Biblical literature

Main
four bodies of written works: the Old Testament writings according to the Hebrew canon; intertestamental works, including the Old Testament Apocrypha; the New Testament writings; and the New Testament Apocrypha.

The Old Testament is a collection of writings that was first compiled and preserved as the sacred books of the ancient Hebrew people. As the Bible of the Hebrews and their Jewish descendants down to the present, these books have been perhaps the most decisive single factor in the preservation of the Jews as a cultural entity and Judaism as a religion. The Old Testament and the New Testament—a body of writings that chronicle the origin and early dissemination of Christianity—constitute the Bible of the Christians.

The literature of the Bible, encompassing the Old and New Testaments and various noncanonical works, has played a special role in the history and culture of the Western world and has itself become the subject of intensive critical study. This field of scholarship, including exegesis (critical interpretation) and hermeneutics (the science of interpretive principles), has assumed an important place in the theologies of Judaism and Christianity. The methods and purposes of exegesis and hermeneutics are treated below. For the cultural and historical contexts in which this literature developed, see Judaism and Christianity.

Influence and significance » Historical and cultural importance » In Judaism
After the kingdoms of Israel and Judah had fallen, in 722 bce (before the Common Era, equivalent to bc) and 587/586 bce, respectively, the Hebrew people outlived defeat, captivity, and the loss of their national independence, largely because they possessed writings that preserved their history and traditions. Many of them did not return to Palestine after their exile. Those who did return did so to rebuild a temple and reconstruct a society that was more nearly a religious community than an independent nation. The religion found expression in the books of the Old Testament: books of the Law (Torah), history, prophecy, and poetry. The survival of the Jewish religion and its subsequent incalculable influence in the history of Western culture are difficult to explain without acknowledgment of the importance of the biblical writings.

When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 ce (Common Era, equivalent to ad), the historical, priestly sacrificial worship centred in it came to an end and was never resumed. But the religion of the Jewish people had by then gone with them into many lands, where it retained its character and vitality because it still drew its nurture from biblical literature. The Bible was with them in their synagogues, where it was read, prayed, and taught. It preserved their identity as a people, inspired their worship, arranged their calendar, permeated their family lives; it shaped their ideals, sustained them in persecution, and touched their intellects. Whatever Jewish talent and genius have contributed to Western civilization is due in no small degree to the influence of the Bible.

Influence and significance » Historical and cultural importance » In Christianity
The Hebrew Bible is as basic to Christianity as it is to Judaism. Without the Old Testament, the New Testament could not have been written and there could have been no man like Jesus; Christianity could not have been what it became. This has to do with cultural values, basic human values, as much as with religious beliefs. The Genesis stories of prehistoric events and people are a conspicuous example. The Hebrew myths of creation have superseded the racial mythologies of Latin, Germanic, Slavonic, and all other Western peoples. This is not because they contain historically factual information or scientifically adequate accounts of the universe, the beginning of life, or any other subject of knowledge, but because they furnish a profoundly theological interpretation of the universe and human existence, an intellectual framework of reality large enough to make room for developing philosophies and sciences.

This biblical structure of ideas is shared by Jews and Christians. It centres in the one and only God, the Creator of all that exists. All things have their place in this structure of ideas. All mankind is viewed as a unity, with no race existing for itself alone. The Covenant people (i.e., the Hebrews in the Old Testament and Christians in the New Testament) are chosen not to enjoy special privileges but to serve God’s will toward all nations. The individual’s sacred rights condemn his abuse, exploitation, or neglect by the rich and powerful or by society itself. Widows, orphans, the stranger, the friendless, and the helpless have a special claim. God’s will and purpose are viewed as just, loving, and ultimately prevailing. The future is God’s, when his rule will be fully established.

The Bible went with the Christian Church into every land in Europe, bearing its witness to God. The church, driven in part by the power of biblical themes, called men to ethical and social responsibility, to a life answerable to God, to love for all men, to sonship in the family of God, and to citizenship in a kingdom yet to be revealed. The Bible thus points to a way of life never yet perfectly embodied in any society in history. Weighing every existing kingdom, government, church, party, and organization, it finds them wanting in that justice, mercy, and love for which they were intended.

Influence and significance » Major themes and characteristics
The Bible is the literature of faith, not of scientific observation or historical demonstration. God’s existence as a speculative problem has no interest for the biblical writers. What is problematical for them is the human condition and destiny before God.

The great biblical themes are about God, his revealed works of creation, provision, judgment, deliverance, his covenant, and his promises. The Bible sees what happens to mankind in the light of God’s nature, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, and love. The major themes about mankind relate to man’s rebellion, his estrangement and perversion. Man’s redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, the gifts of grace, the new life, the coming kingdom, and the final consummation of man’s hope are all viewed as the gracious works of God.

The Old Testament contains several types of literature: there are narratives combined with rules and instructions (Torah, or Pentateuch) and anecdotes of Hebrew persons, prophets, priests, kings, and their women (Former Prophets). There is an antiracist love story (Ruth), the story of a woman playing a dangerous game (Esther), and one of a preacher who succeeded too well (Jonah). There is a collection of epigrams and prudential wisdom (Proverbs) and a philosophic view of existence with pessimism and poise (Ecclesiastes). There is poetry of the first rank, devotional poetry in the Psalms, and erotic poetry in the Song of Songs. Lamentations is a poetic elegy, mourning over fallen Jerusalem. Job is dramatic theological dialogue. The books of the great prophets consist mainly of oral addresses in poetic form.

The New Testament also consists of a variety of literary forms. Acts is historical narrative, actually a second volume following Luke. A Gospel is not a history in the ordinary sense but an arrangement of remembered acts and sayings of Jesus retold to win faith in him. There is one apocalypse, Revelation (a work describing the intervention of God in history). But the largest class of New Testament writings is epistolary, consisting of the letters of Paul and other Apostles. Originally written to local groups of Christians, the letters were preserved in the New Testament and were given the status of doctrinal and ethical treatises.

Influence and significance » Influences » On Western civilization
The Bible brought its view of God, the universe, and mankind into all the leading Western languages and thus into the intellectual processes of Western man. The Greek translation of the Old Testament made it accessible in the Hellenistic period (c. 300 bce–c. 300 ce) and provided a language for the New Testament and for the Christian liturgy and theology of the first three centuries. The Bible in Latin shaped the thought and life of Western people for a thousand years. Bible translation led to the study and literary development of many languages. Luther’s translation of the Bible in the 16th century has been called the beginning of modern German. The Authorized Version (English) of 1611 (King James Version) and the others that preceded it caught the English language at the blooming of its first maturity. Since the invention of printing (mid-15th century), the Bible has become more than the translation of an ancient Oriental literature. It has not seemed a foreign book, and it has been the most available, familiar, and dependable source and arbiter of intellectual, moral, and spiritual ideals in the West.

Millions of modern people who do not think of themselves as religious live nevertheless with basic presuppositions that underlie the biblical literature. It would be impossible to calculate the effect of such presuppositions on the changing ideas and attitudes of Western people with regard to the nature and purpose of government, social institutions, and economic theories. Theories and ideals usually rest on prior moral assumptions—i.e., on basic judgments of value. In theory, the West has moved from the divine right of kings to the divinely given rights of every citizen, from slavery through serfdom to the intrinsic worth of every person, from freedom to own property to freedom for everyone from the penalties of hopeless poverty. Though there is a wide difference between the ideal and the actual, biblical literature continues to pronounce its judgment and assert that what ought to be can still be.

Influence and significance » Influences » On the modern secular age
The assumption of many people is that the Bible has lost much of its importance in a secularized world; that is implied whenever the modern period is called the post-Judeo-Christian era. In most ways the label is appropriate. The modern period seems to be a time in which unprecedented numbers of people have discarded traditional beliefs and practices of both Judaism and Christianity. But the influence of biblical literature neither began nor ended with doctrinal propositions or codes of behaviour. Its importance lies not merely in its overtly religious influence but also, and perhaps more decisively, in its pervasive effect on the thinking and feeling processes, the attitudes and sense of values that, whether recognized as biblical or not, still help to make people what they are.

The deepest influence of biblical literature may be found in the arts of Western people, their music and, especially, in their best poetry, drama, and creative fiction. Many of the most moving and illuminating interpretations of biblical material—stories, themes, and characters—are made today by novelists, playwrights, and poets who write simply as human beings, not as adherents of any religion. There are two views of the human condition that scholars have attributed to biblical influence and that have become dominant in Western literature.

The first of these is the view that the mystery of existence and destiny is implicit in every man and woman. In contrast to the canons of classical tragedy, a person of any rank or station may experience the extremes of happiness or misery, exaltation or tragedy. An aged Jew of Rembrandt’s paintings or an illiterate black woman of Faulkner’s novels can reach the height of human dignity. The arts also put down the mighty from their seats and exalt those of low degree. Any man may be Everyman, the symbol of all human possibility.

The second view of the human condition is that the time of encountering all reality is now, and the place is here, in man’s workaday activities and contingencies, whatever they may be. To be human is to know one short life in mortal flesh, in which the past and future are dimensions of the present. It is now or never that the choice is made, the offer of the gift of life accepted or declined. Any kingdom there is must be entered at once or lost forever. It is here in the actual situation of work and play, of love and need, and not in some far-off better time and place, that the crisis is reached and passed, the issue settled, and the record closed.

These views, though here stated in language that has theological overtones, are not confined to adherents of Judaism or Christianity. They are characteristically Western views of the human condition. That they can be put in words reminiscent of the Bible indicates that the representation of man in Western literature is indeed conditioned by biblical literature.

H. Grady Davis
Ed.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon
The term canon, from a Hebrew-Greek word meaning a cane or measuring rod, passed into Christian usage as a norm or a rule of faith. The Church Fathers of the 4th century ce first employed it in reference to the definitive, authoritative nature of the body of sacred Scripture.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The Hebrew canon
The Hebrew Bible is often known among Jews as TaNaKh, an acronym derived from the names of its three divisions: Torah (Instruction, or Law, also called the Pentateuch), Neviʾim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).

The Torah contains five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Neviʾim comprise eight books subdivided into the Former Prophets, containing the four historical works, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and the Latter Prophets, the oracular discourses of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (Minor—i.e., smaller) Prophets—Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Twelve were all formerly written on a single scroll and thus reckoned as one book. The Ketuvim consist of religious poetry and wisdom literature—Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, a collection known as the “Five Megillot” (“scrolls”; i.e., Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, which have been grouped together according to the annual cycle of their public reading in the synagogue)—and the books of Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The Hebrew canon » The number of books
The number of books in the Hebrew canon is thus 24, referring to the sum of the separate scrolls on which these works were traditionally written in ancient times. This figure is first cited in II Esdras in a passage usually dated c. 100 ce and is frequently mentioned in rabbinic (postbiblical) literature, but no authentic tradition exists to explain it. Josephus, a 1st century ce Jewish historian, and some of the Church Fathers, such as Origen (the great 3rd-century Alexandrian theologian), appear to have had a 22-book canon.

English Bibles list 39 books for the Old Testament because of the practice of bisecting Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, and of counting Ezra, Nehemiah, and the 12 Minor Prophets as separate books.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The Hebrew canon » The tripartite canon
The threefold nature of the Hebrew Bible (the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings) is reflected in the literature of the period of the Second Temple (6th–1st centuries bce) and soon after it. The earliest reference is that of the Jewish wisdom writer Ben Sira (flourished 180–175 bce), who speaks of “the law of the Most High . . . the wisdom of all the ancients and . . . prophecies.” His grandson (c. 132 bce) in the prologue to Ben Sira’s work mentions “the law and the prophets and the others that followed them,” the latter also called “the other books of our fathers.” The same tripartite division finds expression in II Maccabees, the writings of Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, and Josephus, a Hellenistic Jewish historian, as well as in the Gospel According to Luke. The tripartite canon represents the three historic stages in the growth of the canon.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The Hebrew canon » The history of canonization
Because no explicit or reliable traditions concerning the criteria of canonicity, the canonizing authorities, the periods in which they lived, or the procedure adopted have been preserved, no more than a plausible reconstruction of the successive stages involved can be provided. First, it must be observed that sanctity and canonization are not synonymous terms. The first condition must have existed before the second could have been formally conferred. Next, the collection and organization of a number of sacred texts into a canonized corpus (body of writings) is quite a different problem from that of the growth and formation of the individual books themselves.

No longer are there compelling reasons to assume that the history of the canon must have commenced very late in Israel’s history, as was once accepted. The emergence in Mesopotamia, already in the second half of the 2nd millennium bce, of a standardized body of literature arranged in a more or less fixed order and with some kind of official text, expresses the notion of a canon in its secular sense. Because Babylonian and Assyrian patterns frequently served as the models for imitation throughout the Near East, sacred documents in Israel may well have been carefully stored in temples and palaces, particularly if they were used in connection with the cult or studied in the priestly or wisdom schools. The injunction to deposit the two tables of the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) inside the ark of the covenant and the book of the Torah beside it and the chance find of a book of the Torah in the Temple in 622 bce tend to confirm the existence of such a practice in Israel.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The divisions of the TaNaKh » The Torah
The history of the canonization of the Torah as a book must be distinguished from the process by which the heterogeneous components of the literature as such developed and were accepted as sacred.

The Book of the Chronicles, composed c. 400 bce, frequently refers to the “Torah of Moses” and exhibits a familiarity with all the five books of the Pentateuch. The earliest record of the reading of a “Torah book”; is provided by the narrative describing the reformation instituted by King Josiah of Judah in 622 bce following the fortuitous discovery of a “book of the Torah” during the renovation of the Temple. The reading of the book (probably Deuteronomy), followed by a national covenant ceremony, is generally interpreted as having constituted a formal act of canonization.

Between this date and 400 bce the only other ceremony of Torah reading is that described in Nehemiah as having taken place on the autumnal New Year festival. The “book of the Torah of Moses” is mentioned and the emphasis is on its instruction and exposition. The Samaritans, the descendants of Israelites intermarried with foreigners in the old northern kingdom that fell in 722 bce, became hostile to the Judaeans in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (6th–5th centuries bce). They would not likely have accepted the Torah, which they did, along with the tradition of its Mosaic origin, if it had only recently been canonized under the authority of their arch-enemies. The final redaction and canonization of the Torah book, therefore, most likely took place during the Babylonian Exile (6th–5th centuries bce).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The divisions of the TaNaKh » The Neviʾim
The model of the Pentateuch probably encouraged the assemblage and ordering of the literature of the prophets. The Exile of the Jews to Bablylonia in 587/586 and the restoration half a century later enhanced the prestige of the prophets as national figures and aroused interest in the written records of their teachings. The canonization of the Neviʾim could not have taken place before the Samaritan schism that occurred during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, since nothing of the prophetical literature was known to the Samaritans. On the other hand, the prophetic canon must have been closed by the time the Greeks had displaced the Persians as the rulers of Palestine in the late 4th century bce. The exclusion of Daniel would otherwise be inexplicable, as would also the omission of Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah, even though they supplement and continue the narrative of the Former Prophets. Furthermore, the books of the Latter Prophets contain no hint of the downfall of the Persian Empire and the rise of the Greeks, even though the succession of great powers in the East plays a major role in their theological interpretation of history. Their language, too, is entirely free of Grecisms.

These phenomena accord with the traditions of Josephus and rabbinic sources limiting the activities of the literary prophets to the Persian era.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The divisions of the TaNaKh » The Ketuvim
That the formation of the Ketuvim as a corpus was not completed until a very late date is evidenced by the absence of a fixed name, or indeed any real name, for the third division of Scripture. Ben Sira refers to “the other books of our fathers,” “the rest of the books”; Philo speaks simply of “other writings” and Josephus of “the remaining books.” A widespread practice of entitling the entire Scriptures “the Torah and the Prophets” indicates a considerable hiatus between the canonization of the Prophets and the Ketuvim. Greek words are to be found in the Song of Songs and in Daniel, which also refers to the disintegration of the Greek Empire. Ben Sira omits mention of Daniel and Esther. No fragments of Esther have turned up among the biblical scrolls (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls) from the Judaean Desert. Rabbinic sources betray some hesitation about Esther and a decided ambivalence about the book of Ben Sira. A third generation Babylonian amora (rabbinical interpretive scholar; pl. amoraim) actually cites it as “Ketuvim,” as opposed to Torah and Prophets, and in the mid-2nd century ce, the need to deny its canonicity and prohibit its reading was still felt. Differences of opinion also are recorded among the tannaim (rabbinical scholars of tradition who compiled the Mishna, or Oral Law) and amoraim (who created the Talmud, or Gemara) about the canonical status of Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Esther.

All this indicates a prolonged state of fluidity in respect of the canonization of the Ketuvim. A synod at Jabneh (c. 100 ce) seems to have ruled on the matter, but it took a generation or two before their decisions came to be unanimously accepted and the Ketuvim regarded as being definitively closed. The destruction of the Jewish state in 70 ce, the breakdown of central authority, and the ever widening Diaspora (collectively, Jews dispersed to foreign lands) all contributed to the urgent necessity of providing a closed and authoritative corpus of sacred Scriptures.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The divisions of the TaNaKh » The Samaritan canon
As has been mentioned, the Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch from the Jews. They know of no other section of the Bible, however, and did not expand their Pentateuchal canon even by the inclusion of any strictly Samaritan compositions.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The divisions of the TaNaKh » The Alexandrian canon
The Old Testament as it has come down in Greek translation from the Jews of Alexandria via the Christian Church differs in many respects from the Hebrew Scriptures. The books of the second and third divisions have been redistributed and arranged according to categories of literature—history, poetry, wisdom, and prophecy. Esther and Daniel contain supplementary materials, and many noncanonical books, whether of Hebrew or Greek origin, have been interspersed with the canonical works. These extracanonical writings comprise I Esdras, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sira), Additions to Esther, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremiah, and additions to Daniel, as listed in the manuscript known as Codex Vaticanus (c. 350 ce). The sequence of the books varies, however, in the manuscripts and in the patristic and synodic lists of the Eastern and Western churches, some of which include other books as well, such as I and II Maccabees.

It should be noted that the contents and form of the inferred original Alexandrian Jewish canon cannot be ascertained with certainty because all extant Greek Bibles are of Christian origin. The Jews of Alexandria may themselves have extended the canon they received from Palestine, or they may have inherited their traditions from Palestinian circles in which the additional books had already been regarded as canonical. It is equally possible that the additions to the Hebrew Scriptures in the Greek Bible are of Christian origin.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The divisions of the TaNaKh » The canon at Qumrān.
In the collection of manuscripts from the Judaean Desert—discovered from the 1940s on—there are no lists of canonical works and no codices (manuscript volumes), only individual scrolls. For these reasons nothing can be known with certainty about the contents and sequence of the canon of the Qumrān sectarians. Since fragments of all the books of the Hebrew Bible (except Esther) have been found, it may be assumed that this reflects the minimum extent of its canon. The situation is complicated by the presence in Qumrān of extracanonical works—some already known from the Apocrypha (so-called hidden books not accepted as canonical by Judaism and the church) and pseudepigrapha (books falsely ascribed to biblical authors) or from the Cairo Geniza (synagogue storeroom), and others entirely new. Some or all of these additional works may have been considered canonical by the members of the sect. It is significant, however, that so far pesharim (interpretations) have been found only on books of the traditional Hebrew canon. Still, the great Psalms scroll departs from the received Hebrew text in both sequence and contents. If the Psalms scroll were a canonical Psalter and not a liturgy, then evidence would indeed be forthcoming for the existence of a rival canon at Qumrān.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » The canon » The Christian canon
The Christian Church received its Bible from Greek-speaking Jews and found the majority of its early converts in the Hellenistic world. The Greek Bible of Alexandria thus became the official Bible of the Christian community, and the overwhelming number of quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament are derived from it. Whatever the origin of the Apocryphal books in the canon of Alexandria, these became part of the Christian Scriptures, but there seems to have been no unanimity as to their exact canonical status. The New Testament itself does not cite the Apocryphal books directly, but occasional traces of a knowledge of them are to be found. The Apostolic Fathers (late 1st–early 2nd centuries) show extensive familiarity with this literature, but a list of the Old Testament books by Melito, bishop of Sardis in Asia Minor (2nd century), does not include the additional writings of the Greek Bible, and Origen (c. 185–c. 254) explicitly describes the Old Testament canon as comprising only 22 books.

From the time of Origen on, the Church Fathers who were familiar with Hebrew differentiated, theoretically at least, the Apocryphal books from those of the Old Testament, though they used them freely. In the Syrian East, until the 7th century the Church had only the books of the Hebrew canon with the addition of Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sira (but without Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah). It also incorporated the Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, and the additions to Daniel. The 6th-century manuscript of the Peshitta (Syriac version) known as Codex Ambrosianus also has III and IV Maccabees, II (sometimes IV) Esdras, and Josephus’ Wars VII.

Early councils of the African Church held at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397, 419) affirmed the use of the Apocryphal books as Scripture. In the 4th century also, Athanasius, chief theologian of Christian orthodoxy, differentiated “canonical books” from both “those that are read” by Christians only and the “Apocryphal books” rejected alike by Jews and Christians. In the preparation of a standard Latin version, the biblical scholar Jerome (c. 347–419/420) separated “canonical books” from “ecclesiastical books” (i.e., the Apocryphal writings), which he regarded as good for spiritual edification but not authoritative Scripture. A contrary view of Augustine (354–430), one of the greatest Western theologians, prevailed, however, and the works remained in the Latin Vulgate version. The Decretum Gelasianum, a Latin document of uncertain authorship but recognized as reflecting the views of the Roman Church at the beginning of the 6th century, includes Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, and I and II Maccabees as biblical.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Apocryphal books were generally regarded as Holy Scripture in the Roman and Greek churches, although theoretical doubts were raised from time to time. Thus, in 1333 Nicholas of Lyra, a French Franciscan theologian, had discussed the differences between the Latin Vulgate and the “Hebrew truth.” Christian-Jewish polemics, the increasing attention to Hebrew studies, and, finally, the Reformation kept the issue of the Christian canon alive. Protestants denied canonical status to all books not in the Hebrew Bible. The first modern vernacular Bible to segregate the disputed writings was a Dutch version by Jacob van Liesveldt (Antwerp, 1526). Luther’s German edition of 1534 did the same thing and entitled them “Apocrypha” for the first time, noting that while they were not in equal esteem with sacred Scriptures they were edifying.

In response to Protestant views, the Roman Catholic church made its position clear at the Council of Trent (1546) when it dogmatically affirmed that the entire Latin Vulgate enjoyed equal canonical status. This doctrine was confirmed by the Vatican Council of 1870. In the Greek Church, the Synod of Jerusalem (1672) had expressly designated as canonical several Apocryphal works. In the 19th century, however, Russian Orthodox theologians agreed to exclude these works from the Holy Scriptures.

The history of the Old Testament canon in the English Church has generally reflected a more restrictive viewpoint. Even though the Wycliffite Bible (14th century) included the Apocrypha, its preface made it clear that it accepted Jerome’s judgment. The translation made by the English bishop Miles Coverdale (1535) was the first English version to segregate these books, but it did place Baruch after Jeremiah. Article VI of the Thirty-nine Articles of religion of the Church of England (1562) explicitly denied their value for the establishment of doctrine, although it admitted that they should be read for their didactic worth. The first Bible in English to exclude the Apocrypha was the Geneva Bible of 1599. The King James Version of 1611 placed it between the Old and New Testaments. In 1615 Archbishop George Abbot forbade the issuance of Bibles without the Apocrypha, but editions of the King James Version from 1630 on often omitted it from the bound copies. The Geneva Bible edition of 1640 was probably the first to be intentionally printed in England without the Apocrypha, followed in 1642 by the King James Version. In 1644 the Long Parliament actually forbade the public reading of these books, and three years later the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterians decreed them to be no part of the canon. The British and Foreign Bible Society in 1827 resolved never to print or circulate copies containing the Apocrypha. Most English Protestant Bibles in the 20th century have omitted the disputed books or have them as a separate volume, except in library editions, in which they are included with the Old and New Testaments.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism: manuscript problems
The text of the Hebrew printed Bible consists of consonants, vowel signs, and cantillation (musical or tonal) marks. The two latter components are the product of the school of Masoretes (Traditionalists) that flourished in Tiberias (in Palestine) between the 7th and 9th centuries ce. The history of the bare consonantal text stretches back into hoary antiquity and can be only partially traced.

The earliest printed editions of the Hebrew Bible derive from the last quarter of the 15th century and the first quarter of the 16th century. The oldest Masoretic codices stem from the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 10th. A comparison of the two shows that no textual developments took place during the intervening 600 years. A single standardized recension enjoyed an absolute monopoly and was transmitted by the scribes with amazing fidelity. Not one of the medieval Hebrew manuscripts and none of the thousands of fragments preserved in the Cairo Geniza (synagogue storeroom) contains departures of any real significance from the received text.

This situation, however, was a relatively late development; there is much evidence for the existence of a period when more than one Hebrew text-form of a given book was current. In fact, both the variety of witnesses and the degree of textual divergence between them increase in proportion to their antiquity.

No single explanation can satisfactorily account for this phenomenon. In the case of some biblical literature, there exists the real possibility, though it cannot be proven, that it must have endured a long period of oral transmission before its committal to writing. In the interval, the material might well have undergone abridgement, amplification, and alteration at the hands of transmitters so that not only would the original have been transformed, but the process of transmission would have engendered more than one recension from the very beginning of its written, literary career.

The problem is complicated further by the great difference in time between the autograph (original writing) of a biblical work, even when it assumed written form from its inception, and its oldest extant exemplars. In some instances, this may amount to well over a thousand years of scribal activity. Whatever the interval, the possibility of inadvertent and deliberate change, something that affects all manuscript copying, was always present.

The evidence that such, indeed, took place is rich and varied. First there are numerous divergences between the many passages duplicated within the Hebrew Bible itself—e.g., the parallels between Samuel–Kings and Chronicles. Then there are the citations of the Old Testament to be found in the books of the Apocrypha and apocalyptic literature (works describing the intervention of God in history in cryptic terms), in the works of Philo and Josephus, in the New Testament, and in rabbinic and patristic (early Church Fathers) literature. There are also rabbinic traditions about the text-critical activities of the scribes (soferim) in Second Temple times. These tell of divergent readings in Temple scrolls of the Pentateuch, of official “book correctors” in Jerusalem, of textual emendations on the part of scribes, and of the utilization of sigla (signs or abbreviations) for marking suspect readings and disarranged verses. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the pre-Masoretic versions of the Old Testament made directly from Hebrew originals are all replete with divergences from current Masoretic Bibles. Finally, the scrolls from the Judaean Desert, especially those from the caves of Qumrān, have provided, at least, illustrations of many of the scribal processes by which deviant texts came into being. The variants and their respective causes may be classified as follows: aurally conditioned, visual in origin, exegetical, and deliberate.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism: manuscript problems » Problems resulting from aural conditioning
Aural conditioning would result from a mishearing of similar sounding consonants when a text is dictated to the copyist. A negative particle loʾ, for example, could be confused with the prepositional lo, “to him,” or a guttural ḥet with spirant kaf so that aḥ “brother” might be written for akh “surely.”

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism: manuscript problems » Problems visual in origin
The confusion of graphically similar letters, whether in the paleo-Hebrew or Aramaic script, is another cause for variations. Thus, the prepositions bet (“in”) and kaf (“like”) are interchanged in the Masoretic and Dead Sea Scroll texts of Isaiah.

The order of letters also might be inverted. Such metathesis, as it is called, appears in Psalms, in which qirbam (“their inward thoughts”) stands for qibram (“their grave”).

Dittography, or the inadvertent duplication of one or more letters or words, also occurs, as, for example, in the Dead Sea Scroll text of Isaiah and in the Masoretic text of Ezekiel.

Haplography, or the accidental omission of a letter or word that occurs twice in close proximity, can be found, for example, in the Dead Sea Scroll text of Isaiah.

Homoeoteleuton occurs when two separate phrases or lines have identical endings and the copyist’s eye slips from one to the other and omits the intervening words. A comparison of the Masoretic text I Samuel, chapter 14 verse 41, with the Septuagint and the Vulgate versions clearly identifies such an aberration.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism: manuscript problems » Exegetical problems
This third category does not involve any consonantal alteration but results solely from the different possibilities inherent in the consonantal spelling. Thus, the lack of vowel signs may permit the word DBR to be read as a verb DiBeR (“he spoke,” as in the Masoretic text of Hosea) or as a noun DeBaR (“the word of,” as in the Septuagint). The absence of word dividers could lead to different divisions of the consonants. Thus, BBQRYM in Amos could be understood as either BaBeQaRYM (“with oxen,” as in the Masoretic text) or as BaBaQaR YaM (“the sea with an ox”). The incorrect solution by later copyists of abbreviations is another source of error. That such occurred is proved by a comparison of the Hebrew text with the Septuagint version in, for example, II Samuel, chapter 1 verse 12; Ezekiel, chapter 12 verse 23; and Amos, chapter 3 verse 9.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism: manuscript problems » Deliberate changes
Apart from mechanical alterations of a text, many variants must have been consciously introduced by scribes, some by way of glossing—i.e., the insertion of a more common word to explain a rare one—and others by explanatory comments incorporated into the text. Furthermore, a scribe who had before him two manuscripts of a single work containing variant readings, and unable to decide between them, might incorporate both readings into his scroll and thus create a conflate text.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism: scholarly problems
The situation so far described poses two major scholarly problems. The first involves the history of the Hebrew text, the second deals with attempts to reconstruct its “original” form.

As to when and how a single text type gained hegemony and then displaced all others, it is clear that the early and widespread public reading of the Scriptures in the synagogues of Palestine, Alexandria, and Babylon was bound to lead to a heightened sensitivity of the idea of a “correct” text and to give prestige to the particular text form selected for reading. Also, the natural conservatism of ritual would tend to perpetuate the form of such a text. The Letter of Aristeas, a document derived from the middle of the 2nd century bce that describes the origin of the Septuagint, recognizes the distinction between carelessly copied scrolls of the Pentateuch and an authoritative Temple scroll in the hands of the high priest in Jerusalem. The Rabbinic traditions (see above) about the textual criticism of Temple-based scribes actually reflect a movement towards the final stabilization of the text in the Second Temple period. Josephus, writing not long after 70 ce, boasts of the existence of a long-standing fixed text of the Jewish Scriptures. The loss of national independence and the destruction of the spiritual centre of Jewry in 70, accompanied by an ever-widening Diaspora and the Christian schism within Judaism, all made the exclusive dissemination of a single authoritative text a vitally needed cohesive force. The text type later known as Masoretic is already well represented at pre-Christian Qumrān. Scrolls from Wādī al-Murabbaʿat, Naẖal Ẕeʾelim, and Masada from the 2nd century ce are practically identical with the received text that by then had gained victory over all its rivals.

In regard to an attempt to recover the original text of a biblical passage—especially an unintelligible one—in the light of variants among different versions and manuscripts and known causes of corruption, it should be understood that all reconstruction must necessarily be conjectural and perforce tentative because of the irretrievable loss of the original edition. But not all textual difficulties need presuppose underlying mutilation. The Hebrew Bible represents but a small portion of the literature of ancient Israel and, hence, a limited segment of the language. A textual problem may be the product of present limited knowledge of ancient Hebrew, because scholars might be dealing with dialectic phenomena or foreign loan-words. Comparative Semitic linguistic studies have yielded hitherto unrecognized features of grammar, syntax, and lexicography that have often eliminated the need for emendation. Furthermore, each version, indeed each biblical book within it, has its own history, and the translation techniques and stylistic characteristics must be examined and taken into account. Finally, the number of manuscripts that attest to a certain reading is of less importance than the weight given to a specific manuscript.

None of this means that a Hebrew manuscript, an ancient version, or a conjectural emendation cannot yield a reading superior to that in the received Hebrew text. It does mean, however, that these tools have to be employed with great caution and proper methodology.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Sources of the Septuagint
A Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint because there allegedly were 70 or 72 translators, six from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and designated LXX, is a composite of the work of many translators labouring for well over 100 years. It was made directly from Hebrew originals that frequently differed considerably from the present Masoretic text. Apart from other limitations attendant upon the use of a translation for such purposes, the identification of the parent text used by the Greek translators is still an unsettled question. The Pentateuch of the Septuagint manifests a basic coincidence with the Masoretic text. The Qumrān scrolls have now proven that the Septuagint book of Samuel–Kings goes back to an old Palestinian text tradition that must be earlier than the 4th century bce, and from the same source comes a short Hebrew recension of Jeremiah that probably underlies the Greek.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » The Samaritan Pentateuch
The importance of the recension known as the Samaritan Pentateuch lies in the fact that it constitutes an independent Hebrew witness to the text written in a late and developed form of the paleo-Hebrew script. Some of the Exodus fragments from Qumrān demonstrate that it has close affinities with a pre-Christian Palestinian text type and testify to the faithfulness with which it has been preserved. It contains about 6,000 variants from the Masoretic text, of which nearly a third agree with the Septuagint. Only a minority, however, are genuine variants, most being dogmatic, exegetical, grammatical, or merely orthographic in character.

The Samaritan Pentateuch first became known in the West through a manuscript secured in Damascus in 1616 by Pietro della Valle, an Italian traveler. It was published in the Paris (1628–45) and London Polyglots (1654–57), written in several languages in comparative columns. Many manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch are now available. The Avishaʿ Scroll, the sacred copy of the Samaritans, has recently been photographed and critically examined. Only Numbers chapter 35 to Deuteronomy chapter 34 appears to be very old, the rest stemming from the 14th century. A new, definitive edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch is being prepared in Madrid by F. Pérez Castro.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » The Qumrān texts and other scrolls
Until the discovery of the Judaean Desert scrolls, the only pre-medieval fragment of the Hebrew Bible known to scholars was the Nash Papyrus (c. 150 bce) from Egypt containing the Decalogue and Deuteronomy. Now, however, fragments of about 180 different manuscripts of biblical books are available. Their dates vary between the 3rd century bce and the 2nd century ce, and all but 10 stem from the caves of Qumrān. All are written on either leather or papyrus in columns and on one side only.

The most important manuscripts from what is now identified as Cave 1 of Qumrān are a practically complete Isaiah scroll (1QIsaa), dated c. 100–75 bce, and another very fragmentary manuscript (1QIsab) of the same book. The first contains many variants from the Masoretic text in both orthography and text; the second is very close to the Masoretic type and contains few genuine variants. The richest hoard comes from Cave 4 and includes fragments of five copies of Genesis, eight of Exodus, one of Leviticus, 14 of Deuteronomy, two of Joshua, three of Samuel, 12 of Isaiah, four of Jeremiah, eight of the Minor Prophets, one of Proverbs, and three of Daniel. Cave 11 yielded a Psalter containing the last third of the book in a form different from that of the Masoretic text, as well as a manuscript of Leviticus.

The importance of the Qumrān scrolls cannot be exaggerated. Their great antiquity brings them close to the Old Testament period itself—from as early as 250–200 bce. For the first time, Hebrew variant texts are extant and all known major text types are present. Some are close to the Septuagint, others to the Samaritan. On the other hand, many of the scrolls are practically identical with the Masoretic text, which thus takes this recension back in history to pre-Christian times. Several texts in the paleo-Hebrew script show that this script continued to be used side by side with the Aramaic script for a long time.

Of quite a different order are scrolls from other areas of the Judaean Desert. All of these are practically identical with the received text. This applies to fragments of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, and Psalms discovered at Masada (the Jewish fortress destroyed by the Romans in ce 73), as well as to the finds at Wādī al-Murabbaʿat, the latest date of which is ce 135. Here were found fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Isaiah in addition to the substantially preserved Minor Prophets scroll. Variants from the Masoretic text are negligible. The same phenomenon characterizes the fragments of Numbers found at Naẖal H̱ever.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Masoretic texts
No biblical manuscripts have survived from the six centuries that separate the latest of the Judaean Desert scrolls from the earliest of the Masoretic period. A “Codex Mugah,” frequently referred to as an authority in the early 10th century, and the “Codex Hilleli,” said to have been written c. 600 by Rabbi Hillel ben Moses ben Hillel, have both vanished.

The earliest extant Hebrew Bible codex is the Cairo Prophets written and punctuated by Moses ben Asher in Tiberias (in Palestine) in 895. Next in age is the Leningrad Codex of the Latter Prophets dated to 916, which was not originally the work of Ben Asher, but its Babylonian pointing—i.e., vowel signs used for pronunciation purposes—was brought into line with the Tiberian Masoretic system.

The outstanding event in the history of that system was the production of the model so-called Aleppo Codex, now in Jerusalem. Written by Solomon ben Buya’a, it was corrected, punctuated, and furnished with a Masoretic apparatus by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher c. 930. Originally containing the entire Old Testament in about 380 folios, of which 294 are extant, the Aleppo Codex remains the only known true representative of Aaron ben Asher’s text and the most important witness to that particular Masoretic tradition that achieved hegemony throughout Jewry.

Two other notable manuscripts based on Aaron’s system are the manuscript designated as BM or. 4445, which contains most of the Pentateuch and which utilized a Masora (text tradition) c. 950, and the Leningrad complete Old Testament designated MSB 19a of 1008. Codex Reuchliana of the Prophets, written in 1105, now in Karlsruhe (Germany), represents the system of Moses ben David ben Naphtali, which was more faithful to that of Moses ben Asher.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Collations of the Masoretic materials
The earliest extant attempt at collating the differences between the Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali Masoretic traditions was made by Mishael ben Uzziel in his KitāĠ Ǧī-Ḥulaf (before 1050). A vast amount of Masoretic information, drawn chiefly from Spanish manuscripts, is to be found in the text-critical commentary known as Minhath Shai, by Solomon Jedidiah Norzi, completed in 1626 and printed in the Mantua Bible of 1742. Benjamin Kennicott collected the variants of 615 manuscripts and 52 printed editions (2 vol., 1776–80, Oxford). Giovanni Bernado De Rossi published his additional collections of 731 manuscripts and 300 prints (4 vol., 1784–88, Parma), and C.D. Ginsburg did the same for 70 manuscripts, largely from the British Museum, and 17 early printed editions (3 vol. in 4, 1908–26, London).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Printed editions
Until 1488, only separate parts of the Hebrew Bible had been printed, all with rabbinic commentaries. The earliest was the Psalms (1477), followed by the Pentateuch (1482), the Prophets (1485/86), and the Hagiographa (1486/87), all printed in Italy.

The first edition of the entire Hebrew Bible was printed at Soncino (in Italy) in 1488 with punctuation and accents, but without any commentary. The second complete Bible was printed in Naples in 1491/93 and the third in Brescia in 1494. All these editions were the work of Jews. The first Christian production was a magnificent Complutensian Polyglot (under the direction of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez of Spain) in six volumes, four of which contained the Hebrew Bible and Greek and Latin translations together with the Aramaic rendering (Targum) of the Pentateuch that has been ascribed to Onkelos. Printed at Alcala (1514–17) and circulated about 1522, this Bible proved to be a turning point in the study of the Hebrew text in western Europe.

The first rabbinic Bible—i.e., the Hebrew text furnished with full vowel points and accents, accompanied by the Aramaic Targums and the major medieval Jewish commentaries—was edited by Felix Pratensis and published by Daniel Bomberg (Venice, 1516/17). The second edition, edited by Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah and issued by Bomberg in four volumes (Venice, 1524/25), became the prototype of future Hebrew Bibles down to the 20th century. It contained a vast text-critical apparatus of Masoretic notes never since equalled in any edition. Unfortunately, Ben Hayyim had made use of late manuscripts and the text and notes are eclectic.

In London, Christian David Ginsburg, an emigrant Polish Jew and Christian convert, produced a critical edition of the complete Hebrew Bible (1894, 1908, 1926) revised according to the Masora and early prints with variant readings from manuscripts and ancient versions. It was soon displaced by the Biblica Hebraica (1906, 1912) by Rudolf Kittel and Paul Kahle, two German biblical scholars. The third edition of this work, completed by Albrecht Alt and Otto Eissfeldt (Stuttgart, 1937), finally abandoned Ben Hayyim’s text, substituting that of the Leningrad Codex (B 19a). It has a dual critical apparatus with textual emendations separated from the manuscript and versional variants. Since 1957 variants from the so-called Judaean Desert scrolls have been included. In progress at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the early 1970s was the preparation of a new text of the entire Hebrew Bible based on the Aleppo Codex to include all its own Masoretic notes together with textual differences found in all pertinent sources. A sample edition of the Book of Isaiah appeared in 1965.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Aramaic Targums
In the course of the 5th and 6th centuries bce, Aramaic became the official language of the Persian Empire. In the succeeding centuries it was used as the vernacular over a wide area and was increasingly spoken by the postexilic Jewish communities of Palestine and elsewhere in the Diaspora. In response to liturgical needs, the institution of a turgeman (or meturgeman, “translator”), arose in the synagogues. These men translated the Torah and prophetic lectionaries into Aramaic. The rendering remained for long solely an oral, impromptu exercise, but gradually, by dint of repetition, certain verbal forms and phrases became fixed and eventually committed to writing.

There are several Targums (translations) of the Pentateuch. The Babylonian Targum is known as “Onkelos,” named after its reputed author. The Targum is Palestinian in origin, but it was early transferred to Babylon where it was revised and achieved great authority. At a later date, probably not before the 9th century ce, it was re-exported to Palestine to displace other, local, Targums. On the whole, Onkelos is quite literal, but it shows a tendency to obscure expressions attributing human form and feelings to God. It also usually faithfully reflects rabbinic exegesis.

The most famous of the Palestinian Targums is that popularly known as “Jonathan,” a name derived from a 14th-century scribal mistake that solved a manuscript abbreviation “TJ” as “Targum Jonathan” instead of “Targum Jerusalem.” In contrast with two other Targums, which are highly fragmentary (Jerusalem II and III), Pseudo-Jonathan (or Jerusalem I) is virtually complete. It is a composite of the Old Palestinian Targum and an early version of Onkelos with an admixture of material from diverse periods. It contains much rabbinic material as well as homiletic and didactic amplifications. There is evidence of great antiquity, but also much late material, indicating that Pseudo-Jonathan could not have received its present form before the Islāmic period.

Another extant Aramaic version is the Targum to the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is less literal than the Jewish Targums and its text was never officially fixed.

The Targum to the Prophets also originated in Palestine and received its final editing in Babylonia. It is ascribed to Jonathan ben Uzziel, a pupil of Hillel, the famous 1st century bce–1st century ce rabbinic sage, though it is in fact a composite work of varying ages. In its present form it discloses a dependence on Onkelos, though it is less literal.

The Aramaic renderings of the Hagiographa are relatively late productions, none of them antedating the 5th century ce.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Septuagint (LXX)
The story of the Greek translation of the Pentateuch is told in the Letter of Aristeas, which purports to be a contemporary document written by Aristeas, a Greek official at the Egyptian court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 bce). It recounts how the law of the Jews was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars sent from Jerusalem at the request of the king.

This narrative, repeated in one form or another by Philo and rabbinic sources, is full of inaccuracies that prove that the author was an Alexandrian Jew writing well after the events he described had taken place. The Septuagint Pentateuch, which is all that is discussed, does, however, constitute an independent corpus within the Greek Bible, and it was probably first translated as a unit by a company of scholars in Alexandria about the middle of the 3rd century bce.

The Septuagint, as the entire Greek Bible came to be called, has a long and complex history and took well over a century to be completed. It is for this reason not a unified or consistent translation. The Septuagint became the instrument whereby the basic teachings of Judaism were mediated to the pagan world and it became an indispensable factor in the spread of Christianity.

The adoption of the Septuagint as the Bible of the Christians naturally engendered suspicion on the part of Jews. In addition, the emergence of a single authoritative text type after the destruction of the Temple made the great differences between it and the Septuagint increasingly intolerable, and the need for a Greek translation based upon the current Hebrew text in circulation was felt.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The version of Aquila
About 130 ce, Aquila, a convert to Judaism from Pontus in Asia Minor, translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek under the supervision of Rabbi Akiba. Executed with slavish literalness, it attempted to reproduce the most minute detail of the original, even to the extent of coining derivations from Greek roots to correspond to Hebrew usage. Little of it has survived, however, except in quotations, fragments of the Hexapla (see Origen’s Hexapla, below), and palimpsests (parchments erased and used again) from the Cairo Geniza.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The revision of Theodotion
A second revision of the Greek text was made by Theodotion (of unknown origins) late in the 2nd century, though it is not entirely clear whether it was the Septuagint or some other Greek version that underlay his revision. The new rendering was characterized by a tendency toward verbal consistency and much transliteration of Hebrew words.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The translation of Symmachus
Still another Greek translation was made toward the end of the same century by Symmachus, an otherwise unknown scholar, who made use of his predecessors. His influence was small despite the superior elegance of his work. Jerome did utilize Symmachus for his Vulgate, but other than that, his translation is known largely through fragments of the Hexapla.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » Origen’s Hexapla
The multiplication of versions doubtless proved to be a source of increasing confusion in the 3rd century. This situation the Alexandrian theologian Origen, working at Caesarea between 230 and 240 ce, sought to remedy. In his Hexapla (“six-fold”) he presented, in parallel vertical columns, the Hebrew text, the same in Greek letters, and the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodotion, in that order. In the case of some books, Psalms for instance, three more columns were added. The Hexapla serves as an important guide to Palestinian pre-Masoretic pronunciation of the language. The main interest of Origen lay in the fifth column, the Septuagint, which he edited on the basis of the Hebrew. He used the obels (− or ÷) and asterisk (*) to mark respectively words found in the Greek text but not in the Hebrew and vice versa.

The Hexapla was a work of such magnitude that it is unlikely to have been copied as a whole. Origen himself produced an abbreviated edition, the Tetrapla, containing only the last four columns. The original manuscript of the Hexapla is known to have been extant as late as c. 600 ce. Today it survives only in fragments.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » Manuscripts and printed editions of the Septuagint
The manuscripts are conveniently classified by papyri uncials (capital letters) and minuscules (cursive script). The papyri fragments run into the hundreds, of varying sizes and importance, ranging from the formative period of the Septuagint through the middle of the 7th century. Two pre-Christian fragments of Deuteronomy from Egypt are of outstanding significance. Although not written on papyrus but on parchment or leather, the fragments from Qumrān of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and the leather scroll of the Minor Prophets from Naḥal H̱ever from the first pre-Christian and post-Christian centuries, deserve special mention among the earliest extant. The most important papyri are those of the Chester Beatty collection, which contains parts of 11 codices preserving fragments of nine Old Testament books. Their dates vary between the 2nd and 4th centuries. During the next 300 years papyri texts multiplied rapidly, and remnants of about 200 are known.

The uncials are all codices written on vellum between the 4th and 10th centuries. The most outstanding are Vaticanus, which is an almost complete 4th-century Old Testament, Sinaiticus, of the same period but less complete, and the practically complete 5th-century Alexandrinus. These three originally contained both Testaments. Many others were partial manuscripts from the beginning. One of the most valuable of these is the Codex Marchalianus of the Prophets written in the 6th century.

The minuscule codices begin to appear in the 9th century. From the 11th to the 16th century they are the only ones found, and nearly 1,500 have been recorded.

The first printed Septuagint was that of the Complutensian Polyglot (1514–17). Since it was not released until 1522, however, the 1518 Aldine Venice edition actually was available first. The standard edition until modern times was that of Pope Sixtus V, 1587. In the 19th and 20th centuries several critical editions have been printed.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » Coptic versions
The spread of Christianity among the non-Greek speaking peasant communities of Egypt necessitated the translation of the Scriptures into the native tongue (Coptic). These versions may be considered to be wholly Christian in origin and largely based on the Greek Bible. They also display certain affinities with the Old Latin. Nothing certain is known about the Coptic translations except that they probably antedate the earliest known manuscripts from the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th centuries ce.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Armenian version
The Armenian version is an expression of a nationalist movement that brought about a separation from the rest of the Church (mid-5th century), the discontinuance of Syriac in Greek worship, and the invention of a national alphabet by St. Mesrob, also called Mashtots (c. 361–439/440). According to tradition, St. Mesrob first translated Proverbs from the Syriac. Existing manuscripts of the official Armenian recension, however, are based on the Hexaplaric Septuagint, though they show some Peshitta (Syriac version) influence. The Armenian Bible is noted for its beauty and accuracy.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Georgian version
According to Armenian tradition, the Georgian version was also the work of Mesrob, but the Psalter, the oldest part of the Georgian Old Testament, is probably not earlier than the 5th century. Some manuscripts were based upon Greek versions, others upon the Armenian.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Ethiopic version
The Ethiopic version poses special problems. The earliest Bible probably was based on Greek versions, after Ethiopia had been converted to Christianity during the 4th and 5th centuries. The earliest existing manuscripts, however, belong to the 13th century. Most manuscripts from the 14th century on seem to reflect Arabic or Coptic influence, and it is not certain whether these represent the original translation or later ones. Many readings agree with the Hebrew against the Septuagint, which may have been caused by a Hexaplaric influence.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Gothic version
The Gothic version was produced in the mid-4th century by Ulfilas, a Christian missionary who also invented the Gothic alphabet. It constitutes practically all that is left of Gothic literature. The translation of the Old Testament has entirely disappeared except for fragments of Ezra and Nehemiah. Though a Greek base is certain, some scholars deny the attribution of these remnants to Ulfilas.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Early versions » The Old Latin version
The existence of a Latin translation can be attested in North Africa and southern Gaul as early as the second half of the 2nd century ce, and in Rome at the beginning of the following century. Its origins may possibly be attributed to a Christian adoption of biblical versions made by Jews in the Roman province of Africa, where the vernacular was exclusively Latin. Only portions or quotations from it, however, have been preserved, and from these it can be assumed that the translation was made not from Hebrew but from Greek. For this reason, the Old Latin version is especially valuable because it reflects the state of the Septuagint before Origen’s revision. By the 3rd century, several Latin versions circulated, and African and European recensions can be differentiated. Whether they all diverged from an original single translation or existed from the beginning independently cannot be determined. The textual confusion and the vulgar and colloquial nature of the Old Latin recension had become intolerable to the church authorities by the last decade of the 4th century, and c. 382 Pope Damasus decided to remedy the situation.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Versions after the 4th century » The Vulgate
The task of revision fell to Eusebius Hieronymus, generally known as St. Jerome (died 419/420), whose knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew made him the outstanding Christian biblical scholar of his time.

Jerome produced three revisions of the Psalms, all extant. The first was based on the Septuagint and is known as the Roman Psalter because it was incorporated into the liturgy at Rome. The second, produced in Palestine from the Hexaplaric Septuagint, tended to bring the Latin closer to the Hebrew. Its popularity in Gaul was such that it came to be known as the Gallican Psalter. This version was later adopted into the Vulgate. The third revision, actually a fresh translation, was made directly from the Hebrew, but it never enjoyed wide circulation. In the course of preparing the latter, Jerome realized the futility of revising the Old Latin solely on the basis of the Greek and apparently left that task unfinished. By the end of 405 he had executed his own Latin translation of the entire Old Testament based on the “Hebrew truth” (Hebraica veritas).

Because of the canonical status of the Greek version within the church, Jerome’s version was received at first with much suspicion, for it seemed to cast doubt on the authenticity of the Septuagint and exhibited divergences from the Old Latin that sounded discordant to those familiar with the traditional renderings. Augustine feared a consequent split between the Greek and Latin churches. The innate superiority of Jerome’s version, however, assured its ultimate victory, and by the 8th century it had become the Latin Vulgate (“the common version”) throughout the churches of Western Christendom, where it remained the chief Bible until the Reformation.

In the course of centuries of rival coexistence, the Old Latin and Jerome’s Vulgate tended to react upon each other so that the Vulgate text became a composite. Other corruptions—noted in over 8,000 surviving manuscripts—crept in as a result of scribal transmission. Several medieval attempts were made to purify the Vulgate, but with little success. In 1546 the reforming Council of Trent accorded this version “authentic” status, and the need for a corrected text became immediate, especially because printing (introduced in the mid-15th century) could ensure, at last, a stabilized text. Because the Sixtine edition of Pope Sixtus V (1590) did not receive widespread support, Pope Clement VIII produced a fresh revision in 1592. This Clementine text remained the official edition of the Roman Church. Since 1907, the Benedictine Order, on the initiative of Pope Pius X, has been preparing a comprehensive edition. By 1969 only the Prophets still awaited publication to complete the Old Testament. A year later, a papal commission under Cardinal Augustinus Bea of Germany was charged with the task of preparing a new “revision of the Vulgate,” taking the Benedictine edition as its working base.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Versions after the 4th century » Syriac versions
The Bible of the Syriac Churches is known as the Peshitta (“simple” translation). Though neither the reason for the title nor the origins of the versions are known, the earliest translations most likely served the needs of the Jewish communities in the region of Adiabene (in Mesopotamia), which are known to have existed as early as the 1st century ce. This probably explains the archaic stratum unquestionably present in the Pentateuch, Prophets, and Psalms of the Peshitta, as well as the undoubtedly Jewish influences generally, though Jewish-Christians also may have been involved in the rendering.

The Peshitta displays great variety in its style and in the translation techniques adopted. The Pentateuch is closest to the Masoretic text, but elsewhere there is much affinity with the Septuagint. This latter phenomenon might have resulted from later Christian revision.

Following the split in the Syriac Church in the 5th century into Nestorian (East Syrian) and Jacobite (West Syrian) traditions, the textual history of the Peshitta became bifurcated. Because the Nestorian Church was relatively isolated, its manuscripts are considered to be superior.

A revision of the Syriac translation was made in the early 6th century by Philoxenos, bishop of Mabbug, based on the Lucianic recension of the Septuagint. Another (the Syro-Hexaplaric version) was made by Bishop Paul of Tella in 617 from the Hexaplaric text of the Septuagint. A Palestinian Syriac version, extant in fragments, is known to go back to at least 700, and a fresh recension was made by Jacob of Edessa (died 708).

There are many manuscripts of the Peshitta, of which the oldest bears the date 442. Only four complete codices are extant from between the 5th and 12th centuries. No critical edition yet exists, but one is being prepared by the Peshitta Commission of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Versions after the 4th century » Arabic versions
There is no reliable evidence of any pre-Islāmic Arabic translation. Only when large Jewish and Christian communities found themselves under Muslim rule after the Arab conquests of the 7th century did the need for an Arabic vernacular Scripture arise. The first and most important was that of Saʿadia ben Joseph (892–942), made directly from Hebrew and written in Hebrew script, which became the standard version for all Jews in Muslim countries. The version also exercised its influence upon Egyptian Christians and its rendering of the Pentateuch was adapted by Abū al-Ḥasan to the Samaritan Torah in the 11th–12th centuries. Another Samaritan Arabic version of the Pentateuch was made by Abū Saʿīd (Abū al-Barakāt) in the 13th century. Among other translations from the Hebrew, that of the 10th-century Karaite Yāphith ibn ʿAlī is the most noteworthy.

In 946 a Spanish Christian of Córdova, Isaac son of Velásquez, made a version of the Gospels from Latin. Manuscripts of 16th-century Arabic translations of both testaments exist in Leningrad, and both the Paris and London polyglots of the 17th century included Arabic versions. In general, the Arabic manuscripts reveal a bewildering variety of renderings dependent on Hebrew, Greek, Samaritan, Syriac, Coptic, and Latin translations. As such they have no value for critical studies. Several modern Arabic translations by both Protestants and Catholics were made in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: English
Knowledge of the pre-Wycliffite English renditions stems from the many actual manuscripts that have survived and from secondary literature, such as booklists, wills, citations by later authors, and references in polemical works that have preserved the memory of many a translation effort.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: English » Anglo-Saxon versions
For about seven centuries after the conversion of England to Christianity (beginning in the 3rd century), the common man had no direct access to the text of the Scriptures. Ignorant of Latin, his knowledge was derived principally from sermons and metrical prose paraphrases and summaries. The earliest poetic rendering of any part of the Bible is credited to Caedmon (flourished 658–680), but only the opening lines of his poem on the Creation in the Northumbrian dialect have been preserved.

An actual translation of the Psalter into Anglo-Saxon is ascribed to Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne (died 709), but nothing has survived by which its true character, if it actually existed, might be determined. Linguistic considerations alone rule out the possibility that the prose translation of Psalms 1–50 extant in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris is a 7th-century production. In the next century, Bede (died 735) is said to have translated parts of the Gospels, and, though he knew Greek and possibly even some Hebrew, he does not appear to have applied himself to the Old Testament.

The outstanding name of the 9th century is that of King Alfred the Great. He appended to his laws a free translation of the Ten Commandments and an abridgment of the enactments of Exodus 21–23. These actually constitute the earliest surviving examples of a portion of the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon prose.

An important step towards the emergence of a true English translation was the development of the interlinear gloss, a valuable pedagogic device for the introduction of youthful members of monastic schools to the study of the Bible. The Vespasian Psalter is the outstanding surviving example of the technique from the 9th century. In the next century the Lindisfarne Gospels, written in Latin c. 700, were glossed in Anglo-Saxon c. 950.

The last significant figure associated with the vernacular Bible before the Norman Conquest was the so-called Aelfric the Grammarian (c. 955–1020). Though he claimed to have rendered several books into English, his work is more a paraphrase and abridgment than a continuous translation.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: English » Anglo-Norman versions
The displacement of the English upper class, with the consequent decline of the Anglo-Saxon tradition attendant upon the Norman invasion, arrested for a while the movement toward the production of the English Bible. Within about 50 years (c. 1120) of the Conquest, Eadwine’s Psalterium triplex, which contained the Latin version accompanied by Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon renderings, appeared. The contemporary Oxford Psalter achieved such influence that it became the basis of all subsequent Anglo-Norman versions. By 1361 a prose translation of most of Scripture in this dialect had been executed.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: English » The Wycliffite versions
By the middle of the 13th century the English component in the Anglo-Norman amalgam had begun to assert itself and the close of the century witnessed a Northumbrian version of the Psalter made directly from Latin, which, because it survived in several manuscripts, must have achieved relatively wide circulation. By the next century, English had gradually superseded French among the upper classes. When the first complete translation of the Bible into English emerged, it became the object of violent controversy because it was inspired by the heretical teachings of John Wycliffe. Intended for the common man, it became the instrument of opposition to ecclesiastical authority.

The exact degree of Wycliffe’s personal involvement in the Scriptures that came to bear his name is not clear. Because a note containing the words “Here ends the translation of Nicholas of Hereford” is found in a manuscript copy of the original (and incomplete) translation, it may be presumed that, though there must have been other assistants, Hereford can be credited with overall responsibility for most of the translation and that his summons before a synod in London and his subsequent departure for Rome in 1382 terminated his participation in the work. Who completed it is uncertain.

The Wycliffite translations encountered increasing ecclesiastical opposition. In 1408 a synod of clergy summoned to Oxford by Archbishop Arundel forbade the translation and use of Scripture in the vernacular. The proscription was rigorously enforced, but remained ineffectual. In the course of the next century the Wycliffite Bible, the only existing English version, achieved wide popularity as is evidenced by the nearly 200 manuscripts extant, most of them copied between 1420 and 1450.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The translation of William Tyndale
Because of the influence of printing and a demand for scriptures in the vernacular, William Tyndale began working on a New Testament translation directly from the Greek in 1523. The work could not be continued in England because of political and ecclesiastical pressures, and the printing of his translation began in Cologne (in Germany) in 1525. Again under pressure, this time from the city authorities, Tyndale had to flee to Worms, where two complete editions were published in 1525. Copies were smuggled into England where they were at once proscribed. Of 18,000 copies printed (1525–28), two complete volumes and a fragment are all that remain.

When the New Testament was finished Tyndale began work on the Old Testament. The Pentateuch was issued in Marburg in 1530, each of the five books being separately published and circulated. Tyndale’s greatest achievement was the ability to strike a felicitous balance between the needs of scholarship, simplicity of expression, and literary gracefulness, all in a uniform dialect. The effect was the creation of an English style of Bible translation, tinged with Hebraisms, that was to serve as the model for all future English versions for nearly 400 years.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The translation of Miles Coverdale
A change in atmosphere in England found expression in a translation that, for all its great significance, turned out to be a retrograde step in the manner of its execution, although it proved to be a vindication of Tyndale’s work. On October 4, 1535, the first complete English Bible, the work of Miles Coverdale, came off the press either in Zürich or in Cologne. The edition was soon exhausted. A second impression appeared in the same year and a third in 1536. A new edition, “overseen and corrected,” was published in England by James Nycholson in Southwark in 1537. Another edition of the same year bore the announcement, “set forth with the king’s most gracious license.” In 1538 a revised edition of Coverdale’s New Testament printed with the Latin Vulgate in parallel columns issued in England was so full of errors that Coverdale promptly arranged for a rival corrected version to appear in Paris.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The Thomas Matthew version
In the same year that Coverdale’s authorized version appeared, another English Bible was issued under royal license and with the encouragement of ecclesiastical and political power. It appeared (Antwerp?) under the name of Thomas Matthew, but it is certainly the work of John Rogers, a close friend of Tyndale. Although the version claimed to be “truly and purely translated into English,” it was in reality a combination of the labours of Tyndale and Coverdale. Rogers used the former’s Pentateuch and 1535 revision of the New Testament and the latter’s translation from Ezra to Malachi and his Apocrypha. Rogers’ own contribution was primarily editorial.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The Great Bible
In an injunction of 1538, Henry VIII commanded the clergy to install in a convenient place in every parish church, “one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English.” The order seems to refer to an anticipated revision of the Matthew Bible. The first edition was printed in Paris and appeared in London in April 1539 in 2,500 copies. The huge page size earned it the sobriquet the Great Bible. It was received with immediate and wholehearted enthusiasm.

The first printing was exhausted within a short while, and it went through six subsequent editions between 1540 and 1541. “Editions” is preferred to “impressions” here since the six successive issues were not identical.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The Geneva Bible
The brief efflorescence of the Protestant movement during the short reign of Edward VI (1547–53) saw the reissue of the Scriptures, but no fresh attempts at revision. The repressive rule of Edward’s successor, Mary, a Roman Catholic, put an end to the printing of Bibles in England for several years. Their public reading was proscribed and their presence in the churches discontinued.

The persecutions of Protestants caused the focus of English biblical scholarship to be shifted abroad where it flourished in greater freedom. A colony of Protestant exiles, led by Coverdale and John Knox (the Scottish Reformer), and under the influence of John Calvin, published the New Testament in 1557.

The editors of the Geneva Bible (or “Breeches Bible,” so-named because of its rendering of the first garments made for Adam and Eve in chapter three, verse seven of Genesis)—published in 1560—may almost certainly be identified as William Whittingham, the brother-in-law of Calvin’s wife, and his assistants Anthony Gilby and Thomas Sampson. The Geneva Bible was not printed in England until 1576, but it was allowed to be imported without hindrance. The accession of Elizabeth in 1558 put an end to the persecutions and the Great Bible was soon reinstated in the churches. The Geneva Bible, however, gained instantaneous and lasting popularity over against its rival, the Great Bible. Its technical innovations contributed not a little to its becoming for a long time the family Bible of England, which, next to Tyndale, exercised the greatest influence upon the King James Version.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The Bishops’ Bible
The failure of the Great Bible to win popular acceptance against the obvious superiority of its Geneva rival and the objectionable partisan flavour of the latter’s marginal annotations made a new revision a necessity. By about 1563–64 Archbishop Matthew Parker of Canterbury had determined upon its execution and the work was apportioned among many scholars, most of them bishops, from which the popular name was derived.

The Bishops’ Bible came off the press in 1568 as a handsome folio volume, the most impressive of all 16th-century English Bibles in respect of the quality of paper, typography, and illustrations. A portrait of the Queen adorned the engraved title page, but it contained no dedication. For some reason Queen Elizabeth never officially authorized the work, but sanction for its public use came from the Convocation (church synod or assembly) of 1571 and it thereby became in effect the second authorized version.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » English translations after the Reformation » The Douai–Reims Bible
The Roman Catholics addressed themselves affirmatively to the same problem faced by the Anglican Church: a Bible in the vernacular. The initiator of the first such attempt was Cardinal Allen of Reims (in France), although the burden of the work fell to Gregory Martin, professor of Hebrew at Douai. The New Testament appeared in 1582, but the Old Testament, delayed by lack of funds, did not appear until 1609, when it was finally published at Douai under the editorship of Thomas Worthington. In the intervening period it had been brought into line with the new text of the Vulgate authorized by Clement VIII in 1592.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » The King James (Authorized) Version
Because of changing conditions, another official revision of the Protestant Bible in English was needed. The reign of Queen Elizabeth had succeeded in imposing a high degree of uniformity upon the church. The failure of the Bishops’ Bible to supplant its Geneva rival made for a discordant note in the quest for unity.

A conference of churchmen in 1604 became noteworthy for its request that the English Bible be revised because existing translations “were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original.” King James I was quick to appreciate the broader value of the proposal and at once made the project his own.

By June 30, 1604, King James had approved a list of 54 revisers, although extant records show that 47 scholars actually participated. They were organized into six companies, two each working separately at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge on sections of the Bible assigned to them. It was finally published in 1611.

Not since the Septuagint had a translation of the Bible been undertaken under royal sponsorship as a cooperative venture on so grandiose a scale. An elaborate set of rules was contrived to curb individual proclivities and to ensure its scholarly and nonpartisan character. In contrast to earlier practice, the new version was to preserve vulgarly used forms of proper names in keeping with its aim to make the Scriptures popular and familiar.

The impact of Jewish sources upon the King James Version is one of its noteworthy features. The wealth of scholarly tools available to the translators made their final choice of rendering an exercise in originality and independent judgment. For this reason, the new version was more faithful to the original languages of the Bible and more scholarly than any of its predecessors. The impact of the Hebrew upon the revisers was so pronounced that they seem to have made a conscious effort to imitate its rhythm and style in the Old Testament. The English of the New Testament actually turned out to be superior to its Greek original.

Two editions were actually printed in 1611, later distinguished as the “He” and “She” Bibles because of the variant reading “he” and “she” in the final clause of chapter 3, verse 15 of Ruth: “and he went into the city.” Both printings contained errors. Some errors in subsequent editions have become famous: The so-called Wicked Bible (1631) derives from the omission of “not” in chapter 20 verse 14 of Exodus, “Thou shalt commit adultery,” for which the printers were fined £300; the “Vinegar Bible” (1717) stems from a misprinting of “vineyard” in the heading of Luke, chapter 20.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » The English Revised Version
The remarkable and total victory of the King James Version could not entirely obscure those inherent weaknesses that were independent of its typographical errors. The manner of its execution had resulted in a certain unequalness and lack of consistency. The translators’ understanding of the Hebrew tense system was often limited so that their version contains inaccurate and infelicitous renderings. In particular, the Greek text of the New Testament, which they used as their base, was a poor one. The great early Greek codices were not then known or available, and Hellenistic papyri, which were to shed light on the common Greek dialect, had not yet been discovered.

A committee established by the Convocation of Canterbury in February 1870 reported favourably three months later on the idea of revising the King James Version: two companies were formed, one each for the Old and New Testaments. A novel development was the inclusion of scholars representative of the major Christian denominations, except the Roman Catholics (who declined the invitation to participate). Another innovation was the formation of parallel companies in the United States to whom the work of the English scholars was submitted and who, in turn, sent back their reactions. The instructions to the committees made clear that only a revision and not a new translation was contemplated.

The New Testament was published in England on May 17, 1881, and three days later in the United States, after 11 years of labour. Over 30,000 changes were made, of which more than 5,000 represent differences in the Greek text from that used as the basis of the King James Version. Most of the others were made in the interests of consistency or modernization.

The publication of the Old Testament in 1885 stirred far less excitement, partly because it was less well known than the New Testament and partly because fewer changes were involved. The poetical and prophetical books, especially Job, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah, benefitted greatly.

The revision of the Apocrypha, not originally contemplated, came to be included only because of copyright arrangements made with the university presses of Oxford and Cambridge and was first published in 1895.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » The American Standard Version
According to the original agreement, the preferred readings and renderings of the American revisers, which their British counterparts had declined to accept, were published in an appendix to the Revised Version. In 1900 the American edition of the New Testament, which incorporated the American scholars’ preferences into the body of the text, was produced. A year later the Old Testament was added, but not the Apocrypha. The alterations covered a large number of obsolete words and expressions and replaced Anglicisms by the diction then in vogue in the United States.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » The Revised Standard Version
The American Standard Version had been an expression of sensitivity to the needs of the American public. At the same time, several individual and unofficial translations into modern speech made from 1885 on had gained popularity, their appeal reinforced by the discovery that the Greek of the New Testament used the common nonliterary variety of the language spoken throughout the Roman Empire when Christianity was in its formative stage. The notion that a nonliterary modern rendering of the New Testament best expressed the form and spirit of the original was hard to refute. This, plus a new maturity of classical, Hebraic, and theological scholarship in the United States, led to a desire to produce a native American version of the English Bible.

In 1928 the copyright of the American Standard Version was acquired by the International Council of Religious Education and thereby passed into the ownership of churches representing 40 major denominations in the United States and Canada. A two-year study by a special committee recommended a thorough revision, and in 1937 the council gave its authorization to the proposal. Not until 1946, however, did the revision of the New Testament appear in print, and another six years elapsed before the complete Revised Standard Version (RSV) was published, the work of 32 scholars, one of them Jewish, drawn from the faculties of 20 universities and theological seminaries. A decision to translate the Apocrypha was not made until 1952 and the revision appeared in 1957. Insofar as the RSV was the first to make use of the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, it was revolutionary.

The Revised Standard Version was essentially not a new translation into modern speech, but a revision. It did engage in a good deal of modernization, however. It dispensed with archaic pronouns, retaining “thou” only for the Deity. But its basic conservatism was displayed in the retention of forms or expressions in passages that have special devotional or literary associations even where this practice makes for inconsistency. The primary aim was to produce a version for use in private and public worship.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » Jewish versions
Though Jews in English-speaking lands generally utilized the King James Version and the Revised Version, the English versions have presented great difficulties. They contain departures from the traditional Hebrew text; they sometimes embody Christological interpretations; the headings were often doctrinally objectionable and the renderings in the legal portions of the Pentateuch frequently diverged from traditional Jewish exegesis. In addition, where the meaning of the original was obscure, Jewish readers preferred to use the well-known medieval Jewish commentators. Finally, the order of the Jewish canon differs from Christian practice and the liturgical needs of Jews make a version that does not mark the scriptural readings for Sabbaths and festivals inconvenient.

