Stephen Kimmel

The Old Testament:

Books and Order
Some Jewish Terms
 Tanakh (The Holy Scriptures)
 Torah – Neviim – Kesuvim (or Ketuvim)
 Torah
 Law. More properly “Teaching” or “Instruction”
 Multiple senses
▪ The first five books of the Tanakh
▪ The entirety of the Jewish Scripture
▪ The entirety of the teaching both Written and Oral
 Talmud
 The codified Oral Torah
 Mosaich (Messiah)
 Anointed one
The phrase “Son of Man” is most frequently
used in which Old Testament book?

 Daniel
 Job
 Ezekiel
 Isaiah
 None of the above

Correct Answer: Ezekiel

Which prophet miraculously fed 100 people
with 20 barley loaves?

 Zechariah
 Elisha
 Elijah
 Ezekiel
 None of the above

Correct Answer: Elisha

Who became “the anointed one”?

 Aaron
 Cyrus the Great
 Saul
 David
 All of the above

Correct Answer: All of the above

How many books are there in the
Jewish Bible?
 24
 39
 46
 49
 Yes

Correct Answer: Yes

The Jewish Bible has 24 books
 The Five Books of Moses (Torah)
 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
 The Eight Books of the Prophets (Neviim)
 Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
The Twelve (minor prophets)
 The Eleven Books of the Writings (Kesuvim)
 Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra/Nehemia
, Chronicles
The Protestant
Old Testament

The Protestant Old Testament has 39 Books

 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
 Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2
Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther
 Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Solomon
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
 Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
The Roman Catholic
Old Testament
 46 Books
 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
 Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2
Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,
Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees
 Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon,
Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel
 Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
The Orthodox Christian Churches’
Old Testament
 49 Books
 All the ones in the Roman Catholic Old Testament
 3 Maccabees, 1 - 3 Esdras, 4 Maccabees, Prayer of
Manasseh
 Ezra and Nehemiah are combined into a single
book
Hebrew Structure
New Testament Evidence for the
Tanakh Order
 Jesus refers to the Tanakh in Luke 24:44
 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke
44 

to you while I was still with you—that everything written

about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the
psalms must be fulfilled.”
 Jesus makes reference to “the blood of Abel to
Zechariah,” Luke 11:51.
 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who
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perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell

you, it will be charged against this generation.
“English” Order
The Two Orders Compared

“HEBREW” ORDER “ENGLISH” ORDER

The Protestant
Old Testament in Jewish Order

 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,

Deuteronomy
 Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2
Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
 Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi
 Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra,
Nehemiah, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles
Noteworthy Differences

“HEBREW” ORDER “ENGLISH” ORDER

When things were written is important

 Most of the OT was written between the 8th -

6th Century BCE in Hebrew and Aramaic
 Jewish Diaspora beginning with the Assyrian
Exile throughout Mediterranean region
 Prophecy ceased in 450 BCE
Alexander the Great
Alexander’s Empire
The Empire After Alexander’s Death
When things were written is important

 Most of the OT was written between the 8th -

6th Century BCE in Hebrew and Aramaic
 Jewish Diaspora beginning with the Assyrian
Exile throughout Mediterranean region
 Prophecy ceased in 450 BCE
 Greek influence and language from Greece to
India by conquests of Alexander the Great in
323 BCE
 Hebrew was largely forgotten
Septuagint

 Greek Old Testament dated ~250 BC

 Commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus,
Greek King of Egypt
 Six scholars from each of the twelve tribes
translated separately and came up with
identical translations
 The Seventy (abbreviated LXX)
 The Bible at the time of Christ
Septuagint
 Consisted of scrolls rather
than codices
 There are lists of books
 Earliest “list” is contained in
the apocryphal book of
Ecclesiasticus (written 180
BCE) contains references to
all the Roman Catholic books
except Daniel, Esther and
Ecclesiastes
 After the destruction of the
temple in 70, Academy at
Jemina settled on 22 books
St. Jerome
 Not Santa Claus
 The preeminent Bible
scholar of the late 3rd
century
 Commissioned by Pope
Damasus to make a
new translation of the
Gospels
St. Jerome
 Dissatisfied with the
500 year old translation
of the Septuagint
 Translated of the entire
Old Testament from
Hebrew
 Thought there should
only be 22 books in the
Old Testament
St. Augustine of Hippo
 The preeminent
theologian of the late 3rd
century
 Well known works include
Confession and City of God
 Strongly felt the Church
should include all the
Roman Catholic Old
Testament Books
 Augustine’s argument won
out
The Vulgate – Oldest Existing Copy

The Codex Amiatinus

The Vulgate

 St Jerome’s translation with the books that St

Augustine insisted be included
 Jerome labelled them “The Apocrypha”
 The Apocryphal Books were interspersed
according to the Septuagint order
 Was not well accepted at first
 Became the official translation for the Roman
Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1563
Why Change the Arrangement?

 Law – Writings – Prophecy or Law – Prophecy

– Writings
 Chronicles closes with the
▪ Jews declaring Cyrus the Great to be God’s anointed
one, ie, Messiah
▪ Cyrus sending the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the
Temple
 Christians believe the Old Testament points to
Jesus as the Messiah
Chronicles grouped with History

“HEBREW” ORDER “ENGLISH” ORDER

Why Change the Arrangement?

 Daniel
 Jews did not considered a prophet
 So they included Daniel in the Writings
 Jesus referred to Daniel as a Prophet so Christians
put the book with the Prophets
Daniel and Lamentations with
Prophets
“HEBREW” ORDER “ENGLISH” ORDER
Why Change the Arrangement?

 Septuagint Or Jewish
 Jews use on the Books canonized by the Academy
at Jamina after the destruction of the Temple
 Catholics (the overwhelming majority of
Christians) chose to use the Bible that Jesus used
 Protestants recognized the Old Testament as the
Jewish Scripture so they deferred to the Jewish
choices
Questions
Talmud – Oral Torah
 Commentary, explanation, “filling in
the holes” of Tanakh
 Evolution of legal system
 Originally, transmitted orally – thus,
“Oral Torah”
 Persecution, increasing complexity
necessitated putting into writing
A Modern Torah Scroll