Introduction to the Hebrew Scripture

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Introduction to the Hebrew Scripture

• Why Read the Bible?

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The canon known as the Bible literally means the
books
What does the canon mean?
It is the ecclesiastical rule (law) approved by
the Church
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What is Your Idea of the Bible?

• What does it mean to say the Bible is the Word
  of God?
• How did the Bible come about?
• How was it passed down from generation to
  generation?
• What is its message and meaning for us today?

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What is the Bible?

• The Bible is a sharing of a peoples faith a
  record of a nations belief in God. It is the
  historical reality of Gods relationship with his
  people.
• These people believed God really did intervene in
  human history and that he really does care about
  creation.
• And the roots of our Christian faith are found in
  the Hebrew Scriptures.

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• The Bible then, was written as a book of
  Religious Truth. That is, it was not that other
  truths were not important, they were simply not
  AS important.
• The ancient Hebrews understood God only as a God
  who was involved in his creation and the very
  cause of everything that happened.

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We are the first in human history to see our
planet in this light. We look for a more
scientific cause and effect. They saw only God
as the cause of what happened and the effect of
outcome
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• Their view of the world around them was much
  different from ours in that it was much simpler.
• How is our world different today than in the time
  of the ancient Hebrews?

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The Bible Must be Read in its Proper Context

• The culture, politics, and religion were much
  different from our own.
• The historical context was far different from
  that of today.
• The authors of the Bible were writing to the
  people of their own timeits quite unlikely that
  they ever had us in mind.
• So the better we understand their culture and
  their world, the more likely we are to understand
  what they were trying to say.

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• Have you ever tried to read the Hebrew Scripture?
• All at once or small bits at a time?
• Did you fine it difficult? If so, what were some
  of the problems experienced?
• The Bible is not an ordinary book. It must be
  read slowly, prayerfully, studiously, and
  reflectively.

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The Hebrew Scripture

• The Bible you own today came to you in its
  complete form. But there was much involved in its
  history and its formation.

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How Did The Bible Get Here?

• Remember the Hebrews believed that they had
  experienced God and his saving presence in their
  lives-and they wanted their descendents to
  understand and appreciate this.
• How was this information learned and passed down
  from one generation to the next in this ancient
  culture?
• By word of mouth. i.e. ORAL TRADITION
• As time passed, certain details in stories
  changed., added, or even lost, but the basic
  message of the story was still there. Eventually,
  these fragments were written down on sheets of
  goat/sheep skin called parchment as a collection
  of stories.

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Home Work Assignment

• Write a story of a tradition of your family
  passed down but not written down. Ask your
  parents and grandparents about your family
  history. How far back can you trace your family
  story on the basis of the spoken word (oral
  tradition). What can you conclude about oral
  tradition in our society?

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Oral Tradition

• Oral tradition is still used today in some
  societies. Many people in the Central Pacific
  (Caroline Islands and the Gilberts) navigate the
  open seas using techniques passed down from
  generations by word of mouth.
• Songs were composed using the elements of their
  navigation system. By chanting these songs as
  they voyaged, they would know which stars to
  observe and follow.

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• Recently, ancient routes were retraced using only
  the ancient oral tradition of navigation. The
  results?
• They were amazingly accurate-even by today's
  standards.
• This experiment suggests the likelihood that much
  of the oral tradition behind the stories in the
  Bible are accurate as well.

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What Are the Benefits / Risks of Oral Tradition

• Benefits
• Commit to memory-its not forgotten
• Will have the knowledge even if illiterate
• Risks
• Knowledge can get changed / distorted over time
• Its lost if not passed down

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Writing Down the Oral Traditions

• It was about the time if king David that the
  first written documents were produced. Later the
  PROPHETS and SAGES wrote down their works.
• Gradually, the various written accounts (stories)
  were collected and put into a chronology over the
  years and edited. And the Bible as we know it was
  born. Editing is the putting order into the
  accounts.
• These three stages of development Oral,
  Written, and Edited have no definitive times
  lines between them. At times, all three were
  going on simultaneously throughout the ancient
  world.

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Will the Real Bible Please Stand Up!

• Are the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish Bible
  the same?
• What are the differences?
• The Catholic Bible contains the deuterocanonical
  books
• Why is there a difference?

