The books of the Bible

The books of the Bible

While various religious researchers have brought different concepts when describing the Bible, history still presents the word Bible to be from a Greek word biblia, which refers to books. The Bible is, therefore, as a small library that contains different types of books written by many authors (The Learning Bible 1). On the other hand, the Bible remains to be the world’s most fascinating and best-selling book of all time. The book has seemingly been translated into various languages and remains to be the foundation of modern ethics and law.

The books of the Bible seemingly have different stories about God and the relationship between God and the people we now read about in the Bible. The origin of the stories can be traced during the oral tradition when stories were passed by word of mouth (The Learning Bible 1). The stories told in the Old Testament majorly come from the period before the birth of Jesus and included the story relating to the beginning of the earth and other stories about how God interacted with the Jews through prophets.

Significant developments in terms of recordings and writings to the stories told in the books of the Bible can further be traced around 1800 B.C when societies in the Near East started developing different types of writings that were simple to use and learn. During this period, people began writing down songs (Psalms), stories, and prophecies that would eventually grow and become part of the Bible (The Learning Bible 1). Nevertheless, it is essential to note that not all stories especially in the Old Testament were written down at one time. Researchers contend that it as a process that took centuries. Religious researchers also argue that the very first manuscripts of the stories that comprise of both old and new testaments have disappeared and there is no trace whatsoever. Major arguments are based on the fact that such manuscriopts are likely to have worn out due to continued use or alternatively such writings were destroyed centuries ago.

Jewish scriptures which up to today remain to be significant part of the Bible were collected at a period around 400 B.C. (The Learning Bible 2).Researchers, however, contend that it is not possible to ascertain when all the books of the Jewish Scriptures were collected. Much of the discussions is based on the fact that some writings in the Jewish Scriptures may be traced as far as 1100 B.C but the process of collecting the books began later around 400 B.C as discussed above.

From the Old Testament it is evident that the Bible was divided into three sections by the Jews i.e the Pentateuch, the Prophets and the writings. Bible researchers believe that the Hebrew canon was divided into three because of the different historical stages when the canonization of the books took place. The three texts apparently represented three stages of development and the Pentateuch was the first to be canonized in the fifth century B.C. (Wansbrough 1). The prophets then followed and were canonized in the third century B.C. The Writings, on the other hand, were the last to be canonized and came much later at the beginning of the first century A.D. The law also known as Pantateuch comprised of five books which include, Numbers, Exodus, Genesis, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The Prophets comprised of eight books like Joshua, Samuel, Judges, and Kings just to name a few. Examples of the Writings included wisdom literature and religious poetry like Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Songs, Job Esther, Lamentations and Ecclesiastes.

The Septuagint (LXX), on the other hand, refers to the Old Greek version of the Bible. Bible researchers contend that Septuagint included translations of all books recorded in the Hebrew canon and clearly comes out as the first known bible translation. The word Septuagint is obtained from a Latin word for “seventy” and frequently identified by (LXX) which is a Roman numeral for seventy (Wansbrough 4). Major translations of the Bible were done by seventy-two scholars who started translating Jewish Scriptures all at the same time from Hebrew. Major translations were made into the language of Rome, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and a language of Egypt.

Stories about Jesus on the other hand, started to emerge around A.D 30 after He had died and raised to life. During this period such stories about Jesus as well as his sayings were passed on by word of mouth. Around A.D 65 saw significant developments to how the stories of Jesus emerged as it was a period when sayings and stories began to be written down and gathered in books which today are referred as Gospels (The Learning Bible 3). Such gospels in form of stories about Jesus make up about half of the New Testament. Biblical researchers, however, contend that the earliest writings of the New Testament were letters written by Apostle Paul to the followers of Jesus who were all over the Roman Empire.

Early Christian texts, according to various Bible scholars, included letters especially those written by Paul. Letters written by James are also considered as first Christian writings and are presumed to having been written much earlier (Wansbrough 6). Such letters were apparently meant to respond to particular problems from the communities directed to Paul. Thessalonians is believed to be the first letter for the early Christians and was intended to explain to Christians how they could have died, when Paul had already completed the teaching that Christ had conquered death.

The four gospel found in the New Testament include the gospel of Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew and according to scholars, the gospel of Mark was the first to be written at a period of AD 65-75. The Gospel of Mark is believed to incorporate techniques that are closely related to oral teaching, like superfluous repetition (Wansbrough 8). The Gospel of Matthew, on the other hand, was intended for a community coming from Judaism and the gospel further justifies how Jesus fulfills the scriptures. The Gospel according to Matthew was composed after the Gospel of Mark after 70 ce and was initially in Greek. The Gospel according to Luke, on the other hand, stresses that message from Jesus included the gentiles and the style adopted by Luke is more sophisticated (Wansbrough 10). The gospel depicts mixed characters who do the right thing but for the wrong reason. The gospel is believed to be written between A.D 63 and 68. The Gospel of John seemingly follows a quite different chronological and geographical pattern and stands under the authority of the Beloved Disciple. The gospel shows Jesus visiting Jerusalem during the course of his ministry in four occasions and the gospel is believed to be written between 90 and 100 CE.

The most ancient scrolls of the Bible include the Qumran Scroll of Isaiah and the Masada Scroll of Ben Sira. The Qumran Scroll of Isaiah dates between 170 BC-AD 66 from the time of settlement at Qumran and it was the precious library of the inhabitants of the settlement (Wansbrough 13). The Masada Scroll of Ben Sira, on the other hand, dates back in AD 70 after the sack of Jerusalem where Zealots made a final stand in the palace constructed by King Herod. Ancient codex are seemingly documented in the Bible and example include codex Vaticanus which is widely believed to be the best manuscripts from a Greek bible perspective written in the mid fourth century in Egypt. Codex Sinaiticus is also another example found in 1844 at St Catherine’s monastery and believed to be fourth-century Greek manuscript. Another example of ancient codex is the codex Bezae that contains most of the Acts of the Apostles and the four gospels.