History of the Old Testament of the Bible Essay

In the Beginning: At the beginning of the universe. God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. During those six days God spoke to the darkness and created the world, brought forth light, created the sky, land and animals and plants to inhabit them. However, even during this creation he was contemplating the creation of a being made in his own image.

Unlike Mythology, narratives of the Bible are actual events that took place dating back to the beginning of time. The conception of The Holy Bible’s compilation started thousands of years ago in the land of Egypt. Initially, the Old Testament Scriptures were written in the Hebrew language, however, they were later translated to the Greek. At the onset of the New Testament writings, they were originally recorded in the Greek language. Forty men transcribed the voice of God, which resulted in sixty-six books of the Holy Bible. The Holy Scriptures explained the creations, formation of the world, God, God’s chosen people, sin, and the plan of salvation as well.

How the Old Testament is known today, it was composed of works from the first-century B.C.E. However, on the other hand the books themselves date back to later dates close to the eleventh centuries or even maybe earlier. [Source]

Bruce Waltke begins his argument by establishing the opponent’s view. Waltke writes that forms of criticism hold “that most of the literature of the Old Testament had a long oral prehistory before being written down” (17). Waltke seeks to refute this claim by establishing that “biblical literature had a short oral prehistory

Markedly, I also gleaned Elohist is the generic term for God considering the Hebrew people did not know Yahweh for God until the time of Moses. Therefore, if understanding correctly, to interpret the historical books, one must keep in mind the Hebrew was sensitive about history and their fundamental belief was that Yahweh was the God of all history also it’s process, His will and purpose. In my opinion, the Deuteronomic history interprets the real history while telling a true story. Giving meaning to the importance of the covenant, Yahweh’s will (to obey all will be well; to disobey evil will fall on them). This helps the interpreter understand how the material was structured also the source. However, Priestly history is material which is specifics aspects, tracing the way, the belief in the priority and heavily weighted towards the matters with which priests was concerned. Therefore, I agree with the author in interpreting the historical books. One must first understand the meaning of the words

Throughout the course of the semester, we have constantly talked about and expressed the idea of reading the Bible in a historical context. Picking out the pieces that coincide with evidence that has been found with archeological findings, the accuracy of dates, and important people. The critical study of the Bible is to look at the book as a piece of historical text. The use of our “historical lens” allows us to pick out to various pieces that appear to be factual. Using this analysis of looking at the Bible through our “historical glasses”, we can understand the true meaning of the Bible in its original historical setting.

There are many books of the Old Testament, the first five being, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Presently, the books of the bible have been proven impossible to date. However, we have been able to identify at least four sources; the Yawhist, the Elohist, the Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source. The theme of the Yawhist’s story is very optimistic, with the general idea that Israelites will one day triumph over mankind. The theme of the Deuteronomist’s story on the other hand is not so optimistic, with the idea that God will one day punish them for their sins. The Elohist was more complex than the rest, its story consisting of angels and dreams, and the Priestly had intentions of promoting the priesthood. While we do have evidence of these sources, there are likely many more that we have been unable to identify.

Once a faith centered on priesthood, sacrificial rituals, communal gatherings and oral traditions, the people of the Jewish religion decided to restructure the faith around written scripture. Although it is argued that rabbis began work on compiling the oral histories prior to the fall of the Second Temple, there was a marked resurgence in documentation of the important history and moral laws of Judaism after the fall (Molloy, 291). The Jewish people felt a sense of urgency to finish the written works. They believed the incorporation of written word into Judaism would help to solidify their place in the religious world, as well as make the faith easier to correctly interpret among their own vastly dispersed people (BBC, 2009).

An understanding of Israel’s history and geography is necessary for proper interpretation of the Old Testament. The Middle East provided the setting for the events recorded in the Old Testament, specifically Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Syria-Palestine. This area lies along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia up to the Persian Gulf. This area was the cradle of civilization and the scene of God 's activities as recorded in the Old Testament. The majority of the events take place in Palestine, the ancient land of Canaan, though at times the Israelites lived in Egypt and Babylon. This is

When studying any piece of literature there are many different methods and techniques that can be used. The Bible, in specific, is often referred to as a source of moral code, hope, and answers to social, ethical, and political questions. However, this incredibly influential book can also be read as if it were any other novel. The events, settings, and characters can all be evaluated for what they are, forgetting the notion that they are from a religious text. This approach is called narrative criticism. When regarding to the Bible in this way, we do not need to know any historical information or focus on seeking a deeper theological meaning. Instead, the stories are evaluated in terms of how

The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times for a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguished ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and a list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing of set documentation is essential because it is the framework for the lives of God 's followers. The term “Old Testament” originated as a means to express spoken traditions and God 's creation of that particular era. It is an method of philosophical investigation was designed to answer the why questions within these spiritual text documentations. These religious documentations consisted of four parts. These four sections retrieved from the Old Testaments are the laws, history, wisdom and prophecy. The laws are a rule of behavior enforced within the community. The rules are sometimes called “Torah.” When analyzing this Torah, these rules viewed within the first five spiritual books of the Bible. For example, in the first Torah in Genesis, it explains the creation, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph’s coats of many colors. However, the laws in Exodus were in regards to the going out. The going out took about 40 plus years, until the people led to

The process by which the English Bible, as it is known to the English culture today, was compiled is an extraordinary thing to see. The Bible consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The process by which both Testaments were written and then canonized into one book transpired over a period of many years. Once the canonization of the Bible officially came to an end, it was translated into English. Since then, many versions of the modern Bible have been made. Since the individual books of the Bible became scattered as they were written, people set forth to preserve God’s Word by compiling them into one

The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics,

The reason behind this is the very nature of the content in it and the purpose the authors invoked when placing in it the stories they did. As noted before, within this section is what are called the ‘foundational myths’ of Israel, that is, the stories of how the people and nation came to be and the explanation of its purpose and uniqueness among the nations of the world. The existence of these stories, and so the purpose of this section, works as a uniting force for this new people and new nation, reminding them of their common past and of the God who rescued them and made a covenant with them. This remembrance also has the effect of reinforcing the importance of keeping the covenant as a response to the saving acts of their God and as the true way to ensure the rewards of the covenant rather than the curses.

Although the bible is left up for interpretation, many believe that over time the words have been misconstrued. They yearn to