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Home Work assignment

• Compare the Hebrew Scripture of the Protestant
  Bible and Catholic Bible. List the differences in
  the two. What type of Bible do you have at home?
  At school?

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Why the Difference?

• The Bible was first written in the language of
  the people who believed that they had experienced
  God that is, Hebrew.
• Translations soon followed into Greek
  (Septuagint) and Latin (Vulgate)
• The translation used during the time of Jesus
  Christ was the Septuagint.

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• What happens between C.E.67
• and 70?

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• In C.E.90 Jewish leaders meet in Jamnia Israel to
  decide their fate after the fall of Jerusalem.
  They begin to consider which books to accept into
  their cannon of Scripture.
• The Jews decide over a period of time to include
  the lesser of books.
• The Christians had already begun to form their
  own cannon by this time-based primarily upon the
  traditional acceptance of the Septuagint - which
  was the accepted cannon during the historical
  period of Jesus life.

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The Deuterocanonical Books

• The additional books included in the Catholic
  Bible are called deutero-cannonical books.
• Does the Protestant Bible have the same of
  books as the Catholic Bible or the Jewish
  Scripture?
• Why do you think that is?

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The Protestant Bible

• After the Protestant Reformation the Protestant
  groups went back to the decision made by the Jews
  at Jamnia with regard to which books would be in
  the Hebrew Scripture and which would not. The
  Protestants followed the Jewish Canon. (39 Books)
• The Catholic Church retained the longer canon
  which predated the decisions at Jamnia. (46
  Books)

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• Imagine all the texts and versions of the Bible
  available in all the languages of the world
• Does this demonstrate the generally accepted
  importance of the Bible as the word of God?

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The Bible and Faith

• The Bible is a book of faith. Faith is not quite
  the same as knowledge.
• Whats the difference between faith and
  knowledge?
• Knowledge is what we learn, either by ourselves
  or from others. It comes from our senses-sight,
  hear, touch, taste, smell. We know b/c we
  experience it.
• Experience is important.

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• How do we know ice is cold?
• How do we know the sky is blue?
• We know b/c we can perceive
• How do we go about finding out information that
  cannot be experienced by observation? Or
  questions that cannot be answered by using only
  the data gathered by our senses b/c no physical
  data is to be had in the areas?

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What are Some of the Questions?

• Why am I here?
• What is my purpose in life?
• Where do I go when I leave here?
• What happens to me when I die?
• It is here that faith enters
• If knowledge is based upon information gathered
  from the senses, faith is belief in something
  based upon the word of someone else.

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• Put simply, we believe b/c someone of trust told
  us so.
• Much of life is based on some type of trust
  (belief)
• We trust others even unconscious trust- in many
  ways. Give some examples of how we do this daily.
• Crossing a busy street, or driving through an
  intersection.
• Architects and contractors ability to make sturdy
  structures
• Doctors,- the medical field in general

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Belief Acceptance

• Belief does not always imply total acceptance of
  a statement. Often it is the idea itself which is
  believed rather than the specific language used
  to express it.
• When reading the Bible we must get behind the
  language to the idea it conveys.

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Conscious exaggeration

• Many of us make conscious exaggeration
  statements in our daily speech
• What are some you hear every day?
• I ALWAYS have homework
• I NEVER get to go.
• EVERYBODY has one.
• Hes as BIG as a house
• Hes as STRONG as an ox

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Always Look for the Message

• These type of statements arent concerned so much
  about the words- the interest is in getting the
  message across. The exaggeration is used to make
  a point.
• So when reading, we shouldnt get so distracted
  by unusual descriptions or details in the text
  that we forget the religious message the writer
  meant to convey.

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• We have to remember that were not reading the
  Bible as a historical narrative of ancient times.
  Rather we are looking for the religious message
  that it contains. The message that is often
  hidden in the prose (text/style)

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Biblical Inspiration and Inerrancy

• We believe the claim that the Bible is the word
  of God.
• But what exactly does that mean???
• There are two generally accepted characteristics
  the Scriptures contain INSPIRATION and
  INERRANCY.

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Biblical Inspiration

• Did God have an angel whisper words into the ear
  of the writers and tell them what they should
  write down?
• NO! That would be note taking
• Inspiration in its proper sense is a religious
  mystery. Its something we believe, even though
  it cannot be fully explained.

