BIBLE FOR YOU!--No.4!--The Books of the Bible! DO 2689 10/90
--Classtime with Grandpa!
1. Amen, Lord, bless the children now as they seek to remember these points which are important. Give them wisdom & give them a good memory. Refresh their memory & help them to write good notes in whatever sequence they wish.--In Jesus' name! Amen!
2. The arrangement of the Books of the Bible in their present order was begun by the Septuagint, a group of 70 translators, Bible scholars, who were sent from Jerusalem to Egypt to translate the original Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. Now, write down the word "Septuagint." That's "s-e-p-t-u-a-g-i-n-t." (David: With an "i"?) Yes. I used to tell my class in school who were such bad spellers, "If it even looks like it or sounds like it, I'll give you credit for it!"--Ha! (Techi: Well, it's true, the English language is really hard!) Yes, it is! Aren't you glad it's your mother tongue? (Kids: Yes!)
3. So there were 70 Bible scholars assembled to translate & to decide on what the proper order should be, & it was called the Septuagint, because "septuagint" means 70 in Latin.
4. At that time there were some Books between the Old & New Testaments called the Apocryphal Books. They were some very interesting tales of things that were supposed to have happened to different people in between the Testaments. They were mostly history & some talked about the war that went on between Israel & Syria. (Techi: The Maccabean Wars.) Yes, & that's a good word to put on the test, "Maccabees"! They were brothers, I think there were five of them, who carried on these wars as leaders or generals of the armies. (Spells:) M-a-c-c-a-b-e-a-n. They were always spoken of as the Maccabean brothers, & they supposedly carried on this war for about 40 of the 300 years between the Old Testament & the New Testament. Scholars vary on the number of years this war went on. (Techi: Was their war against the Syrians?) Right!
5. Now these are things you don't necessarily have to know, but it's good to know so that you know just how the Bible was developed. At the time of the Septuagint meeting of these scholars, they put the Old Testament Books in the order in which they are now. I think it was some time later in 400 A.D., after the early Christian era, when they established the New Testament Books & their order, & they called this the Canon.--Meaning the Books which they believed were genuine Books & named after their proper authors, the Books that they considered the real Scripture, the Holy Word of God. But they were not sure that the Apocryphal Books were inspired; they were more like Jewish history.
6. (David: Are they gone forever or can you find them somewhere?) Any Catholic Bible has'm in between the Testaments. The Apocryphal Books were never recognised by the Jews as part of the Hebrew Scriptures, neither were they recognised by the Early Church. The Early Church said they did not believe the Apocryphal Books were of divine inspiration, but that they were useful for the history and stories, etc., and that it was up to the people who published Bibles whether they wanted to include them or not. It's been the Catholic custom to include them, and it's been the Protestant custom not to include them.
7. So that's when they sorted out the Bible & put it in its very distinct order.--The Old Testament somewhere around 250 B.C. & the New Testament around 400 A.D. It's a very excellent, thorough organisation of the way the Books are listed, & it is very good for you to know how to readily find what you want, what part of the Bible you want, what Book of the Bible you want, etc.
8. All right! So what conference was it of Bible scholars? Let's call it a conference, the Septuagint Conference. And by the way, they met in Alexandria, Egypt. Alex-andria. It sounds like the names of two people, doesn't it? And this is the way they organised the Bible, first the Old Testament, & then later another bunch of people did the New Testament. It's good for you to know this because it'll help you understand why the Bible is laid out like it is. Do you think this is boring? (David: Oh no!) (Techi: This is interesting!) Do you think it's a good idea? (Kids: Yes!)
Divisions of the Books of the Old Testament!
9. Now, can anybody tell me the first five Books of the Bible without looking at them? OK, Techi. (Techi: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.) Very good! These are known as the five Books of Moses, and they also have several other names. Take a look at Genesis and what does it say there, above the title "Genesis"? (Techi: "The First Book of Moses, called Genesis.") Is that what yours says, too? (David: No, mine doesn't say that.) Yours doesn't say that, isn't that funny.
10. Well, anyhow, these Books usually are known in nearly all Protestant, & I think Catholic Bibles, too, as "The Five Books of Moses." Now when it comes to the Jews, they also believe those are the first five Books of Moses, but they have another name that they usually call this section of the Bible--"The Law." And when they say "The Law" they call it, therefore, "The Torah," T-o-r-a-h, which means "The Law." On the test I may ask you for either one or all three of the names of the five Books of Moses--the Books of Moses, the Law or the Torah.
11. Have you got that? All right! Look at your list of Books & let's see what you would call the whole next section that goes from Joshua through Esther. (Techi: My Bible says it!) It does? It tells you what they are? (Techi: Yes.) That's good, what does it say? (Techi: History.) Right, those are the History Books!
12. Then the next five Books, Job through Song of Solomon, what would you call those? (David: Poetic?) Yes, the Poetry Books. Then the next five Books, Isaiah through Daniel, what would you call those? (David: The Major Prophets.) That's right!
13. By the way, you should be drawing lines under each of these sections. You should have a line under Deuteronomy, that's the end of the Books of Moses. Then you need to have a line under Esther, that's the end of the Historical Books, a line under Song of Solomon, the end of the Poetry Books, & a line under Daniel, the last of the Major Prophets.
