The Experience of the Absence of God in the Christian Life

The Absence of God

well, at least the Old Testament has one thing going for it

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2014/12/well-at-least-the-old-testament-has-one-thing-going-for-it/

by Peter Enns

December 16, 2014

Comments

I kid of course. I happen to think the OT has a lot going for it, which is why I force my hapless undergrads to deal with it.

But not too long ago it snuck in the backdoor of my mind that the OT has something of core spiritual value that the NT doesn’t–the repeated observation and lamentation over God’s absence, the sense of God’s abandonment.

The OT, as we all know, has a serious dark side–what Walter Brueggemann calls Israel’s “counter testimony.”

In Israel’s main testimony, the story from Genesis through 2 Kings (from creation to exile), Israel’s plan for what it means to be the people God is laid out (albeit with all sorts of intersting and unexpected bumps and grooves): obedience to God leads to life in the land while disobedience leads to divine punishment and eventually exile.

The blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience are laid out nicely in Deuteronomy 27-30, and the same general idea in poetic form can be seen in Psalm 1.

But a key dimension of Israel’s tradition is the observation that the “rules of the game” that God insists on can’t be counted on.

Psalm 73, for example, notices that–contrary to God’s promise–the wicked prosper all the time and the righteous endure long days of suffering. Psalm 88 is a cry for help to God, but he is a no-show–darkness is the psalmist’s only companion (see the last verse). Right next door is Psalm 89, which in effect calls God a liar for failing to keep his promise that David’s line will continue forever (v. 36). The throne is empty now that Israel is in exile. God is, therefore, a promise-breaker.

And don’t get me started on Ecclesiastes and Job. Qohelet, the main character in Ecclesiastes, is seriously depressed and not a little ticked off at how God has set up the world. We go about our work day after day, it’s all the same, and we never actually have anything to show for it, because at the end of the day “you can’t take it with you.” Death cancels out all our achievements. “This is how God has set up the world, so don’t talk to me about blessing and curses, rewards and punishments.”

And nowhere in the book is there any attempt to “correct” Qohelet. In fact, the end of the book pronounces Qohelet as “wise” precisely because his words are painful, like spiked sticks used for driving sheep and cattle.

And poor Job. “Suffering” is too shallow a word to describe how his life utterly obliterated the neat world of  “actions have consequences” that we see in Israel’s main testimony. Job’s friends try again and again to help Job see the light: “You’re suffering Job. Read your Bible. You suffer because there is some sin in your life. There must be. Actions have consequences.”

Job’s response throughout is, “I don’t care what you say. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.” Even though Job’s friends merely repeated the “actions have consequences” idea that is hammered home elsewhere in the OT, at the end of the book God himself turns to Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, and says, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (42:7). Even God isn’t held to the “biblical teaching” of the main testimony.

My point is that this sort of honest and even unnerving grappling with “what in the world God is up to and why should any of us bother with this God who lays out a plan that doesn’t seem to work in the day to day world” is all over the OT.

But you don’t find it in the NT.

In a word, the NT has a more triumphalist tone. In Christ, God has shown up definitively, finally. The NT writers tell us that in the gospel we see God’s final plan worked out before all the world–in an suffering, executed, and raised messiah.

The NT no doubt grapples with the question of suffering–no happy clappy world does the NT present–but we do not see the same anguish over the sense of God’s absence and abandonment that we see in the OT.

The exception is Jesus’s own cry of God’s abandonment in the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” which is a citation of Psalm 22:1, one of those “Where are you when we actually need you, God?” psalms uttered by the ancient Israelites–the crucified Jew’s abandonment by God sums up and embodies Israel’s experience throughout much of its own history.

But as interesting as that observation may be, that’s not my point here. This is my point: the sense of God’s absence, that anyone who has been a Christian for more than 45 minutes can attest to, finds its biblical echo the OT, not in the NT.

The NT, after all, tells the “end” of Israel’s story–in the sense that “this is where the story of Israel winds up.” The purpose of the NT is not to raise the specter of God’s abandonment but the trumpet call of God’s triumph for Israel and all the world.