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• Faith would be impossible without religious
  mystery. If every element of faith could be
  explained, we would know everything. Religion
  would simply be reduced to an intellectual
  exercise.

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• God utilized the author to get the religious
  message across to the people, and the message
  probably had far more important meaning than the
  one the author wrote consciously.
• Biblical inspiration is basically a matter of God
  getting a message across to people in terms they
  can understand.
• One of the proofs of Gods love for us is that he
  communicates with us in a way that is
  intelligible to us.

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Biblical Inerrancy

• All the books of the Bible are inspired, but that
  doesnt mean that the Bible contains no mistakes.
  
• We can search the Scriptures and find statements
  that are historically inaccurate - or that modern
  science would contradict. As long as we are
  dealing with humans, were dealing with the
  possibility of mistakes.
• When we say the Bible has no mistakes, we are
  talking about inerrancy.

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• Inerrancy refers to the fact that there are no
  mistakes in religious truth that God wants to
  reveal to us.
• The Bible is a book of religious belief, and it
  must be taken as such. In that sense, it contains
  no mistakes.

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Approaches to the Bible

• The way that we approach the Bible will very much
  determine the way we will read it and thus, the
  degree to which we understand it.
• There are three approaches to the Bible we are
  going to discuss
• 1. The Fundamental Approach
• 2. The Scientific Approach
• 2. The Critical Approach
• Do you know which approach you use?

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Fundamental Approach

• The fundamental approach is a literal
  interpretation of the Bible text.
• Those who adhere to this view insist on taking
  every phrase, description, and text of the Bible
  literally that is word for word as they appear
  in the text.
• Can you see any dilemmas that might arise using
  this approach?

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• The historical and cultural context is different.
• The changes in language is also very important.
  Language in ancient times was not as developed.
  Words had multiple meanings and the meaning of
  certain words have developed and changed over
  time languages change.
• Remember, the IDEA to be communicated is more
  important than the words chosen to express it

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Scientific Approach

• This isnt really an approach to study scripture
  at all its an approach to ones view of life
  and environment.
• The scientific approach would say whenever
  science and the Bible contradict one another,
  preference is to be given to the scientific
  explanation

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• Do you see any problems with this approach?
• The problem here is that an investigation of the
  meaning of the scriptural passage in question is
  completely ignored.
• Besides, discarding the biblical view in favor of
  the scientific approach may eliminate some of the
  biblical problems, but it does nothing to solve
  them.

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Critical Approach

• This approach attempts to take the Bible on its
  own terms instead of ours. This approach tries to
  get behind the written word

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• This method takes into account the importance of
  the policies, culture, and circumstances
  surrounding the biblical account.
• Those using this approach try to discern the many
  oral traditions that predate the written account,
  and how various traditions were woven together
  and edited into the biblical story.
• This approach tries to determine what the
  biblical authors were saying to the people of
  their own time.

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• If we find out what that message was, we will
  have a better chance of understanding how that
  message applies to our own situation today.
• Which one of these three methods does the
  Catholic Church endorse?
• The Critical Approach
• Do you have a better idea of your approach to the
  Bible now?

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A Historical Sketch of Ancient Israel

• The history and religion of the Israelites begin
  with Abraham. He was a nomad, (wandering
  herdsman) living in the region of Iraq around
  1850 B.C.E.

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• God makes a covenant with Abraham to give his
  descendents the land of Canaan. This covenant is
  inherited through his son Isaac and grandson
  Jacob and their wives. These are the patriarchs
  (head/father of a tribe) and matriarchs of the
  Jewish faith (The fathers and
  mothers - founders)

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What is a Covenant?

• Is a covenant and a contract the same thing?
• NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
• A contract is based on a legal obligation. A
  covenant is based on love. It has two sides if
  it was offered in love, it was to be responded to
  with love.

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Three Parts to Gods Covenant

• The first part of the covenant specified that
  Abraham would be the father of a nation.
• The second part promised to give the land of
  Canaan to the descendants of Abraham.
• What was the promise that Abraham and his
  descendents were to keep to God?
• The descendents of Abraham would reveal the one
  God to the world.
• Who or what did people worship if it wasnt the
  God we know today?
• The third part of Gods promise is the story of
  the New Testament

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• The descendents of Abraham travel to Egypt to
  avoid famine and are eventually enslaved by the
  Egyptians for 400 years 1700-1250 B.C.E.

