How the Bible Became a Book - Coursework Example

Full How the Bible Became a Book How the Bible became a book has been quite a mystery to a lot of people even to many scholars who attempted in many ways to connect all available materials linked to its making. The word Bible means ‘book’ however, looking at the Bible, it is not just a book but a collection of a sixty six different books varying in length and contents. What could have amazed people about the book would be the length of time it has taken to complete the book as well as the variety of authors to this range of books. This is actually one of the matters that has been put in question by many scholars especially the authority of the writers as well as there education which could support the claim, not of the authors themselves but of researchers in their attempt to piece the puzzle to the evolution of the Bible and make sense of the events especially those involving history. As this is a book which relates the story of early people like the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, historians and other scholars, whatever the thesis of their studies maybe, have always been interested in the Bible and have used it as a guide to their studies, cross-referencing with other historical books. On account of our quest to study on how the Bible became a book, probably the best place to start is where and when the first written text was discovered. That would be at the mountain of Sinai where God gave two tablets of stone containing the commandments God has given to the leader of Israel. The books of Exodus and Deuteronomy account the encounter of Moses with God as He gave instructions to him about how they are supposed to live in a land where they are strangers after being in slavery for centuries under Egypt. Staying on the top of the mountain alone for days, speaking with God, the story of Moses destroying the tablets is told when he got angry because he found the Israelites on the foot of the mountain worshiping an idol they have casted out from gold. After this incident, Moses again went up the mountain where he met with God on behalf of the Israelites because they were afraid of His holiness. Before Moses went down from the mountain, it was here that God instructed him to write all the commandments given to him which he did (Exodus 34). This so far is the earliest account of a written communication as far as the Bible is concerned. The Hebrew word ‘Torah’, meaning teaching of Yaweh, as used in Jeremiah 8:8 refers not only to the written law or commandment but to teaching as well which have been orally passed down through generations as shown in Proverbs 3:1 and 6:20. Though these verses do not say how the teachings were passed, we can see from Deuteronomy 11:19 that the laws were taught to children at a very young age while the parents sit with them at home, while walking on the road and when lying down or getting up as commanded by the Lord. From this, we deduce that the stories found in Genesis have been passed on from earlier generations. The question now would be who wrote the Bible. Schniedewind argues in his book which is the main source of this paper that, authors of the Bible are still in question as to the popularized writers of the different books. For instance, he questions the validity of Moses as the author of Deuteronomy; the fourth book in the Bible because as the author, Moses should have written in the first person. On the contrary, the author uses the third person using the sentence, ‘God said to Moses, "I Am who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you.’(NIV). This was the telling of the story of how Moses was instructed to go to Egypt to bring the Israelites out from their bondage. Schniedewind’s argument that if Moses was the author, he should have written, ‘God said to me’ instead of ‘God said to Moses’ is logically acceptable and would really put the claim of researchers that Moses wrote the early books of the Bible, in the dark. This phenomenon still is a quandary to many scholars as there are still much to unmask when it comes to this matter. On the matter of the authorship of Moses to the book of Deuteronomy, from the book itself, on the ninth verse of the thirty first chapter, it was the first time that this was emphatically mentioned. So we could say that the latter part of the book was written by Moses but still there remains the vagueness of the author of the earlier part. In addition, the debate seems to never end as to who wrote the book of Deuteronomy because there are researchers who don’t easily accept what we have noted on the possibility of a claim that Moses could be one of the authors of the book. On the other hand, there are others who on the contrary go to the extent of attributing the whole book to Moses because of the mention of his writing the law. As we have discussed earlier in a similar text derived from the book of Exodus, it was clearly stated that Moses was instructed from the start of his Nomadic leadership towards the Israelites to write, which now is the basis of some scholars of their claim that Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy. In a reflective point of view, God and not even a mere man would ask one to write something when he knows that someone does not know how to do so. The ability of Moses to write could be traced back to his royal upbringing in the palace of the pharaoh’s daughter in Egypt. Another concern about the authorship of the books of the Bible is the authority of the writers. During the Assyrian empire, urbanization was widely spread and was fast in its growing. Literacy was widespread among all the social classes with the influence of the Assyrians and the use of the Aramaic language which was even preferred by the Assyrians as compared to their own language, Akkadian, because of the former language ease in use and recognition. Perhaps the greatest contribution of Hezekiah to the writing of the Bible in this period is the building of a tunnel whose story is related in Isaiah 22:9-11 and 2Kings 20:20. This tunnel carries many inscriptions along its