Elhanan

“And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.” (1 Chron. 20:5)

Wait. News flash! David was properly credited with killing Goliath. Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother.

1.3 And From The Two revolutionaries* were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads. “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the .’ You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!” The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way. (Matt. 27:38-40 and 44) * the Greek word translated as ‘revolutionary is the same word that the gospel of John used to describe Barabbas.

With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him. (Mark 15:17 and 31-32)

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled , saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 33, 39-40 and 42-43) 1.4 More From The New Testament

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem (Matt. 2:1)

After Herod died, an of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.” (Matt. 2:19-20)

Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.“ (Mark 6:14)

When Pilate learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. (Luke 23:7)

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. (Acts 12: 1-2)

1.5 Facts and Contexts

I have provided for you a number of quotes from the Bible. That these quotes can be found in the Bible where I indicated are facts. Oh, the wording may be different due to different styles of translation, but the essentials of the quotes are there to be found.

As we go through this course, I will point to these and other facts. I hope to also put a context to the facts that I present. Please keep in mind that, unlike facts, which are objectively true, contexts are more subjective in nature and are therefore far more open to interpretation. Please, during this course, feel free to verify my facts and please understand that any contexts that I may supply to try to understand these facts are simply my opinion, nothing more, nothing less. In fact, I often supply several possible contexts that have been proposed to explain some of the facts of the Bible.

I also offer this reminder. The Bible deals with events that may have happened in history, but the Bible is not a history book and should not be read as such. A gentleman who attended one of my previous classes said this. “The Bible proposes a series of historical events some of which actually happened”. I think that may be a somewhat cold way to put it but that statement is not untrue.

All that being said, let’s begin.

1.6 What Is the Bible?

Is the Bible a Book?

Yes!

The Bible is a book. In fact the word Bible comes from the Greek word for book Βίβλος (Biblos) Or a Library?

The Bible is also a collection of books so, in that sense, it is a library

1.7 How Many Different Are There?

There are several variations of what Jewish and Christian believers call the Bible The – This is usually called the in Christian Bibles The Christian Bible – This contains the books found in the Hebrew Bible along with the gospels, the letters written mostly by the Apostles (sometimes called epistles), the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation of John There is a significant difference between the Christian Bibles read by the three main branches of Christianity; Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy These differences are based on two variations of the Hebrew Bible. About a century after the time of Jesus, chose a variation originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic as being the best expression of the Jewish experience. Protestant Christianity chose that same variation for its Old Testament. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy chose the version that was written two hundred years before the time of Jesus written in Greek. This version seemed to be most in use during Jesus’ lifetime In the English speaking world, there are many translations of the Bible into English. Some branches of Protestantism do seem to insist that the King James

Version should be the only legitimate translation 1.8 Tanakh – The Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a collection of 24 books (by the Hebrew method of the divisions of their bible) and that collection comprises three sections: : This collection contains the five books of the Law. Torah means Law. It is estimated by many scholars that the Torah took its final form (was canonized) Tanakh is a kind of sometime around the Babylonian Captivity acronym for Torah, (@605 BCE to 536 BCE) Nevi’im and Nevi’im: This collection contains the eight books of the Prophets. Nevi’im means Wait a minute. You said Prophets. The Nevi’im likely reached its final the Protestant Bible used form between 200-100 BCE. the same collection of books as the Hebrew Khetuvim: This collection contains eleven Bible. There are more than books of writings. Ketuvim means Writings. 24 books in the Protestant The Ketuvim was probably finalized about Old Testament! 100 years after Jesus’ death @125-150 CE 1.9 Counting Books the Hebrew Way

Torah The Torah includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books make up the first five books of the Hebrew Bible

Nevi’im There are eight books of the Nevi’im. Former Prophets; Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1&2), Kings (1&2)

Latter Prophets; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and The Twelve (twelve minor prophets; Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi)

Note: Christian bibles count these books individually as 21 books

Khetuvim There are eleven books of the Ketuvim; Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes (Qoholeth), Esther, Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah, Chronicles (1&2)

