How God Gave the Old Testament September 2003 version 1407-340 BC. Many often take the Old Testament for granted, never wondering how it came to contain its books, and how it is still reliable today. This tract explains who wrote it, how we know we have the correct books, and the evidence that it is still reliable today. The books below are agreed to by Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox and Jews. The Jews combine Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles into one book each.
The author is the person to whom God revealed his word. The words were either written down by him or by secretaries. For example, Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch wrote down many of his prophecies. Jer 51:64 says, "...the words of Jeremiah end here." Old Testament writers often mentioned each other. Five books of the Law: Josh 1:7;8:31;23:6;1Ki 2:3; 2 Ki 14:6;17:37;18:6; 1Chr16:40; 2Chr17:9;23:18; 30:5,16,18; 31:3; 35:26; Ezra 3:2,4; 6:18; 7:6; Dan 9:11,13; Hos 8:12 Ezra: Neh 8:1; 12:32 Nehemiah: Ezra 2:2 Isaiah: 2 Kings 19:2; 2 Chr 32:20 Jeremiah: Daniel 9:2; 2 Chr 36:22 Jonah: 2 Kings 14:25 Micah: Jeremiah 26:18 Haggai: Ezra 5:1;6:14 Zechariah: Nehemiah 12:1,4,16, Ezra 5:1; 6:14 The point of this is that the Old Testament books fit together, as interlocking pieces of a puzzle. What Books are Not In The Old Testament? In ancient times, just as now, there are a number of religious and historical writings, many of varying quality. Besides the apocryphal books, there are what a called "pseudo-apocryphal books" that are not accepted by anyone today. These are often spurious works that claim to be written by a great historical figure but in fact are not. Of course if something is false, it is not God’s word. Other books, while not per-fect, are not too bad. Of course if a godly person writes something that is true, that is not necessarily God’s word, nor did they claim it to be so. Likewise a good Christian book written today can be good, but not God’s word. Some books, like First Enoch, are more complicated. First Enoch is a composite book, with the oldest author likely writing most of the first section. By the way, Jude 14-15 quotes from the oldest part of First Enoch.
First Question: Do We Have the Right Books? Independent of anyone else, how do we determine if a book belongs in the Old Testament, when the book was written at an unknown time, by unknown author, who refers to events we cannot verify as true or false? The simple answer is that we cannot; we need help for confirming Old Testament scripture from another source. Jesus is the Answer! A song says, "Jesus is the answer"; He is the answer for this question too. Jesus answered this question in three ways: his teaching about scripture in general, his comments on specific prophets and books, and finally what he did teach about the transmitted reliability of scriptures to His day.
Second Question, But What About Today? Knowing that we have the correct books in the Old Testament solves a major problem concerning sources of authority for belief. However, we have another problem. How do we know that scripture today is not substantially altered? There are three sources of Confirmation 1. God’s Promise God’s Word is God’s Word, whether spoken, written, or both. Jeremiah 1:12 promises that God is watching over His word to perform it. Psalms 119:89 says, "Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens."
2. Confirmed by Jewish and Christian Writers New Testament ─ ~250 quotes. Every O.T. book except Ecclesiastes, Esther, Song of SolomonBen Sira, in 2nd century B.C. ─ missing Ezekiel Philo (De Vita Contemplativa 25) ─ 3 sections Jewish writer Josephus <100 A.D. Contra Apion 1.8. Jewish Council at Jamnia 90 A.D. ─ no Apocrypha Council at Carthage 397 A.D. ─ has historic Apocrypha When Alexander the Great was outside of Jerusalem, the priests showed him the prophecy in the Book of Daniel where Greece triumphs over Persia. Obviously, Daniel had to have been written before then. The early church before 325 A.D. referred thousands of times to scripture from the Old Testament. For example, they referred to just the first three chapters of Genesis 257 times and the Book of Jeremiah 410 times., and even the little book of Haggai 12 times. They quoted out every Old Testament book except Ruth and Obadiah. 3. Ancient Manuscripts We Have Today The simplest evidence of reliability is in museums today.
· Nash Papyrus 150 B.C. to 68 A.D. · Cairo Geniza fragments 5th century A.D. · Massoretic Text scrolls from 895 and 1008 A.D. Of course, since many of these scrolls are radiocarbon-dated prior to Jesus, the prophecies about the Messiah written in them were written prior to Jesus too. Conclusion We know we can rely on the Old Testament because of Jesus’ words and reliance on it. We know it is preserved reliably today because of God’s promise, confirmation by others, and the fact that we have ancient manuscripts. (All Bible quotes are from the NIV).
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