Until 1917 all Jewish translations were the efforts of individuals. Planned in 1892, the project of the Jewish Publication Society of America was the first translation for which a group representing Jewish learning among English-speaking Jews assumed joint responsibility.

This version essentially retained the Elizabethan diction. It stuck unswervingly to the received Hebrew text that it interpreted in accordance with Jewish tradition and the best scholarship of the day. For over half a century it remained authoritative, even though it laid no claim to any official ecclesiastical sanction.

With an increasingly felt need for modernization, a committee of translators was established composed of three professional biblical and Semitic scholars and three rabbis. It began its work in 1955 and the Pentateuch was issued in 1962. The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Jonah, all in a single volume for the convenience of synagogue use, followed in 1969; and Isaiah and Psalms appeared in 1973. A second committee had been set up in 1955 to work separately on the rest of the Hagiographa (Ketuvim).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » The New English Bible
The idea of a completely new translation into British English was first broached in 1946. Under a joint committee, representative of the major Protestant churches of the British Isles, with Roman Catholics appointed as observers, the New Testament was published in 1961 and a second edition appeared in 1970. The Old Testament and Apocrypha were also published in 1970.

The New English Bible proved to be an instant commercial success, selling at a rate of 33,000 copies a week in 1970. The translation differed from the English mainstream Bible in that it was not a revision but a completely fresh version from the original tongues. It abandoned the tradition of “biblical English” and, except for the retention of “thou” and “thy” in addressing God, freed itself of all archaisms. It endeavoured to render the original into the idiom of contemporary English and to avoid ephemeral modernisms.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » The King James and subsequent versions » Catholic versions
With the exception of a version by Irish-American archbishop Francis Patrick Kenrick (1849–60), all translations up to the 20th century were merely versions of the Douai–Reims Bible. A celebrated translation was that of Ronald Knox (New Testament, 1945; Old Testament, 1949; complete edition with Old Testament revised, 1955).

The most significant development in modern Catholic translations was initiated by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in 1936. A New Testament version of the Latin Clementine Vulgate (1941), intended as a revision, in effect was a new translation into clear and simple English. The Old Testament revision remained unfinished, the work having been interrupted by a decision inspired by the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1943 to encourage modern vernacular translations from the original languages instead of from the Latin Vulgate. Accordingly, both the Old and New Testaments were respectively retranslated into modern English from the Hebrew and Greek originals. The resultant Confraternity Version (1952–61) was later issued as the New American Bible (1970). Another modern version, more colloquial, is the Jerusalem Bible (1966), translated from the French Catholic Bible de Jérusalem (one-volume edition, 1961).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: Dutch, French, and German » Dutch versions
Until the Reformation, Dutch Bible translations were largely free adaptations, paraphrases, or rhymed verse renderings of single books or parts thereof. A popular religious revival at the end of the 12th century accelerated the demand for the vernacular Scriptures, and one of the earliest extant examples is the Liège manuscript (c. 1270) translation of the Diatessaron (a composite rendering of the four Gospels) by Tatian, a 2nd century Syrian Christian heretical scholar; it is believed to derive from a lost Old Latin original. Best known of all the rhymed versions is the Rijmbijbel of Jacob van Maerlant (1271) based on Peter Comestar’s Historia scholastica. Despite the poor quality of Johan Schutken’s translation of the New Testament and Psalms (1384), it became the most widely used of medieval Dutch versions.

With the Reformation came a renewed interest in the study of the Scriptures. Luther’s Bible (see German versions, below) was repeatedly rendered into Dutch, the most important version being that of Jacob van Liesveldt (1526). It was mainly to counter the popularity of this edition that Roman Catholics produced their own Dutch Bible, executed by Nicolaas van Winghe (Leuven, 1548). A revision printed by Jan Moerentorf (Moretus, 1599) became the standard version until it was superseded by that of the Peter Canisius Association (1929–39), now in general use. A fresh translation of the New Testament in modern Dutch appeared in 1961.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: Dutch, French, and German » French versions
The deep conflicts that characterized the history of Christianity in France made it difficult for one authoritative version to emerge.

The first complete Bible was produced in the 13th century at the University of Paris and toward the end of that century Guyart des Moulins executed his Bible Historiale. Both works served as the basis of future redactions of which the Bible printed in Paris (date given variously as 1487, 1496, 1498) by order of King Charles VIII, is a good example.

The real history of the French Bible began in Paris, in 1523, with the publication of the New Testament, almost certainly the work of the Reformer Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (Faber Stapulensis). The Old Testament appeared in Antwerp in 1528 and the two together in 1530 as the Antwerp Bible. The first true Protestant version came out in Serrières, near Neuchâtel, five years later, the work of Pierre Robert, called Olivétan. This version was frequently revised throughout the 16th century, the most celebrated editions being Calvin’s of 1546 and that of Robert Estienne (Stephanus) of 1553. The Roman Catholics produced a new version, the Louvain Bible of 1550, based on both Lefèvre and Olivétan. Modernizations of Olivétan appeared in succeeding centuries. The most important French version of the 20th century is the Jerusalem Bible prepared by professors at the Dominican École Biblique de Jérusalem (Paris, 1949–54, complete, 1956).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Later and modern versions: Dutch, French, and German » German versions
The early Old Testament in Gothic has already been described. The New Testament remains are far more extensive and are preserved mainly in the Codex Argenteus (c. 525) and Codex Gissensis. The translation, essentially based on a Byzantine text, is exceedingly literal and not homogeneous. It is difficult to determine the degree of contamination that the original Gospels translation of Ulfilas had undergone by the time it appeared in these codices.

Nothing is known of the vernacular Scriptures in Germany prior to the 8th century when an idiomatic translation of Matthew from Latin into the Bavarian dialect was made. From Fulda (in Germany) c. 830 came a more literal East Franconian German translation of the Gospel story. In the same period was produced the Heliand (“Saviour”), a versified version of the Gospels. Such poetic renderings cannot, strictly speaking, be regarded as translations. There is evidence, however, for the existence of German Psalters from the 9th century on. By the 13th century, the different sects and movements that characterized the religious situation in Germany had stimulated a demand for popular Bible reading. Since all the early printed Bibles derived from a single family of late 14th-century manuscripts, German translations must have gained wide popularity. Another impetus towards the use of the German Scriptures in this period can be traced to mystics of the Upper Rhine. A complete New Testament, the Augsburg Bible, can be dated to 1350, and another from Bohemia, Codex Teplensis (c. 1400), has also survived.

The Wenzel Bible, an Old Testament made between 1389 and 1400, is said to have been ordered by King Wenceslas, and large numbers of 15th-century manuscripts have been preserved.

The first printed Bible (the Mentel Bible) appeared at Strassburg no later than 1466 and ran through 18 editions before 1522. Despite some evidence that ecclesiastical authority did not entirely look with favour upon this vernacular development, the printed Bible appeared in Germany earlier, and in more editions and in greater quantity than anywhere else.

A new era opened up with the work of Martin Luther, to whom a translation from the original languages was a necessary and logical conclusion of his doctrine of justification by faith—to which the Scriptures provided the only true key. His New Testament (Wittenberg, 1522) was made from the second edition of Erasmus’ Greek Testament. The Old Testament followed in successive parts, based on the Brescia Hebrew Bible (1494). Luther’s knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic was limited, but his rendering shows much influence of Rashi, the great 11th–12th-century French rabbinical scholar and commentator, through the use of the notes of Nicholas of Lyra. The complete Lutheran Bible emerged from the press in 1534. Luther was constantly revising his work with the assistance of other scholars, and between 1534 and his death in 1546, 11 editions were printed, the last posthumously. His Bible truly fulfilled Luther’s objective of serving the needs of the common man, and it, in turn, formed the basis of the first translations in those lands to which Lutheranism spread. It proved to be a landmark in German prose literature and contributed greatly to the development of the modern language.

The phenomenal success of Luther’s Bible and the failure of attempts to repress it led to the creation of German Catholic versions, largely adaptations of Luther. Hieronymus Emser’s edition simply brought the latter into line with the Vulgate. Johann Dietenberger issued a revision of Emser (Mainz, 1534) and used Luther’s Old Testament in conjunction with an Anabaptist (radical Protestant group) version and the Zürich (Switzerland) version of 1529. It became the standard Catholic version. Of the 20th-century translations, the Grünewald Bible, which reached a seventh edition in 1956, is one of the most noteworthy.

German glosses in Hebrew script attached to Hebrew Bibles in the 12th and 13th centuries constitute the earliest Jewish attempts to render the Scriptures into that German dialect current among the Jews of middle Europe, the dialect that developed into Judeo-German, or Yiddish. The first translation proper has been partially preserved in a manuscript from Mantua dated 1421. The earliest printed translation is that of the Scriptural dictionaries prepared by a baptized Jew, Michael Adam (Constance, 1543–44; Basel, 1583, 1607). The version of Jacob ben Isaac Ashkenazi of Janów, known as the Tzʾenah u-Reʾna (Lublin, 1616), became one of the most popular and widely diffused works of its kind.

The first Jewish translation into pure High German, though in Hebrew characters (1780–83), made by Moses Mendelssohn, opened a new epoch in German-Jewish life. The first Jewish rendering of the entire Hebrew Bible in German characters was made by Gotthold Salomon (Altona, 1837). An attempt to preserve the quality of the Hebrew style in German garb was the joint translation of two Jewish religious philosophers, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig (15 vol., Berlin, 1925–37; revised ed. Cologne, 4 vol., 1954–62).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Greek, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese translations » Greek versions
A 13th-century manuscript of Jonah by a Jew is the earliest known post-Hellenistic Greek biblical work. A rendering of Psalms was published by a Cretan monk Agapiou in 1563. A version in Hebrew characters (a large part of the Old Testament) appeared in the Constantinople Polyglot Pentateuch in 1547.

The first New Testament was done by Maximus of Gallipoli in 1638 (at Geneva?). The British and Foreign Bible Society published the Old Testament in 1840 (London) and the New Testament in 1848 (Athens). Between 1900 and 1924, however, the use of a modern Greek version was prohibited. The theological faculty of the University of Athens is now preparing a fresh translation.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Greek, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese translations » Hungarian versions
The spread of Lutheranism in the Reformation period gave rise to several vernacular versions. János Sylvester (Erdősi) produced the first New Testament made from the Greek (Sárvár, 1541). The Turkish occupation of much of Hungary and the measures of the Counter-Reformation arrested further printing of the vernacular Bible, except in the semi-independent principality of Transylvania. The first complete Hungarian Bible, issued at Vizsoly in 1590, became the Protestant Church Bible.

In the 20th century, a new standard edition for Protestants was published, the New Testament appearing in 1956 and the Old Testament (Genesis to Job) in 1951 and following. A new modernized Catholic edition of the New Testament from the Greek appeared in Rome in 1957.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Greek, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese translations » Italian versions
The vernacular Scriptures made a relatively late appearance in Italy. Existing manuscripts of individual books derive from the 13th century and mainly consist of the Gospels and the Psalms.

These medieval versions were never made from the original languages. They were influenced by French and Provençal renderings as well as by the form of the Latin Vulgate current in the 12th and 13th centuries in southern France. There is evidence for a Jewish translation made directly from the Hebrew as early as the 13th century.

The first printed Italian Bible appeared in Venice in 1471, translated from the Latin Vulgate by Niccolò Malermi. In 1559 Paul IV proscribed all printing and reading of the vernacular Scriptures except by permission of the church. This move, reaffirmed by Pius IV in 1564, effectively stopped further Catholic translation work for the next 200 years.

The first Protestant Bible (Geneva, 1607, revised 1641) was the work of Giovanni Diodati, a Hebrew and Greek scholar. Frequently reprinted, it became the standard Protestant version until the 20th century. Catholic activity was renewed after a modification of the ban by Pope Benedict XIV in 1757. A complete Bible in translation made directly from the Hebrew and Greek has been in progress under the sponsorship of the Pontifical Biblical Institute since the 1920s.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Greek, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese translations » Portuguese versions
The first Portuguese New Testament (Amsterdam), the work of João Ferreira d’Almeida, did not appear until 1681. The first complete Bible (2 vol., 1748–53) was printed in Batavia (in Holland). Not until late in the 18th century did the first locally published vernacular Scriptures appear in Portugal. A revision of d’Almeida was issued in Rio de Janeiro (in Brazil), the New Testament in 1910 and the complete Bible in 1914 and 1926; an authorized edition in modernized orthography was published by the Bible Society of Brazil (New Testament, 1951; Old Testament, 1958). A new translation of the New Testament from Greek by José Falcão came out in Lisbon (1956–65).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, and Swiss translations » Scandinavian versions
In pre-Reformation times, only partial translations were made, all on the basis of the Latin Vulgate and all somewhat free. The earliest and most celebrated is that of Genesis–Kings in the so-called Stjórn (“Guidance”; i.e., of God) manuscript in the Old Norwegian language, probably to be dated about 1300. Swedish versions of the Pentateuch and of Acts have survived from the 14th century and a manuscript of Joshua–Judges by Nicholaus Ragnvaldi of Vadstena from c. 1500. The oldest Danish version covering Genesis–Kings derives from 1470.

Within two years of publication, Luther’s New Testament had already influenced a Danish translation made at the request of the exiled king Christian II by Christiern Vinter and Hans Mikkelsen (Wittenberg, 1524). In 1550 Denmark received a complete Bible commissioned by royal command (the Christian III Bible, Copenhagen). A revision appeared in 1589 (the Frederick II Bible) and another in 1633 (the Christian IV Bible).

A rendering by Hans Paulsen Resen (1605–07) was distinguished by its accuracy and learning and was the first made directly from Hebrew and Greek, but its style was not felicitous and a revision was undertaken by Hans Svane (1647). Nearly 200 years later (1819), a combination of the Svaning Old Testament and the Resen–Svane New Testament was published. In 1931 a royal commission produced a new translation of the Old Testament with the New Testament following in 1948 and the Apocrypha in 1957.

The separation of Norway from Denmark in 1814 stimulated the revival of literature in the native language. The Old Testament of 1842–87 (revised, 1891) and New Testament of 1870–1904 were still intelligible to Danish readers, but the version of E. Blix (New Testament, 1889; complete Bible, 1921) is in New Norwegian. A revised Bible in this standardized form of the language, executed by R. Indrebö, was published by the Norwegian Bible Society in 1938.

The first Icelandic New Testament was the work of Oddur Gottskálksson (Roskilde, Denmark, 1540), based on the Latin Vulgate and Luther. It was not until 1584 that the complete Icelandic Scriptures were printed (at Hólar), mainly executed by Gudbrandur Thorláksson. It was very successful and became the Church Bible until displaced by the revision of Thorlákur Skúlason (1627–55), based apparently on Resen’s Danish translation. In 1827 the Icelandic Bible Society published a new New Testament and a complete Bible in 1841 (Videyjar; 1859, Reykjavík), revised and reprinted at Oxford in 1866. A completely new edition (Reykjavík, 1912) became the official Church Bible.

Soon after Sweden achieved independence from Denmark in the early 16th century, it acquired its own version of the New Testament published by the royal press (Stockholm, 1526). Luther’s New Testament of 1522 served as its foundation, but the Latin Vulgate and Erasmus’ Greek were also consulted. The first official complete Bible and the first such in any Scandinavian country was the Gustav Vasa Bible (Uppsala; 1541), named for the Swedish king under whose reign it was printed. It utilized earlier Swedish translations as well as Luther’s. A corrected version (the Gustavus Adolphus Bible, named for the reigning Swedish king) was issued in 1618, and another with minor alterations by Eric Benzelius in 1703. The altered Bible was called the Charles XII Bible, because it was printed during the reign of Charles XII. In 1917 the church diet of the Lutheran Church published a completely fresh translation directly from modern critical editions of the Hebrew and Greek originals and it received the authorization of Gustaf V to become the Swedish Church Bible.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, and Swiss translations » Slavic versions
The earliest Old Church Slavonic translations are connected with the arrival of the brothers Cyril and Methodius in Moravia in 863, and resulted from the desire to provide vernacular renderings of those parts of the Bible used liturgically. The oldest manuscripts derive from the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest complete Bible manuscript, dated 1499, was used for the first printed edition (Ostrog, 1581). This was revised in Moscow in 1633 and again in 1712. The standard Slavonic edition is the St. Petersburg revision of 1751, known as the Bible of Elizabeth.

The printing of parts of the Bulgarian Bible did not begin until the mid-19th century. A fresh vernacular version of the whole Bible was published at Sofia in 1925, having been commissioned by the Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The Serbian and Croatian literary languages are identical; they differ only in the alphabet they use. To further the dissemination of Protestantism among the southern Slavs, Count Jan Ungnad set up a press in 1560 at Urach that issued a translation of the New Testament, in both Glagolitic (1562–63) and Cyrillic (1563) characters. The efforts of the Serbian leader Vuk Karadžić to establish the Serbo-Croatian vernacular on a literary basis resulted in a new translation of the New Testament (Vienna, 1847) that went through many revisions.

The spread of the Lutheran Reformation to the Slovene-speaking provinces of Austria stimulated the need for vernacular translations. The first complete Slovene Bible, translated from the original languages but with close reference to Luther’s German, was made by Jurij Dalmatin (Wittenberg, 1584). Not until two centuries later did a Slovene Roman Catholic version, rendered from the Latin Vulgate, appear (Laibach, 1784–1802).

Between the 9th and 17th centuries the literary and ecclesiastical language of Russia was Old Slavonic. A vernacular Scriptures was thus late in developing. An incomplete translation into the Belorussian dialect was prepared by Franciscus Skorina (Prague, 1517–19) from the Latin Vulgate and Slavonic and Bohemian versions, but not until 1821 did the first New Testament appear in Russian, an official version printed together with the Slavonic. With the more liberal rule of Alexander II, the Holy Synod sponsored a fresh version of the Gospels in 1860. The Old Testament was issued at St. Petersburg in 1875. A Jewish rendering was undertaken by Leon Mandelstamm, who published the Pentateuch in 1862 (2nd ed., 1871) and the Psalter in 1864. Prohibited in Russia, it was first printed in Berlin. A complete Bible was published in Washington in 1952.

No manuscript in the Czech vernacular translation is known to predate the 14th century, but at least 50 complete or fragmentary Bibles have survived from the 15th. The first complete Bible was published in Prague in 1488 in a text based on earlier, unknown translations connected with the heretical Hussite movement. The most important production of the century, however, was that associated principally with Jan Blahoslav. Based on the original languages, it appeared at Kralice in six volumes (1579–93). The Kralice Bible is regarded as the finest extant specimen of classical Czech and became the standard Protestant version.

Closely allied to the Czech language, but not identical with it, Slovakian became a literary language only in the 18th century. A Roman Catholic Bible made from the Latin Vulgate by Jiři Palkovic̆ was printed in the Gothic script (2 vol. Gran, 1829, 1832) and another, associated with Richard Osvald, appeared at Trnava in 1928. A Protestant New Testament version of Josef Rohac̆ek was published at Budapest in 1913 and his completed Bible at Prague in 1936. A new Slovakian version by Stefan Žlatoš and Anton Jan Surjanský was issued at Trnava in 1946.

A manuscript of a late 14th-century Psalter is the earliest extant example of the Polish vernacular Scriptures, and several books of the Old Testament have survived from the translation made from the Czech version for Queen Sofia (Sárospatak Bible, 1455). Otherwise, post-Reformation Poland supplied the stimulus for biblical scholarship. The New Testament first appeared in a two-volume rendering from the Greek by the Lutheran Jan Seklucjan (Königsberg, 1553). The “Brest Bible” of 1563, sponsored by Prince Radziwiłł, was a Protestant production made from the original languages. A version of this edition for the use of Socinians (Unitarians) was prepared by the Hebraist Szymon Budny (Nieswicz, 1570–82), and another revision, primarily executed by Daniel Mikołajewski and Jan Turnowski (the “Danzig Bible”) in 1632, became the official version of all Evangelical churches in Poland. This edition was burnt by the Catholics and had to be subsequently printed in Germany. The standard Roman Catholic version (1593, 1599) was prepared by Jakób Wujek whose work, revised by the Jesuits, received the approval of the Synod of Piotrkow in 1607. A revised edition was put out in 1935.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, and Swiss translations » Spanish versions
The history of the Spanish Scriptures is unusual in that many of the translations were based, not on the Latin Vulgate, but on the Hebrew, a phenomenon that is to be attributed to the unusual role played by Jews in the vernacular movement.

Nothing is known from earlier than the 13th century when James I of Aragon in 1233 proscribed the possession of the Bible in “romance” (the Spanish vernacular) and ordered such to be burnt. Several partial Old Testament translations by Jews as well as a New Testament from a Visigoth Latin text are known from this century. In 1417 the whole Bible was translated into Valencian Catalan, but the entire edition was destroyed by the Inquisition.

Between 1479 and 1504, royal enactments outlawed the vernacular Bible in Castile, Leon, and Aragon, and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 transferred the centre of Spanish translation activity to other lands. In 1557, the first printed Index of Forbidden Books of the Spanish Inquisition prohibited the “Bible in Castilian romance or any other vulgar tongue,” a ban that was repeated in 1559 and remained in force until the 18th century. In 1916 the Hispano-Americana New Testament appeared in Madrid as an attempt to achieve a common translation for the entire Spanish-speaking world. The first Roman Catholic vernacular Bible from the original languages was made under the direction of the Pontifical University of Salamanca (Madrid, 1944, 9th ed. 1959).

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, and Swiss translations » Swiss versions
Four parts of Luther’s version were reprinted in the Swyzerdeutsch dialect in Zürich in 1524–25. The Prophets and Apocrypha appeared in 1529. A year later, the first Swiss Bible was issued with the Prophets and Apocrypha independently translated. The Swiss Bible underwent frequent revision between 1660 and 1882. A fresh translation from the original languages was made between 1907 and 1931.

Old Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Non-European versions
Translations of parts of the Bible are known to have existed in only seven Asian and four African languages before the 15th century. In the 17th century Dutch merchants began to interest themselves in the missionary enterprise among non-Europeans. A pioneer was Albert Cornelius Ruyl, who is credited with having translated Matthew into High Malay in 1629, with Mark following later. Jan van Hasel translated the two other Gospels in 1646 and added Psalms and Acts in 1652. Other traders began translations into Formosan Chinese (1661) and Sinhalese (1739).

A complete printed Japanese New Testament reputedly existed in Miyako in 1613, the work of Jesuits. The first known printed New Testament in Asia appeared in 1715 in the Tamil language done by Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, a Lutheran missionary. A complete Bible followed in 1727. Six years later the first Bible in High Malay came out.

The distinction of having produced the first New Testament in any language of the Americas belongs to John Eliot, a Puritan missionary, who made it accessible to the Massachusetts Indians in 1661. Two years later he brought out the Massachusetts Indian Bible, the first Bible to be printed on the American continent.

By 1800 the number of non-European versions did not exceed 13 Asian, four African, three American, and one Oceanian. With the founding of missionary societies after 1800, however, new translations were viewed as essential to the evangelical effort. First came renderings in those languages that already possessed a written literature. A group at Serāmpore (in India) headed by William Carey, a Baptist missionary, produced 28 versions in Indian languages. Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China, translated the New Testament into Chinese in 1814 and completed the Bible by 1823. Adoniram Judson, an American missionary, rendered the Bible into Burmese in 1834.

With European exploration of the African continent often came the need to invent an alphabet, and in many instances the translated Scriptures constituted the first piece of written literature. In the 19th century the Bible was translated into Amharic, Malagasy, Tswana, Xosa, and Ga.

In the Americas, James Evans invented a syllabary for the use of Cree Indians, in whose language the Bible was available in 1862, the work of W. Mason, also a Wesleyan missionary. The New Testament appeared in Ojibwa in 1833, and the whole Bible was translated for the Dakota Indians in 1879. The Labrador Eskimos had a New Testament in 1826 and a complete Bible in 1871.

In Oceania, the New Testament was rendered into Tahitian and Javanese in 1829 and into Hawaiian and Low Malay in 1835. By 1854 the whole Bible had appeared in all but the last of these languages as well as in Rarotonga (1851).

In the 20th century the trend toward the development of non-European Bible translations was characterized by an attempt to produce “union” or “standard” versions in the common language underlying different dialects. One such is the Swahili translation (1950) that makes the Scriptures accessible to most of East Africa. Within the realm of non-European translation there has also been a movement for the updating of versions to bring them in line with the spoken language, especially through the use of native Christian scholars. The first example of this was the colloquial Japanese version of 1955.

By 1970 some part, if not the entire Bible, had been translated into more than 100 languages or dialects spoken in India and over 300 in Africa.

Nahum M. Sarna


 

Old Testament history

History is a central element of the Old Testament. It is the subject of narration in the specifically historical books and of celebration, commemoration, and remonstration in all of the books. History in the Old Testament is not history in the modern sense; it is the story of events seen as revealing the divine presence and power. Nevertheless, it is the account of an actual people in an actual geographical area at certain specified historical times and in contact with other particular peoples and empires known from other sources. Hence, far more than with other great religious scriptures, a knowledge of the historical background is conducive, if not essential, to an adequate understanding of a major portion of the Old Testament. Recent archaeological discoveries as well as comparative historical research and philological studies, collated with an analysis and interpretation of the Old Testament text (still the major source of information), have made possible a fuller and more reliable picture of biblical history than in previous eras. For another presentation of Old Testament history, see Judaism.

Old Testament history » Early developments » Background and beginnings
The geographical theatre of the Old Testament is the ancient Near East, particularly the Fertile Crescent region, running from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers up to Syria and down through Palestine to the Nile Delta. In this area great civilizations and empires developed and seminomadic ethnic groups, such as the Hebrews, were involved in the mixture of peoples and cultures. The exact origin of the Hebrews is not known with certainty, but the biblical tradition of their origin in a clan that migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan (Palestine) early in the 2nd millennium bce has analogues in what is known of the movements of other groups in that area and period. There are, moreover, obvious Mesopotamian motifs in biblical cosmogony and primeval history in the early part of the Bible, and Mesopotamian place-names are the obvious bases of some of the personal names of the clan’s forebears. Canaanite influences are evident in the Hebrew alphabet, poetry, and certain mythological themes. Linguistic and other similarities with neighbouring Semitic peoples, such as the Amorites and Moabites, are also evident.

Old Testament history » Early developments » Exodus and conquest
According to biblical tradition, the clan migrated to Egypt because of a famine in the land of Canaan, were later enslaved and oppressed, and finally escaped from Egypt to the desert east of the Isthmus of Suez under a remarkable leader, Moses. The account—a proclamation, celebration, and commemoration of the event—is replete with legendary elements, but present-day scholars tend to believe that behind the legends there is a solid core of fact; namely, that Hebrew slaves who built the fortified cities of Pithom and Rameses somehow fled from Egypt, probably in the 13th century bce, under a great leader (see also Moses). A stele (inscribed stone pillar) of the pharaoh Merneptah of that time in which he claims to have destroyed Israel is the first known nonbiblical reference to the people by name. Whether the destruction was in the intervening desert or in Canaan (and whether a true or a false claim) is not clear. The tradition ascribes to Moses the basic features of Israel’s faith: a single God, called YHWH, who cannot be represented iconically, bound in a covenant relationship with his special people Israel, to whom he has promised possession of (not, as with their forefathers, mere residence in) the land of Canaan. There is some dispute among scholars as to when such features as the Mosaic Covenant actually emerged and as to which of the traditional 12 tribes of Israel entered Canaan at the end of the period of wandering in the desert.

The biblical account of the conquest of Canaan is again, from the point of view of historical scholarship, full of legendary elements that express and commemorate the elation and wonder of the Israelites at these events. The conquest of Canaan—according to tradition, a united national undertaking led by Moses’ successor, Joshua—was a rather drawn out and complicated matter. Archaeological evidence tends to refute some of the elements of the biblical account, confirm others, and leave some open. According to the tradition, after an initial unified assault that broke the main Canaanite resistance, the tribes engaged in individual mopping-up operations. Scholars believe that Hebrews who had remained resident in Canaan joined forces with the invading tribes, that the other Canaanite groups continued to exist, and that many of them later were assimilated by the Israelites.

Old Testament history » Early developments » The tribal league
The invading tribes who became masters of parts of Canaan, although effectively autonomous and lacking a central authority, considered themselves a league of 12 tribes, although the number 12 seems to have been more canonical or symbolical than historical. Some scholars, on the analogy of Greek leagues of six or 12 tribes or cities with a common sanctuary, speak of the Israelite league as an “amphictyony,” the Greek term for such an association; but others hold that there is no evidence that the Israelites maintained a common shrine. Certain leaders arose, called judges, who might rule over several tribes, but this arrangement was usually of a local or regional character. However, the stories about such “judges” (who were frequently local champions or heroes, such as Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson), though encrusted with legend, are now thought to be substantially historical. The period from about 1200 to 1020 is called, after them, the period of the judges. It was during this period that Israelite assimilation of Canaanite cultural and religious ideas and practices began to be an acute problem and that other invaders and settlers became a threat to the security of Israel. One of the chief threats was from the Philistines, an Aegean people who settled (c. 12th century bce) on the coast of what later came to be called, after them, Palestine. Organized in a league of five cities, or principalities, the Philistines, who possessed a monopoly of iron implements and weapons, pushed eastward into the Canaanite hinterland and subjugated Israelite tribes, such as the Judahites and Danites, that stood in their way, even capturing the sacred ark from the famous shrine of Shiloh when it was brought into battle against them. The Philistine threat was probably the decisive factor in the emergence of a permanent political (but at first primarily military) union of all Israel under a king—what historians call the united monarchy (or kingdom).

Old Testament history » Early developments » The united monarchy
The monarchy was initiated during the career of Samuel, a prophet of great influence and authority who was also recognized as a judge and is depicted in varying biblical accounts as either favouring or not favouring the reign of a human king over Israel. In any case, he anointed Saul, a courageous military leader of the tribe of Benjamin, as king (c. 1020 bce). Saul won substantial victories over the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites, leading the tribes in a “holy war,” and for a time the Philistine advance was stopped; but Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in a disastrous battle with the Philistines in central Palestine. His successor, David, a former aide (and also his son-in-law) who had fallen out of favour with him, at first took over (c. 1010) the rule of Judah in the south and then of all Israel (c. 1000). Through his military and administrative abilities and his political acumen, David established a centralized rule in Israel, cleared the territory of foreign invaders, and, in the absence of any aggressive foreign empire in the area, created his own petty empire over neighbouring city-states and peoples. He established his capital in Jerusalem, which until then had maintained its independence as a Canaanite city-state wedged between the territories of Saul’s tribe Benjamin and David’s tribe Judah, and moved the ark there from the small Israelite town in which it had been stored by the Philistines, establishing it in a tent shrine. This felicitous combination of holy ark, political reign, and central city was to be hailed and proclaimed by future ages. Under David’s successor, his son Solomon (reigned c. 961–922), Israel became a thriving commercial power; numerous impressive buildings were erected, including the magnificent Temple (a concrete symbol of the religiopolitical unity of Israel); a large harem of foreign princesses was acquired, sealing relations with other states; the country was divided into 12 districts for administrative, supply, and taxation purposes. Foreign cults set up to serve the King’s foreign wives and foreign traders led to charges of idolatry and apostasy by religious conservatives. In the latter years of his reign, Solomon’s unpopular policies, such as oppressive forced labour, led to internal discontent and rebellion, while externally the vassal nations of Damascus (Aram) and Edom staged successful revolts against his rule. The central and northern tribes, called Israel in the restricted sense, were especially galled by the oppressive policies, and soon after Solomon’s death Israel split off to become a separate kingdom. The united monarchy thus became the divided monarchy of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom).

Old Testament history » From the period of the divided monarchy through the restoration » The divided monarchy: from Jeroboam I to the Assyrian conquest
Jeroboam I, the first king of the new state of Israel, made his capital first at Shechem, then at Tirzah. Recognizing the need for religious independence from Jerusalem, he set up official sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel, at the two ends of his realm, installing in them golden calves (or bulls), for which he is castigated in the anti-northern account in the First Book of the Kings. Israel engaged in conflicts with Judah and, sometimes jointly with Judah, against foreign powers. At first there was great dynastic instability in the northern kingdom, until the accession of Omri (reigned c. 884–c. 872), one of its greatest kings, who founded a dynasty that lasted through the reign of his two grandsons (to 842). Under Omri an impressive building program was initiated at the capital, Moab was subjugated (an event confirmed in an extrabiblical source, the Moabite Stone), and amicable relations were established with Judah. The Phoenician kingdom of Tyre was made an ally through the marriage of his son Ahab to the Tyrian princess Jezebel. Ahab (reigned c. 874–853 bce)—unless the episode recounted in I Kings, chapter 20, actually took place four reigns later—fought off an attempt by Damascus, heading a coalition of kings, to take over Israel. Near the end of his reign, Ahab joined with Damascus and other neighbouring states to fight off the incursions of the great Assyrian Empire in their area. Peaceful relations were cemented with Judah through the marriage of Ahab’s daughter (or sister) Athaliah to Jehoram, the son of the king of Judah (not to be confused with Ahab’s son, Jehoram of Israel). But the establishment of a pagan Baal temple for Jezebel and her attempt to spread her cult aroused great opposition on the part of the zealous Yahwists among the common people. There was also resentment at the despotic Oriental manner of rule that Ahab, incited by Jezebel, exercised. She and her cult were challenged by Elijah, a prophet whose fierce and righteous character and acts, as illumined by legend, are dramatically depicted in the First Book of the Kings. In the reign of Ahab’s son Jehoram, Elijah’s disciple Elisha inspired the slaughter of Jezebel and the whole royal family, as well as of all the worshippers of Baal, thus putting a stop to the Baalist threat. Jehu, Jehoram’s general who led this massacre, became king and established a dynasty that lasted almost a century (c. 842–745), the longest in the history of Israel.

Meanwhile, in Judah, the Baal cult introduced by Athaliah, the queen mother and effective ruler for a time, was suppressed after a revolt, led by the chief priests, in which Athaliah was killed and her grandson Joash (Jehoash) was made king. In the ensuing period, down to the final fall of the northern kingdom, Judah and Israel had varying relations of conflict and amity and were involved in the alternative expansion and loss of power in their relations with neighbouring states. Damascus was the main immediate enemy, which annexed much of Israel’s territory, exercised suzerainty over the rest, and exacted a heavy tribute from Judah. Under Jeroboam II (783–741) in Israel and Uzziah (Azariah; 783–742) in Judah, both of whom had long reigns at the same time, the two kingdoms cooperated to achieve a period of prosperity, tranquillity, and imperial sway unequalled since Solomon’s reign. The threat of the rising Assyrian Empire under Tiglath-Pileser III soon reversed this situation. When a coalition of anti-Assyrian states, including Israel, marched against Judah to force its participation, the Judahite king Ahaz (c. 735–720) called on Assyria for protection; the result was the defeat of Israel, which suffered heavily in captives, money tribute, and lost provinces, while Judah became a vassal state of Assyria. In about 721, after an abortive revolt under King Hoshea, the rump state of Israel was annexed outright by Assyria and became an Assyrian province; its elite cadre, amounting to nearly 30,000 according to Assyrian figures, was deported to Mesopotamia and Media, and settlers were imported from other lands. Thus, the northern kingdom of Israel ceased to exist. Its decline and fall were a major theme in the prophecies of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah.

Old Testament history » From the period of the divided monarchy through the restoration » The final period of the kingdom of Judah
Meanwhile, the southern kingdom of Judah was to have another century and a half of existence before a similar and even grimmer fate befell it. Hezekiah (reigned c. 715–c. 686), who instituted a religious reform to return worship to a pure Yahwist form, also displayed political independence, joining a coalition of Palestinian states against Assyria. But the coalition was soon defeated, and Judah—with Jerusalem besieged—bought off the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib, with tribute. In the reign of Manasseh (c. 686–c. 642) there was a revival of pagan rites, including astral cults in the very forecourts of the temple of YHWH, child sacrifice, and temple prostitution; hence, he is usually portrayed as the most wicked of the kings of Judah. If he had any tendencies toward independence from Assyrian domination, they apparently were suppressed by his being taken in chains to Babylon, where he was molded into proper vassal behaviour, although one edifying and probably unhistorical biblical account reports his repentance and attempt at religious reform after his return to Judah. The great religious reform took place in the reign of his grandson Josiah (640–609) during a period when the Assyrian Empire was in decline and was precipitated by the discovery of the Book of the Law during the restoration of the Temple. It was proclaimed by the king to be the Law of the realm, and the people pledged obedience to it. In accordance with its admonitions, the pagan altars and idols in the Temple were removed, rural sanctuaries (“high places”) all the way into Samaria were destroyed, and the Jerusalem Temple was made the sole official place of worship. (For an identification of the law book with the legal portion of Deuteronomy, see below Old Testament literature: Deuteronomy.) Josiah also made an attempt at political independence and expansion but was defeated and killed in a battle with the Egyptians, the new allies of the fading Assyrian Empire. During the reigns of his sons Jehoiakim (c. 609–598) and Zedekiah (597–586), Judah’s independence was gradually extinguished by the might of the new dominant Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadrezzar. The end came in 586 with the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the principal buildings, including the Temple and the fortifications. The first deportation of Judahites to Babylon, during the brief reign of Josiah’s grandson Jehoiachin in 597, was followed by the great deportation of 586, which was to be a theme of lament and remembrance for millennia to come. (Numerous Jews also migrated to Egypt during this troubled time.) Exhortations and prophecies on the decline and fall of Judah are to be found in Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah (who played a significant role in the events), while the conditions and meaning of the exile are proclaimed by Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55 of Isaiah).

Old Testament history » From the period of the divided monarchy through the restoration » The Babylonian Exile and the restoration
The Babylonian Exile (586–538) marks an epochal dividing point in Old Testament history, standing between what were subsequently to be designated the pre-exilic and post-exilic eras. The Judahite community in Babylonia was, on the whole, more Yahwist in religion than ever, following the Mosaic Law, emphasizing and redefining such distinctive elements as circumcision and the sabbath and stressing personal and congregational prayer—the beginnings of synagogal worship. It is possible that they also reached an understanding of historical events (like that taught by the great pre-exilic and exilic prophets)—as the chastening acts of a universal God acting in history through Nebuchadrezzar and other conquerors. To this period is also ascribed the beginning of the compilation of significant portions of the Old Testament and of the organizing view behind it. In any event, it was from this community that the leadership and the cadres for the resurrection of the Judahite nation and faith were to come when Cyrus the Great (labelled “the Lord’s anointed” in Deutero-Isaiah) conquered Babylon and made it possible for them to return (538). A contingent of about 50,000 persons, including about 4,000 priests and 7,000 slaves, returned under Sheshbazzar, a prince of Judah.

The first great aim was the rebuilding of the Temple as the centre of worship and thus also of national existence; this was completed in 515 under the administration of Zerubbabel and became the place of uninterrupted sacrificial worship for the next 350 years. The next task was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which was undertaken by Nehemiah, a Babylonian Jew and court butler who was appointed governor of Judah and arrived in 444. Nehemiah also began religious reforms, emphasizing tithing, observance of the sabbath, and the prohibition against intermarriage with “foreign” women. This reform was carried through systematically and zealously by Ezra, a priest and scribe who came from Babylon about 400 bce, called the people together, and read them the “book of the law of Moses” to bring them back to the strict and proper observance maintained in Babylon: circumcision, sabbath observance, keeping the feasts, and, to seal it all, avoiding intermarriage. (In this presentation, modern critical scholarship is being followed, placing Nehemiah before Ezra instead of the traditional sequence, which reverses the positions.) Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are the prophets of this restoration period. Ezra and Nehemiah are its narrators.

It was in this period that enmity between the Jews, or Judaeans, as they came to be called, and the Samaritans, a term applied to the inhabitants of the former northern kingdom (Israel), was exacerbated. It has been surmised that this goes back to the old political rivalry between Israel and Judah or even further back to the conflict between the tribes of Joseph and Judah. Scholars ascribe the exacerbation of enmity in the restoration period variously to the Samaritans’ being excluded from participating in the rebuilding of the Temple; to Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (regarded as a threatening act by the Samaritan authorities); or to the proscriptions of intermarriage by Ezra. The animus of the Jews against the Samaritans is frequently expressed in the biblical books dealing with the restoration (expressions perhaps engendered by later events), but the attitude of the Samaritans and a good deal else about them is not evident. At some time they became a distinct religious community, with a temple of their own on Mt. Gerizim and a Scripture that was limited solely to the Pentateuch, excluding the Prophets and Writings.

Old Testament history proper ends with the events described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The books of Chronicles give all the preceding history, from Adam to the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem and the exile. The last two verses of the Second Book of the Chronicles are repeated in the first two verses of Ezra: God inspires Cyrus to send the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. The Persian period of Jewish history ended with the conquest of Alexander the Great in 323 bce to begin the Hellenistic era, in which some of the biblical (including apocryphal or deuterocanonical) writings were created (for Hellenistic Judaism, see Judaism).

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Composition and authorship
The Torah, or Pentateuch (Five Scrolls), traditionally the most revered portion of the Hebrew canon, comprises a series of narratives, interspersed with law codes, providing an account of events from the beginning of the world to the death of Moses. Modern critical scholarship tends to hold that there were originally four books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers) resulting from the division into manageable scrolls—a so-called Tetrateuch—to which later was added a fifth scroll, or book, Deuteronomy. A theory, once widely held, that the Book of Joshua was originally integral with the first five books to form a Hexateuch (Six Scrolls) is now generally regarded as dubious.

The traditional Jewish and Christian view has been that Moses was the author of the five books, that “of Moses” means “by Moses,” citing in support passages in the Pentateuch itself that claim Mosaic authorship. Since these claims, however, are written in the third person, the question still arises as to the authorship of the passages; e.g., in Deuteronomy, chapter 31, verse 9: “And Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests . . . and to all the elders of Israel.” The last eight verses of Deuteronomy (and of the Pentateuch), describing Moses’ death, were a problem even to the rabbis of the 2nd century ce, who held that “this law” in the verse quoted refers to the whole Torah preceding it. There are also other passages that seem to be written from the viewpoint of a much later period than the events they narrate.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Composition and authorship » The documentary hypothesis
Beyond these obvious discrepancies, modern literary analysis and criticism of the texts has pointed up significant differences in style, vocabulary, and content, apparently indicating a variety of original sources for the first four books, as well as an independent origin for Deuteronomy. According to this view, the Tetrateuch is a redaction primarily of three documents: the Yahwist, or J (after the German spelling of Yahweh); the Elohist, or E; and the Priestly code, or P. They refer, respectively, to passages in which the Hebrew personal name for God, YHWH (commonly transcribed “Yahweh”), is predominantly used, those in which the Hebrew generic term for God, Elohim, is predominantly used, and those (also Elohist) in which the priestly style or interest is predominant. According to this hypothesis, these documents—along with Deuteronomy (labelled D)—constituted the original sources of the Pentateuch. On the basis of internal evidence, it has been inferred that J and E are the oldest sources (perhaps going as far back as the 10th century bce), probably in that order, and D and P the more recent ones (to about the 5th century bce). Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers are considered compilations of J, E, and P, with Leviticus assigned to P and Deuteronomy to D.

The Yahwist, or J, is the master of narrative in biblical literature, who sketches people by means of stories. He takes his materials wherever he finds them, and if some are crude he does not care, as long as they make a good story. The book of Genesis, for example, contains the story of Abraham’s passing off his wife as his sister, so if the king took her as a concubine he would honour her supposed brother instead of having her husband killed, a story told by J without any moralistic homily. Not given to subtle theological speculations, J nearly always refers to the Deity as YHWH, by his specifically Israelite personal name (usually rendered “the Lord” in English translations), though he is not hidebound and also employs the term Elohim (“God”), especially when non-Hebrews are speaking or being addressed. He presents God as one who acts and speaks like human persons, a being with whom they have direct intercourse. The Yahwist, however, has one very definite theological (or theo-political) preoccupation: to establish Israel’s divinely bestowed right to the land of Canaan.

More reflective and theological in the apologetic sense is the Elohist, or E. No fragment of E on the primeval history (presented in the first 11 chapters of Genesis) has been preserved, and it is probable that none ever existed but that the Elohist began his account with the patriarchs (presented in the remainder of Genesis, in which the J and E strands are combined). The first passage that can be assigned to E with reasonable certainty is chapter 20 of Genesis, which parallels the two J variants of the “She is my sister” story noted above. Unlike these, it tries to mitigate the offensiveness of the subterfuge: though the patriarch did endanger the honour of his wife to save his life, his statement was not untrue but merely (deliberately) misleading. The Elohist is also distinct from the Yahwist in generally avoiding the presentation of God as being like a human person and treating him instead as a more remote, less directly accessible being. Significantly, E avoids using the term YHWH throughout Genesis (with one apparent exception), and it is only after telling how God revealed his proper name to Moses, in chapter 3 of Exodus, that he refers to God as YHWH regularly, though not exclusively. This account (paralleled in the P strand in chapter 6 of Exodus) is apparently based on a historical recollection of Moses’ paramount role in establishing the religion of YHWH among the Israelites (the former Hebrew slaves). Also noteworthy is E’s choice of the term prophet for Abraham and his characterization of a prophet as one who is an effective intercessor with God on behalf of others. This is in line with his speculations on the unique character of Moses as the great intercessor as compared with other prophets (and also with Joshua as Moses’ attendant).

It is inferred from certain internal evidence that E was produced in the northern kingdom (Israel) in the 8th century bce and was later combined with J. Because it is not always possible or important to separate J from E, the two together are commonly referred to as JE.

The third major document of the Tetrateuch, the Priestly code, or P, is very different from the other two. Its narrative is frequently interrupted by detailed ritual instructions, by bodies of standing laws of a ritual character, and by dry and exhaustive genealogical lists of the generations. According to one theory, the main author of P seems to have worked in the 7th century and to have been the editor who combined the J and E narratives; for his own part, he is content to add some brief, drab records—with frequent dates—of births, marriages, and migrations. The P material is to be found not merely in Leviticus but throughout the Tetrateuch, including the early chapters of Genesis and one of the creation accounts and ranging from the primeval history (Adam to Noah) to the Mosaic era. Like the Elohist, P uses the term Elohim for God until the self-naming of God to Moses (Exodus, chapter 3, in the P strand) and shows a non-anthropomorphic transcendent stress.

The Deuteronomist, or D, has a distinctive hortatory style and vocabulary, calling for Israel’s conformity with YHWH’s covenant laws and stressing his election of Israel as his special people (for a detailed consideration of D, see below Deuteronomy: Introductory discourse). To the Deuteronomist or the Deuteronomic school is also attributed the authorship of the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings), which scholars call the “Deuteronomic history.”

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Composition and authorship » Other Pentateuchal theories
This documentary theory of the composition of the Pentateuch has been challenged by eminent 20th-century scholars who have offered alternative or additional methods of analysis and interpretation. Form criticism, for example, has stressed particular literary forms and the historical setting out of which they arose: the sagas, laws, legends, and other forms and the particular tribal or cultic context that gives them meaning. Tradition criticism centres on the pre-literary sources; i.e., on the oral traditions and the circles out of which they originated as accounting for the variety of the materials in the Pentateuch. Archaeological criticism has tended to substantiate the reliability of the typical historical details of even the oldest periods and to discount the theory that the Pentateuchal accounts are merely the reflection of a much later period. The new methods of criticism have served to direct attention to the life, experience, and religion out of which the Pentateuchal writings arose and to take a less static and literal view of the constituent documentary sources; yet most scholars still accept the documentary theory, in its basic lines, as the most adequate and comprehensive ordering of the variegated Pentateuchal materials. The following presentation rests mainly on an analysis and interpretation of the literary sources. (See below The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics.)

In any case, the five books that have come down in various texts and versions have been seen as a unit in the religious communities that preserved them. Their basic content may be divided thus: (1) beginnings of the world and man—the primeval history; (2) patriarchal narratives—from Abraham to Joseph; (3) Egyptian slavery and the Exodus; (4) the revelation and Covenant at Sinai; (5) wanderings and guidance in the wilderness (divisible into two separate sub-blocks, before and after Sinai); (6) various legal materials—the Decalogue, Covenant Code, and passages of cultic and Deuteronomic laws—interspersed in the narrative, which take up the greater portion of the Pentateuch.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Genesis
This book is called Bereshit in the Hebrew original, after its first word (and the first word of the Bible), meaning “In the beginning.” It tells of the beginnings of the world and man and of those acclaimed as ancestors of the Hebrew people—all under the shaping action and purpose of God. The book falls into two main parts: chapters 1–11, dealing with the primeval history, and chapters 12–50, dealing with the patriarchal narratives; the latter section is again divisible into the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (chapters 12–36) and the story of Joseph (chapters 37–50), which may be treated as a unit of its own.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Genesis » The primeval history
The Bible begins with the creation of the universe. It tells the story with images borrowed from Babylonian mythology, transformed to express its own distinctive view of God and man. Out of primary chaos, darkness, void, depths, and waters God creates the heaven and the earth and all that dwell therein—a coherent order of things—by his will and word alone. He says, “Let there be . . .” and there is. Actually, there are two creation accounts: the first (1–2:4), ascribed to P, simply gives a terse day-by-day account including the culminating creation of man, in the divine “image and likeness,” followed by the primordial sabbath on the seventh day. The other (2:4–25), ascribed to J, starts with an arid wasteland and the creation of man (Adam), described specifically as being formed by God out of dust and made into a living thing by God blowing the breath of life into him. He and the woman (Eve) created for him out of his rib are put into a paradisal garden (Eden), especially created for them to till and to tend and to sustain life. The two are forbidden only to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on pain of death (there is also a tree of life in the middle of the garden). The cosmic setting and concern of the P account is thus followed by the human setting and concern of the J account. Creation is followed by temptation, disobedience, and fall and all that follows from that for the history of mankind. At the instigation of the serpent, the shrewdest of the beasts, who holds out the possibility of attaining godlike knowledge, the woman eats of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and gives some to her husband to eat also. Their distinction from beasts and children manifests itself immediately by a sense of modesty about exposing their bodies, and loincloths become the first products of the higher knowledge. The primal human couple are punished by God for their disobedience by being driven out of the idyllic garden into the world of pain, toil, and death.

The reason given by YHWH to the divine beings is: “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” These words apparently point back to the polytheistic mythology (the existence of divine, magical powers; the gods’ jealousy of mankind; the tree of eternal life; etc.) from which the Yahwist drew his images and symbols explaining man’s suffering, frustration, and limitation. In the biblical framework and rendering (and subsequent interpretation), the archaic stories and images acquire a different meaning, suitable to the idea of a transcendent deity and an imperfect mankind.

With the exile from the garden, human history and culture begins. In the story of Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel, man has already become a herdsman and farmer, and also a murderer: again probably a reflection of older mythical material and, again, one that puts an emphasis on human sin and estrangement from God. In the story of the Flood that follows there are evident borrowings from the Mesopotamian stories of a flood sent by the gods to destroy mankind, but in the biblical account it is emphasized that man’s extreme wickedness is the cause and that Noah is saved along with his family by God’s deliberate choice because he is a righteous man. (In the flood story in the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, by contrast, there is no apparent moral reason why the gods resolved to destroy mankind, and the only reason why the hero of the Flood and his kin are saved is that he is favoured by one of the gods, who tricks the others, including the chief god.) After the Flood, God blesses Noah and bestows on man the earth and the things on it for sustenance and makes a covenant with Noah and all creatures that he will never again unleash a world-destroying flood. The permanent order of the world is assured, and God’s blessing and covenant make their first explicit appearance in the Bible.

In the story of the Tower of Babel, the final story in the primeval history, a primal unity of mankind in which there is only one language is shattered when, in their pride, men decide to build a city and a tower that will reach up to the heavens. YHWH again takes steps to check dangerous collaboration: He says (to the celestial council), “Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech,” and scatters them over the earth. Again, the Yahwist has apparently used ancient mythological motifs to explain the diversity of mankind; the story may be regarded as simply a direct borrowing from the older traditions, without any monotheistic adaptation; in its textual setting, however, it may also be taken as another instance of the ruin of primal harmony by human willfulness and pride.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Genesis » The patriarchal narratives
The universal primal history of man in the first 11 chapters of Genesis is followed by an account of the fathers of the Hebrew people; i.e., of the origins of a particular group. From a literary point of view, this portion may be divided into the sagas of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the story of Joseph. Although these narratives are not historical in the ordinary sense, they have an evident historical setting and refer to various particulars that fit in with what is generally known of the time and area. They apparently rest on the traditions of particular families, clans, or tribes and were probably passed down orally before they took written form. Theologically, they are an account of a divine promise and Covenant and of man’s faith and unfaith in response, with Abraham as the model man of faith.

The Elohist, as well as J and P, tells the remarkable story of how God singled out Abraham (Abram) to migrate from Mesopotamia and sojourn in Canaan, promised him that he would make him the ancestor of great nations and that his posterity would inherit the land of his sojournings, and singled out as the heirs to the latter promise first Isaac, Abraham’s son by his chief wife, Sarah, and then Jacob, the younger of Isaac’s two sons; how Jacob acquired the additional name of Israel and how the wives, children, and children’s children who, in Jacob-Israel’s own lifetime, came to constitute a family of 70 souls, became the nucleus of the Israelite people; and how it came about that this ethnic group, prior to becoming, as promised, the masters of the land of their sojournings, first vacated it to sojourn for a time in Egypt. Apart from the low-keyed P strand, it is mostly splendid narrative, including the Elohist’s account of the (aborted) sacrifice of Isaac by his father in response to God’s command, a terse story packed with meaning, and the Joseph story about the son of Jacob who is sold into slavery by his brothers, rises to a high post in the Egyptian court, and ultimately helps his family to settle in Egypt. The 12 sons of Jacob-Israel are eponymous ancestors of Israelite tribes (ancestors after whom the tribes are named); the actions and fortunes of the eponymous ancestors, including certain blessings and other pronouncements of Jacob-Israel, account for the future positions and fortunes of the particular tribes. Though there is less history and more legend, much of the atmosphere of an older age is preserved, with the patriarchs represented as seminomadic, essentially peaceful and pastoral tent dwellers—alien residents—among the settled Canaanites and as observing customs otherwise only attested in Mesopotamia. Anachronistic features, however, insinuate themselves from time to time.

The God of the patriarchs is presented as Yahweh—explicitly by the Yahwist and implicitly by E and P—i.e., as the same God who would later speak to Moses. God apparently was originally the personal, tutelary deity of each of the patriarchs, called by a variety of names and later unified into the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are various cult legends in this portion of Genesis, etiological accounts of the origins of various cult sites and practices; though probably of Canaanite origin, these all indicate the places and customs held holy by the Israelites and perhaps also by their claimed Hebrew ancestors. There are direct appearances of God to some of the main figures in the narratives, intimate personal communication between men and God. God’s particular blessing upon and Covenant with Abraham is the paradigmatic high point, to be referred back to continually in later biblical and post-biblical traditions.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Exodus
The title (in the Greek, Latin, and English versions) means “a going out,” referring to the seminal event of the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage through the wondrous acts and power of God. The book celebrates and memorializes this great saving event in song and story and also the awesome revelation and covenant at Mt. Sinai. The contents of the book may be summarized thus: (1) Israel in Egypt, (2) the Exodus and wanderings, (3) the Covenant at Sinai, (4) the apostasy of the people and renewal of the Covenant, and (5) the instructions on building the Tabernacle and their execution.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Exodus » Redemption and revelation
Significant in the early chapters is God’s special concern for the Hebrew slaves, his reference to them as “my people,” and his revelation to Moses, the rebel courtier whom he has picked to be their leader, that he is YHWH, the God of their fathers, an abiding presence that will rescue them from their misery and bring them into Canaan, the land of promise. This assurance is repeated at the critical moments that follow (e.g., “And I will take you for my people, and I will be your God”). In the series of frustrations, obstacles, and redeeming events that are narrated, God’s special causal power and presence are represented as being at work. God hardens the Pharaoh’s heart, sends plagues that afflict the Egyptians but spare the Hebrews, causes the waters to recede in the Sea of Reeds (or Papyrus Marsh) to permit passage to the fleeing Israelites and then to engulf the pursuing Egyptians (“the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea”), and gives the people guidance in their wandering in the wilderness. The cryptic “name” that God gives to himself in his revelation to Moses (ʿehye ʿǦĨḤḥİ ʿehye), often translated “I am that I am” or “I will be what I will be,” may also be rendered “I will cause to be that which I will cause to be.” In either case, it is a play on, and an implied interpretation of, the name YHWH.

The constancy of God’s directive power and concern is displayed notably in the period (40 years) of wilderness wandering (on the eastern and southern borders of Canaan), when Israel is tested and tempered not only by hardship but also by rebellious despair that looks back longingly to Egyptian bondage (see also below Numbers). God sends the people bread from heaven (manna) and quail for their sustenance (J and P strands) and, through Moses, brings forth hidden sources of water (JE strand). When the Amalekites (a nomadic desert tribe) attack, Moses, stationed on a nearby hill, controls the tide of battle by holding high the rod of God (a symbol of divine power), and when the enemy is routed he builds an altar called “The Lord is my banner” (E strand). Also inserted here is the account (E) of the visit of Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, a priest of another people (Midianite) who, impressed by YHWH’s marvellous deliverance of Israel, blesses, extols, and sacrifices to him—under the name Elohim, but in the context the same God is clearly meant.

God’s power and presence manifest themselves impressively in the culminating account of the Covenant at Mt. Sinai (or Horeb). The people, forewarned by God through Moses, agree beforehand to carry out the terms of the Covenant that is to be revealed, because God has liberated them from Egypt and promises to make them his special holy people; they purify themselves for the ensuing Covenant ceremony, according to God’s instructions. Yahweh appears in fire and smoke, attended by the blare of a ram’s horn at the top of the mountain, where he reveals to Moses the terms of the Covenant, which Moses then passes on to the people below. Here follow in the text the Ten Commandments and the so-called Covenant Code (or Book of the Covenant) of lesser, specific ordinances, moral precepts, and cultic regulations, accompanied by a promise to help the people conquer their enemies if they will serve no other gods. After this comes the Covenant ceremony with burnt offerings and the sacrifice of oxen, with the blood of the animals thrown both on the altar and on the people to sacramentally seal the Covenant, followed by a sacral meal of Moses and the elders at the mountaintop, during which they see God. Many modern scholars hold that this is presented as the initial form of a Covenant renewal ceremony that was repeated either annually or every seven years in ancient Israel.

There are certain problems and apparent discrepancies in this account that are explained by critical scholarship as deriving from the combination of different sources, mainly J and E, traditions, or emphases. In the opening portion (chapter 19) the people are gathered at the foot of the mountain so as to hear and meet God, and Moses himself brings down to them God’s words. In a later portion (24:12–18, also 32:15–20), after the sacral meal, Moses goes up on the mountain to receive “the tables of stone, with the law and commandments,” inscribed by God himself, and returns with two stone tablets written on both sides by the hand of God—which he breaks in anger at the people’s worship of the molten calf that has developed in his absence. Later (chapter 34), at God’s command, Moses cuts two new stone tablets, upon which after hearing God’s various promises and exhortations, he writes “the words of the covenant, the ten commandments”; finally, he brings the new tablets down to the people and tells them what YHWH has commanded. There seem to be two parallel accounts of the same event, woven together by the skillful redactor into a continuing story. There also seem to be two distinct strands in the account of the sealing of the Covenant in the first 11 verses of chapter 24. According to one, the elders are to worship from afar, and only Moses is to come near YHWH; in the other strand, as noted, the elders eat the sacred meal on the mountaintop in the direct presence of God.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Exodus » Legislation
The book of Exodus includes not only the narrative and celebration of God’s redemptive action in the Exodus and wanderings and his revealing presence at Mt. Sinai but also a corpus of legislation, both civil and religious, that is ascribed to God and this revelation event. The Covenant Code, or Book of the Covenant, presented in chapters 20–23, immediately following the Decalogue (Ten Commandments), opens with a short passage on ritual ordinances, followed by social and civil law applying to specific situations (case law), including the treatment of slaves, capital crimes, compensation for personal injuries and property damage, moneylending and interest, precepts on the administration of justice, and further ritual ordinances. Scholars generally date this code in the later agricultural period of the settlement in Canaan, but some hold that it is analogous to more ancient Near Eastern law codes and may go back to Moses or to his time. In any case, it seems to be a compilation from various sources, inserted into and breaking the flow of the narrative.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Exodus » Instructions on the Tabernacle
Also interspersed in the story (chapters 25–31) are God’s detailed instructions to Moses for building and furnishing the Tabernacle, the clothing and ordination of priests, and other liturgical matters. According to this segment (evidently P in inspiration), an elaborate structure is to be set up in the desert, in the centre of the camp, taken apart, transported, and assembled again, like the simple “Tent of Meeting” outside the camp, where Moses received oracular revelations from God. Indeed, the two concepts seem to have fused and the Tabernacle is also called the Tent of Meeting. Its prime function is to serve as a sanctuary in which sacrifices and incense are offered on altars and bread presented on a table; it is also equipped with various other vessels and furnishings, including a wooden ark, or cabinet, to contain the two tablets of the Covenant—the famous ark of the Covenant. It is, moreover, to be the place of God’s occasional dwelling and meeting with the people. Scholars believe that the elaborate details and materials described stem from a later, Canaanite, period but that the essential concept of a tent of meeting goes back to an earlier desert time. An account of the execution of the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle is presented in chapters 35–40 (following the apostasy, tablet breaking, and Covenant-renewal episodes), which duplicates to the letter the instructions in chapters 25–31. After the Tabernacle is completed and consecrated, it is occupied by the “glory,” or presence, of YHWH, symbolized by a cloud resting upon it. It is on this note that the book of Exodus ends.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Leviticus
The cultic and priestly laws presented in Exodus are expanded to take up virtually the whole of Leviticus, the Latin Vulgate title for the third of the Five Books of Moses, which may be translated the Book (or Manual) of Priests. With one exception (chapters 8–10), the narrative portions are brief connective or introductory devices to give an ostensibly narrative framework for the detailed lists of precepts that provide the book’s content. The source of Leviticus, both for the legal and narrative passages, is definitely identified as P; it is the only book in the so-called Tetrateuch to which a single source is attributed. Apparently the book consists of materials from various periods, some of them going back to the time of Moses, which were put together at a later date, possibly during or after the Babylonian Exile. Recent scholarship tends to emphasize the ancient origin of much of the material, as opposed to the previous tendency to ascribe a late, even post-exilic date. Despite its content and its dry, repetitive style, many interpreters caution against taking Leviticus as merely a dull, spiritless manual of priestly ritual, holding that it is strictly inseparable from the ethical emphasis and spiritual fervour of the religion of ancient Israel. It is in Leviticus that the so-called law of love, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” first appears. The rituals set forth drily here probably presuppose an inward state in offering to God, as well as humanitarian and compassionate ethics.

The book may be divided thus: chapters 1–7, offerings and sacrifices; chapters 8–10, inauguration of priestly worship; chapters 11–16, purification laws; chapters 17–26, holiness code; chapter 27, commutation of vows and tithes.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Leviticus » Offerings, sacrifices, and priestly worship
The first verse attributes these regulations to YHWH, who speaks to Moses from the Tent of Meeting, beginning with the rules for offerings by the individual layman. These include burnt, cereal, peace, sin, and guilt offerings, all described in precise details. The prescription for priestly offerings is about the same, with some slight differences in the order of actions, and is presented much more briefly. In chapters 8–10 the narrative that was interrupted at the end of Exodus is resumed, and the ordination of Aaron and his sons by Moses, before the people assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting is described, as are various animal sacrifices by Aaron and his sons under Moses’ direction and the subsequent appearance of God’s “glory” to the people. Aaron’s two older sons are burned to death by fire issuing forth from God because they have offered “unholy fire.” This story apparently emphasizes the importance of adherence to the precise cultic details, as does also the account (at the end of the chapter) of Moses’ anger at Aaron’s two remaining sons for not eating the sin offering. These stories were apparently used by the priestly authors to buttress the authority of the Aaronic priesthood.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Leviticus » Purification laws
With chapter 11 begin the regulations on ritual cleanness and uncleanness, starting with animals and other living things fit and unfit to eat—the basis of the famous Jewish dietary laws. Then come the uncleanness and required purification of women after childbirth, skin diseases, healed lepers, infected houses, and genital discharges. Chapter 16, which belongs in the narrative flow immediately after chapter 10, describes the priestly actions on the Day of Atonement, the culmination of ritual cleansing in Israel. It is a chapter rich in details on Israelite ritual and bound up with the salient religious theme of atonement.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Leviticus » The Holiness Code
Next (chapters 17–26) comes what has been designated the “Holiness Code,” or “Law of Holiness,” which scholars regard as a separate, distinctive unit within the P material (designated H). It calls upon the people to be holy as God is holy by carrying out his laws, both ritual and moral, and by avoiding the polluting practices of neighbouring peoples; and it proceeds to lay down laws, interspersed with exhortations, to attain this special holiness. Although many scholars tend to date its compilation in the exilic period, some see evidence that it was compiled in pre-exilic times; in any case, the consensus is that the laws themselves come from a much earlier time.

These—a most miscellaneous collection—begin with injunctions on the proper (kosher) slaughtering of animals for meat; go on to a list of precepts against outlawed sexual relations (incest, homosexuality) and an injunction against defiling the (holy) land; proceed to a list of ethical injunctions, including the law of love and kindness to resident aliens, all interspersed with agronomic instructions and warnings against witchcraft; and then, after an injunction against sacrificing children, return to the listing of illicit sexual relations and the warning that the land will spew the people out if they do not obey the divine norms and laws. There follow special requirements for preserving the special holiness of priests and assuring that only unblemished animals will be used in sacrifices; instructions on the observance of the holy days—the sabbath, feasts, and festivals; commands on the proper making of oil for the holy lamp in the Tent of Meeting and of the sacred shewbread, to which are appended the penalties for blasphemy and other crimes; and finally, rules for observance of the sabbatical (seventh) and jubilee (50th) years, in which the land is to lie fallow, followed by rules on the redemption of land and the treatment of poor debtors and Hebrew slaves.

This miscellany, presented in chapters 17–25, is followed by a final exhortation, in chapter 26, promising the people that if they follow these laws and precepts all will go well with them but warning that if they fail to do so all kinds of evil will befall them, including exile and the desolation of the Promised Land. Yet, if they confess their iniquity and atone for it, God will not destroy them utterly but will remember his Covenant with their forebears. Such a passage points to a later time but not necessarily to the exilic period, as some commentators have assumed. The chapter concludes: “These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord made between him and the people of Israel on Mt. Sinai by Moses,” connecting these precepts with the primal revelation in Exodus.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Leviticus » Commutation of vows and tithes
In the final chapter of Leviticus (27), the P material is resumed with a presentation of the rules for the commutation of votive gifts and tithes. It provides for the release from vows (of offerings of persons, animals, or lands to God) through specified money payments. Some commentators understand the vow to offer persons to refer originally to human sacrifice, others as pledging their liturgical employment in the sanctuary. Special provisions are made for the poor to relieve them from the stipulated payments. Only grain and fruit tithes, not animal tithes, are redeemable. This chapter and the book of Leviticus end, like chapter 26, with the verse, “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.”

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Numbers
In the Hebrew Bible this book is entitled Bemidbar (In the Wilderness) after one of its opening words, while in English versions it is called Numbers, a translation of the Greek Septuagint title Arithmoi. Each of the titles gives an indication of the content of the book: (1) the narrative of “40 Years” of wanderings in the wilderness, or desert, between Sinai and Canaan; and (2) the census of the people and other numerical and statistical matters, preceding and interspersing that account. It is a composite of various sources (J, E, and predominantly P) and traditions, which as a whole continue the story of God’s special care and testing of his people in the events of the archaic period that formed them. Numbers continues the account of what many modern scholars call the “salvation history” of Israel, which apprehends and narrates events (or the image and impact of events) as involving divine action and direction.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Numbers » The conclusion of the Sinai sojourn
The book opens with a command from God to Moses, early in the second year after the Exodus, to take a census of the arms-bearing men over 20 in each of the clans of Israel. Moses and Aaron, aided by the clan chiefs, take the count, clan by clan, and reach a total of 603,550 men—according to critical scholars, an unbelievably large total for the time and conditions. The Levites, to whom is entrusted the care of the Tabernacle and its equipment, are exempted from this secular census and are counted in a later census, of males one month and over, along with a census of firstborn males from other tribes. The Lord had required that the latter be consecrated to him when he slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians but spared those of the Israelites; now the bulk of them were released by the Levites being taken in their stead to minister to the priests, while for the excess of firstborn over Levites “redemption” payments were collected. A further census of men 30–50 years old is taken among the Levite clans, so as to assign them their various duties, which are here stipulated. Also specified are the positions of the tribes (separated into four divisions of three tribes each) in the camp and on the march, with an assignment of specific portions of the Tabernacle and its equipment to be carried by the Levite clans. YHWH is to give the signal to break camp by lifting the cloud by day or the fire by night from above the Tabernacle and then to advance it in the direction the people are to march. YHWH’s signal is to be followed by a blast by the priests (Aaron’s sons) on two specially made silver trumpets.

The above directions are set forth in chapters 1–4 and 9–10 (through verse 10). There are intervening chapters containing various materials: expelling leprous or other unclean persons from the camp, the ordeal for a woman suspected of adultery, regulations for Nazirites (those who take special ascetic vows), the offerings brought at the dedication of the Tabernacle, and the purification of the Levites preparatory to taking up their special sacred functions. The priestly emphasis of the materials in chapters 1–10 is evident, and it is also clear that there are various strands of priestly interpretation involved.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Numbers » Wanderings in the desert of Paran
This section apparently combines various traditions of how the Israelites came into Palestine, and J, E (or JE), and P sources have been discerned in these chapters. The traditional “40 years” in the wilderness (38 or 39, according to critical calculations) were spent mostly in the wilderness of Paran, with a short stay in the oasis of Kadesh, according to P; while, according to J, they spent most of their time in Kadesh; and chapter 13, verse 26, puts Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, thus encapsulating both traditions. The discrepancy may stem from two separate traditions of how the tribes entered Canaan: from the south or from the north through Transjordan.