But in my experience, this is precisely the problem for people who don’t feel triumphant.

If all we read is the NT, we are left with a sense that, however difficult things may be at the moment, stick with it: Jesus has come and he is coming back very soon.

There is no articulation on the part of NT writers of the deep sense of God’s absence that we find among the OT writers, who are there over the long haul, day in and day out, waiting for God to show up and stick to his own plan.

If all we read is the NT and we are also living though a period of God’s absence, abandonment, a period of doubt, a dark night of the soul, we may likely conclude that there is something very wrong with us for feeling this way.

If we don’t walk around in more or less a state of perpetual triumph and spiritual “victory” we will think we are some lower form of life, further down the ladder of spiritual maturity.

This is why we need to hear the experiences of the ancient Israelites to relieve us of our spiritual shame.

Their experiences are very much like ours today: life is hard, and life of faith does not automatically make it easier. It may actually make it harder at times.

Spiritual struggles are normal for Christians. They are not to be sought after, but they are normal. They are not to be romanticized, but they are normal. They are not to be shown off and bragged over, but they are normal.

To speak otherwise is to ignore the counter testimony. The Bible tells me so–and I’m glad it does.

Social Group Theory and the Question of "Whom Did Cain Marry?"

Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse, by Fernand Cormon

"An individual's self-concept derives from perceived membership in a relevant social group"

- Social Identity Theory, Wikipedia

"Microcultures are specialised subgroups, marked by their own languages, ethos and rule

expectations... A microculture depends on the smallest units of organisation – dyads, groups, or local communities – as opposed to the broader subcultures of race or class, and the wider national/global culture, compared to which they tend also to be more short-lived, as well as voluntarily chosen."

-Microcultures, Wikipedia

Group Identity Tells Us Who We Are

How does a Christian evolutionist read Genesis 1-2 when coming to the story of Adam and Eve's children and who they married? Quite naturally there would be other choices beyond the standard non-evolutionary answer that Adam and Eve's sons only married their sisters based upon the more traditional literalistic reading of the Bible.

However, let us suppose there might be another way to read the story of Genesis....

Let us suppose that the oral legends of the Bible were less concerned with the creation stories of a humanity living beyond the "Gardens of Eden" and more concerned with their own corner of the world. A corner they deemed to be paradise at once in league-and-fellowship with the very God of the universe.

That is, Israel's group identity was solely focused on its own stories, histories, and legacies and not on another nation's stories, histories, or legacies. Consequently, the story of Adam and Eve based upon an early ancient reading of the Israelites were either of very real people, tribe, or clan. Or, of a legendary people (as we have noted here before), telling of Israel's origins as a "God-fearing" race.

Based upon "group identity" a culture more readily identifies with its own legends and stories rather than with another cultural heritage's legends and stories. Without discounting the historicity of Adam and Eve, the ancient Israelites quite naturally concentrated their attention to their own self-affirming perception as a "God-fearing" nation with its own trials of faith and failure.

Telling One-Sided Stories

Israel's p-e-r-c-e-p-t-i-o-n of the world was limited to their personal investments into their traditions and history. Though not denying there were other ancient human cultures and traditions beyond that of their own, those "foreign" cultures and traditions were of less value to Israel's own stories as God's chosen people. A God whom they knew as Yahweh rather than as a God with an Assyrian, Sumerian, or Akkadian name from other more ancient tribes and nation-states.

Why is their no mention of other men and women beyond the Garden of Eden than only that of Adam and Eve? Because it was the perception by the tribes of Israel that those foreign elements of humanity's stories were less central to their own Jewish stories of faith and failure.

That is, the Israelite storyteller knew other men and women in Genesis existed outside of Eden, but this social situation did not matter to him or her. Or factor into his/her account of Israel's spiritual heritage. He/She was more concerned with their own "Adam and Eve" stories and not those creation stories beyond their known group. As such, foreign lands and people were not mentioned. And only mentioned where necessary to complete their familiar story lines.

Narrative (Sociological) Context is Important

And so, with this "wider reading" of the Genesis account through the lenses of "group identity" we find a Genesis story that makes more sense. The question is not necessarily one of either evolution or "special" creation but one of literary and sociological context.

