What is the OT?

January 16, 2007

The Old Testament:  What Is It?

– Hebrew Bible– TANAK– 39 books– Produced 1200-200BCE– Bible of Jesus, Apostles and early Church

Papyrus

The Vehicles that Carry the Story

• Narrative

• Legal Material

• Poetry

• Wisdom Literature

Narrative

• Telling a story

• Most of the OT is made of narrative

• Genesis thru 2 Kings and most of the Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc)

• Narrative is not common in ANE– OT is unique

• Most ANE material is poetry– Gilgamesh

Narrative and Poetry

“Tear down the house and build a boat! Abandon wealth and seek living beings! Make all living beings go up into the boat.

The boat which you are to build, its dimensions must measure equal to each other: its length must correspond to its width.’

‘One (whole) acre was her floor space, (660’ X 660’) Ten dozen cubits the height of each of her walls, Ten dozen cubits each edge of the square deck. I laid out the shape of her sides and joined her together.

I provided her with six decks, Dividing her (thus) into seven parts.’

Narrative and Poetry

‘Six days and seven nights

came the wind and flood, the storm flattening the land.

When the seventh day arrived, the storm was pounding,

the flood was a war—struggling with itself like a woman

writhing (in labor).’

Gilgamesh

Legal Material

• OT Laws

• Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy– Covenant Code (Exod. 20-23)– Deuteronomic Code (Deut 12-26)– Holiness Code (Leviticus 17-26)

Poetry

• Psalms and Song of Songs

• Large parts of the Prophets are also in poetic form.

Wisdom Literature

• How to get along in the world and how to deal with some of life’s unanswered questions.

• Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes

• Prose and Poetry Book of Ecclesiastes, 3:1-8

Crucial Events

• Exodus– Deut. 26:5-9– When Israel becomes a people.

• Exile– When Israel fell to the Babylonians in 587

BCE.

Exodus – 1200ish BCE

587BCE – Temple Destroyed

How the OT Began

• Did someone decide “Hey, I’m going to write the OT today?” No.

• Writings first get started under the reign of King David– Remembrances of past events– Key is to distinguish Israel from its neighbors– Establishment of identity– Post-exilic writings

How the OT Developed

• River analogy

• Oral Tradition– Stories passed from one generation to

another• Finally collected and written down

– Later edited and revised» Now translated… continual development and re-

interpretations.

Important Terms and Ideas

• TANAK• 4 “Vehicles” of OT• 3 Legal Codes• 2 Crucial Events• 1 River