The P narrative begins (chapter 10, verse 11) with the lifting of the cloud from the Tabernacle and the setting out of the Israelites for the Promised Land, with their holy Tabernacle and ark, in the order prescribed in chapter 2. According to the P account (verses 11–28), the cloud settles down over the wilderness of Paran, the signal to make camp; whereas in the JE account (verses 29–36) it is the ark of the Covenant that goes ahead to seek out a stopping place, and where it stops the Israelites rest, the cloud simply accompanying them overhead (perhaps to shield them from the blazing desert sun). Chapters 11–12 (JE) deal with the complaints of the people about their hardships and the rebellion of Miriam and Aaron against their brother Moses. When the people express their longing for the good food they had in Egypt and their disgust with the unvarying manna, God sends them a storm of quail, which remain uneaten because he also sends them a plague. This is a somewhat different account from that in Exodus, but the point is the same: the mighty, infinite power of God (chapter 11, verse 23). (Also inserted here is the story of God visiting his spirit on 70 selected elders so that they may share Moses’ burdens.) When Miriam and Aaron question God’s speaking only through Moses, God proclaims his unique relation with Moses, who alone receives direct revelations from God, not indirectly through dreams and visions, like the prophets.

Chapters 13–14 tell of the despatch of spies from Paran to reconnoiter Canaan and of the despair, rebellion, and unsuccessful foray of the people in response to the spies’ reports. Scholars discern two separate accounts of the spying incident artfully woven together. According to the JE account, the spies go only as far as Hebron in the south and return with a glowing report of a fertile land, which is, however, they warn, too strongly defended to be taken from that quarter: only one spy, Caleb, advocates attacking it. In the P account the spies reconnoiter the whole country and give a pessimistic report of it as a land that “devours its inhabitants,” who are, moreover, giants compared to the Israelites. The people cry out in despair at this report and want to go back to Egypt, while Caleb and Joshua (added by P) plead with them to trust in God and go forward to take the land. God, disgusted with the people, condemns them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and decrees that only their children, along with Caleb and Joshua, shall enter into the land of promise. Ruefully, the people now decide to attack and go forth, against Moses’ warning, to a resounding defeat.

Chapter 15 is a P document or addition, setting forth various ritual regulations. Chapters 16–18 deal with the comparative rights and duties of priests and Levites. Chapter 16 is a composite document dealing with revolts against Moses and Aaron by certain Levites who question their special authority in a community where all are holy, as also by certain Reubenites who resent Moses’ leadership. The dispute is settled when 250 revolting Levites attempt to offer incense (a priestly Aaronic function) and are consumed by fire sent by God, while the leaders of the revolt are swallowed up in the earth. Yet the stubborn people continue their complaint against Moses and Aaron, bringing forth the Lord’s anger and a plague, from which they are saved by Aaron’s (proper and effective) offering of incense. This latter incident occurs in chapter 17 in the Hebrew text and Jewish translations but concludes chapter 16 in some Christian versions. Chapter 17 in both arrangements, with its story of Aaron’s rod, associates Levitical with Aaronic authority; Aaron’s name is inscribed on the staff of Levi, which alone among the staffs of the chiefs of the tribes of Israel blossoms and bears fruit, thus authenticating Aaron’s, and thereby the Levites’, special claims. The relative functions and payments (tithes) of priests and Levites are prescribed in chapter 18. Chapter 19, inserted here, has to do with purification from uncleanness incurred through touching the dead, accomplished through washing in water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Numbers » Events in Edom and Moab
Chapter 20, verse 14, resumes the narrative of Israel’s onward march, starting with their arrival in the wilderness of Zin and stay at Kadesh, marked by Miriam’s death and God’s exclusion of Moses and Aaron from entering the Promised Land because of their ascribed lack of confidence in God when Moses drew forth water from a rock in response to still more Israelite complaints, but did so in anger and impatience, striking the rock twice with his rod, instead of telling it to give forth water, as the Lord had instructed (the incident of the waters of Meribah). Refused permission by the King of Edom to pass through that land, over the much-used King’s Highway, they proceed from Kadesh to Mt. Hor, where Aaron dies and is succeeded by his son Eleazar, and from which they proceed (chapter 21) to bypass Edom in an attempt to approach Canaan from the east. Arrived at the border of what was geographically part of Moab but politically the Amorite kingdom of Sihon, they are refused passage and proceed to defeat the Amorites and take possession of their land. This is from the JE strand of the composite narrative; the P strand does not recognize the existence of settled and politically organized populations between Kadesh and the plains of Moab.

At this point, in chapters 22–24, apparently a very mixed composite of various J and E strands, is presented the fascinating story (or collection of stories) of the non-Israelite seer, or prophet, Balaam, from the region of the Middle Euphrates. Alarmed at the Israelite host encamped at his border, the King of Moab commissions the seer Balaam to put a curse on them, but Balaam refuses, at the order of YHWH, who is also the God of Balaam. On three occasions at the King’s request Balaam seeks an oracle from God against Israel, but each time, to the King’s rage, he is told by the Lord that Israel is graced with the divine blessing and cannot be cursed. The seer, who is ordered back to his own country, without payment by the disgruntled King, offers a final, unsolicited oracle prophesying the destruction of Moab and other nations by Israel’s might: “I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”

Chapter 25 (combining JE and P strands) provides a lurid interlude in which the Israelites go whoring after Moabite women and offer sacrifices and worship to their god, Baal of Peor. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, is so incensed at the sight of an Israelite consorting with a Midianite woman that he kills them both, thus ending a plague that has broken out and earning God’s special favour: a covenant of perpetual priesthood with him and his descendants (a forward reference to the Zadokite priesthood of post-exilic times). This account is connected by the last two verses with God’s call for Israel to harass and smite the Midianites (see below). After the plague ends, in the account (P) in chapter 26, a second census of arms-bearing men and of the Levites is taken, and again a fantastically large total, 601,730, is given, perhaps referring to a much later time. It is noted at the end that all of the previous 603,730 had died in the wilderness, as prophesied, except for Caleb and Joshua, who have been especially picked out by God. This census, coming at the end of the 40-year period of wilderness wanderings, is for the purpose of allotting lands to the various tribes and families. Hence the logical positioning of the passage (P) in the first 11 verses of chapter 27 assuring that a family may inherit through a daughter when there is no son and through a brother when there are no children and through the closest relative when there are neither.

At this point (chapter 27, verse 12) comes the impressive and poignant passage (also P) in which Moses ascends the heights, at God’s bidding, to look over the Promised Land, which he is not to enter, and calls on God to appoint a leader to succeed him. At God’s command, Moses selects Joshua, and before the priest Eleazar and the whole community he lays his hands on him and commissions him to lead Israel. It is noteworthy that Joshua is invested only with some of Moses’ authority and is to learn God’s will through Eleazar and the sacred lot (Urim), not directly, as did Moses.

Again, the narrative is interrupted by three chapters (P) dealing with various religious regulations. Chapters 28–29 stipulate the sacrifices to be made by the whole community daily, on the sabbath, at the new moon, and on these holidays: the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), The Feast of Trumpets, i.e., New Year (Rosh Hashana), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). The last two verses of chapter 29 specify that these public offerings are in addition to individual offerings, such as those specified in chapter 15. Critical scholars hold that these elaborate regulations stem from a much later (post-exilic) period, though they may go back to very ancient practices. Some see them as a liturgical commentary on chapter 23 of Leviticus, which presents the cycle of feasts and festivals (see above Leviticus). Chapter 30 gives women special exemption from keeping vows (presumably of offerings or abstinence) when countermanded by a father or husband; only widows or divorcees are bound, like men, unconditionally to keep their vows.

Chapter 31, likewise from P, deals with the annihilation of the Midianites following God’s command at the end of chapter 25. The Israelites, a thousand from each tribe, go forth to battle led by the priest Eleazar, who carries the sacred vessels and the trumpets. They kill every man and seize all the movable property but spare the women and children. Moses, however, orders every male child and all nonvirgin women killed. There follow instructions for purification for the stain caused by killing a person or touching a dead body and for the distribution of the booty, which includes sheep, cattle, asses, and 32,000 virgins. The rules are that half of the spoils go to the fighting men, half to the rest of the people; in addition, the Lord’s share is allotted thus: one five-hundredth of the fighting men’s portion goes to the priest, and one-fiftieth of the people’s portion goes to the Levites. Scholars are inclined to treat this chapter as a piece of fiction intended really to set forth the rules for purification and dividing the spoils through an invented story. The seer-diviner Balaam is here (verse 16) blamed for the whoring and apostasy incidents in chapter 25; but texts providing his connection with these events are lacking.

Chapter 32, dealing with the settlement east of the Jordan, concludes the narrative portion of Numbers and thus of the Tetrateuch (a story that is continued in chapter 34 of Deuteronomy and in the Book of Joshua). This very composite account (JEP) tells how the tribes of Reuben and Gad, after an initial angry remonstrance from Moses, are granted permission to settle in the rich pasturelands east of the Jordan on the assurance that after they erect sheepfolds and fortified towns for their flocks and families, they will provide the shock troops spearheading the advance of the Israelites into Canaan, and will not return to their homes until their brethren hold the land. Thereupon Moses allots the various conquered kingdoms and towns east of Jordan to the Gadites and Reubenites. The various Gadite, Reubenite, and Manassite towns are listed.

The rest of the book of Numbers (P in its final form) consists of an itemized summary of the route from Egypt to the plains of Moab outside Canaan (chapter 33) and various additional materials (chapters 34–36). Verses 50–56 of chapter 33 present the divine command to dispossess the people of Canaan, destroy their idols and cultic places, and apportion the land to each clan by lot. In chapter 34 the Lord specifies the boundaries of the whole land of Canaan that is to be Israel’s inheritance and names the tribal leaders who, along with Eleazar and Joshua, are to oversee the division of the land by lot. In chapter 35, the Lord orders 48 towns with extensive pasturelands to be set aside for the Levites; six of these are to be cities of refuge for manslayers whose guilt of intentional murder has not yet been determined and who are provided sanctuary from the traditional blood vengeance. Although these settlements do not constitute an independent tribal territory but are scattered through the territories of the other tribes, the contradiction with chapter 18, verse 24, of Leviticus, commanding that the Levites are to have no share of the land but are to subsist solely on tithes, is obvious and raises critical questions. Finally, chapter 36 concludes the book of Numbers with a supplement to the law of inheritance through daughters laid down in chapter 27, enjoining daughters from marrying outside the tribe, so that the tribe will hold its portion of the land, which was given from God, in perpetuity. As before, the general injunction is laid down in a story dealing with a particular case (the daughter of Zelophehad).

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Deuteronomy: Introductory discourse » Special nature and problems
The English title of this work, meaning “second law,” is derived from a faulty Greek translation of chapter 17, verse 18, referring to “a copy of this law”: the implication being that the book is a second law or an expanded version of the original law for the new generation of Israelites about to enter Canaan. Hebrew texts take the opening words of the book as title, Ele ha-Devarim (These Are The Words), or simply Devarim (Words). As noted in Composition and authorship, above, the book is in a class by itself in the Pentateuch, so much so that modern scholars tend to consider it apart from the other four books, and some see it in style, content, and concerns more closely related to the succeeding books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, constituting a “Deuteronomic history.” In spite of its homogeneous style and tone—it is assigned for the most part to a single source, D—the content indicates to critical scholars very composite traditions, ages, and situations behind the finished form. This book has elicited a library of scholarship going back to the early 19th century, not only because of the complicated critical and historical problems calling for solution but also because of its spiritual and theological message, which gives it a special place among Old Testament writings.

In form, the book is ostensibly a discourse by Moses “to all Israel” in the final month in Moab before they go over the Jordan into Canaan. Actually it comprises three separate discourses, a set of laws, two poems, and various other matters, all ascribed to Moses directly—here it is Moses who sets forth the laws, not God through him. These materials are centred on the presentation of the rules of life and worship for the coming stay in the Promised Land, along with exhortations and explanations pointing to YHWH, the marvellous liberator from Egypt and guide in the wilderness, as the divine source and reason for the commands. The traditional view was that, with the possible exception of the account of Moses’ death, the whole book was written by Moses, based on the phrase “And Moses wrote this song” in chapter 31, verse 22.

Some early Church Fathers identified the book with “the book of the law” (II Kings, chapter 22, verse 8), found in the 18th year of King Josiah’s reign (c. 621 bce), and made the basis of his great religious reform the following year. Wilhelm M.L. de Wette, a German biblical scholar, in 1805 established the predominant modern view that Deuteronomy (or its nucleus, or main portion) was found in Josiah’s time and was a distinctive book, separate from the Tetrateuch. He also held that it was composed shortly before its discovery; other, more recent, scholars would put it as much as a century earlier and connect it with earlier reforms, while some associate it with the writings and teachings of the 8th-century-bce prophet Hosea and with the E source. Furthermore, the references to localities near Shechem as cultic places, taken with certain passages in Joshua, indicate a northern provenance for the book and not the southern source connected with a cultic centre at Jerusalem, as had been previously supposed from the associated material in II Kings. Some scholars see the form and occasion of Deuteronomy as a Covenant renewal ceremony in which the whole law is read, as in Joshua, chapter 8, verses 30–35, and thus view it as a liturgical document, as well as a lawbook. In any case, the tendency is to see various layers of materials and lines of transmission, perhaps going back to quite early preliterary sources, before its final formation in the 8th or 7th century bce.

The book may be divided as follows: (1) introductory discourse to the whole book (chapter 1 to chapter 4, verse 43); (2) introductory discourse to the lawbook (chapter 4, verse 44, through chapter 11); (3) the lawbook (chapters 12–28); (4) concluding exhortation and traditions about the last days and death of Moses (chapters 29–34).

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Deuteronomy: Introductory discourse » First introductory discourse of Moses
The first introductory discourse, spoken by Moses, traces the journey of the Israelites from Mt. Horeb to Moab, with some noticeable differences in detail from the account in Exodus and Numbers and an emphasis on Moses being banned from entrance into the Promised Land because the Lord was angry at the Israelites. To this historical retrospect is appended an exhortation to the people to obey God’s laws and norms, recalling the imageless God of the revelation and Covenant at Horeb as a warning against making images and serving man-made gods. The uniqueness and soleness of the God of the Exodus and Covenant, his power and presence in his marvellous acts of redemption and revelation, and his gracious selection of Israel are proclaimed in rhetorical questions; moreover, it is emphasized that the God of Israel (“YHWH your God”) “is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.” The injunctions against idolatry appear to come from later experience and religious crisis in Canaan. The fact that other nations have their own gods and objects of worship is recognized elsewhere in Deuteronomy.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Deuteronomy: Introductory discourse » Second introductory discourse
The second discourse, also ascribed to Moses, again refers to the Covenant at Horeb and sets forth the Ten Commandments, which the people are admonished to obey rigorously, emphasizing the mediating function of Moses at Horeb between the awesome divine presence and the awestruck people. Israel is further admonished to obey the law through wholehearted love of God, expressed in what became the central liturgical expression of Israel’s faith, beginning, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord Alone. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” If they obey God’s laws, avoid other gods, and do what is right and good, they will possess the land promised by God—him who rescued them from Egypt and has brought them thus far. They are to avoid marriage and all other intercourse with the peoples of the land, utterly destroying them and their idolatrous altars and cultic places, for they are a special, holy people chosen by God out of all the peoples because of his love, not because of their greatness or power. This marvellous love will continue to be exercised, and the people will be blessed with all good things—prosperity, fertility, health, and success in battle—if they obey God’s ordinances. They are urged to remember the 40-year period of wilderness wandering, in which they were tested (disciplined) by God through hardship and hunger (to find out whether or not they would keep his commands) and saved by him: man does not live by bread alone but, rather, by whatever God provides (e.g., manna from heaven). Another time of testing will come when they live in the rich, fertile land of Canaan and eat their fill and perhaps forget the Lord and his laws, ascribing their wealth to their own power and might and even venturing into idolatrous worship of the gods of the land. If they do so they shall perish, just as the idolatrous nations of the land shall.

A long list of the apostasies of Israel is presented in chapter 9 to demonstrate the point that Israel is going in to possess the land of Canaan not through any virtue of their own but because of God’s promise to the patriarchs. This is followed in chapter 10 by a moving declaration of what God requires of Israel—fear (reverence), walking in his ways, love, wholehearted service, and keeping his commandments—and an extolling of the wondrous, unique, powerful God who liberated them from Egypt. Chapter 11 extols the richness of the land of Canaan and describes how it will bloom for them if they are observant of God’s commandments and promises that they will hold the territory from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates to the western sea (Mediterranean). It closes with the choice set before them by Moses of “a blessing and a curse”—the former if they obey the commandments, the latter if they do not. This choice is posed to them immediately before the presentation of the laws and norms beginning in chapter 12.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Deuteronomy: the lawbook and the conclusion » The lawbook
The laws are the central core and purport of the book of Deuteronomy. They are couched in a hortatory, sermonic style that has led to their being categorized as preached law. Emphatic statements of what must or must not be done are connected with exhortations to fulfill these injunctions, pointing to the motivations and spirit in which they should be carried out. There is a wide variety of laws here—ritual, criminal, social—but they are all set within this preaching context and aimed at the service of God. This is no dry legal code but, rather, a book written in fluent and moving prose. Scholars have seen duplications and parallels between the laws presented here and those in the Covenant Code in chapters 21–23 of Exodus; but to this a common source may be ascribed, and Deuteronomy may be considered a work in its own right and not a mere expansion of the Covenant Code.

The lawbook comprises chapters 12–26, supplemented by chapters 27–28. After an initial order to destroy the pagan cultic places and idols, the lawbook goes to its basic injunction: to set up a single central sanctuary in Canaan, where all Israel is to make their offerings, as distinct from the present unregulated practice, “every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.” The spot is designated only “the place which the Lord your God will choose,” which some interpreters, following King Josiah, have understood to be Jerusalem and which others understand to be Shechem. (The blessing and curse passage immediately preceding in chapter 11 specifies Mts. Gerizim and Ebal, on either side of Shechem, as the places of blessing and curse, respectively; and an even more elaborate ritual is prescribed for the same locality in chapter 27.) Instructions are given for the proper killing of animals for food, previously connected with the sacrificial cult, and the people are admonished when they settle in Canaan not to inquire about how other nations serve their gods, possibly to follow their abominable practices. Inserted at this point is the striking exhortation, “Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it.”

Chapter 13 warns the people to beware of the temptations to apostasy arising from the urging or example of prophet-diviners, kinfolk or friends, or a whole town; they are to kill the tempters and destroy the towns. Chapter 14 is devoted mainly to a list of living things that may or may not be eaten, the “clean” and “unclean,” similar to the list in Leviticus, chapter 11; and to laws for tithes and first fruits to be brought annually to the central sanctuary and triennially to the Levites in the towns, who are specified as having no “portion” of their own (two years to the centre, the third year to the town Levites). Chapter 15 deals mainly with the releases to be granted every seventh year to debtors of their debts and Hebrew slaves of their bondage; lenders are exhorted and commanded not to refuse loans to the poor in the sabbatical year of release, and God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt is given as the reason for freeing one’s Hebrew slaves in the sabbatical release. The first section of chapter 16, verses 1–17, gives the rules for celebrating the three main festivals of the religious year: Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Booths, which are to be observed at the central sanctuary (hence later called the three pilgrim festivals).

Beginning with verse 18 of chapter 16 there is a discussion of the appointment and character of judges, and of judicial procedures and punishments for apostasy, homicide, and other crimes; similarly, beginning with verse 14 of chapter 17 there are rules on the selection of a king and for his conduct, and the injunction that he read from “a copy of this law,” so that he may be edified and chastened. The first portion of chapter 18 deals with the office and support of priests, referred to here as “the Levitical priests . . . all the tribe of Levi,” not distinguishing the Aaronic priests from the lesser Levites. This is followed—after a passage inveighing against abominable cultic and divinatory practices of the nations of the land—by a promise that God will raise up prophets among the people and instructions on how to tell true from false prophets. Thus the offices of judge, king, priest, and prophet are considered in chapters 16–18.

Chapter 19 deals again with crime and punishment. It distinguishes between unintentional manslaughter and murder, setting up cities of refuge for the manslayer and ordering the murderer to be killed by the blood avengers. It also lays down the rules for witnesses and the punishment for perjury. It closes with the famous lex talionis: “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,” which in context may spell out what is to happen to the false witness and even could be interpreted as a moderating, rather than an inhumane, precept (no more than an eye for an eye, etc.). Chapter 20 gives the rules for holy war, listing the situations that exempt men from military service (e.g., a newly married man) and distinguishing the treatment of non-Canaanite and Canaanite cities; the latter are to be utterly destroyed, yet it is forbidden to destroy fruit-bearing trees. There are also rules on holy war in 21:10–14; 23:9–14; 24:5; and 25:17–19. Chapters 20–25 contain a great variety of laws; the just treatment of women captives, sexual offenses, exclusions from the religious community, public hygiene in campgrounds, and many other things.

The last of the laws are set forth in chapter 26, dealing with the first fruits offering and tithes. At the annual offering (or soon after entering Canaan), in the central sanctuary, the worshipper is to recite a piece beginning, “A wandering Aramaean was my father,” affirming his link with the patriarchs and extolling God’s wondrous deeds on behalf of Israel. And every third year he is to set aside his tithe “to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow” and make an affirmation “before the Lord” that he has complied and avoided any ritual stain.

The final passage in chapter 26 proclaims that “this day” God has proclaimed his law, Israel has affirmed its commitment to God and his law, and God has affirmed his choice of Israel as his special, holy people, to be set up high above all the nations. This is the hortatory conclusion to chapters 12–26 and to the “second law,” or Covenant, contained therein.

The emphasis on the laws given on “this day” is continued in the supplementary chapters 27–28, which deal with Covenant ratification and renewal ceremonies, apparently a reference to an original ceremony in Moab, one in Canaan on the first day in the land, and subsequent, possibly annual, renewal ceremonies. Blessings and curses are to be pronounced from Mts. Gerizim and Ebal for respectively fulfilling or disobeying the Covenant: all good things or all bad things will befall the people, as they keep or fail to keep the Covenant. Some of the curse consequences in chapter 28, referring to siege, subjugation, and exile, are believed by some scholars to reflect late pre-exilic or exilic situations. The curse consequences fill up the bulk of these chapters and are recounted in powerful, moving language, ending with a threat to return the people to Egypt.

Old Testament literature » The Torah (Law, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses) » Deuteronomy: the lawbook and the conclusion » Concluding exhortation and traditions about the last days of Moses
Chapters 29–31 comprise the third and last address of Moses to the people of Israel. They are preceded by an introductory verse referring to “these words” as a covenant made in Moab, in addition to the one made at Horeb (Sinai). After reminding them of all that God has done for them, Moses calls on the whole people to enter into the sworn Covenant made this day that they may be his people and he may be their God, warning the secret apostate of the calamities that will befall him. Yet the possibility of a return to God and the land is held out to those who will suffer exile and persecution as punishment for their apostasy, again presumably a reflection of the exilic situation (chapter 30 verses 1–10 seems clearly to be an interpolation inspired by the actual experience of exile). This law, it is emphasized, is no recondite, remote thing up in the sky but is, rather, very close to men, “in your mouth and in your heart”; what is revealed is made plain, it is not the secret things of God. Moses sets before them the classic Deuteronomic choice: “life and good” over “death and evil.” The people are given that choice and told the consequences of loving the Lord and keeping the Covenant or of going the other way.

The final chapters are concerned with the last words and acts of Moses: directing Joshua to lead Israel after his death, writing down “this law,” calling for a sabbatical renewal ceremony of it on the Feast of Booths, ordering that it be put beside the ark of the Covenant, and uttering two poems. The first, “The Song of Moses” (chapter 32), praises the faithfulness and power of the Lord, decries the faithlessness and wickedness of Israel, and predicts the consequent divine punishment; it adds, however, that in the end the Lord will relent and will vindicate his people. The second poem, “The Blessing of Moses” (chapter 33), blesses each of the tribes of Israel, one by one, and the blessings are associated with God’s love, the law commanded by Moses, and the kingship of God over his people. There are indications in both poems of a considerably later date (after Joshua’s time, perhaps in the period of the Judges); Moses is spoken of in the third person in “The Blessing” poem.

The narrative of Deuteronomy, and thus of the Pentateuch, ends with Moses’ ascent to the top of Mt. Pisgah, his being shown the Promised Land by God, and his death there in the land of Moab, buried by God in an unknown grave. It is emphasized in the closing words that Moses was a unique prophet “whom the Lord knew face to face” and through whom the Lord wrought unique “signs and wonders” and “great and terrible deeds.” Thus end the Five Books of Moses.

Seymour Cain



 

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The canon of the Prophets
The Hebrew canon of the section of the Old Testament known as the Nevi’im, or the Prophets, is divided into two sections: the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets contains four historical books—Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; the Latter Prophets includes four prophetic works—the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (Minor) Prophets. The Twelve Prophets, formerly written on a single scroll, include the books of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Thus, in the Hebrew canon of the Prophets there are, in effect, eight books.

The Christian canon of the Prophets does not include the Former Prophets section in its division of the Prophets; instead, it calls the books in this section Historical Books. In addition to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the Christian canon of the Prophets includes two works from the division of the Hebrew canon known as the Ketuvim (the Writings): the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Book of Daniel. The Twelve (Minor) Prophets are separated into individual books. The number of works in the Christian canon, however, varies. The Protestant canon contains all the books of the Latter Prophets and the two books from the Ketuvim, thus listing 17 works among the prophetic writings. The Roman Catholic canon accepts one other book as a canonical prophetic work, namely, Baruch (including the Letter of Jeremiah); the number of prophetic writings in the Roman Catholic canon is, therefore, 18. The Greek Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem in 1672 did not accept Baruch as canonical.

As far as the Former Prophets is concerned, the Protestant canon, following the Septuagint, separates Samuel and Kings into two sections each: I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches in the past divided these two works into I, II, III, and IV Kings, but most Roman Catholic translations now follow the listing as it is in the Septuagint.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Hebrew prophecy
Hebrew prophecy was rooted in the prophetic activities of various individuals and groups from the nations and peoples of the ancient Near East. Though prophecy among ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Canaanites—as well as among the peoples of the Aegean civilization—generally was connected with “foretelling” (or predicting) the future, the Hebrew view of prophecy centred on “forthtelling” (or proclaiming), though it included predictive aspects. Thus, in Hebrew prophecy the phrase “Thus says the Lord” is repeated constantly to emphasize the “forthtelling” motif. The Hebrew prophets were very conscious of the absolute holiness (separateness) of God and his purpose for his chosen people, Israel. Because of this consciousness, they developed an acute awareness of sin and its effects on man and society and, from such an awareness, a radical ethical outlook that applied to both the individual and the community.

The Hebrew term for prophet (naviʾ) is probably related etymologically to the Akkadian verb nabū, meaning “to call” or “to name.” The Hebrew prophet may thus be viewed as a “caller,” or spokesman, for God. Other designations for prophet in the Old Testament are roʾe, or “seer,” and ḥoze, or “visionary,” the two latter terms indicating that the predictive element was operative in Hebrew prophecy. The distinctive element of Hebrew prophecy, however, was the relationship of the prophet to God, the Lord of the Covenant, and to Israel, the covenant people. He spoke for the sovereign Lord to remind, cajole, castigate, reprove, comfort, and give hope to the people of the covenant, constantly reminding them that they were chosen to witness to the nations of the love, mercy, and goodness of God.

Some of the Hebrew prophets, from the 11th to the 8th century bce, belonged to bands or guilds of ecstatic prophets. Such prophets were spokesmen for God whose uncontrollable actions and words caused them to be feared and, sometimes, held in contempt. In II Kings, chapter 9, verse 11, a prophet—who came to Jehu, the 9th-century-bce army commander who became king of Israel, in order to anoint him—was called a “madman” (meshuggaʿ). Other Hebrew prophets were more independent, such as Nathan and Elijah, though they continued to maintain the quality of being uncontrollable—at least as far as the political authorities were concerned. Both of these early nonwriting prophets spoke out against the oppression of the weak by the strong, a theme that came to be expressed constantly in Judaism. The activities of such early prophets, including also Micaiah and Elisha in the 9th century bce, are described in the Former Prophets.

In the 8th century bce, the writing prophets—i.e., the Latter Prophets—began their activities. Though all the books that bear their names probably have been edited by schools of a prophet or by individuals or groups that were influenced by their ideas, the editors or disciples of the prophets preserved as well as was possible the words, activities, and idiosyncratic themes of the prophetic personalities. Some of the Latter Prophets may have been connected with the priestly class, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; most of the Latter Prophets, however, were independent of priestly connections. All of the Latter Prophets stood out in contrast to the court prophets who, in the tradition of court prophets of most ancient Near Eastern peoples, seldom contradicted what they believed was expected of them by their sovereigns or the people.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Joshua
The Book of Joshua takes its name from the man who succeeded Moses as the leader of the Hebrew tribes—Joshua, the son of Nun, a member of the tribe of Ephraim. In post-biblical times Joshua himself was credited with being the author of the book, though internal evidence gives no such indication. According to the views of the German biblical scholar Martin Noth, which have been accepted by many contemporary biblical critics, the Book of Joshua was the second of a series of five books (Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) written by a Judaean oriented historian after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 bce. This writer (called the Deuteronomist and designated D) constructed the history of Israel from the death of Moses to the beginning of the Babylonian Exile (586–538 bce). The Deuteronomist, according to this view, used sources, both oral and written, from various periods to produce the history of Israel in these five books. The Book of Joshua probably contains elements from the J and E documents, as well as local and tribal traditions, all of which were modified by additions and editing until the book assumed its present form. The main theme of the Deuteronomist historian was that under the guidance of and in obedience to Yahweh, Israel would persevere and conquer its many enemies.

This theme is especially and dramatically presented in Joshua. Under the guidance of Yahweh, the people of Israel entered and conquered Canaan in fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis, chapter 12. Joshua is interpreted as a second Moses—e.g., he sent out spies, led the people in crossing the Jordan River on dry land as Moses had crossed the Sea of Reeds, and ordered the males to be circumcised with flint knives as Zipporah, Moses’ wife, had earlier circumcised the son of Moses (and probably Moses himself). He was obedient to the will of Yahweh, and because of this obedience he was able to lead the Israelite tribes in their battles against the Canaanites. As long as they were faithful to their covenant promise, the land would be theirs as a trust.

The book may be divided into three parts: the story of the conquest of Canaan (chapters 1–12); the division of the land among the tribes of Israel (chapters 13–22); and Joshua’s farewell address, the renewal of the Covenant, and Joshua’s death (chapters 23–24).

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Joshua » The conquest of Canaan
As told by the Deuteronomist, the conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Israelite tribes was swift and decisive. No conquest of central Canaan (in the region of Shechem), however, is mentioned in the book; and some scholars interpret this to mean that the central hill country was already occupied either by ancestors of the later Israelite tribes prior to the time of Moses or by portions of Hebrew tribes that had not gone to Egypt. Because these people made peace with the tribes under Joshua, a conquest of the area apparently was not necessary. Archaeological evidence supports portions of Joshua in describing some of the cities (e.g., Iachish, Debir, and Hazor) as destroyed or conquered in the late 13th century bce, the approximate time of the circumstances documented in Joshua. Some of the cities so reported, however, apparently were devastated at some time prior to or later than the 13th century. Jericho, for example, was razed at the end of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1550 bce) and most likely had not been rebuilt as a strongly fortified town by the time of Joshua, though the site may well have been inhabited during this period. The city of Ai was destroyed about 600 years before; but it may have been a garrison site for the city of Bethel, which was destroyed later by the “house of Joseph.” Though many of the cities of Canaan were conquered by the Israelites under Joshua, historical and archaeological evidence indicates that the process of conquering the land was lengthy and not completed until David conquered the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem in the early 10th century bce. At any rate, the 13th century was an ideal time for a conquest of the area because of the international turmoil involving the great powers of the time: Egypt and Babylonia. A political vacuum existed in the area, permitting small powers to strengthen or to expand their holdings.

The introductory section of Joshua (chapters 1 and 2), in dealing with the Deuteronomist’s view of the ideal man of faith—one who is full of courage and faithful to the law that was given to Moses—relates the story of spies sent to Jericho, where they were sheltered by Rahab, a harlot, whose house was spared by the Israelites when they later destroyed the city. In the Gospel According to Matthew, in the New Testament, Rahab is listed as the grandmother of Jesse, the father of David (the architect of the Israelite empire), which may be the reason why this story was included in Joshua. Also in the New Testament, in the Letter to the Hebrews, Rahab is depicted as an example of a person of faith. After the return of the spies, who reported that the people of Canaan were “fainthearted” in the face of the Israelite threat, Joshua launched the invasion of Canaan; the Israelite tribes crossed the Jordan River and encamped at Gilgal, where the males were circumcised after a pile of stones had been erected to commemorate the crossing of the river. They then attacked Jericho and, after the priests marched around it for seven days, utterly destroyed it in a ḥerem; i.e., a holy war in which everything is devoted to destruction. Prior to the Israelites’ further conquests it was discovered that Achan, a member of the tribe of Judah, had broken the ḥerem by not devoting everything taken from Jericho to Yahweh. Because he had thus sinned in keeping some of the booty, Achan, his family, and all of his household goods were destroyed and a mound of stones was heaped upon them. The Israelite tribes next conquered Ai, made agreements with the people of the region of Gibeon, and then campaigned against cities to the south, capturing several of them, such as Lachish and Debir, but not Jerusalem or the cities of Philistia on the seacoast. Joshua moved north, first conquering the city of Hazor—a city of political importance—and then defeating a large number (31) of the kings of Canaan, though the conquests of their cities did not necessarily follow.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Joshua » Division of the land and renewal of the Covenant
The division of the land among the tribes is recounted in chapters 13–22. Two sources were apparently used by the Deuteronomist in dealing with the division of the land: a boundary list from the pre-monarchical period (i.e., before the late 11th century bce) and a list of cities occupied by several tribes from the 10th to the 7th century bce. The tribes who occupied territories were: Reuben, Gad, Manasseh, Caleb, Judah, the Joseph tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh), Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. Certain cities (e.g., Hebron, Shechem, and Ramoth) were designated Levitical cities. Though the Levites probably did not control the cities politically, as the priestly class they were of cultic significance—and therefore feared and respected—in cities that were the sites of sanctuaries.

As Moses had before him, Joshua gave a farewell address (chapter 23) to his people, admonishing them to be loyal to the Lord of the Covenant; and in the closing chapter (24), the Israelites reaffirmed their loyalty to Yahweh at Shechem: first having heard the story of God’s salvatory deeds in the past, they were asked to swear allegiance to Yahweh and to repudiate all other gods, after which they participated in the Covenant renewal ceremony. After the people were dismissed, Joshua died and was buried in the hill country of Ephraim; the embalmed body of Joseph that had been carried with the Hebrews when they left Egypt more than a generation earlier was buried on purchased land; and Eleazar, the priestly successor to Aaron (Moses’ brother), was buried at Gibeah.

Besides the obvious emphases on the conquest of Canaan and the division of the land, the Deuteronomist gave special attention to the ceremony of Covenant reaffirmation. By means of a regularly repeated Covenant renewal the Israelites were able to eschew Canaanite religious beliefs and practices that had been absorbed or added to the religion of the Lord of the Covenant, especially the fertility motifs that were quite attractive to the Hebrew tribes as they settled down to pursue agriculture, after more than a generation of the nomadic way of life.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: background and purpose
The Book of Judges, the third of the series of five books that reflect the theological viewpoint of the Deuteronomic historian, covers the history of the Israelite tribes from the death of Joshua to the rise of the monarchy, a period comprising nearly 200 years (c. 1200–c. 1020 bce). Though the internal chronology of Judges points to a period of about 400 years, the editor may have arbitrarily used the formula of 40 years for a generation of rule by a judge; and he may have compiled the list in the form of a series of successive leaders who actually may have led only a particular tribe or a group of tribes during the same generation as another judge. In other words, the reign of two or more judges may well have overlapped.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: background and purpose » The Deuteronomic “theology of history”
The Deuteronomic “theology of history” shows through very clearly in Judges: unless the people of the Covenant remain faithful and obedient to Yahweh, they will suffer the due consequences of disobedience, whether it be an overtly willful act or an unthinking negligence in keeping the Covenant promise. The Deuteronomist worked out a formula for his theology of history that was based in a very dramatic way on the historical events of the period: (1) obedience to Yahweh brings peace and well-being; (2) a period of well-being often involves a slackening of resolve to keep the commandments of Yahweh or outright disobedience; (3) disobedience leads to a weakness of the faith that had bound the community together and thus leaves the community open to repression and attacks from external enemies; and (4) external repression forces the community to reassess its position and ask the cause of the calamities, thus leading to repentance and eventual strength to resist all enemies.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: background and purpose » Canaanite culture and religion
The Israelite tribes during the period of the guidance and leadership of Moses and Joshua mainly had to contend with nomadic tribes; in their contacts with such groups, they absorbed some of the attitudes and motifs of the nomadic way of life, such as independence, a love of freedom to move about, and fear of or disdain for the way of life of settled, agricultural, and urban peoples.

The Canaanites, with whom the Israelites came into contact during the conquest by Joshua and the period of the Judges, were a sophisticated agricultural and urban people. The name Canaan means “Land of Purple” (a purple dye was extracted from a murex shellfish found near the shores of Palestine). The Canaanites, a people who absorbed and assimilated the features of many cultures of the ancient Near East for at least 500 years before the Israelites entered their area of control, were the people who, as far as is known, invented the form of writing that became the alphabet, which, through the Greeks and Romans, was passed on to many cultures influenced by their successors—namely, the nations and peoples of Western civilization.

The religion of the Canaanites was an agricultural religion, with pronounced fertility motifs. Their main gods were called the Baalim (Lords), and their consorts the Baalot (Ladies), or Asherah (singular), usually known by the personal plural name Ashtoret. The god of the city of Shechem, which city the Israelites had absorbed peacefully under Joshua, was called Baal-berith (Lord of the Covenant) or El-berith (God of the Covenant). Shechem became the first cultic centre of the religious tribal confederacy (called an amphictyony by the Greeks) of the Israelites during the period of the judges. When Shechem was excavated in the early 1960s, the temple of Baal-berith was partially reconstructed; the sacred pillar (generally a phallic symbol or, often, a representation of the ashera, the female fertility symbol) was placed in its original position before the entrance of the temple.

The Baalim and the Baalot, gods and goddesses of the Earth, were believed to be the revitalizers of the forces of nature upon which agriculture depended. The revitalization process involved a sacred marriage (hieros gamos), replete with sexual symbolic and actual activities between men, representing the Baalim, and the sacred temple prostitutes (qedeshot), representing the Baalot. Cultic ceremonies involving sexual acts between male members of the agricultural communities and sacred prostitutes dedicated to the Baalim were focussed on the Canaanite concept of sympathetic magic. As the Baalim (through the actions of selected men) both symbolically and actually impregnated the sacred prostitutes in order to reproduce in kind, so also, it was believed, the Baalim (as gods of the weather and the Earth) would send the rains (often identified with semen) to the Earth so that it might yield abundant harvests of grains and fruits. Canaanite myths incorporating such fertility myths are represented in the mythological texts of the ancient city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) in northern Syria; though the high god El and his consort are important as the first pair of the pantheon, Baal and his sexually passionate sister-consort are significant in the creation of the world and the renewal of nature.

The religion of the Canaanite agriculturalists proved to be a strong attraction to the less sophisticated and nomadic-oriented Israelite tribes. Many Israelites succumbed to the allurements of the fertility-laden rituals and practices of the Canaanite religion, partly because it was new and different from the Yahwistic religion and, possibly, because of a tendency of a rigorous faith and ethic to weaken under the influence of sexual attractions. As the Canaanites and the Israelites began to live in closer contact with each other, the faith of Israel tended to absorb some of the concepts and practices of the Canaanite religion. Some Israelites began to name their children after the Baalim; even one of the judges, Gideon, was also known by the name Jerubbaal (“Let Baal Contend”).

As the syncretistic tendencies became further entrenched in the Israelite faith, the people began to lose the concept of their exclusiveness and their mission to be a witness to the nations, thus becoming weakened in resolve internally and liable to the oppression of other peoples.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: importance and role » The role of the judges
Under these conditions, the successors to Joshua—the judges—arose. The Hebrew term shofet, which is translated into English as “judge,” is closer in meaning to “ruler,” a kind of military leader or deliverer from potential or actual defeat. In a passage from the so-called Ras Shamra tablets (discovered in 1929), the concept of the judge as a ruler is well illustrated:

Our king is Triumphant Baal,

Our judge, above whom there is no one!

The magistrates of the Phoenician-Canaanite city of Carthage, which competed with Rome for supremacy of the Mediterranean world in the 3rd century bce, were called suffetes, thus pointing toward the political authority of the judges.

The office of judgeship in the tribal confederacy of the Israelites, which was centred at a covenant shrine, was not hereditary. The judges arose as Yahweh saw fit, in order to lead an erring and repentant people to a restoration of a right relationship with him and to victory over their enemies. The quality that enabled a person selected by Yahweh to be a judge was charisma, a spiritual power that enabled the judge to influence, lead, and control the people caught between the allurements of the sophisticated Canaanite culture and the memory of the nomadic way of life with its rugged freedom and disdain for “civilization.” Though many such leaders are mentioned, the Book of Judges focusses attention upon only a few that are singled out as especially significant: Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, and Samson. In spite of the Israelites’ repeated apostasy, such leaders, under the guidance and spiritual powers granted to them by Yahweh, were able to lead their tribes in successfully defeating or driving back their opponents.

The Book of Judges may be divided into four parts: (1) the conquests of several tribes (chapter 1), (2) a general background for the subsequent events according to the interpretation of the Deuteronomic historian—“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals”—(chapter 2 through chapter 3, verse 6), (3) the exploits of the judges of Israel (chapter 3, verse 7, through chapter 16), and (4) an appendix (chapters 17 through 21).

Judges, chapter 1, shows that the conquest of Canaan, in contradistinction to the view presented in Joshua, was incomplete, inconclusive, and lengthy. Though conquests of some of the tribes (Judah, Simeon, Caleb, and the “house of Joseph”) are noted, the main emphasis is on the cities and areas that the tribes had not conquered—e.g., “And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them” (chapter 1, verse 29).

The second section gives the Deuteronomic interpretation of the consequences of such a policy:

they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were round about them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. (chapter 2, verses 12–13)

In chapter 3 an explanation is given as to why the Canaanites had not been annihilated and were allowed to remain with the Israelites: they enabled the Israelites to be tested in the techniques of warfare; the Philistines, for example, had a monopoly on the smelting of iron in the area—and the iron used in their weapons was far superior to the bronze used by the Israelites for their swords, shields, and armaments—until the secret had been wrested from them by the first king of Israel, Saul, in the latter part of the 11th century bce. The Canaanites also served to test the faith of the Israelites in the one, true God, Yahweh.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: importance and role » The role of certain lesser judges
The third section relates the exploits of the various judges. Othniel, a member of the tribe of Caleb, delivered the erring Israelites from eight years of oppression by Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The king, however, was most likely an area ruler, rather than a king of the Mesopotamian Empire. Another judge, Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite, delivered Israel from the oppression of the Moabites. Ehud, a fat man who had hidden a sword under his garments on his right side so that when a search of his person was made it would be overlooked, brought tribute to Eglon, the Moabite king. Upon Ehud’s claiming to have a secret message for the king, Eglon dismissed the other people carrying tribute. Ehud then said to the King, “I have a message from God to you,” assassinated him, locked the doors to the chamber, and escaped. Rallying the Israelites around him, Ehud led an attack upon the Moabites that was decisive in favour of the Israelites. Shamgar, the third judge, is merely noted as a deliverer who killed 600 Philistines.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: importance and role » The roles of Deborah, Gideon, and Jephthah
The first notably important judge of the tribal confederacy was Deborah, who was primarily a seer, poet, and interpreter of dreams but still a person endowed with the kind of charisma that identified her as a judge sent from Yahweh. The story of the victory of the Israelites under the charismatic leadership of Deborah and the military leadership of Barak, her commander, is related in prose (chapter 4) and repeated in poetry (chapter 5, which is known as the “Song of Deborah”). The Canaanites, under the leadership of Jabin, king of a reestablished Hazor, and his general Sisera, had oppressed an apostate Israel. Deborah sent word to all the tribes to unite against the Canaanites, but only about half the tribes responded. The Canaanites had asserted control over the Valley of Jezreel, which was an important commercial thoroughfare and was commanded by the city of Megiddo. In this valley dominated by the hill of Megiddo (Armageddon)—a site of many later crucial military battles and which later became the symbolic name for the final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil in apocalyptic literature—the Israelites met the Canaanites near the river Kishon in open battle. A cloudburst occurred, causing the river to flood, thus limiting the manoeuvrability of the Canaanite chariots. The Canaanite general Sisera, seeing defeat for his forces, fled, seeking refuge in the tent of a Kenite woman, Jael. A supporter of the cause of Israel, Jael gave Sisera a drink of milk (fermented?) and he fell asleep “from weariness.” Jael pounded a tent peg through his temple, thus ending decisively the threat of the Canaanites of Hazor. The victory song of Deborah in chapter 5 is one of the oldest literary sections of the Old Testament. It is a hymn that incorporates the literary forms of a confession of faith, a praise of Yahweh’s theophany (manifestation), an epic, a curse, a blessing, and a hymn of victory.

Another important judge, perhaps the most important other than Samuel, was Gideon, whose exploits are related in chapters 6–8. The oppressors of Israel during the time of Gideon were the camel-borne raiders from Midian, roving bands that pillaged the farms and unfortified villages for seven years. A prophet appeared among the Israelites and denounced them for their apostasy, after which, according to the account, an angel of Yahweh visited and then commissioned Gideon, a member of the tribe of Manasseh, to lead the Israelites against the enemies from the Transjordan. After sacrificing to Yahweh, building an altar to the Lord (which he named Yahweh Shalom, or “Yahweh is peace”), and destroying an altar of Baal and an ashera (most likely a wooden pole symbolizing the goddess) beside it, he sent out messengers to gather together the tribes in order to meet an armed force of the Midianites and Amalekites that had crossed the Jordan River and were encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. He went to a threshing floor (a common place to seek divinatory advice) and sought a sign from Yahweh—dew on a fleece of wool placed overnight on the threshing floor, with the rest of the area remaining dry. After receiving the positive divinatory sign, Gideon assembled a large force, reduced it to 300 men, and infiltrated the outposts of the Midianite camp with his servant—overhearing a Midianite telling another of his dream about a barley cake rolling into the camp of the Midianites and striking a tent so that it fell down and was flattened (which Gideon interpreted as a sign of victory for the forces under him). He encircled the camp of the Midianites about midnight. On signal, the men broke jars, shouted, waved torches, blew rams’ horns, and attacked the encampment. The Midianites, in the confusion, were routed and harassed in their flight. In their pursuit of the fleeing Midianites, Gideon and his forces were refused aid by the cities of Succoth and Penuel, which was a violation of the tribal confederacy agreements. The Midianites, however, were again the objects of a surprise attack and their two kings (Zebah and Zalmunna) were captured and later executed by Gideon because they had killed his brother. The leaders of Succoth were punished and the men of Penuel were killed in retaliation for their refusal to aid the forces of Gideon.

After the victory, the people, recognizing their need for centralized leadership of the confederacy, petitioned to Gideon that he establish a hereditary monarchy, with himself as the first king. Gideon refused, however, on the basis that “the Lord will rule over you.”

After Gideon died, the people returned to worshipping the gods of the Canaanites, especially Baal-berith. Abimelech, one of the 70 sons of the wives and concubines of Gideon, went to Shechem to solicit support for his attempt to establish a monarchy. After receiving financial support from those who controlled the treasury of the shrine of Baal-berith, he hired a band of assassins—who killed all of his brothers except Jotham, the youngest of Gideon’s sons. Abimelech was declared king by the Shechemites. The surviving Jotham told a parable about trees that sought a king—after all the larger trees refused the kingship, the bramblebush, which was highly inflammable, accepted the offer. The point of the parable was that as the bramblebush is highly inflammable, so also would the reign of Abimelech be the source of fires of rebellion and revolution. Revolution did occur, and after being wounded at Thebez by a millstone dropped by a woman from a tower, Abimelech asked his armour bearer to kill him. The attempt of Abimelech and the Shechemites to establish a monarchy thus proved to be abortive and premature.

After a brief account of the rule of two judges, Tola of the tribe of Issachar and Jair from Gilead, the Deuteronomist describes the apostasy of the Israelites and the consequent oppression of the tribes by the Philistines from the seacoast and the Ammonites from the Transjordan. The Israelites looked for a leader and found Jephthah, the son of a harlot, who had been rejected by the sons of his father and who had gathered about him a band who made their living by raiding others. Jephthah made several attempts to negotiate with the Ammonites and Moabites; when the Ammonites did not cooperate, Jephthah moved against them. Seized by the Spirit of the Lord—i.e., ecstatically inspired—he began his campaign with a vow to sacrifice the first person he saw upon his return home as a burnt offering to Yahweh. He was victorious over the Ammonites, but the first person he saw on return home was his only child, a daughter. Upon learning of her destined fate, she requested a two-month period to be with her friends to bewail her virginity and approaching death. The story is reminiscent of the fertility myths of the ancient Near East. After she was sacrificed, Jephthah subdued a contingent of the Ephraimites in the Transjordan to bring peace to the area. A password was used to separate the Ephraimites from the men under Jephthah: “shibboleth.” Because the Ephraimites could not pronounce the word correctly, in that their dialect was different from the others, they were thus identified and killed.

In chapter 12, three judges are given cursory treatment: Izban of Bethlehem, Elon the Zebulunite, and Abdon the Ephraimite.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Judges: importance and role » The role of Samson
The exploits of the great Israelite strongman judge, Samson (a member of the tribe of Dan), are related in chapters 13–16. Dedicated from birth by his mother to Yahweh, Samson became a member of the Nazirites, an anti-Canaanite reform movement. As a Nazirite, he was required never to cut his hair, drink wine, or eat ritually unclean food. He married a Philistine woman whom he then left when she helped her fellow Philistines avoid payment to Samson in a riddle contest by giving them the answer. Returning later to find her given to another man, he burned the grainfields of the Philistines. They sought revenge by killing Samson’s wife and her father. The exploits of Samson against the Philistines from then on are numerous. After he met the temptress Delilah, who wrested from him the secret of his great strength (i.e., his long uncut hair because of his vow), Samson was captured by the Philistines after his hair had been cut short. After imprisonment, blinding, and humiliation, Samson finally avenged his loss of self-respect by pulling down the main pillars of the temple of the Philistine god Dagon, after which the temple was destroyed, along with numerous Philistines. Though Samson was more a folk hero than a judge, he was probably included in the list of judges because his ventures against the Philistines slowed their movements inland against the Israelite towns and villages. The Philistines were a group of “sea peoples” united in a confederacy of five city-states: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. To the area they gave their name, which has endured to the 20th century: Palestine.

The final section of the Book of Judges is an appendix divided into two parts: (1) the story of Micah, the repentant Ephraimite, a Levite priest who deserted him to be priest of the tribe of Dan, and the establishment of a shrine at the conquered city of Laish (renamed Dan) with the cult object taken from the house of Micah and (2) the story of the Benjamites who were defeated in a holy war after they had killed a concubine of a Levite. The book ends with a critique of the period: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (chapter 21, verse 25).

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Samuel: Israel under Samuel and Saul
The book of Samuel covers the period from Samuel, the last of the judges, through the reigns of the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David (except for David’s death). The division of Samuel and its succeeding book, Kings (Melakhim), into four separate books first appeared in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament from the 3rd to 2nd centuries bce.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Samuel: Israel under Samuel and Saul » Theological and political biases
Containing two primary sources, the book of Samuel is the result of the editorial skill of the Deuteronomic historians of the post-exilic period. The early source, which is pro-monarchical and may have been written by a single author, is found in I Samuel, chapter 9, verse 1, through chapter 10, verse 16, as well as chapter 11 and most of II Samuel. The chapters just noted were probably written by a chronicler during the reign of Solomon; possible authors of these chapters were Abiathar, a priest of the line of Eli (who was Samuel’s predecessor at the shrine of Shiloh), or Ahimaaz, a son of Zadok (who originally may have been a priest of the Jebusite city of Jerusalem that David made his capital). The chapters in I Samuel are sometimes called the “Saul” source because it is in them that Saul’s charismatic leadership is legitimized in the form of kingship. The chapters of II Samuel, also displaying a pro-monarchical bias—as far as content is concerned—are the “book of David.” In the early source, Samuel, a seer, prophetic figure, and priest of the shrine at Shiloh, is viewed mainly as the religious leader who anointed Saul to be king. The later source, which displays a somewhat anti-monarchical bias and shows the marks of disillusionment on the part of the Deuteronomic historians of the post-exilic period, is found in I Samuel, chapter 7, verse 3, to chapter 8, verse 22, chapter 10, verses 17–27, and chapter 12. Sometimes called the Samuel source, the later source interprets the role of Samuel differently; he is viewed as the last and most important judge of the whole nation, whose influence extended to the shrines at Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. The two sources illustrate the two opposing tendencies that lasted for centuries after the conquest of Canaan.

During the period of Samuel, Saul, and David (the 11th–10th century bce), the Israelites were still threatened by various local enemies. The great nations—Egypt, Assyria, and the Hittite Empire—were either involved in domestic crises or concerned with areas other than Palestine in their expansionist policies. Of the various peoples pressing to break up the Israelite confederacy, the Philistines (the “sea peoples”) of the Mediterranean coast proved to be the most dangerous. Expanding eastward with their iron-weapon equipped armies, the Philistines threatened the commercial routes running north and south through Israelite territory. If they captured and controlled such areas as the Valley of Jezreel, they would eventually strangle the economic life of the Israelite confederacy.

To meet this threat, the tribal confederacy had four options open to it. First, the tribes could continue as before, loosely held together by charismatic leaders who served only as temporary leaders. Second, they could create a hereditary hierocracy (rule by priests), which the priest of the shrine at Shiloh, Eli, apparently attempted to inaugurate. A third possible course of action was to establish a hereditary judgeship, which was the aspiration of the judge Samuel. But, in either of these two possibilities, the sons of Eli and Samuel were not of the same stature as their fathers; and the apparent hopes of their fathers could not be realized. The fourth alternative was a hereditary monarchy. The book of Samuel is an account of the eventual success of those who supported the monarchical position, along with the Deuteronomic interpretation that pointed out the weaknesses of the monarchy whenever it departed from the concept of Israel as a covenant people and became merely one kingdom among other similar kingdoms.

The book of Samuel may be divided into four sections: (1) the stories of Samuel, the fall of the family of Eli, and the rise of Saul (I Samuel, chapters 1–15), (2) the accounts of the fall of the family of Saul and the rise of David (I Samuel, chapter 16, to II Samuel, chapter 5), (3) the chronicles of David’s monarchy (II Samuel, chapter 6, to chapter 20, verse 22), and (4) an appendix of miscellaneous materials containing a copy of Psalm 18, the “last words of David,” which is a psalm of praise, a list of heroes and their exploits, an account of David’s census, and other miscellaneous materials.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Samuel: Israel under Samuel and Saul » The role of Samuel
The first section (chapters 1–15) begins with the story of Samuel’s birth, after his mother Hannah (one of the two wives of the Ephraimite Elkanah) had prayed at the shrine at Shiloh, the centre of the tribal confederacy, for a son. She vowed that, if she bore a son, he would be dedicated to Yahweh for lifetime service as a Nazirite, as indicated by the words “and no razor shall touch his head.”

Three years after she had borne a son, whom she named Samuel—which is interpreted “Asked of God,” a phrase that fits the meaning of Saul’s name but may actually mean “El Has Heard”—Hannah took the boy to the shrine at Shiloh. Hannah’s song of exultation (chapter 2, verses 1–10) probably became the basis of the form and content of the Magnificat, the song that Mary, the mother of Jesus, sang in Luke, chapter 1, verses 46–55, in the New Testament. Eli, the priest at Shiloh (who had heard Hannah’s vow), trained the boy to serve Yahweh at the shrine, which Samuel’s mother and father visited annually. The sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, are depicted as corrupt, misusing their positions as servants of the shrine to take offerings the people gave to Yahweh for their own gratification, in contrast to Samuel, who “continued to grow in stature and favour with the Lord and with men.” Because the sons of Eli failed to heed the admonition of their father, the house of Eli was condemned by a “man of God,” who told Eli that his family was to lose its position of trust and power. This condemnation, an interruption of the later source, is the Deuteronomic historian’s answer as to why Abiathar, a priest of the family of Eli at the time of David, was excluded from the priesthood at Jerusalem, which became the central shrine of the monarchy.

While a youth (about 12 years old), Samuel experienced a revelation from Yahweh in the shrine at night. First going to Eli three times after hearing his name called, Samuel responded to Yahweh at Eli’s suggestion. What was revealed to him was the fall of the house of Eli, a message that Samuel hesitatingly related to Eli. After this religious experience, Samuel’s reputation as a prophet of Yahweh increased.

In chapter 4 is an account of the fall of Shiloh and the loss of the ark of the Covenant to the Philistines. Leaving the ark, the symbol of Yahweh’s presence, at Shiloh, the Israelites go out to battle against the Philistines near the Mediterranean coast but are defeated. The Israelites return to Shiloh for the ark; but even though they carry it back to the battleground, they are again defeated at great cost—the sons of Eli are killed, and the ark is captured by the enemy. When Eli, old and blind, hears the news of the disaster, he falls over backward in the chair on which he is sitting, breaks his neck, and dies. The wife of his son Phinehas gives birth to a son at this time; and, upon hearing of what had happened to Israel and her family, names the boy Ichabod, meaning “where is the glory?”—because, as she says, “The glory has departed from Israel.”

Though the Philistines had captured the ark, they eventually discovered that it did not bring them good fortune. Their god Dagon, an agricultural fertility deity probably meaning “grain,” fell to the ground whenever the ark was placed in close proximity to it; and, even more calamitous to them, the Philistines suffered from “tumours,” probably the bubonic plague, wherever they carried the ark. After experiencing such disasters for seven months, the Philistines returned the ark to Beth-shemesh in Israelite territory, along with a guilt offering of five golden tumours and five golden mice carried in a cart drawn by two cows. Because many Israelite men in Beth-shemesh also died—“because they looked into the ark of the Lord”—the ark was taken to Kiriath-jearim (the “forest of martyrs” in modern Israel), where it was placed in the house of Abinadab, whose son Eleazar was consecrated to care for it. The ark was not returned to Shiloh, probably because that shrine centre had been destroyed, along with other Israelite towns, by the Philistines.

In chapter 7, verse 3, to chapter 12, verse 25, the Deuteronomic historian depicts the way in which Samuel assumed leadership as judge and Covenant mediator of Israel. The Philistines continued to oppress Israel, though under Samuel’s leadership the Israelites were able to reconquer territory lost to their western enemies. When Samuel grew old, his sons were trained to take his place; but they—like the sons of Eli—were corrupt (“they took bribes and perverted justice”), so that the Israelites demanded another form of government—a monarchy. Samuel attempted to dissuade them, pointing out that if they had a highly centralized form of government (i.e., a monarchy), they would have to give up much of their freedom and would be heavily taxed in goods and services. Samuel obeyed both the elders of the people, who demanded a king, and Yahweh, who said, “make them a king.”

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Samuel: Israel under Samuel and Saul » The rise and fall of Saul
The man selected to become the first monarchical ruler of Israel was Saul, son of Kish, a wealthy Benjamite landowner. Because Kish had lost some donkeys, Saul was sent in search of them. Unsuccessful in his search, he went to the seer-prophet Samuel at Ramah. In the early source, from which this narrative comes, he did not know Samuel’s name. The day before Saul went to Ramah, Samuel the seer (ro’e), who was depicted by the Deuteronomic historian as a prophet (navi’ ), received notice from Yahweh that Saul was the man chosen to reign over Israel. At the sacrificial meal, Saul, a tall young man, was given the seat of honour, and the next day Samuel anointed him prince (nagid ) of Israel in a secret ceremony. Before returning home, Saul joined a band of roving ecstatic prophets and prophesied under the influence of the spirit of Yahweh. In chapter 10, verses 17–27, generally accepted as part of the later source, the Deuteronomic historian’s views are depicted—Saul was chosen by lot at Mizpah. The early source picks up the story of Saul in chapter 11, which illustrates Saul’s military leadership abilities and describes his acclamation as king at Gilgal. Samuel’s farewell address, a Deuteronomic reworking of the later source, recapitulates the history of the Israelite tribes from the time of the patriarch Jacob through the period of the judges and forcefully presents the conservative view that the request for a monarchy will bring about adversity to Israel.

The early reign of Saul and his confrontations with Samuel until the last judge’s death is the subject of chapters 13–15. Saul’s early acts as king centred about battles with the Philistines. Because his son Jonathan had defeated one of their garrisons at Geba, the Philistines mustered an army to counterattack near Beth-aven (probably another name for Bethel). Saul issued a request for volunteers, who gathered together for battle but awaited the performance of the sacrifice before the battle by Samuel. Because Samuel did not come for seven days, Saul, acting on his own, presided at the sacrifice. Immediately after the burnt offering had been completed, Samuel appeared (perhaps waiting for such an opportunity to reassert his leading position) and castigated Saul for overstepping the boundaries of his princely prerogatives—even though Saul had been more than patient. Samuel warned him that this type of act (which Saul, in the early source, and later David and Solomon also often performed) would cost Saul his kingdom. In spite of Samuel’s apparent animosity, Saul continued to defend the interests of the newly formed kingdom.

The tragedy of Saul was that he was a transitional figure who had to bear the burden of being the man who was of an old order and at the same time of a new way of life among a people composed of disparate elements and leading figures. Both Samuel, the last judge of Israel, and David, the future builder of the small Israelite empire, opposed him. Saul was more a judge—a charismatic leader—than a monarch. Unlike most kings of his time and area, he levied no taxes, depended on a volunteer army, and had no harem. He did not construct a court bureaucracy but relied rather on the trust of the people in his charismatic leadership and thus did not alter the political boundaries or structure of the tribal confederacy.

The issue between Saul and Samuel came to a head in the events described in chapter 15 (a section from the later source). Samuel requested Saul to avenge the attacks by the Amalekites on the Israelite tribes during their wanderings in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt about 200 years earlier. Saul defeated the Amalekites in a holy war but did not devote everything to destruction as was required by the ban (ḥerem). Because Saul had not killed Agag, the Amalekite king, and had saved sheep and cattle for a sacrifice, Samuel informed Saul that he had disobeyed Yahweh and was thus rejected by God, for “to obey is better than to sacrifice.” Samuel then asked that Agag be brought to him, and he hacked the Amalekite king to pieces. After that, Saul and Samuel saw each other no more.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Kings: Solomon’s successors » The divided monarchy
After Solomon died (922 bce), he was succeeded by Rehoboam, who proved to be unfit for the task of reigning. Prior to Solomon’s death, Jeroboam the Ephraimite, a young overseer of the forced labour battalions of the “house of Joseph” in the north, had encountered Ahijah, a prophet from the old shrine of the confederacy at Shiloh, and Ahijah had torn a new garment into 12 pieces, prophesying that 10 pieces (tribes) would be given to Jeroboam and only two pieces (tribal political units) would be retained by the house of David. The dismemberment of the united monarchy was to be brought about by Yahweh because Solomon had “not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.” Though Solomon had worshipped the Sidonian goddess Ashtoreth, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom, his reign over Israel continued. Jeroboam’s initial rebellion proved to be abortive, and he sought political asylum in Egypt under the protection of the pharaoh Sheshonk I (Shishak).

Rehoboam, having been crowned king of the united monarchy in Jerusalem, went north to Shechem, a shrine centre of the 10 northern tribes of the old confederacy, to have his position ratified by the northern units of the kingdom. Using this gathering as an opportune time to present their grievances against Solomon’s oppressive domestic policies, the northerners, under the leadership of the returned political fugitive Jeroboam, asked the king from Jerusalem to lighten their load. Requesting three days to take their grievances under advisement, Rehoboam sought counsel from his advisers. The older counsellors advised moderation, the younger, retaliation. Assenting to the latter, Rehoboam returned to the people with an answer that was to lead to the disintegration of the united monarchy that had lasted for only about a century under three kings: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” The response of the northerners was the ancient battle cry, “To your tents, O Israel.” Rehoboam, ruling from the cities, sent Adoram, the leader of the forced labour battalions, to Israel (the name to be used henceforth for the northern area); but he was stoned to death. The uncrowned king of the north, unable to quell the rebellion, returned to Jerusalem in rapid flight. Heeding the advice of the prophet Shemaiah, Rehoboam allowed the situation to remain that of a stalemate, thus inaugurating the period of the divided monarchy that lasted in Israel in the north from 922–721 bce and in Judah in the south until 586 bce.

Though the Davidic monarchy continued in Judah until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 bce, the monarchial situation in Israel was one of constant turmoil and confusion, except for the periods of a few dynasties. Jeroboam I of Israel (reigned 922–901 bce) attempted to bring about religious and political reforms. Establishing his capital at Shechem, he set aside two pilgrimage sites (Dan in the north and Bethel in the south) as shrine centres. Though the Deuteronomic historian—with an anti-north prejudice—interpreted Jeroboam’s use of golden bulls in the high place sanctuaries as a sin against Yahweh, Jeroboam’s actions may have merely been an incorporation of religious symbols similar to the cherubim (winged animals) that guarded the empty throne of Yahweh in the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Jeroboam would not have been so politically and religiously naïve as to introduce polytheistic practices among the conservative-minded tribes of northern Israel. Thus, the golden bulls may have been meant to serve as pedestals for the invisible Yahweh just as the ark (throne) may have been the seat of the invisible Yahweh in the Holy of Holies (inner sanctuary) of the Temple in Jerusalem. Gods (such as the storm god Hadad) of other Syrian and Palestinian religions also were represented as standing on the backs of bulls.

Jeroboam remained true to Yahwistic religion, however, in that the God of the Israelites was not represented iconographically. The first king of the northern kingdom also inaugurated other religious reforms or reinstituted ancient practices that were interpreted as decadent by the Deuteronomic historian of the southern kingdom of Judah. He instituted a harvest thanksgiving festival on the 15th day of the eighth month, a change in the religious calendar that would preclude the journey of many northern Israelites to a similar festival in Jerusalem; he reformed the priesthood by installing non-Levites (the traditional shrine functionaries) to serve Yahweh at the shrines, an action that had been carried out in Jerusalem by David but without the opprobrium inferred by the Deuteronomic historian on a similar action by Jeroboam.

The dynasties of the northern kingdom were shortlived. Jeroboam was succeeded by his son Nadab, who reigned for two years before he was overthrown by Baasha, who decimated the house of Jeroboam. Reigning for 24 years, Baasha (who “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” like all of the northern kings, according to the interpretation of the Deuteronomists) had to concern himself not only with charismatic leaders who were traditionally powerful in the north but also with the rising power of anti-monarchical prophets, such as Jehu—who prophesied the end of the house of Baasha (chapter 16). Elah, Baasha’s son, ruled only two years before he was assassinated while in a drunken state by Zimri, a chariot commander, who exterminated all of the members of the house of Baasha. Reigning for the brief period of seven days, Zimri was besieged in the citadel at Tirzah by Omri, commander of the army. Zimri burned to death in the king’s house. Much of this political turmoil and confusion in the north occurred during the reign of Asa, king of Judah from c. 913 to 873 bce, who inaugurated religious reforms, such as banning male cult prostitutes and the worship of the Canaanite goddess Asherah that had been sponsored by his mother, Maachah, the queen regent.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Kings: Solomon’s successors » The significance of Elijah
With the dynasty of Omri (c. 876–842), the prophetic movement begins to assume a position of tremendous importance in Israel and Judah. Omri (reigned c. 876–869) reestablished Israel’s economic and military significance among the Syrian and Palestinian minor kingdoms, so much so that years after his death the Assyrians referred to the northern kingdom as “the land of Omri.” He is mentioned in the Moabite Stone of King Mesha (9th century bce) as a king who “humbled Moab many years.” To strengthen an alliance with the Phoenicians, Omri contracted a marriage between Jezebel, princess of Sidon, and his son Ahab. The marriage proved to be fateful for Israel and was a catalyst that brought the prophetic movement into a course of action and a form that became Israel’s contribution to Near Eastern prophecy.

The reign of Omri’s son Ahab coincided with the activities of the prophet Elijah, as recorded in I Kings, chapter 16, verse 29, to chapter 22, verse 40. Ahab, under the influence of his queen Jezebel, allowed her to foster the worship of the fertility god Baal in Samaria—the capital that Omri had built—and in all Israel, even though he himself remained a worshipper of Yahweh. A temple was built for Baal in Samaria; Jericho was rebuilt (even though the ban against its existence still remained) by Hiel of Bethel, who sacrificed two of his own sons and placed them in the foundation and the gates of the walls of the city. During these apostate activities the great prophet Elijah the Tishbite appeared. A man of erratic behaviour, wearing a garment of hair with a leather belt around his waist, using uncouth language, and preferring the wilderness areas to the towns, Elijah bore many of the outward signs of social rebels. At odds with the court authorities, he began his prophetic career just prior to a retreat in the wilderness during a drought, which he had announced to Ahab, thus pointing out that Yahweh, rather than Baal, is the Lord of nature. In the desert he performed two miracles: he ensured a widow and her son of continuous food for her act of generosity to him and cured her son, apparently dead, who had stopped breathing, by stretching himself on top of the boy three times. Elijah then went to the court of Ahab at Samaria, after having met one of the leading prophets (Obadiah) who had escaped Jezebel’s attempt to destroy the leaders of the cult of Yahweh, and stood before Ahab, accusing the king of being the “troubler of Israel” for having followed the cult of Baal. Elijah hurled a challenge to the Baalists, supported by Jezebel, to meet him in a contest on Mt. Carmel.