Note: These count as thirteen books in Christian Bibles

1.10 The – An Earlier Hebrew Bible – In Greek

The Septuagint was a collection of the books of the Hebrew Bible written in the second century BCE. The work was commissioned by Ptolemy II, ruler of Egypt, for the famous Library of Alexandria. It was written in Greek. The Septuagint contained several more books than the Hebrew Bible and was divided into four sections Torah: This section contains the same five books of the Law as the Hebrew Bible (5 books) History: This section contains many of the books of the Nevi’im (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel 1&2 and Kings 1&2). History also contains books of the Khetuvim (Chronicles 1&2, Esdras 1&2** (the books of Ezra and Nehemiah) and Esther (with some additions). It also contains books not included in the Hebrew Scriptures; Maccabees (1, 2 and 3*), Tobit and Judith (15 or 17 books)

* Neither Catholic, Protestant nor Hebrew Bibles include 3 Maccabees or 4 Maccabees (see the next slide). Some Orthodox bibles may contain them ** Some Orthodox bibles may have both Ezra and Nehemiah in 2 Esdras while 1 Esdras is its own work 1.11 More on the Septuagint

Wisdom: This section has several books in common with the Ketuvim section of the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes/Qoholeth and Song of Solomon, aka Song of Songs,). This section also contains books not included in the Hebrew Scriptures. These include; an additional Psalm (151)*, the Prayer of Mannasah**, Wisdom, Sirach and the Psalms of Solomon***. (7 books for certain and perhaps 8 or 9) The Prophets: This section contains books mostly in common with the Hebrew Nevi’im. These include the three Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) as well as the twelve minor prophets. This section also includes a couple of books in common with the Ketuvim (Lamentations and an extended version of Daniel). It also contains two books not found in the Hebrew Scriptures, Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah****. (18 or 19 books) Appendix: The Septuagint also contains an appendix which offers a fourth Book of Macabbees. * Neither Catholic, nor Protestant nor Hebrew Bibles contain Psalm 151. Some Orthodox bibles may. ** The Prayer of Mannaseh does not appear in Hebrew, Catholic or Protestant bibles. It does appear in some Orthodox bibles and is included as in some Protestant bibles as well as in some older translations of Catholic Bibles. It can also be found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and in the Catholic Breviary *** The Psalms of Solomon do not appear in any modern bibles but were in recent times found in ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint and the (ancient Syrian Christian bibles) 1.12 The Final Score

Hebrew Bibles Contain 24 books by the Hebrew method of counting. The Hebrew Canon of their Bible was settled by a group of Rabbinic scholars who created an academy at Javneh shortly after the First Jewish War against the Romans. The definitive edition of this Bible was created by a later group of scholars called the Masoretes somewhere between the 5th and 9th century CE

Protestant Martin Luther and later Protestant denominations chose Old Testament to model their Old Testament on the Hebrew Scriptures. They did count their books differently, however. The Protestant Old Testament contains 39 books.

Catholic Old Catholics chose to use the older collection of Hebrew Scriptures Testament called the Septuagint. Quotes taken from the Old Testament found in the Christian New Testament show wording more common to the Septuagint than to the later Masoretic text. Catholics count books in the same way as Protestants but their Old Testament contains more books. There are 46 books in the Catholic Old Testament

Orthodox Orthodox Christianity also uses the Septuagint but each member Old Testament Church of Orthodoxy can make its own decision about which books to include in their Old Testament. Numbers range from 48 to 51. One Orthodox Church (Coptic) includes a book not found in the Septuagint, the 1.13 What Were the Criteria For Accepting Books Into the Hebrew Canon of Scripture? Proposed by Gerald Larue in his work, Old Testament Life and Literature

1. The writing had to be composed in Hebrew. The only exceptions, which were written in Aramaic, were Daniel (2–7), writings attributed to Ezra (Ezra 4:8–6:18; 7:12–26), who was recognized as the founding father of post-Exilic Judaism, and Jeremiah (10:11). 2. The writing had to be sanctioned by usage in the Jewish community. The use of the book of Esther at Purim made it possible for it to be included in the canon. The Book of Judith, without such support, was not acceptable. 3. The writings had to contain one of the great religious themes of Judaism, such as election, or the covenant Reclassifying the Song of Songs as an allegory, allowed the book to be seen as an expression of covenantal love.

