FORMATION OF THE BIBLE

THE HEBREW BIBLE GREW BY DEGREES

The formation of the biblical canon—the list of books officially recognized as Scripture—was a slow and gradual process. At no time during the period of the Bible’s formation did a religious council, either Jewish or Christian, explicitly determine its contents.

BABYLON DESTROYS JERUSALEM In 587 BCE Babylon

destroys Jerusalem and its temple

The merchant class is taken hostage to Babylon where they remain for 70 years when Persia defeated Babylon and released the Israelites.

PAPYRUS

Biblical books typically written on papyrus, paperlike sheets made from the papyrus plant, then rolled around small wooded sticks to form a scroll

Manufacture of papyrus probably originated in Egypt shortly after 3000 BCE

SCROLL

Torah scroll the most sacred object in the synagogue

MASORETIC TEXT (MT) Medieval Hebrew

scholars (Masoretes) of the 9th and 10th centuries CE who produced Hebrew scripture manuscripts.

SCRIBES Scrupulously copied every letter of the

text, and added vowel sounds and accent marks.

Their work is crucial for modern translators.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS discovered in 1947

biblical manuscripts dating from the second century BCE to the first century CE found in caves near Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea;

two sets of manuscripts, almost 200 biblical scrolls,

DEAD SEA SCROLLS, CONTINUED Had discrepancies from the MT;

However, what the younger group of scrolls indicates is that at some point after the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-73 CE) and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (70 CE), Jewish scribes succeeded in producing a relatively standardized edition of the biblical text.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL SCROLLS?

Not a single scrap of any biblical author’s original composition has survived;

ancient scribes also acted as editors and commentators, adding explanatory phrases or otherwise modifying the text to reflect the covenant community’s ever-changing circumstances

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

In about 3200 BCE, Sumerians devised a system of writing known as cuneiform—wedge shaped symbols inscribed with a metal stylus on wet clay tablets. When dried, the tablets are almost indestructible.

Their written literature is about gods, creation, and afterlife

SUMER ‘CRADLE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION’

THEMES REPEATED IN HEBREW BIBLE Some cuneiform

literature anticipates themes found in the Hebrew Bible, including traditions about the world’s creation from a water chaos and a devastating prehistoric flood.

GENEAOLOGY OF KINGS clay prism with

genealogies of kings inscribed, anticipating the genealogies of Genesis . . .

EPIC OF GILGAMESH Mesopotamian

literature with many similarities to the Hebrew Bible.

Long narrative of a hero’s adventure, including a deluge that destroyed the earth

DISCOVERY OF THE GILGAMESH FLOOD STORY

made scholars aware, for the first time, that the Genesis authors had drawn on an older Mesopotamian tradition in composing the biblical text.

Clay tablets, survived with the stories

Gilgamesh builds an ark, takes aboard pairs of animals and thus survives a watery cataclysm

FROM GENESIS‘A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. The first is named the Pishon, and this encircles the whole land of Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is pure; bdellium and onyx stone are found there. The second river is name the Gihon, and this encircles the whole land of Cush. The third river is name the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it.’

CODE OF HAMMURABI

A code of law published in the reign of Hammurabi, divided into 282 separate units by modern scholars, the Code of Hammurabi is inscribed on a solid stele of black diorite nearly eight feet tall, erected for public reading;

18th century BCE, contains statutes resembling laws found in the Mosaic Torah

HAMMURABI’S LAWS Expressed in the same

literary structure and, in some instances, have the same content as Mosaic decrees. Both refer specifically to ‘widows and orphans’

--Eye for an eye--Lex talionis ‘law of retaliation’--Limits the degree of

vengeance to which a wronged party is entitled

TEL High, isolated

mounds that dot the Near Eastern landscape. They indicated the sites of long-term human occupation, with a series of towns built successively atop one another

ZIGGURAT

A towering, multi-tiered edifice, dominating the landscape

Amorites established Babylon near the modern border of Syria and Iraq

Hammurabi was king there Israelites captured and in exile in

Babylon +/- 70 years

BABYLON