The Hebrew Bible

A collection of some of the most important books in

Western Civilization

The Hebrew Bible

Christians know it as the Old Testament

It is written in Hebrew It is made up of 39 smaller works In fact the name Bible is from a

Greek word biblia which means little books.

Hebrew Bible

It was written as early as 800 B.C.E. and finalized in about 200 B.C.E.

Tradition held that Moses wrote the first five books although many no longer believe this today.

Hebrew Bible

The Documentary Hypothesis asserts that there were multiple editors/writers of the Torah.

The sources are known as JEDP• J stands for YWHW, E stands for Elohim

(another name for God), D stands for Deuteronomy and P stands for priestly (D and P have the same source)

Scholars believe that the Torah has three different sources.

Hebrew Bible

3 sections• the Law - Torah• the Prophets - Nevi’im• the Writings - KKethuvim

Together they are called Tanakkh The Torah is the core of the Bible

Books of the Hebrew Bible

Torah

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Nevi’im (the Prophets)Major Prophets

Joshua

Judges

Samuel

Kings

Isaiah

Ezekiel

Nevi’im (the Prophets) The Book of the Twelve

• Hosea• Joel• Amos• Obadiah• Jonah• Micah

• Nahum• Habakkuk• Zephaniah• Haggai• Zechariah• Malachi

Kethuvim (the Writings)

• Psalms• Proverbs• Job• Song of Songs• Ruth

• Lamentations• Ecclesiastes• Esther• Daniel• Ezra-Nehemiah• Chronicles

Finalization of the Hebrew Bible

The Preservation

Scribes did not want the history of the people to be lost.

The Preservation

The Torah (Pentateuch) was finalized, the prophetic books were compiled and new books written.

Among those things written was the Book of Job; it was one of the first written attempts to understand the suffering of an innocent person.

The Hebrew Bible

The canon was developed.• The religion’s focus away from the

temple meant that it had to determine which religious books would be canonical (authoritative).

• Several hundred religious books were in use.

The Meeting

Around 90 B.C.E. a group of Rabbis gathered to determine which books would be canonical in Israel in a town called Jabneh (Jamnia)• Some books like the Song of Songs and

Ecclesiastes were hotly debated and almost excluded.

They finally decided on the current books.

A Reading

Here is what Genesis 1:1 sounds like in Hebrew--my reading