This month we’re looking at “How We Got the Bible” Last week, looked at: “An Introduction to the Bible: -It’s Origin & Purpose -Characteristics & Content -Warnings” and “Having Faith in God’s Word: -It’s Divinity -It’s Completeness -It’s Authority”

This morning…. How did this Book come to be The Bible ? The Collection of the Books The Arrangement of the Books and The Languages of the Books. Tonight, The Manuscripts Textual Criticism and The Variants

The Collection of the Books: Understand first of all that “Bible” literally refers to the Books- hence a collection of divinely-inspired books make up the Bible. This process of collection took place very gradually over a period of over some 1600 years (Moses at ~ 1500 B.C. - completion of the N.T. at ~100 A.D.). Most of the Old Testament books, unlike most of the New Testament ones, typically do not have writer signatures telling us who wrote them.

So, let’s note some O.T. records of men writing for God: Moses- the Memorial of Amalek, Ex.17:14 Words of the Siniatic Covenant, Ex.24:4 Renewal of the Covenant, Ex.34:27 Journeys in the Wilderness, Num.33:2 the Book of the Law, Deut.31:9, 24-26 the Song of Moses, Deut.32:1-43; 31:22 and according to strict Jewish tradition, the Pentateuch, Josh.8:31; Judges 3:4; Mal.4:4. The NT seems to support this also, John 7:19.

Additional O.T. records of men writing for God: Joshua- He succeeded Moses in leading the people of Israel into Canaan and it appears he also took over his record keeping and writing tasks, Josh24:26. Samuel- As the last Judge over Israel, Samuel also recorded certain events in a book, 1Sam.10:25. Jeremiah- He lived and wrote some 600 years before Christ. He was specifically charged by God to write, Jer.36:2. (evidently it was his writings to which Daniel looked for information about the captivity of Israel, cf. Dan.9:2) Other Major/Minor Prophets added their works as God gave them utterance until about the time of Ezra-400 B.C.

Now, we need to understand something very important: The first century historian Josephus marks off the interval of the OT Canon as being from Moses to Artaxerxes, king of Persia. (Josephus, Against Apion, I.8) Artaxerxes’ reign coincides with the time of the biblical prophets Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. What this means is that by about 400 B.C. all of the OT books intended by God to be a part of “scripture” were completed! After this, no work was or has been added to OT.

The Arrangement of the Hebrew and English Old Testaments: The Hebrew OT has 3 Major Divisions: 1. Law (Gen.- Deut.) 2. Prophets Former (Josh.-2Kings) Latter (Isa. Jer. Ezk. & Book of the Twelve [Minor Prophets]) 3. Writings (everything else) The English OT has 5 Major Divisions: 1. Law (same, Gen.-Deut.) 2. History (Josh. - Esther) 3. Poetry (Job - SoS) 4. Major Prophets (Isa. Jer. Ezk. Dan.) 5. Minor Prophets (Hos.- Mal.) The Arrangements are different but the Books are the same!

The Languages of the Bible The Bible was originally written in 3 languages: Hebrew Aramaic Greek. Hebrew- Almost all 39 books of the OT were originally written in Hebrew. It is a large family of languages which are known as Semitic. The Semitic languages includes Aramaic, Syriac, Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) and Arabic. It is written right to left, has no vowels and has a vocabulary which is unrelated to English words.

The Languages of the Bible The Bible was originally written in 3 languages: Hebrew Aramaic Greek. Aramaic- It is a kindred language to Hebrew and after the time of Babylonian captivity and exile, it became the tongue of the common man in Palestine, cf. Neh.8:8. Not surprisingly then, there are portions of the OT text which are Aramaic, Gen.31:47; Jer.10:11; Ezra 4:8 -6:18; 7:12-26; and Dan.2:4b-7:28. There are also some NT passages written in Aramaic, Mark5:41; 7:34; 15:34. The term “Abba” is Aramaic for “Father” cf. Rom.8:15; Gal.4:6. Likewise, “Maranatha” (“Our Lord come!”) is also Aramaic, 1Cor.16:22

The Languages of the Bible The Bible was originally written in 3 languages: Hebrew Aramaic Greek. Greek- Although the spoken language of Jesus was Aramaic, the NT was written in what is called Koine (common) Greek. It had been the ‘universal language’ since Alexander the Great.

What does all this mean? Why bother with it all? What difference does it make? -Likely very little to those whose faith has been firmly and well established for many years. -But for those who are skeptical of the validity of the text, it can make a substantial difference. When you consider that the Bible: >was written/collected over a period of some 16 hundred years, >was written by about 40 men from different cultures, backgrounds, educational abilities, and natural abilities, >was written in 3 very diverse languages, And yet, it is not contradictory (including historically, scientifically, prophetically, and doctrinally), then…

Faith in this Book of Books can be established that it is indeed from God, Complete, and the proper Rule of Faith & Practice for us today and forever!