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Moses in Exodus

• About 1250 B.C.E. God reveals to Moses his name
  Yahweh I am the one who is always present.
• Moses then leads the Israelites out of the
  bondage of the Egyptians
• Moses then encounters God on Mount Sinai
• What happens there?

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• Moses is given the 10 Commandments.
• The covenant made was God would make the
  Israelites the people of God. God would be with
  them as long as they kept the covenant. The
  Israelites part of the covenant was to keep Gods
  commandments

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David Becomes King

• They wander in the desert 40 years. Led by
  Joshua, the Israelites enter Canaan and for the
  next 2 centuries fight against the people living
  in the region. They abandon their nomadic ways.
• Around 1000B.C.E. David becomes king

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The First Temple

• Solomon, the son of David, builds the Temple in
  Jerusalem. It becomes the principal place of
  worship for the Jewish nation. It becomes both a
  political and religious capital

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Two Nations

• Solomon dies - the nation is divided into two
  kingdoms Israel in the north and Judah in the
  south.
• The Assyrians take over Israel in 722 B.C.E. and
  the Babylonians destroy Judah in 587 B.C.E.

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Not Holding up Their End Of the Bargain

• The Israelite people were forced into service and
  forced to pay heavy taxes. Kings often practiced
  idolatry
• Prophets spoke against both kingdoms injustices
  but most of the time to no avail.
• The Assyrians crush the northern kingdom in 721
  B.C.E. and took its people into exile
• In 521 B.C.E. the Babylonians destroy Judah (and
  Jerusalem) and take its people to Babylonia as
  captives.

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Diaspora

• The Israelites are exiled to Babylon for 50 years
  and then allowed to return to the land of Judah
  which had now become a district within the
  Persian Empire.
• Upon their return, they were to become known as
  Jews taken from the word Judah
• The Temple and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt
  and once again became the religious capital of
  the Jews.

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• The Diaspora refers to the dispersion (exile) of
  the Jewish people after they were conquered.
• The Jewish leaders begin collecting and
  reflecting on their ancestral writings in Hebrew
  and by about 400 B.C.E. the major books of what
  would become the Hebrew Scriptures were
  completed.

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400 B.C.E. to Christ

• The Persian empire is conquered by the Greeks in
  330 B.C.E. and the Greeks seize control of
  Jerusalem.
• The Romans capture Jerusalem from the Greeks in
  63 B.C.E. The Romans were tolerant of other
  cultures and religions but severely punished its
  subjects for revolts.
• It was a dark time for the Jewish people. They
  longed to be released from oppression. Many Jews
  looked for the coming of the messiah, one sent by
  God to save them. Many expected this messiah to
  be from the family line of David.

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Jesus the Savior

• During a time of darkness and defeat for the
  people of Israel, Jesus is born one of the house
  of David.
• Christians see Jesus as the fulfillment of all of
  Gods promises to Israel and the savior of the
  world.

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• The Romans destroy the Temple for good during the
  Jewish revolt in 70 C.E.
• The surviving Jews were once again forced to
  leave their land and dispersed to Africa, Asia,
  and Europe.
• The Diaspora stressed the need for an official
  set of scriptures to guide Jewish religious life.
• Why would this be so important to the Jews?

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To maintain a sense of identity as a people set
apart and bound by the covenant with God

• A sense of connectedness to their ancestors who
  had been dispersed from Babylon generations
  earlier

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The Types of writings in the Hebrew Scriptures

• There are stories, legends, letters, biographies,
  poems speeches, laws, prayers, and proverbs in
  the scriptures. All of these writings have been
  assembled into the following sections
• Pentateuch
• Historical Books
• Wisdom Books
• Prophetic Books

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Pentateuch

• These five books are the primary scriptural
  authority in the Jewish faith
• Historical Books
• These books tell of Israels conquest in the land
  of Canaan and the break up of the nation of
  Israel.

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Wisdom Books

• These books consist of Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
  Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, Sirach, Song of Songs
• Prophetic Books
• This book tells about the men who loved Israel
  and warned it that to depart from fidelity to God
  would lead to moral blindness and destruction as
  a nation.