4. The writing had to be composed before the time of Ezra (it was popularly believed that inspiration had ceased after the time of Ezra) Jonah was accepted since it used the name of an early prophet and dealt with events that took place before the time of Ezra. The Book of Daniel had its setting in the Exile and therefore was accepted as an Exilic document. 1.14 Psalm 119

Psalm 119 is an interesting Psalm for those people who have studied the and alphabet.

Psalm 119 contains 22 sections. Each section begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the sequence in which these letters are taught (e.g. Section 1 begins with Aleph. Section 2 begins with Beit and so on until Section 22 which begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Tav.

In each alphabetic section, every line begins with the theme letter for that section.

1.15 Controversies Regarding the Hebrew Bible

It is not clear when the Hebrew Scriptures first began to be written down.

It is not clear when the canon of each section of the Hebrew Scriptures was closed. Some critics believe that the Torah was closed during the Babylonian Exile while the Nevi’im was closed around 200 BCE and the Ketuvim around 100 CE. Most critics seem to agree that by 150 CE, the entire canon of the Hebrew Scriptures was closed.

The oldest surviving complete collection of the Hebrew Scriptures in Hebrew was the Aleppo Codex (some pages were either stolen or destroyed after Israeli independence so the Leningrad codex is now the oldest complete collection), which can be traced back to sometime around 930 CE. The story of the Aleppo Codex and the scholars known as the Masoretes who compiled and wrote down the collection can be found at http://www.aleppocodex.org. The Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible is considered by most Jewish believers to be the standard text.

The Septuagint collection was closed around 200 BCE. Written in Greek, this collection was more well-known around the entire Middle East and Egypt. Based on the wording of some quotes, it seems likely that the followers of Jesus more likely used the Septuagint. The oldest surviving complete collections of the Septuagint are the and the Codex Sinaticus (@350 CE). Actually, neither is fully complete. There are gaps but these volumes are largely complete.

1.16 And Then There Were Three

For centuries, scholars believed two things; 1) that there were only two versions of the Hebrew Scriptures; the Septuagint with a known source and starting date (in Egypt @200 BCE) and the Masoretic text with an unknown starting date but a final compilation date @150 CE, about 350 years after the Septuagint and over 100 years after Jesus’ death.

2) The Masoretic text, written in Hebrew, was thought to be a more reliable source. Scholars looked on the Septuagint, written in Greek, as a work based on poor source information and poor translation

But then the were discovered.

These scrolls contained books found in both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Texts. However, many of the passages found in the books that were part of the Scrolls were different from either the Septuagint or the Masoretic texts. Let’s look at a passage from Deuteronomy as an example.

1.17 An Example of the Differences

Deuteronomy 32:43 Masoretic Text (the official Jewish text) 1 Shout for joy, O nations, with his people 2 For he will avenge the blood of his servants 3 And will render vengeance to his adversaries 4 And will purge his land, his people.

Deuteronomy 32:43 Qumran Text 1 Shout for joy, O heavens, with him and worship him, all you divine ones 2 For he will avenge the blood of his sons 3 And he will render vengeance to his adversaries And he will recompense the ones hating him 4 And he purges the land of his people.

The Qumran text has two phrases not included in the Masoretic text Deuteronomy 32:43 Septuagint (the source of the Catholic and Orthodox Old Testament) 1 Shout for joy, O heavens, with him And let all the sons of God worship him Shout for joy, O nations, with his people And let all the of God be strong in him 2 Because he avenges the blood of his sons 3 And he will avenge and recompense justice to his enemies And he will recompense the ones hating him 4 And the Lord will cleanse the land of his people.