The contest between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal was dramatic. Elijah first taunted the spectators, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” Elijah then laid the ground rules: two bulls were to be sacrificed, one each on an altar, on which firewood was to be laid, but no one was to light the fire—only the God “who answers by fire.” The prophets of Baal had the first opportunity, and they prayed to Baal loudly for a full half day, until noon. During this time, Elijah, in coarse language, taunted them. Eliminating the euphemisms in most English versions of the Bible, Elijah mocked the Baalists by saying that Baal might not be responding because he was out urinating (“gone aside”), on a trip, or sleeping. The Baalists then attempted to use sympathetic magic. By cutting themselves they hoped that as their life blood flowed on the ground Baal would send rain, the life blood of the Earth.

When the Baalists had failed, Elijah rebuilt an old altar of Yahweh, poured water on the wood three times (perhaps a remnant of an ancient rainmaking ceremony?), and prayed to Yahweh to answer his servant; “the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” Though some authorities explain the action by suggesting that Elijah poured naphtha on the wood, this does not explain the ignition of the wood at that particular time and that particular place even if by a bolt of lightning. The Deuteronomic historian emphasized the miracle wrought by Yahweh. The people, upon witnessing the miracle, cried out, “Yahweh, he is God,” and proceeded to annihilate the prophets of Baal.

Elijah told Ahab to complete the festivities while he went to the top of Mt. Carmel to perform another rainmaking ceremony. When the rains came in a cloudburst, Ahab was riding in his chariot in the Valley of Jezreel. Elijah, in fear of retaliation from Jezebel, fled to the southern wilderness. At Mt. Horeb (Sinai) after a storm, wind, and an earthquake, Yahweh spoke to Elijah through silence and then revealed that he should anoint Hazael to be king of Syria, Jehu to be king of Israel, and Elisha to be his successor as prophet. I Kings, chapter 20, records a war between Ben-hadad, king of Syria, and Ahab. Though Ahab was victorious, he did not kill Ben-hadad according to the provisions of the ḥerem (ban); and a prophet then informed Ahab that he would suffer for his inaction.

Upon Ahab’s return to Samaria Jezebel attempted to coerce the king into confiscating the vineyards of Naboth of Jezreel, which was a Canaanite centre. Naboth asserted that as an Israelite the land was not his own but was a trust from Yahweh and that he could not sell it. Taken to court on trumped-up charges of blasphemy, Naboth was convicted and stoned to death. Ahab, following Jezebel’s advice, then went to Naboth’s vineyard and took possession of it. Upon hearing of Ahab’s unjust act as king, Elijah proclaimed to him, “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.” The prophet also announced, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.”

In I Kings, chapter 22, another prophet, Micaiah, prophesied to Ahab and to King Jehoshaphat of Judah who were preparing for battle against the Syrians that in a vision he saw “all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.” Micaiah was put in prison to test the validity of his vision. It turned out to be true—Ahab, even though he disguised himself, was mortally wounded by an arrow shot by a Syrian archer. In 850 he was succeeded by his son Ahaziah, who reigned for only two years.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Kings: the second book
The Second Book of Kings continues the history of the monarchies of Israel and Judah and of the prophetic movement. Ahaziah fell from an upper chamber of his palace in Samaria and sought help from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron. Elijah met the messengers to castigate them for not seeking aid from Yahweh, the God of Israel, and told a third delegation that had been sent out to return to tell Ahaziah that because of his apostasy he would die. After the death of Ahaziah, Elijah conferred his mantle, the symbol of his prophetic authority, on Elisha, and “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Kings: the second book » The significance of Elisha
The stories of Elijah and his successor, Elisha, are of a different literary genre from the historical accounts of the political developments of the 9th century. The historical accounts are based on the viewpoints and biases of the monarchy, nobility, and military leaders. The stories of Elijah and Elisha are legendary, popular accounts, probably having arisen among the common people. They demonstrate the predilection of the common people to accent what appears to them as the miraculous and the supernatural, much as has been the case among many Roman Catholics and Eastern Christians in stories of their saints. Elijah was depicted, in several instances, as a second Moses—e.g., he fled to the wilderness to escape the retaliation of a ruler, and he encountered a theophany (manifestation of a deity) of Yahweh on Mt. Horeb. As Moses appointed Joshua as his successor, so also Elijah passed on his prophetic mantle to Elisha. Elisha is depicted in typical folk story embellishments and legendary motifs. The original beginning and ending of the Elijah story apparently was lost, but the Deuteronomic historian incorporated the popular accounts of Elijah and Elisha into the court history that gives scholars significant insights into the religious movements of the 9th century.

During the reigns of King Jehoshaphat of Judah (c. 873–849 bce) and King Jehoram (Joram) of Israel (c. 849–842), Elisha began his prophetic career. Elisha was unlike his mentor Elijah in many ways: he did not use uncouth language, he did not shun towns, he wore more fashionable clothing, and he used music to bring about the prophetic spirit—much as Saul had done earlier. A cycle of miracle stories arose around Elisha; he was said to have made bitter water sweet, revived the son of a Shunammite woman from death by breathing into his mouth and lying on top of him, helped a woman to avoid giving up her two sons to a creditor who would make them slaves, informed the Syrian captain Naaman how to be cured from his skin disease, and many other similar actions. In addition to being a miracle worker, Elisha was a political power. He prophesied the defeat of the Moabites as a result of a huge rainfall and advised Joram how to defeat Ben-hadad, king of Syria. By performing this last act Elisha instigated a revolt in Syria; Hazael murdered the sick and dying Ben-hadad.

Elisha sent “one of the sons of the prophets” to anoint Jehu, an army commander, to be the future king of Israel. Rushing in his chariot to Jezreel, Jehu exterminated Jehoram, the last king of the Omri dynasty, his nephew Ahaziah (king of Judah), who was visiting him, and the queen mother Jezebel, who “had painted her eyes, and adorned her head” before she was thrown out of the window and so mangled by the trampling of horses that “they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.” Jezebel’s end had come about in a manner similar to the way in which Elijah had prophesied.

The revolution of Jehu was not only politically inspired. A driving force behind him was the arch conservative Rechabite faction, led by Jehonadab. Despising the Canaanites and their agricultural way of life, the Rechabites—descendants of the ancient Kenites of Midian where Moses had experienced the theophany of the burning bush—lived in tents, refused to drink wine, and attempted to retain as many of the accoutrements of the “good old life” of ancient nomadism as possible. With excessive revolutionary zeal they helped Jehu to annihilate the worshippers of Baal, who were tricked into coming to their temple and there murdered. To further emphasize their revolutionary intent, the followers of Jehu, in addition to the holocaust, made the site of the temple of Baal a latrine.

Because the king of Judah (Ahaziah) had been killed in the revolution—along with the remaining northern members of the house of Omri—the southern kingdom was ruled over by the queen mother, Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. In her zeal to propagate the faith of her mother, Athaliah seized the opportunity to destroy the line of David that tended to be loyal to Yahweh. Liquidating all the male heirs to the throne of David—except the infant Joash (Jehoash) who received asylum in “the house of the Lord”—Athaliah ruled for six years. With support from the priests led by Jehoiada, the army and “the people of the land” revolted, killing Athaliah and her high priest of Baal, Mattan, and destroying the temple of Baal.

In the north, Jehu was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz (reigned c. 815–c. 801), who, in turn, was followed by his son Joash, or Jehoash. During the latter king’s reign, the prophet Elisha died. Though the Deuteronomic historian says little about Israel’s next king, Jeroboam II, he was a major monarch, reestablishing the northern kingdom’s ancient boundaries and fostering a period of economic prosperity. During the reign of Jeroboam II (c. 786–c. 746 bce), a time of both economic advances and social injustice, Amos, the great prophet of social justice, arose. During Jeroboam’s last years another great prophet, Hosea, whose message centred on Covenant love, arose to call an apostate people back to their Covenant responsibilities.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Kings: the second book » The fall of Israel
After the death of Jeroboam II, however, Israel faced a period of continuous disaster; and no prophetic figure was able to arrest the steady internal decay. From 746–721, when Samaria finally fell to the Assyrians, there were six kings, the last being Hoshea, a conspirator who had assassinated the previous king. The Assyrian king Sargon II deported the leading citizens of Samaria to Persia and imported colonists from other lands to fill their places.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Kings: the second book » The fall of Judah
The southern kingdom of Judah, under the Davidic monarchy, was able to last about 135 years longer, often only as a weak vassal state. Hezekiah (reigned c. 715–c. 687), with the advice of the prophet Isaiah, managed to avoid conflict with or outlast a siege of the Assyrians. Hezekiah was succeeded by his son Manasseh, an apostate king who stilled any prophetic outcries, reintroduced Canaanite religious practices, and even offered his son as a human sacrificial victim. Soothsaying, augury, sorcery, and necromancy were also reintroduced. The Deuteronomic historian also notes that many innocent persons were killed during his reign. Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon, who was assassinated in a palace revolution after a reign of only two years. His son Josiah, who succeeded him, reigned from 640 to 609 bce, when he was killed in a battle with the pharaoh Necho II of Egypt. During his reign, one of the most significant events in the history of the Israelite people occurred—the Deuteronomic reform of 621 bce. Occasioned by the discovery of a book of the Law in the Temple during its rebuilding and supported not only by Hilkiah, a high priest, and Huldah, a prophetess, but also by the young prophet Jeremiah, the Deuteronomic Code—or Covenant—as it has been called, became the basis for a far-reaching reform of the social and religious life of Judah. Though the reform was short-lived, because of the pressure of international turmoil, it left an indelible impression on the religious consciousness of the people of the Covenant, Israel, whether they were from the north or the south.

From 609 to 586 Judah felt the coming oppression of Babylon under King Nebuchadrezzar. After the death of Josiah, four kings ruled in Jerusalem, the last being Zedekiah, who failed to heed the advice of the prophet Jeremiah—who had attempted to persuade the king not to trust the Egyptians in a rebellion against Babylon because there would be only one loser, the House of David. Jehoiachin, the predecessor of the puppet king Zedekiah, had been carried off into exile to Babylon in 598; but about 560 he was released from prison, thus leaving a hope that the Davidic line had not become extinct. Despite this small element of hope, the year 586 bce marked the beginning of a tragic period for the people of Judah—the Babylonian Exile. During this period of rethinking Covenant faith, the prophet Ezekiel preached, both in Jerusalem and Babylon, offering the people hope for a restoration of the symbols and cultic acts of their covenant religion.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah, comprising 66 chapters, is one of the most profound theological and literarily expressive works in the Bible. Compiled over a period of about two centuries (the latter half of the 8th to the latter half of the 6th century bce), the Book of Isaiah is generally divided by scholars into two (sometimes three) major sections, which are called First Isaiah (chapters 1–39), Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55 or 40–66), and—if the second section is subdivided—Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56–66).

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Isaiah » The prophecies of First Isaiah
First Isaiah contains the words and prophecies of Isaiah, a most important 8th-century bce prophet of Judah, written either by himself or his contemporary followers in Jerusalem (from c. 740 to 700 bce), along with some later additions, such as chapters 24–27 and 33–39. The first of these two additions was probably written by a later disciple or disciples of Isaiah about 500 bce; the second addition is divided into two sections—chapters 33–35, written during or after the exile to Babylon in 586 bce, and chapters 36–39, which drew from the source used by the Deuteronomic historian in II Kings, chapters 18–19. The second major section of Isaiah, which may be designated Second Isaiah even though it has been divided because of chronology into Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah, was written by members of the “school” of Isaiah in Babylon: chapters 40–55 were written prior to and after the conquest of Babylon in 539 by the Persian king Cyrus II the Great, and chapters 56–66 were composed after the return from the Babylonian Exile in 538. The canonical Book of Isaiah, after editorial redaction, probably assumed its present form during the 4th century bce. Because of its messianic (salvatory figure) themes, Isaiah became extremely significant among the early Christians who wrote the New Testament and the sectarians at Qumrān near the Dead Sea, who awaited the imminent messianic age, a time that would inaugurate the period of the Last Judgment and the Kingdom of God.

Isaiah, a prophet, priest, and statesman, lived during the last years of the northern kingdom and during the reigns of four kings of Judah: Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He was also a contemporary of the prophets of social justice: Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Influenced by their prophetic outcries against social injustice, Isaiah added themes peculiar to his prophetic mission. To kings, political and economic leaders, and to the people of the land, he issued a message that harked back nearly five centuries to the period of the judges: the holiness of Yahweh, the coming Messiah of Yahweh, the judgment of Yahweh, and the necessity of placing one’s own and the nation’s trust in Yahweh rather than in the might of ephemeral movements and nations. From about 742 bce, when he first experienced his call to become a prophet, to about 687, Isaiah influenced the course of Judah’s history by his oracles of destruction, judgment, and hope as well as his messages containing both threats and promises.

Intimately acquainted with worship on Mt. Zion because of his priest-prophet position, with the Temple and its rich imagery and ritualistic practices, and possessed of a deep understanding of the meaning of kingship in Judah theologically and politically, Isaiah was able to interpret and advise both leaders and the common people of the Covenant promises of Yahweh, the Lord of Hosts. Because they were imbued with the following beliefs—God dwelt on Mt. Zion, in the Temple in the city of Jerusalem, and in the person of the King—the messianic phrase “God is with us” (Immanuel) Isaiah used was not a pallid abstraction of a theological concept but a concrete living reality that found its expression in the Temple theology and message of the great prophet.

In chapters 1–6 are recorded the oracles of Isaiah’s early ministry. His call, a visionary experience in the temple in Jerusalem, is described in some of the most influential symbolic language in Old Testament literature. In the year of King Uzziah’s death (742 bce), Isaiah had a vision of the Lord enthroned in a celestial temple, surrounded by the seraphim—hybrid human-animal-bird figures who attended the deity in his sanctuary. Probably experiencing this majestic imagery that was enhanced by the actual setting and the ceremonial and ritualistic objects of the Jerusalem Temple, Isaiah was mystically transported from the earthly temple to the heavenly temple, from the microcosm to the macrocosm, from sacred space in profane time to sacred space in sacred time.

Yahweh, in the mystical, ecstatic experience of Isaiah, is too sublime to be described in other than the imagery of the winged seraphim, which hide his glory and call to each other:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

The whole earth is full of his glory.”

With smoke rising from the burning incense, Isaiah was consumed by his feelings of unworthiness (“Woe is me! for I am lost”); but one of the seraphim touched Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal from the altar and the prophet heard the words, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” Isaiah then heard the voice of Yahweh ask the heavenly council, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” The prophet, caught up as a participant in the mystical dialogue, responded, “Here am I! Send me.” The message to be delivered to the Covenant people from the heavenly council, he is informed, is one that will be unheeded.

The oracles of Isaiah to the people of Jerusalem from about 740 to 732 bce castigate the nation of Judah for its many sins. The religious, social, and economic sins of Judah roll from the prophet’s utterances in staccato-like sequence: (1) “Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly,” against religious superficiality; (2) “cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow,” against social injustice; and (3) “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,” a call for obedience to the Covenant. The prophet also cried out for peace: “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” The sins of Judah, however, are numerous: the rich oppress the poor, the nation squanders its economic resources on military spending, idolatry runs rampant in the land, everyone tries to cheat his fellowman, women flaunt their sexual charms in the streets, and there are many who cannot wait for a strong drink in the morning to get them through the day. One of Isaiah’s castigations warns: “Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”

During the Syro-Ephraimitic war (734–732 bce), Isaiah began to challenge the policies of King Ahaz of Judah. Syria and Israel had joined forces against Judah. Isaiah’s advice to the young King of Judah was to place his trust in Yahweh. Apparently Isaiah believed that Assyria would take care of the northern threat. Ahaz, in timidity, did not want to request a sign from Yahweh. In exasperation Isaiah told the King that Yahweh would give him a sign anyway: “Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Thus, by the time this child is able to know how to choose good and refuse evil, the two minor kings of the north who were threatening Judah will be made ineffective by the Assyrians. The name Immanuel, “God is with us,” would be meaningful in this situation because God on Mt. Zion and represented in the person of the king would be faithful to his Covenant people. Ahaz, however, placed his trust in an alliance with Assyria under the great conqueror Tiglath-pileser III. In order to give hope to the people, who were beginning to experience the Assyrian encroachments on Judaean lands in 738 bce, Isaiah uttered an oracle to “the people who walked in darkness”: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah trusted that Yahweh would bring about a kingdom of peace under a Davidic ruler.

From 732 to 731 bce, the year the northern kingdom fell, Isaiah continued to prophesy in Judah but probably not in any vociferous manner until the Assyrians conquered Samaria. The king of the Assyrians is described as the rod of God’s anger, but Assyria also will experience the judgment of God for its atrocities in time of war. During one of the periods of Assyrian expansion towards Judah, Isaiah uttered his famous Davidic messianic (salvatory figure) oracle in which he prophesies the coming of a “shoot from the stump of Jesse,” upon which the Spirit of the Lord will rest and who will establish the “peaceable kingdom” in which “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” A hymn of praise concludes this first section of First Isaiah.

Chapters 13–23 include a list of oracles against various nations—Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria, Egypt, and other oppressors of Judah. These probably came from the time when Hezekiah began his reign (c. 715). In 705 bce, Sargon of Assyria died, however, and Hezekiah, a generally astute and reform-minded king, began to be caught up in the power struggle between Babylon, Egypt, and Assyria. Isaiah urged Hezekiah to remain neutral during the revolutionary turmoil. Though Sennacherib of Assyria moved south to crush the rebellion of the Palestinian vassal states, Isaiah—contrary to his previous advocacy of neutrality—urged his king to resist the Assyrians because the Lord, rather than the so-called Egyptian allies, who “are men, and not God,” will protect Jerusalem. He then prophesied a coming age of justice and of the Spirit who will bring about a renewed creation.

Second Isaiah (chapters 40–66), which comes from the school of Isaiah’s disciples, can be divided into two periods: chapters 40–55, generally called Deutero-Isaiah, were written about 538 bce after the experience of the Exile; and chapters 56–66, sometimes called Trito-Isaiah (or III Isaiah), were written after the return of the exiles to Jerusalem after 538 bce.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Isaiah » The prophecies of Deutero-Isaiah
Second Isaiah contains the very expressive so-called Servant Songs—chapter 42, verses 1–4; chapter 49, verses 1–6; chapter 50, verses 4–9; chapter 52, verse 13; and chapter 53, verse 12. Writing from Babylon, the author begins with a message of comfort and hope and faith in Yahweh. The people are to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem, which has paid “double for all her sins.” As creator and Lord of history, God will redeem Israel, his chosen servant. Through the Servant of the Lord all the nations will be blessed: “I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.” The Suffering Servant, whether the nation Israel or an individual agent of Yahweh, will help to bring about the deliverance of the nation. Though Second Isaiah may have been referring to a hoped-for rise of a prophetic figure, many scholars now hold that the Suffering Servant is Israel in a collective sense. Christians have interpreted the Servant Songs, especially the fourth, as a prophecy referring to Jesus of Nazareth—“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief . . . ,” but this interpretation is theologically oriented and thus open to question, according to many scholars.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Isaiah » The oracles of Trito-Isaiah
Chapters 56–66 are a collection of oracles from the restoration period (after 538 bce). Emphasis is placed upon cultic acts, attacks against idolatry, and a right motivation in the worship of Yahweh. Repentance and social justice are themes that have been retained from the earlier Isaiah traditions, and the ever-present element of hope in the creative goodness of Yahweh that pervaded II Isaiah remains a dominant theme in the last chapters of the Book of Isaiah.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel, written by the prophetpriest Ezekiel, who lived both in Jerusalem prior to the Babylonian Exile (586 bce) and in Babylon after the Exile, and also by an editor (or editors), who belongs to a “school” of the prophet similar to that of the prophet Isaiah, has captured the attention of readers for centuries because of its vivid imagery and symbolism. The book has also attracted the attention of biblical scholars who have noticed that, although Ezekiel appears to be a singularly homogeneous composition displaying a unity unusual for such a large prophetic work, it also displays, upon careful analysis, the problem of repetitions, certain inconsistencies and contradictions, and questions raised by terminological differences. Though the book itself indicates that the prophecies of Ezekiel occurred from about 593–571 bce, some scholars—who are in a minority—have argued that the book was written during widely divergent periods, such as in the 7th century and even as late as the 2nd century bce. Most scholars, however, accept that the main body of the book came from the 6th century bce, with the inclusion of some later glosses by redactors who remained loyal to the theological traditions of their master-teacher.

Containing several literary genres, such as oracles, mythological themes, allegory, proverbs, historical narratives, folk tales, threats and promises, and lamentations, the Book of Ezekiel may be divided into three main sections: (1) prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem (chapters 1–24); (2) prophecies against foreign countries (chapters 25–32); and (3) prophecies about Israel’s future.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Ezekiel » Ezekiel—the man and his message
The man who wrote this book—at least the main body of the work—was undoubtedly one of the leaders of Jerusalem because he was among the first group of exiles to go into captivity—those who were forced to leave their homeland about 597 bce in a deportation to Babylon on the orders of the conquering king Nebuchadrezzar. Belonging to the priestly class, perhaps of the line of Zadok, Ezekiel was a spiritual leader of his fellow exiles at Tel-abib, which was located near the river Chebar, a canal that was part of the Euphrates River irrigation system. According to his own account, Ezekiel, the priest without a temple, received the call to become a prophet during a vision “In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day”—perhaps July 31, 593 bce, if the dating is based on the lunar calendar, though the exact meaning of “thirtieth year” remains obscure. A married man who was often consulted by elders among the exiles, Ezekiel carried out his priestly and prophetic career during two distinct periods: (1) from 593–586 bce, a date that was doubly depressing for the prophet because it was the period when his wife died and his native city was destroyed; and (2) from 586–571 bce, the date of his last oracle (chapter 29, verse 17).

The personality of the prophet shows through his oracles, visions, and narrations. Frustrated because the people would not heed his messages from Yahweh, Ezekiel often exhibited erratic behaviour. This need not mean that he was psychologically abnormal. Like many great spiritual leaders, he displayed qualities and actions that did not fall within the range of moderation, and to perform an ex post facto psychological postmortem examination on any great historical figure in the face of a paucity of necessary details may be an interesting game but is hardly scientifically respectable or accurate. To be sure, Ezekiel did engage in erratic behaviour: he ate a scroll on one occasion, lost his power of speech for a period of time, and lay down on the ground “playing war” to emphasize a point, an action that would certainly draw attention to him, which was his purpose. In spite of these peculiarities, Ezekiel was a master preacher who drew large crowds and a good administrator of his religious community of exiles. He held out hope for a temple in a new age in order to inspire a people in captivity. He also initiated a form of imagery and literature that was to have profound effects on both Judaism and Christianity all the way to the 20th century: apocalypticism (the view that God would intervene in history to save the believing remnant and that this intervention would be accompanied by dramatic, cataclysmic events).

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Ezekiel » Prophetic themes and actions
The first section of the book (chapters 1–24) contains prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s call is recorded in chapter 1 to chapter 3, verse 15. It came in a vision of four heavenly cherubim, who appeared in a wind from the north, a cloud, and flashing fire (lightning?)—traditional symbolic elements of a theophany (manifestation of a god) in ancient Near Eastern religions. These winged hybrid throne bearers—with the faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle (which became iconographic symbols of the four Gospel writers of the New Testament)—bore the throne chariot of Yahweh. The cherubim, symbolizing intelligence, strength, and—especially—mobility, had beside them four gleaming wheels, or “a wheel within a wheel” (i.e., set at right angles to each other), which further emphasized the omnimobility of the throne chariot. This vision harks back to Isaiah’s mystical experience (Isaiah, chapter 6) in which that prophet envisioned the throne of the ark, which symbolized the omnipresence of the invisible Yahweh. High above the cherubim was a firmament, or crystal platform, above which was the throne of Yahweh, who—in a “likeness as if it were of a human form”—spoke to Ezekiel. The Spirit of Yahweh entered him, and he was commissioned to preach to the people of Israel a message of doom to an apostate people. The significance of this vision is that it occurred not to a priest in the holy Temple at Jerusalem but to an exiled prophet-priest in a foreign land. The God of Israel was the God of the nations. The impact of his visionary experience so overwhelmed Ezekiel that he simply sat at Tel-abib for seven days.

Commissioned by Yahweh to be “a watchman for the house of Israel,” Ezekiel performed a series of symbolic acts to illustrate the impending fate of the city from which he had been banished: he placed a brick on the ground to symbolize Jerusalem’s future siege, lay down on the ground, bound himself to indicate capture, ate food first cooked on fuel composed of human feces and then animal excrement, and then cut his hair and beard. Though these acts were performed in Babylon, news of them was most likely communicated to the people of Jerusalem. Just as Jeremiah had tried to repress the false hopes that the residents of Jerusalem harboured concerning the downfall of Babylon, which had been predicted by the popular nationalistic prophet Hananiah (Jeremiah, chapter 28, verses 5–17), Ezekiel attempted to quash the ill-founded aspirations of the exiles for an immediate return to Jerusalem.

In chapters 6 and 7 Ezekiel prophesies that Jerusalem’s “altars shall become desolate,” its people will be “scattered through the countries,” and “because the land is full of bloody crimes and the city full of violence,” Yahweh “will put an end to their proud might and their holy places shall be profane.” In chapter 8 he attacked the people of Jerusalem for their idolatry, as manifest by the women sitting before the entrance to the north gate of the Temple of Yahweh weeping in cultic despair for the Mesopotamian fertility deity Tammuz’s “annual death.”

After prophesying the fall of Jerusalem in chapters 9–11 because “the guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great,” Ezekiel performed other symbolic acts such as packing baggage for an emergency exile, digging a hole in his house to illustrate the fact that some will try to escape, and eating and drinking with trembling actions to show the future fear that the Jerusalemites will experience; he also attacked prophets who gave the people false hopes. “Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. Your prophets have been like foxes among ruins, O Israel.” He tried to underline his message of urgency by relating the problem of apostasy to similar situations in Israel’s past history.

About the time that Nebuchadrezzar besieged Jerusalem, Ezekiel’s wife became ill. Though Ezekiel could mourn her impending death “but not aloud” (i.e., only by himself so that the people would notice his unusual reaction and thus receive the full impact of his prophetic message), he was not to mourn her death publicly. When he did not eat the “bread of mourners” the people asked him for an explanation. He told them, and it was a shattering exposure: Jerusalem would be destroyed “and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword”; when this happens—in spite of their pining and groaning—they will know the meaning of Ezekiel’s actions.

In order to show that Yahweh was the Lord of the whole creation and of all nations, Ezekiel issued prophecies of impending disasters that would be experienced by many neighbouring Near Eastern countries. Nations that exulted in Judah’s defeat—i.e., Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, and Phoenicia—would all suffer the same fate, as well as Egypt, the formerly great empire that had manoeuvred Judah into its disastrous foreign policy of opposing Babylon.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » Ezekiel » Oracles of hope
In the third section, chapters 33–48, Ezekiel proclaimed, in oracles that have become imprinted in theological discourse and folk songs, the hope that lies in the faith that God cares for his people and will restore them to a state of wholeness. As the good shepherd, God will feed his flock and will “seek the lost,” “bring back the strayed,” “bind up the crippled,” and “strengthen the weak.” He will also “set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.” This Davidic ruler will be a nasi (prince), the term used for a leader of the tribal confederacy before the inauguration of the monarchy. In chapter 37, Ezekiel had a now-famous vision of the valley of dry bones, which refers not to resurrection from the dead but rather to the restoration of a scattered Covenant people into a single unity. To further emphasize the restoration of the scattered people of Yahweh, Ezekiel uttered the oracle of the two sticks joined together into one, which prophesied the re-unification of Israel and Judah as one nation. Chapters 38 and 39 contain a cryptic apocalyptic oracle about the invasion of an unidentified Gog of Magog. Who this Gog is has long been a matter of speculation; whoever he is, his chief characteristic is that he is the demonic person who leads the forces of evil in the final battle against the people of God. Gog and Magog have thus earned a position in apocalyptic literature over the centuries. Chapters 40–48 are a closing section in which Ezekiel has a vision of a restored Temple in Jerusalem with its form of worship reestablished and a restored Israel, with each of the ancient tribes receiving appropriate allotments. Ezekiel’s prophecies while in exile in Babylon were to have a significant influence on the religion of Judaism as it emerged from a time of reassessment of its religious beliefs and cultic acts during the Babylonian Exile (586–538 bce).

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The first six minor prophets » Hosea
The Book of Hosea, the first of the canonical Twelve (Minor) Prophets, was written by Hosea (whose name means “salvation,” or “deliverance”), a prophet who lived during the last years of the age of Jeroboam II in Israel and the period of decline and ruin that followed the brief period of economic prosperity. The Assyrians were threatening the land of Israel and the people of the Covenant acted as though they were oblivious to the stipulations of their peculiar relation to Yahweh. The Book of Hosea is a collection of oracles composed and arranged by Hosea and his disciples. Like his contemporary Amos, the great prophet of social justice, Hosea was a prophet of doom; but he held out a hope to the people that the Day of Yahweh contained not just retribution but also the possibility of renewal. His message against Israel’s “spirit of harlotry” was dramatically and symbolically acted out in his personal life.

The Book of Hosea may be divided into two sections: (1) Hosea’s marriage and its symbolic meaning (chapters 1–3); and (2) judgments against an apostate Israel and hope of forgiveness and restoration (chapters 4–14).

In the first section, Hosea is commanded by Yahweh to marry a prostitute by the name of Gomer as a symbol of Israel’s playing the part of a whore searching for gods other than the one true God. He is to have children by her. Three children are born in this marriage. The first, a son, is named Jezreel, to symbolize that the house of Jehu will suffer for the bloody atrocities committed in the Valley of Jezreel by the founder of the dynasty when he annihilated the house of Omri. The second, a daughter, is named Lo Ruḥama (Not pitied), to indicate that Yahweh was no longer to be patient with Israel, the northern kingdom. The third child, a son, is named Lo ʿAmmi (Not my people), signifying that Yahweh was no longer to be the God of a people who had refused to keep the Covenant. In chapter 2, Hosea voiced what probably was a divorce formula—“she is not my wife, and I am not her husband”—to indicate that he had divorced his faithless wife Gomer, who kept “going after other lovers.” The deeper symbolism is that Israel had abandoned Yahweh for the cult of Baal, celebrating the “feast days of Baal.” Just as Yahweh will renew his Covenant with Israel, however, Hosea buys a woman for a wife—probably Gomer. The woman may have been a sacred prostitute in a Baal shrine, a concubine, or perhaps even a slave. He confines her for a period of time so that she will not engage in any attempt to search for other paramours and thus commit further adulteries.

The second section, chapters 4–14, does not refer to the marriage motif; but the imagery and symbolism of marriage constantly recur. The Israelites, in “a spirit of harlotry,” have gone astray and have left their God. Their infidelity emphasized their lack of trustworthiness and real knowledge of love, a love that could not be camouflaged by superficial worship ceremonies. Thus, Hosea emphasized two very significant theological terms: ḥesed, or “Covenant love,” and “knowledge of God.” In attacking the superficiality of much of Israel’s worship, Yahweh, through Hosea, proclaimed: “For I desire steadfast (Covenant) love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.” Because they have broken Yahweh’s Covenant and transgressed his law, however, the Lord’s anger “burns against them.” For “they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind.” Israel will be punished for its rebellion and iniquities, but Hosea’s message holds out the hope that the holiness of Yahweh’s love—including both judgment and mercy—will effect a triumphant return of Israel to her true husband, Yahweh.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The first six minor prophets » Joel
The Book of Joel, the second of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, is a short work of only three chapters. The dates of Joel (whose name means “Yahweh is God”) are difficult to ascertain. Some scholars believe that the work comes from the Persian period (539–331 bce); others hold that it was written soon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 bce. His references to a locust plague may refer to an actual calamity that occurred; the prophet used the situation to call the people to repentance and lamentation, perhaps in connection with the festival of the New Year, the “Day of Yahweh.” “ ‘Yet even now,’ says the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ ” Some scholars, however, believe that the plague of locusts refers to the armies of a foreign power (Babylonia?). In the remaining section of the book (chapter 2, verse 30 to chapter 3, verse 21), Joel, in apocalyptic imagery, predicts the judgment of the nations—especially Philistia and Phoenicia—and the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The first six minor prophets » Amos
The Book of Amos, the third of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, has been one of the most significant and influential books of the Bible from the time it was written (8th century bce) down to the 20th century. Comprising only nine chapters of oracles, it was composed during the age of Jeroboam II, king of Israel from 786 to 746 bce. His reign was marked by great economic prosperity, but the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. Social injustice ran rampant in the land. The economically weak could find no redress in the courts and no one to champion their cause—until the coming of Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa in Judah, who also said that he was “a dresser of sycamore trees.” Amos, thus, was no professional prophet nor a member of a prophetic guild.

The book may be divided into three sections: (1) oracles against foreign nations and Israel (chapters 1–2); (2) oracles of indictment against Israel for her sins and injustices (chapters 3–6); and (3) visions and words of judgment (chapters 7–9). Amos was the first of the writing prophets, but his work may be composed of oracles issued both by himself and by disciples who followed his theological views.

His prophetic oracles begin with a resounding phrase: “The Lord roars from Zion.” He then goes on to indict various nations—Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Ammon, and Moab—for the crimes and atrocities they have committed in times of peace: “Because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes—they . . . trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the afflicted” (chapter 2, verses 6–7).

The second section (chapters 3–6) contains some of the most vehement and cogent invectives against the social injustices perpetrated in Israel. Though the Israelites have prided themselves on being the elect of God, they have misinterpreted this election as privilege instead of responsibility. In chapter 4, Amos, in language that was sure to raise the ire of the privileged classes, attacked unnecessary indulgence and luxury. To the wealthy women of Samaria he said: “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ ” (chapter 4, verse 1). After a series of warnings of punishment, Amos proclaimed the coming of the day of Yahweh, which is “darkness, and not light.” His attacks against superficial pretenses to worship have become proverbial: “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies” (chapter 5, verse 21). Another verse from Amos has become a rallying cry for those searching for social justice: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (chapter 5, verse 24).

The third section (chapters 7–9) contains visions of locusts as a sign of punishment, a summer drought as a sign of God’s wrath, and a plumb line as a sign to test the faithfulness of Israel. The priest of the shrine at Bethel, Amaziah, resented Amos’ incursion on his territory and told him to go back to his home in the south. In reply to Amaziah, Amos prophesied the bitter end of Amaziah’s family. Another vision in chapter 8, that of a basket of ripe fruit, pointed to the fact that Israel’s end was near. A fifth vision, depicting the collapse of the Temple in Samaria, symbolized the collapse of even the religious life of the northern kingdom. He ended his work with a prophecy that the Davidic monarchy would be restored.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The first six minor prophets » Obadiah
The Book of Obadiah, the fourth book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, contains only 21 verses. Nothing is known about the prophet as a person or about his times. It may have been written before the Exile, though many scholars believe that it was composed either some time after 586 bce or in the mid-5th century, when the Jews returned to the area around Jerusalem. The prophet concentrates on the judgment of God against Edom and other nations, with the final verses referring to the restoration of the Jews in their native land.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The first six minor prophets » Jonah
The Book of Jonah, containing the well-known story of Jonah in the stomach of a fish for three days, is actually a narrative about a reluctant prophet. This fifth book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets contains no oracles and is thus unique among prophetic books. In II Kings, chapter 14, verses 25–27, there is a reference to a prophet Jonah who lived during the early part of the reign of Jeroboam II (8th century bce).

The story, however, probably comes from a time after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 bce. Probably living during the Exile, the author used the memory of the hated Assyrians to proclaim the mission of Israel—to teach all nations about the mercy and forgiveness of God. In the short book of four chapters, Jonah, Amittai’s son, is commissioned by Yahweh to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to preach repentance. Attempting to avoid the command of Yahweh, Jonah boarded a ship, which soon was caught up in a storm. The frightened sailors drew lots to discover who was the cause of their unfortunate and calamitous condition. Jonah drew the unlucky lot and was thrown overboard, after which he was swallowed by a fish and stayed in that uncomfortable place for three days and nights. After he cried to the Lord to let him out, the fish vomited Jonah out onto dry land. Jonah, though still reluctant, went to Nineveh to preach repentance. His efforts were successful, which did not please him—because of his hatred for the Assyrians. In the end, however, Jonah realized that God was a universal God, and not the sole property of Israel.

Probably written sometime between 500 and 350 bce (or perhaps 250 bcebce, the message of Jonah protested the exclusiveness of a post-exilic Judaism, with its policy of a pure blood race of Jews that the reformers Ezra and Nehemiah had implemented in the 5th century.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The first six minor prophets » Micah
The Book of Micah, the sixth book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, was written by the prophet Micah in the 8th century bce. Composed of seven chapters, the book is similar in many ways to the Book of Amos. Micah attacked the corruption of those in high places and social injustice, and the book is divided into two sections: (1) judgments against Judah and Jerusalem (chapters 1–3); and (2) promises of restoration for Judah and judgments against other nations (chapters 4–7).

In the first section, Micah of Moresheth utters oracles against the corrupt religious and political leaders of Israel and Judah. He also attacks the prophets who attempted to give the people false hopes: “Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry ‘Peace’ when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths . . . the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame” (chapter 3, verses 5–7). In the second section, Israel’s future is predicted as being glorious, and it is told that out of Bethlehem will come a ruler of the line of David who will bring peace to the earth. Though he issues an indictment against Judah for its idolatries, Micah proclaims what is necessary to renew the Covenant relationship between God and Israel; “and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (chapter 6, verse 8). In this verse, Micah has given a brief summation of the messages of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The last six minor prophets » Nahum
The Book of Nahum, seventh of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, contains three chapters directed against the mighty nation of Assyria. Probably written between 626–612 bce (the date of the destruction of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital), the book celebrates in oracles, hymns, and laments the fact that Yahweh has saved Judah from potential devastation by the Assyrians.

He begins with the words “The Lord is a jealous God and avenging . . . is slow to anger and of great might, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty” (chapter 1, verses 2–3). From that beginning he predicts the overthrow of Assyria and the devastating manner in which Nineveh will be destroyed.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The last six minor prophets » Habakkuk
The Book of Habakkuk, the eighth book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, was written by a prophet difficult to identify. He may have been a professional prophet of the Temple from the 7th century bce (probably between 605–597 bce). Containing three chapters, Habakkuk combines lamentation and oracle. In the first chapter, he cries out for Yahweh to help his people: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and thou wilt not hear?” (chapter 1, verse 2). Though Yahweh will send mighty nations (e.g., the neo-Babylonians will be the executors of his judgment), Habakkuk wonders who will then stop these instruments of God’s justice, who use great force. The answer comes in a brief, almost cryptic verse, “but the righteous shall live by his faith.” The rest of chapter 2 pronounces a series of woes against those who commit social injustices and engage in debauchery. The last chapter is a hymn anticipating the deliverance to be wrought by Yahweh.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The last six minor prophets » Zephaniah
The Book of Zephaniah, the ninth book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, is written in three chapters. Composed by the prophet Zephaniah in the latter part of the 7th century bce, the book is an attack against corruption of worship in Judah, probably before the great Deuteronomic reform took place. Zephaniah attacked the religious syncretism that had become established, especially the worship of Baal and astral deities, and predicted the coming catastrophe of the “Day of the Lord.” He denounced both foreign nations and Judah, but issued a promise of the restoration of Israel: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem” (chapter 3, verse 14). The reason for exultation is that Yahweh will deliver his people.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The last six minor prophets » Haggai
The Book of Haggai, the 10th book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, is a brief work of only two chapters. Written about 520 bce by the prophet Haggai, the book contains four oracles. The first oracle calls for Zerubbabel, the governor of Judaea, and Joshua, the high priest, to rebuild the Temple (chapter 1, verses 1–11). A drought and poor harvests, according to Haggai, had been caused because the returnees from the Exile had neglected or failed to rebuild the Temple. The second oracle, addressed to the political and religious leaders and the people, sought to encourage them in their rebuilding efforts (chapter 2, verses 1–9). Apparently they were disappointed that the new Temple was not as splendid as the former one, so Haggai reassured them: “My Spirit abides among you, fear not.” The third oracle was issued against the people for not acting in a holy manner (chapter 2, verses 10–19), and the fourth proclaimed that Zerubbabel would be established as the Davidic ruler (chapter 2, verses 20–23). His promise, however, remained unfulfilled.

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The last six minor prophets » Zechariah
The Book of Zechariah, the 11th book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, dates from the same period as that of Haggai—about 520 bce. Though the book contains 14 chapters, only the first eight are oracles of the prophet; the remaining six probably came from a school of his disciples and contain various elaborations of Zechariah’s eschatological themes.

Though little is known about Zechariah’s life, he probably was one of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. After an initial call to repentance (chapter 1, verses 1–6), Zechariah had a series of eight visions (chapter 1, verse 7 to chapter 6, verse 15). The first is of four horsemen who have patrolled the Earth to make sure that it is at rest. The second vision is of four horns (i.e., nations that have conquered Israel and Judah), which will be destroyed. The third vision is of a man with a measuring line, but Jerusalem will be beyond measurement. The fourth vision shows Joshua the high priest in the heavenly court being prosecuted by Satan (the celestial adversary) and the high priest’s eventual acquittal and return to his high position. The fifth vision is of a golden lampstand and an olive tree to emphasize the important positions of Joshua and Zerubbabel, which these two figures symbolize. The sixth and seventh visions—of a flying scroll and a woman of wickedness—symbolize the removal of Judah’s previous sins. The eighth vision of four chariots probably refers to the anticipated messianic reign of Zerubbabel, a hope that was thwarted. Chapters 7 and 8 concern fasting and the restoration of Jerusalem.

The remaining chapters—9–14—are additions that contain messianic overtones. Chapter 9, verses 9–10, with its reference to a king riding on the foal of an ass and to a vast kingdom of peace, was used by New Testament Gospel writers in reference to Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion. The book closes on the note of the suffering Good Shepherd, the final battle between Jerusalem and the nations and eventual victory under God, and the universal reign of Yahweh, “king over all the earth.”

Old Testament literature » The Neviʾim (the Prophets) » The last six minor prophets » Malachi
The Book of Malachi, the last of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, was written by an anonymous writer called Malachi, or “my messenger.” Perhaps written from about 500–450 bce, the book is concerned with spiritual degradation, religious perversions, social injustices, and unfaithfulness to the Covenant. Priests are condemned for failing to instruct the people on their Covenant responsibilities, idolatry is attacked, and men are castigated for deliberately forgetting their marriage vows when their wives become older.

In chapter 3, the message is that Yahweh will send a messenger of the Covenant to prepare for, and announce, the day of judgment. If the people turn from their evil ways, God will bless them, and those who “feared the Lord” will be spared. The book ends with a call to remember the Covenant and with a promise to send Elijah, the 9th-century prophet who ascended into heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot, “before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”

Linwood Fredericksen


 

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » Overview
The Ketuvim (the Writings or the Hagiographa), the third division of the Hebrew Bible, comprises a miscellaneous collection of sacred writings that were not classified in either the Torah or the Prophets. The collection is not a unified whole: it includes liturgical poetry (Psalms and Lamentations of Jeremiah), secular love poetry (Song of Solomon), wisdom literature (Proverbs, Book of Job, and Ecclesiastes), historical works (I and II Chronicles, Book of Ezra, and Book of Nehemiah), apocalyptic, or vision, literature (Book of Daniel), a short story (Book of Ruth), and a romantic tale (Book of Esther); it ranges in content from the most entirely profane book in the Bible (Song of Solomon) to perhaps the most deeply theological (Job); it varies in mood from a pessimistic view of life (Job and Ecclesiastes) to an optimistic view (Proverbs). Psalms, Proverbs, and Job constitute the principal poetic literature of the Hebrew Bible and, in many respects, represent the high point of the Hebrew Bible as literature; in fact, Job must be considered one of the great literary products of man’s creative spirit.

Although portions of some of the books of the Ketuvim (e.g., Psalms and Proverbs) were composed before the Babylonian Exile (586–538 bce), the final form was post-exilic, and Daniel was not written until almost the middle of the 2nd century bce. The books were not included in the prophetic collection because they did not fit the content or the historical-philosophical framework of that collection, because they were originally seen as purely human and not divine writings, or simply because they were written too late for inclusion. Although some of the books individually were accepted as canonical quite early, the collection of the Ketuvim as a whole, as well as some individual books within it, was not accepted as completed and canonical until well into the 2nd century ce. As noted above, there are several indications that the lapse of time between the canonization of the Prophets and of the Ketuvim was considerable; e.g., the practice of entitling the entire Scriptures “the Torah and the Prophets” and the absence of a fixed name.

The needs of the Hellenistic Jews in Alexandria and elsewhere in the Greek-speaking Diaspora led to the translation of the Bible into Greek. The process began with the Torah about the middle of the 3rd century bce and continued for several centuries. In the Greek canon, as it finally emerged, the Ketuvim was eliminated as a corpus, and the books were redistributed, together with those of the prophetic collection, according to categories of literature, giving rise to a canon with four divisions: Torah, historical writings, poetic and didactic writings, and prophetic writings. Also, the order of the books was changed, and books not included in the Hebrew Bible were added. The early Christians of both the East and West generally cited and accepted as canonical the Scriptures according to the Greek version. When Protestants produced translations based upon the Hebrew original text and excluded or separated (as Apocrypha) the books not found in the Hebrew Bible, they retained the order and the divisions of the Greek Bible. Thus the Ketuvim is not to be found as a distinct collection in the Christian Old Testament.

An ancient tradition, preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, prescribed the following order for the Ketuvim: Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra (which included Nehemiah), and I and II Chronicles. This sequence was chronological according to rabbinic notions of the authorship of the books. Ruth relates to the age of the judges and concludes with a genealogy of David; the Psalms were attributed, for the most part, to David; Job was assigned to the time of the Queen of Sheba, although the rabbis differed among themselves about the date of the hero; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon were all attributed to Solomon; Lamentations, which was ascribed to Jeremiah, refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and the beginning of the Babylonian Exile; the heroes of Daniel were active until early in the reign of Cyrus II, the king of Persia who ended the exile; Esther pertains to the reign of Xerxes I, later than that of Cyrus but earlier than that of Artaxerxes I, the patron of Ezra, reputed also to have written I and II Chronicles.

Despite this tradition, however, it would appear that the sequence of the Ketuvim was not completely fixed, and there is a great variety in ordering found in manuscripts and early printed editions. The three larger books—Psalms, Job, and Proverbs—have always constituted a group, with Psalms first and the other two interchanging. The order of the five Megillot, or Scrolls (Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther), has shown the greatest variations. The order that has crystallized has a liturgical origin; the books are read on certain festival days in Jewish places of worship and are printed in the calendar order of those occasions. Chronicles always appears at either the beginning or the end of the corpus. Its final position is remarkable because the narrative of Ezra and Nehemiah follows that of Chronicles. The final position may have resulted from an attempt to place the books of the Hebrew Bible in a framework (Genesis and Chronicles both begin with the origin and development of the human race, and both conclude with the theme of the return to the land of Israel), but it was more probably the result of the late acceptance of Chronicles into the canon.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » Job
The Book of Job is not only the finest expression of the Hebrew poetic genius; it must also be accorded a place among the greatest masterpieces of world literature. The work is grouped with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as a product of the wisdom movement, even though it contains what might be called an anti-wisdom strain in that the hero protests vehemently against the rationalistic ethics of the sages. Yet it is the supreme example among ancient texts of speculative wisdom in which a man attempts to understand and respond to the human situation in which he exists.

The Book of Job consists of two separate portions. The bulk of the work is an extended dialogue between the hero and his friends and eventually Yahweh himself in poetic form. The poem is set within the framework of a short narrative in prose form. The book falls into five sections: a prologue (chapters 1 and 2); the dialogue between Job and his friends (3–31); the speeches of Elihu (32–37); the speeches of Yahweh and Job’s reply (38–42:6); and an epilogue (42:7–17).

The prologue and epilogue are the prose narrative. This is probably an old folktale recounting the story of Job, an Edomite of such outstanding piety that he is mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel in conjunction with Noah and Daniel. The name Job was common in antiquity, being found in texts ranging from the 19th to the 14th century bce. Whether the folktale is preserved in its original oral form or whether it has been retold by the poet of the dialogue is not known. The fact that an Edomite sheikh is commended by the Hebrew God, however, suggests a date before the 6th century bce, for Jewish distrust of Edomites became intense during the exile, and the archaic language makes a date in the 8th century probable.

Job is pictured as an ideal patriarch who has been rewarded for his piety with material prosperity and happiness. The Satan (Accuser), a member of the heavenly council of Yahweh, acts with Yahweh’s permission as an agent provocateur to test whether or not Job’s piety is rooted in self-interest. Faced with the appalling loss of his worldly possessions, his children, and finally his own health, Job refuses to curse Yahweh. His capacity for trusting Yahweh’s goodness has made him an unsurpassed model of patience. Three of Job’s friends, whose names identify them also as Edomites, now arrive to comfort him. At this point the poetic dialogue begins. The conclusion of the tale, as given in the epilogue, describes the restoration of Job, who receives double his original possessions and lives to a ripe old age.

The picture of Job that is presented in the poetic portion is radically different. Instead of the patient and loyal servant of Yahweh, he is an anguished and indignant sufferer, who violently protests the way Yahweh is treating him and displays a variety of moods ranging from utter despair, in which he cries out accusingly against Yahweh, to bold confidence, in which he calls for a hearing before Yahweh. Most scholars have dated this section to the 4th century bce, but there is a growing tendency to regard it as two centuries earlier, during the period of the exile. This precise dating is based on the fact that the dialogue shows clear literary dependence on Jeremiah, whereas equally obvious connections with Deutero-Isaiah suggest the dependence of the latter on Job.

The poem opens with a heartrending soliloquy by Job in which the sufferer curses the day of his birth. The shocked friends are roused from their silence, and there follow three cycles of speeches (chapters 4–14, 15–21, and 22–27) in which the friends speak in turn. To each such speech Job makes a reply. The personalities of the friends are skillfully delineated, Eliphaz appearing as a mystic in the prophetic tradition, Bildad as a sage who looks to the authority of tradition, and Zophar as an impatient dogmatist who glibly expounds what he regards as the incomprehensible ways of God.

Eliphaz begins the first cycle by recounting a mystical vision that revealed to him the transcendence of God and the fact that all men are by nature morally frail. He suggests that suffering may be disciplinary, although this is irrelevant to Job’s plight. Finally, he urges contrite submission to Yahweh. Job chides his friends for failing him in his hour of need and charges God with being his tormentor.

Bildad suggests that the fault may have lain in Job’s children and reiterates Eliphaz’ call to humble submission. Job then retorts that the doctrine of Yahweh’s omnipotence is no answer but a serious problem, because Yahweh appears to be merely omnipotent caprice. He is convinced that if he could only meet Yahweh in open debate he would be vindicated, but he recognizes the need for an impartial third party who could intervene and protect him from Yahweh’s overpowering might.

Zophar re-echoes his predecessors’ views on Yahweh but goes the full length of accusing Job himself of sin and once more urges Job to a contrition that for him could only be hypocritical. Job continues to insist that Yahweh is capricious and defiantly challenges him but is bewildered when no reply is forthcoming. His longing for death as a welcome release leads him to ask whether man might not hope for a revival after death, but this daring hope is immediately rejected.

The second cycle opens with Eliphaz accusing Job of blasphemy and almost exultantly describing the fate of the wicked. In his reply Job returns to the idea of a third party to the debate. Now, however, this umpire or judge has become an advocate, a counsel for the defense. After Bildad has again elaborated on the fate of the wicked, Job states that a Vindicator, or Redeemer (Goʾel), will establish his innocence. The Vindicator of this crucial but sadly corrupted passage (19:25–27) has long been identified with God himself, so that according to some scholars Job “appeals away from the God of orthodox theology to God as He must be.” A few scholars, however, recognize the Vindicator as the third party (the “umpire” or “witness”) of earlier chapters. It is also unclear whether this vindication will take place before or after Job’s death. Then Zophar, though freely admitting that the wicked may indeed enjoy some prosperity, describes how they fall victim to inevitable nemesis. Job maintains that the wicked do not end thus but live on to an old age.

Eliphaz begins the third cycle by accusing Job at last of specific sins and again counsels Job to humble himself before Yahweh. But Job cannot find this God, who seems to be completely indifferent to him. The conclusion of the dialogue is in serious disorder, with speeches placed in Job’s mouth that could only have been uttered by the friends. The final speech of Zophar, which is omitted, seems to be represented by a fragment preserved within the third reply of Job.

Chapter 28 is regarded as a later addition by most scholars, because it is hardly in place at this juncture in the dialogue, especially in the mouth of Job. It is a magnificent hymn in praise of wisdom. Chapters 29–31 contain a monologue by Job; in them occurs an adumbration of the highest moral ideal to be found in the Hebrew Bible.

Although a few scholars have maintained that the speeches of Elihu formed part of the original work, most reject this section as a later insertion. The speeches merely reiterate the dogmas of the friends and unduly delay the appearance of Yahweh. Although the section is in poetic form, its style is different from that of the dialogue. Significantly, there is no mention of Elihu in the dialogue or anywhere else in the book, yet the Elihu speeches are familiar with the dialogue, frequently quoting verbatim from it. Chapter 32 is of interest, because it appears to contain the writer’s notes and comments on the dialogue, often citing passages from it. Worthy of notice is the writer’s emphasis on the disciplinary value of suffering.

The climax of the poem is reached in the speeches of Yahweh, who appears in a majestic theophany—a whirlwind—and reveals himself to Job in three speeches interspersed with two short speeches by Job. Biblical scholars have often questioned whether this section—especially the descriptions of Behemoth (the hippopotamus) and Leviathan (the crocodile) in the second Yahweh speech—is a genuine part of the original poem, but there is no doubt that their presence at this point in the book is a dramatic triumph. Throughout these speeches Yahweh does not offer rational answers to Job’s questions and accusations; he raises the discussion to a new perspective. With heavy irony Yahweh puts to Job a series of unanswerable questions about the mysteries of the universe; if, the writer is asking, Job is unable to answer the simple questions about the divine activity in the marvels of nature, how can Yahweh explain to him the deeper mystery of his dealings with men. Job’s personal problem is ignored, yet he finds his answer in this direct encounter with Yahweh:

I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees thee;

therefore I despise myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.

Job stands in a new relationship to Yahweh, one no longer based on hearsay but the result of an act of personal faith expressed in repentance.

A few scholars, beginning in the mid-18th century, have attempted to demonstrate the influence of Greek tragedy upon the form of the book. This has not met with acceptance by most critics; its long monologues are not truly dramatic in nature. Neither is it a philosophical discussion in the style of the Platonic dialogues. It is a deeply religious poem with dramatic possibilities. It skillfully blends many genres: folktale, hymn, individual lament, prophetic oracle, and didactic poem.

The author remains quite unknown except for a few hints provided by the book itself. That he was a Jew is assumed because of his familiarity with much of the Hebrew literature. Nevertheless, the book does not have a Hebrew setting, it is pervaded with foreign elements, and it shows a special knowledge of Egypt, thus leading many to believe that he was well travelled or lived outside the Holy Land. He was a keen observer of the natural world, and his feeling for the agony of the sufferer is a compelling argument that he had known anguish.

The book touches on many subjects, such as disinterested obedience to God under testing, innocent suffering, social oppression, religious experience and pious suffering, a man’s relation to God, and the nature of God. Scholars have attempted to discover the basic message of the author. Because of the greater difficulty in understanding the Job of the poetic portion, the traditional interpretation looked to the narrative and saw the message as the need for patient bearing and faith despite tribulation. When certain poetic passages were thought to point to a belief in the resurrection of the body, Job became not only a patient sufferer but also a prophet of the resurrection. This view, however, does not account for the Job of the poetic portion. Thus, in the 19th century, with the advancement of biblical criticism, scholars began to claim that the author was dealing with the problem of unmerited suffering. The book presents a deep view of suffering, and Job’s experience teaches that man must rest in faith and resign himself to the incomprehensible ways of God.

It would seem, however, that the question raised by Job is both deeper and broader than the question of how to account for the infliction of physical adversity on the innocent. Job’s physical suffering is the outward symbol of his intense inward agony, the agony of a man who feels himself lost in a meaningless universe and abandoned even by God. What torments Job—and the author—is the question of the justice of God and the justice and honour of man before God. His passionate pleading of his own righteousness and his calling upon God for a hearing lead him to an encounter with God. This encounter does not answer the question of why the innocent suffer, but it is the only answer to the plea of a man seeking to find his God and to justify himself to him. The complacent believer who has been shattered by suffering, doubt, and despair is confirmed in faith and repents.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » The Megillot (the Scrolls)
The five books known as the Megillot or Scrolls are grouped together as a unit in modern Hebrew Bibles according to the order of the annual religious festivals on which they are read in the synagogues of the Ashkenazim (central and eastern European Jews and their descendants). They did not originally form a unit and were found scattered in the Bible in their supposed historical position. In the so-called Leningrad Codex of the year 1008 ce, on which the third and subsequent editions of Biblica Hebraica edited by Rudolf Kittel are based, the five are grouped together but in a historical order. Nevertheless, their appearance usually follows the order of the liturgical calendar:

The five books have little in common apart from their roles in the liturgy. Although the Song of Solomon and Lamentations are poetic in form and Ruth and Esther are stories of heroines, the contrast in the moods and purposes of both pairs sharply distinguishes the books. Ecclesiastes is a product of the Hebrew wisdom movement and exhibits the most pessimistic tone of any book in the Hebrew Bible.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » The Megillot (the Scrolls) » Song of Solomon
The Song of Solomon (also called Song of Songs and Canticle of Canticles) consists of a series of love poems in which lovers describe the physical beauty and excellence of their beloved and their sexual enjoyment of each other. The Hebrew title of the book mentions Solomon as its author, but this seems improbable, primarily because of the late vocabulary of the work. Although the poems may date from an earlier period, the present form of the book is late, perhaps as late as the 3rd century bce, and its author remains unknown.

The Song of Solomon has been interpreted in different ways, four of which are noteworthy. The allegorical interpretation takes the book as an allegory of God’s love for Israel or of Christ’s love for the church. Such a view seems gratuitous and incompatible with the sensuous character of the poems. The dramatic interpretation is based on the dialogue form of much of the book and attempts to find a plot involving either a maiden in Solomon’s court and the King or the maiden, the King, and a shepherd lover. The absence of drama in Semitic literatures and the episodic character of the book make this theory highly improbable. The cultic-mythological interpretation connects the book with the fertility cults of the ancient Near Eastern world. The condemnation in the Hebrew Bible of such rituals makes it difficult to accept this view, unless it is assumed that the original meaning of the poems was forgotten. The literal interpretation considers it to be a collection of secular love poems, without any religious implications, that may have been sung at wedding festivities. According to this commonly accepted view, the poems were received into the biblical canon despite their secular nature and their lack of mention of God because they were attributed to Solomon and because they were understood as wedding songs and marriage was ordained by God.

The reasons for the Song of Solomon being read at Passover, which celebrates the Exodus from Egypt, are not entirely clear. Possibly, they include the fact that spring is referred to in the book and that according to the allegorical interpretation the book could refer to God’s love for Israel, which is so well evidenced by the events of the Exodus and especially the Covenant at Mt. Sinai.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » The Megillot (the Scrolls) » Ruth
The Book of Ruth is a beautiful short story about a number of good people, particularly the Moabite great-grandmother of David. Though events are set in the time of the judges, linguistic and other features suggest that the present form dates from post-exilic times. But it gives the impression of being based on an ancient tradition, perhaps on written source. It was certainly grounded on a solid core of fact, for no one would have invented a Moabite ancestress for Israel’s greatest king.

The book describes how, during a time of famine, Elimelech, a Bethlehemite, travelled to Moab with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. After his death, the sons married Moabite women, and then they too died, leaving no children. There was thus no one to keep the family line alive and no one to provide for Naomi. Ruth, the widow of Mahlon, dedicated herself to the care of Naomi and insisted on returning with her to her native land and adopting her God. They arrived in Bethlehem during the harvest, and Ruth went out to work for the two women in the field of Boaz, a wealthy landowner. Naomi urged Ruth to seek marriage with Boaz because he was a kinsman of her late husband, and the firstborn son of such a marriage would count as a son of the deceased. (This resembles the levirate marriage that obliged a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother if the brother died without male issue.) Ruth crept under Boaz’ cloak while he slept, and he accepted the implied proposal of marriage. After a nearer kinsman forfeited his claim to Ruth, Boaz married her and a son was born. Thus, loyal Ruth was provided with an excellent husband, the dead Mahlon with a son to keep his name alive, and Naomi with a grandson to support her in her old age.

Many purposes have been assigned to the book: to entertain, to delineate the ancestry of David, to uphold levirate marriage as a means of perpetuating a family name, to commend loyalty in family relationships, to protest the narrowness of Ezra and Nehemiah, the leaders of the post-exilic restoration in relation to marriages with non-Jews, to inculcate kindness toward converts to Judaism, to teach that a person who becomes a worshipper of Yahweh will be blessed by him, and to illustrate the providence of God in human affairs. The book may have served all these “purposes,” but the author’s objective cannot be determined with certainty.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » The Megillot (the Scrolls) » Lamentations of Jeremiah
The Lamentations of Jeremiah consists of five poems (chapters) in the form of laments for Judah and Jerusalem when they were invaded and devastated by the Babylonians in 586 bce, for the sufferings of the population, and for the poet himself during and after the catastrophe. These grief-stricken laments are intermingled with abject confessions of sin and prayers for divine compassion. The first four poems are alphabetic acrostics; the fifth is not, although like the others it has 22 stanzas, which is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The formal structure served as a mnemonic device and perhaps was meant to convey the note of wholeness, of Israel’s total grief, penitence, and hope. The moving quality of these elegies has suited them for liturgical use. Besides their place in the Jewish liturgy commemorating the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem, the laments are employed by the Christian Church to pour out its grief over the Passion and death of Jesus Christ.

Most critics place the composition of the book before the return of the Jews from exile in 537/536 bce. Certain passages appear to be word pictures by an eyewitness and would, therefore, have been written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem. Until the 18th century, the work was universally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah, and this was supported by a prologue found in the Septuagint and in some manuscripts of the Vulgate. Since that time, however, many scholars have rejected the attribution to Jeremiah chiefly because the ideas and sentiments expressed in Lamentations are unlike those in Jeremiah. Moreover, it is unlikely that the spontaneity and naturalness so characteristic of Jeremiah’s utterances could be accommodated to a poetic form as complicated and artificial as that in Lamentations. It is probable that the laments were the product of more than one poet.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » The Megillot (the Scrolls) » Ecclesiastes
The book of Ecclesiastes is a work of the Hebrew wisdom movement, associated by its title and by tradition with King Solomon. It is evident, however, that the book is of much later composition; the author may have identified himself with the famous king and wise man of the past to give greater authority to his work. The language of the book, including the relatively large number of Aramaic forms, and its content point to a date in the early Greek period (later 4th or early 3rd century bce). That the book was written prior to the 2nd century bce, however, is shown by its influence on Ecclesiasticus, which was written early in that century, and its appearance among the manuscripts discovered at Khirbat Qumrān, on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, where a Jewish community existed in the mid-2nd century.

The name Ecclesiastes is a transliteration of the Greek word used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew Qohelet, a word connected with the noun qahal (“assembly”). Qohelet seems to mean the one who gathers or teaches an assembly; the author used the word as a pseudonym. He appears to be a wisdom teacher writing late in life expressing skeptical personal reflections in a collection of popular maxims of the day and longer compositions of his own. The book has been described as a sage’s notebook of random observations about life. Some interpreters have questioned the unity of authorship, but, given the notebook character of the work, there seems to be little need for questioning its basic integrity.

Although the phrase “vanity of vanities! all is vanity” stressed at both the beginning and the end of the book sums up its theme, it does not convey the variety of tests that the skeptical Qohelet applies to life. He examines everything—material things, wisdom, toil, wealth—and finds them unable to give meaning to life. He repeatedly returns to life’s uncertainties, to the hidden and incomprehensible ways of God, and to the stark and final fact of death. The only conclusion to this human condition is to accept gratefully the small day-to-day pleasures that God gives to man.

Qohelet stands in sharp contrast to the conventional wisdom schools. He recognizes the relative value of wisdom as against foolishness, but he rejects the oversimplified and optimistic view of wisdom as security for life. He offers a religious skepticism that rejects all facile answers to life’s mysteries and God’s ways.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » The Megillot (the Scrolls) » Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a romantic and patriotic tale, perhaps with some historical basis but with so little religious purpose that God, in fact, is not mentioned in it. The book may have been included in the Hebrew canon only for the sake of sanctioning the celebrations of the festival Purim, the Feast of Lots. There is considerable evidence that the stories related in Esther actually originated among Gentiles (Persian and Babylonian) rather than among the Jews. There is also reason to believe that the version given in the Septuagint goes back to older sources than the version given in the Hebrew Bible.

Laying the scene at Susa, a residential city of the Persian kings, the book narrates that Haman, the vizier and favourite of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I; reigned 486–465 bce), determined by lot that the 13th of Adar was the day on which the Jews living in the Persian Empire were to be slain. Esther, a beautiful Jewish woman whom the King had chosen as queen after repudiating Queen Vashti, and her cousin and foster father Mordecai were able to frustrate Haman’s plans. Haman then schemed to have Mordecai hanged; instead, he was sent to the gallows erected for Mordecai, and Jews throughout the empire were given permission to defend themselves on the day set for their extermination. The governors of the provinces learned in time that Mordecai, who had saved the King from being assassinated by two discontented courtiers, had succeeded to Haman’s position as vizier; thus, they supported the Jews in the fight against their enemies.

In the provinces, the Jews celebrated their victory on the following day, but at Susa, where, at Esther’s request, the King permitted them to continue to fight on the 14th of Adar, they rested and celebrated their success a day later. Therefore, Esther and Mordecai issued a decree obligating the Jews henceforth to commemorate these events on both the 14th and 15th of Adar.

Theme and language characterize Esther as one of the latest books of the Hebrew Bible, probably dating from the 2nd century bce. Nothing is known of its author. According to the postbiblical sources, its inclusion in the canon, as well as the observance of the feast of the 14th and 15th of Adar, still met with strong opposition on the part of the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem as late as the 3rd century ce; yet, despite its lack of specific religious content, the story has become in popular Jewish understanding a magnificent message that the providence of God will preserve his people from annihilation.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » Daniel
The Book of Daniel presents a collection of popular stories about Daniel, a loyal Jew, and the record of visions granted to him, with the Babylonian Exile of the 6th century bce as their background. The book, however, was written in a later time of national crisis—when the Jews were suffering severe persecution under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (reigned 175–164/163 bce), the second Seleucid ruler of Palestine.

The exiled Jews had been permitted to return to their homeland by Cyrus II the Great, master of the Medes and Persians, who captured Babylon in 539 bce from its last king, Nabonidus, and his son Belshazzar. The ancient Near East was then ruled by the Persians until Alexander the Great brought it under his control in 331. After Alexander’s death in 323, his empire was divided among his generals, with Palestine coming under the dominion of the Ptolemies until 198, when the Seleucids won control. Under the Persian and Ptolemaic rulers the Jews seem to have enjoyed some political autonomy and complete religious liberty. But under Antiochus IV Jewish fortunes changed dramatically. In his effort to Hellenize the Jews of Palestine, Antiochus attempted to force them to abandon their religion and practice the common pagan worship of his realm. Increasingly sterner restrictions were imposed upon the Jews, the city of Jerusalem was pillaged, and, finally, in December 167 the Temple was desecrated. The outcome of this persecution was the open rebellion among the Jews, as described in the books of Maccabees. This period of Hellenistic Judaism is treated more fully in Judaism: Hellenistic Judaism (4th century bce–2nd century ce).

The conflict between the religion of the Jews and the paganism of their foreign rulers is also the basic theme of the Book of Daniel. In Daniel, however, it is regarded as foreseen and permitted by God to show the superiority of Hebrew wisdom over pagan wisdom and to demonstrate that the God of Israel will triumph over all earthly kings and will rescue his faithful ones from their persecutors. To develop this theme the author makes use of a literary and theological form known as apocalypse (from the Greek apokalypsis, “revelation” or “unveiling”), which was widely diffused in Judaism and then in Christianity from 200 bce to 200 ce. Apocalyptic literature professes to be a revelation of future events, particularly the time and manner of the coming of the final age when the powers of evil will be routed in bloody combat and God’s kingdom will be established. This revelation usually occurs as a vision expressed in complicated, often bizarre symbolism. The literature is generally pseudonymous, proposed under the name of some authoritative figure of the distant past, such as Daniel, Moses, Enoch, or Ezra. This allows the author to present events that are past history to him as prophecies of future happenings.

The Book of Daniel, the first of the apocalyptic writings, did not represent an entirely new type of literature. Apocalypse had its beginnings in passages in the works of the prophets. In fact, it has been said that the apocalyptic was really an attempt to rationalize and systematize the predictive side of prophecy. There were significant differences, however. The prophet, for the most part, declared his message by word of mouth, which might subsequently be recorded in writing. The apocalyptist, on the other hand, remained completely hidden behind his message, which he wrote down for the faithful to read. The prophets normally spoke in their own name a message for their own day. The apocalyptists normally wrote in the name of some notable man of the past a message for the time of the age to come.

Like the prophets before them, the apocalyptists saw in the working out of history, which they divided into well-defined periods, a purpose and a goal. The evil in the world might lead men to despair, but God’s predetermined purpose could not be frustrated. A future age of righteousness would replace the present age of ungodliness, fulfilling God’s purpose. This literature, then, is a mixture of pessimism—times would become worse and worse, and God would destroy this present evil world—and of optimism—out of turmoil and confusion God would bring in his kingdom, the goal of history.

For many centuries the apocalyptic character of the Book of Daniel was overlooked, and it was generally considered to be true history, containing genuine prophecy. In fact, the book was included among the prophetic books in the Greek canon. It is now recognized, however, that the writer’s knowledge of the exilic times was sketchy and inaccurate. His date for the fall of Jerusalem, for example, is wrong; Belshazzar is represented as the son of Nebuchadrezzar and the last king of Babylon, whereas he was actually the son of Nabonidus and, though a powerful figure, was never king; Darius the Mede, a fictitious character perhaps confused with Darius I of Persia, is made the successor of Belshazzar instead of Cyrus. By contrast, the book is a not inconsiderable historical source for the Greek period. It refers to the desecration of the Temple in 167 and possibly to the beginning of the Maccabean revolt. Only when the narrative reaches the latter part of the reign of Antiochus do notable inaccuracies appear—an indication of a transition from history to prediction. The book is thus dated between 167 and 164 bce.