A context of "group identity" and social perception by an ancient race of people creating their own social history in relation to the world of men rather than accepting the more pagan accounts of the nation-states around them that historically preceded their own national formation.

Cain Becomes an Outcast to his Group

Asked again, "Who did Cain marry?" He married another women perhaps from his own region but more likely from beyond "mom-and-dad's" homelands to an unfamiliar homeland of another people either nearby or more distant.

In other words, Cain was alone. Without family or tribe to protect him in an ancient world more skeptical to the foreigner and alien invader. Foreigner's who seemed "less human" in the eyes of the homeland tribe and usually considered threatening or harmful.

Accordingly, the ancient world was reduced to small regional territories of tribes and clans that grew to either trust or distrust one another. Trade and marriage helped to increase communication. And with communication came either greed and war or, fidelity and enlarged community. Quite naturally Cain was at risk as an unknown outcast from an unknown land. A "foreign" land to those he would meet beyond his homelands of Eden.

Our Own Stories

As a religious people bound within our own familiar fellowships and churches we each have our favored stories and perceptions of the Bible, of God, of ourselves, and of others. It is the hope here at Relevancy22 that we widen our stories a bit more to include a larger grouping of religious and spiritual intimates, traditions, heritages, and ideologies.

To remain properly skeptical - but also properly open - to differing accounts of the Bible while holding each nuance in balance with the other until at such a time we can we let all go in God's wisdom, grace, and benevolence.

We live in a very large, vastly complex, and fast-paced world, whose global societies will stretch our Christian identities with other Christian identities and "invading" pluralistic religions. It is important to know our own stories, how-and-where they can flex, and how God's story through us can become mankind's larger story of grace and salvation.

Cain was an outcast from his former society and yet, in God's grace, Cain was preserved in the land of Nod east of Eden. He lived as a marked outcast whose personal story to his wives and children and all whom he met was one of great sin before God. Of envy and murder. But also of God's grace in saving his soul from a death that he did not spare his brother from. And yet God spared him only to live in a foreign land never to return home.

From Cain's descendants came great accomplishments of cities, and lands, and flocks. But also perhaps great pride from unrepentant sin. Pride that does not call on the name of the Lord but on one's own name and the pride of one's ancestors. Of a past marked not by repentance but perhaps of a hard-heart before the Lord as declared by Lamech in avenging his injured pride. Where the musical lyre and pipe were played perhaps to the soulful tune of regret and judgment. Or to the joviality of life in wealth, and deeds, and the lusts of man.

The rightful fear in the story of Cain is one of not repenting from sin and wounded pride. To be come content living as an outcast before the Lord rather than falling on one's knees to weep for forgiveness from a Father God whose grace is sufficient in Christ Jesus our Savior and Redeemer. To be part of the wider family of Abraham. A family of faithful followers obedient to their Lord in all of life however hard or difficult it may be. To rejoice with our brothers and sisters and not be envious. And to lay down one's life for the other if necessary even as Jesus did for us.

Peace,

R.E. Slater

October 29, 2014

Additional References

Wikipedia - Pre-Adamite Civilizations

Special Creation theories arguing against Pre-Adamite Civilizations

Halfway House theories arguing for cosmic and geographical but not biological creation

Wikipedia - Collective Identity

Wikipedia - Social Identity Theory

Wikipedia - Microcultures

Wikipedia - Social Group Theory

Wikipedia - Social Identity

The Genesis Story of Cain and Abel

Genesis 4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Cain and Abel

4 Now the man [a]had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to [b]Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a [c]manchild with the help of the Lord.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about [d]in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, [e]will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain [f]told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! 14 Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord [g]appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.

16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and [h]settled in the land of [i]Nod, east of Eden.

17 Cain [j]had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. 18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad [k]became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael [l]became the father of Methushael, and Methushael [m]became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,

Listen to my voice,

You wives of Lamech,

Give heed to my speech,

For I [n]have killed a man for wounding me;

And a boy for striking me;

24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

25 Adam [o]had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him [p]Seth, for, she said, “God [q]has appointed me another [r]offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call [s]upon the name of the Lord.