walls. At this time, there was a division between the Northern and Southern kingdoms which Hezekiah was trying to reunite in the attempt to bring back the glory of the Davidic and Solomonic kingship. His personal interest of making a record on Israel’s golden age greatly affected the writing of the Bible so that the works of his scribes are questioned. For example, the account of proverbs 25:1 ascribing the saying as belonging to Solomon, the question of the validity of this claim is raised. Could it have been that Hezekiah indeed had the intention of writing out a perfect history of Israel during his time? This is a question that keeps us wondering about who the real authors of the books are. Giving justice to the scribes and the king, Schniedewind gives the benefit of the doubt by posing a question of possibility and not give a finality to his assumption. When it comes to inquiry of the Bible, Jeremiah gives light to some information about it in chapter 8 verses 7-9 where Torah, Davar and Mishpat are mentioned. From researches, Torah is referred to as the written text of God, but brings up a debatable issue on which text it is. Most scholars consider the first five books or the Pentateuch but some limit it only to Deuteronomy. This non-explicit attribution of the term causes another puzzle for researchers to solve, seeking more evidence with respect to whatever discoveries there have been excavated and would still arise. Davar, on the other hand is known as the Word of Yaweh which refers to the spoken word of God through the prophets. This has influenced the Bible at large and in fact, almost half of the books in the Old Testament are ascribed to prophets. Then we have the Mishpat which is known as the Tradition or custom of Yaweh, those which have been passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth, practice and in written form as well. Similarly, this made a great impact in the making of the Bible to what we have now. Another query which has equally boggled the minds of many for years is the time of writing of the books. It is known that the Bible was not written in just one era but in a period of hundreds of years and of different authors, some having been written as the circumstances unfold and some, years after the events. For the early books of the Bible, these are believed to have been written during the time of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah as they are found to have lived during a time when the urbanization of Jerusalem was growing and this growth was directly proportional to the spread of literacy. This account of argument could be due to the limited number of people who were literate in ancient times as literacy was mostly constricted among the elite, usually the king’s house. During the time of the patriarchs, writing could have been practiced only by a few especially that writing was not much appreciated as a tool for excellence but were believed to have something to do with magic, power and royal administration as exemplified in Isaiah 4:3 where the writing is linked to the blessing of whose names were recorded among the living in Jerusalem during the time of Isaiah. Schniedewind argues as to when the Bible was written in reference to the less than one percent of Egypt and Mesopotamia’s population as considered literate. This lack in literacy marks a problem in determining the real authors of the Bible especially for people like Amos, a shepherd in Tekoa who later became a prophet (Amos 1:1) and whose story is told in the book under his name. To this opinion, Schniedewind notes the Mesah Hashavyahu Ostracon, a letter that pleads for a man’s confiscated garment to be returned to him in the hope that the addressee will take pity of him and help him get his garment from the one who confiscated it. Deducing from the letter, the writer or the one who dictated the contents of the letter was a farmer. With this information and the fact that the letter was written redundantly, it is supposed that the source of the letter was not eloquent in his writing and pictures the general writing skill of commoners during that time. Excavated artifacts give us a glimpse of the socio-economic circumstances of these periods and thus make us understand further the possibility of who wrote the Bible and when the Bible was written. Making use of such sources though, is not confined to the written form on scrolls but in other materials as well like the Kelef Hinnom or silver amulets which have been discovered by the archeologist, Gabriel Barkay. The amulets he excavated date back to the seventh century BCE and show the circumstances during that time which are essential to researchers and historians as it gives a lot of stories in itself. For instance, the amulets show inscriptions of the verses from Numbers 6:24-26, ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.’ This could be referenced to the command of God mentioned earlier on Deuteronomy 6:8 where the Israelites are to write his laws on their doorposts, binding them on their hands and foreheads. Then there is also the graffiti which tells the ability of the non-scribal populace to write during this period. The Khirbet-el-Qôm is a discovery of a graffiti which was not from the scribes as should have been expected but from the texts, the writings claim to belong to a tomb cutter, a common man. Pointing to the classical Hebrew language used in the writing of the Torah, otherwise known as the Pentateuch or the first five books, it is assumed that these are not written on an earlier date than the Persian period or the fifth to the fourth century BCE otherwise the late Hebrew language could have been used. In confirming the dates of the probable encoding of the books or texts in the Bible, one of the tools used to verify is the Hellenistic Book of Jubilees which similarly accounts the story of the early people in the Bible, though with a few differences like the naming of the daughters of Adam and Eve and mentioning an angel who assisted Moses in writing of the revelation he received on Mount Sinai. An era worth taking note in the