WHAT IS THE OLD TESTAMENT?

-unconditional ties of God to Israel or the conditional bond of Israel to God.

- RELIGIOUS BOOK
- Tells about the religious life of the people of ancient Israel who composed the community where
Christianity would grow up.
- HOLY
- Tells us that the it is not just a book, but also a sacred book (holy scripture) by which Christians
find it comfort and also the word of God.
o THE BIBLE
Contains everything we need to be saved. Highest standard of our faith
- TESTAMENT
- It is something that tells the truth
- Tells the truth about our God and his will to us.
- Covenant or agreement
- COVENANT- a binding relationship between parties, specifically they are bound in covenant with
God through Christ. WE ARE HIS PEOPLE and HE IS OUR GOD. We are pleased to obey it.
- AGREEMENT- tells us about our agreement with GOD and makes us a living part of that
covenant.
- The OLD TESTAMENT is our covenant with God.
- Being the REVEALED WORD OF GOD
- (1) Instrument of communication
(2) inspired witness to what God has shown to us
(3) part of our bible, which is the rule of Christian living.

HOW AM I TO RELATE WITH IT?
1) WORDS FREQUENTLY USED:
a. TORAH/PENTATEUCH (PENTA-TYOOK)
i. A Hebrew word that literally means teaching,
ii. TORAH- refers to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
1. THE FIVE SCROLLS (Pentateuch)

b. APOCRYPHA
i. things that are hidden
ii. used to designate the books that are withdrawn from public use by the
Protestant church
iii. Deutero-conanicals- Part of the Roman Catholic church canon
iv. Consist of 14 books and Letter of Jeremiah as the final chapter of Baruch.
1. The first book of Esdras
2. The second book of Esdras
3. Tobit
4. Judith
5. The additions to the Book of Esther
6. The wisdom of Solomon
7. Ecclesiasticus, or Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach
8. Baruch
9. The Letter of Jeremiah
10. The prayer of Azariah and the song of the Three Young Men
11. Susanna
12. Bel and the Dragon
13. The Prayer of Manasseh
14. The first book of the Maccabees
15. The second book of the Maccabees

c. PROPHET
i. Refers to the go-between parties.
ii. Communicates the will of God to the people

d. COVENANT
i. Refers to a relationship that has the following characteristics: COMMITMENT,
PROMISE AND OBLIGATION, and DURABILITY.
ii. Committed to each other under a promise to fulfill their obligations not only
once but thereafter.
iii. oath
iv. Background by which salvation unfolds throughout the bible.

2) THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT:
a. CANON- refers to the concept of measurement.
i. Stalk of reed that was used to measure.
b. CANON OF SCRIPTURES- refers to the standardized books being used, accepted, and
regarded by the church (AUTHORITATIVE)
c. GREEK VERSION OF OLD TESTAMENT ( The Septuagint or LXX)
i. was long used by the Christians especially those Greek-speaking Christians
outside Palestine who did not have access to the Hebrew versions or did not
speak Hebrew
ii. LXX= APOCRYPHA
1. Found in the present canon of the Roman Catholic
iii. Sacred and authoritative; was not official until AD 100
iv. First English translation based from the Hebrew appeared in the 16
th
Century
with William Tyndales translation of the Pentateuch in 1530.
v. King James Version is the most among the widely used version of the Protestant
bible.
