Other considerations that point to this 2nd-century date are the omission of the book from the prophetic portion of the Hebrew canon, the absence of Daniel’s name in the list of Israel’s great men in Ecclesiasticus, the book’s linguistic characteristics, and its religious thought, especially the belief in the resurrection of the dead with consequent rewards and punishments.

The name Daniel would appear to refer to a legendary hero who was used in different ways at different times and who became particularly popular in the storytelling of the Persian and Greek Diaspora as a personification of the practical and theological problems faced by the Jews in that environment. Whether there is any connection between the Daniel of this book and the one mentioned as a wise man without equal in the Book of Ezekiel and as a righteous man in the tale of Aqhat, a Ugaritic text dated from about the middle of the 14th century, is uncertain.

The book is written in two languages: the beginning (1:1–2:4a) and the final chapters (8–12) in Hebrew and the rest in Aramaic. This offers no proof of multiple authorship, however, because the linguistic divisions do not correspond to the division by literary form: chapters 1–6 are stories of Daniel and his friends in exile, and chapters 7–12 are Daniel’s apocalyptic visions. Furthermore, there is a singleness of religious outlook, spirit, and purpose throughout. Nevertheless, the problem of the languages has never been satisfactorily answered.

The stories of the first six chapters, which probably existed in oral tradition before the author set them down, begin with the account of how Daniel and his three companions (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were given the names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by the Babylonians) came to be living at the Babylonian court and how they remained faithful to the laws of their religion. This is followed by five dramatic episodes calculated to demonstrate the wisdom and might of Israel’s God and the unconquerable steadfastness of his loyal people. Thus, through God’s gift of wisdom, Daniel excels the professional sages of the pagan court by revealing and interpreting Nebuchadrezzar’s dream of a great image, made of four metals, which was shattered by a stone cut without human hand, and then the King’s further dream of a tree reduced to a stump, which presaged the punishment of his arrogance by madness, and, finally, the writing on the wall, which spelled Belshazzar’s doom at his sacrilegious feast. By trust in God, Daniel’s companions, who refused to worship Nebuchadrezzar’s golden idol, are miraculously delivered from a fiery furnace, and Daniel himself, thrown into a den of lions for holding fast to his tradition of prayer, is divinely protected.

The last six chapters of the book are apocalyptic. In chapter 7 Daniel is granted a vision of four beasts from the abyss, which are brought under divine judgment, and of “one like a son of man,” who is brought before God to be invested with his universal and everlasting sovereignty. The mythological beasts are interpreted as four empires (the Babylonian Empire, the kingdom of the Medes, the Persian Empire, and the empire of Alexander) and the manlike figure as Israel. The vision of a battle between the ram (Medes and Persians) and the goat (the Greek Empire) in chapter 8 introduces the iniquities of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and is an assurance to the stricken Jews that the end of their tribulation is near. In chapter 9 the author reinterprets the prophecy of Jeremiah that Jerusalem’s desolation would end after 70 years. By making these 70 years mean 70 “weeks of years” (i.e., 490 years), the author is again able to focus attention on the period of Antiochus’ persecution in the 2nd century and on the imminence of his determined doom. A precise understanding of the author’s scheme is not possible, however, because 490 years calculated from the beginning of the exile extends far beyond the time of Antiochus. The remaining chapters provide the fourth commentary on the crisis provoked by the Seleucid tyrant. The greater part of this vision is a sketch of the events that affected the Jews from the Persian period to the time of Antiochus and prepared for his reign of terror. After chapter 11, verse 39, the account of Antiochus’ life ceases to correspond with historical fact; an inaccurate prediction of his end is the prelude to the announcement of the end of Israel’s tribulation and the inauguration of God’s kingdom.

The purpose of the whole book, stories and visions alike, is to encourage Israel to endure under the threat of annihilation and to strengthen its faith that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men” and will in the end give victory to his people and establish his kingdom.

Old Testament literature » The Ketuvim » Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles
The final books of the Hebrew Bible are the books of Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah, which once formed a unitary history of Israel from Adam to the 4th century bce, written by an anonymous Chronicler. That these books constituted a single work—referred to as the Chronicler’s history, in distinction to the Deuteronomic history and the elements of history from the priestly code of the Torah—appears evident because the same language, style, and fundamental ideas are found throughout and because the concluding verses of II Chronicles are repeated at the beginning of Ezra. The purpose of this history seems to have been to trace the origin of the Temple and to show the antiquity and authenticity of its cult and of the formal, legalistic type of religion that dominated later Judaism.

The history that these books record has already been treated in the historical section of this article and is found in greater detail in Judaism. The concern in this section will be chiefly with the literary and theological aspects of the books, but their contents can be summarized. In I and II Chronicles the author repeats much of the material from earlier historical books, concentrating upon the history of the kingdom of Judah. The First Book of the Chronicles begins with an extensive genealogy of Israel from Adam to the restoration but is primarily a biography of David that adds further facts to the story as given in Samuel. The Second Book of the Chronicles begins with Solomon and goes through the division of the kingdom to the reign of Zedekiah; once again the Chronicler had access to materials that supplemented the account in I and II Kings. In the Book of Ezra he describes the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Exile and the reconstruction of the Temple. He includes lists of the families who returned and the texts of the decrees under which they returned. In the Book of Nehemiah the reconstruction of the city walls of Jerusalem becomes the basis for a meditation upon the relation between God and his people. This book, too, contains lists of those who participated in the reconstruction, but much of it concentrates upon the description of Nehemiah and his persistence in performing his assignment.

The fourfold division of the books derives from the Greek and Latin versions; the more basic twofold division into Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah is more complex. This original division apparently resulted from the inclusion of the material known as Ezra–Nehemiah in the Hebrew canon before that known as Chronicles because it contained fresh information not found in any other canonical book. When Chronicles was later admitted to the canon, it was placed in order after Ezra–Nehemiah; although the book has retained this position in the Hebrew Bible, the Greek version restored it to its proper sequence. That Chronicles was thus “left aside” may account for the choice of Paraleipomena (“Things Omitted”) as the Greek title of the book, but the usual and perhaps correct explanation is that Chronicles contains stories, speeches, and observations that were omitted from the parallel accounts in earlier books.

Jewish tradition has identified Ezra as the author of these books, and some modern scholars concur. According to many critics, however, the Chronicler was a Levite cantor in Jerusalem. This position is supported by the author’s concern with the Levites and cultic musicians. The date of the work is more difficult to pinpoint. In its final form it has to be later than Ezra, who came to Judah about 400 bce. An indication of the latest date at which the entire work could have been completed is its silence about the Hellenizing of Judaism that took place after Alexander the Great. This, together with language considerations that point to the late Persian period, has led the majority of commentators to postulate a 4th-century date. Some scholars, however, claim that a time before 300 bce would be too short to account for the genealogy at the beginning of I Chronicles, which is carried down to the eighth generation after Zerubbabel, one of the leaders of the band that returned from Babylon. Thus, they push the final date to about 200 bce or even slightly later. It is possible that the 4th-century work of the Chronicler went through a series of minor additions and adaptations until sometime early in the 2nd century, when it reached its final form.

The Chronicler had numerous historical sources—both biblical and extrabiblical—at his disposal. He was closely dependent on the books of Samuel and Kings for all of Chronicles except the first nine chapters. Sometimes he even repeated the actual words of his model, though slight textual variations suggest to some that the Hebrew copy he had before him differed a little from that of the canon and corresponded to that which lay behind the Septuagint. But he was also able to consult the final version of the Torah and the whole of the Deuteronomic history. His use of the personal memoirs of Nehemiah is undisputed; the nature of his Ezra source is less clear, but some have regarded a portion of narrative written in the first person as an autobiographical source. He included many lists, genealogies, census reports, and other official documents that may have been preserved as Temple records. The text refers by name to certain documents representing royal histories and prophetic writings about which, as they have not survived, only speculation is possible.

The Chronicler used all these sources, but was not shackled by them. Although his work has won increasing respect as a historical document, especially as an indispensable source for the restoration period, his purpose was chiefly theological. He was convinced of the definitiveness of the divine covenant with David. The holy community that was brought into existence by this covenant, maintained by God through the vicissitudes of history and having its worship centred on the Temple in Jerusalem, is the true kingdom of God. It is the true Israel and is the Chronicler’s only concern. Thus, he mentions the northern kingdom and the kings of Israel only to the extent that they figure in the events of Judah. Loyalty to the Davidic line of succession, to Jerusalem, and to the Temple worship were the central elements in the life of God’s people according to this writer. All success and failure were the result of such loyalty or disloyalty. Thus, if a king’s reign was long and successful, the Chronicler saw it as the reward of God for a life led in obedience to his will; conversely, a king suffered misfortune only if he had sinned. Significantly, the Chronicler devotes much attention to David’s part in the development of the liturgy, especially the organization and functions of the Levites, and omits important but uncomplimentary stories about the King that are found in the Deuteronomic history.

In short, the Chronicler traced the reformed liturgy of his day back to David and laid a solid foundation for the acceptance and conservation of the religious community that he envisioned—a devout community that worshipped joyfully in the Temple with sacrifice and praise and obeyed the Law of Moses. He knew well that the realization of that community in his day was not perfect and that the future had something better in store, but he seems to have been content to accept the existing Davidic leaders in order not to abandon the dynastic hope because of their shortcomings. These books thus provided an apologia for orthodox Judaism (perhaps in the face of opposition from the Samaritans, the inhabitants of the former northern kingdom), and they offer to the modern reader some insight into the post-exilic community in Jerusalem, withdrawn into itself and trying to justify, explain, and preserve its existence and its spirituality.

Robert L. Faherty

Intertestamental literature » Nature and significance » Persian and Hellenistic influences
Some of the Apocrypha (e.g., Judith, Tobit) may have been written already in the Persian period (6th–4th century bce), but, with these possible exceptions, all the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha were written in the Hellenistic period (c. 300 bc–c. ad 300). Yet the influence of Persian culture and religion sometimes can be detected even in comparatively late Jewish works, especially in Jewish apocalyptic literature (see below Apocalypticism). The Persian influence was facilitated by the fact that both the Jewish and Persian religions are iconoclastic (against the veneration or worship of images) and opposed to paganism and display an interest in eschatology (doctrines of last times).

Although such an affinity did not exist between Judaism and Hellenistic culture, literary activity among Hellenistic Jews was generally Greek in character: the Greek-writing Jewish authors thought mainly in Greek concepts, used genuine Greek terminology, and wrote many of their works in Greek literary forms.

Though Hellenistic Jewish authors sometimes imitated biblical forms, they learned such forms from their Greek Bible (the Septuagint). Many Greek products written by Jews served as religious propaganda and probably influenced many pagans to become proselytes, or at least to abandon their heathen faith and become “God-fearing.” Thus, the Jewish literature written in Greek could be used by Christianity for similar purposes later.

Greek influence on Jewish writings written in Hebrew or Aramaic in Palestine in the intertestamental period was by no means as significant as upon Jewish works written in Greek among the Hellenistic Diaspora (Jews living outside Palestine). In Palestine, religion and culture formed a unity, and the Hellenization of the upper classes in Jerusalem before the Maccabean wars (167–142 bce) was restricted to some families who had accepted Greek civilization for practical purposes. Jews in Palestine developed a flourishing autonomous culture based upon religious ideals. Living without interruption in their powerful religious tradition and with their own non-Greek education, the Palestinian Jews were able to produce literary works without significant evidences of Greek influence. The language of this literature was both Aramaic and Hebrew. Under the national revival in the Maccabean period, Hebrew became prevalent as the language of Jewish literature in Palestine; but since Aramaic was a spoken language in Palestine during the whole period, some of the extant literary works of Palestinian Jews in the Maccabean and Roman period probably were originally written also in Aramaic.

Intertestamental literature » Nature and significance » Apocalypticism
In intertestamental Jewish literature a special trend developed: namely, apocalypticism. Apokalypsis is a Greek term meaning “revelation of divine mysteries,” both about the nature of God and about the last days (eschatology). Apocalyptic writings were composed in both Judaism and Christianity; one of them (the Book of Daniel) was accepted in the Jewish canon and another (the book of Revelation) in the New Testament. Other apocalypses form a part of the Pseudepigrapha, and influences of apocalypticism or similar approaches are found in some of the Apocrypha. The sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls are the works of an apocalyptic movement, though not all are written in the style of apocalypses. The Sibylline Oracles are, in their Jewish passages, a part of Jewish Hellenistic literature; inasmuch as they contain eschatological prophecies of future doom and salvation, they are apocalyptic, but in their polemics against idolatry and their apology for Jewish faith, they are a product of Jewish Hellenistic propagandistic literature. Because one of the central themes of apocalypticism is that of future salvation, messianic hopes involving the advent of a deliverer are usually the object of intertestamental Jewish apocalypticism.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works indicating Persian influence » Esdras
The “Greek Ezra,” sometimes named I (or II or III) Esdras, enjoyed considerable popularity in the early church but lost its prestige in the Middle Ages in the Latin Church. At the reforming Council of Trent (1545–63), the Roman Catholic Church no longer recognized it as canonical and relegated it in the Latin Bible to the end, as an appendix to the New Testament. One of the reasons for its non-canonicity in the West is that the “Greek Ezra” contains material parallel to the biblical books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah but differs in textual recension (points of critical revision) and occasionally in the order of the stories. The content of the book is a history of the Jews from the celebration of the Passover in the time of King Josiah (7th century bce) to the reading of the Law in the time of Ezra (5th century bce). Though written in an idiomatic Greek, “Greek Ezra” is probably a Greek translation from an unknown Hebrew and Aramaic redaction of the materials contained in the biblical books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. An important part of this book (3:1–5:6), the story of the three youths at the court of Darius, has no parallel in the canonical books. This story concerns a debate between three guardsmen before Darius, king of Persia, about the question of what they consider to be the strongest of all things; the first youth asserts that it is wine, the second says that it is the king, and the third, who is identified with the biblical Zerubbabel (a prince of Davidic lineage who became governor of Judah under Darius), expresses his opinion that “women are strongest, but truth is victor over all things.” He is acclaimed as the victor, and, as a reward, he requests that Darius rebuild Jerusalem and its Temple. The story evidently was written in two stages: originally, the competition was about wine, the king, and women, but later, truth was added. Truth is one of the central concepts of Persian religion and the competition itself is before a Persian king; thus it seems likely that the story is Persian in origin and that it became Jewish by the identification of the third youth with Zerubbabel.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works indicating Persian influence » Judith
The book of Judith is similar to the biblical Book of Esther in that it also describes how a woman saved her people from impending massacre by her cunning and daring. The name of the heroine occurs already in Gen. 26:34 as a Gentile wife of Esau, but in the book of Judith it evidently has symbolic value. Judith is an exemplary Jewish woman. Her deed is probably invented under the influence of the account of the 12th-century-bce Kenite woman Jael (Judg. 5:24–27), who killed the Canaanite general Sisera by driving a tent peg through his head.

The story is clearly fiction, and the anachronisms in it are intentional: they show that the story itself is a mere fiction. The book speaks about the victory of Nebuchadnezzar, “who reigned over the Assyrians at Nineveh” (the name is of the 7th–6th-century-bce king of Babylon, Nebuchadrezzar) in the time of an unknown Arphaxad, king of the Medes. Since the western nations of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire had refused to come to his aid, the King ordered his commander in chief, Holofernes (a Persian name), to force submission upon the rebellious nations. In subduing these nations Holofernes destroyed their sanctuaries and proclaimed that Nebuchadnezzar alone should henceforth be worshipped as a god. Thus, the Jews, who had recently returned from the Babylonian Captivity (6th century bce) and rebuilt the Temple, were compelled to prepare for war. Holofernes laid siege to Bethulia (otherwise unknown), described as an important strategic point on the way to Jerusalem. Because of a long siege, the inhabitants wanted to surrender their city, but Judith persuaded the people to delay the surrender for five days. Judith was a virtuous, pious, and beautiful widow. She removed her mourning garments, left the city, entered Holofernes’ camp, and was brought before him. On the fourth day, Holofernes decided to seduce Judith and invited her to come into his tent; he then drank more wine than ever before. After he fell into a drunken stupor, Judith cut off his head with his sword and returned with the head to Bethulia. The Jews put Holofernes’ head outside the city wall, and the following morning, upon learning of the death of their commander in chief, the Assyrian soldiers dispersed and were pursued by the Jews of Bethulia, who took abundant spoil. The Jews were not threatened again during Judith’s lifetime—she lived to be 105—or for long thereafter.

Many suggestions have been made about the book of Judith’s date of composition. Though current scholarly opinion is that the book was written in the warlike patriotic atmosphere of the early Maccabean period (c. 150 bce) by a Palestinian Jew, there are no Maccabean elements in the book. It shows no direct or indirect Greek influences, the deification of kings existed already in the ancient Near East, and the political situation described in the book has nothing in common with the Maccabean period. All the apparently intentional historical mistakes, however, can be understood if it is suggested that the book of Judith was written under Persian rule. Holofernes is, as noted above, a typical Persian name; and the whole political and social situation described in the book fits the Persian world, as do the Jewish life and institutions reflected in the book. Thus, there are no serious indications that the book of Judith is a Maccabean product, and there are many allusions to the time of the Persian rule over Palestine. Only a Greek translation of the book is extant, but, from its style, it is clear that the book was originally written in Hebrew. In his preface to the book of Judith, the Latin biblical scholar Jerome (c. 347–419/420 ce) states that he used for his translation a “Chaldaean” (i.e., Aramaic) text and that he also used an older Latin translation from Greek. His translation differs in many points from the original text.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works indicating Persian influence » Tobit
The other Jewish short story possibly dating from Persian times is the book of Tobit, named after the father of its hero. From the fragments of the book discovered at Qumrān, scholars now know that the original form of the name was Tobi. Tobit was from the Hebrew tribe of Naphtali and lived as an exile in Nineveh; his son was Tobias. Obeying the tenets of Jewish piety, Tobit buried the corpses of his fellow Israelites who had been executed. One day, when he buried a dead man, the warm dung of sparrows fell in his eyes and blinded him. His family subsequently suffered from poverty, but then Tobit remembered that he had once left a deposit of silver at Rages (today Teheran) in Media. He sent his son Tobias along with a companion, who was in reality the angel Raphael under the guise of an Israelite, to retrieve the deposit. During the journey, while Tobias was washing in the Tigris, a fish threatened to devour his foot. Upon instructions from Raphael, Tobias caught the fish and removed its gall, heart, and liver, since it was believed that the smoke from the heart and liver had the power to exorcise demons and that ointment made from the gall would cure blindness. On the way he stopped at Ecbatana (in Persia), where Raguel, a member of Tobias’ family, lived. His daughter Sarah had been married seven times, but the men had been slain by the demon Asmodeus on the wedding night, before they had lain with her. On the counsel of Raphael, Tobias asked to marry Raguel’s daughter, and on the wedding night Tobias put Asmodeus to flight through the stench of the burning liver and heart of the fish. Raphael went to Rages and returned with the deposit. When he returned with his young wife and Raphael to Nineveh, Tobias restored his father’s sight by applying the gall of the fish to his eyes. Raphael then disclosed that he was one of God’s seven angels and ascended into heaven.

The story of the book of Tobit is a historicized and Judaized version of the well-known folktale of “The Grateful Dead” (or “The Grateful Ghost”), in which a young man buries the corpse of a stranger despite injunctions against such an act; later the youth wins a bride through the intercession of the dead man’s spirit. Asmodeus (in Persian, Aeshma Daeva, the demon of wrath) occurs as a powerful demon in rabbinic literature as well as in folktales. In the Jewish form of the story, “The Grateful Dead” is replaced by the angel Raphael. According to the Ethiopic Enoch (20:3; 22:3), Raphael is appointed over the spirits of the souls of the dead (for Enoch, see below). Because the cause of this situation is not mentioned in the book of Tobit, the story itself in its Jewish form probably existed before it became the subject of the book of Tobit. The present work is a literary product; the interesting plot gave to the author many occasions to insert religious and moral teachings in the manner of wisdom literature, which is concerned with practical, everyday issues. The book contains prayers, psalms, and aphorisms, most of them put in the mouth of Tobit. It is the oldest Jewish witness of the golden rule (4:15): “And what you hate, do not do to anyone.” Eschatological hopes are also described: at the end of time, all Jewish exiles will return, Jerusalem will be rebuilt of precious stones and gold, and all nations will worship the true God. In these eschatological images, however, the figure of the Messiah does not occur.

The religious, social, and literary atmosphere of the book does not contain elements from the Greek period. Thus, the book probably was written already in the Persian period or in the early days of Greek rule (3rd century bce). The book exists today in three principal recensions, and it is often difficult to determine, in a particular passage, what was the original text. The book was written in Hebrew or Aramaic; the Greek recensions differ, perhaps because they are based on different Semitic versions. These questions may be answered when the Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of the book, which were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, are published.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works indicating Persian influence » The Story of Ahikar
According to the book of Tobit, Ahikar, the cupbearer of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, was Tobit’s nephew; he is a secondary personage in the plot, and his own story is mentioned. Ahikar is the hero of a Near Eastern non-Jewish work, The Story of Ahikar. The book exists in medieval translations, the best of them in Syriac. The story was known in the Persian period in the Jewish military colony in Elephantine Island in Egypt, a fact demonstrated by the discovery of fragmentary Aramaic papyri of the work dating from 450–410 bce. Thus, the author of the book of Tobit probably knew The Story of Ahikar, in which, as in the book of Tobit, the plot is a pretext for the introduction of speeches and wise sayings. Some of Tobit’s sayings have close parallels in the words of the wise Ahikar.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works indicating Persian influence » Baruch
The apocryphon of Baruch, which is extant in Greek and was included in the Septuagint, is attributed to Baruch, secretary to the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah (7th–6th century bce). It was Baruch who read Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon. After hearing his words, the Jews repented and confessed their sins. The first part of the book of Baruch (1:1–3, 8), containing a confession of sins by the Jews following the destruction of Jerusalem and the exiles’ prayer for forgiveness and salvation, may date from the Persian or at least from the pre-Maccabean period. This early section was originally written in Hebrew and seems to be very ancient. The other two parts (3:9–4:4 and 4:5–5:9) were written in Greek or freely translated from Hebrew or Aramaic. The first is a praise of wisdom: only Israel received wisdom from God, which is the Law of Moses. The last part of the book of Baruch contains Jerusalem’s lament over her desolation and her consolation.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works lacking strong indications of influence » The Letter of Jeremiah
The Letter of Jeremiah, like the book of Baruch, was conserved—together with the Greek translation of the Book of Jeremiah—in the Septuagint. The oldest witness of the letter is a fragment of a Greek papyrus, written about 160 bce and found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumrān. Whether the letter was originally written in Greek or is a translation from Hebrew or Aramaic is difficult to decide. The letter attacks the folly of idolatry as did Jeremiah’s letter “to those who were to be taken to Babylon as captives.” Though, according to some experts, the idolatry described in the book fits Babylonian cults, the only clear indication of its date is that of the Qumrān fragment.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Apocryphal works lacking strong indications of influence » Prayer of Manasseh
In some manuscripts of the Septuagint and in two later Christian writings, a pseudepigraphic Prayer of Manasseh is contained. This prayer was composed with reference to II Chron. 33:11–18, according to which the wicked Judaean king Manasseh repented and prayed. In the present form the prayer is Greek in origin, but it may have existed in a Hebrew version, of which the Greek is a free adaptation. The prayer was probably composed (or translated) in the 1st century bce.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Additions to Daniel and Esther
Two of the Old Testament Hagiographa (Ketuvim; see above The Hebrew canon)—Daniel and Esther—contain, in their Greek translations, numerous additions.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Additions to Daniel and Esther » The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men
The first addition to Daniel (in Greek and Latin translations Dan. 3:24–68) contains the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men. These are the prayers of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three young men who praised God after they had been placed in the midst of the fiery furnace during a persecution of Jews in Babylon, as told in the Book of Daniel. The first prayer is said by Azariah alone; the second, a thanksgiving prayer, is said by all three after having been saved by God. The two poems are not found in the original Daniel and were never a part of it. They were translated from Hebrew originals or adapted from them. A passage from the second, a liturgical hymn of praise, is a poetic expansion of the doxology that was sung in the Temple when the holy name of God was pronounced. Like the other additions to Daniel, the two prayers were probably composed before 100 bce.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Additions to Daniel and Esther » Susanna
The second addition to Daniel, the story of Susanna, and the third one, Bel and the Dragon, are preserved in two Greek versions. In both stories the hero is the wise Daniel. Susanna was the pious and beautiful wife of Joakim, a wealthy Jew in Babylon. Two aged judges became inflamed with love for her. They tried to force her to yield to their lust, and, when she refused, they accused her of committing adultery with a young man, who escaped. She was condemned to death, but when Daniel cross-examined the two elders separately, the first stated that Susanna had been surprised under a mastic tree, the other under a holm tree. Susanna was thus saved and the two false witnesses executed.

The short story, perhaps invented even before the extant Book of Daniel was composed, could very well be added to Daniel (whose name means God is my Judge). The story was written in its present form in Greek, since it contains two Greek puns, but a written Semitic prototype may have existed.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Additions to Daniel and Esther » Bel and the Dragon
The third Greek addition to the Book of Daniel is the story of Bel and the Dragon. The Babylonians worshipped the idol of the god Bel and daily provided him with much food, but Daniel proved to the King that the food was in reality eaten by the priests. The priests were punished by death and Bel’s temple destroyed. The Babylonians also worshipped a dragon, but Daniel declined to worship him. To destroy the beast, Daniel boiled pitch, fat, and hair together: the dragon ate it and burst asunder. After Daniel’s sacrilege of slaying the dragon, the King was forced to cast Daniel into the lions’ den, but nothing happened to him. Indeed, he was given a dinner by the prophet Habakkuk, who was brought there by the hair of his head by an angel. On the seventh day the King found Daniel sitting in the den; so he led Daniel out and cast his enemies into the den, where they were devoured.

The two stories are an attack against idolatry. As the addition ends with the story about Daniel in the lions’ den, which is also narrated in the canonical Book of Daniel with another motivation, it is probable that this short treatise originated in a tradition that was parallel to the canonical Book of Daniel and that the two stories were translated from a Hebrew or Aramaic original.

Intertestamental literature » Apocryphal writings » Greek additions to Esther
The Hebrew Book of Esther had a religious and social value to the Jews during the time of Greek and Roman anti-Semitism, though the Hebrew short story did not directly mention God’s intervention in history—and even God himself is not named. To bring the canonical book up-to-date in connection with contemporary anti-Semitism and to stress the religious meaning of the story, additions were made in its Greek translation. These Greek additions are (1) the dream of Mordecai (Esther’s uncle), a symbolic vision written in the spirit of apocalyptic literature; (2) the edict of King Artaxerxes (considered by some to be Artaxerxes II, but more probably Xerxes) against the Jews, containing arguments taken from classical anti-Semitism; (3) the prayers of Mordecai and of Esther, containing apologies for what is said in the Book of Esther—Mordecai saying that he refused to bow before Haman (the grand vizier) because he is flesh and blood and Esther saying that she strongly detests her forced marriage with the heathen king; (4) a description of Esther’s audience with the King, during which the King’s mood was favourably changed when he saw that Esther had fallen down in a faint; (5) the decree of Artaxerxes on behalf of the Jews, in which Haman is called a Macedonian who plotted against the King to transfer the kingdom of Persia to the Macedonians; and (6) the interpretation of Mordecai’s dream and a colophon (inscription at the end of a manuscript with publication facts), where the date, namely, “the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra” (i.e., 114 bce), is given. This indicates that the additions in the Greek Esther were written in Egypt under the rule of the Ptolemies.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » III Baruch
Apocalyptic literature was much concerned about sources of information about the heavenly world and about the places of the damned and saved souls. In later Jewish and early Christian apocalypses, in which the hero undertakes a heavenly trip and sees the secrets that are hidden from others, these sources of information are highly significant. III Baruch, a book written in Greek—in which Baruch, the disciple of the prophet Jeremiah, visits the universe and sees its secrets and the places of the souls and of the angels—is such an apocalypse. In the Greek text the number of heavens visited by Baruch is five, but it is possible that originally he was said to have seen seven heavens. There are Christian passages in the book, but it seems to have been a Jewish work from the 1st century ce later rewritten by a Christian.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » II Enoch
Similar in content is II Enoch, or The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, which is preserved only in an Old Slavonic translation. The oldest text does not contain any Christian additions nor any passage from which it could be concluded that the book was written in Greek. Thus, the book could have been written originally in Hebrew or Aramaic, probably in the 1st century ce. The hero who visits the heavens is the biblical Enoch (son of Jared). The author of the book knew at least some of the treatises contained in I Enoch. The book also contains the story of the miraculous birth of the biblical priest-king Melchizedek.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » The Psalms of Solomon
Other Jewish apocalypses or books containing eschatological elements did not deal with the mysteries of celestial worlds but rather with the political aspect of apocalyptic thought and with the last days and the messianic age. This latter theme is one of the important motifs of the Psalms of Solomon, a book written originally in Hebrew; only the Greek translation of the Psalms is preserved. The title is evidently a later addition—the author himself apparently had no intention to give the impression that his 18 psalms were composed by the biblical king Solomon. The Psalms of Solomon were written in Jerusalem about the middle of the 1st century bce, and, though persons are not named, they reflect the dramatic events of the Jewish history of that period, especially the Roman general Pompey’s conquest of Jerusalem in 63 bce and his violent death in Egypt. In Psalm 17, the author denounces the Hasmonean dynasty as illegal and describes the coming of the Davidic Messiah (a kingly saviour from the line of David). His religious opinion resembles the teachings of the Pharisees (a sect that espoused a reinterpretation of Jewish laws and customs), especially in his faith in the resurrection of the body and in the question of free will, though he most likely was not a Pharisee but rather a member of the community of Ḥasidim, a Jewish pietistic group that had joined the Maccabean revolt from its beginning.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » The Assumption of Moses
The Assumption of Moses originally contained apocalyptic material—no longer extant—in the form of a legend. According to Origen, the dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil for the body of Moses was narrated in the Assumption of Moses. This legend, which has parallels in the rabbinic literature, probably formed the end of the Assumption of Moses, the first part of which was discovered in a Latin manuscript. The Latin version was translated from Greek, but the original language was Semitic, probably Hebrew.

The main content of the preserved part is Moses’ prophecy about the future, from his time until the Kingdom of Heaven will be revealed. According to the custom of apocalyptic literature, names of persons and groups are not mentioned, but from the last events hinted at in the book it can be assumed that it was written at the beginning of the 1st century ce, while Jesus was alive. In its older version, the book apparently was written at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt, some years before the Book of Daniel; after a description of the pre-Maccabean Hellenistic priests (chapter 5) and before the description of the persecutions by Antiochus Epiphanes (chapter 8), chapters 6–7 contain Jewish history from the time of the later Hasmonean rulers to the time of the sons of Herod—as well as polemics against leading religious circles, which are accused of religious hypocrisy, as are the Pharisees in the Christian Gospels. The author of these chapters (6–7), a contemporary of Jesus, evidently erroneously identified the wicked pre-Maccabean priests with the wicked late Maccabean priestly rulers and also interpreted Antiochus Epiphanes as a kind of eschatological Antichrist. No messianic figure is mentioned in the eschatological description of the Kingdom of God: God himself and his angel will bring the salvation.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » The Sibylline Oracles
The Sibylline Oracles is a collection of oracles in Greek verse containing pagan, Jewish, and Christian material from various periods. It comprised 15 books (books IX, X, and XV are lost), of which 4,240 verses are extant. Sibyl is the name (or title) of a legendary ancient pagan prophetess. In the Hellenistic period, eastern nations fabricated Sibylline oracles as propagandistic literature against Greek and, later, against Roman occupation. The political anti-Roman and anti-pagan tone is typical of the Jewish and Christian parts of Sibylline oracles; they also contain religious propaganda for the respective religion. Because Jewish parts used pagan material and Christian authors interpolated Jewish parts or used Jewish material, it is sometimes difficult to decide what verses are pagan, Jewish, or Christian. The Sibylline Oracles perhaps became a part of Jewish (and Christian) apocalyptic literature because of their emphasis on eschatology. The oldest Jewish “Sibyl” is contained in the third book: it dates from about 140 bce and describes the coming of the Messiah. Book IV was written by a Jew about 80 ce: the eruption of Vesuvius (79) is viewed as a divine punishment for the massacre of Jews in the Roman war (70). Book V was written by a Jew about 125.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » II Esdras (or IV Esdras)
Two important apocalyptic pseudepigrapha (II Esdras and the Apocalypse of Baruch), in which the political and eschatological aspects are central to the aim of the books, were written in Palestine at the end of the 1st century ce as a consequence of the catastrophic destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (70). Both were written as if they reflected the doom that befell the people of Israel after the destruction of the First Temple (586 bce) by the Babylonians. II Esdras (or IV Esdras) was written in Hebrew, but only various translations from a lost Greek version are preserved. The Latin version (in which chapters 1–2 and 15–16 have been added by a Christian hand) at one time was printed at the end of the Latin Bible. The book consists of six visions attributed to the biblical Ezra (who is, at the beginning of the book, erroneously identified with Salathiel, the father of Zerubbabel, a leader of the returning exiles from Babylon). The tragedy of his nation evokes in the heart of the author questions about God’s righteousness, the human condition, the meaning of history, and the election of Israel; “Ezra” does not find consolation and full answer in the words of the angel who was sent to him, which also contain revelations about the last days. In the fourth vision “Ezra” sees a mourning woman; she disappears and a city (the New Jerusalem) stands in her place. In the fifth vision a monstrous eagle appears, the symbol of the Roman Empire, and a lion, the symbol of the Messiah. The final victory of the Messiah is described in the last vision of the man (Son of man) coming from the sea. In chapter 14 “Ezra” is described as dictating 94 books: 24 are the books of the Hebrew Bible, and the other 70 are esoteric.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Apocalyptic and eschatological works » The Apocalypse of Baruch
The Apocalypse of Baruch was written about the same time as II (IV) Esdras, and the less profound Apocalypse probably depends much upon II Esdras. The Apocalypse of Baruch survives only in a Syriac version translated from Greek; originally the book was composed in Hebrew or Aramaic and is ascribed to Baruch, the disciple of Jeremiah and a contemporary of the destruction of the First Temple. If II Esdras asks questions about important problems of human history and the tragic situation of Israel after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Apocalypse of Baruch apparently was written to give a positive, traditional answer to these doubts.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Pseudepigrapha connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls
There are three Pseudepigrapha that are closely connected with the writings of the Dead Sea sect: the Book of Jubilees, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. It is not accidental that fragments of the two first books and of two sources of the third were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Pseudepigrapha connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls » The Book of Jubilees
From the fragments of the Book of Jubilees among the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars note that the book was originally written in biblical Hebrew. The whole book is preserved in an Ethiopic version translated from Greek.

The book is written in the form of a revealed history of Israel from the creation until the dwelling of Moses on Mt. Sinai, where the content of the book was revealed to Moses by “the angel of the presence.” The Book of Jubilees in fact is a legendary rewriting of the book of Genesis and a part of Exodus. One of the main purposes of the author is to promote, in the form of divine revelation, a special sectarian interpretation of Jewish law. All the legal prescriptions noted in the book were practiced by the Dead Sea sect; in connection with the solar calendar of 52 weeks, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls even mentions the Book of Jubilees as the source. The (unpublished) Temple Scroll, a book of sectarian prescriptions that paraphrases—also as divine revelation—a part of the Mosaic Law and was composed by the Dead Sea sect before 100 bce (i.e., in the same period as the Book of Jubilees), closely resembles some parts of the Book of Jubilees. Thus, the Book of Jubilees could be accepted by the Dead Sea sect and apparently was written in the same circles, immediately before the sect itself came into existence. The apocalyptical hopes expressed in the book are also identical to those of the Dead Sea sect.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Pseudepigrapha connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls » The Book of Enoch
Another book that was written during the period of the apocalyptic movement in which the Dead Sea sect came into existence is the Book of Enoch, or I Enoch. It was completely preserved in an Ethiopic translation from Greek, and large parts from the beginning and end of the Greek version have been published from two papyri. Aramaic fragments of many parts of the book were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, as were Hebrew fragments of the Book of Noah, either one of the sources of Enoch or a parallel elaboration of the same material. Passages of the Book of Noah were included in Enoch by its redactor (editor). Scholars generally agree that the somewhat haphazard redaction of the book was made in its Greek stage, when a redactor put together various treatises of the Enochic literature that were written at various times and reflected various trends of the movement.

Besides the passages from the Book of Noah, five treatises are included in the Book of Enoch. The hero of all of them is the biblical Enoch. The first treatise (chapters 1–36) speaks about the fall of the angels, who rebelled before the Flood, and describes Enoch’s celestial journeys, in which divine secrets were revealed to him. It was probably written in the late 2nd century bce.

The second part of the Book of Enoch is the “Parables” (or Similitudes) of Enoch (37–71). These three eschatological sermons of Enoch refer to visions; their original language was probably Hebrew rather than Aramaic. This treatise is an important witness for the belief in the coming of the Son of man, who is expressly identified with the Messiah; in chapters 70–71, which are probably a later addition, the Son of man is identified with Enoch himself. The treatise probably dates from the 1st century bce.

As Aramaic fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls show, the astronomical book entitled “The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries” (chapters 72–82) is in the present form abbreviated in the Book of Enoch. All these astronomical mysteries were shown to Enoch by the angel Uriel. The treatise propagates the same solar calendar that is also known from the Book of Jubilees and from the Dead Sea sect. This treatise was probably written before the year 100 bce.

The fourth treatise (chapters 83–90) contains two visions of Enoch: the first (chapters 83–84), about the Flood, is in reality only a sort of introduction to the second one (“the vision of seventy shepherds”), which describes the history of the world from Adam to the messianic age; the personages of the visions are allegorically described as various kinds of animals. The symbolic description of history continues to the time of Judas Maccabeus; then follows the last assault of Gentiles and the messianic period. Thus, the treatise was written in the early Hasmonean period, some time after the biblical Book of Daniel.

The fifth treatise (chapters 91–107) contains Enoch’s speech of moral admonition to his family. The moral stress and the social impact is similar to parts of Jesus’ teaching; even the form of beatitudes (blessings) and woes is present. The treatise shows some affinities to the Dead Sea Scrolls, but the author was not a member of the Dead Sea sect; he opposes the central teaching of the sect, the doctrine of predestination (98: 4–5). The treatise apparently was written at the end of the 1st century bce. Chapter 105, lacking in the Greek version, is a late interpolation, probably of Christian origin.

The author of the treatise himself apparently incorporated into it a small apocalypse, the “Apocalypse of Weeks” (93:1–10; 91:12–17); in it the whole of human history is divided into ten weeks; seven of them belong to the past and the last three to the future.

Intertestamental literature » The Pseudepigraphal writings » Pseudepigrapha connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls » Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
The third pseudepigraphon that shows important affinities with the Dead Sea sect is the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the last speeches of the 12 sons of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob. In its extant form, containing Christian passages, the book was written in Greek. Fragments of two original Semitic sources of the book were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls: the Aramaic “Testament of Levi” (fragments of it were also discovered in Aramaic in the medieval Geniza, or synagogue storeroom, in Cairo) and a Hebrew fragment of the “Testaments of Naphtali.” A Hebrew “Testament of Judah,” which was used both by the Book of Jubilees and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in their description of the wars of the sons of Jacob, also probably existed.

Whether Hebrew and Aramaic prototypes for all the 12 testaments of the patriarchs existed is difficult to ascertain. The present book was originally written in Greek. In it each of the sons of Jacob before his death gives moral advice to his descendants, based upon his own experience. All the testaments, with the exception of Gad, also contain apocalyptic predictions.

Between the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Dead Sea sect there is a historical and ideological connection. The sources of the book were found among the scrolls, the source of the “Testament of Levi” is quoted in a sectarian writing (the Damascus Document), a dualistic outlook is common to the book and the sect, and the devil is named Belial in both. There are, however, important differences: in regard to the nature of the dualism between good and evil, there is in the Testaments the concept of the good and bad inclination, known from rabbinical literature, which does not exist in the scrolls; though the sect believed in an afterlife of souls, the Testaments reflect the belief in the resurrection of the body; there are no traces of the doctrine of predestination in the testaments, a doctrine that is so important for the sect. Only the “Testament of Asher” preaches, as did the Dead Sea sect, hatred against sinners; the other testaments stress, as does rabbinic literature and especially Jesus, the precept of love for God and neighbour. Thus, it is probable that the testaments of the patriarchs were composed in circles in which doctrines of the Dead Sea sect were mitigated and combined with some rabbinic doctrines. A similar humanistic position, founded both on doctrines of the Dead Sea sect and of the Pharisees, is typical of Jesus’ message, and there are important parallels between his message and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.

Intertestamental literature » Qumrān literature (Dead Sea Scrolls) » Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
New literary documents from the intertestamental period were found in the caves of Qumrān in the vicinity of the Dead Sea in the 1940s, but only a portion of them has yet been published. All the Dead Sea Scrolls were written before the destruction of the Second Temple; with the exception of small Greek fragments, they are all in Hebrew and Aramaic. The scrolls formed the library of an ancient Jewish sect, which probably came into existence at the end of the 2nd century bce and was founded by a religious genius, called in the scrolls the Teacher of Righteousness. Scholars have tried to identify the sect with all possible groups of ancient Judaism, including the Zealots and early Christians, but it is now most often identified with the Essenes; all that the sectarian scrolls contain fits previous information about the Essenes, and the Dead Sea Scrolls help scholars to interpret the descriptions about the Essenes in ancient sources.

Intertestamental literature » Qumrān literature (Dead Sea Scrolls) » Findings and conclusions » Apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings
The importance of the discovery is very great; the scrolls of books of the Old Testament caused a new evaluation of the history of the text of the Hebrew Bible; fragments of the Apocrypha (Sirach and Tobit) and of already known and unknown Pseudepigrapha enlarge knowledge about Jewish literature of the intertestamental period, and the properly sectarian scrolls are important witnesses about an ancient sect that influenced, in some points, the origins of Christianity.

Among the previously unknown Pseudepigrapha were large parts of an Aramaic scroll, the Genesis Apocryphon, which retells stories from Genesis in the manner of a number of apocryphal books. The chapters that are preserved are concerned with Lamech, his grandfather Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, and the narrators in the scroll are the respective biblical heroes. There is a close affinity between this scroll and the Book of Jubilees and Book of Enoch, fragments of these books having been also found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Another pseudepigraphon that resembles the Dead Sea sect in spirit is the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs; fragments of two of its sources, namely, the Aramaic “Testament of Levi” and a Hebrew “Testament of Naphtali,” are extant in the Qumrān library. All these books were composed in an apocalyptic movement in Judaism, in the midst of which the Dead Sea sect originated. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain if a work was written within the sect itself or if it represents the broader movement. The largest scroll, the Temple Scroll, is as yet unpublished. It describes—by the mouth of God himself and in Hebrew—not the Temple of the last days but the Temple as it should have been built. There are strong ties between the Temple Scroll and the Book of Jubilees and the prescriptions in it fit the conceptions of the sect; the work was composed by the sectarians themselves.

Intertestamental literature » Qumrān literature (Dead Sea Scrolls) » Findings and conclusions » Pesharim
An important source of knowledge about the history of the Dead Sea sect is the pesharim (“commentaries”; singular pesher). The sectarian authors commented on the books of Old Testament prophets and the book of Psalms and in the commentaries explained the biblical text as speaking about the history of the sect and of events that happened in the time of its existence. According to the manner of apocalyptic literature in the pesharim, persons and groups are not named with their proper names but are described by symbolic titles—e.g., the Teacher of Righteousness for the founder of the sect. The most important sectarian commentaries are the pesharim on Habakkuk and on Nahum.

Intertestamental literature » Qumrān literature (Dead Sea Scrolls) » Findings and conclusions » The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness
One of the most interesting Dead Sea Scrolls is The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, a description of the eschatological war between the Sons of Light—i.e., the sect—and the rest of mankind, first with the other Jews and then with the Gentiles. At the end the Sons of Light will conquer the whole world, and in this war they will be helped by heavenly hosts; the Sons of Darkness, aided by the devil Belial and his demonic army, and, finally, all wicked ones will be destroyed. The work contains prayers and speeches that will be uttered in the eschatological war as well as military and other ordinances. Thus, the book also could be called the Manual of Discipline for the last war.

Intertestamental literature » Qumrān literature (Dead Sea Scrolls) » Findings and conclusions » Books of ordinances
Other books of ordinances of the sect have been preserved, containing prescriptions and other material. Three such compositions are written on one scroll: the Manual of Discipline, the Rule of the Congregation, and the manual of Benedictions. The Manual of Discipline is the rule (or statement of regulations) of the Essene community; the most important part of this work is a treatise about the special theology of the sect. The Rule of the Congregation contains prescriptions for the eschatological future when the sect is expected to be the elite of the nation. The manual of Benedictions, preserved only in a fragmentary state, contains benedictions that are to be said in the eschatological future.

Another sectarian book of ordinances is the Damascus Document (the Zadokite Fragments). The work was already known from two medieval copies before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but fragments of it also were found in Qumrān, and the connection between this work and the Dead Sea sect is evident. The Damascus Document was written in a community in Damascus, which was not as rigidly organized as the Essenes. The work contains the rules of this community and reminiscences of the sect’s history. Some scholars think that “Damascus” is only a symbolical name for Qumrān.

Intertestamental literature » Qumrān literature (Dead Sea Scrolls) » Findings and conclusions » Hodayot
One of the most important Essene works is the Hodayot (“Praises”)—a modern Hebrew name for the Thanksgiving Psalms. This scroll contains sectarian hymns of praise to God. In its view of the fleshly nature of man, who can be justified only by God’s undeserved grace, it resembles St. Paul’s approach to the same problem. Some scholars think that the work, or a part of it, was written by the Teacher of Righteousness.

Among other fragments of scrolls liturgical texts of prayers were found, as well as fragments of horoscopes written in a cryptic script.

David Flusser

 

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » Conditions aiding the formation of the canon
The New Testament consists of 27 books, which are the residue, or precipitate, out of many 1st–2nd-century-ad writings that Christian groups considered sacred. In these various writings the early church transmitted its traditions: its experience, understanding, and interpretation of Jesus as the Christ and the self-understanding of the church. In a seemingly circuitous interplay between the historical and theological processes, the church selected these 27 writings as normative for its life and teachings—i.e., as its canon (from the Greek kanōn, literally, a reed or cane used as a measuring rod and, figuratively, a rule or standard). Other accounts, letters, and revelations—e.g., the Didachē (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), Gospel of Peter, First Letter of Clement, Letter of Barnabas, Apocalypse (Revelation) of Peter, Shepherd of Hermas—exist, but through a complex process the canon was fixed for both the Eastern and Western churches in the 4th century. The canon contained four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Acts, 21 letters, and one book of a strictly revelatory character, Revelation. These were not necessarily the oldest writings, not all equally revelatory, and not all directed to the church at large.

The Old Testament in its Greek translation, the Septuagint (LXX), was the Bible of the earliest Christians. The New Covenant, or Testament, was viewed as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of salvation that were continued for the new Israel, the church, through the Holy Spirit, which had come through Christ, upon the whole people of God. Thus, the Spirit, which in the Old Testament had been viewed as resting only on special charismatic figures, in the New Testament became “democratized”—i.e., was given to the whole people of the New Covenant. In postbiblical Judaism of the first Christian centuries, it was believed that the Spirit had ceased after the writing of the Book of Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament canon) and that no longer could anyone say “Thus saith the Lord,” as had the prophets, nor could any further holy writ be produced.

The descent of the Spirit on the community of the Messiah (i.e., the Christ) was thus perceived by Christians as a sign of the beginning of the age to come, and the church understood itself as having access to that inspiration through the Spirit. Having this understanding of itself, the church created the New Testament canon not only as a continuation and fulfillment of the Old Testament but also as qualitatively different, because a new age had been ushered in. These 27 books, therefore, were not merely appended to the traditional Jewish threefold division of the Old Testament—the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Neviʾim), and the Writings (Ketuvim)—but rather became the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible, of which the Old Testament is the first.

Because of a belief that something almost magical occurs—with an element of secrecy—when a transmitted oral tradition is put into writing, there was, in both the Old and New Testaments, an expression of reluctance about committing sacred material to writing. When such sacred writings are studied to find the revealed word of God, a settled delimiting of the writings—i.e., a canon—must be selected. In the last decade of the 1st century, the Synod of Jamnia (Jabneh), in Palestine, fixed the canon of the Bible for Judaism, which, following a long period of flux and fluidity and controversy about certain of its books, Christians came to call the Old Testament. A possible factor in the timing of this Jewish canon was a situation of crisis: the fall of Jerusalem and reaction to the fact that the Septuagint was used by Christians and to their advantage, as in the translation of the Hebrew word ʿalma (“young woman”) in chapter 7, verse 14, of Isaiah—“Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”—into the Greek term parthenos (“virgin”).

As far as the New Testament is concerned, there could be no Bible without a church that created it; yet conversely, having been nurtured by the content of the writings themselves, the church selected the canon. The concept of inspiration was not decisive in the matter of demarcation because the church understood itself as having access to inspiration through the guidance of the Spirit. Indeed, until c. ad 150, Christians could produce writings either anonymously or pseudonymously—i.e., using the name of some acknowledged important biblical or apostolic figure. The practice was not believed to be either a trick or fraud. Apart from letters in which the person of the writer was clearly attested—as in those of Paul, which have distinctive historical, theological, and stylistic traits peculiar to Paul—the other writings placed their emphases on the message or revelation conveyed, and the author was considered to be only an instrument or witness to the Holy Spirit or the Lord. When the message was committed to writing, the instrument was considered irrelevant, because the true author was believed to be the Spirit. By the mid-2nd century, however, with the delay of the final coming (the Parousia) of the Messiah as the victorious eschatological (end-time) judge and with a resulting increased awareness of history, increasingly a distinction was made between the apostolic time and the present. There also was a gradual cessation of “authentically pseudonymous” writings in which the author could identify with Christ and the Apostles and thereby gain ecclesiastical recognition.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization
The process of canonization was relatively long and remarkably flexible and detached; various books in use were recognized as inspired, but the Church Fathers noted, without embarrassment or criticism, how some held certain books to be canonical and others did not. Emerging Christianity assumed that through the Spirit the selection of canonical books was “certain” enough for the needs of the church. Inspiration, it is to be stressed, was neither a divisive nor a decisive criterion. Only when the canon had become self-evident was it argued that inspiration and canonicity coincided, and this coincidence became the presupposition of Protestant orthodoxy (e.g., the authority of the Bible through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit).

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization » The need for consolidation and delimitation
Viewed both phenomenologically and practically, the canon had to be consolidated and delimited. Seen historically, however, there were a number of reasons that forced the issue of limiting the canon. Oral tradition had begun to deteriorate in post-apostolic times, partly because many or most of the eyewitnesses to the earliest events of Jesus’ life and death and the beginning of the church had died. Also, the oral tradition may simply have suffered in transmission. Papias (died c. 130), a bishop of Hieropolis, in Asia Minor, was said by Irenaeus (died c. 200), a bishop of Lugdunum (now Lyon, France) to have been an eyewitness of the Apostle John. Papias had said, “For I did not suppose that the things from the books would aid me so much as the things from the living and continuing voice.” Eusebius (c. 260–c. 340), a church historian, reported these comments in his Ecclesiastical History and pointed out inconsistencies in Papias’ recollections, doubted his understanding, and called him “a man of exceedingly small intelligence.” Large sections of oral tradition, however, which were probably translated in part from Aramaic before being written down in Greek—such as the Passion (suffering of Christ) narrative, many sayings of Jesus, and early liturgical material—benefitted by the very conservativism implicit in such traditions. But because the church perceived its risen Lord as a living Lord, even his words could be adjusted or adapted to fit specific church needs. Toward the end of the 1st century, there was also a conscious production of gospels. Some gospels purported to be words of the risen Lord that did not reflect apostolic traditions and even claimed superiority over them. Such claims were deemed heretical and helped to push the early church toward canonization.

Faced with heresy and claims to late revelations, the early church was constrained to retain the historical dimension of its faith, the ephapax, or the “once for all,” revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization » Impulse toward canonization from heretical movements
Gnosticism (a religious system with influence both on Judaism and Christianity) tended to foster speculation, cutting loose from historical revelation. In defense the orthodox churches stressed the apostolic tradition by focussing on Gospels and letters from apostolic lives and distinguished them from Gnostic writings, such as the Gospel of Truth (mentioned by Irenaeus) and now found in Coptic translation in a collection of Gnostic writings from Egypt; it is a Coptic manuscript of a Valentinian Gnostic speculation from the mid-2nd century—i.e., a work based on the teachings of Valentinus, a Gnostic teacher from Alexandria. In the same collection is the Gospel of Thomas in Coptic, actually a collection of sayings purporting to be the words of the risen Christ, the living Lord. This “gospel” also occurred in Greek (c. 140), and warnings against it as heretical were made by the Church Fathers in the 2nd to the 4th centuries.

In a general prophetic apocalyptic mood, another heresy, Montanism, arose. This was an ecstatic enthusiastic movement claiming special revelation and stressing “the age of the spirit.” Montanus (died c. 175) and two prophetesses claimed that their oracular statements contained new and contemporary authoritative revelations. This break with the apostolic time caused vigorous response. An anti-Montanist reported that “the false prophet is one who speaks in ecstasy after which follow freedom . . . and madness of soul.”

The single most decisive factor in the process of canonization was the influence of Marcion (flourished c. 140), who had Gnostic tendencies and who set up a “canon” that totally repudiated the Old Testament and anything Jewish. He viewed the Creator God of the Old Testament as a cruel God of retribution and the Jewish Law. His canon consisted of The Gospel, a “cleaned up” Luke (the least Jewish), and the Apostolikon (ten Pauline letters with Old Testament references and analogies edited out, without Hebrews, I and II Timothy, and Titus). This restrictive canon acted as a catalyst to the formation of a canon more in line with the thought of the church catholic (universal).

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization » Late-2nd-century canons
By the end of the 2nd century, Irenaeus used the four canonical Gospels, 13 letters of Paul, I Peter, I and II John, Revelation, Shepherd of Hermas (a work later excluded from the canon), and Acts. Justin Martyr (died c. 165), a Christian apologist, wrote of the reading of the Gospels, “the memoirs of the Apostles,” in the services, in which they were the basis for sermons. In his writings he quoted freely from the Gospels, Hebrews, the Pauline Letters, I Peter, and Acts. Justin’s Syrian pupil, Tatian (c. 160), although he quotes from John separately, is best known for his Diatessaron (literally, “through four” [gospels], but also a musicological term meaning “choral” “harmony”), which was a life of Christ compiled from all four Gospels but based on the outline and structure of John. This indicates both that Tatian was aware of four gospel traditions and that their canonicity was not fixed in final form at his time in Syria. Although Tatian was later declared a heretic, the Diatessaron was used until the 5th century and influenced the Western Church even after four separated gospels were established.

The first clear witness to a catalog of authoritative New Testament writings is found in the so-called Muratorian Canon, a crude and uncultured Latin 8th-century manuscript translated from a Greek list written in Rome c. 170–180, named for its modern discoverer and publisher Lodovica Antonio Muratori (1672–1750). Though the first lines are lost, Luke is referred to as “the third book of the Gospel,” and the canon thus contains [Matthew, Mark] Luke, John, Acts, 13 Pauline letters, Jude, two letters of John, and Revelation. Concerning the Apocalypse of Peter, it notes that it may be read, although some persons object; it rejects the Shepherd of Hermas as having been written only recently in Rome and lacking connection with the apostolic age. The Wisdom of Solomon (a Jewish intertestamental writing), is included in the accepted works as written in Solomon’s honour.

Some principles for determining the criteria of canonicity begin to be apparent: apostolicity, true doctrine (regula fidei), and widespread geographical usage. Such principles are indicated by Muratori’s argument that the Pauline Letters are canonical and universal—the Word of God for the whole church—although they are addressed to specific churches, on the analogy of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation; in a prophetic statement to the whole church, seven specific churches are addressed, then the specific letters of Paul can be read for all. Thus, the catholic status of the Pauline letters to seven churches is vindicated on the basis of the revelation of Jesus Christ to John, the seer and writer of Revelation. Wide usage in the church is indicated in calling Acts the Acts of all the Apostles and in the intention of the “general address”—e.g., “To those who are called,” in Jude—of the Catholic (or general) Letters—i.e., I and II Peter, I, II, and III John, James, and Jude. The criterion of accordance with received teaching is plain in the rejection of heretical writings. The Muratorian Canon itself may have been, in part, a response to Marcion’s heretical and reductive canon.

The criteria of true doctrine, usage, and apostolicity all taken together must be satisfied, then, in order that a book be judged canonical. Thus, even though the Shepherd of Hermas, the First Letter of Clement, and the Didachē may have been widely used and contain true doctrines, they were not canonical because they were not apostolic nor connected to the apostolic age, or they were local writings without support in many areas.

During the time of the definitive formation of the canon in the 2nd century, apparent differences existed in the Western churches (centred in or in close contact with Rome) and those of the East (as in Alexandria and Asia Minor). It is not surprising that the Roman Muratorian Canon omitted Hebrews and accepted and held Revelation in high esteem, for Hebrews allows for no repentance for the baptized Christian who commits apostasy (rejection of faith), a problem in the Western Church when it was subjected to persecution. In the East, on the other hand, there was a dogmatic resistance to the teaching of a 1,000-year reign of the Messiah before the end time—i.e., chiliasm, or millenarianism—in Revelation. There was also a difference in the acceptance of Acts and the Catholic Letters. With the continued expansion of the church, particularly in the 2nd century, consolidation was necessary.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization » Canonical standards of the 3rd and 4th centuries
Clement of Alexandria, a theologian who flourished in the late 2nd century, seemed to be practically unconcerned about canonicity. To him, inspiration is what mattered, and he made use of the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Letter of Barnabas, the Didachē, and other extracanonical works. Origen (died c. 254), Clement’s pupil and one of the greatest thinkers of the early church, distinguished at least three classes of writings, basing his judgment on majority usage in places that he had visited: (1) homologoumena or anantirrhēta, “undisputed in the churches of God throughout the whole world” (the four Gospels, 13 Pauline Letters, I Peter, I John, Acts, and Revelation); (2) amphiballomena, “disputed” (II Peter, II and III John, Hebrews, James, and Jude); and (3) notha, “spurious” (Gospel of the Egyptians, Thomas, and others). He used the term “scripture” (graphē) for the Didachē, the Letter of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas, but did not consider them canonical. Eusebius shows the situation in the early 4th century. Universally accepted are: the four Gospels, Acts, 14 Pauline Letters (including Hebrews), I John, and I Peter. The disputed writings are of two kinds: (1) those known and accepted by many (James, Jude, II Peter, II and III John, and (2) those called “spurious” but not “foul and impious” (Acts of Paul, Shepherd of Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, Letter of Barnabas, Didachē and possibly the Gospel of the Hebrews); finally there are the heretically spurious (e.g., Gospel of Peter, Acts of John). Revelation is listed both as fully accepted (“if permissible”) and as spurious but not impious. It is important that Eusebius feels free to make authoritative use of the disputed writings. Thus canon and authoritative revelation are not yet the same thing.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization » Determination of the canon in the 4th century
Athanasius, a 4th-century bishop of Alexandria and a significant theologian, delimited the canon and settled the strife between East and West. On a principle of inclusiveness, both Revelation and Hebrews (as part of the Pauline corpus) were accepted. The 27 books of the New Testament—and they only—were declared canonical. In the Greek churches there was still controversy about Revelation, but in the Latin Church, under the influence of Jerome, Athanasius’ decision was accepted. It is notable, however, that, in a mid-4th-century manuscript called Codex Sinaiticus, the Letter of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas are included at the end but with no indication of secondary status, and that, in the 5th-century Codex Alexandrinus, there is no demarcation between Revelation and I and II Clement.

In the Syriac Church, Tatian’s Diatessaron was used until the 5th century, and in the 3rd century the 14 Pauline Letters were added. Because Tatian had been declared a heretic, there was a clear episcopal order to have the four separated Gospels when, according to tradition, Rabbula, bishop of Edessa, introduced the Syriac version known as the Peshitta—also adding Acts, James, I Peter, and I John—making a 22-book canon. Only much later, perhaps in the 7th century, did the Syriac canon come into agreement with the Greek 27 books.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » The New Testament canon » The process of canonization » Developments in the 16th century
With the advent of printing and differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants, the canon and its relationship to tradition finally became fixed. During the Counter-Reformation Council of Trent (1545–63), the canon of the entire Bible was set in 1546 as the Vulgate, based on Jerome’s Latin version. For Luther, the criterion of what was canonical was both apostolicity, or what is of an apostolic nature, and “was Christum treibet”—what drives toward, or leads to, Christ. This latter criterion he did not find in, for example, Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation; even so, he bowed to tradition, and placed these books last in the New Testament.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism » The physical aspects of New Testament texts
To establish the reliability of the text of ancient manuscripts in order to reach the text that the author originally wrote (or, rather, dictated) involves the physical aspects of the texts: collection, collation of differences or variant readings in manuscripts, and comparison in matters of dating, geographical origins, and the amount of editing or revision noted, using as many copies as are available. Textual criticism starts thus with the manuscripts themselves. Families of manuscripts may be recognized by noting similarities and differences, degrees of dependence, or stages of their transmission leading back to the earliest text, or autograph. The techniques used in textual studies of ancient manuscripts are the same whether they deal with secular, philosophical, or religious texts. New Testament textual criticism, however, operates under unique conditions because of an abundance of manuscripts and the rather short gap between the time of original writing and the extant manuscripts, shorter than that of the Old Testament.

Compared with other ancient manuscripts, the text of the New Testament is dependable and consistent, but on an absolute scale there are far more variant readings as compared with those of, for example, classical Greek authors. This is the result, on the one hand, of a great number of surviving manuscripts and extant manuscript fragments and, on the other, of the fact that the time gap between an oral phase of transmission and the written stage was far shorter than that of many other ancient Greek manuscripts. The missionary message—the kerygma (proclamation)—with reports of the Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ and collections of his deeds and sayings was, at first, oral tradition. Later it was written down in Gospel form. The letters of Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles who founded or corresponded with churches, were also collected and distributed as he had dictated them. All autographs of New Testament books have disappeared. In sharp contrast to the fact that the oldest extant full manuscript of a work by the Greek philosopher Plato (died 347 bc) is a copy written in 895—a gap of more than 1,000 years bridged by only a few papyrus texts—there was a time gap of less than 200 or 300 years between the original accounts of the New Testament events and extant manuscripts. In fact, a small (about 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches [6.4 by 8.9 centimetres]) papyrus fragment with verses from the 18th chapter of the Gospel According to John can be dated c. 120–130; this earliest known fragment of the New Testament was written 40 years or less after the presumed date of the production of that Gospel (c. 90).

Excluding papyri found preserved in the dry sands, as in Egypt (where the Gospel According to John was evidently popular judging from the large number of fragments found there), the approximate number of New Testament manuscripts dating from the 3rd to 18th centuries are: 2,000 of the four Gospels; 400 of Acts, Pauline, and Catholic letters together; 300 of Pauline letters alone; 250 of Revelation; and 2,000 lectionaries—i.e., collections of gospel (and sometimes Acts and letter) selections, or pericopes, meant to be used in public worship. Quotations from the Church Fathers—some of which are so extensive as to include almost the whole New Testament—account for more than 150,000 textual variants. Of the quotations in the Fathers, however, it is difficult to make judgments because the quotations may have been intended to be exact from some particular text traditions, but others may have been from memory, conflations, harmonizations, or allusions. Of the many New Testament manuscripts to date, however, only about 50 contain the entire 27 books of the New Testament. The majority have the four Gospels, and Revelation is the least well attested. Prior to the printing press (15th century), all copies of Bibles show textual variations.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Textual criticism » Types of writing materials and methods
In Hellenistic times (c. 300 bc–c. ad 300), official records were often inscribed on stone or metal tablets. Literary works and detailed letters were written on parchment or papyrus, though short or temporary records were written or scratched on potsherds (ostraca) or wax tablets. Scrolls were made by gluing together papyrus sheets (made from the pith of the papyrus reed) or by sewing together parchment leaves (made from treated and scraped animal skins); they were written in columns and read by shifting the roll backward and forward from some wooden support on one or both ends. Such scrolls were used for literary or religious works and seldom exceeded 30 feet (nine metres) in length because of their weight and awkwardness in handling.

In contrast, the church used not scrolls but the codex (book) form for its literature. A codex was formed by sewing pages of papyrus or parchment of equal size one upon another and vertically down the middle, forming a quire; both sides of the pages thus formed could be written upon. In antiquity, the codex was the less honourable form of writing material, used for notes and casual records. The use of the book form testifies to the low cultural and educational status of early Christianity—and, as the church rose to prominence, it brought “the book” with it. Not until the time of the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century, when Christianity became a state religion, were there parchment codices containing the whole New Testament.

Some very early New Testament manuscripts and fragments thereof are papyrus, but parchment, when available, became the best writing material until the advent of printing. The majority of New Testament manuscripts from the 4th to 15th centuries are parchment codices. When parchment codices occasionally were deemed no longer of use, the writing was scraped off and a new text written upon it. Such a rewritten (rescriptus) manuscript is called a palimpsest (from the Greek palin, “again,” and psaō, “I scrape”). Often the original text of a palimpsest can be discerned by photographic process.

In New Testament times there were two main types of Greek writing: majuscules (or uncials) and minuscules. Majuscules are all capital (uppercase) letters, and the word uncial (literally, 1/12 of a whole, about an inch) points to the size of their letters. Minuscules are lowercase manuscripts. Both uncials and minuscules might have ligatures making them into semi-connected cursives. In Greco-Roman times minuscules were used for the usual daily writing. In parchments from the 4th to the 9th centuries, both majuscules and minuscules were used for New Testament manuscripts, but by the 11th century all the manuscripts were minuscules.

In these early New Testament manuscripts, there were no spaces between either letters or words, rarely an indication that a word was “hyphenated,” no chapter or verse divisions, no punctuation, and no accents or breathing marks on the Greek words. There was only a continuous flow of letters. In addition, there were numerous (and sometimes variable) abbreviations marked only by a line above (e.g., IC for IHCOUC, or Jesus, and KC for kyrios, or Lord. Not until the 8th–9th century was there any indication of accents or breathing marks (both of which may make a difference in the meaning of some words); punctuation occurred sporadically at this period; but not until the Middle Ages were the texts supplied with such helps as chapters (c. 1200) and verses (c. 1550).

Occasionally, the parchment was stained (e.g., purple), and the ink was silver (e.g., Codex Argenteus, a 5th–6th-century Gothic translation). Initial letters were sometimes illuminated, often with red ink (from which comes the present English word rubric, based on the Latin for “red,” namely ruber).

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Types of manuscript errors
Since scribes either copied manuscripts or wrote from dictation, manuscript variants could be of several types: copying, hearing, accidental, or intentional. Errors in copying were common, particularly with uncial letters that looked alike. In early manuscripts OC (for hos, “[he] who”), for example, might easily be mistaken for the traditional abbreviation of God: ΘC (for ΘEOC, theos). Dittography (the picking up of a word or group of words and repeating it) and haplography (the omission of syllables, words, or lines) are errors most apt to occur where there are similar words or syllables involved. In chapter 17, verse 15, of John, in one manuscript the following error occurs: “I do not pray that thou shouldest take them from the [world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the] evil one” becomes “I do not pray that thou shouldst take them from the evil one.” This is obviously a reading that omitted the words between two identical ends of lines—i.e., an error due to homoioteleuton (similar ending of lines).

Especially in uncial manuscripts with continuous writing, there is a problem of word division. An English example may serve to illustrate: GODISNOWHERE may be read “God is now here” or “God is nowhere.” Internal evidence from the context can usually solve such problems. Corrections of a manuscript either above the line of writing or in the margin (and also marginal comments) may be read and copied into the text and become part of it as a gloss.

Errors of hearing are particularly common when words have the same pronunciation as others but differ in spelling (as in English: “their, there”; “meet, meat”). This kind of error increased in frequency in the early Christian Era because some vowels and diphthongs lost their distinctive sound and came to be pronounced alike. For example, the Greek vowels ē, i, and u and the diphthongs ei, oi, and ui all sounded like the ēē (as in “feet”). Remarkable mistranslations can occur as, for example, in I Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 54: “Death is swallowed up in victory”—becomes by itacism (pronunciation of the Greek letter ē) “Death is swallowed up in conflict” (neikos). Another problem of itacism is the distinction between declensions of the 1st and 2nd persons in the plural (“we” and “you”) in Greek, which can sound the same (hemeis, “we”; humeis, “you”), because the initial vowels are not clearly differentiated. Such errors can cause interpretative difficulties.

A different category of error occurs in dictation or copying, when sequences of words, syllables, or letters in a word are mixed up, synonyms substituted in familiar passages, words read across a two- (or more) column manuscript instead of down, or assimilated to a parallel. Intentional changes might involve corrections of spelling or grammar, harmonizations, or even doctrinal emendations, and might be passed on from manuscript to manuscript. Paleographers—i.e., scientists of ancient writing—can note changes of hands in manuscript copying or the addition of new hands such as those of correctors of a later date.

Paleography, a science of dating manuscripts by typological analysis of their scripts, is the most precise and objective means known for determining the age of a manuscript. Script groups belong typologically to their generation; and changes can be noted with great accuracy over relatively short periods of time. Dating of manuscript material by a radioactive-carbon test requires that a small part of the material be destroyed in the process; it is less accurate than dating from paleography.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Critical scholarship
Textual criticism of the Greek New Testament attempts to come as near as possible to the original manuscripts (which did not survive), based on reconstructions from extant manuscripts of various ages and locales. Assessment of the individual manuscripts and their relationships to each other can produce a fairly reliable text from various readings that may have been the result of copying and recopying of manuscripts. It is not always age that matters. Older manuscripts may be corrupt, and a reading in a later manuscript may in reality be ancient. No single witness or group of witnesses is reliable in all its readings.

