HOW DID WE GET THE BIBLE? (4)
(Message by Tanny Keng)
0. Introduction
a) How did we get the Bible? Who preserved it for us to read? Who decided which writings were inspired or not? What was the original inspired order of the books?
b) Just before his death Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy, which finalized the first major set of inspired books that would become part of the Bible. This set is known as the Pentateuch, or Law, and is composed of the following five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Upon completion of the last book Moses, a Levite, gave them to the priests so that they may be preserved:
i) "So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded THE LEVITES, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: 'Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; . . .' " (Deuteronomy 31:24-26)
c) It was from the death of Moses that, according to The Holy Bible in Its Original Order - A Faithful Version, Second Edition (HBFV), the priest and Levites were made the official protectors of God's word. Their job was to make faithful copies and to preserve his revelations to man for future generations.
d) God, for many years after Moses, inspired others such as Samuel, King David, King Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel to write books. It wasn't until the late fifth century B.C., however, that these books were collected and compiled to form what we know as the Old Testament. Ezra, a priest at the temple who lived more than eight hundred years after Moses, led the effort to canonize the Old Testament.
0. Introduction
a) How did we get the Bible? Who preserved it for us to read? Who decided which writings were inspired or not? What was the original inspired order of the books?
b) Just before his death Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy, which finalized the first major set of inspired books that would become part of the Bible. This set is known as the Pentateuch, or Law, and is composed of the following five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Upon completion of the last book Moses, a Levite, gave them to the priests so that they may be preserved:
i) "So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded THE LEVITES, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: 'Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; . . .' " (Deuteronomy 31:24-26)
c) It was from the death of Moses that, according to The Holy Bible in Its Original Order - A Faithful Version, Second Edition (HBFV), the priest and Levites were made the official protectors of God's word. Their job was to make faithful copies and to preserve his revelations to man for future generations.
d) God, for many years after Moses, inspired others such as Samuel, King David, King Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel to write books. It wasn't until the late fifth century B.C., however, that these books were collected and compiled to form what we know as the Old Testament. Ezra, a priest at the temple who lived more than eight hundred years after Moses, led the effort to canonize the Old Testament.
e) What exactly is canonization? Canonization is the process by which a collection of writings comes to be considered authoritative, definitive and fixed by a religious authority. It was during the canonization process that the number of books in the Old Testament and their book arrangement was set.
1. The book arrangement of modern translations
a) The Table of Contents of almost any modern Bible will list thirty-nine (39) books for the Old Testament and twenty-seven (27) books for the New Testament for a grand total of sixty-six (66) books. Today's translations have seventeen (17) MORE Old Testament books than they originally contained. Modern copies of the Bible have no obvious division or logical pattern to them. For example, although the book of Job is the OLDEST writing (1700s B.C.) and therefore should be placed FIRST if the book order was from oldest to youngest book we find it listed as the 18th book listed in such translations as the KJV and NIV. More importantly, today's commonly accepted Old Testament book order is NOT the logical division endorsed by Jesus:
i) "Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the LAW of Moses and the PROPHETS and the PSALMS (or Writings) concerning Me.'" (Luke 24:44)
b) It was Jerome, in the fourth century A.D., that changed the original format and order of the word of God to something very different (ibid. page 3).
a) Does it matter which writings are considered truly inspired by God and included in the Bible and which are not and rejected? Does the order of books, which boldly claim to be the very words of God, MATTER? It mattered enough for Ezra and the Great Assembly of 120 priests to spend countless hours laboring to collect and sort through manuscripts, determine which ones were and were not inspired by God, etc. It mattered enough for the apostle Paul and Peter to dedicate the time, before they were martyred, to editing and finalizing their writings so that MANY others could learn about God's way. And it mattered to Jesus who, in his very FIRST appearance to the disciples after his resurrection, reminded them that the three-fold testimony of the law, prophets and writings found in the Bible, concerning him, HAD to be fulfilled.
a) The Table of Contents of almost any modern Bible will list thirty-nine (39) books for the Old Testament and twenty-seven (27) books for the New Testament for a grand total of sixty-six (66) books. Today's translations have seventeen (17) MORE Old Testament books than they originally contained. Modern copies of the Bible have no obvious division or logical pattern to them. For example, although the book of Job is the OLDEST writing (1700s B.C.) and therefore should be placed FIRST if the book order was from oldest to youngest book we find it listed as the 18th book listed in such translations as the KJV and NIV. More importantly, today's commonly accepted Old Testament book order is NOT the logical division endorsed by Jesus:
i) "Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the LAW of Moses and the PROPHETS and the PSALMS (or Writings) concerning Me.'" (Luke 24:44)
b) It was Jerome, in the fourth century A.D., that changed the original format and order of the word of God to something very different (ibid. page 3).
2. In conclusion
The End ...
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