14. From Hosea through Malachi, what would you call those Books? What are they? Who are each of these people? (David: They're Prophets.) Right! So if these others were the Major Prophets, what would these be? (David: The Minors.) Exactly right! Good, David!--The Minor Prophets.
15. These are called the major divisions of the Books of the Old Testament. Did you write that down? Are you ready for the New Testament or do you want time to write a little more? (David: I'm OK.) Above these notes you should have at the top of the page, "Divisions of the Books of the Bible." Did you write that before? (Techi: Oh, in our Bible?) Well, you could have it in your Bible, yes, but if you're writing down notes, you want to know what the notes are about! (Techi: I have it all here in my Bible, so should I still put more notes?) All right, you don't have to then. (Techi: I could though.) No, you don't have to. Just so you can answer the questions right on your test!
16. Now who can tell me the five major divisions of the Old Testament? (David: I'll try.) OK! (David: Let's see, first comes the Law.) I won't even ask you to tell me which Books. First the Law, right. They are also usually called that in the New Testament. When they're referring to "The Law," it was the Torah. And how many Books are there? (David: Five.) OK!
17. Then what's next, Techi? Close your Bible, let's see if you can remember them. (Techi: History!) History, right! Next five Books? (David: Poetic.) Poetry! Next five Books? (Techi: Major Prophets.) Right! Next 12 Books? (David: The Minor Prophets.) Right! OK! You're doing real well.
Divisions of the New Testament Books!
18. Can we squeeze in the New Testament now? Do you want to get that?--And I'll probably give you a test on this tomorrow. Look at your New Testament Books. These first five Books are called "The Books of History." (Techi: Not the Gospels?) Well, the Gospels are the first four, if you want to be specific about it. But now we're talking about general divisions of the Books, see?--And the first five, including Acts, are the History Books!
19. Now, all the way from Romans through Jude, what do you suppose they'd call them? (David: The Epistles.) The Epistles, right! Jot that down. (Techi: Did Paul do all of them?) No, different men did different ones. James, Peter & John also wrote a lot of Epistles besides Paul, but Paul wrote the most. (David: All the way from Romans to Jude?) Romans through Jude are the Epistles. (David: Interesting! I guess I just never realised it was all letters.) (Techi: Mine has Paul's Epistles & General Epistles.) Well, yes, you can divide them that way, if you want to, but I'm just making it simple. Most of the Books in the New Testament are Epistles. And what does "Epistle" mean? (Techi: Letter.) Right!
20. And the last Book, Revelation, what do you suppose they would call that? (David: Prophetic?) Right! (Techi: Or the Apocalypse?) Yes. Have you got a Catholic Bible? The Catholic Bible calls that Book the Apocalypse, the difference being only this: Revelation is a Latin word & Apocalypse is a Greek word!
21. All right! That's it! That's your lesson for tonight! (Techi: That was really interesting!) (David: Yes, it really was.) I'll expect you to be able to answer questions on that tomorrow. I'll probably ask you questions like this: "What are the first five Books of the Bible called?" And if you give me any one of those three names it's all right. OK? (Techi: Grandpa, thank you so much!) Then I'll ask you, what about the next Books of the Bible, Joshua through Esther, what are they called, what kind of Books are they, etc. Got it? (David: Yes, Sir!)
22. All right! Now you study that & go over that thoroughly. You know what you could do? You could test each other & ask the questions! (Techi: Throughout the day!) OK! Shall we pray?
23. (David: Amen, thank You Jesus for providing this special time to have a Bible Class with Grandpa! We thank You for all that we learned tonight, Jesus, & we thank You for really anointing Grandpa to explain to us about the Bible & help us to learn more about it. We really thank You for that, Jesus, & what a special blessing & privilege it is that we can study the Bible right from Grandpa, & that You've been teaching him all about it all his life, & that now he can teach us, Jesus. We really pray that we'll be able to remember this class that we had & be able to use it later, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus!)
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Text boxes & picture captions:
In Square Hebrew Characters, a passage from the Bible looks like this. Chapter 26, verse 7 of the Book of Exodus describes part of the hangings to be used in the Tabernacle.
In Greek characters, a passage from the Bible looks like this. This sheet from the Washington Gospels, a manuscript of the 300s, is now in the Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C.
The Septuagint
The Septuagint is the oldest Greek translation of the Old Testament. The name "septuagint" comes from a Latin word meaning "seventy." King Ptolemy II of Egypt reportedly brought 70 Jewish scholars to Alexandria to translate the Torah, or Law, the first five Books of the Old Testament. Most scholars believe the translation was prepared for Greek-speaking Jews who no longer understood Hebrew. The Law was translated about 250 B.C.
Torah--The first five Books of the Bible--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy--or the Pentateuch (five books)--are known among the Jews as the Torah, or Law.
Books of the Bible
OLD TESTAMENT
5 Law
12 Historical
5 Poetical
17 Prophetic
NEW TESTAMENT
5 Historical
21 Epistles
1 Prophetic
THE 39 OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS
5 LAW
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
12 HISTORICAL
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
5 POETICAL
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
17 PROPHETIC
Major:
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Minor:
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
THE 27 NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS
5 HISTORICAL
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
21 EPISTLES
Romans
I Corinthians
II Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
I Thessalonians
II Thessalonians
I Timothy
II Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
I Peter
II Peter
I John
II John
III John
Jude
1 PROPHETIC
Revelation
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family