When Erasmus, the Dutch Humanist, prepared the Greek text for the first printed edition (1516) of the New Testament, he depended on a few manuscripts of the type that had dominated the church’s manuscripts for centuries and that had had its origin in Constantinople. His edition was produced hastily, he even translated some parts for which he did not have a Greek text from Jerome’s Latin text (Vulgate). In about 1522 Cardinal Francisco Jiménez, a Spanish scholarly churchman, published his Complutensian Polyglot at Alcalá (Latin: Complutum), Spain, a Bible in which parallel columns of the Old Testament are printed in Hebrew, the Vulgate, and the Septuagint (LXX), together with the Aramaic Targum (translation or paraphrase) of Onkelos to the Pentateuch with a translation into Latin. The Greek New Testament was volume 5 of this work, and the text tradition behind it cannot be determined with any accuracy. During the next decades new editions of Erasmus’ text profited from more and better manuscript evidence and the printer Robert Estienne of Paris produced in 1550 the first text with a critical apparatus (variant readings in various manuscripts). This edition became influential as a chief witness for the Textus Receptus (the received standard text) that came to dominate New Testament studies for more than 300 years. This Textus Receptus is the basis for all the translations in the churches of the Reformation, including the King James Version.

Large extensive New Testament critical editions prepared by the German scholars C. von Tischendorf (1869–72) and H. von Soden (1902–13) had Sigla (signs) for the various textual witnesses; they are complex to use and different from each other. The current system, a revision by an American scholar, C.R. Gregory (adopted in 1908), though not uncomplicated has made uniform practice possible. A more pragmatic method of designation and rough classification was that of the Swiss scholar J.J. Wettstein’s edition (1751–52). His textual apparatus was relatively uncomplicated. He introduced the use of capital Roman, Greek, or Hebrew letters for uncials and Arabic numbers for minuscules. Later, a Gothic P with exponents came into use for papyri and, in the few cases needed, Gothic or Old English O and T with exponents for ostraca and talismans (engraved amulets). Lectionaries are usually designated by an italicized lowercase l with exponents in Arabic numbers.

Known ostraca—i.e., broken pieces of pottery (or potsherds) inscribed with ink—contain short portions of six New Testament books and number about 25. About nine talismans date from the 4th to 12th centuries; they are good-luck charms with a few verses on parchment, wood, or papyrus. Four of these contain the Lord’s Prayer. These short portions of writing, however, are hardly of significance for a study of the New Testament textual tradition.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts
In referring to manuscript text types by their place of origin, one posits the idea that the major centers of Christendom established more or less standard texts: Alexandria; Caesarea and Antioch (Eastern); Italy and Gallia plus Africa (Western); Constantinople, the home for the Byzantine text type or the Textus Receptus. While such a geographical scheme has become less accurate or helpful, it still serves as a rough classification of text types.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Uncials
The main uncials known in the 17th and 18th centuries were: A, D, Dp, Ea, and C.

A, Codex Alexandrinus, is an early-5th-century manuscript containing most of the New Testament but with lacunae (gaps) in Matthew, John, and II Corinthians, plus the inclusion of the extracanonical I and II Clement. In the Gospels, the text is of the Byzantine type, but, in the rest of the New Testament, it is Alexandrian. In 1627 the A uncial was presented to King Charles I of England by the Patriarch of Constantinople; it has been in the British Museum, in London, since 1751.

D, Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, is a 5th-century Greco-Roman bilingual text (with Greek and Latin pages facing each other). D contains most of the four Gospels and Acts and a small part of III John and is thus designated Dea (e, for evangelia, or “gospels”; and a for acta, or Acts). In Luke, and especially in Acts, Dea has a text that is very different from other witnesses. Codex Bezae has many distinctive longer and shorter readings and seems almost to be a separate edition. Its Acts, for example, is one-tenth longer than usual. D represents the Western text tradition. Dea was acquired by Theodore Beza, a Reformed theologian and classical scholar, in 1562 from a monastery in Lyon (in France). He presented it to the University of Cambridge, England, in 1581 (hence, Beza Cantabrigiensis).

Dp, Codex Claromontanus, of the same Western text type although not remarkably dissimilar from other known texts, contains the Pauline Letters including Hebrews. Dp (p, for Pauline epistles) is sometimes referred to as D2. Beza acquired this 6th-century manuscript at about the same time as Dea, but Dp was from the Monastery of Clermont at Beauvais (hence, Claramontanus). It is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris.

Ea, Codex Laudianus, is a bilingual Greco-Latin text of Acts presented in 1636 by Archbishop Laud, an Anglican churchman, to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It is a late-6th- or early-7th-century manuscript often agreeing with Dea and its Western readings but also having a mixture of text types, often the Byzantine.

C, Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus, is a palimpsest. Originally written as a biblical manuscript in the 5th century, it was erased in the 12th century, and the treatises or sermons of Ephraem Syrus, a 4th-century Syrian Church Father, were written over the scraped text. The manuscript was found c. 1700 by the French preacher and scholar Pierre Allix; and Tischendorf, with the use of chemical reagents, later deciphered the almost 60 percent of the New Testament contained in it, publishing it in 1843. The text had two correctors after the 5th century but is, on the whole, Byzantine and reflects the not too useful common text of the 9th century.

Although there are numerous minuscules (and lectionaries), their significance in having readings going back to the first six centuries ad was not noted until textual criticism had become more refined in later centuries.

The main uncials and some significant minuscules that were discovered and investigated in the 19th century changed the course of the textual criticism and led the way to better manuscript evidence and methods of dealing with it. This has continued into the 20th century. The main new manuscript witnesses are designated ℵ or S, B, W, and Θ.

ℵ or S, Codex Sinaiticus, was discovered in 1859 by Tischendorf at the Monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mt. Sinai (hence, Sinaiticus) after a partial discovery of 43 leaves of a 4th-century biblical codex there in 1844. Though some of the Old Testament is missing, a whole 4th-century New Testament is preserved, with the Letter of Barnabas and most of the Shepherd of Hermas at the end. There were probably three hands and several later correctors. Tischendorf convinced the monks that giving the precious manuscript to Tsar Alexander II of Russia would grant them needed protection of their abbey and the Greek Church. Tischendorf subsequently published ℵ (S) at Leipzig and then presented it to the Tsar. The manuscript remained in Leningrad until 1933, during which time the Oxford University Press in 1911 published a facsimile of the New Testament from photographs of the manuscript taken by Kirsopp Lake, an English biblical scholar. The manuscript was sold in 1933 by the Soviet regime to the British Museum for £100,000. The text type of ℵ is in the Alexandrian group, although it has some Western readings. Later corrections representing attempts to alter the text to a different standard probably were made about the 6th or 7th century at Caesarea.

B, Codex Vaticanus, a biblical manuscript of the mid-4th century in the Vatican Library since before 1475, appeared in photographic facsimile in 1889–90 and 1904. The New Testament lacks Hebrews from chapter 9, verse 14, on the Pastorals, Philemon, and Revelation. Because B has no ornamentation, some scholars think it slightly older than ℵ. Others, however, believe that both B and ℵ, having predominantly Alexandrian texts, may have been produced at the same time when Constantine ordered 50 copies of the Scriptures. As an early representation of the Alexandrian text, B is invaluable as a most trustworthy ancient Greek text.

W, Codex Washingtonianus (or Freerianus), consists of the four Gospels in the so-called Western order (Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark, as Dea). It was acquired in Egypt by C.L. Freer, an American businessman and philanthropist (hence, the Freer-Gospels), in 1906 and is now in the Freer Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. Codex Washingtonianus is a 4th–5th-century manuscript probably copied from several different manuscripts or textual families. The Byzantine, Western (similar to Old Latin), Caesarean, and Alexandrian text types are all represented at one point or another. One of the most interesting variant readings is a long ending to the Gospel According to Mark following a reference to the risen Christ (not found in most manuscript traditions).

Θ, Codex Koridethianus, is a 9th-century manuscript taking its name from the place of the scribe’s monastery, Koridethi, in the Caucasus Mountains, near the Caspian Sea. Θ contains the Gospels; Matthew, Luke, and John have a text similar to most Byzantine manuscripts, but the text of Mark is similar to the type of text that Origen and Eusebius used in the 3rd–4th centuries, a Caesarean type. The manuscript is now in Tbilisi, capital city of the Republic of Georgia.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Minuscules
Although there are many minuscules, most of them come from the 9th century on; a few, however, shed significant light on earlier readings, representing otherwise not well attested texts or textual “families.” In the early 20th century, the English scholar Kirsopp Lake (hence, Lake group) discovered a textual family of manuscripts known as Family 1:1, 118, 131, and 209 (from the 12th to 14th centuries) that have a text type similar to that of Θ, a 3rd–4th-century Caesarean type. At the end of the 19th century, W.H. Ferrar, a classical scholar at Dublin University (hence, the Ferrar group), found that manuscripts 13, 69, 124, and 346—and some minuscules discovered later (from the 11th to 15th centuries)—also seemed to be witnesses to the Caesarean text type. Manuscript 33, the “Queen of the Cursives,” is a 9th–10th-century manuscript now at the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris; it contains the whole New Testament except Revelation and is a reliable witness to the Alexandrian text (similar to B) but, in Acts and the Pauline Letters, shows influence of the Byzantine text type.

Lectionaries range from the 5th to the 6th century on; some early ones are uncials, though many are minuscules. Scholarly work with lectionary texts is only at its beginning, but the textual types of lectionaries may preserve a textual tradition that antedates its compilation and serves to give examples of the various text forms.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Texts and manuscripts » Papyri
The earliest New Testament manuscript witnesses (2nd–8th centuries) are papyri mainly found preserved in fragments in the dry sands of Egypt. Only in the latter decades of the 20th century have the relatively recently discovered New Testament papyri been published. Of those cataloged to date, there are about 76 New Testament manuscripts with fragments of various parts of the New Testament, more than half of them being from the 2nd to 4th centuries. All the witnesses prior to 400 are of Egyptian provenance, and their primitive text types, though mainly Alexandrian, establish that many text types existed and developed side by side. One of the most significant papyrus finds is p52, from c. 130 to 140, the earliest extant manuscript of any part of the New Testament. P52 consists of a fragment having on one side John 18:31–33 and on the other John 18:37–38, indicating that it was a codex, of which the text type may be Alexandrian. It is now in the John Rylands Library at Manchester.

In the early 1930s, British mining engineer A. Chester Beatty acquired three 3rd-century papyri from Egypt; they were published in 1934–37. Known as p45, p46, and p47, they are, for the most part, in his private library in Dublin.

P45, Beatty Biblical Papyrus I (and some leaves in Vienna), contains 30 leaves of an early- or mid-3rd-century codex of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Each Gospel is of a different text type, and, although the leaves are mutilated, the Alexandrian text appears to predominate (particularly in Acts, in which a short non-Western text prevails); the whole may be thought of as pre-Caesarean.

P46, Beatty Biblical Papyrus II (and Papyrus 222 at the University of Michigan), consists of 86 leaves of an early-3rd-century (c. 200) codex quire containing the Pauline Letters in the following order: Romans, Hebrews, I and II Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, and I Thessalonians. Although some of the leaves are quite mutilated, the text type of p46 appears to be Alexandrian. P47, Beatty Biblical Papyrus III, is from the late 3rd century. It contains Rev. 9:10–17:2. It is the oldest, but not the best, text of Revelation and agrees with A, C, and ℵ.

Other early significant papyri are p66, p48, p72, p75, and p74. P66, also known as Papyrus Bodmer II, contains in 146 leaves (some having lacunae) almost all of the Gospel According to John, including chapter 21. This codex, written before 200, is thus merely one century removed from the time of the autograph, the original text. Its text, like that of p45, is mixed, but it has elements of an early Alexandrian text. P66 and the other Bodmer papyri, which Martin Bodmer, a Swiss private collector, acquired from Egypt, were published 1956–61. They are in the private Bodmer library at Cologny, near Geneva. P48 is a late-3rd-century text of Acts now in a library in Florence. It contains Acts 23:11–17, 23–29 and illustrates a Greek form of the Western text in Egypt in the 3rd century. The papyri of p72, Papyri Bodmer VII and VIII, are also from the 3rd century. VII contains a manuscript of Jude in a mixed text, and VIII contains I and II Peter. In I Peter the Greek was written by a scribe whose native language was Coptic; there are many examples of misspellings and itacisms that when corrected leave a text similar to the Alexandrian witnesses. The papyri of p75, Papyri Bodmer XIV and XV, are 2nd–3rd-century codices containing most of Luke and of John, with John connected to Luke on the same page (unlike the Western order of the Gospels). The text coincides most with B but also has affinities with p66 and p45 as a predecessor of Alexandrian form.

P74, Bodmer Papyrus XVII, is a 6th–7th-century text of Acts and the Catholic Letters. Acts show affinities with ℵ and A and no parallels with the Western text.

These and other papyri witness to the state of the early text of the New Testament in Egypt, indicating that no one text dominated and that text types of different origin flourished side by side.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Versions » Early versions
Even with all these witnesses, there remain problems in the Greek text. These include variants about which there is no settled opinion and some few words for which no accurate meaning can be found because they occur only once in the New Testament and not in prior Greek works. Very early translations of the New Testament made as it spread into the non-Greek-speaking regions of the missionary world, the so-called early versions, may provide evidence for otherwise unknown meanings and reflections of early text types.

In the Eastern half of the Mediterranean, Koine (common, vernacular) Greek was understood, but, elsewhere, other languages were used. Where Roman rule dominated, Latin came into use—in North Africa, perhaps in parts of Asia Minor, Gaul, and Spain (c. 3rd century). Old Latin versions had many variants, and these translations, traditionally known as the Itala, or Old Latin (O.L.), are designated in small letters of the Roman alphabet. The African versions were further from the Greek than were those made in Europe.

In dealing with the New Testament, Jerome prepared a Latin recension of the Gospels using a European form of the Old Latin and some Greek manuscripts. Though the completed Latin translation at the end of the 4th century was produced by no one editor or compiler, a commonly accepted Latin text, the Vulgate, emerged. A reworked official critical edition was a concern of the Council of Trent (1545–63), and in 1592 the Clementine Vulgate, named after Pope Clement VIII, became the authoritative edition. Since Vatican II (1962–65), an ecumenical group of biblical scholars using the best available manuscript witnesses has been engaged in the preparation of a critically sound revision of the Vulgate.

At Edessa (in Syria) and western Mesopotamia neither Latin nor Greek was understood. Therefore, Syriac (a Semitic language related to Aramaic) was used. Old Syriac was probably the original language of the Diatessaron (2nd century), but only fragments of Old Syriac manuscripts survive. The Peshitta (common, simple) Syriac (known as syrpesh) became the Syrian 22-book Vulgate of the New Testament, and, at the end of the 4th century, its text was transmitted with great fidelity. The Philoxenian (syrphil) and Harclean (syrharc) versions followed in the 6th–7th centuries and contained all 27 of the New Testament books. The Palestinian (similar to Palestinian Aramaic) Syriac (syrpal) may date to the 5th century but is known chiefly from 11th- to 12th-century lectionaries and is quite independent of other Syriac versions, reflecting a different text type.

In Egypt, in the later Hellenistic period, the New Testament was translated into Coptic—in the south (Upper Egypt) the Sahidic (copsah), and in the north (Lower Egypt) the Bohairic (copboh), the two principal dialects. By the 4th century, the Sahidic version was known, and the Bohairic somewhat later. The Coptic versions are fairly literal and reflect a 2nd–3rd-century Alexandrian Greek text type with some Western variants.

A Gothic version was made from the Byzantine text type by a missionary, Ulfilas (late 4th century); an Armenian version (5th century) traditionally was believed to have been made from the Syriac but may have come from a Greek text. Related perhaps to the Armenian was a Georgian version; and an Ethiopic version (c. 6th–7th century) was influenced by both Coptic and later Arabic traditions. In the various versions there is evidence of geographical spread, of the history of the underlying text traditions used, and of how they were interpreted in the early centuries.

The many readings in the Greek, Latin, and Syriac Fathers, who can be dated and located, can, to some extent, shed light on the underlying New Testament texts they quoted or used.

Another use both of the versions and of the patristic quotations is elucidation of the meaning of hitherto unknown Greek words in the New Testament.

An example is epiousios in the Lord’s Prayer as given in verse 11 of chapter 6 of Matthew and verse 3, chapter 11, of Luke. The traditional translation in the Western Church is “daily” (referring to bread). From the Old Latin, Jerome, the early Syriac versions, and a retroversion of the Lord’s Prayer into a proposed Aramaic substratum, the meaning is either “daily” or, more likely, “for the morrow”; and modern translations include this meaning in footnotes, including the suggestion that it may refer to eucharistic bread. The Greek is possibly a coined compound word that, on the basis of its component parts, yields “for the morrow” or “that which is coming soon.” Such latter treatment is not conjectural emendation but rather creative analysis in context, where no Greek variants help. The biblical scholar, in possession of many variants, usually uses conjecture only as a means of last resort, and any conjecture must be both intrinsically suitable and account for the reading considered corrupt in the transmitted text.

New Testament canon, texts, and versions » Texts and versions » Versions » Later and modern editions
New Testament editions in the 18th century did not question the Textus Receptus (T.R.), despite new manuscript evidence and study, but its limitations became apparent. E. Wells, a British mathematician and theological writer (1719), was the first to edit a complete New Testament that abandoned the T.R. in favour of more ancient manuscripts; and English scholar Richard Bentley (1720) also tried to go back to early manuscripts to restore an ancient text, but their work was ignored. In 1734 J.A. Bengel, a German Lutheran biblical theologian, stressed the idea that not only manuscripts but also families of manuscript traditions must be differentiated, and he initiated the formulation of criteria for text criticism. J.J. Wettstein’s edition (1730–51) had a wealth of classical and rabbinic quotations, but his theory on text was better than the text itself. A German Lutheran theologian, J.S. Semler (1767), further refined Bengel’s classification of families.

J.J. Griesbach (1745–1812), a German scholar and student of Semler, adapted the text-family classification to include Western and Alexandrian text groups that preceded the Constantinopolitan groupings. He cautiously began to alter texts according to increasingly scientific canons of text criticism. These are, with various refinements, still used, as, for example, that “the difficult is to be preferred to the easy reading,” and “the shorter is preferable to a longer”—both of which reason (with many other factors) that correction, smoothing, or interpretation leads to clearer and longer readings.

In the 19th century, classical philologist Karl Lachmann’s critical text (1831) bypassed the T.R., using manuscripts prior to the 4th century. C. von Tischendorf’s discovery of ℵ (S) and his New Testament text (8th edition, 1864) collated the best manuscripts and had the richest critical apparatus thus far.

Two English biblical scholars, B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort of Cambridge, using ℵ ανδ Β, βρουγητ ουτ αν εδιτιον ιν 1881–82 and classified the text witnesses into four groupings: Neutral (B, ℵ, the purest and earliest Eastern text); Alexandrian (a smoothed Neutral text as it developed in Alexandria); Western (D, Old Syrian, O.L., the Western Fathers with glosses that caused many readings to be rejected); and Syrian (Ae and the Byzantine tradition as it later developed). Such a “family tree” clearly showed the T.R. (Syrian) and, hence, the King James Version based upon it as an inferior text type; and the Revised Standard Version is based on such superior text types as B and ℵ.

Another critical edition (1902–13) was made by H. von Soden, a German biblical scholar who presupposed recensions to which all manuscripts can lead back. The importance of his work is in his enormous critical apparatus rather than in his theoretical groupings. B.H. Streeter, an English scholar, revised Westcott and Hort’s classification in 1924. Basically, he challenged the concept of any uncontaminated descent from originals and made the observation (already alluded to in the evolution of papyrus evidence) that even the earliest manuscripts are of mixed text types. Yet, Streeter grouped texts in five families: Alexandrian, Caesarean, Antiochene, European Western, and African Western—parts of which all led into the Byzantine text and had become the T.R.

Despite grouping, it is clear that no reading backward from text families can reach an autograph. A strictly local text theory is useless in view of the papyrus evidence that there were no “unmixed” early texts. The use of external evidence cannot push beyond the boundary of the 3rd century. This insight brought about a new perspective. Only by using the canons of the internal evidence of readings can the best texts be determined, evaluating the variants from case to case—namely, the eclectic method. In modern times, therefore, the value of text families is primarily that of a step in the study of the history of the texts and their transmission. The eclectic method of reconstruction of an earliest possible New Testament text will yield the closest approximation of the historical texts put together into the New Testament canon. (For other, later and modern versions, see above Old Testament canon, texts, and versions.)

New Testament history » The Jewish and Hellenistic matrix » Background
The historical background of the New Testament and its times must be viewed in conjunction with the Jewish matrix from which it evolved and the Hellenistic (Greek cultural) world into which it expanded during a period of Jewish religious propaganda. It is difficult, however, to separate the phenomena of the Jewish and Hellenistic backgrounds, because the Judaism out of which the church arose was a part of a very Hellenized world. The conquests of Alexander the Great culminated in 331 bc, and the subtle but strong influence of Greek culture, language, and customs that was spread by his conquests united his empire. Jews in both Palestine and the Diaspora (Dispersion) were, however, affected by Hellenism, as in ideas of cosmic dualism and rich religious imagery derived in part from Eastern influence as a result of the Greek conquests. Greek words were transliterated into Hebrew and Aramaic even in connection with religious ideas and institutions as, for example, synagogue (religious assembly), Sanhedrin (religious court), and paraclete (advocate, intercessor). It could be argued that the very preoccupation with ancient texts and tradition and the interpretation thereof is a Hellenistic phenomenon. Thus, what may appear as the most indigenous element in the activity of the Jewish scribes, sages, and rabbis (teachers)—i.e., textual scholarship—has its parallels in Hellenistic culture and is part of the general culture of the times. The thought worlds merged, confronted each other, and communicated with each other.

New Testament history » The Jewish and Hellenistic matrix » The Hasmonean kingdom
After Alexander’s death the empire was split, and first the Ptolemies, an Egyptian dynasty, and then the Seleucids, a Syrian dynasty, held Palestine. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a 2nd-century-bc Seleucid king, desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem; a successful Jewish revolt under the Maccabees, a priestly family, resulted in its purification (164 bc) and in freedom from Syrian domination in 142 bc. This began the Hasmonean (Maccabean) dynasty, which appropriated the powers both of king and of high priest. This reign, which created dissatisfaction on the part of other groups who considered their own claims falsely usurped, lasted until internecine strife brought it to an end. John Hyrcanus II, a 1st-century-bc Hasmonean king, appealed to Rome for help, and Pompey, a Roman general, intervened, bringing Palestine under Roman rule in 63 bc. John Hyrcanus, given the title of ethnarch, was later executed for treason (30 bc), thus ending the Hasmonean line, but Jewish independence had come to an end by Roman occupation.

New Testament history » The Jewish and Hellenistic matrix » Rule by the Herods
The Herods who followed were under the control of Rome. Herod the Great, son of Antipater of Idumaea, was made king of Judaea, having sided with Rome, and he ruled with Roman favour (37–4 bc). Though he was a good statesman and architect, he was hated by the Jews as a foreigner and semi-Jew. Jesus was born a few years before the end of his reign, and “the slaughter of the innocents,” young children of Bethlehem who were killed as possible pretenders to Herod’s throne, was attributed to Herod. After his death, Palestine was divided among three of his sons: Philip was made tetrarch of Iturea (the northeast quarter of the province) and ruled from 4 bc until ad 37. Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea until ad 39 and, like his father, was a builder, rebuilding Sepphoris and Tiberias before he was banished. Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded and treated Jesus with contempt at Jesus’ trial before him, before sending him back to Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator (ad 26–36) at the time of Jesus’ Crucifixion. Archelaus was made ethnarch of Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea but was removed by ad 6 for his oppressive rule, and Judaea then became an imperial province, governed by procurators responsible to the emperor.

Two other Herods are mentioned in the New Testament: Agrippa I (called “Herod the king,” ad 37–44) had James, the brother of John, killed and had Peter arrested; and the last of the Herods, Agrippa II, king of Trachonitis (c. ad 50–100), welcomed the procurator Festus (c. ad 60–62), who replaced Felix (c. ad 52–60) for the trial of Paul.

New Testament history » The Jewish and Hellenistic matrix » Roman occupation and Jewish revolts
In ad 66–70 there was a Jewish revolt while Nero was emperor of Rome (54–68). When he died and was succeeded by Vespasian, his former army commander (69–79), the siege and final destruction of Jerusalem occurred (ad 70). Before this event, Jewish Christians had fled, perhaps to Pella, and Yohanan ben Zakkai, a leading Jewish rabbi, with a group of rabbinical scholars, fled to Yavneh, where they established an academy that gave leadership to the Jews. Under the emperors Trajan (98–117) and Hadrian (117–138), Jews in Egypt and Mesopotamia rebelled and again fought unsuccessfully against Rome in Palestine for forbidding the practice of religious rites, and, under Simeon Bar Kokhba (or Bar Koziba), a Jewish revolutionary messianic figure, the final Jewish war was waged (132–135). After this defeat Jerusalem became a Roman colony; a temple to Jupiter was erected there, and Jews were prevented from entering the city until the 4th century.

When the Romans had entered Palestine in 63 bc, they practiced a relatively humane occupation until c. ad 66–70. They did not interfere with religious practices unless they considered them a threat to Rome, and their rights of requisition were precise and limited.

New Testament history » Jewish sects and parties
From both the New Testament and extrabiblical material the main religious groups or parties in Palestinian Judaism may be discerned. Such descriptions, however, may be somewhat biassed or apologetic. Philo, an Alexandrian Jewish philosopher (died c. ad 40), Josephus, a Jewish apologist to the Romans (died c. 100), and sectarian writings found at Qumrān near the Dead Sea in 1947 that date back to about c. 200 bc and end about ad 70 all provide data about the respective Jewish religious groups in Palestine in the 1st century bc and the 1st century ad. The Pharisees (typically Jesus’ opponents, although his ideas may have been close to their own), the Sadducees, and the Zealots are mentioned in the New Testament. The Essenes were described by Philo and Josephus, but new evidence from their own writings makes their group better understood (i.e., the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumrān).

New Testament history » Jewish sects and parties » The Pharisees
The Pharisees (possibly spiritual descendants of the Ḥasidim [Pious Ones], who were the exponents of Maccabean revolt) were strict adherents to the Law. Their name may come from parush—i.e., “separated” from what is unclean, or what is unholy. They were deeply concerned with the Mosaic Law and how to keep it, and they were innovators in adapting the Law to new situations. They believed that the Law was for all the people and democratized it—even the priestly laws were to be observed by all, not only by the priestly class—so that they actually had a belief in a priesthood of all believers. They included Oral as well as Written Law in their interpretations. Though they did not accept the Roman occupation, they kept to themselves, and by pious acts, such as giving alms and burying the dead, they upheld the Law. Their interpretations of Law were sometimes considered casuistic because they believed they must find interpretations that would help all people to keep the Law. Their underlying hope was eschatological: in the day when Israel obeyed the Torah, the Kingdom would come. The Pharisees were called “smooth interpreters” by their opponents, but their hope was to find a way to make the living of the Law possible for all people. In their meal fellowship (ḥavura) they observed the laws strictly and formed a nucleus of obedient Israel. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead and had a developed angelology.

New Testament history » Jewish sects and parties » The Sadducees
The Sadducees, more conservative and static, consisted mainly of the old priesthood and landed aristocracy and, perhaps, some Herodians. They were collaborators with Rome. They did not believe in resurrection because they found no Old Testament enunciation of such a doctrine. In a way, they seemed to respect the Pharisees in legal matters; but both the Pharisees—because they were a bourgeois rather than a popular movement—and the Sadducees—because they were aristocrats—rejected the ʿam ha-aretz (People of the Land), who were no party but simply the poor, common people whom they considered ignorant of the Law.

New Testament history » Jewish sects and parties » The Zealots
The Zealots were revolutionaries who plotted actively against the Roman oppression. That the Pharisees did not react in this way was perhaps because of their belief in Providence: what happens is the will of God, and their free will is expressed in the context of trust and piety in conjunction with an eschatological hope of winning God’s Kingdom through obedience to Law.

New Testament history » Jewish sects and parties » The Essenes
Though the Essenes of the Dead Sea Scrolls are not mentioned in the New Testament, they are described by Philo, Josephus, and Eusebius, a 4th-century Christian historian. With publication of the Essenes’ own sectarian writings since the 1950s, however, they have become well known. They did not have any really new ideas, but their founder, the Teacher of Righteousness, believed that he knew the interpretation of the prophets for his time in a way that was not even known to the prophets of their own day. Their withdrawal into desert seclusion was in opposition to the ruling powers in the city and the Temple of Jerusalem. They lived apart from society in constant study of the Scriptures and with a firm belief that they were the elect of Israel living in the end of days and to whom would come messianic figures—a messiah of David (royal) and a messiah of Aaron (priestly). Membership in their group and acceptance or rejection of its founder determined their place in the age to come. After a long period of probation and initiation, a man became a member of this elect community that had strict rules of community discipline that would seal or destroy his membership in their New Covenant. Ritual lustrations preceded most liturgical rites, the most important one of which was participation in a sacred meal—an anticipation of the messianic banquet, to which only the fully initiated members in good standing were admitted and which was presided over by representatives of the Davidic and Aaronic messiahs. From what is known of them, their communities were celibate, living “in the presence of the angels” and thus required to be in a state of ritual purity. Their laws were strict, their discipline severe, and—unlike Pharisees, Sadducees, and Zealots—they were not simply different parties within Judaism but a separate eschatological sect. The Pharisees did have lodges and a common meal, but membership in the Pharisaic party did not, as it did with the Essenes, guarantee a place in the age to come; and the attitude of the Pharisees to a leader or founder was not, as it was to the Essenes, one of the bases on which such place could be attained. Thus, the Essenes—as the early Jewish Christians—were an eschatological Jewish sect. They believed that they alone, among those living in the end time, would be saved. The apocalypticism of the Essenes and the early Christians had many similarities, but the Christians had a higher eschatological intensity because they already knew who the Messiah would be when he came in the future at the Parousia (the “Second” Advent), and they also had a recollection of the earthly Jesus, knowledge of the risen Lord, and the gift of the Spirit upon the church. Both communities lived in an era wherein the cosmic battle of God versus Satan-Belial was taking place, but the Christian community already had the traditions of Jesus’ victory over Satan and the experience of his Resurrection. Both Essenes and Christians were sects with tightly knit organizations, but the church had a historically based messiah. The Essenes probably were killed or forced to flee from their wilderness community c. ad 68, yet some of their ideas can still be traced in the ministry of John the Baptist (who might have been an Essene) and in the thought world of the New Testament (see also Judaism).

New Testament history » The religious situation in the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century ad » Hellenistic religions
With the expansion of Christianity into the Hellenistic world either to Jews or increasingly to Gentiles, there were various reasons why the Christian message that spread, for example by Paul, met the needs of the Hellenistic Age and world. There was no lack of religions, but there was a crisis of upheaval, unrest, and uncertainty and a desire to escape from mortality and the domination of unbending fate. There was also a desire to win personal knowledge of the universe and a dignified status within it—i.e., a religious identity crisis. City-states with their cults of civic gods were unstable, because men changed from place to place and the gods of the city were distant from individual needs and anxieties. After Alexander’s conquests, the resulting religious syncretism did not meet individual needs and longings that were increasingly becoming conscious. Many Gentiles turned to Judaism, at least as “god fearers,” and later to Christianity. There were also “mystery religions,” the secrets of which were known only to the initiate, which may have arisen from Eastern fertility cults with their dying and rising gods and were transformed in the Hellenistic Age to cults of a saviour god whose dying and rising gives personal immortality. Such mystery cults often provided meaningful relationships with fellow initiates.

New Testament history » The religious situation in the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century ad » Astrology
There were elements in the Greek world that may have come from the East, partly Egyptian and Babylonian, which gave rise to astrology. The basic conviction of astrology was that the heavenly bodies were deities that in a direct way control life and events on earth. An older idea of tychē, or “fate,” originally signified the chance element in the universe, a capriciousness that increased insecurity. Astrology transformed this into a fate or destiny in which everything is strictly regulated by celestial deities. Man’s problem, then, is that of finding security from overwhelming powers outside human control. One way is to “read a horoscope.” Because the heavenly deities are systematic and orderly according to astronomic observation, this order and regularity can be exploited to see how and in what way events will happen and can perhaps be used or avoided. Another way is to deal with such forces through magic. From the Hellenistic period many magical papyri with formulas for dealing with sicknesses, demons, and other adverse forces have been found. Magic attempts to manipulate and control what affects the world by a kind of participation in the event.

New Testament history » The religious situation in the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century ad » Philosophical solutions
Solutions were also sought in philosophy. Socrates, a 5th-century-bc Greek philosopher, was largely concerned with the search for the “good,” the good life. After Plato and Aristotle, however, philosophical systems sought to supply man’s longing for inward security and stability. These were sought not by an in-depth understanding of reality but by ad hoc constructions—a new dogmatism for providing infallible plans and attaining immediate security—that the age demanded. Those philosophies were crude constructions that gave shelter and were defended by an unyielding dogmatism as absolute truths; if they were proved false, they would remove their promised security. Epicureanism, founded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341–270 bc), was basically a philosophy of escape, and its goal was serenity and tranquillity, a negative concept characterized by absence of fear, pain, and struggle. Fate, providence, and the afterlife were eliminated to deny the anxieties they provoked in terms of control, reward, or judgment. Epicurus attempted to meet this crisis by adopting a completely material view of the universe, including the soul, and thereby eliminating interference by deities both in life and after death. He did believe in the gods; but they, too, lived in their own perfect tranquillity, away from the universe. The Epicurean was both self-reliant and at peace with the absence of pain. There was also emphasis on friendship and the development of close communities.

Zeno, a 3rd-century-bc philosopher, was the founder of Stoicism. Stoicism was a rule of life that held that all reality was material but was animated by a rational principle that was at the same time both the law of the universe and of the human soul. The wise man then could accept and learn to live a life in conformity to this permeating reason without letting anything affect him. He responded to duty and accepted it.

Cynicism was a philosophy that maintained a cosmic view of life with a method of dealing with crisis by reducing man’s needs to a minimum. Later in the Hellenistic period, a group of Stoic–Cynic preachers arose and, in New Testament times, wandered around calling men to repent and change their lives from sin to virtue.

New Testament literature » Introduction to the Gospels » Meaning of the term gospel
From the late ad 40s and until his martyrdom in the 60s, Paul wrote letters to the churches that he founded or guided. These are the earliest Christian writings that the church has, and in them he refers to “the gospel” (euangelion). In Romans, chapter 1, verse 1, he says: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God . . .” and goes on to describe this “gospel” in what was already by that time traditional language, such as: “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended . . . our Lord” (Rom. 1:1–4). This gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith “. . . for in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith . . .” (1:17). In I Corinthians Paul had reminded his congregation in stylized terms of “the gospel” he had brought to them. It consisted of the announcement that Jesus had died and risen according to the Scriptures.

Thus, the “gospel” was an authoritative proclamation (as announced by a herald, kēryx), or the kerygma (that which is proclaimed, kērygma). The earthly life of Jesus is hardly noted or missed, because something more glorious—the ascended Lord who sent the Spirit upon the church—is what matters.

In the speeches of Peter in Acts, the transition from kerygma to creed or vice versa is almost interchangeable. In Acts 2 Jesus is viewed as resurrected and exalted at the right hand of God and made both Lord and Christ. In Acts 3 Peter’s speech proclaims Jesus as the Christ having been received in heaven to be sent at the end of time as judge for the vindication and salvation of those who believe in him. Here the proclaimed message, the gospel, is more basic than an overview of Jesus’ earthly life, which in Acts is referred to only briefly as “his acting with power, going about doing good, and healing and exorcising” (10:38ff.). Such an extended kergyma can be seen as a transition from the original meaning of gospel as the “message” to gospel meaning an account of the life of Jesus.

The term gospel has connotations of the traditions of Jesus’ earthly ministry and Passion that were remembered and then written in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are written from the post-Resurrection perspective and they contain an extensive and common Passion narrative as they deal with the earthly ministry of Jesus from hindsight. And so the use of the term gospel for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John has taken the place of the original creedal–kerygmatic use in early Christianity. It is also to be noted that, in the Evangelists’ accounts, their theological presuppositions and the situations of their addressees molded the formation of the four canonical Gospels written after the Pauline Letters. The primary affirmations—of Jesus as the Christ, his message of the Kingdom, and his Resurrection—preceded the Evangelists’ accounts. Some of these affirmations were extrapolated backward (much as the Exodus event central in the Old Testament was extrapolated backward and was the theological presupposition for the patriarchal narratives in Genesis). These stories were shaped by the purpose for their telling: religious propaganda or preaching to inspire belief. The kerygmatic, or creedal, beginning was expanded with material about the life and teaching of Jesus, which a reverence for and a preoccupation with the holy figure of Jesus demanded out of loving curiosity about his earthly ministry and life.

The English word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell (“good story”). The classical Greek word euangelion means “a reward for bringing of good news” or the “good news” itself. In the emperor cult particularly, in which the Roman emperor was venerated as the spirit and protector of the empire, the term took on a religious meaning: the announcement of the appearance or accession to the throne of the ruler. In contemporary Greek it denoted a weighty, authoritative, royal, and official message.

In the New Testament, no stress can be placed on the etymological (root) meaning of eu (“good”); in Luke, chapter 3, verse 18 (as in other places), the word means simply authoritative news concerning impending judgment.

New Testament literature » Introduction to the Gospels » Form criticism
In the Pauline writings, as noted above, gospel, kerygma, and creed come close together from oral to written formulas that were transmitted about the Christ event: Jesus’ death and Resurrection. In the apostolic Fathers (early 2nd century), the transition was made from oral to written tradition; the translation of the presumed Aramaic traditions had taken place before the Gospel material had been committed to writing. By the time of Justin Martyr (c. 155), these writings were called Gospels and referred to in the plural; they contain the words, deeds, and Passion narratives—i.e., the present four Gospels compiled and edited by the Evangelists according to their various needs and theological emphases. Justin also referred to these as “memoirs of the Apostles.”

Such a Gospel began with a missionary announcement concerning a cosmic divine figure, a man with divine characteristics who would bring salvation and hope to the world. The earthly historical Jesus, however, was the criterion of the proclamation—being both the content of the church’s proclamation and the object of its faith.

The identification of basic patterns in the history of oral and written traditions—the stage of tradition prior to any literary form and particularly as the traditions passed from an oral to a written form—and the determination of their creative milieu, or their situations and functions in various places and under various circumstances, are tasks of form criticism. Through such study, small independent units may be isolated in a postulated more primitive form than they were before being incorporated into more extended accounts. The term Sitz-im-Leben refers to the “Sitz im Leben der Kirche”—i.e., the situation in the life of the church in which the material was shaped and adjusted to the needs at hand. Only through such studies is it possible to progress tentatively to an assessment of a “Sitz im Leben Jesu.”

Both Jews and Gentiles could use “biographies,” often for propaganda purposes. Philo and Josephus recounted the wonderful lives and deeds of Old Testament heroes such as Moses; and there are miraculous tales of the prophets Elijah and Elisha told in order that faith might be inspired or justified. A miracle worker (theios anēr, “divine man”) and stories about him comprised an aretalogy (from aretē, “virtue”; also manifestation of divine power, miracle). Aretalogies were frequently used to represent the essential creed and belief of a religious or philosophical movement. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a Neo-Pythagorean philosopher and wonder-worker (transmitted by the Greek writer Philostratus), was widely read. He was depicted as having performed miracles and as being possessed of divine cosmic power not as an exception but as an example to men who have the possibility of sharing such power (cf. Matt. 9:8). There were tales of Heracles, the Greek hero, and a whole literature of Alexander the Great as wonder-workers, divine men.

Though the pericopes (small units) of which the Gospels are constituted include many forms, or genres, they are mainly divided into narratives (including legends, miracle stories, exorcisms, healings, and tales) and sayings (prophetic and apocalyptic sayings, proverbs and wisdom sayings, parables, church discipline and rules for the community, Christological sayings, such as the socalled “I am” sayings [e.g., “I am the bread of life”] in John, revelations, and legal sayings). Some stories may simply be the background for a pithy saying; these latter are sometimes called paradigmatic sayings, and the pronouncement stories are their vehicles of transmission. The forms have many different names, but form criticism started with Homeric form analysis (taking oral tradition into account), which was applied to Old Testament studies by Hermann Gunkel, a German biblical scholar, and applied to the New Testament, on the basis of the German classical philologist Eduard Norden’s stylistic studies, by such biblical scholars as Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Dibelius.

Form criticism asks and answers questions about what shaped the preliterary tradition and the earliest written traditions into blocks as they are found in the Gospels. This may be a historical context (as a missionary situation), a need for admonition (as church-discipline sections), or for the transmission of teaching in a faithful way (as in a “school,” be it Matthean, Pauline, or Johannine). One large block of the material, however, is to all intents and purposes the same (although differing in details) in all four canonical Gospels: the Passion narrative. In the Synoptic Gospels there is also a basic nucleus in the sayings about Jesus that are mysterious, prophetic, and apocalyptic and that point to the significance of Jesus as the Christ who has come in history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Such form-critical studies were centred on the smaller units of tradition (pericopes) that make up the Gospels, and their intention was partly to assess relative age and authenticity of such traditions. In more recent times the tools of form criticism have been applied to a more synthetic method that could be used to determine the relation between a genre of literature and the Christological and theological perspectives that made such genres natural. A presentation of Jesus material in the form of more or less disconnected sayings (as in the so-called Q Source, composed of independent sayings, behind Matthew and Luke, and in the Gospel of Thomas; see below The two- and four-source hypotheses) tends to fit a Christology in which Jesus is viewed as a teacher of Wisdom, an envoy of Wisdom, or as Wisdom herself. The collections of wonder stories (aretalogies) grew out of a Christology of Jesus as the divine man. Another type of Jesus material with independent existence seems to have been “revelations,” or “apocalypses,” in which Jesus Christ speaks to his followers. This is seen, for example, in Mark 13, I Thessalonians, chapter 4, the canonical book of Revelation to John, and the noncanonical Didache 16.

These genres of material now represented in the canonical Gospels are amply represented also in the noncanonical writings from the first Christian centuries. The discovery of a Gnostic library of Coptic writings at Najʿ Ḥammādī, in Egypt, in the 1940s gave scholars a new opportunity to compare the canonical Gospels with the Jesus material of these various types, some of them having been called and used as gospels (such as the Gospel of Thomas). In the light of such a wider spectrum of material, it appears that the gospel form for which Mark is the earliest witness became a criterion for the orthodox transmission of the Christian message about Jesus. By making the confession of Jesus as the crucified and risen Lord (the earliest kerygma and “gospel” as found in Paul and Acts) the form of an extensive Passion account prefaced by a limited amount of narrative and teaching, Mark set the stage for a faith that anchored faith in Jesus Christ in the events of the earthly life of Jesus. This form of the “gospel” became the standard within which the other commonly accepted Gospels grew. It became the criterion for later creedal statements concerning Jesus Christ as true God and true man. By such a criterion, gospels that seemed to disregard his humanity (e.g., Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter) were judged heretical.

New Testament literature » The Synoptic problem » Early theories about the Synoptic problem
Since the 1780s, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have been referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (from synoptikos, “seen together”). The extensive parallels in structure, content, and wording of Matthew, Mark, and Luke make it even possible to arrange them side by side so that corresponding sections can be seen in parallel columns. John Calvin, the 16th-century Reformer, wrote a commentary on these Gospels as a harmony. Such an arrangement is called a “synopsis,” or Gospel harmony, and, by careful comparison of their construction, compilation, and actual agreement or disagreement in wording or content, literary- or source-critical relationships can be seen. Augustine, the great 4th–5th-century Western theologian, considered Mark to be an abridged Matthew, and, until the 19th century, some variation of this solution to literary dependency dominated the scene. It still recurs from time to time.

The Synoptic problem is one of literary or of source criticism and deals with the written sources after compilation and redaction. Matthew was the Gospel most used for the selections read in the liturgy of the church, and other Gospels were used to fill in the picture. One attempted solution to the problem of priority was the proposed existence of an Aramaic primitive gospel, which is now lost, as the first Gospel from which a later Mark in Greek was translated and arranged. The Greek Mark would thus be first based on a prior Semitic Matthew, and later both Mark and Matthew would be translations dependent on Matthew, and Luke dependent on both. The preservation of an ecclesiastical priority of Matthew breaks down because of the literary word-for-word agreement in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This agreement occurs to far too great an extent to be accounted for in translations and revisions, not to mention the agreement in the order of the various pericopes as they are viewed in a synoptic parallel arrangement.

For similar reasons, a fragment theory holding that the Gospels were constructed of small written collections brought together in varying sequences cannot stand the test of actual structure—but it has the merit of stressing compilation of sources.

In 1789 J.J. Griesbach, a German biblical scholar, hypothesized that the Synoptics had not developed independently, but in his “usage-hypothesis” he recognized that there must be literary dependency. He thought that Mark used Matthew as well as Luke, but this could not account for the close relationship of Matthew and Luke. His basic concept of literary dependency, however, paved the way for K. Lachmann, who observed in 1835 that Matthew and Luke agree only when they also agree with Mark and that, where material is introduced that is not in Mark, it is inserted in different places. This, it is held, can only be explained on the basis of the priority of Mark and its use as the patterning form of Matthew and Luke. This insight led to a so-called two-source hypothesis (by two German biblical scholars, Heinrich Holtzmann in 1863, and Bernhard Weiss in 1887–88), which, with various modifications and refinements of other scholars, is the generally accepted solution to the Synoptic problem.

New Testament literature » The Synoptic problem » The two- and four-source hypotheses
The two-source hypothesis is predicated upon the following observations: Matthew and Luke used Mark, both for its narrative material as well as for the basic structural outline of chronology of Jesus’ life. Matthew and Luke use a second source, which is called Q (from German Quelle, “source”), not extant, for the sayings (logia) found in common in both of them. Thus, Mark and Q are the main components of Matthew and Luke. In both Matthew and Luke there is material that is peculiar to each of their Gospels; this material is probably drawn from some other sources, which may be designated M (material found only in Matthew’s special source) and L (material found only in Luke’s special source). This is known as the four-document hypothesis, which was elaborated in 1925 by B.H. Streeter, an English biblical scholar. The placement of Q material in Luke and Matthew disagrees at certain points according to the needs and theologies of the addressees of the gospels, but in Matthew the Marcan chronology is the basic scheme into which Q is put. Mark’s order is kept, on the whole, by Matthew and Luke, but, where it differs, at least one agrees with Mark. After chapter 4 in Matthew and Luke, not a single passage from Q is in the same place. Q was a source written in Greek as was Mark, which can be demonstrated by word agreement (not possible, for example, with a translation from Aramaic, although perhaps the Greek has vestiges of Semitic structure form). A diagram might thus be:

In approximate figures, Mark’s text has 661 verses, more than 600 of which appear in Matthew and 350 in Luke. Only c. 31 verses of Mark are found nowhere in Matthew or Luke. In the material common to all three Synoptics, there is very seldom verbatim agreement of Matthew and Luke against Mark, though such agreement is common between Matthew and Mark or Luke and Mark or where all three concur.

The postulated common saying source of Matthew and Luke, Q, would account for much verbatim agreement of Matthew and Luke when they include sayings absent from Mark. The fact that the sayings are used in different ways or different contexts in Matthew and Luke is an indication of a somewhat free way in which the editors could take material and mold it to their given situations and needs. An example of this is the parable in Matthew and Luke about the lost sheep (Matt. 18:10–14, Luke 15:3–7). The basic material has been used in different ways. In Matthew, the context is church discipline—how a brother in Christ who has lapsed or who is in danger of doing so is to be gently and graciously dealt with—and Matthew shapes it accordingly (the sheep has “gone astray”). In Luke, the parable exemplifies Jesus’ attitude toward sinners and is directed against the critical Pharisees and scribes who object to Jesus’ contact with sinners and outsiders (the sheep is “lost”).

Another example of two passages used verbatim in Luke and Matthew is Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. In Luke (13:34–35; the lament over Jerusalem) Jesus refers to how they will cry “Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord” when he enters Jerusalem (Lk. 19:38). In Luke, the passage is structured into the life of Jesus and refers to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”). In Matthew (23:37–39) this same lament is placed after the entry into the city (21:9) and thus refers to the fall of Jerusalem and the Last Judgment. Apparently, Luke has historicized a primarily eschatological saying.

Since the 1930s, scholars have increasingly refined sources, postulated sources behind sources, and many stages of their formation. The premise of the two- (or four-) source hypothesis is basic and provides information as to literary sources; further refinement is of interest only to the specialist. Another movement in synoptic research—and also research including John—is that which concentrates rather on the treatment of gospels as a whole, formally and theologically, with patterns or cycles to be investigated. It may be significant that the latest and best regarded Greek synopsis is that of the German scholar Kurt Aland, Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum (1964; Synopsis of the Four Gospels, 1972), which includes the Gospel According to John and, as an appendix, the Gospel of Thomas, as well as ample quotations from noncanonical gospels and Jesus’ sayings preserved in the Church Fathers.

New Testament literature » The Synoptic Gospels » The Gospel According to Mark: background and overview
The Gospel According to Mark is the second in canonical order of the Gospels and is both the earliest gospel that survived and the shortest. Probably contemporaneous with Q, it has no direct connection with it. The Passion narrative comprises 40 percent of Mark, and, from chapter 8, verse 27, onward, there is heavy reference forward to the Passion.

Though the author of Mark is probably unknown, authority is traditionally derived from a supposed connection with the Apostle Peter, who had transmitted the traditions before his martyr death under Nero’s persecution (c. 64–65). Papias, a 2nd-century bishop in Asia Minor, is quoted as saying that Mark had been Peter’s amanuensis (secretary) who wrote as he remembered (after Peter’s death), though not in the right order. Because Papias was from the East, perhaps the Johannine order would have priority, as is the case in the structure of the Syrian scholar Tatian’s Diatesseron (harmony of the Gospels).

Attempts have been made to identify Mark as the John Mark mentioned in Acts 12 or as the disciple who fled naked in the garden (Mark 14). A reference to “my son, Mark,” in I Peter is part of the same tradition by which Mark was related to Peter; thus the Evangelist’s apostolic guarantor was Peter.

The setting is a Gentile church. There is no special interest in problems with Jews and little precision in stating Jewish views, arguments, or terminology. Full validity is given the worship of the Gentiles. In further support of a Gentile setting and Roman provenance is the argument that Mark uses a high percentage of so-called Latinisms—i.e., Latin loanwords in Greek for military officers, money, and other such terms. Similar translations and transliterations, however, have been found in the Jerusalem Talmud, a compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary, which certainly was not of Roman provenance. The argument from Latinisms must be weighed against the fact that Latin could be used anywhere in the widespread Roman Empire. In addition, for the first three centuries the language of the church of Rome was Greek—so the Gentile addressees might just as well have been Syrian as Roman. The Latinisms—as well as the Aramaisms—are rather an indication of the vernacular style of Mark, which was “improved” by the other Evangelists.

Mark is written in rather crude and plain Greek, with great realism. Jesus’ healing of a blind man is done in two stages: first the blind man sees men, but they look like trees walking, and only after further healing activity on Jesus’ part is he restored to see everything clearly. This concrete element was lost in the rest of the tradition. It is also perhaps possible that this two-stage healing is a good analogy for understanding Mark theologically: first, through enigmatic miracles and parables in secret, and only later, after recognition of Jesus as the Christ, is there a gradual clarification leading to the empty tomb. In chapter 3, verse 21, those closest to Jesus call him insane (“he is beside himself”), a statement without parallel in the other Gospels.

In Mark, some Aramaic is retained, transliterated into Greek, and then translated—e.g., in the raising of Jairus’ daughter (5:41) and in the healing of the deaf mute (7:34). The well-known abba, Father, is retained in Mark’s account of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. In the two miracle stories, the Aramaic may have been retained to enhance the miracle by the technique of preserving Jesus’ actual words. And a cry of Jesus on the Cross is given in Aramaized Hebrew.

The stories in Mark are woven together with simple stereotyped connectives, such as the use of kai euthus (“and immediately,” “straightway”), which may be thought of as a Semitic style (as a typical simple connective in the Old Testament narrative style). More likely, however, this abruptness indicated that the compiler-redactor of Mark has used geography and people simply as props or scenes to be used as needed to connect the events in the service of the narrative.

Except for the Passion narrative, there is little chronological information. References in chapters 13 and 14 appear to presuppose that the Jerusalem Temple (destroyed in ad 70) still stood (in Matthew and Luke this is no longer the case); but the context of chapter 13, the “Little Apocalypse,” is so interwoven with eschatological traditions of both the Jewish and Christian expectations in the 1st century that it cannot serve with certainty as a historical reference. To some extent, however, chapter 13 does help to date Mark—the priority of which has already been established from literary criticism—because it is in good agreement with the traditions that Mark was written after the martyrdom of Peter. Mark may thus be dated somewhere after 64 and before 70, when the Jewish war ended.

New Testament literature » The Synoptic Gospels » The Gospel According to Mark: unique structure
The organization and schematizing of Mark reveals its special thrust. It may be roughly divided into three parts: (1) 1:1–8:26—the Galilean ministry—an account of mighty deeds (an aretalogy); (2) 8:27–10:52—discussions with his disciples centred on suffering; and (3) 11:1–16:8—controversies, Passion, death, the empty tomb, and the expected Parousia in Galilee.

“The beginning of the Gospel” in the first words of Mark apparently refers to John the Baptist, who is clearly described as a forerunner of the Messiah who calls the people to repentance. Jesus never calls himself the Messiah (Christ). After Jesus’ Baptism by John, the heavens open, the Spirit descends, and a heavenly voice proclaims Jesus as God’s beloved son with whom He is well pleased. Already in this account there is a certain secrecy, because it is not clear whether the onlookers or only Jesus witnessed or heard. Jesus was then driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, the place of demons and struggle, to be tempted by Satan, surrounded by wild beasts (the symbols of the power of evil and persecution) and ministered to by angels. Here again he is in secret, alone. The opening of the struggle with Satan is depicted, and the attendance by angels is a sign of Jesus’ success in the test.

Many references to persecution in Mark point toward Roman oppression and a martyr church that was preoccupied with a confrontation with the Satanic power behind the world’s hostility to Jesus and his message. There was stress on the underlying fact that the church must witness before the authorities in a hostile world. Much of the martyrological aspect of Mark’s account is grounded in his interpretation of the basic function of Jesus’ Passion and death and its implication that the Christian life is a life of suffering witness.

What Jesus preached in Galilee at the beginning of his ministry was that the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is “at hand”; i.e., very very near—therefore repent! (1:15). In Matthew this same message is that of both John the Baptist (3:2) and Jesus (4:17). This sets the stage; and the miraculous ministry in Galilee about which the followers are enjoined to secrecy points not so much to Jesus as the wonder-worker as to the great scheme of pushing back the frontier of Satan. Toward the end of this first section, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign, and he answers in no uncertain terms that no sign will be given (8:12). In the Synoptic Gospels the miracles are never called “signs” (as in John); and no sign is to be given prior to the cosmological, eschatological signs from heaven that belong to the end: darkening of the Sun and Moon and extreme tribulations that in postbiblical Jewish eschatology—the mood of the first Christian century—is a sign of the coming of the heavenly Son of man to judge the world.

Parables are a revelatory mode of expression; they are not just illustrations of ideas or principles. Jesus, the revealer, tells his disciples that the secret of the Kingdom of God is given to them but that to the outsider everything is in parables (or riddles) in order that they may not hear and understand lest they repent and be forgiven (4:10–12). This mystery and hiddenness is particularly related to the parables about the coming of the kingdom. Yet, even Jesus’ disciples did not recognize him as the Messiah, although his miracles were such that only a messianic figure could perform them: forgiving sins on earth, casting out demons, raising the dead, making the deaf hear and the stammerer (the dumb) speak, and the blind to see—all fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah. Only the demons, supranatural beings, recognize Jesus. There is a constant campaign against Satan from the temptation after Jesus’ Baptism until his death on the Cross, and, in each act of healing or exorcism, there is anticipated the ultimate defeat of Satan and the manifestation of the power of the new age. In all this Mark stresses the need for secrecy and Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ (8:29) is told in Mark as the opportunity to motivate an acceptance of the admonition “not to tell” by reference to the necessity of suffering.

This strong emphasis on the necessity of suffering—in the life of Jesus and in the life of the disciples—before the hour of victory gives the best explanation to what scholars have called the secrecy motif in Mark—i.e., the constant stress on not telling the world about Jesus’ messianic power.

According to William Wrede, a German scholar, the messianic secret motif was a literary and apologetic device by which the Christological faith of the early church could be reconciled with the fact that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. According to Wrede, Mark’s solution was: Jesus always knew it but kept it a secret for the inner group. After Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus began to speak of a suffering Son of man. The Son of man in Jewish apocalyptic was a glorious, transcendent, heavenly figure who would come victorious on clouds of glory to judge the world at the end of time. Suffering was not part of this picture. E. Sjöberg (1955) has interpreted the messianic secret not as a literary invention but as an understanding both that the Messiah would appear without recognition except by those who are chosen and to whom he reveals himself and that he must suffer. For outsiders, then, he remains a mystery until the age to come. Even his disciples did not understand the necessity of suffering. Only in the light of Resurrection faith—the hope of the Parousia and final victory over Satan—could they understand that he had to suffer and die to fulfill his mission and how they, too, must suffer.

Martyrological aspects in Mark can be noted from the beginning. Already according to 2:20 Jesus’ disciples are not to fast until “when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast . . . .” In Mark 8 to 10, there is great concentration on discussions with the disciples. The theme is suffering, and repeatedly they are reminded that there is no way of coming to glory except through suffering. Three Passion predictions meet either with rejection, fear, or confusion. In the Transfiguration (9:2–13; in which three disciples—Peter, James, and John—see Jesus become brighter and Elijah and Moses, two Old Testament prophets, appear) there is the same emphasis. The tension between future glory and prior suffering is the more striking when the Transfiguration is recognized as a Resurrection appearance, placed here in an anticipatory manner. The disciples are reminded of an association of Elijah with John the Baptist and his fate. This is also a hidden epiphany (manifestation)—the triumphal enthroned king closely juxtaposed with suffering and death.

After the third Passion prediction, in chapter 10, two of the disciples ask for places of honour when Jesus is glorified. He reminds them that suffering must precede glory for “The Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It is worth noting that this is the only reference to the death of Christ as a ransom or sacrifice but that Mark does not dwell on the Christological implications, but uses the saying for ethical purposes. Even so, the Marcan text gives one of the important building blocks for Christological growth and reflection on the suffering Son of man.

Just as Jesus’ public ministry in Mark started with the calling of disciples, so the central part of the Gospel calls them to participate through suffering in his own confrontation with the power of Satan.

In the last section of the Gospel, the scene is shifted to Jerusalem, where Jesus is going to die. His entry is described as triumphal and openly messianic and is accompanied by acted-out parables in a judgment of a barren fig tree, casting money changers out of the Temple, and in a parable of a vineyard in which the beloved son of the owner is killed. There is an increasing conflict and alienation of the authorities. Chapter 13, the “Little Apocalypse,” made up of a complex arrangement of apocalyptic traditions, serves as instruction to the disciples and thence to the church that they must endure through tribulation and persecution until the end time. Thus, although the setting is Jerusalem, the orientation is toward Galilee, the place where the Parousia is expected. The Holy Spirit will come to those who must witness in the situation of trial before governors and authorities (13:11); in the final eschatological trials only by God’s intervention can anyone endure unless the time be shortened for the elect. Because this chapter is shaped as a discourse that precedes the Passion narrative, it serves as a farewell address, a type of testament including apocalyptic sayings and warnings to the messianic community at the end of the “narrative” before the Passion—as do most testament forms (admonitions given before death to those beloved who will remain behind).

The Cross is both the high point of the Gospel and its lowest level of abject humiliation and suffering. A cry of dereliction and agony and the cosmic sign of the rending of the Temple veil bring from a Gentile centurion acknowledgment of Jesus as Son of God. The disciples reacted to the scandal of the Cross with discouragement, although already the scene is set for a meeting in Galilee. There are no visions of the risen Lord, however, in the best manuscripts (verses 9–20 are commonly held to be later additions), and Mark thus remains an open-ended Gospel. The Resurrection is neither described nor interpreted. Not exultation but rather involvement in the battle with Satan is the inheritance until the victorious coming in glory of the Lord—a continual process with the empty tomb pointing to hope of the final victory and glory, the Parousia in Galilee. The Gospel ends on the note of expectation. The mood from the last words of Jesus to the disciples remains: What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!

New Testament literature » The Synoptic Gospels » The Gospel According to Matthew
Matthew is the first in order of the four canonical Gospels and is often called the “ecclesiastical” Gospel, both because it was much used for selections for pericopes for the church year and because it deals to a great extent with the life and conduct of the church and its members. Matthew gave the frame, the basic shape and colour, to the early church’s picture of Jesus. Matthew used almost all of Mark, upon which it is to a large extent structured, some material peculiar only to Matthew, and sayings from Q as they serve the needs of the church. This Gospel expands and enhances the stark description of Jesus from Mark. The fall of Jerusalem (ad 70) had occurred, and this dates Matthew later than Mark, c. 70–80.

Although there is a Matthew named among the various lists of Jesus’ disciples, more telling is the fact that the name of Levi, the tax collector who in Mark became a follower of Jesus, in Matthew is changed to Matthew. It would appear from this that Matthew was claiming apostolic authority for his Gospel through this device but that the writer of Matthew is probably anonymous.

The Gospel grew out of a “school” led by a man with considerable knowledge of Jewish ways of teaching and interpretation. This is suggested by the many ways in which Matthew is related to Judaism. It is in some ways the most “Jewish” Gospel. Striking are 11 “formula quotations” (“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet . . .”) claiming the fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecies.

The outstanding feature of Matthew is its division into five discourses, or sermons, following narrative sections with episodes and vignettes that precede and feed into them: (1) chapters 5–7—the Sermon on the Mount—a sharpened ethic for the Kingdom and a higher righteousness than that of the Pharisees; (2) chapter 10—a discourse on mission, witness, and martyrological potential for disciples with an eschatological context (including material from Mark 13); (3) chapter 13—parables about the coming of the Kingdom; (4) chapter 18—on church discipline, harshness toward leaders who lead their flock astray and more gentleness toward sinning members; and (5) chapters 23–25—concerned with the end time (the Parousia) and watchful waiting for it, and firmness in faith in God and his Holy Spirit. Each sermon is preceded by a didactic use of narratives, events, and miracles leading up to them, many from the Marcan outline. Each of the five sections of narrative and discourse ends with a similar formula: “now when Jesus had finished these sayings. . . .” The style suggests a catechism for Christian behaviour based on the example of Jesus: a handbook for teaching and administration of the church. This presupposes a teaching and acting community, a church, in which the Gospel functions. The Greek word ekklēsia, (“church”) is used in the Gospels only in Matthew (16:18 and 18:17).

The discourses are preceded by etiological (sources or origins) material of chapters 1–2, in which the birth narrative relates Jesus’ descent (by adoption according to the will of God) through Joseph into the Davidic royal line. Though a virgin birth is mentioned, it is not capitalized upon theologically in Matthew. The story includes a flight into Egypt (recalling a Mosaic tradition). Some “Semitisms” add to the Jewish flavour, such as calling the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of the Heaven(s). The name Jesus (Saviour) is theologically meaningful to Matthew (1:21). Chapter 2 reflects on the geographical framework of the Messiah’s birth and tells how the messianic baby born in Bethlehem came to dwell in Nazareth.

After the five narrative and discourse units, Matthew continues from chapter 26 on with the Passion narrative, burial, a Resurrection account, and the appearance of the risen Lord in Galilee, where he gives the final “great commission,” with which Matthew ends.

Matthew is not only an original Greek document, but its addressees are Greek-speaking Gentile Christians. By the time of the Gospel According to Matthew, there had been a relatively smooth and mild transition into a Gentile Christian milieu. The setting could be Syria, but hardly Antioch, where the Pauline mission had sharpened the theological issues far beyond what seems to be the case in Matthew. Matthew has no need to argue against the Law, or Torah, as divisive for the church (as had been the case earlier with Paul in Romans and Galatians, in which the Law was divisive among Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians), and, indeed, the Law is upheld in Matthew (5:17–19). For Matthew, there had already been a separation of Christianity from its Jewish matrix. When he speaks about the “scribes and the Pharisees,” he thinks of the synagogue “across the street” from the now primarily Gentile church. Christianity is presented as superior to Judaism even in regard to the Law and its ethical demands.

The Matthean church is conscious of its Jewish origins but also of a great difference in that it is permeated with an eschatological perspective, seeing itself not only as participating in the suffering of Christ (as in Mark) but also as functioning even in the face of persecution while patiently—but eagerly—awaiting the Parousia. The questions of the mission of the church and the degree of the “coming” of the Kingdom with the person and coming of Jesus are handled by the Evangelist by a “timetable” device. The Gospel is arranged so that only after the Resurrection is the power of the Lord fully manifest as universal and continuing. Before the Resurrection the disciples are sent nowhere among the Gentiles but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and the end time is expected before the mission will have gone through the towns of Israel. Even in his earthly ministry, however, Jesus proleptically, with a sort of holy impatience, heals the son of a believing Roman centurion and responds to the persistent faith of a Canaanite woman—whose heathen background is stressed even more than her geographical designation, Syro-Phoenician, given in the parallel in Mark—by healing her daughter. The Jewish origins of Jesus’ teaching and the way the Evangelist presents them do not deny but push beyond them. The prophecies are fulfilled, the Law is kept, and the church’s mission is finally universal, partly because the unbelief of the pious Jewish leaders left the gospel message to the poor, the sick, the sinner, the outcast, and the Gentile.

In Matthew, because of the use of Q and Matthew’s theological organization, there is stress on Jesus as teacher, his sharpening or radicalizing of the Law in an eschatological context; and Jesus is presented not in secret but as an openly proclaimed Messiah, King, and Judge. In the temptation narrative Jesus refuses Satan’s temptations because they are of the devil, but he himself later in the Gospel does feed the multitude, and after the Resurrection he claims all authority in heaven and on earth. By overcoming Satan, Jesus gave example to his church to stand firm in persecution. Messianic titles are more used in Matthew than in Mark. In the exorcism of demoniacs, the demons cry out, calling him Son of God and rebuking him for having come “before the time” (8:29). Again, this shows that Jesus in his earthly ministry had power over demons, power belonging only to the Messiah and the age to come; and he pushed this timetable ahead. Yet, as in Mark, the miracles are not to be interpreted as signs. When asked for a sign, the Matthean account gives only the sign of Jonah, an Old Testament prophet—i.e., the preaching of the gospel—which in later tradition took on an added interpretation as presaging the Son of man (Jesus) being three days and nights in the tomb (12:40, a later addition to Matthew).

Even the antitheses in the Sermon on the Mount are not new but demonstrate a higher ethic—one that is sharpened, strict, more immediate because the end time is perceived as coming soon. People who took this intensification of the Law upon themselves dared to do it as an example of “messianic license”—i.e., to use the ethics of the Kingdom in the present in a church still under historical ambiguity and in constant struggle with Satan.

At such points the peculiar nature of Matthew comes into focus. The sharpening of the Law and the messianic license for the disciples are clearly there. At the same time Matthew presents the maxims of Jesus as attractive to a wider audience with Hellenistic tastes: Jesus is the teacher of a superior ethic, beyond casuistry and particularism. Similarly, in chapter 15, he renders maxims about food laws as an example of enlightened attitudes, not as rules for actual behaviour.

According to Matthew, the “professionally” pious were blind and unhearing, and these traits led to their replacement by those who are called in Matthew the “little ones”; in Final Judgment the King-Messiah will judge according to their response to him who is himself represented as one of “the least of these.” The depiction of Jesus as Lord, King, Judge, Saviour, Messiah, Son of man, and Son of God (all messianic titles) is made in a highly pitched eschatological tone. The Lord’s Prayer is presented in this context, and, for example, the “temptation” (trial, test) of “Lead us not into temptation” is no ordinary sin but the ordeal before the end time, the coming of the Kingdom for which the Matthean church prays. Martyrdom, though not to be pursued, can be endured through the help of the Spirit and the example of Jesus.

The Passion narrative is forceful and direct. Pilate’s part in sentencing Jesus to be crucified is somewhat modified, and the guilt of the Jews increased in comparison with the Marcan account. In Matthew the Resurrection is properly witnessed by more than one male witness so that there can be no ambiguity as to the meaning of the empty tomb. The risen Lord directs his disciples to go to Galilee, and the Gospel According to Matthew ends with a glorious epiphany there and with Jesus’ commission to the disciples—the church—to go to the Gentiles, because the risen Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth for all time.

New Testament literature » The Synoptic Gospels » The Gospel According to Luke
Luke is the third in order of the canonical gospels, which, together with Acts, its continuation, is dedicated by Luke to the same patron, “most excellent” Theophilus. Theophilus may have been a Roman called by a title of high degree because he is an official or out of respect; or he may have been an exemplification of the Gentile Christian addressees of the Lucan Gospel. The account in Luke–Acts is for the purpose of instruction and for establishing reliability by going back to the apostolic age. The very style of this preface follows the pattern of Greek historiography, and thus Luke is called the “historical” Gospel. Historically reliable information cannot be expected, however, because Luke’s sources were not historical; they rather were embedded in tradition and proclamation. Luke is, however, a historian in structuring his sources, especially in structuring his chronology into periods to show how God’s plan of salvation was unfolded in world history. That he uses events and names is secondary to his intention, and their historical accuracy is of less importance than the schematization by which he shows Jesus to be the Saviour of the world and the church in its mission (Acts) to be part of an orderly progress according to God’s plan.

The sources of the Gospel are arranged in the service of its theological thrust with definite periodization of the narrative. Approximately one-third of Luke is from Mark (about 60 percent of Mark); 20 percent of Luke is derived from Q (sometimes arranged with parts of L). Almost 50 percent is from Luke’s special source (L), especially the infancy narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus, and parables peculiar to Luke (e.g., the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the rich fool). L material is also interwoven into the Passion narrative. While Matthew structured similar teaching materials in his five discourses, Luke places them in an extensive travel account that takes Jesus from Galilee to Judaea via Jericho to Jerusalem. This is similar to the ways in which Acts is structured on the principle of bringing the word from Jerusalem to Rome (see below).