HEBREW CANON CHRISTIAN BIBLE
PROTESTANT ROMAN CATHOLIC AND
ORTHODOX CHURCH
TORAH 1. BERESHITH (IN THE
BEGINNING)
1. GENESIS PENTATEUCH 1. GENESIS
2. ..+
2. SHEMOTH (NAMES) 2. EXODUS 3. EXODUS
3. WAYIQRA (AND HE
CALLED)
3. LEVITICUS 4. LEVITICUS
4. BEMIDBAR (IN THE
WILDERNESS)
4. NUMBERS 5. NUMBERS
5. DEBARIM ( WORDS) 5. DEUTERONOMY 6. DEUTERONOMY
NEBIIM
(PROPHETS)
6. YEHOSHUA 6. JOSHUA HISTORICAL
BOOKS
7. JOSHUA
FORMER 7. SHOFETIM (JUDGES) 7. JUDGES 8. JUDGES
8. SHEMUEL 8. RUTH 9. RUTH
9. MELAKIM ( KINGS) 9. I SAMUEL 10. I SAMUEL
10. II SAMUEL 11. II SAMUEL
11. I KINGS 12. I KINGS
12. II KINGS 13. II KINGS
13. I CHRONICLES 14. I CHRONICLES
14. II CHRONICLES 15. II CHRONICLES
15. EZRA 16. EZRA
16. NEHEMIAH
a. (APOCRYPHAL)
b. (APOCRYPHAL)
17. NEHEMIAH
18. TOBIT
19. JUDITH
17. ESTHER 20. ESTHER
LATTER
PROPHETS
MAJOR
10. YESHAYAHU 18. JOB POETRY AND
WISDOM
21. JOB
11. YIRMEYAHU 19. PSALMS 22. PSALMS
12. YEHEZQEL 20. PROVERBS 23. PROVERBS
MINOR 13. TERE ASAR
(TWELVE)
HOSHEA
YOEL
AMOS
OBADYAHU
YONAH
MICAH
NAHUM
HABAQQUQ
ZEPHANYA
HAGGAIZEKARYAHU
MALAKI
21. ECCLESIASTES 24. ECCLESIASTES
22. SONG OF SOLOMONS 25. SONG OF
SOLOMON
26. WISDOM OF
SOLOMON
KETHUBIM
(WRITINGS)
14. TEHELIM (PRAISES) 23. ISAIAH PROPHETIC
WRITINGS
27. ISAIAH
15. IYYOB 24. JEREMIAH 28. JEREMIAH
16. MISHLE 25. LAMENTATIONS 29. LAMENTATIONS
(PROVERSBS OF)
17. RUTH (APOCRYPHAL) 30. BARUCH
INCLUDING THE
LETTER OF
JEREMIAH (RC
ONLY)
18. SHIR HASHIRIM
(SxONGS OF
SONGS)
31.
19. QOHELETH
h(PREACHER)
26. EZEKIEL 32. EZEKIEL
FETAL
SCROLLS
20. EKAH 27. DANIEL 33. DANIEL
21. ESTER 28. HOSEA 34. HOSEA
22. DANIEL 29. JOEL 35. JOEL
23. EZRA- NEHEMIYAH 30. AMOS 36. AMOS
24. DIBRE HAYAMIM
(CHRONICLES)
31. OBADIAH 37. OBADIAH
32. JONAH 38. JONAH
33. MICAH 39. MICAH
34. NAHUM 40. NAHUM
35. HABAKKUK 41. ZEPHANIAH
36. ZEPHANIAH 42. HAGGAI
37. HAGGAI 43. ZECHARIAH
38. ZECHARIAH 44. MELACHI
39. MELACHI
(APOCRYPHAL)
(APOCRYPHAL)
45. I MECCABEES
46. II MECCABEES

3) DEVELOPMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
-went through a long and complex process helps taking its final shape as known today.
a. How and where did it all start?
i. The beginning of Israel is usually traced to the person of Abraham
ii. From Abraham was born Isaac- father of Jacob(Israel)- the father of the 12
pillars of Israel
iii. Not sure where the community grew from single ethnic (racial or tribal)
composition
iv. There were others other than Israelites that joined them [EXODUS 12:38]
v. Israelites had their bitter experience- SLAVERY- (became slaves in Egypt after
death of joseph)
vi. They escape to the wilderness and their subsequent tribal confederation in
CANAAN.
1. Here they were able to go out of Egypt through the leadership of
MOSES

b. GOD= YAHWEH
c. ORAL TRADITION= simply the collection of stories songs, and poems in unwritten form
found in a certain community.
i. This was already been using before the bible was written
ii. In the bible, the stories are derived from the Oral tradition
iii. Used as the basis content of the written bible since it came first.
iv. Until now, they still practice Oral Tradition
v. Stories are told using the medium of sound; the story teller do not stop and big
chance that the listener have missed some of the stories.
d. Probable intermediate sources of the Pentateuch
i. wrote from the oral tradition
ii. PENTATEUCH= composite work
TETRATEUCH = 4 BOOKS
HEXATEUCH = 6 BOOKS

e. J, E,D, P
i. 4 strands of traditions that Pentateuch has
ii. Works of Graf and Wellhausen became dominant and known as Graf-
Wellhausen hypothesis
iii. Documentary source of the hypothesis
J-TRADITION: Yahwist traditionist/ writer wrote an epic from the oral tradtiotion
E- TRADITION: another writer from Northern Israel
D- TRADITION: parts of 2 kings (chapter 22-23) were published in the 7
th
century
P- TRADITION: priestly writers, during the time of the exile, compiled those 3
documents and added their own ( Pentateuch) FINAL REDACTOR
4) APPROACHING THE OLD TESTAMENT WITH UNDERSTAND
a. The old testament is a religious literature
i. The Hebrews- people of God.
b. The old testament is a part of the Judeo-Christian Tradition
c. The old testament is understood in the back ground of tradition and reason
d. The resurrection of Jesus gives light to the understanding of the Christian faith.
FOR US, myth and legends may be problematic but for Ancient HEBREWS or ISRAELITES they are not.
e. For HEBREWS myth and legends are functional in character. They are ways to explain
what the Hebrews believe to be true.
f. We are using myth and legends to express what we believe to be true.
g. MYTHS- are stories not so much to prove as to tell the origin of a thing or event.
h. LEGENDS are stories centered on a character/s and such stories are partly based on
history.
i. GOD CREATED or MAKER OF EVERYTHING
5) TOOLS OF STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT
a.
b. criticism to distinguish them from the methods of the hard sciences requiring
quantitative formulations.
c.
Tools Use or application
Textual criticism
Historical criticism
Grammatical criticism

The quest for the original wording
The setting in time and space
This language of the text
The composition structure and rhetorical
Literary criticism

Tradition/ transmission criticism
.
5Form criticism
Redaction criticism
style of the text question of authorship
The stages in the development of the text
The genre and function of the text
The final, canonical viewpoint and
theology expressed in the text.
d.