The Septuagint has the phrases found in the Masoretic text and the Qumran text and has two other phrases not found in either text 1.18 Some New Conclusions

Passages in the Qumran texts that were found in both the Septuagint as well as in the Masoretic texts sometimes seemed to agree more with the wording found in the Septuagint rather than in the Masoretic texts. This makes sense if the Jewish canon of scripture was not fully closed until around 150 CE

In light of this, scholars are beginning to change their viewpoint on The Septuagint and the Masoretic texts. An opinion that is gaining at the moment is that there were likely a number of variations of the Hebrew Scriptures before 150 CE, and perhaps even after.

The collection that became the Masoretic texts was one of these versions and the Septuagint another and perhaps there were several others besides those. It’s hard to be certain. What does seem certain is that the commentaries on the Hebrew Scriptures, the Talmud, Mishna and Gemara, which began to be put in written form around 200 CE and the , translations from Hebrew (which by the time of Jesus had become more a sacred language than a spoken language) into Aramaic seemed linked to the Masoretic texts. This seems to indicate that by the third century CE, the Masoretic texts represent the collection that chose as most representative of Judaism after the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans

Conversely, many passages in the Christian NT that reference the Hebrew Scriptures use wording or texts found only in the Septuagint. This seems to indicate that the authors of the Christian scriptures were more familiar with the Septuagint version of the Hebrew scriptures rather than the Masoretic or the Qumran texts 1.19 Commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures

Talmud The word means “instruction” or “learning”. The Talmud is a commentary by Jewish scholars on the Torah. The Talmud was an oral tradition until around 200 CE when it was put into written form.

mishnah) which means repetition or) משנה The Mishna The word study. The Mishna is the name given to the written form of the oral torah. The Mishna is the first real work of Rabbinic Judaism (Judah ha Nasi)

gemara) meaning to study or) גמרא The Gemara From the Aramaic term learn from tradition. The Gemara is a further commentary on the Mishna and other writings of the Tannaim (Jewish sages) including commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. The Gemara was completed @500 CE

The Talmud then is the combination of the Mishna and the Gemara. There are two versions of the Talmud; the Palestinian version and the Babylonian version. The Babylonian version, more polished and more complete, is considered the normative version of the Talmud

Targum By the time of Jesus, Hebrew was more of a sacred language. The common Semitic language was Aramaic. The Hebrew used at synagogue services often need to be translated. Targumim (the plural form of ) are some of these translations. They often included commentaries on the Hebrew scriptures along with the translations.

1.20 One More Interesting Difference

The Protestant Old Testament may contain the same books as the Hebrew Scriptures but they are not written in the same order. This is important when you consider the last book in each collection. The last book of the Hebrew Bible is II Chronicles. The last words of this book are taken from the decree of the Persian King Cyrus as he freed the people of Judah from their captivity in Babylon

The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the LORD their God be with them.

These words still ring with power today. Christians may disagree about what books should be part of their Old Testament but they are in complete agreement about what the last book should be. They chose Malachi who ended his book with these words;

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Consider Matt. 16:13-14. “Who do you say that I am”? They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah”.

1.21 The Christian Scriptures

The Christian Scriptures are most commonly referred to as the New Testament. This contrasts them with the Hebrew Scriptures that are included in Christian Bibles which are called the Old Testament While the three major branches of Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) may differ in the books included in their Old Testament collection, they have absolutely no difference in the twenty-seven books they include in their New Testament collection. These include; Four Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Twenty-one Letters (epistles); Thirteen attributed to Paul; Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon Three attributed to John; 1 John, 2 John, 3 John Two attributed to Peter; 1 Peter, 2 Peter One each attributed to James and Jude and one, Hebrews, unattributed (though originally thought to have been written by Paul) The Acts of the Apostles (thought by some to be an extension of the Gospel of Luke) Revelation (thought to be written by John the Apostle) 1.22