The author has been identified with Luke, “the beloved physician,” Paul’s companion on his journeys, presumably a Gentile (Col. 4:14 and 11; cf. II Tim. 4:11, Philem. 24). There is no Papias fragment concerning Luke, and only late-2nd-century traditions claim (somewhat ambiguously) that Paul was the guarantor of Luke’s Gospel traditions. The Muratorian Canon refers to Luke, the physician, Paul’s companion; Irenaeus depicts Luke as a follower of Paul’s gospel. Eusebius has Luke as an Antiochene physician who was with Paul in order to give the Gospel apostolic authority. References are often made to Luke’s medical language, but there is no evidence of such language beyond that to which any educated Greek might have been exposed. Of more import is the fact that in the writings of Luke specifically Pauline ideas are significantly missing; while Paul speaks of the death of Christ, Luke speaks rather of the suffering, and there are other differing and discrepant ideas on Law and eschatology. In short, the author of this gospel remains unknown.

Luke can be dated c. 80. There is no conjecture about its place of writing, except that it probably was outside of Palestine because the writer had no accurate idea of its geography. Luke uses a good literary style of the Hellenistic Age in terms of syntax. His language has a “biblical” ring already in its own time because of his use of the Septuagint style; he is a Greek familiar with the Septuagint, which was written for Greeks; he seldom uses loanwords and repeatedly improves Mark’s wording. The hymns of chapters 1 and 2 (the Magnificat, beginning “My soul magnifies the Lord”; the Benedictus, beginning “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel”; the Nunc Dimittis, beginning “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace”) and the birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus either came from some early oral tradition or were consciously modelled on the basis of the language of the Septuagint. These sections provide insight into the early Christian community, and the hymns in particular reflect the Old Testament psalms or the Thanksgiving Psalms from Qumrān. Though on the whole Matthew is the Gospel most used for the lectionaries, the Christmas story comes from Luke. The “old age” motif of the birth of John to Elizabeth also recalls the Old Testament birth of Samuel, the judge. All the material about John the Baptist, however, is deliberately placed prior to that of Jesus. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, visits Elizabeth, Jesus’ superiority to John is already established. The Davidic royal tradition is thus depicted as superior to the priestly tradition.

Writing out of the cultural tradition of Hellenism and that of Jewish ʿanawim piety—i.e., the piety of the poor and the humble entertaining messianic expectations—Luke has “humanized” the portrait of Jesus. Piety and prayer (his own and that of others) are stressed. Love and compassion for the poor and despised and hatred of the rich are emphasized, as is Jesus’ attitude toward women, children, and sinners. In the Crucifixion scene, the discussion between the robbers and Jesus’ assurance that one of them would be with him in Paradise, as well as the words, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”—which are in contrast to the cry of dereliction in Mark and Matthew—all point toward the paradigm of the truly pious man. Parables peculiar to Luke—among which are those of the good Samaritan, the importunate friend, the lost coin, and the prodigal son—have an element of warmth and tenderness. Thus, Luke “civilizes” the more stark eschatological emphasis of Mark (and Matthew), leading the way, perhaps, to a lessening of eschatological hopes in a time in which the imminent Parousia was not expected but pushed into the distant future.

The interplay between Luke and Acts reveals Luke’s answer to the coming of the Kingdom. Once the church has the Holy Spirit, the delay of the Parousia has been answered for a time. Thus, Luke divides history into three periods: (1) the end of the prophetic era of Israel as a preparation for revelation, with John the Baptist as the end of the old dispensation; (2) the revelation of Jesus’ ministry as the centre of time—with Satan having departed after the temptation and, until he once again appears, entering into Judas to betray Jesus; and (3) the beginning of the period of the church after Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection.

Consistent with this schematization, John the Baptist’s arrest occurs before Jesus’ Baptism, though it is placed later in Mark and Matthew. From the beginning, the rule of the Spirit is a central theme, important in healing, the ministry, the message, and the promise of the continued guidance of the Spirit in the age of the church, pointing toward part two of Luke’s work, the book of Acts of the Apostles, in which Pentecost (the receiving of the Holy Spirit by 120 disciples gathered together the 50th day after Easter) is a decisive event.

Just as Luke arranges his Gospel to show the divine plan of salvation in historical periodization, so he orders its structure in accordance with a geographical scheme. Chapter 1 (verse 8) of Acts provides the framework: after the coming of the Spirit, the church will witness in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and then to the end of the inhabited world. These places foreshadow the church’s mission. The end of the old dispensation takes place in Jerusalem and its environs. The Resurrection appearances in Luke are placed in Jerusalem (Mark, Matthew, and John point toward Galilee). Jerusalem is also the place of the beginning of the church, and the old holy place thus becomes the centre of the new holy community. The necessity of suffering was made clear and interpreted as the fulfillment of prophecy. Rejection by people from his old home, Nazareth, and by Jewish religious leaders corresponds to the beginning of the ministry to the Gentiles—to the end of the earth.

Luke’s account of the Crucifixion heightens the guilt of the Jews, adding a trial and mockery by Herod Antipas. The Crucifixion in Luke is interpreted as an anticipatory event: that the Christ must suffer by means of death before entering into glory. Jesus’ death, therefore, is not interpreted in terms of an expiatory redemptive act. The centurion who saw the event praised God and called Jesus a righteous man, thus describing his fate as that of a martyr, but with no special meaning for salvation. The link between past salvation history and the period of the church is through the Spirit; salvation history continues in Acts.

New Testament literature » The fourth Gospel: The Gospel According to John » Uniqueness of John
John is the last Gospel and, in many ways, different from the Synoptic Gospels. The question in the Synoptic Gospels concerns the extent to which the divine reality broke into history in Jesus’ coming, and the answers are given in terms of the closeness of the new age. John, from the very beginning, presents Jesus in terms of glory: the Christ, the exalted Lord, mighty from the beginning and throughout his ministry, pointing to the Cross as his glorification and a revelation of the glory of the Father. The Resurrection, together with Jesus’ promise to send the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) as witness, spokesman, and helper for the church, is a continuation of the glorious revelation and manifestation (Greek epiphaneia).

Irenaeus calls John the beloved disciple who wrote the Gospel in Ephesus. Papias mentions John the son of Zebedee, the disciple, as well as another John, the presbyter, who might have been at Ephesus. From internal evidence the Gospel was written by a beloved disciple whose name is unknown. Because both external and internal evidence are doubtful, a working hypothesis is that John and the Johannine letters were written and edited somewhere in the East (perhaps Ephesus) as the product of a “school,” or Johannine circle, at the end of the 1st century. The addressees were Gentile Christians, but there is accurate knowledge and much reference to Palestine, which might be a reflection of early Gospel tradition. The Jews are equated with the opponents of Jesus, and the separation of church and synagogue is complete, also pointing to a late-1st-century dating. The author of John knows part of the tradition behind the Synoptic Gospels, but it is unlikely that he knew them as literary sources. His use of common tradition is molded to his own style and theology, differing markedly with the Synoptics in many ways. Yet, John is a significant source of Jesus’ life and ministry, and it does not stand as a “foreign body” among the Gospels. Confidence in some apostolic traditions behind John is an organic link with the apostolic witness, and, from beginning to end, the confidence is anchored in Jesus’ words and the disciples’ experience—although much has been changed in redaction. Traces of eyewitness accounts occur in John’s unified Gospel narrative, but they are interpreted, as is also the case with the other Gospels. Clement of Alexandria, a late-2nd-century theologian, calls John the “spiritual gospel” that complements and supplements the Synoptics. Although the Greek of John is relatively simple, the power behind it (and its “poetic” translation especially in the King James Version) makes it a most beautiful writing. Various backgrounds for John have been suggested: Greek philosophy (especially the Stoic concept of the logos, or “word,” as immanent reason); the works of Philo of Alexandria, in which there is an impersonal logos concept that can not be the object of faith and love; Hermetic writings, comprising esoteric, magical works from Egypt (2nd–3rd centuries ad) that contain both Greek and Oriental speculations on monotheistic religion and the revelation of God; Gnosticism, a 2nd-century religious movement that emphasized salvation through knowledge and a metaphysical dualism; Mandaeanism, a form of Gnosticism based on Iranian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Jewish sources; and Palestinian Judaism, from which both Hellenistic and Jewish ideas came. In the last source there is a Wisdom component and some ideas that possibly come from Qumrān, such as a dualism of good versus evil, truth versus falsehood, and light versus darkness. Of these backgrounds, perhaps, all have played a part, but the last appears to fit John best. In the thought world of Jewish Gnosticism, there is a mythological descending and ascending envoy of God. In the prologue of John, there is embedded what is proclaimed as a historical fact: The Logos (Word) took on new meaning in Christ. The Creator of the world entered anew with creative power. But history and interpretation are always so inextricably bound together that one cannot be separated from the other.

New Testament literature » The fourth Gospel: The Gospel According to John » Form and content of John
In John there is a mixture of long meditational discourses on definite themes and concrete events recalling the structure of Matthew (with events plus discourses); and, although the source problem is complex and research is still grappling with it, there can be little doubt that John depended on a distinct source for his seven miracles (the sign [or sēmeia] source): (1) turning water to wine at the marriage at Cana; (2) the healing of an official’s son; (3) the healing of a paralytic at the pool at Bethzatha; (4) the feeding of the multitude; (5) Jesus walking on water; (6) the cure of one blind from birth; and (7) the raising of Lazarus from the dead. In chapter 20, verse 30, the purpose of the signs is stated: “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”

A major part of John is in the form of self-revelatory discourses by Jesus. Some would assign these to a distinct source, but they may rather be the work of the author.

Jesus’ coming “hour”—the hour of his glorification—could not come about at any bidding but only according to a divine plan, and Jesus is obedient to it. The Paraclete is promised to come to the disciples, and it is necessary that Jesus go away in order that the Paraclete may come to the church. In John, Christ is depicted as belonging to a higher world, and his kingship is not of this world. He is said to have come into this world to his own people, and they rejected him, but this is but another example of the church’s mission having passed both historically and theologically to the Gentile milieu.

The Christology in John is heightened: though the Synoptics have Jesus speaking about the Kingdom, in John, Jesus speaks about himself. This heightened Christology can be seen in many of the “I am” sayings of Jesus (e.g., “I am the bread of life”) in the context of their discourses and accompanying signs. This type of discourse is a concentration in terms and titles of the way in which the Messiah openly reveals his identity by a striking phenomenon: in the Old Testament the association with “I am” is the revelation of the name of God in the theophany (manifestation of God) to Moses (Exodus), and this theophanic interpretation carries over in John. Jesus says “I am” with regard to his function as Messiah, as divine. These sayings are self-revelatory pronouncements: (1) bread of life, (2) light of the world, (3) door of the sheepfold, (4) good shepherd, (5) resurrection and life, (6) way, truth, and life, and (7) true vine. Such theophanic expressions are heightened in other sayings: “I and the Father are one”; “Before Abraham was, I am”; “He who has seen me has seen the Father”; and Thomas’ cry after the Resurrection “My Lord and my God.”

John 14 is a farewell speech, one of a series, before the Passion. In testament form, it is the bidding of farewell by one who is dying and giving comfort to those he loves. In John, however, the eons (ages) overlap. The significance of the farewell address, thus, is in the teaching that Jesus is God’s representative. The fact that he must go to the Father means that the eschatological era already started in Jesus’ presence as the Christ and will be intensified at his death and manifested further in the coming of the Spirit to the church. The times shift; the eschatology—here and still to come—also shifts but remains on the whole realized in John, although there is still a tension between the “already” and the “not yet.”

John’s allegorical thought is shown by his ending of the miracle of Jesus’ walking on the sea. The frightened disciples took him into their boat, “and immediately the boat was at the land.” This fits the pattern of John’s Gospel, namely that, when Jesus is with his church, the new era has already arrived, and, where Jesus is, there is the Kingdom fulfilled. Similarly, the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11 is to demonstrate that the power of the Resurrection, of the fulfilled “eschaton” (last times), is already present in Jesus as Christ now, not only in some future time. Thus, there would appear to be a “realized eschatology” in John; i.e., the last times are realized in the person and work of Jesus. The coming of the Spirit, the Paraclete, however, is still to come, so, even in this most eschatological Gospel, there is a building up, a crescendo, of glorification. In chapter 12, verse 32, Jesus is depicted as saying, “I, when I am lifted up . . . will draw all men to myself”—again an exaltation and glorification that points to the Cross. At the point of death on the Cross, Jesus’ words “It is finished” are interpreted to mean that part of the “eschaton” is consummated, fulfilled. After the finding of the empty tomb, there is a Resurrection appearance to the disciples. This includes the “doubting Thomas” pericope, which teaches that those who have to depend on the witness of the Gospel are at no disadvantage.

In an appended chapter, 21, there is a touching story of the Apostle Peter, who, having denied his Lord thrice, is three times asked by Jesus if he loves him. Peter affirms his knowledge that Jesus knows what love is in his heart and is given the care of the church and a prediction that he himself will be persecuted and crucified.

The numerous differences between the Synoptics and John can be summed up thus: in John eternal life is already present for the believer, while in the Synoptics there is a waiting for the Parousia for the fulfillment of eschatological expectations. This Johannine theology and piety has great similarities to the views that Paul criticizes in I Cor. 15 (see below). The contrast between Paul and John is even more striking if one accepts the most plausible theory that John as we have it includes passages (added later) by which the realized eschatology has been corrected so as to fit better into the more futuristic eschatology that was stressed in defense against the Gnostics. John 5:25–28 is such a striking correction.

The Johannine chronology also differs from the Synoptic. John starts the public ministry with the casting out of the money changers: the Synoptics have this as the last event of the earthly ministry leading to Jesus’ apprehension. The public ministry in John occupies two or three years, but the Synoptics telescope it into one. In John Jesus is crucified on 14 Nisan, the same day that the Jewish Passover lamb is sacrificed; in the Synoptics Jesus is crucified on 15 Nisan. The difference in the chronologies of the Passion between John and the Synoptics may be because of the use of a solar calendar in John and a lunar calendar in the Synoptics. Nevertheless, the actual dating is of less importance than the fact that John places the Crucifixion at the time of the Passover sacrifice to emphasize Jesus as the Paschal lamb. There is no celebration of the Last Supper in John, but the feeding of the multitude in chapter 6 gives the opportunity for a eucharistic discourse. Because Jesus is regarded as the Christ from the very beginning of John, there is no baptism story—John the Baptist bears witness to Jesus as the Lamb of God—no temptation, and no demon exorcisms. Satan is vanquished in the presence of Christ. Each of the four Gospels presents a different facet of the picture, a different theology. Although in all the Gospels there is warning about persecution and the danger of discipleship, each has the retrospective comfort of having knowledge of the risen Lord who will send the Spirit. In John, however, there is a triumphant, glorious confidence: “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

New Testament literature » The Acts of the Apostles
As indicated by both its introduction and its theological plan (see The Gospel According to Luke), Acts is the second of a two-volume work compiled by the author of Luke. Both volumes are dedicated to Theophilus (presumably an imperial official), and its contents are divided into periods. In the Gospel, Luke describes first the end of the old dispensation and then the earthly life of Jesus. Near the end of the Gospel, the stage is set for the next period: the “new dispensation” of the church as presented in Acts. After the Ascension of the risen Lord in Jerusalem (Acts 1), there is Pentecost, called Shavuot in Hebrew (i.e., “the 50th day” after Passover). This Jewish festival of the revelation of the Law on Mt. Sinai becomes the day when the Spirit is poured out. For Acts this event marks the beginning of a new era (Acts 2): as in Luke, Jesus, endowed by the Spirit, was led from Nazareth to Jerusalem, so in Acts, the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost leads the church from Jerusalem to Rome.

New Testament literature » The Acts of the Apostles » The purpose and style of Acts
Although the title, Acts of the Apostles, suggests that the aim of Acts is to give an account of the deeds of the Apostles, the title actually was a later addition to the work (about the end of the 2nd century). Acts depicts the shift from Jewish Christianity to Gentile Christianity as relatively smooth and portrays the Roman government as regarding the Christian doctrine as harmless. This book is the earliest “church history,” viewing the church as guided by the Spirit until a future Parousia (coming of the Lord).

Probably written shortly after Luke (c. 85) as a companion volume, in no manuscripts or canonical lists is Acts attached to the Gospel.

Luke edited his history as a series of accounts, and thus Acts is not history in the sense of accurate chronology or of continuity of events but in the ancient sense of rhetoric with an apologetic aim. The author weaves strands of varying traditions and sources into patterns loosely clustered around a nucleus of past events viewed from the vantage point of later development.

The structuring of the material by time and geography may account for the unique way in which both the Ascension of Christ to heaven (40 days after the Resurrection) and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (50 days after the Resurrection) became fixed and dated events.

The redactor (editor) of Acts composed speeches with primary primitive material within them; about one-fifth of Acts is composed in this way. This manner of using speeches was part of the style and purpose of the work and was not unlike that of other ancient historians such as Josephus, Plutarch, and Tacitus.

In the latter part of Acts are several sections known as the “we-passages” (e.g., 16:10, 20:5, 21:1,8, 27:1, 28:16) that appear to be extracts from a travel diary, or narrative. These do not, however, necessarily point to Luke as a companion of Paul—as has been commonly assumed—but are rather a stylistic device, such as that noted particularly in itinerary accounts in other ancient historical works (e.g., Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana). Though the pronoun changes from “they” to “we,” the style, subject matter, and theology do not differ. That an actual companion of Paul writing about his mission journeys could be in so much disagreement with Paul (whose theology is evidenced in his letters) about fundamental issues such as the Law, his apostleship, and his relationship to the Jerusalem church is hardly conceivable.

Acts was written in relatively good literary Greek (especially where it addresses the Gentiles), but it is not consistent, and the Koinē (vernacular) Greek of the 1st century was apparently more natural to the writer. There are some Semitisms, especially when stressing Jewish backgrounds; thus, Paul is called Saul in accounts of his conversion experience on Damascus road. In chapter 17, Paul’s speech on the Areopagus, a hill in Athens that traditionally was the meeting place of the city’s council, for an intellectual Athenian audience is in good Greek, assimilating Gentile thought patterns, but is expressed in Old Testament universalistic terms.

New Testament literature » The Acts of the Apostles » The content of Acts
The outline of Acts can be roughly divided into two parts: the mission under Peter, centred in Jerusalem (chapters 1–12); and the missions to the Gentiles all the way to Rome (cf. chapter 1, verse 8), under the leadership of Paul (chapters 13–28). The earlier sections deal with the Jerusalem church under Peter and the gradual spread of the gospel beyond Jewish limits (in chapters 10–11, for example, Peter is led by the Spirit to baptize the Roman centurion, Cornelius). References to Peter are abruptly ended in chapter 12; James, the brother of the Lord, has become the head of the Jerusalem church, and Philip, a Greek-speaking missionary, is commanded by the Spirit to baptize an Ethiopian eunuch.

Paul’s missionary journeys are traditionally separated into three: (1) 13:1–14:28; followed by the Council of Jerusalem c. ad 49 (15:1–35); (2) 15:36–18:22 with a stop at Antioch; and (3) 18:23–21:14. After that, Paul is imprisoned and sent to Rome where Acts leaves him witnessing openly and unhindered in the capital of the Empire. These journeys may be seen as a part of the writer’s “theological geography,” because they form one continuous circuit—with stops on the way—between the geographical poles of Jerusalem and Rome. After the Council of Jerusalem c. ad 49, the situation was changed, and Paul became the spokesman for the whole Christian mission.

The earliest chapters of Acts contain some primitive traditions important both for any study of the early church and its preaching and for the church’s own development of its understanding of itself and of Jesus. After Peter healed a lame man, he made a speech, in chapter 3, in which Jesus is proclaimed as the one appointed but who is now in heaven and who will come as the Christ at the Parousia (Second Coming). In his Pentecost speech in chapter 2, Peter preached that God made Jesus Lord and Christ at his Resurrection.

The titles used for Jesus show both a preservation of primitive tradition and theology and a clear differentiation made by the writer between Jesus in his earthly life (in Luke) and reflection on him in Acts. Christ (Messiah) is consciously used as the title of Jesus; the title Son of man, used frequently in Luke, is used only once in Acts, at the death of the martyr Stephen, when he is granted a vision of the Lord in glory. Early titles, “servant” and “righteous one,” reflect the Old Testament background of God’s “suffering servant.” The Hellenistic term saviour (sōtēr) is used in Acts in chapters 5 and 13. The more primitive Christologies and titles show not only a flexibility of traditions but also the functional nature of New Testament Christology.

Acts presents a picture of Paul that differs from his own description of himself in many of his letters, both factually and theologically. In Acts, Paul, on his way to Damascus to persecute the church, is dramatically stopped by a visionary experience of Jesus and is later instructed. In his letters, however, Paul stated that he was called by direct revelation of the risen Lord and given a vocation for which he had been born (recalling the call of an Old Testament prophet, such as Jeremiah) and was instructed by no man.

The account of Paul’s relation to Judaism in Acts also differs from that in his letters. In Acts, Paul is presented as having received from the Jerusalem apostolic council the authority for his mission to the Gentiles as well as their decision—the so-called apostolic decree (15:20; cf. 15:29)—as to the minimal basis upon which a Gentile could be accepted into fellowship with Jewish Christians. According to this decree, Gentile converts to Christianity were to abstain from pollutions of idols (pagan cults), unchastity, from what is strangled, and from blood (referring to the Jewish cultic food laws as showing continuity with the old Israel). Circumcision, however, was not required, an important concession on the part of the Jewish Christians.

In Acts Paul is not called an Apostle except in passing, and the impression is given, contrary to Paul’s letters, that he is subordinate to and dependent upon the twelve Apostles. When Paul entered a new city, he went first to the synagogue. If his message of the gospel was rejected, he turned to the Gentiles. According to Paul’s missionary practice and theology, the message had first to be spoken to the Jews as a reminder that Christianity is grounded in redemptive history; this prevents the connection with the old Israel from being forgotten. Because most Jews rejected Paul’s message, the author proclaimed that salvation thus passed to the Gentiles.

Roman authorities are depicted as treating Paul (and other Christians) in a just manner. The author repeatedly stressed that the Roman authorities did not find fault with the Christians but rather viewed Christian–Jewish antagonisms merely as one problem among Jewish factions. While in Corinth, during a conflict with the Jews, the Roman proconsul of Achaea in Greece, Gallio, refused to hear the charges brought against Paul because, according to Roman law, they were extralegal. On a later occasion in Ephesus, during a conflict with the silversmiths who derived their income from selling statuettes of the goddess Diana, Paul was protected from local antagonisms and a riot by Roman authorities. Toward the end of his career, after having been in the protective custody of the Judaean procurator Felix, Paul was heard by Felix’s successor, Festus, and the Jewish king Agrippa II, and, had he not appealed to Caesar as a Roman citizen, he could have been set free. He thus had to go to Rome to be tried, and that is the last that is heard about him in Acts.

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is a dominant theme in Acts, as it is in the Gospel According to Luke. Just as Jesus started his public ministry in Luke by reading from the Book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . .” so also in Acts the new age of the Spirit began at Pentecost, which is viewed as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel that in the new age the Spirit would be poured out on all men. That persons from many nations heard in their own tongues the mighty works of God has been viewed as a reversal of the Tower of Babel narrative, with languages no more confused and people no longer scattered.

Although Peter, Stephen, and Paul are central figures in Acts, the piety of the humbler members of the church also permeates the book. Church structure and organization, with apostles, disciples, elders, prophets, and teachers, exhibits great fluidity. Paul, in bidding farewell at Miletus to the elders from Ephesus, exhorted them to “take heed . . . to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit made you guardians (bishops) to feed the church. . . .” Offices may be conveyed by prayer and laying on of hands but there is little stress on distinction of office or succession, thus indicating a very early period in the life of the church.

Because Peter “departs and goes to another place” and Paul is left under house arrest awaiting trial, the readers appear to be left in suspense concerning the fates of these two leaders. The readers, however, probably knew what had happened to them—i.e., that these Apostles had eventually been martyred sometime in the 60s before Acts was written. What is more, the interest in Acts is not in the fates of Peter and Paul; the gospel has finally reached Rome, the center of the oikoumenē (“the inhabited world”), and thus the ending is suitable to the book—Paul is left “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ quite openly and unhindered.”

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » Background and overview
In the New Testament canon of 27 books, 21 are called “letters,” and even the Revelation to John starts and ends in letter form. Of the 21, 13 belong to the Pauline corpus; the Letter to the Hebrews is included in the Pauline corpus in the East but not, however, in the West. Three letters of this corpus, the Pastoral Letters, are pseudonymous and thus are not considered here. Of the remaining 10, the Letters to the Colossians and Ephesians are from the hand of a later Pauline follower and II Thessalonians is spurious. How this Pauline corpus was collected and published remains obscure, but letters as part of Holy Scripture were an early established phenomenon of Christianity.

The church was poor and widespread, and, in the early stages, expected an imminent Parousia. More formal sacred writings were thus superseded in importance by letters (e.g., those of bishop Ignatius of Antioch) that answered practical questions of the early churches.

The letters of Paul, written only about 20–30 years after the crucifixion, were preserved, collected, and eventually “published.” In general, they answered questions of churches that he had founded. When all the Pauline Letters as a corpus were first known is difficult to determine. Because Pauline theology and some quotations and allusions were certainly known at the end of the 1st century, the Pauline Letters probably were collected and circulated for general church use by the end of the 1st century or soon thereafter. A disciple of Paul, possibly Onesimus, may have used Ephesians as a covering letter for the whole collection.

The letters Galatians and Romans both contain an extensive discussion about the Law (Torah) and justification (in language not found in the other letters) to solve the problem of the relation of Christianity to Judaism and of the relationship of Jewish Christians with Gentile Christians. Galatians is older and differs from Romans in that it deals with Judaizers—i.e., Gentile Christians who were infatuated with Jewish ways and championed Jewish ceremonial law for Gentile Christians. On the other hand, Romans speaks to the question of the Jews and the Christian faith and church in God’s plan of salvation.

In I and II Corinthians (which may include fragments of much Corinthian correspondence preserved in a somewhat haphazard order), there is no preoccupation with either Jews or Judaizing practices. They deal with a church of Gentile Christians and are therefore the best evidence of how Paul operated on Gentile territory.

The earliest book in the New Testament is I Thessalonians, which is concerned with the problem of eschatology. Though II Thessalonians is obvious in its imitation of the style of I Thessalonians, it reflects a later time, elaborates on I Thessalonians, and is thus not viewed as genuine.

Philippians may be a composite letter in which various themes of Pauline teaching are held together by a testament form. Thus, it is a compendium without too specific a focus on the Philippian situation. Philemon, although addressed to a house church, is uniquely concerned with the fate of a slave being returned to his master, with the hope that he will be forgiven and be sent back to help Paul in prison, an example of manumission in Paul’s name.

Ephesians appears to be dependent on Colossians, and both, although using the Pauline style, reflect a time and imagery sometimes different from and later than Paul’s genuine letters. Ephesians covers the content of Colossians in more compact form and may be a covering letter for the entire Pauline corpus by a disciple or other later Paulinist.

The style of Paul’s letters is an admixture of Greek and Jewish form, combining Paul’s personal concern with his official status as Apostle. After his own name, Paul names the addressees or congregation being addressed and adds “grace and peace.” This is often followed by thanksgivings and intercession that are significantly adapted to the content and purpose of the letter. Doctrinal material usually precedes advice or exhortation (parenesis), and the letters conclude with personal news or admonition and a blessing: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Paul’s letters were probably dictated to an amanuensis (who might be named, for example, Sosthenes, I Cor. 1:2), and some greetings were written at the end of the letters in his own hand. They were obviously meant to be read aloud in the church, however, and thus their style is different from that of purely personal letters.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The Letter of Paul to the Romans
Romans differs from all the other Pauline letters in that it was written to a congregation over which Paul did not claim apostolic authority. He stressed that he was merely going to Rome in transit, because it was his principle not to evangelize where others had worked. Because his apostolic ministry appeared to be completed in Asia Minor and Greece, Paul planned to go to Spain via Rome, a city that he had never visited. Before going westward, however, he first had to go to Jerusalem to deliver to the church there a collection of money.

Because Paul was going to a church he had not founded, his writing to the Roman Christians offered him an opportunity to present his theological views in a systematic way, which he had not done in other letters. Paul reflected on how his special mission fitted into God’s plan for the salvation of mankind, of both Jews and Gentiles—a theme that reached its climax in chapters 9–11. Chapters 1–8 unfold with great specificity how the coming of Jesus the Messiah has made it possible for the Gentiles to become heirs to God’s promises. His argument is at first negative, stating that neither Gentile nor Jew could effect his own salvation. He then shows a new way in which eventually both can be delivered from the bondage of sin by being justified—i.e., made “right with God”—not through acceptance of the Law but by faith in the crucified Lord.

The theological section (chapters 1–11) is followed (as is often the case in Pauline letters) by ethical instructions. There is little doubt about the integrity of Romans 1–15; the letter was written from Corinth c. 56. Chapter 16, however, seems to be a later addition. It contains numerous salutations to individuals (which is unusual in that Paul had never been to Rome) and an antinomian (antilegalistic) tone that would be more appropriate to the situation in Asia Minor. The doxology (16:25–27) is rhetorical and its vocabulary is not in keeping with that of Paul’s usual thought. Because the doxology occurs in different manuscripts in varying positions in the course of textual transmission, it is probably secondary. Chapter 16 may thus preserve portions of a letter or letters from some other time or to some place other than Rome, possibly Ephesus.

In chapter 1, verses 1–17, there are greetings and thanksgivings leading to the main theme of the letter: the gospel is

the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith (i.e., that Jesus is the Messiah), to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Paul took this sentence from the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 4, not as a principle but as a prophecy now fulfilled. Thus, the translation should read “will live” rather than “shall live.” This does not refer to God’s faithfulness but rather to the believer’s trust. Justification by faith is not, however, the answer to the question of man, plagued by conscience, about his salvation nor is it deep theology. It is rather an argument totally grounded in the problem of the relationship of Jews and Gentiles—i.e., how it will be possible for the Gentiles to be fellow heirs with Jews and how both Jews and Gentiles can be members of the church. In chapters 2–3 both Gentiles and Jews are demonstrated to have fallen short of the glory of God and to be under condemnation. A turning point, however, is emphasized in chapter 3: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law. . . .” Justification is a gift through Jesus Christ and his expiating death for the salvation and vindication of all who believe in him. Because all this is through Christ and not by works of the Law, salvation is equally available to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. For both, the means is the same: faith in Jesus the Christ.

The central problem after chapter 8, which describes the glory of the new dispensation in Christ and the Spirit (presented in chapters 9–11), centres on the mystery revealed to Paul, namely, that the Gentiles should be incorporated and be fellow heirs with the Jews. This is what Paul yearned for with respect to his fellow Jews. What makes it equally possible for Jew or Gentile to come to Christ is justification by faith, with the Law viewed as obsolete because Christ is the end of the Law (chapter 10, verse 4). Thus, there are, in effect, no distinctions between Gentile and Jew. Paul viewed his ministry as having made possible the inclusion of the Gentiles; as an apostle to the Gentiles he never urged them to carry on a mission to the Jews. He envisaged the Jewish acceptance of Christ as a mystery beyond human planning and effort, a divine event that will be the climax of history.

The ethical section (12:1–15:13) has no special reference to a situation in Rome. A close analysis shows that Paul here repeats thoughts and admonitions that are more specific in other letters. A metaphor of the church as a body (12:5), for example, is stylized and compressed as compared with the fuller use of the same in I Corinthians, chapter 12, and the pattern of weakness and strength in matters of food is best understood in the light of the fuller exposition in I Corinthians, chapters 8 and 10.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians
This letter is part of Paul’s correspondence with the Corinthian congregation founded by him and composed of Gentile Christians. The problems of Galatians and Romans, written to Christians with Jewish and Roman legal concepts, are different from those of I Corinthians, and, thus, the justification language is absent.

Except for the brief communication with Philemon (see below), I Corinthians is the most specifically practical, situation-oriented of Paul’s letters. No other Pauline letter is so directly devoted to the consideration of practical and theological problems, many of them apparently communicated by the congregation through correspondence or by delegations. The letter, therefore, does not tend to stand as a unit and it is not uniform in its treatment of the varying situations.

Literary criticism—or redaction—has traditionally split the letter into several fragments with a presumed historical development within a relatively short period in the Corinthian church. Paul’s reference to a previous letter of his in chapter 5, verse 9, has been the object of scholarly efforts to restore the earlier letter. The fragmentary and not-too-uniform nature of both I and II Corinthians, however, precludes much probability of success in such searches.

Writing from Ephesus c. 53 or 54 upon hearing from a certain Chloe’s people that the church was rent by party factions, Paul tried to bring unity to the congregation. Whether these factions actually represented outside interference (e.g., Cephas [Peter], Apollos, or others) or were factions of the congregation under the influence of a widespread heresy of the time is a question perhaps best answered by the fact that the factions do not come up again after I Corinthians, chapter 1, and that I Corinthians, chapter 3, reduces the factions to Apollos and Paul, who claims he is head of no party. The Christ “party”—i.e., those who claim no party at all—(1:12; cf. 3:23) may be the only “party” Paul advocated because Christ is not divided. Paul warned that Christians should not fashion themselves into parties under various leaders, because all these leaders are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God through whom Christians come to belief. The church is not a society with competitive philosophical schools.

The letter is a response to difficulties caused or increased by a relatively strong group in Corinth that may be described as “enthusiasts.” This group of enthusiasts may have been proto-Gnostics (early religious dualists not yet organized into definite sects). The Corinthian enthusiasts did, however, have some characteristics that would later be found in 2nd–3rd-century Gnosticism: a belief in salvation through spiritual knowledge or wisdom communicated by a revealer (not a redeemer); an otherworldliness that could lead either to licentiousness (scorn) or asceticism (withdrawal); and a basically dualist and deliberately syncretistic system of beliefs using the mythical speculations and magical ideas of their time.

The Corinthian problems might well be traced to such enthusiasts. Their gnōsis (“esoteric knowledge”) was a religious knowledge that gave them the feeling of superiority over more pedestrian Christians. This gnōsis Paul identified as false wisdom. In chapter 14 Paul describes the views and related practices of those maintaining that they have spiritual gifts of inspiration, especially speaking in tongues (glossolalia) and gnōsis. Such enthusiasts prized eloquent or secret wisdom; they sought a revealer who had come into the world hidden from the evil powers and known only to those, the pneumatikoi, or the spiritual elite, who recognize him; and they tolerated gross immorality by claiming anything to be lawful for them (especially their slogan quoted by Paul: “for me all things are lawful”). These enthusiasts also rejected marriage because it furthered the propagation of the present evil world; they claimed to possess knowledge that made them indifferent to the world; and they believed that their salvation was guaranteed by ritual and rites. Though they prized spiritual gifts, they scorned the ordinary Christian services for the community; and they did not believe in a future resurrection of the dead, which in their system had no place or was nonsense.

The main Pauline answer (e.g., as emphasized in chapter 13) was that love, namely concern for the building up of the community, surpasses all knowledge or spiritual gifts and that love is a corrective because it demands service, edification (i.e., building up) of the church, and involves Christians with one another. Those Corinthians whom Paul viewed as opponents emphasized gnōsis over against love. The discussion of the resurrection in chapter 15 sheds further light on this. The opponents did not deny the Resurrection of Jesus Christ about which there was common agreement, but rather they debated about the future resurrection of Christians from the dead. Their view was perhaps similar to that reported as heresy in II Timothy, chapter 2, verse 18—i.e., the believer already had eternal life and that a future resurrection of the body was meaningless. In holding such a view, Paul’s opponents claimed they were faithful to the received kerygma (proclamation).

Another indication that some Corinthians had no disagreement with tradition but interpreted it too enthusiastically is found in I Corinthians, chapter 11. The liturgical formula pertaining to the Lord’s Supper is sound:

The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (11:23–25.)

In a discussion of the sacraments in chapter 10, however, the enthusiasts probably believed in a rather magical efficacy of Baptism and the Eucharist, though Paul qualified such an interpretation and took exception to it. The misunderstanding of the enthusiasts points to a special reinterpretation of Scripture and tradition (which resembles that of the 1st-century Jewish philosopher Philo and also the later Gnostics)—taking Scripture, tradition, and liturgical practices as effectively bringing about an otherworldly, spiritual reality immediately for those who really understand (i.e., those who have gnōsis). Paul also criticized these spiritualists for their disregard of the poor members of the congregation, who found no food left when they came from their work.

Discussions about Christian and apostolic freedom (in chapters 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11) and also a discussion about being free to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols and leftovers of pagan sacrifices sold in the marketplace were caused by conflicts with the enthusiasts who paraded their spiritual freedom, strength, and superiority at the expense of their weaker brothers in the faith, who were not ready for this freedom. A shift in the discussion in chapter 12 (the body and its members are equal in Christ)—from a very speculative idea of the body of Christ to a more metaphorical one that is reminiscent of Stoic philosophical ideas about society as an organism—can best be understood if it is assumed that the enthusiasts actually pressed for a mythical understanding of Christianity, in which one became literally incorporated into Christ, otherworldly, and divine. Paul added some qualifications that brought the church into concrete everyday life and even provided a source of political reality. A somewhat drastic understanding of spiritual gifts that was presupposed and criticized by Paul in chapters 12–14 fits well into such a pattern.

Permeating all the discussion of individual topics in I Corinthians is the theme of Christian unity and edification, a topic introduced and underscored in the preface and thanksgiving of this letter and in its introduction. Such unity is defended as being very inclusive, real, and concrete—as over against the enthusiastic attempt to speak in terms of spiritual reality and achievement, in which the true life of the spirit is only for the few (i.e., the Gnostic elitists).

Paul viewed the necessity of unity in the wisdom of God as it is evinced in the scandal of the cross. In order to deflate the exalted and to make foolish the destructive (speculative) wisdom established by men, God showed his wisdom in the “foolishness” of Jesus’ crucifixion. Here, although hidden, is God’s true wisdom. The opponents hailed their ideal teachers as bringers of hidden wisdom. To this Paul said that it is Christ who is the Wisdom.

In chapters 5 and 6 Paul dealt with certain ethical scandals and difficulties in the congregation: incest and fornication; the use of pagan courts for settling disputes among Christians; traffic with prostitutes—all for the demonstration of Christian “freedom.” These wrongs might have been the direct or indirect consequences of the spiritual “powers” of the enthusiasts. According to Paul, however, such immorality was impossible for the Christian because of the concreteness of his allegiance to Christ and of inspiration (with the idea of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit).

Because Paul expected an imminent Parousia (Second Coming of Christ), he suggested (chapter 7) the unmarried state as the preferable one, but conceded that marriage can prevent fornication. Paul even advised against breaking up mixed marriages between baptized Christians (both Jews and Gentiles) and unbaptized Gentiles. He advocated the practice of ascetics living together as “virgins,” male and female, although he took this as a strain that is hard to bear and thus suggested marriage in unbearable cases. Not only the imminence of the Parousia but also radical change (“the form of this world is passing away”) caused Paul, on the whole, to affirm the social status quo—whether it concern circumcision, slavery, or other matters. Everybody is advised to remain—for the short time ahead—in the state in which he finds himself. Such eschatological fervour caused Paul to argue against any worldly anxiety, fear, or worries stemming from them. This is reflected in the ethical criterion of possessing things as though one did not have them.

In chapter 9, Paul used his own conduct, in contrast to that of the enthusiasts who flaunted their freedom in such a way that it often had destructive influences, as a paradigm for an understanding of responsible freedom. Here he showed by various examples from his own life-style that he had never made use of his rightful privileges to the fullest, that he has, rather, been guided by what serves the weaker brothers and sisters. It is in this sense that he subdued his body and that he urged the spiritual “snobs” to imitate him.

In chapters 11–14, Paul turned to problems of corporate worship. Paul did not question the right and ability of prophetically gifted women to make inspired statements in Christian worship, but he pointed out that women need protection. Arguments about a veil or long hair for a woman are in the context of the church’s worship before God himself, in which the congregation worships in the presence of the angels. Paul stressed the subordination of women in chapters 11 and 14; they are forbidden to speak in worship. In chapter 14 Paul stated (perhaps) a general principle that would allow for exceptions in cases of clear prophetic inspiration of women (cf. however, Galatians, chapter 3, verse 28).

In discussion of proper restraint and mutual regard in celebrating the Lord’s Supper, Paul seemed to presuppose a prior common meal (possibly an agape meal) as part of the eucharistic celebration. This common meal, however, had apparently been devalued because of the interest of the enthusiasts in the sacrament itself. As a result, the communal aspect showed up social differences in the community; and some brought ample food, whereas others, of lower station, had nothing. In view of this, Paul again used the criterion of love and suggested that people eat their meal at home and then come together, being sensitive to each other’s needs. The Lord’s Supper would then be what it is, a proclamation of the death of Christ in anticipation of his return; mutual and corporate concern and responsibility thus become a part of the Eucharist.

Similarly, mutual edification and love are linked in chapter 13 as the appropriate centre of the discussion of spiritual gifts, manifested particularly in public worship (chapter 14).

The emphasis on the communal aspect of the church is continued in chapter 15. Paul did not dwell on his own vision of Christ nor on his role in founding the church at Corinth but rather argued for the resurrection of all as a future experience, not as though each person had already had this experience. Paul viewed the resurrection as a collective phenomenon in the expectation of an end-time resurrection from the dead, with Christ as the first fruits of those who have died.

That love is to extend beyond the immediate community and be shared with all the saints (members of the church) is demonstrated in chapter 16, the closing chapter, by the collection for the Jerusalem church. The keynote might be: “Let all that you do be done in love.” The final passage—including the cry: “Our Lord, come!”—may reflect or repeat a eucharistic formula or setting.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians
This letter, as is I Corinthians, is composed of a collection of fragments of Paul’s correspondence with the Corinthians about a year later (i.e., c. 55) from Macedonia. The diversity of I Corinthians was caused by the variety of problems discussed, but the diversity of II Corinthians was the result of a reflection of the underlying, rather turbulent history of Paul and his congregation. A pattern of fragments that make up II Corinthians can be understood in terms of a development that can be reconstructed. Gaps and editorial seams in this pattern are more recognizable and abrupt than those in I Corinthians, and a more original order for II Corinthians can be restored by fitting together blocks of material that obviously belong with one another in terms of context and unity of thought.

Though historical settings can be reconstructed with a high degree of validity to account for the fragments of II Corinthians, later editorial processes account for the order in which the fragments appear in the letter as it is now written. Based on both internal and external evidence, II Corinthians probably was later than I Corinthians, which was written after Paul’s first trip to Corinth. Not long before the composition of II Corinthians, Paul was in mortal danger in Asia and travelled to Macedonia, where he remained.

New apostles and heresies had apparently invaded the Corinthian congregation and Paul sent his companion Timothy to try to bring them back to the true gospel as Paul had preached it. This mission was apparently unsuccessful, and Paul, in chapters 2 to 7, wrote to the church with a defense of his apostolic office, still counting on the loyalty of the Corinthians. His letter apparently did not change things, and there is some dispute as to whether Paul himself made an intermediate second visit to Corinth that was abruptly cut short by conflict with a member of the Corinthian church who violently opposed him. He considered such a second visit, but, according to chapter 2, verse 4, and chapters 10 to 13, he sent Titus to Corinth with a strongly polemical “letter of tears” and anxiously awaited his return, going from Troas to Macedonia to meet him.

Paul had almost been in despair over the Corinthians, but Titus and the letter seemed to have restored the Corinthian church to order. Titus and some of his companions were then sent to take up the collection for the church at Jerusalem, a sign of Christian mutual love and unity. He took with him Paul’s “letter of reconciliation,” which was written from Macedonia and which can be noted in chapter 1, verse 1, to chapter 2, verse 3; chapter 7, verses 5 and 6; and chapter 8. In chapter 8 the Macedonians are held up as an example of generosity. A similar section regarding the collection is in chapter 9, and the Achaeans (and probably their capital city, Corinth) were cited as an example to the Macedonians for generous giving. This was probably sent shortly before Paul’s third (and last) visit to Corinth. From Corinth Paul wrote to the Roman church a letter that shows no sign of difficulties with the Corinthians and that presumed the conveying of the collection to Jerusalem.

If the Corinthian controversy had been smoothed out, a question is raised as to why II Corinthians ends in the “letter of tears” rather than in the “letter of reconciliation.” This may be understood if the literary order of the several sections was arranged by a redactor who collected the fragments probably in the last decade of the 1st century. The redactor may have used a “form” amply illustrated in Christian writings of the late 1st and early 2nd century; one of the end-time expectations was that “false prophets would show signs and wonders to lead the elect astray,” and chapters 10–13 deal with “false prophets” and “servants of Satan.” Such warnings were placed at the end of writings of that time.

Several abrupt editorial seams that resulted from an arrangement of a letter of reconciliation, an apology on the nature of Paul’s apostolic authority, a polemic against opponents, two letters concerning the collection, and a possible non-Pauline insertion (in chapter 6, verse 14, to chapter 7, verse 1) can thus be understood. The reconciliation of chapters 1 and 7 is hardly in agreement with Paul’s elaborate defense of his ministry in chapter 2. Even more jarring to such a reconciliation is the polemic of chapters 10–13. These latter chapters are viewed as a substantial fragment of Paul’s “letter of tears,” after which the Corinthians disengaged themselves from outside agitators and caused them to leave. Such opponents, who are mentioned in chapter 11, verse 4, and who tried to attract the congregation away from Paul’s ideas, were probably Hellenized Jewish Christians from Palestine.

The outside agitators (who provoked the response of chapters 10–13) probably were Christians who imitated the Hellenistic-Jewish missionaries and had developed an elaborate propagandizing missionary theology and practices analogous to the missionary movements in the pagan world. Their goal was to prove the spiritual power of their own religion in conscious and aggressive competition with other religions, thus hoping to attract others and convert them to Christianity.

The major criteria for successful competition were affinity or identity with the ancient Mosaic traditions and objective manifestations of the current power of that tradition in the form of miraculous demonstrations. The link between the ancient traditions and the current careers of the itinerant missionaries was the record of Jesus as understood from the miracle stories of the Gospels—a demonstrated epiphany of the powers of the Spirit. These missionaries were seen as “divine men,” as were the heroes of old. Their miracles were to be imitated. Such traditions about Jesus as a wonder-worker might have been used by Paul’s opponents, with over-emphasis on such works as criteria of power.

That which Paul attacks as “bragging” or “boasting,” particularly the preaching of the so-called “super-apostles,” in chapter 11, verse 5, was probably understood by his opponents as no more than faithful testimony to, and a demonstration of, the spiritual powers of tradition as they perceived it in their own experiences. To them faithfulness to Jesus was primarily the acknowledgment of Jesus’ being the most powerful “divine man” and, secondarily, their establishment and maintenance of relationship to him through imitation in their powerful demonstrations and wondrous acts.

Paul (who in I Corinthians, chapter 1, had advocated the dialectic of the cross) would thus be discredited by miracle-working men like the opponents in II Corinthians. Paul’s credibility and validity as an Apostle came into question along with his Christology, which was a “theology of the cross.” Confronted with the challenge of the powerful “super-apostles,” Paul’s message could be distorted as hiding his own inability or incapacity—an apostle who dared not take money because, being an ineffective speaker and a weak person, he had nothing for which to ask payment. His defense was Paul’s first attempt to deal with these new problems caused by invading opponents who had undercut his authority.

Paul centred his defense around the issue most debated; true apostleship and his own sufficiency. Because he derived his ministry from God himself as a servant preaching not himself but Jesus Christ as Lord, no “peddler of God’s word or selling or recommendation is called for, but only the living record—i.e., the people brought to believe in Christ. Paul quickly alluded to his own weakness and “carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested . . .” (chapter 4, verse 10). Paul found his weakness one of the things that made him one with the Lord and that made his ministry a true ministry of Jesus Christ, who was crucified through weakness but lives by the power of God—as does his true apostle. This weakness seems to refer to a physical handicap of Paul’s (epilepsy?), the “thorn in the flesh” that interfered with his travel plans.

Paul placed his own apparent weakness, in which he proclaimed that God had manifested himself, against the boastings of the “super-apostles.” Unlike them, he strikes a non-heroic note. It is confidence in the power of Jesus’ Resurrection that produces glory for the Gospel message and final (eschatological) reward and recognition for the Apostle.

Though Paul may himself sound “enthusiastic,” his statements are made with a realistic assessment of the world, as demonstrated not least in the sufferings of Paul himself. Emphasis on God’s act of grace, however, makes Paul urge the Corinthians to accept him and to reach out to the promise of God’s salvation even in the present.

Paul’s defense of his apostleship and a following visit did not succeed. Agitation from outside opponents apparently increased and solidified. The “letter of tears” reflects this situation. Paul revealed himself personally, coming close to autobiographical statements. Paul spoke of himself only with theological purpose and as part of his tactical argument with his opponents concerning attitudes and conduct. His point was that a style of life is a reflection of an underlying theology. He demonstrated to his opponents that his work for the church is constructive, and that though he boasted of his ministry, he boasted only “of the Lord,” of the work Christ had done through him.

In his so-called fool’s speech, in which he blatantly asked the Corinthians to “bear with me in a little foolishness,” Paul adopted the technique of the mime of the street theatres of his times, consciously drawing on the laughter and mockery of his audience, but then he successfully reversed the scene and made his audience realize that in laughing at him they mocked themselves, thus revealing the perversion of their criteria of superiority. Paul used metaphorical images, identifying the congregation with the bride, Jesus as the bridegroom, himself as the best man, and Satan (the opponents) as the adulterer. The plot assumed a successful seduction, and the best man who recommended the bride stands disproven. Paul then pretended to try to shift this balance by bragging about himself and scolding both seducers and the seduced. He accepted no inferiority to the opponents—the seducers (“super-apostles”)—and claimed that they preached another Christ than the true Christ and brought another spirit and that he would accept no support from the church that was led astray.

In chapter 11, Paul continued to boast “as a fool,” claiming to have all the qualifications of his opponents, but that he was more truly a representative of Christ. This he explained ever more intensely in an ironic and almost sarcastic trend in the dialectic of the so-called fool’s speech. He boasted not of strength but of weakness—though he could boast of ecstatic experience as his opponents had—and that he had learned through bitter experience (possibly a chronic illness) that he must not exalt himself, but rather that he has been told through a word of Christ that his power is made perfect in weakness. In the enumeration of his qualifications, Paul has jested “as a fool” concerning his suffering, visions, miraculous heavenly travels, and oracles. Yet, it is clear that through Christ these modes of experience and communication have been transformed. Thus, Paul establishes that he is a true apostle and not inferior to the “super-apostles.”

Paul expressed his intention of visiting the congregation and told them that he desired to come not as a judge but as a father. Neither he nor Titus had or would deceive or take advantage of them. At this, the end of the “letter of tears,” Paul announced his possible third visit and revealed a definite fear that he might be forced to act as a judge of the congregation, which was increasingly falling away from the apostolic gospel. Paul, however, still hoped that reconciliation might be accomplished, that truth would prevail, and that his authority could be used for building up rather than destruction. He exhorted the community to keep peace and blessed them.

The “letter of reconciliation,” found in chapters 1, 2, and 7, assumed that Titus had returned with good news of the Corinthians, their eagerness to prove that they had amended their ways. Paul responded with a report of the consolation this had brought him and of the grave danger he had escaped (in prison in Ephesus). He exhorted the church at Corinth to remember the Christian message in love—of Paul for them and of the congregation for him. The shadow between Paul and the Corinthians had been dispersed, and Paul reaffirmed his constant and continuous concern for them and God’s love in Christ manifest in Baptism and the gift of the Spirit. Paul interceded for a man who had offended him and forgave him. Paul then told the Corinthians of his eagerness for Titus’ news of them that occasioned his special trip to Macedonia. This news brought joy and consolation; therefore, Paul urged the Corinthians again to forgive the man who had offended him.

Fragments of two letters concerning the collection for Jerusalem, a sign of unity of the church (chapter 8 especially being close to the “letter of reconciliation” and chapter 9, a fragment probably later than chapter 8), are signs that Paul’s relation to the Corinthians again became close and joyful. The collection was a bond of mutual and reciprocal relationship that reached its climax in thanksgiving and praise of God. For the whole church he exclaimed: “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The Letter of Paul to the Galatians
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is a forceful and passionate letter dealing with a very specific question: the relation of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in the church, the problem of justification through faith not works of the Law, and freedom in Christ. Paul probably wrote from Ephesus c. 53–54 to a church he had founded in the territory of Galatia in Asia Minor.

This congregation had been “unsettled” since his last visit to Galatia. Gentile Christians, Judaizers who were fascinated with Jewish customs and festivals and who asserted that Gentiles must adhere to the Law, the Torah, had attempted to undermine Paul’s message and effectiveness. The Judaizers believed that Gentile Christians should be circumcised and keep the Jewish food laws. There were probably some Jewish Christians in this church, but the majority were Gentile Christians. Paul attacked the Judaizers vigorously by defending his own call and the independence of the revelations of his personal apostolate. This is supported by reports of agreement between him and the Jerusalem church and by argument from Scripture. In these, he proved that the Law was given only a limited role in the total history of salvation. The letter ends with Paul pointing out that through the Spirit the Christian in faith is admonished to good behaviour and brotherly love. He admonishes faith in the cross of Christ, wishes peace upon his followers, and prays for mercy on Israel.

This Pauline letter is the only one without either kindly ingression, thanksgiving, or personal greetings appended to the final blessing. It is very specific in dealing with the problems concerned. In chapter 1, an account of Paul’s call, he defended his apostolic office, having received it directly from God in the revelation of Christ. He provided autobiographical data concerning his former persecution of the church and zeal in his Jewish tradition. He referred to his call on the model of that of the Old Testament prophets called by God in order that they may serve him and said that his mission had been revealed to him to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul viewed himself as being chosen to be an instrument to take the message of God and Christ to the Gentiles, a call rather than a “conversion experience.” Handpicked as God’s servant (slave), he received a revelation—not from men but by secret knowledge from God—that the Gentiles will come to the Christian faith without the Law, the Torah of the Jews. He himself could bear the Law, but he was told that the Gentiles do not need the Law in order to be accounted righteous. The conviction that the Gentiles stand equal before God was reinforced by his visit to James, Cephas (Peter), and John in Jerusalem, who confirmed his mission, enjoining him only to remember the poor (probably reference to the Jerusalem collection). Faith in Christ has thus superseded righteousness of works, and the Law is no longer needed.

The freedom of the gospel is the theme developed in chapters 3–4 in a series of allegorical-typological interpretations based on the Law. Paul first recalled the covenant promise to Abraham: that he “believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” and that through Abraham all nations would be blessed.

In chapter 3 there is a complex line of thought: Christ has redeemed men from the curse of the Law by becoming a “curse” for men; Christ has taken away this curse by accepting it himself in order that all men by faith might receive the Spirit that was promised. But the promise had already been made to Abraham and his seed (singular), the Messiah, Christ; the Law had come only 430 years later, a sign that it is not eternal. In this chapter, Paul constructed arguments against the Law. First, the Law was added because of transgressions committed first by the people who caused Moses to shatter the first tablets of the Law and was thus not ultimate but rather time-bound, limited, and tainted by the evil reality it had to counteract; secondly, the Law was given only for a restricted time, from Moses “till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made” (i.e., Christ); thirdly, the Law came “ordained by angels through an intermediary,” who is not God and thus is neither something glorious in itself nor the absolute manifestation of the salvation of God. Paul expanded on the Law in the image of a paidagōgos (instructor or custodian). Such a custodian is now not needed and served only as a restraint so that in God’s timetable of salvation the Gentiles could be delivered after the Law has been “outgrown.” Paul then showed the reasoning behind his statement that the Law was obsolete: in Christ (i.e., in the church) there are no divisions between Greek and Jew, slave or free, male or female—all divisions or partitions are broken down.

Paul’s arguments are bold. He even claimed that, as heirs through Christ, men were no longer bound under the elemental powers of the universe, which were apprehended as negative, as was the Law, in Paul’s mind. In chapter 4 the Judaizers are said to keep themselves, like many Greeks, under astrological powers—not unlike the Jewish calendar of feasts—which kept man, according to Paul, enslaved by cosmic order. But to those free from the Law and possessing the Spirit, sonship and inheritance can come by adoption. Thus, Paul was negative in Galatians concerning the Law, and taught that freedom from it brings unity and the fruits of the Spirit.

In chapters 5–6 Paul listed catalogs of virtues and vices, fruits of the Spirit or the flesh, and stressed mutual forgiveness in the church. This is an exhortatory section that leads to the closing of the letter in Paul’s own hand and to his stress on seeing his only glory in the cross of Christ.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The Letter of Paul to the Philippians
In its present canonical form Philippians is, according to several scholars, a later collection of fragments of the correspondence of Paul with the congregation in Philippi that was founded by Paul himself. The first of the two major difficulties leading to this conclusion concerning redaction of the letter is created by a discrepancy between chapters 2 and 3—i.e., an entirely unexpected polemic in chapter 3 after a calm second chapter. Another major difficulty is the relationship of chapter 4, verses 10 and following, with Paul’s joyful acceptance of his suffering, and the remainder of the present letter that deals with the collection the Philippians had made and sent to Paul in prison. The place of the expression of Paul’s gratitude at the end of the letter is odd, particularly because Epaphroditus, the Philippian delegate conveying the gift, is thanked as though he had just arrived; yet he has already been described as ill when he was with Paul (who apologized in chapter 2 for not having told about Epaphroditus’ illness sooner and the delay in sending him back). Yet, Epaphroditus is obviously back and the sequence of events is, indeed, confusing.

The following rearrangement of the parts of the letter is probably acceptable. Chapter 4, verses 10–20, shows Paul reacting to the gift of the Philippians and the arrival of its bearer, Epaphroditus, and seems to be the earliest fragment, written probably during Paul’s imprisonment (c. 53–54). The portions of the letter that treat of the theme of mutual joy (1:1–3, 4:4–7, and probably 4:21–23 that refers back to chapter 1) are best taken together as fragments of a second and somewhat later letter. The third section is 3:2–4:3 and possibly 4:8–9, which addresses the danger caused by outsiders and opponents who had started to penetrate the Philippian congregation with a theology Paul considered heretical and against which he aimed his polemic. Because this is an entirely new situation, it is probably a third letter, of which only the preface is missing. This arrangement also attempts properly to account for the fact that chapter 4 actually comprises endings of several letters. Thus, chapter 3, verse 1, which is itself a summation and ending, fits in.

The reference to frequent visits between Paul and the Philippians referred to in the correspondence makes its origin in Rome unlikely and points rather toward Ephesus as the place of imprisonment. Paul’s reaction to the gift of the Philippians is almost rude (although he accepted gifts from no other congregation but preferred to support himself during his apostolic mission). He actually avoided expressing direct gratitude and attempted to divert the significance of the gift from its material side to its spiritual meaning. He emphasized the sympathy proven by the Philippians, the importance of the value of the gift for them as a spiritual sacrifice for God.

The “letter of joy” section describes Paul’s enthusiasm in his mission efforts—and their success—and his joy in the energy and growth of the mission in Philippi, which Paul shared with his congregation. Paul’s address to “bishops and deacons,” terms unique in Paul’s letters except here, are, perhaps, circumlocutions for missionaries active in Philippi, a congregation that had become a strong and stable Christian community. Paul had traditionally remained there about one week and, in chapters 1 and 2, encouraged and praised the Philippians for continuing in their faith in his absence. This is part of the thanksgiving in Philippians—an emphasis on the participation, cooperation, collaboration, and empathy of the Philippians with respect to the preaching of the gospel. Thus, the terms bishop and deacon may belong to the language of a self-supporting mission church with its own overseers (bishops) and workers (deacons) and does not carry the connotations of later ecclesiastical structures. Paul expressed his confidence in the fine beginning of this young church that sought “to become pure and blameless for the day of Christ,” the final judgment.

Paul then turned to his own experience of imprisonment, which he viewed as advancing the gospel. Though he considered that not all preachers of Christ preach on the basis of selfless motives, the fact that Christ is proclaimed is a most important cause for rejoicing. Paul then exhorted the Philippians to work hard for the sake of the gospel, not minding any opposition, and to do this in a sense of unity and mutual support.

This exhortation toward a strong and active sense of community was reinforced by quoting an early Christian hymn that described the humiliation (kenōsis) and exaltation of Jesus who is made the Lord of the universe and confessed by all cosmic powers. A part of Jesus’ humiliation, his death on the cross, can be taken as part of his manifest glorification. The verses following the hymn make clear that the incorporation of the hymn with its triumphal ending also has a missionary purpose, because Paul emphasized again the need to responsibly act out one’s own calling even before non-Christians. Thus, active responsibility continuously exercised in the perspective of the approaching Parousia merges with Paul’s own readiness to sacrifice himself.

In chapters 3–4 the situation may be totally different. Paul reacted to the threat of the appearance of Jewish-Christian missionaries who are rather close in theology to the Galatian Judaizers. Paul’s polemic indicates that in addition to Jewish tradition, they must have emphasized the Law in particular. Reference is made to circumcision, and Paul emphatically claimed that he could compete with heretics boasting of their Jewish tradition and, in elaborating on that, emphasized his former pious righteousness under the Law, in which he was blameless. He then stressed categorically that for him the experience of Christ has terminated his former piety completely and that he has left it behind as of no value. Such a polemic implies that for his opponents such was not the case. Paul also argued against libertinistic tendencies, which indicates that his opponents were not legalists in an ordinary sense but combined faithfulness to the Law with a strong and fanatical enthusiasm that could lead toward “mysticism” and easily be misinterpreted as libertinism. Paul’s emphasis on true Christian experience as not being completed but rather still being in the state of expectation might be a further polemic against overenthusiasm. In chapter 4, verse 8, Paul reaffirms his own example, making it, in imitation of the teaching of popular philosophy, the epitome of all positive ethical values and virtues, and thus the pattern to be imitated. This tendency toward the paradigmatic, together with warnings and autobiographical material in chapter 3, verse 2, to chapter 4, verse 3, can be seen as a “testament” of Paul, consciously written with an awareness of impending death or martyrdom. Thus Paul presents himself—his life, ideas, admonitions, and an eschatological section—as his heritage and as an incorporation of the message he preached and its value.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The Letter of Paul to the Colossians
Colossians presents the problem of having, on the one hand, numerous (though superficial) affinities with the circumstances of the Letter of Paul to Philemon while, on the other hand, being addressed mainly to a different situation. In this new situation he uses ideas and expressions that seem to be rather a development of Pauline ideas about the cosmic realm than genuinely Pauline argumentation. In this latter aspect, Colossians and Ephesians share the heritage of Paul, but a later “Paulinist” changed details to meet different situations.

Colossians was written ostensibly by Paul from prison (in Ephesus) to a predominantly Gentile Christian congregation founded by his co-worker, Epaphras, at Colossae. The Colossian congregation was endangered by a heresy involving a “philosophy” that was connected with the elemental spirits of the universe to which men seemed to be bound, with circumcision, feast days and food laws, visions, and an asceticism that was not only false in its piety but foreign to the Christian faith.

To combat these proto-Gnostic, syncretistic, and Judaizing tendencies, the Paulinist appealed to the authority of Paul’s apostolate and his thought but accented his theology in a new way, enlarging Paul’s theological dimensions, so that they included the whole universe, the fate of the entire cosmos. This whole world is depicted as subject to Christ and has its meaning, aim, and goal in the church, which is Christ’s body and over which he is the head. This transformation of Paul’s theology would appear to be somewhat later than Paul, yet not so much later than Philemon, and its import has been forgotten. Colossians cannot be dated or placed with certainty, but the end of the 1st century or the beginning of the 2nd century has been suggested.

In a first edition, before the Paulinist changed or added to it, Colossians seems close to the situation of Philemon. In both letters Paul is in prison. Onesimus appears in Colossians, chapter 4, and the readers of Colossians are asked to transmit a special injunction through the church of the Laodiceans to Archippus—possibly that the former slave, Onesimus, now referred to as a “beloved brother,” be freed for service of the gospel. The same five names appear in Philemon and Colossians (Col. 4:10 ff.; cf. Philem. 23), which is unusual because the church at Colossae is strange to Paul. The lost letter to the Laodiceans may possibly be the Letter to Philemon, and the request to the slave owner would, by being read aloud in a neighbouring large church (Colossae), reinforce Paul’s request that the slave be freed.

Later substantial redaction has obviously taken place, however, and it is the heresy at Colossae rather than the situation of Philemon that is mainly addressed in Colossians. Though Paul asserted that he did not preach and exhort where another has founded a church, here the Paulinist, using and amplifying Pauline theology, taught, gave thanks, and interceded for a church that he did not found and that was in danger of accepting heretical Judaizing teachings, thus falling away from Christ. The doctrinal section of Colossians sets forth in a hymn Christ’s preeminence over the whole cosmos, all principalities and powers, to bring redemption through the cross and to be the head of the body, the church.

From this cosmological beginning, the style and imagery differ from the authentic Pauline letters. Colossians is wider and broader in scope, with long, almost breathless sentences. There is a hierarchy in Christ being head of the body, his church, which differs from the Pauline expression of equality of all the members, although with differing functions (cf. I Corinthians, chapter 12, and Romans, chapter 12).

The Christology is applied to the situation of the church and Paul’s role in behalf of the church—his suffering with Christ and knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ—is used to bolster his defense against heresy. This polemic is based first on tradition and then proceeds to specific warnings against false teaching, cult, or practice. An admonition “to set your minds on the things that are above,” because in Baptism the Christian has died and been raised with Christ, is followed by the conclusion that the Christian’s conduct should be ruled by love and be thus free from all wrongdoing.

Another difference from the genuine Pauline letters can be noted in this latter section. When Paul referred to the resurrection of Christians he used the future tense in most cases, but Colossians, chapter 2, verse 12, and chapter 3, verse 1, presuppose that because the Christian is risen with Christ, ethical demands can be made.

In Colossae, such Christian ethics apparently were lacking, thus the inclusion of a table of duties—i.e., a list of household duties and of relations between members of a household. General exhortations to prayer and right conduct are followed by the conclusion of the letter with its list of greetings. There are some similarities in Colossians to Paul’s polemic against Judaizers in Galatians, but Colossians seems to reflect a later time and a more developed “cosmic” theology of a later deutero-Pauline writer.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians
In all probability I Thessalonians is the earliest of Paul’s letters, particularly because the memory of the events that led to the founding of that congregation are still fresh in the mind of the Apostle. The letter was written from Corinth. According to I Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 2, Paul had sent Timothy to Thessalonica from Athens during his brief stay there, had just experienced the delegate’s return, and had received reports about the congregation to which he is reacting in this letter. I Thessalonians gives expression to Paul’s surprise over the rapid growth of the Christian mission at Thessalonica, which was achieved despite immediate persecutions from pagan contemporaries. Paul acknowledged that the successful development had been wrought in the Thessalonians by their own acceptance, fully recognizing the human frailty of the Apostle, their founder (2:1–12), and not by a mistaken understanding that he himself was divine.

Paul’s surprise results, therefore, in overwhelming gratitude, and the customary Pauline thanksgivings here exceed the usual limits. A second reason for this unusually long thanksgiving—which actually makes thanksgiving the theme of the letter—is Paul’s intent to undergird the encouragement he gives in 4:13–5:11. After having dwelt so extensively on his being moved by the change in the Thessalonians, Paul continues to state that therefore they have no reason for giving up faith in the face of the death of some fellow Christians, who had died between their conversion and the expected imminent Parousia of Christ. Apparently, they had expected the Parousia and final salvation as the promise of the Christian message. Paul encouraged his congregation that he had a “word of the Lord” that the dead and the living in Christ will rise together. “Word of the Lord” could refer to a word of Jesus known to Paul but could instead be a direct revelation to Paul.

In chapter 5 there is further thanksgiving, emphasizing the present gift and power of Christian faith and corporate Christian life. This emphasis is linked with ethical applications, with stress on brotherhood, diligence in keeping the faith, and religious industriousness. The difficulties of balancing the expectation of the Christian with God’s timetable is outweighed by the hope and joy in what has already been experienced and what is hoped for. Paul’s real emphasis is more on the actual description of Christian life in the face of coming salvation and vindication than on the preceding discussion of the fate of those who had died or on the actual circumstances of Christ’s appearance from heaven.

The encouragement of the Thessalonians was introduced in chapter 4 by a genuinely ethical exhortation to proceed properly on the way to holiness and sanctification already begun. The brevity of this rather traditional exhortation is most unusual in Paul’s letters and supports the observation that it was written in joy and confidence for a new congregation well begun in order to support it against attacks and doubts as it matured in the faith.

New Testament literature » The Pauline Letters » The Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians
A feature of II Thessalonians that resembles the otherwise most unusual feature of I Thessalonians is its excessively long thanksgiving. Within this thanksgiving there is an excursus dealing with the timing of the Parousia, but in II Thessalonians Paul aggressively argues against any expectation of an imminent coming of Christ that might be expected from the things he wrote in I Thessalonians. II Thessalonians perhaps presupposes I Thessalonians and intimates that believers had a false understanding of that communication of Paul. In II Thessalonians, much to the surprise of the reader of both letters, the statement is made that a letter “purporting to be from us” is “to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” II Thessalonians then presents a problem as to whether it was a self-correction of Paul or directed to the situation of a later time and thus the writing of a later author in a “Pauline” tradition. II Thessalonians does have more apocalyptically catastrophic language than I Thessalonians. Such a description not only underestimates the positive work of God and Christ for the believer but also says little about the Parousia. II Thessalonians claims that not all the events preceding the Parousia have yet occurred. The “mystery of lawlessness,” opposed to the “mystery of godliness,” is still at work in the world, and the full activity of Satan has not yet unfolded itself. Emphasis in II Thessalonians is on steadfastness as God’s gift and promise in the days of tribulation, which makes the apostle ask for support in prayer. Criticism of people leading disorderly and idle lives follows. The perhaps casual admonition to work is thus elaborated into a major point.