Footnotes

Genesis 4:1 Lit knew

Genesis 4:1 I.e. gotten one
Genesis 4:1 Or man, the Lord
Genesis 4:3 Lit at the end of days
Genesis 4:7 Or surely you will be accepted
Genesis 4:8 Lit said to
Genesis 4:15 Or set a mark on
Genesis 4:16 Lit dwelt
Genesis 4:16 I.e. wandering
Genesis 4:17 Lit knew
Genesis 4:18 Lit begot
Genesis 4:18 Lit begot
Genesis 4:18 Lit begot
Genesis 4:23 Or kill
Genesis 4:25 Lit knew
Genesis 4:25 Heb Sheth
Genesis 4:25 Heb shath
Genesis 4:25 Lit seed
Genesis 4:26 Or by

The sacrifices of Abel, the younger, and Cain, the older

Cain murders his brother Abel

Who Was the Wife of Cain?

http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/hebrew-bible/who-was-the-wife-of-cain/

Biblical Archaeology Society Staff • 11/15/2013

A closer look at one of the most enigmatic women in Genesis

Mary Joan Winn Leith explores the identity of the wife of Cain.While there are many examples of strong and inspiring men and women in Genesis, the book is also packed with stories of dysfunctional families, which is evidenced from the very beginning with the first family—Adam, Eve and their two children, Cain and Abel. In no short amount of time—just 16 verses after announcing the birth of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4—Cain has murdered his younger brother and is consequently exiled from the land. In theory, this would have dropped the world’s population from four down to three. The narrative continues in Genesis 4 with Cain settling in the land of Nod and having children with his wife. Who did Cain marry? Where did she come from? Are there other people outside of Eden? In the November/December 2013 issue of BAR, Mary Joan Winn Leith addresses these questions and explores the identity of the wife of Cain in “Who Did Cain Marry?”

Given that the wife of Cain is only mentioned once in the Old Testament, she would not be counted among the famous women in Genesis. Nevertheless, her identity is still worth investigating. Who did Cain marry? Mary Joan Winn Leith first explores the traditional Jewish and Christian answers that contend that the wife of Cain was another daughter of Adam and Eve. According to this reasoning, Cain would have married his sister—one of Abel’s twin sisters no less, according to the Genesis Rabbah.

A different answer emerges when Leith turns from the traditional responses about the wife of Cain and delves into modern scholarship. Looking at recent work done by sociologists and anthropologists, she notes that when forming a group identity, we tend to define ourselves by how we differ from other groups. In the ancient Near East, sometimes those outside of a particular group or society were considered less “human” by those inside of the group.

An important factor that contributes to this mindset is geography. People in the ancient Near East typically stayed close to home, which affected their perception of the world. Surely they knew that other groups of people—potential enemies or allies—existed far away, but if they never came into contact with these groups, what did they matter?

Mary Joan Winn Leith suggests that while the Israelite storyteller knew that other men and women in Genesis existed outside of Eden, they did not matter to him or factor into his account. He was concerned with Adam and Eve and their progeny—not those outside of this group.

Who did Cain marry? There are many answers. For Leith’s explanation of the identity of the wife of Cain—one of the often-overlooked women in Genesis—see her full column.

The Old Testament

The Old Testament

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Testament

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Old Testament canon of the Christian Bible.

For the Jewish Tanakh, see Hebrew Bible.

The Old Testament was compiled and edited by various men^[3] over a period of centuries, with many scholars concluding that the Hebrew canon was solidified by about the 3rd century BC.^[4][5]The Old Testament is the Christian term for the Hebrew Bible, a collection of religious writings by ancient Israelites^[1] that form the first section of the Christian Bible, to which were added a second collection of writings referred to as the New Testament. The books included in the Old Testament (the Old Testament canon) varies markedly between Christian denominations; Protestants accept only the books of the official Jewish Hebrew Bible canon as their Old Testament but divide it into 39 books, while Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and Ethiopian churches accept a considerably larger collection of writings in their Old Testament canon.^[2]

The books can be broadly divided into several sections: 1) the first five books or Pentateuch (Torah), 2) the history books telling the history of the Israelites, from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon; 3) the poetic and "Wisdom" books dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world; 4) and the books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God.