evolution of the Bible is during the time of exile where the book of kings and the book of Jeremiah present interesting comparisons as to the contents of the two books. The argument of an earlier existence of a written form of the book of kings is assumed in this matter. This assumption can be attributed to Exodus 24:7 where ‘The Scroll of the Covenant’ is read by Moses among the people and is mentioned again in 2 Kings 23:2 and 21, being found in the temple by Hilkiah, the priest of Josiah. Similarly, the book of kings could have been existent before the writing of the book of Jeremiah which could possibly be a rewriting of the former book where he inserted his own ideas. This belief is based on the seemingly copied work from 2 Kings as well as the doubts around the authority of the exiled royal family whom scholars consider to have been close to even during the time of their exile. This relationship could have drawn changes in the texts like the assumptions regarding the scribes of Hezekiah. This may be unfounded but scholars consider as an important aspect to examine thoroughly as such probabilities have been found in ancient rulers to preserve the integrity of their leadership. In the case of the exiled royal family, Jehoiachin’s absolution from the direct blame to the Babylonian exile is a reason great enough for the editing of the books. Also, the influences of the Babylonian empire is to be greatly considered in the writing of the latter parts of the Bible, with the king of Judah in exile in their country and his grandfather, king Jehoahaz in Egypt and Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle sitting on the throne of Judah. The competition for power between the great nations in the sixth century is believed to have pressing influences to Jehoaichin, a great power in the Old Testament books when he is made to decide on the preservation of the throne. The possibility of Babylonian influence to the book is also considered on account of a pardon or better treatment to the royal family. Moreover, Jeremiah’s contemporary, the prophet Ezekiel verbally referred to Zedekiah, the royal regent in Jerusalem as the ‘vile, wicked prince of Israel’. Moreover, the writing of the Bible during the Babylonian exile has been greatly influenced with regards beliefs as well as language that there have been a division in the periods before and after the exile. This leads to the division of the language used like in the pre-exilic period wherein the use of the classical Hebrew was noted as opposed to the late Biblical Hebrew after the exile. The Babylonian influence during the exile has pushed to a greater level the importance of the writing of the Hebrew laws and order in the attempt to preserve their historical data. On the sixth century when the Israelites were banished in Babylon, historical data shows the wealth of the literary works which could more likely have influenced authors of the Bible during this time to follow suit. The final group who would have influenced the Bible that we have today is the group of priests who ruled Jerusalem after the exile. This post-exilic era also known as the Persian period also calls for equal attention to the influences the socio-economic and political circumstances had on the writing of the Bible. It was also during the time of the priests that Hellenistic period had an influence in the history of Jerusalem, thus both periods have overlapping effects especially when it comes to the carving of the literary affairs of the nation. The Persian period was considered to be the ‘dark’ era in the sense that little was known about it. As the priests’ power increased upon the end of the Davidic leadership, they became the most prominent figures in the editing and addition of texts to what have already been changed in the periods we already discussed. The great influence during this period would be the use of the Greek language as well as the Greek cultures, just like how the exilic period were influenced largely by the Babylonians. This period brought literacy to an even higher degree but with the cultural influences to the Jews, the writing and editing of the Bible shows much of the views. Following this short era is the Hellenistic influence after the end of the Yehud kingdom wherein is defined by a slow growth in the population as well as with its economic status. The priests have now full control over the nation’s taxes and other affairs including the destiny of the finalization of the book which has written out Israel’s history, the Bible. The levying of taxes on the people at this time is interpreted as a show of the poor economic status of Jerusalem. From the accounts of the prophet Nehemiah, we learn that there were just a few people in Jerusalem and the city was in a state of total devastation shown by the unrepaired walls. This period then called for the merging of forces of faithful citizens like Nehemiah and Ezra to get the people to repair the walls and build the city. They would then play a great part in the final editing of the Bible, with the influence of the Grecian culture in which they grew. The use of the Grecian language is still the greatest influence found on the Jewish literature by scholars along with the concern of the Hellenistic view on authorship, when we consider the writing of the Bible. This effect continued to the time of the writers of the New Testament wherein some of the original texts used the language. In addition, the influence of the Royal family to the writing of the Bible at this period still continues with the presence of Haggai, a prophet who was a descendant of Jehoiachin. The closing of his book gives an air of hope to the restoration of the Jehoiachin’s family line on the throne. Thus, this is considered by scholars as a writing of the Bible by and for the royal family. Whatever the changes there have been, it surely has greatly affected the Bible the modern person holds today and is the information which could shape one’s beliefs not unless records could again be found to be used in cross referencing the historical data in the Bible. Read More