Pastor Deborah Merritt

1
Biblical History and Content

• Pastor Deborah Merritt

2
Historical Content

• The writers, translators and the readers of the
  Bible at the time of the presentation
• Who was the writer?
• Why did he write?
• Who was he writing to?

3
Which Bible do you want?

• The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the
  Bible
• The Jewish Bible
• The Roman Catholic Bible
• The Protestant Bible

4
Historically, there was one presentation in
Judaism

• Old Testament, or
• First Testament, or
• Hebrew Scripture or
• Tanakh - the word of the Lord (a God who speaks)
• Torah the first 5 books of Moses (pentateuth
• Neviim the prophets (both major and minor)
• Kethuvim- the writings

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Hearing the God, who speaks meant,

• The Jewish scribes and faithful custodians of the
  written text passed down the holy word not only
  by the written Torah, but by word of mouth, the
  various traditions about both the customs and
  teachings, as well as about the meaning of the
  written text itself. The written word was
  constantly explained in the language and culture
  of people to whom it was presented.

6
The Acts account of the festival of Pentecost,
(Acts 2)

• is our warrant that God accepts languages and
  cultures
• The most fundamental element in culture is
  language
• A people and culture can only survive when they
  are allow to be expressed in their native
  character (manners, customs and language) that
  are not contrary to the ways of God (Ps.37)

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The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Bible)

• After the diaspora of the Jews, in the last three
  centuries B.C. the Jewish populations, including
  converts into Judaism became Greek speaking Jews.
  
• To remain authentically Jewish in beliefs,
  worship and teachings, the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
  had to be translated into the Greek language.

8
The Septuagint

• Brought Judaism to the front as a world religion
• Caused the entire ancient world to accept the
  laws and words of Moses, just as they had studied
  and accepted the famous philosophers of their
  day.
• Opened the door for the Jewish historians,
  including Josephus to record Jewish history in
  Greek, the prevailing language

9
The Christian Bible

• Though Judaism was the mother of Christianity,
  the antiquity of the Hebrew language suffered in
  a Greco Roman world.
• By the first century A.D., the Septaugint had
  been accepted and studied as the Jewish Bible
• With the birth of Christianity, the Septuagint
  plus the canonization of the New Testament books
  became the Christian Bible

10
The Vulgate, (the Latin translation of the Bible)

• At the end of the fourth century and the
  universal religion of Catholicism, Jerome
  acquired the task of bridging the Hebrew and
  Greek language into the vernacular (i.e. Vulgate)
  language of international communication.
• The Vulgate became the Bible of Europe for the
  next thousand years.

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As time and history would have it

• All the translations soon became confused and
  lost the character of the original Hebrew text.
• Thus , the study of the archaeological scrolls of
  the Old Testament are quite important to our
  studies, now

12
The 5 Books of Moses

• Genesis the beginnings and patriarchs
• Exodus the deliverance and wanderings
• Leviticus the worship and sacrifices
• Numbers the census, cycle of sin and repentance
  
• Deuteronomy the conflict in the promise land
• The laws and precepts of God given to Moses to
  record and give to the people to live by

13
Historical Books

• Joshua conquest of the promised land
• Judges heroes of Israel (Samson,Gideon,Deborah)
• 1-2 Samuel the beginning of monarchy rule
• 1-2 Kings Davids life story
• 1-2 Chronicles- monarchy of David, kingdom of
  Judah

14
Prophetic BooksInclude both major and minor
prophets

• Major Prophet
• Isaiah longest prophetic composition written.
  Might have been 2-3 sections in history. Serve
  possibly as a politician like a Secretary of
  State to kings Ahaz and Hezekiah.
• The Messianic prophecies were meant for
  encouragement

15
Minor Prophet

• Amos
• Lived in Judah, the southern kingdom
• The prophet whose saying were preserved
• A wealthy owner of orchards and herds
• An accomplished poet

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In the New Testament

• The Gospels Records of the life and ministry of
  Christ
• The Acts of the Apostles The beginnings of
  Christianity and the Church of the Lord Jesus
• The Epistles the practical study of the
  life-styles of the Christ followers explained in
  their cultures
• The Revelation Prophetic Book