Salvation seems to be sought almost exclusively in futuristic terms. Incipient or actual Gnosticism in the church could account both for the assertion that the fulfillment has already come and for the depiction of disorderly lives (because in “proto-Gnostic” terms the world is evil and provokes a response either of total renunciation or libertinism). II Thessalonians may thus reflect these problems and fit into the late 1st century. Verbal agreements between the two letters may be evidence of deliberate spurious writing, as also the suggestion in II Thessalonians that false letters may be circulating. A later author saw Paul’s heritage threatened by too enthusiastic an understanding of Paul in Thessalonians and composed this letter to preserve Paul’s meaning.

New Testament literature » The Pastoral Letters: I and II Timothy and Titus » The Letter of Paul to Philemon
From Ephesus, where he was imprisoned (c. 53–54), Paul wrote his shortest and most personal letter to a Phrygian Christian (probably from Colossae or nearby Laodicea) whose slave Onesimus had run away, after possibly having stolen money from his master. The slave apparently had met Paul in prison, was converted, and was being returned to his master with a letter from Paul appealing not on the basis of his apostolic authority but according to the accepted practices within the system of slavery and the right of an owner over a slave. He requested that Onesimus be accepted “as a beloved brother” and that he be released voluntarily by his master to return and serve Paul and help in Christian work. Paul appealed to the owner that Onesimus (whose name in Greek means “useful”) is no longer useless because of his conversion and claimed that the owner owed Paul a debt (as he probably was also instrumental in his conversion) and that any debt or penalty incurred by the slave would be paid by Paul. Such manumission is part of Paul’s concept of being an ambassador to further the mission of Christianity, rather than a judgment on the social framework of slavery, because in the Lord such social order is transcended.

Philemon, however, is not a purely personal letter, because it is addressed to a house church (a small Christian community that usually met in a room of a person’s home), and it ends with salutations and a benediction in the plural form of address. The body of the letter, however, uses “you” (singular) and is addressed to the slave’s owner, a man whom Paul himself has not met. Philemon, the first name in the address, is called a “beloved fellow worker,” which implies that he knew Paul, and it has been convincingly argued that the slave’s owner was Archippus (see above The letter of Paul to the Colossians), perhaps Philemon’s son, who was called a “fellow soldier,” a term usual in business accounts and suitable for a document on the manumission of a slave. The thanksgiving contains the main theme of the whole letter: sharing of faith for the work of promoting knowledge of Christ.

The letter was written from prison, and Paul apparently expected a release in the near future, because he requested a guest room, a suggestion that he was not very far from Colossae or Laodicea, which would be true of Ephesus. Colossae would be reached from Ephesus via Laodicea, and the letter could be addressed to a house church there.

In a letter to the Ephesians (c. 112) by Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, the language is very reminiscent of Philemon, and the name of the bishop of Ephesus (c. 107–117) was Onesimus. It has been suggested that the slave was released to help Paul, that in his later years he might have become bishop of Ephesus, and that his “ministry” or “service” was the collection of the Pauline corpus. This is based not simply on the identity of name, but on similarities to Philemon found in Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesians, as well as two possible plays on words in chapter 2, verse 2 (cf. Philemon, verse 20), and chapter 4, verse 2 (cf. Philemon 11), relating to the bishop and unity of the church. Such a prominent position and role for one of Paul’s followers might shed further light on why Philemon, apparently a very personal plea, became a part of the canon and Pauline corpus. Even if this suggestion cannot be proved, Philemon still shows Paul in his apostolic ministry, furthering the message of Christ and seeing beyond the limitations of the social order of his day, in which both slaves and freemen are servants of God.

New Testament literature » The Letter to the Hebrews » Textual ambiguities
The writing called the Letter to the Hebrews, which was known and accepted in the Eastern church by the 2nd century, was included also by the Western church as the 14th Pauline epistle when the canon of East and West was assimilated and fixed in 367. Hebrews has no salutation giving the name of either the writer or the addressees, although it does have a doxology and greeting at the end, which suggest that at some point the writing was sent as a letter to a community known to the author. There are also numerous admonitions in the text that appear to be directed to a definite circle of addressees and some admonitions to the church at large. In chapter 6, verses 4–8, is a severe warning against the sin of apostasy, for which there is no second repentance. Even so, Hebrews is essentially more a theological treatise than a letter. It is homiletical in style and calls itself a paraklēsis, which has many meanings: consolation, exhortation, sermon, advocacy, and even intercession.

The thoughts, metaphors, and ideas of Hebrews are distinct from the rest of the New Testament, with closest affinities to Stephen’s speech in Acts, chapter 7. It attempts to prove the superiority and ultimacy of the revelation in Christ and the perfection of his offering of himself once and for all supersedes and makes obsolete any other revelation. Hebrews gives strength to its readers through the example of Christ and the hope and promise of free access to God and to eternal rest, an access in which Christ is High Priest and mediator forever. Such promise, on the basis of Christological developments and new covenant hopes, enables endurance in persecution, but its vocabulary is that of the sacrificial language of the Old Testament. Another theme is a typological analogy with the wilderness wanderings of Israel in which, despite their murmurings of unbelief and the hardening of their hearts in their trials, they persevered. Thus, the church, as the pilgrim people of God, travels toward the future place of Sabbath rest with Christ as their pioneer and perfector of faith.

A “word of consolation” is needed to strengthen faith in time of trouble. Actual persecution leading to martyrdom is seen as not yet come, but the church is sharply warned against apostasy, the sin of all sins. Hope during persecution and trial is expressed in the image of Christ as the perfect everlasting high priest, one of whose functions is to stand as intercessor and protector.

Hebrews was considered a Pauline letter in the early Eastern church. Clement of Alexandria, a theologian of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries, held that Paul had written it in Hebrew for the Hebrews and that Luke had translated it into Greek. Origen, Clement’s successor as leader in the catechetical school at Alexandria, commented that its thoughts reflected Paul but that it was written at a later time with a totally different style and phraseology, and he stated “who wrote the epistle, God knows.” Paul, for example, uses the term mediator only once and in a negative sense, in Galatians, chapter 3, verse 19, but Hebrews uses it several times of Christ as mediator of the new covenant. In the West, Tertullian, a North African theologian of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries, suggested Barnabas as the author, because Hebrews, called a “word of consolation,” might have been written by Barnabas, whose name is translated by Luke as “son of consolation” in Acts, chapter 4, verse 36. After Hebrews’ acceptance into the canon in the mid-4th century, it was considered Pauline, but doubts persisted; and because of basically different content and style in contradiction to Paul, various authors have been suggested for Hebrews—e.g., Apollos (a Jewish Christian Alexandrian), or a follower of Stephen and the Hellenists, who had come into conflict with those not sharing his universalistic ideas. Hebrews, however, remains anonymous. The title “To the Hebrews” is secondary and may reflect either an idea as to its addressees or that it was influenced by its extensive Old Testament material.

According to internal evidence, Hebrews was written in a second or later generation of Christians. Persecution references suggest a time after Nero’s persecution and about the time of the emperor Domitian but early enough to be quoted or alluded to in the First Letter of Clement (c. 96), thus suggesting a date of c. 80–90.

The place of the addressees may be Italy, because 13:24 is understood as a greeting sent home from one writing from abroad, but this is not certain. The addressees were probably Gentile Christians who needed instruction in “the elementary doctrines of Christ” and concerning faith in God.

Hebrews constitutes the first Christian example of a thoroughly allegorical, typological exegesis (critical interpretation) of the Old Testament. There were precursors of such a methodology in Jewish Alexandrian biblical exegesis (e.g., Philo), and Platonic tendencies found in Hebrews can also be found in Jewish-Alexandrian methods of interpretation of the Old Testament. The language of Hebrews is extremely polished, elegant, and cultured Greek, the best in the New Testament. Linguistically and stylistically, it shows only a slight influence of the Koine (common Greek). The Attic style is broken only in passages in which Hebrews quotes the Septuagint. Plays on words and synonyms with similar beginnings for emphasis show the author’s literary craftsmanship.

There are more Old Testament citations in Hebrews than in any other New Testament book. They are drawn mainly from the Pentateuch and some psalms.

New Testament literature » The Letter to the Hebrews » Christology in Hebrews
The church is viewed as being in danger of discouragement in the face of persecution and possible apostasy. If faithless, church members risk total loss, for no second repentance is possible. Through his special Christology, the author seeks to help the readers by showing that Christ is the saviour superior to any other and that as Saviour, Son of God, High Priest, pioneer, guide, and forerunner, he who has already suffered and been glorified will lead the wandering people of God to their eternal Sabbath rest, an eschatological future state of peace and renewal.

This high type of Christology is combined with much stress on Jesus’ humanity. He partook of man’s nature and overcame death to destroy the power of the devil in order to deliver man. Thus, having been made like his brethren he has become a faithful High Priest to make expiation for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered and was tested, he can help those who are tested and tempted. Through suffering, tears, and obedience Jesus was made perfect and thus the source of help and salvation, being designated by God a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High in Abraham’s time.

Christ and his once for all (ephapax) sacrifice has superseded and made all Old Testament sacrifices and cultic practices obsolete. Christ is superior to the prophets because he is a son, superior to the angels because they worship him, and (in the light of his cosmic role as apostle and High Priest) superior to Moses, who brought God’s Law to Israel, because Moses was a servant in God’s house and Christ a son. Christ is also superior to Moses’ successor Joshua, because Joshua did not bring the wandering people into a perfect rest; superior to the Old Testament priesthood of Aaron, because Christ, the true High Priest, has sacrificed himself once for all and is without sin; and superior to the patriarch Abraham, because Abraham paid tithes to the priest of Salem, Melchizedek, who as the prototype of Christ had no human antecedents. Christ, High Priest forever by obedient suffering and perfection in that he lives up to the demand, has become the source of salvation. He is High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle and mediator for the new covenant. On the basis of this Christology and ecclesiology, the rest of Hebrews is composed of injunctions to faithful life in all situations, spiritual or temporal. In chapter 11, verse 1, Hebrews gives a programmatic statement that should be translated: “Faith is the Reality [rather than “assurance,” as in the usual translation] of what is hoped for and the Proof concerning what is invisible.” In Hebrews, Jesus is that Reality and that Proof, and everything else is unreal or at best an earthly copy or a shadow. The heroes and martyrs of old were looking toward his coming (chapter 11) and those now under persecution look toward him and find strength (chapter 12) as they leave the ultimately unreal structures of this world, seeking the “coming city” and going out to him who was executed outside the walls of the city made with hands. Thus, the message of Hebrews is: Reality versus sham and shadow, Christ’s sacrifice (priest and victim in one) versus the cult of temples, and the real heavenly rest and heavenly city versus the sabbath and Jerusalem.

New Testament literature » The Catholic Letters » The First Letter of Peter
The purpose of the First Letter of Peter is exhortation directed to “the exiles of the Dispersion” in Asia Minor in order that they “stand fast” in God’s grace in the face of persecution. On the one hand, such persecution is viewed as part of the trials of the end-time that the community must undergo before the coming of the new age. On the other, persecution is viewed as a simple fact of Christian community life in the world. In imitation of Christ, tribulations and testing can be a basis for joy.

In the address, the author calls himself “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,” and in chapter 5, verse 1, a “fellow-elder and witness of the suffering of Christ.” Any Christian, not just a fellow eyewitness, however, might be such a witness and hope to partake in the future “glory that is to be revealed.” The writer or the redactor of I Peter used Pauline and gospel theology and terminology both in quotations and in allusions and, if literary dependency cannot always be demonstrated, there is dependence on the catechetical traditions known in the post-apostolic church.

The milieu of the letter seems to reflect the time and temper of the correspondence of the emperor Trajan with Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia (c. 117). Pliny requested clarification as to the punishment of Christians “for the name itself” or for crimes supposedly associated with being a Christian. I Peter, chapter 4, verse 15, appears to reflect this situation: that a Christian be blameless of all crime and, if punished, be persecuted only “as a Christian.” Pliny continued that denounced Christians are executed if they persevere in their belief but that whatever their creed “contumacy and inflexible obstinacy deserved punishment”; Trajan’s response was that those denounced as Christians be punished. The warning in I Peter, chapter 3, on a Christian’s manner of defense and submissiveness to authorities points to a date in the first quarter of the 2nd century. Such a date does not preclude reflection on earlier persecutions, such as those under Domitian.

The Greek style is hardly in keeping with a Galilean Peter—described as illiterate or uneducated in Acts, chapter 4, verse 13. The Greek is fluid, and the Old Testament citations are from the Septuagint. The addressees appear to be Gentile Christians portrayed as the new Israel dispersed among the (heathen) Gentiles, based on the analogy of the old Israel, a diaspora among the nations.

The work is thus pseudonymous, attributed to Peter through Silvanus, whose name constitutes a part of the pseudepigraphic device that strengthens the authority of the epistle. I Peter is an excellent example of the testament form modelled on the traditions of an Apostle and the message of his martyrdom. Peter, whose death and traditions concerning him were known to the readers of the time of I Peter, gives weight and authority to the letter that is formed in many ways as a farewell and admonition to those who follow, in order that they may stand firm.

Warnings are given from the Apostle’s own example along with counter-virtues for vices. Such testament forms have a mixture of wisdom material, advice, exhortation, hymns for ethical admonition, and apocalyptic elements with accounts of trials to come. This mixture is found in strange arrangements, but is perhaps solved if read as a testament form. Peter had denied that Christ must suffer and in I Peter suffering is the way of discipleship and even of joy. In Luke, chapter 22, Peter’s denial was prophesied, and Jesus interceded for him in order that he might repent and strengthen his brethren (cf. I Peter, chapter 5, verses 10 and 12). In Mark and Matthew the defection of the Apostles was foretold in terms of the scattering of the sheep when the shepherd was stricken, and Peter does deny his Lord. In John, chapter 21, the risen Lord paralleled Peter’s threefold denial with a threefold question as to Peter’s love. At each affirmation the Lord responds with the forgiving command to feed the sheep—to care for the community. This is a central motif in I Peter. Immediately following the charge to Peter in John is the prediction of his own martyr death, and in I Peter the church is urgently admonished to accept trials as nothing strange, because they are a sharing in the sufferings of Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter in particular was rebuked because he did not watch, and in I Peter the church is admonished to watch and be vigilant against the Devil. Prayer against temptation is also stressed.

In the Matthean account, Peter is delegated to build the church, and in I Peter it is the chief Apostle (Peter) who points to Christ as Shepherd and Bishop, who through his suffering collected the wandering sheep to himself. In like manner—on the model of Christ or perhaps Peter—the elders are exhorted to feed their flocks humbly and faithfully. Thus, there is a typical testament form: Peter has failed and repented; and the church is warned, admonished, and strengthened as by the Apostle, who, on the analogy of Jesus’ Passion and death in innocence, exhorts the church to share in the vocation of innocent suffering and to do good in innocence. Finally, I Peter, viewed as a “testament,” is in itself an apocalyptic “witness,” and with its admixture of advice, example, and general address to the faithful living in the Diaspora as sojourners, with the authority of its martyred “author,” it constitutes authority and strength for the church that faces the persecution of the world. References in chapter 5 to Rome (called Babylon) and to Mark are then also part of the pseudepigraphic testament form, as they presuppose the common tradition of Peter’s martyrdom in Rome and his connection with Mark.

There are three Christological hymnic fragments in I Peter: 1:18–21, ransom by Christ; 2:21–25, with reference to the Book of Isaiah, chapter 53, used as ethical admonition; and 3:18–20, Christ’s descent into hell. The last is in the context of Christ’s going and preaching to the spirits in prison (a reference to the apocryphal First Book of Enoch with Satan chained under the earth but his descendants at work in the world until the end-time) in order to show that Christ, through his descent, has overcome the powers that underlie and engender persecution of the Christians. This is reaffirmed in chapter 5 by encouraging Christians in their fight against the Devil, for, though suffering will be a part of this resistance, there will be victory at the end. Imitation of Christ is a basis for joy even in suffering. The end is viewed as near, and final salvation can thus be anticipated.

New Testament literature » The Catholic Letters » The Johannine Letters: I, II, and III John
The three epistles gathered under the name of John were written to guide and strengthen the post-apostolic church as it faced both attacks from heresies and an ever increasing need for community solidarity—along with the concomitant love and ethics necessary to such unity.

I John, though lacking any formal epistolary salutation or ending, directs itself to a circle of readers with whom the writer is acquainted. Taking the form of an anonymous “homily” for admonition against heresy and instruction in faith and love, it was directed to a wide audience or was to be circulated beyond a particular congregation. II and III John are brief letters from an author described only as “the elder,” implying a position of some authority. II John, chapter 1, is addressed to an “elect lady and her children,” probably a designation of a church with difficulties similar to those found in I John. III John is the most personal, being addressed by the elder “to the beloved Gaius,” who has been praised particularly for his hospitality (probably to missionaries) and his brotherly love. The presbyter (elder), probably the author of II and III John, apparently was a man who was authoritative enough to influence and direct mission activities. All three letters, despite their differences of address, appear to have been accepted among the Catholic Letters as having been circulated for the church at large.

I, II, and III John share much common terminology, style, and general situation. They are all called Johannine because they are loosely related to the Gospel According to John in style and terminology and could be the outcome of its theology.

The early church attributed I, II, and III John to John, the Apostle, the son of Zebedee. Although II and III John may possibly have been written by the same presbyter, this “elder” is not necessarily the author of I John, although it is commonly accepted that the three Johannine letters came from a “Johannine” inner circle. The earliest reference to the Johannine letters is in the Letter to the Philippians by Polycarp of Smyrna (7:1). Papias, who was a 2nd-century bishop of Hierapolis, mentions I John and quotes it several times, but he distinguishes between John, the Apostle, and John, the presbyter. Polycarp, Papias, and internal evidence point to the region of Asia Minor as the probable sources of the Johannine literature. These references and the organization of the churches indicated in the letters, as well as the lack of signs of persecution, suggest a date for the letters at around the beginning of the 2nd century.

New Testament literature » The Catholic Letters » The Johannine Letters: I, II, and III John » The First Letter of John
I John assumes a knowledge of the Johannine Gospel (the author of I John may be the ecclesiastical redactor of the Gospel According to John) and adds ethical admonition and instruction regarding the well-being of the church as it confronts heresy and stresses the lack of moral concern that springs from it. There is strong defense against the threat of a type of Gnosticism called Docetism that denied the reality of Jesus’ earthly life and thus the meaning of the cross. Possessing special spiritual knowledge, the Docetic Gnostics had no need of the earthly Jesus and the humanity of Christ. This Docetic heresy led them to reject the Lord’s Supper, but not Baptism. Their special possession of the Spirit had led them erroneously to consider themselves sinless and to deny the fellowship that has the cleansing of sins. Because the heresy may have led to libertinism, the ethics of Christians must accord with their faith and find expression in the love of the brethren in the church. “He who hears my word and . . . believes has passed from death to life” (John 5:24) is continued in I John 3:14, “We have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.” The Gnostics separated themselves from the church in schism and have thereby committed the “sin unto death.” They are false prophets and deceivers described by the term Antichrist. The true Christians, the “children of God,” hold the true faith evidenced by their loyalty to the church and their charity toward its members.

A constant theme in I John is that of God’s love, which makes Christians the children of God. As children of God they keep the new commandment of love, which is of light—that of brotherly love—and resist the world, evil, and false teaching. Because Christ gave his life for man, the Christian’s response is also to be self-giving. Through obedience and faith, God forgives even when man’s heart condemns him, “for God is greater than his heart.” It is of interest to note that in I John 2:1–2, Jesus is referred to as paraclete (advocate), but in the Gospel According to John, such references are to the Spirit. John 14:16, however, refers to “another Counselor.” This discrepancy can be resolved by interpreting Jesus with his disciples as their advocate with another to come (the Spirit), and, in I John 2:1–2, the risen Lord becomes the advocate for the expiation of all sin. Righteousness and faith are emphasized in chapters 4–5, and again these characteristics are those of the children of God, who will finally in the end-time be like him who gave the promise, the commandment, and the joy of love.

New Testament literature » The Catholic Letters » The Johannine Letters: I, II, and III John » The Second Letter of John
II John warns a specific church (or perhaps churches), designated as “the elect lady and her children,” against the influence of the Docetic heresy combatted in I John, whose proponents lured Christians from “following the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father.” In II John, as in the Gospel According to John and I John, the light–darkness images are similar to those of the Dead Sea Scrolls. To “walk in the truth” in II John is to reject heresy and follow the doctrine of Christ.

New Testament literature » The Catholic Letters » The Johannine Letters: I, II, and III John » The Third Letter of John
III John, addressed to Gaius, shows that the writer is concerned about and has responsibility as presbyter for the missionaries of the church. It is somewhat of a short note concerned with church discipline, encouraging hospitality to true missionaries, and thus not unconnected with true doctrine and the command of love.

New Testament literature » The Catholic Letters » The Letter of Jude
The Letter of Jude, after a salutation that attributes it to Jude, the brother of James, and addresses itself to the church as a whole, develops the theme of the short letter—a polemic against heretics who have abandoned the transmitted traditional faith and who will thus be judged by the Lord. They deny Christ, and punishment similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament for such a denial is threatened. Heretical beliefs have led to various sins and libertinism, and the judgment that will come upon them is cited from Enoch 1:9, demonstrating that this short letter reflects the postbiblical Jewish apocalyptic train of thought in the early Christian era.

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” is probably meant pseudepigraphically to relate this Jude to James the brother of the Lord so that this Jude is also a brother of the Lord. This, however, is impossible because the letter reflects a later time. Verse 17 refers to “the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ” concerning mockers and sinners. Thus, the author is recalling a former time that was prophesied regarding the heresies and trials of the end-time. Such a bearer of apostolic tradition is violently attacking heresy in the interest of transmitted traditional faith. Again, it would appear that the letter is pseudepigraphic and may have originated in Syria or Asia Minor.

The author struggles forcefully against heretics who deny God and Christ and attempts to strengthen his readers in their fight against such heresy that leads to wickedness and disorder. Libertinism is a characteristic of such heresy, and the punishment of the heretics will be similar to that which befell the unfaithful in the Old Testament patriarchal times. Only steadfastness in faith, true doctrine, and prayer can lead to mercy, forgiveness, restoration, and final salvation. An attempt to bring the erring to repentance may save them. The letter concludes with a typical doxology.

The form is less a catholic letter than a declared position that lays down general rules. The date is probably near the end of the 1st century and before II Peter, which draws upon it.

New Testament literature » The Revelation to John » Purpose and theme
The Revelation (i.e., Apocalypse) to John is an answer in apocalyptic terms to the needs of the church in time of persecution, as it awaits the end-time expected in the near future. The purpose of the book is to encourage and admonish the church to be steadfast and endure. The form of an apocalypse shows affinities with contemporary Jewish, Oriental, and Hellenistic writings in which problems of the end of the world and of history are linked both with prophecy of an eschatological nature and with “sealed” secret mysteries. Such revelations are traditionally received in trances, characterized by strange symbols, numbers, images, and parables or allegories that represent people and historical situations. Apocalypticism is essentially dualistic, presenting the present eon as evil and the future as good, with an ultimate battle between the divine and the demonic to be won only after one or more cosmic catastrophes. The aim of apocalyptic literature is to depict in the age of present tribulation a knowledge of a future glorious victory and vindication, thus giving hope and assurance.

In Revelation it is God who gives the revelation to Jesus Christ to be shown by Christ through an angel to his servant John, in exile on the island of Patmos, in order that John become his seer and prophet to the church. John is to write down what he has seen, what is, and what is to come. In contradistinction to most Jewish apocalyptic works, Revelation is not pseudonymous and John is to give finally unsealed, clear prophecy related to the present and to the end-time.

As in the rest of the New Testament, the starting point of eschatological hope is the saving act of God in Jesus, a historical centre pointing toward historical developments that will bring about the establishment of God’s kingdom and vindication of his people, ransomed by the blood of Christ, the Lamb who was slain. It provides certainty and encouragement with the example of the faithfulness of those who have already witnessed unto death (martyrs) and their reward—special inheritance in the eternal kingdom.

After the introduction, Revelation continues first as a series of seven letters to seven churches in the province of Asia, thence to the whole church with an epistolary introduction and, after the apocalypse proper, an epistolary blessing as the last verse. The letters sent from the heavenly Christ through John (chapters 2 and 3) exhort, comfort, or censure the churches according to their condition under persecution or danger of heresy. From chapters 4–22 there are series of visions in three main cycles, each recapitulating but expanding the former in greater and clearer detail with groups of seven symbols predominating in each (seals, chapters 6–7; trumpets, chapters 8–10; and bowls, chapters 15–16). This material is interspersed with visions of God in his heavenly council, various visions of catastrophe and of Satan, the destroyer, the appearance of two witnesses and other martyr examples to spur the church to endurance, the victory of the archangel Michael over the dragon (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb (Christ), and the representation of the powers of emperor cult and false prophecy as beasts who bring destruction to the unfaithful in God’s judgment. A heavenly woman who bears a messianic son is threatened by a dragon. Her child is carried up to heaven by God, and she escapes by hiding in a place prepared for her by God. The beasts who appear persecute the Christians and the “number” signifying the first beast is that of a man, “666” (or, in a variant reading, “616”) probably indicating the emperor Nero. God’s triumph in history is depicted in his judgment on the harlot Babylon (Rome), and the final consummation portrays the victory of Christ over the Antichrist and his followers. In chapter 20 the thousand-year reign of Christ with those who witnessed unto death is depicted. Satan, again loosed, is vanquished by fire from heaven with the beasts (imperial power and false prophet), and the last judgment leads to a new heaven and a new earth, the new Jerusalem. This writing is, thus, a prophetic-apocalyptic work.

In summary, the seer reminds the reader that the words, because they are of God, are trustworthy and true. The motif that the Lord is coming soon is again repeated. This reflection of the early Christian watchword suggests a sacred liturgical style. The last verse is the closing benediction—perhaps not only of the letters in the beginning of Revelation but of the whole of Revelation, which was to be read aloud in a worship setting.

New Testament literature » The Revelation to John » Authorship and style
Apocalypticism was introduced into Asia Minor after ad 70 (the fall of Jerusalem), and c. 80–90 a prophetic circle was formed near Ephesus. Its leader was John, a prophet, who might well have been the author of Revelation, which is deeply steeped in apocalyptic traditions. The “Johannine circle” bearing the tradition of John, the Apostle of the Lord, and from which emerged the Gospel and letters bearing his name, might have been a continuation of the prophetic conventicle of Ephesus in which John was prominent. The various writings do not have to be consistent except in their basic faith in Jesus Christ; and, as the situations to which they addressed themselves were different, different styles and content were required. The seer was probably involved in an actual historical situation in the late 80s under Domitian, a time when there was open conflict between the church and the Roman state. There is a tradition supported by Irenaeus, a 2nd-century bishop of Lyons, that in this persecution punishment was death or banishment. John’s prominence might have led to banishment to Patmos, an isle off the coast of Asia Minor, from his homeland in or around Ephesus. From Patmos he wrote a circular letter to the churches in Asia.

Though the style of Revelation is certainly eclectic in form and content, containing elements of a heavenly epistle and with more than three-fourths of the rest made up of prophetic-apocalyptic forms from varied sources, it reflects a systematic and careful plan. Even the apocalyptic, however, is “anti-apocalyptic” in that the seer’s message is open and the mysteries serve not to conceal but to heighten what is seen and to be expected. Apocalyptic schemata and motifs are, however, used toward this purpose, and allegorical incorporation of sources is more a demonstration of the true, ultimate message than a literary device. Blurred images (e.g., God, Christ, and angels; chiliastic [1,000-year] eras and temporal duplications; as well as interpretations) are part of the apocalyptic style, but a current concrete historical situation is the foundation. Revelation is written in fantastic imagery, blending Jewish apocalypticism, Babylonian mythology, and astrological speculation. It is pictorial, dramatic, and poetic.

Revelation contains long sections characterized by Greek that is grammatically and stylistically crude, strangely Hebraized to give a unique, almost Oriental, colour. This may have been deliberate. Although Revelation is replete with Old Testament allusions, there are no direct quotations, and this may reflect the seer’s conviction that the work is a direct revelation from God. In other sections the poetry of Revelation might stem from the seer’s experience in the heavenly throne room of God, from hearing the hymns of the angelic host, or from his recollection on Patmos of the liturgical practice of the church. The image of the Bride and wedding feast together with the “Come, Lord Jesus!” have associations with the eucharistic liturgy of the early church.

The recapitulations of the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls may be deliberate schematization. The purpose of such repetition and increasing revelation can be a way of heightening enthusiasm to encourage the church.

Mysterious numbers and divisions (such as 7, 3, 12) recur and are part of the theme of assurance, because God has numbers in their order as a sign of his plan of salvation, turning chaos to orderly cosmos. The mysterious name of the first beast, 666, in 13:18, can be calculated by “gematria,” assigning their numerical values to letters of the word and summing them up. The most adequate solution is Nero (the numerical value of the Hebrew letters for Caesar Neron equals 666), a demonic Nero redivivus (revived), who returns from the dead as Antichrist. Astronomy and astrology have also been applied to Revelation in terms of the signs of the zodiac or a calendar of feasts and seasons as keys to understanding its structure, because it is God who orders the times and seasons.

Two witnesses described in chapter 11 have been assumed to be Elijah and Moses, Peter and Paul, or simply two examples of martyrs through whom God shows his punishment of the wicked and vindication of the righteous to his glory. There are strong martyrological themes throughout Revelation, and it seems to stand on the border line of the point at which the word witness (martys) became a technical term for a witness unto death, or martyr. The cosmic battle in heaven is fought by those willing to give their lives, who mix their blood with the blood of the Lamb, whose blood “ransomed men for God.” The writer of Revelation based his hope for the church on perseverance, on endurance even to death, and on what the future will bring when the church will live with the glorified Christ, slain as a lamb. The harlot of Babylon will be destroyed and the church will endure; Babylon falls and the new Jerusalem, the city of God that is to come, is depicted in all its glory. These are the hopes to strengthen the persecuted church, assurance that God will soon triumph. With trumpet call and heavenly voices there is the joyful promise that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

The Rev. Krister Stendahl
Emilie T. Sander

New Testament Apocrypha » Nature and significance
The title New Testament Apocrypha may suggest that the books thus classified have or had a status comparable to that of the Old Testament Apocrypha and have been recognized as canonical. In a few instances such has been the case, but generally these books were accepted only by individual Christian writers or by minority heretical groups. The word apocryphal (secret) is applied to Gnostic traditions and writings both by Gnostics and by their critics; from the 2nd century, for example, comes the Apocryphon (secret book) of John. In the 4th century the word referred to books not publicly read in churches. It meant apocryphal in the modern sense (i.e., fictitious) only by implication, as when the church historian Eusebius speaks of some of “the so-called secret books” as forgeries composed by heretics.

Like the New Testament books themselves, the New Testament apocryphal books consist of gospels, acts, letters, and apocalypses. The apocryphal writings, however, are almost exclusively pseudepigraphical—i.e., written in the name of the apostles or disciples or concerning individual apostles. In general, they were created after and in imitation of the New Testament books but before the time when a relatively restricted canon, or list, of approved books was being formulated. They arose chiefly during the 2nd century, when the lines between orthodoxy and heresy were not absolutely fixed and when popular piety seems to have been rather freely expressed. What these works tell about Jesus and his disciples resembles the imaginative Midrashic (didactic commentarial) retelling of Old Testament stories among Jewish teachers.

As the New Testament canon was gradually given definite shape, these apocryphal books came to be excluded, first from public reading in churches, then from private reading as well. With the development of creeds and of systematic theologies based on the nascent canon, the apocryphal books were neglected and suppressed. Most of them have survived only in fragments, although a few have been found in Greek and Coptic papyri from Egypt. They are valuable to the historian primarily because of the light they cast on popular semi-orthodox beliefs and on Gnostic revisions of Christianity; occasionally, they may contain fairly early traditions about Jesus and his disciples. In the 3rd century, Neoplatonists (followers of the philosopher Plotinus, who advocated a system of levels of reality) joined Christians in attacking such books as “spurious,” “modern,” and “forged.”

The difficulties the New Testament apocryphal books caused at the end of the 2nd century are well illustrated in a letter by Serapion, bishop of Antioch. He stated that he accepts Peter and the other apostles “as Christ” but rejects what is falsely written in their name. When some Christians showed him the Gospel of Peter, he allowed them to read it, but after further investigation he discovered that its teaching about Christ was false, and he had to withdraw his permission.

In the early 4th century Eusebius himself found it difficult to create categories for the various books then in circulation or used by earlier authors. He seems to have concluded that the books could be called “acknowledged,” “disputed,” “spurious,” and absolutely rejected. Thus, the Acts of Paul, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Gospel According to the Hebrews were rather well attested, and he called them spurious but disputed. He definitely rejected books used by heretics but not by church writers: the gospels ascribed to Peter, Thomas, and Matthias, and the Acts of Andrew, John, and other apostles. About a century earlier, the North African theologian Tertullian had written about how a presbyter who wrote the Acts of Paul had been deposed.

Without reference to the standards of canonicity and orthodoxy gradually being worked out by the churches of the 2nd through 4th centuries, it is evident that many of these books reflect the kinds of rather incoherent Christian thought that church leaders were trying to prune and shape from the 1st century onward. Often such works represented what was later viewed as inadequate orthodoxy because the views presented had become obsolete. All the apocrypha taken together show the variety of expression from which the canon was a critical selection.

New Testament Apocrypha » The New Testament Apocryphal writings

Biblical literature in liturgy » Biblical literature in the liturgy of Judaism
The liturgy of Judaism is that of the synagogue, which arose during and after the Babylonian Exile of 586–538 bce and gradually replaced the Temple cult as the spiritual centre of Jewish life. The Hebrew biblical canon and the liturgy of the synagogue, to a great extent, grew up together.

Because the synagogue arose in a land separated from the Jerusalem Temple with its sacrificial emphasis and its priestly class, worship in the synagogue differed from what went before it in several respects. A local congregation worshipped together on a certain day of the week in a place set apart for that purpose, rather than primarily on special festival days and periods. The people worshipped without priest or cultic sacrifice, yet consciously as a community within a larger covenant fellowship and in response to a divine word that was written down in a holy scripture. Bible reading and interpretation, the singing of psalms, and prayers, both corporate and individual, were the staple content of the liturgy. The ancient synagogue liturgy has come down to the present in two books: the Siddur, or daily prayer book, and the Mahzor, or festival prayer book.

The biblically prescribed rhythm of days, weeks, months, and years gave order to the lives of the people. The Bible became familiar to old and young by being read aloud in the synagogue, and no part of worship was esteemed more highly than the reading of scripture. The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is handwritten on a scroll. Viewed as the holiest object in the synagogue, it is kept in a sacred cabinet called the ark. Special prayers and ceremonies accompany its being taken out and replaced in the ark, and during the course of the year it is read in its entirety at the sabbath services. Torah portions are also read on the religious holidays.

A reading from the Prophets, called the Haftarah, follows each Torah reading. One of the five Megillot (Scrolls) is read on certain holidays: the Song of Solomon at Pesah (Passover), the Book of Ruth at Shavuot (Weeks), Lamentations of Jeremiah at Tisha be-Av (Av 9), Ecclesiastes at Sukkot (Tabernacles), and the Book of Esther at Purim (Lots). The Book of Jonah is read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Psalms are said or sung in every service. From the chanting of biblical texts, especially the Psalms, the music of the synagogue’s cantor has developed into an incomparable art form (see also Judaism).

Biblical literature in liturgy » Biblical literature in the liturgy of Christianity » Eastern Orthodoxy
The first Christians were Jews, and they worshipped along with other Jews in the synagogue. The earliest Gentile converts also attended the synagogue. When Christians met outside the synagogue, they still used its liturgy, read its Bible, and preserved the main characteristics of synagogue worship. Every historic liturgy is divided into (1) a Christian revision of the sabbath service in the synagogue and (2) a celebration of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples as a fulfillment of the Passover and a new covenant with a newly redeemed people of God. Thus, the church was never without traditional forms of worship.

For more than 100 years Christians had no authorized New Testament, the Old Testament being read, as had been done previously, in the worship service. By the middle of the 2nd century, however, Christian writings also were in the Sunday service. The Old Testament, the version used most generally in its Greek translation (the Septuagint), was the Bible from which the Gospel was preached. Its reading preceded that of the Christian writings, and the reading was far more extensive than it is in modern Christian churches.

As the liturgies grew longer and more elaborate, the biblical readings were reduced, and the New Testament gradually displaced the Old Testament. No Old Testament lesson remained in the Greek or Russian liturgy or in the Roman mass, though it has been reintroduced in the 20th century in most liturgies. All liturgies have at least two readings from the New Testament: one from a letter or other (non-Gospel) New Testament writing, and one from a Gospel, in that order. The Eastern liturgies all honour the Gospel with a procession called the Little Entrance. This action is accompanied by hymns and prayers that interpret the Gospel as the coming of Christ to redeem the world.

The Eastern liturgies, especially after the great theological controversies of the first four centuries, have favoured composed texts of prayers, hymns, and choral anthems that summarize the thought of many biblical passages, thus becoming short sermons or confessions of faith. The Nicene Creed (4th century) itself is one such text, in contrast with the Shema (“Hear, O Israel”—a type of creed) in Judaism, which consists of verbatim passages from Deuteronomy and Numbers.

The Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox churches contains many such composed texts, such as prayers that proclaim Orthodox theology (e.g., the “Only begotten Son and Word of God” following the second antiphon). Isaiah, chapter 6, verse 3 (“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory”), used in the Jewish Kedusha (Glorification of God), generates two separate texts in the Eastern liturgy: the Trisagion (a solemn threefold acclamation to God) at the Little Entrance and the Greek original of the “Holy, holy, holy” in the eucharistic liturgy.

Psalms are sung extensively at the daily hours of prayer in the East as in the West. At the beginning of the Sunday service, entire psalms or more than one psalm are sometimes sung. More often, however, a psalm verse or two are combined with other material into a composite text of a hymn or anthem. A mosaic of selected psalm verses may be used either as a text for music or a spoken prayer. Most characteristic of all, especially in the Greek Church’s tradition, however, is the freely composed and imaginative hymn text, based on a biblical incident or person, or an extended paraphrase of a passage of scripture. In addition to such biblically based psalms and other hymns, there are the famous Cherubic Hymn of the Greek and Russian liturgies and the original texts of hymns that have become well known in the Western churches—e.g., “O gladsome light of the Father immortal,” and “Let all mortal flesh keep silent.”

Biblical literature in liturgy » Biblical literature in the liturgy of Christianity » Roman Catholicism
Liturgical worship in both Judaism and Christianity is an action that moves within the framework of biblical ideas and explains itself in biblical language. Preoccupied with really different views from opposite windows, Jews and Christians have often overlooked the common heritage that they share. This has likewise been true of the differences between Eastern and Western Christians.

At Rome, the liturgy was sung and said in Greek until the 4th century and was probably more like the liturgy of Syria at that time than that of Rome after the 16th century. The Latin rite developed many distinctive features, but what happened in Rome happened also to some extent in the East. The biblical readings at mass were reduced to two: the first reading, formally called the Epistle, was usually from an apostolic letter but sometimes from the Acts of the Apostles or even the Old Testament, and the second was a Gospel passage selected as appropriate for that particular day in the Church Year. The West, like the East, retained the Jewish week and developed a yearly cycle of Easter–Pentecost and Christmas–Epiphany celebrations with appropriate biblical selections. The development of the Church Year became so elaborate in the West, however, that the Roman calendar provided for every day in the year.

In the West as in the East, monastic and other religious communities observed the daily hours of prayer, in which there was little Bible reading as such but a great deal of corporate praying as well as the reading or singing of psalms. The Roman canonical hours were further enriched with homilies and legends from many sources, with Latin metrical hymns, and with biblical canticles, including a daily singing of the early Christian songs that are quoted in the Gospel According to Luke: the “Benedictus” (“Song of Zechariah”) in chapter 1, verses 68–79, at Lauds (morning prayer), the “Magnificat” (“Song of Mary”) in chapter 1, verses 46–55, at Vespers (evening prayer), and the “Nunc Dimittis” (“Song of Simeon”) in chapter 2, verses 29–32, at Compline (prayer at the end of the day). The great anonymous canticle called the “Te Deum,” a vast array of biblical images ascribing praise and glory to God, is sung every day at Matins (an early morning prayer).

The mass is an abbreviation of a much longer liturgy. Many items are mere vestiges of more elaborate actions or texts. The psalms once sung at the entrance, for example, have been reduced to a traditional form of a sung text: an antiphon of one or two verses from a psalm, the first verse of the psalm, the “Glory be to the Father,” and the antiphon repeated. The same has occurred in other parts of the mass. Psalms were once interspersed among the readings of scripture. The traditional gradual was a formalized text sung between the Epistle and Gospel, but in the reformed mass it becomes a responsorial psalm between the first and second readings. The short texts at the Offertory (offering of the bread and wine) and Communion are fragments in biblical language, but they are also masterpieces of the Latin genius for brevity, clarity, and order—as are the inimitable Latin collects (prayers), each basing its definite petition on an equally definite biblical revelation.

For centuries the mass was heard only in Latin and repeated the same readings on the same days every year, with the result that only a limited number of unconnected passages were heard in church. The second Vatican Council (1962–65) approved the plan of having a three-year cycle of biblical readings, providing an Old Testament lesson for every mass, a more nearly continuous reading from one of the Gospels each year, and a reading from one of the letters or other New Testament books over a period of weeks.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics
Exegesis, or critical interpretation, and hermeneutics, or the science of interpretive principles, of the Bible have been used by both Jews and Christians throughout their histories for various purposes. The most common purpose has been that of discovering the truths and values of the Old and New Testaments by means of various techniques and principles, though very often, due to the exigencies of certain historical conditions, polemical or apologetical situations anticipate the truth or value to be discovered and thus dictate the type of exegesis or hermeneutic to be used. The primary goal, however, is to arrive at biblical truths and values by an unbiassed use of exegesis and hermeneutics.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Nature and significance
Biblical exegesis is the actual interpretation of the sacred book, the bringing out of its meaning; hermeneutics is the study and establishment of the principles by which it is to be interpreted. Where the biblical writings are interpreted on a historical perspective, just as with philological and other ancient documents, there is little call for a special discipline of biblical hermeneutics. But it has been widely held that the factors of divine revelation and inspiration in the Bible, which, according to Jewish and Christian belief, set it apart from other literature, impose their appropriate hermeneutical principles, although there has been divergence of opinion on what these principles are. Again, because of the place that the biblical writings have occupied in synagogue and church, their exploitation for apologetical or polemical ends, their employment as a source for dogma or as a means of grace, fostering individual and community devotion, and the use of certain parts (especially the psalms) in the congregational liturgy, the science of hermeneutics has been studiously cultivated as a theological discipline. To treat the Bible like any other book (even in order to discover that it is not like any other book) has been condemned by believers as an unworthy, not to say impious, attitude.

At times the languages in which the biblical texts were originally composed have for that reason been treated as sacred languages. Hebrew may be to the philologist a Canaanite dialect, not substantially different from Phoenician, or Moabite, or other Semitic languages, but for some people even today this language is invested with an aura of sacredness. As for the language of the New Testament, in the days before its place within the general development of Hellenistic Greek was properly appreciated, it could be called a “language of the Holy Ghost,” as it was by the German Lutheran theologian Richard Rothe (1799–1867). And even scholars who know very well the true character of the biblical languages are tempted at times to make the Old and New Testament vocabularies, down to the very prepositions, bear a greater weight of theological significance than sound linguistic practice permits. Where in other Greek literature the context would be allowed to determine the precise force of this or that synonym, there is a tendency to approach the New Testament with definitions ready made and to impose them on the text: to give one example, of two common Greek words meaning “new,” it is sometimes laid down in advance that kainos denotes new in character and neos new in time (“young”). Often such distinctions are valid, but their validity must be established by the context; where the context discourages such precise differentiations, they must not be forced upon it.

Again, it is a truism in linguistic study that the meaning of a word depends on its usage, not on its derivation. It may be of interest to know that the Hebrew word for “burnt offering” (ʿola) etymologically means “ascending” (cf. the verb ʿala, “ascend”), and to trace the stages by which it attained its biblical meaning, but this knowledge is almost wholly irrelevant to the understanding of the word in the Old Testament ritual vocabulary, and any attempt to link it, say, with the ascension of Jesus in the New Testament, as has been done, can lead only to confusion.

Similarly there has been a tendency to place the history contained in the biblical writings on a different level from “ordinary” history. Here the increasing knowledge of the historical setting of the biblical narrative, especially in the Old Testament, has helped to remove the impression that the persons and peoples portrayed in this narrative are not quite “real”; it has integrated them with contemporary life and promoted a better understanding of what they had in common with their neighbours and what their distinctive qualities were.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Biblical criticism
A prerequisite for the exegetical study of the biblical writings, and even for the establishment of hermeneutical principles, is their critical examination. Most forms of biblical criticism are relevant to many other bodies of literature.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Biblical criticism » Textual criticism
Textual criticism is concerned with the basic task of establishing, as far as possible, the original text of the documents on the basis of the available materials. For the Old Testament, until 1947, these materials consisted principally of: (1) Hebrew manuscripts dated from the 9th century ad onward, the Masoretic text, the traditional Jewish text with its vocalization and punctuation marks as recorded by the editors called Masoretes (Hebrew masora, “tradition”) from the 6th century to the end of the 10th; (2) Hebrew manuscripts of medieval date preserving the Samaritan edition of the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible); (3) Greek manuscripts, mainly from the 3rd and 4th centuries ad onward, preserving the text of the pre-Christian Greek version of the Hebrew Bible together with most of the apocryphal books (the Septuagint); (4) manuscripts of the Syriac (Peshitta) and Latin (Vulgate) versions, both of which were based directly on the Hebrew. Since 1947 the discovery of Hebrew biblical texts at Qumrān (then Jordan) and other places west of the Dead Sea has made it possible to trace the history of the Hebrew Bible back to the 2nd century bc and to recognize, among the manuscripts circulating in the closing generations of the Second Jewish Commonwealth (c. 450 bc–c. ad 135), at least three types of Hebrew text: (1) the ancestor of the Masoretic text, (2) the Hebrew basis of the Septuagint version, and (3) a popular text of the Pentateuch akin to the Samaritan edition. A comparative examination of these three indicates that the ancestor of the Masoretic text is in the main the most reliable; the translators of the Revised Standard Version (1952) and New English Bible (1970) have continued to use the Masoretic text as their Old Testament basis.

For the New Testament the chief text-critical materials are (1) manuscripts of the Greek text, from the 2nd to the 15th centuries, of which some 5,000 are known, exhibiting the New Testament text in whole or in part; (2) ancient versions in Syriac, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, and other languages; and (3) citations in early Christian writers. A comparative study of this material enables scholars to get behind the Byzantine type of text (the type that first diffused from Constantinople from the 4th century onward, gained currency throughout Greek-speaking Christendom, and formed the basis of the earliest printed editions of the Greek Testament) to a variety of types current in various localities in the generations immediately preceding; but the more recent discovery of manuscripts (mainly on papyrus) of the 3rd and even 2nd centuries, which cannot be neatly assigned to one or another of these types, makes the earlier history of the text more problematic, and the Revised Standard Version and New English Bible are both based on an eclectic text (in which, where the witnesses show variant readings, the reading preferred is that which best suits the context and the author’s known style).

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Biblical criticism » Other types of exegetical critical techniques » Redaction criticism
Redaction criticism concentrates on the end product, studying the way in which the final authors or editors used the traditional material that they received and the special purpose that each had in view in incorporating this material into his literary composition. It has led of late to important conclusions about the respective outlooks and aims of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Biblical criticism » Other types of exegetical critical techniques » Historical criticism
Historical criticism places the documents in their historical setting and promotes their interpretation in the light of their contemporary environment. This is necessary for their understanding, whether they are historical in character or belong to another literary genre. If they are historical in character it is important to establish how faithfully they reflect their dramatic date—the date of the events they record (as distinct from the date of final composition). This test has been applied with singularly positive results to Luke–Acts, especially in relation to Roman law and institutions; and in general the biblical outline of events from the middle Bronze Age (c. 21st–c. mid-16th centuries bc) to the 1st century ad fits remarkably well into its Near Eastern context as recovered by archaeological research.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Biblical criticism » Other types of exegetical critical techniques » “History of religions” criticism
“History of religions” criticism, to use an ungainly expression, relates Old and New Testament religion to the religious situation of the contemporary world of the writings and tries to explain biblical religion as far as possible in terms of current religious attitudes and practices. This is helpful to a point, insofar as it throws into relief those features of Hebrew and Christian faith that are distinctive; it is carried to excess when it attempts to deprive those features of their unique qualities and to account completely for them in religious–historical terms. When the cult of Israel was practically indistinguishable from that of the Canaanites, the protests of the 8th-century-bc Hebrew prophets Amos or Hosea stand out over against popular Yahweh worship (Hebrew) and Baal worship (Canaanite) alike. Another attempt has been made by historians of religion to recreate for the 1st century ad a pre-Christian Gnostic myth—referring to an esoteric dualism in which matter is viewed as evil and spirit good—of the primal or heavenly man who comes from the realm of light to liberate particles of a heavenly essence that are imprisoned on earth in material bodies and to impart the true knowledge. By men’s acceptance of this secret salvatory knowledge (gnosis), the heavenly essence within man is released from its thraldom and reascends to its native abode. Fragments of this myth have been recognized in several books of the New Testament. But the attempt has not been successful: according to many recent (latter half of the 20th century) New Testament scholars and historians of the early church, it is probable that the concepts of primal man and redeemer-revealer were not brought together in Gnosticism except under the influence of the Christian apostolic teaching, in which Jesus fills the role of Son of man (or Second Adam) together with that of Saviour and Revealer.

On the other hand, the Iranian religious influence, primarily that of Zoroastrianism, on the angelology and eschatology (concepts of the last times) of Judaism in the last two centuries bc is unmistakable, especially among the Pharisees (a liberal Jewish sect emphasizing piety) and the Qumrān community (presumably the Essenes) near the Dead Sea. In the latter, indeed, Zoroastrian dualism finds clear expression, such as in the concept of a war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness, although it is subordinated to the sovereignty of the one God of Israel.

The value of these critical methods of Bible study lies in their enabling the reader to interpret the writings as accurately as possible. By their aid he can better ascertain what the writers meant by the language that they used at the time they wrote and how their first readers would have understood their language. If the understanding of readers today is to have any validity, it must bear a close relationship to what the original readers were intended to understand.

For additional information about the various forms of biblical criticism, see above: Old Testament canon, texts, and versions; and New Testament canon, texts, and versions.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Types of biblical hermeneutics
As has been said, the importance of biblical hermeneutics has lain in the Bible’s status as a sacred book in Judaism and Christianity, recording a divine revelation or reproducing divine oracles. The “oracles” are primarily prophetic utterances, but often their narrative setting has also come to acquire oracular status. Quite different hermeneutical principles, however, have been inferred from this axiom of biblical inspiration: whereas some have argued that the interpretation must always be literal, or as literal as possible (since “God always means what he says”), others have treated it as self-evident that words of divine origin must always have some profounder “spiritual” meaning than that which lies on the surface, and this meaning will yield itself up only to those who apply the appropriate rules of figurative exegesis. Or again, it may be insisted that certain parts must be treated literally and others figuratively; thus some expositors who regard the allegorical (symbolic) interpretation of the Old Testament histories as the only interpretation that has any religious value maintain that in the apocalyptic writings that interpretation which is most literal is most reliable.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Types of biblical hermeneutics » Literal interpretation
Literal interpretation is often, but not necessarily, associated with the belief in verbal or plenary inspiration, according to which not only the biblical message but also the individual words in which that message was delivered or written down were divinely chosen. In an extreme form this would imply that God dictated the message to the speakers or writers word by word, but most proponents of verbal inspiration repudiate such a view on the reasonable ground that this would leave no room for the evident individuality of style and vocabulary found in the various authors. Verbal inspiration received classic expression by the 19th-century English biblical scholar John William Burgon:

The Bible is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth upon the Throne! Every Book of it, every Chapter of it, every Verse of it, every word of it, every syllable of it, (where are we to stop?) every letter of it, is the direct utterance of the Most High! (From Inspiration and Interpretation, 1861).

This explains Burgon’s severe judgment that the revisers of the English New Testament (1881), in excluding what they believed to be scribal or editorial additions to the original text, “stand convicted of having deliberately rejected the words of Inspiration in every page” (The Revision Revised, p. vii, London, 1883). Such a high view of inspiration has commonly been based on the statement in II Tim. 3:16 that “all [Old Testament] scripture is God-breathed” (Greek theopneustos, which means “inspired by God”) or Paul’s claim in I Cor. 2:13 to impart the gospel “in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths in spiritual language.” On this latter passage the English bishop and biblical scholar Joseph Barber Lightfoot (1828–89) remarked:

The notion of a verbal inspiration in a certain sense is involved in the very conception of an inspiration at all, because words are at once the instruments of carrying on and the means of expressing ideas, so that the words must both lead and follow the thought. But the passage gives no countenance to the popular doctrine of verbal inspiration, whether right or wrong (From Notes on Epistles of St. Paul from Unpublished Commentaries, 1895).

The detailed attention that Lightfoot and his Cambridge University colleagues, Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), successor of Lightfoot as bishop of Durham, and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828–92), paid in their exegesis to the vocabulary and grammatical construction of the biblical documents, together with their concern for the historical context, sprang from no dogmatic attachment to any theory of inspiration but, rather, represented the literal method of interpretation at its best. Such grammatico-historical exegesis can be practiced by anyone with the necessary linguistic tools and accuracy of mind, irrespective of confessional commitment, and is likely to have more permanent value than exegesis that reflects passing fashions of philosophical thought. Biblical theology itself is more securely based when it rests upon such exegesis than when it forms a hermeneutical presupposition.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Types of biblical hermeneutics » Moral interpretation
Moral interpretation is necessitated by the belief that the Bible is the rule not only of faith but also of conduct. The Jewish teachers of the late pre-Christian and early Christian Era, who found “in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (Rom. 2:20), were faced with the necessity of adapting the requirements of the Pentateuchal codes to the changed social conditions of the Hellenistic Age (3rd century bc–3rd century ad). This they did by means of a body of oral interpretation, which enabled the conscientious Jew to know his duty in the manifold circumstances of daily life. If, for example, he wished to know whether this or that activity constituted “work” that was forbidden on the sabbath, the influential school of legal interpretation headed by the rabbi Hillel (late 1st century bc to early 1st century ad) supplied a list of 39 categories of activity that fell under the ban.

The Christian Church rejected the Jewish “tradition of the elders” but for the most part continued to regard the Ten Commandments as ethically binding and devised new codes of practice, largely forgetting Paul’s appeal to the liberty of the Spirit, or viewing it as an invitation to indulge in allegory. In order to deduce moral lessons from the Bible, allegorization was resorted to, as when the Letter of Barnabas (c. ad 100) interprets the Levitical food laws prescribed in the book of Leviticus as forbidding not the flesh of certain animals but the vices imaginatively associated with the animals. To set up principles of exegesis by which ethical lessons may be drawn from all parts of the Bible is not easy, since many of the commandments enjoined upon the Israelites in the Pentateuch no longer have any obvious relevance, such as the ban on boiling a kid in its mother’s milk (Ex. 23:19b, etc.), or on wearing a mixed woollen and linen garment (Deut. 22:11); and much of the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is widely regarded as a counsel of perfection, impracticable for the average man, even when he professes the Christian faith. Even summaries of the biblical ethic, such as the golden rule (Matt. 7:12; cf. Tob. 4:15) or the twofold law of love to God and love to one’s neighbour (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18), in which the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) is comprehended (Mark 12:29–31; cf. Rom. 13:8–10), involve casuistic interpretation (fitting general principles to particular cases) when they are applied to the complicated relations of present-day life. The difficulties of applying biblical ethics to modern situations do not mean that the task of application should be abandoned but that it should not be undertaken as though it provided an easy shortcut to moral solutions.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » Types of biblical hermeneutics » Allegorical interpretation
Allegorical interpretation places on biblical literature a meaning that, with rare exceptions, it was never intended to convey. Yet at times this interpretation seemed imperative. If the literal sense, on which heretics, such as the 2nd-century biblical critic Marcion, and anti-Christian polemicists, such as the 2nd-century philosopher Celsus, insisted, was unacceptable, then allegorization was the only procedure compatible with a belief in the Bible as a divine oracle. Law, history, prophecy, poetry, and even Jesus’ parables yielded new meanings when allegorized. The surface sensuous meaning of the Canticles (the Song of Solomon) was gladly forgotten when its mutual endearments were understood to express the communion between God and the soul, or between Christ and the church. There are still readers who can reconcile themselves to the presence of a book such as Joshua in the canon only if its battles can be understood as pointing to the warfare of Christians “against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). As for the Gospel parables, when in the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37) an allegorical meaning is sought for the thieves, the Samaritan’s beast, the inn, the innkeeper, and the two pence, the result too often is that the explicit point of the story, “Go and do likewise,” is blunted.

Closely allied to allegorical interpretation, if not indeed a species of it, is typological interpretation, in which certain persons, objects, or events in the Old Testament are seen to set forth at a deeper level persons, objects, or events in the New. In such interpretations, Noah’s ark (Gen. 6:14–22) is interpreted to typify the church, outside which there is no salvation; Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice (Gen. 22:6) typifies Jesus carrying the cross; Rahab’s scarlet cord in the window (Jos. 2:18–21) prefigures the blood of Christ; and so on. These are not merely sermon illustrations but rather aspects of a hermeneutical theory that maintains that this further significance was designed (by God) from the beginning. Traces of typology appear in the New Testament, as when Paul in Rom. 5:14 calls Adam a “type” of the coming Christ (as the head of the old creation involved its members in the results of his disobedience, so the head of the new creation shares with its members the fruit of his obedience), or when in I Cor. 10:11 he says that the Israelites’ experiences in the wilderness wanderings befell them “typically,” so as to warn his own converts of the peril of rebelling against God. The fourth evangelist stresses the analogy between the sacrificial Passover lamb of the Hebrews and Christ in his death (John 19). The writer of the Hebrews treats the priest-king of Salem, Melchizedek, who was involved with Abraham as a type of Christ (Heb. 7)—without using the word “type”—and the Levitical ritual of the Day of Atonement as a model (though an imperfect one) of Christ’s sacrificial ministry (Heb. 9).

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » The development of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics in Christianity » Early stages
The earliest Christian exegesis of the Old Testament is found in the New Testament, not in the written texts only but in the oral tradition lying behind them. Some lines of exegesis are present in so many separate strands of primitive Christian teaching that they are most reasonably assigned to Jesus, who began his Galilaean ministry with the announcement that the time appointed for the fulfillment of prophecy, and the Kingdom of God that was its main theme, had arrived. If the accomplishment of his ministry involved his death, that was accepted in the same spirit; he submitted to his captors with the words: “. . . Let the scriptures be fulfilled” (Mark 14:49). The church began with the conviction that Jesus, crucified and risen, was the one of whom the prophets spoke. He was the prophet like Moses, prince of the house of David, priest of the order of Melchizedek, servant of the Lord, Son of man, and exalted Lord. If the prophets themselves were uncertain about the person or time indicated by their oracles, the early Christians were certain: the person was Jesus, the time was now. The New Testament writers shared a creative and flexible principle of exegesis that has regard for the literary and historical context and traces a consistent pattern of divine action in judgment and mercy, reproduced repeatedly in the history of Israel and manifested definitively in Christ. This exegesis is elaborated at times by means of typology and allegory, as when Paul illustrates the relationship between law and gospel by the story of Hagar and Sarah, the concubine and wife of Abraham, respectively (Gal. 4:21–31), or when Israel’s tabernacle in the wilderness becomes the material counterpart to the heavenly sanctuary in which believers of the new age offer spiritual worship to God (Heb. 8:2 fol.). The writer to the Hebrews, indeed, occasionally relates the old order to the new order platonically in terms of the earthly copy of an eternal archetype.

At an early date Christians developed a line of Old Testament exegesis designed to show that they, not the Jews, stand in the true succession of the original people of God. This line is seen in the Letter of Barnabas, the apologist Justin’s (c. 100–c. 165) Dialogue with Trypho, and the 3rd-century Against the Jews ascribed to the North African bishop Cyprian (c. 200–258).

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » The development of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics in Christianity » The patristic period
Alexandria had long boasted a school of classical study that practiced the allegorical interpretation of the Homeric epics and the Greek myths. This method of exegesis was taken over by Philo and from him by Christian scholars of Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215) and Origen (c. 185–c. 254) did not completely rule out the literal sense of Scripture—Origen’s Hexapla, a six column edition of various biblical versions, was a monument to his painstaking study of the text—but claimed that the most meaningful aspects of divine revelation could be extracted only by allegorization. Clement stated that the Fourth Gospel was a “spiritual gospel” because it unfolds the deeper truth concealed in the matter-of-fact narratives of the other three. Origen treated literal statements as “earthen vessels” preserving divine treasure; their literal sense is the body as compared with the moral sense (the soul) and the spiritual sense (the spirit). The true exegete, he claimed, pursues the threefold sense and recognizes the spiritual (allegorical) as the highest. Later, the Antiochene fathers, represented especially by Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350–428/429) and John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), patriarch of Constantinople, developed an exegesis that took more account of literal meaning and historical context. But the allegorizers could claim that their method yielded lessons that (while arbitrary) were more relevant and interesting to ordinary Christians.

In the West, the Alexandrian methods were adopted by Ambrose (c. 339–397), bishop of Milan, and Augustine (354–430), bishop of Hippo, especially as formulated in the seven “rules” of Tyconius (c. 380), a Donatist heretic (one who denied the efficacy of sacraments administered by an allegedly unworthy priest), which classified allegorical interpretation in relation to: (1) the Lord and his church, (2) true and false believers, (3) promise and law, (4) genus and species, (5) numerical significance, (6) “recapitulation,” and (7) the devil and his followers. There were other Latin exegetes, like Ambrosiaster (commentaries ascribed to Ambrose) and, supremely, Jerome (c. 347–419/420), the learned Latin Father, who paid close attention to the grammatical sense. In the Old Testament Jerome appealed from the Greek version to the “Hebraic verity” and in such a work as his commentary on Daniel provided some fine examples of historical exegesis. Augustine, though not primarily an exegete, composed both literal and allegorical commentaries and expository homilies on many parts of Scripture, and his grasp of divine love as the essential element in revelation supplied a unifying hermeneutical principle that compensates for technical deficiencies.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » The development of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics in Christianity » The medieval period
As the patristic age gave way to the scholastic age, the English monk Bede of Jarrow (died 735) wrote commentaries designed to perpetuate patristic exegesis, mainly allegorical: thus Elkanah with his two wives (1 Sam. 1:2) is interpreted as referring to Christ with the synagogue and the church.

In the early Middle Ages the fourfold sense of Scripture—developed from Origen’s threefold sense by subdividing the spiritual sense into the allegorical (setting forth the doctrine) and the anagogical (relating to the coming world)—was increasingly expounded and received its final authority from Thomas Aquinas (1225/26–74). For Thomas, the literal sense, expressing the author’s intention, was a fit object of scientific study; the figurative senses unfolded the divine intention.

Medieval exegesis was greatly influenced by the Glossa Ordinaria, a digest of the views of the leading fathers and early medieval doctors (teachers) on biblical interpretation. This compilation owed much in its initial stages to Anselm of Laon (died 1117); it had reached its definitive form by the middle of the 12th century and provided the exegetical norm of the Summa theologiae (“Summation of Theology”) of Thomas Aquinas and others.

For all the interest in allegory, literal interpretation was cultivated in many centres in the West, often with the aid of Hebrew, knowledge of which was obtainable from Jewish rabbis. One such centre was the Abbey of Saint-Victor at Paris, where Hugh (died 1141) compiled biblical commentaries that fill three volumes of J.-P. Migne’s (1800–75) Patrologiae Cursus Completus (Series Latina) and indicate the commentator’s dependence on Rashi as well as on his Christian predecessors. Of Hugh’s disciples, Andrew, abbot of Wigmore (died 1175), carried on his master’s tradition of literal scholarship, and Richard, the Scottish-born prior of Saint-Victor (died 1173) pursued a line more congenial to his mystical temperament. Herbert of Bosham (c. 1180) produced a commentary on Jerome’s Hebrew Psalter. Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln (died 1253), wrote commentaries on the days of creation and the Psalter that both drew on the Greek fathers and profited by his direct study of the Hebrew text. Nicholas of Lyra (c. 1265–c. 1349), the greatest Christian Hebraist and expositor of the later Middle Ages, compiled postillae, or commentaries, both literal and figurative, on the whole Bible; he insisted that only the literal sense could establish proof. Luther ranked him among the best exegetes: “a fine soul, a good Hebraist and a true Christian.”

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » The development of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics in Christianity » The Reformation period
The English theologian John Colet (c. 1466–1519) broke with medieval scholasticism when he returned from the Continent to Oxford in 1496 and lectured on the Pauline letters, expounding the text in terms of its plain meaning as seen in its historical context. The humanist Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) owed to him much of his insight into biblical exegesis. By the successive printed editions of his Greek New Testament (1516 and following), Erasmus made his principal, but not his only, contribution to biblical studies.

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a voluminous expositor, insisting on the primacy of the literal sense and dismissing allegory as so much rubbish—although he indulged in it himself on occasion. The core of Scripture was to him its proclamation of Christ as the one in whom alone lay man’s justification before God. John Calvin (1509–64), a more systematic expositor, served his apprenticeship by writing a youthful commentary on the Roman statesman and philosopher Seneca the Younger’s (c. 4 bc–ad 65) De clementia (“Concerning Mercy”); systematic theologian though he was, he did not allow his theological system to distort the plain meaning of Scripture, and his philological–historical interpretation is consulted with profit even today.

Scientific exegesis was pursued on the Catholic side by scholars such as F. de Ribera (1591) and L. Alcasar (1614), who showed the way to a more satisfactory understanding of the Revelation. On the Reformed side, the Annotationes in Libros Evangeliorum (1641–50) by the jurist Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) were so objective that some criticized them for rationalism.

The critical study of biblical literature: exegesis and hermeneutics » The development of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics in Christianity » The modern period
The modern period is marked by advances in textual criticism and in the study of biblical languages and history, all of which contribute to the interpretation of the Bible. The German theologian J.A. Bengel’s (1687–1752) edition of the Greek text of the New Testament with critical apparatus (1734), in which he framed the canon that “the more difficult reading is to be preferred,” was followed by his exegetical Gnomon Novi Testamenti (“Introduction to the New Testament,” 1742): “apply thyself wholly to the text,” he directed; “apply the text wholly to thyself.” The English bishop Robert Lowth’s (1710–87) Oxford lectures on The Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, published in Latin in 1753, greatly promoted the understanding of the poetry of the Old Testament by expounding the laws of its parallelistic structure. The German philologist Karl Lachmann (1793–1851) applied his expertise in classical criticism to editing the text of the New Testament; to him also belongs the credit of arguing that Mark was the earliest of the Gospels and a main source of Matthew and Luke (1835). The problem of the source analysis of the Pentateuch was given what for long appeared to be its final solution by Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), who related the successive law codes to the development of the Israelite cultus. For the period preceding the 9th century bc, however, he operated in a historical vacuum that Near Eastern archaeology was in his day only beginning to fill; its subsequent findings have dictated radical modifications in his reconstruction of Israel’s religious history. In the middle half of the 19th century, New Testament exegesis was overshadowed by the school of Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860), which envisaged a sharply opposed Petrine (Peter) and Pauline (Paul) antithesis in the primitive church, followed in the 2nd century by a synthesis that is reflected in most of the New Testament writings. In France, Ernest Renan’s (1823–92) works on early Christianity were helpful philological and historical studies; the most popular volume, his Vie de Jésus (1863), was the least valuable. In England, where the poet and educator Matthew Arnold (1822–88) endeavoured to find an impregnable moral foundation for biblical authority, New Testament exegesis received contributions of unsurpassed worth between 1865 and the end of the century from J.B. Lightfoot, B.F. Westcott, and F.J.A. Hort.

At the beginning of the 20th century a new direction was given to Gospel interpretation by the German scholar William Wrede (Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangelien, 1901) and the medical missionary theologian Albert Schweitzer (The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Eng. trans., 1910), who so emphasized the eschatological orientation of Jesus’ mind and message that New Testament scholarship can never be the same again. The writings of the biblical scholar C.H. Dodd (The Parables of the Kingdom, 1935; The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments, 1936) stressed realized eschatology—that the standards of the last times were realized by Jesus and his disciples—in the preaching of Jesus and of the primitive church; he has been a leading pioneer of the “biblical theology” movement. Karl Barth’s (1886–1968) commentary on Romans (1919) launched an existential interpretation of the New Testament, which has been pursued more radically by Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), under the influence of Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911), according to whom the interpreter must project himself into the author’s experience so as to relive it, and of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), whose conception of the truly authentic man as capable of freedom because he has faced reality provides the “pre-understanding” for Bultmann’s existential theology. Bultmann’s disciple Ernst Fuchs considers the hermeneutical task to be the creation of a “language event” in which the authentic language of Scripture encounters one now, challenging decision, awakening faith, and accomplishing salvation. The chief rival to existential exegesis is the “salvation-history” hermeneutic espoused by Oscar Cullmann.

Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Dibelius (1883–1947) pioneered the modern form-critical study of the Gospels. The form-critical method was fruitfully applied to the Old Testament by Hermann Gunkel (1862–1932) and Sigmund Mowinckel (1884–1965). Among Catholic scholars, exegetical studies are vigorously promoted by Jean Daniélou (with his researches into early Jewish Christianity), the Dominicans of the École Biblique et Archéologique (The School of the Bible and Archeology) in Jerusalem (to whom one must credit the Jerusalem Bible), and the Jesuits of the Pontifical Biblical Institute and others.

The encouragement given by the second Vatican Council (1962–65) of the Roman Catholic Church to biblical scholarship, to be cultivated in association with “separated brethren” and with consideration for the requirements of non-Christians, is one indication of a new direction in biblical exegesis, in which this study will no longer be pursued as a vindication of sectional traditions but rather as a cooperative enterprise aiming at making widely available the permanent value of the Bible.

Frederick Fyvie Bruce