Content

Main articles: Biblical canon and Development of the Old Testament canon

The Old Testament contains 39 (Protestant) or 46 (Catholic) or more (Orthodox and other) books, divided, very broadly, into the Pentateuch (Torah), the historical books, the "wisdom" books and the prophets.^[6]

Table

The table uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the Bible, such as the New American Bible Revised Edition, Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version. The spelling and names in both the 1609–10 Douay Old Testament (and in the 1582 Rheims New Testament) and the 1749 revision by Bishop Challoner (the edition currently in print used by many Catholics, and the source of traditional Catholic spellings in English) and in the Septuagint differ from those spellings and names used in modern editions which are derived from the Hebrew Masoretic text.^[a]

For the Orthodox canon, Septuagint titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. For the Catholic canon, the Douaic titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. Likewise, the King James Version references some of these books by the traditional spelling when referring to them in the New Testament, such as "Esaias" (for Isaiah).

In the spirit of ecumenism more recent Catholic translations (e.g. the New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and ecumenical translations used by Catholics, such as the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition) use the same "standardized" (King James Version) spellings and names as Protestant Bibles (e.g. 1 Chronicles as opposed to the Douaic 1 Paralipomenon, 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings instead of 1–4 Kings) in those books which are universally considered canonical, the protocanonicals.

The Talmud (the Jewish commentary on the scriptures) in Bava Batra 14b gives a different order for the books in Nevi'im and Ketuvim. This order is also cited in Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7:15. The order of the books of the Torah are universal through all denominations of Judaism and Christianity.

The disputed books, included in one canon but not in others, are often called the Biblical apocrypha, a term that is sometimes used specifically to describe the books in the Catholic and Orthodox canons that are absent from the Jewish Masoretic Text and most modern Protestant Bibles. Catholics, following the Canon of Trent (1546), describe these books as deuterocanonical, while Greek Orthodox Christians, following the Synod of Jerusalem (1672), use the traditional name of anagignoskomena, meaning "that which is to be read." They are present in a few historic Protestant versions; the German Luther Bible included such books, as did the English 1611 King James Version.^[b]

Empty table cells indicate that a book is absent from that canon.

Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) (24 books)[c] Books in bold are part of the Ketuvim	Protestant Old Testament (39 books)	Catholic Old Testament (46 books)	Eastern Orthodox Old Testament (51 books)	Original language
Torah	Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses
Bereishit	Genesis	Genesis	Genesis	Hebrew
Shemot	Exodus	Exodus	Exodus	Hebrew
Vayikra	Leviticus	Leviticus	Leviticus	Hebrew
Bamidbar	Numbers	Numbers	Numbers	Hebrew
Devarim	Deuteronomy	Deuteronomy	Deuteronomy	Hebrew
Nevi'im (Prophets)	Historical books
Yehoshua	Joshua	Joshua (Josue)	Joshua (Iesous)	Hebrew
Shofetim	Judges	Judges	Judges	Hebrew
Rut (Ruth)[d]	Ruth	Ruth	Ruth	Hebrew
Shemuel	1 Samuel	1 Samuel (1 Kings)[e]	1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms)[f]	Hebrew
	2 Samuel	2 Samuel (2 Kings)[e]	2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms)[f]	Hebrew
Melakhim	1 Kings	1 Kings (3 Kings)[e]	1 Kings (3 Kingdoms)[f]	Hebrew
	2 Kings	2 Kings (4 Kings)[e]	2 Kings (4 Kingdoms)[f]	Hebrew
Divrei Hayamim (Chronicles)[d]	1 Chronicles	1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon)	1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon)	Hebrew
	2 Chronicles	2 Chronicles (2 Paralipomenon)	2 Chronicles (2 Paralipomenon)	Hebrew
			1 Esdras	Hebrew
Ezra-Nehemiah[d]	Ezra	Ezra (1 Esdras)	Ezra (2 Esdras)[f][g]	Hebrew and Aramaic
	Nehemiah	Nehemiah (2 Esdras)	Nehemiah (2 Esdras)[f][g]	Hebrew
		Tobit (Tobias)	Tobit (Tobias)	Aramaic (and Hebrew?)
		Judith	Judith	Hebrew
Esther[d]	Esther	Esther[h]	Esther[h]	Hebrew
		1 Maccabees (1 Machabees)[i]	1 Maccabees	Hebrew
		2 Maccabees (2 Machabees)[i]	2 Maccabees	Greek
			3 Maccabees	Greek
			4 Maccabees[j]	Greek
Ketuvim (Writings)	Wisdom books
Iyov (Job)[d]	Job	Job	Job	Hebrew
Tehillim (Psalms)[d]	Psalms	Psalms	Psalms[k]	Hebrew
			Prayer of Manasseh	Greek
Mishlei (Proverbs)[d]	Proverbs	Proverbs	Proverbs	Hebrew
Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes)[d]	Ecclesiastes	Ecclesiastes	Ecclesiastes	Hebrew
Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)[d]	Song of Solomon	Song of Songs (Canticle of Canticles)	Song of Songs (Aisma Aismaton)	Hebrew
		Wisdom	Wisdom	Greek
		Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)	Sirach	Hebrew
Nevi'im (Latter Prophets)	Major prophets
Yeshayahu	Isaiah	Isaiah (Isaias)	Isaiah	Hebrew
Yirmeyahu	Jeremiah	Jeremiah (Jeremias)	Jeremiah	Hebrew and Aramaic
Eikhah (Lamentations)[d]	Lamentations	Lamentations	Lamentations	Hebrew
		Baruch[l]	Baruch[l]	Hebrew[8]
			Letter of Jeremiah[m]	Greek (majority view)[n]
Yekhezqel	Ezekiel	Ezekiel (Ezechiel)	Ezekiel	Hebrew
Daniel[d]	Daniel	Daniel[o]	Daniel[o]	Hebrew and Aramaic
	Twelve Minor Prophets
The Twelve or Trei Asar	Hosea	Hosea (Osee)	Hosea	Hebrew
	Joel	Joel	Joel	Hebrew
	Amos	Amos	Amos	Hebrew
	Obadiah	Obadiah (Abdias)	Obadiah	Hebrew
	Jonah	Jonah (Jonas)	Jonah	Hebrew
	Micah	Micah (Micheas)	Micah	Hebrew
	Nahum	Nahum	Nahum	Hebrew
	Habakkuk	Habakkuk (Habacuc)	Habakkuk	Hebrew
	Zephaniah	Zephaniah (Sophonias)	Zephaniah	Hebrew
	Haggai	Haggai (Aggeus)	Haggai	Hebrew
	Zechariah	Zechariah (Zacharias)	Zechariah	Hebrew
	Malachi	Malachi (Malachias)	Malachi	Hebrew

Several of the books in the Eastern Orthodox canon are also found in the appendix to the Latin Vulgate,

formerly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.

Books in the Appendix to the Vulgate Bible
Name in Vulgate	Name in Eastern Orthodox use
3 Esdras	1 Esdras
4 Esdras
Prayer of Manasseh	Prayer of Manasseh
Psalm of David when he slew Goliath (Psalm 151)	Psalm 151

Composition

The first five books – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, book of Numbers and Deuteronomy – comprise the Torah, the story of Israel from the Genesis creation narrative to the death of Moses. Few scholars today doubt that it reached its present form in the Persian period (538–332 BC), and that its authors were the elite of exilic returnees who controlled the Temple at that time.^[9]

The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings follow, forming a history of Israel from the Conquest of Canaan to the Siege of Jerusalem c. 587 BC. There is a broad consensus among scholars that these originated as a single work (the so-called "Deuteronomistic history") during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC.^[10] The two Books of Chronicles cover much the same material as the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic history and probably date from the 4th century BC.^[11]

Chronicles links with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which were probably finished during the 3rd century BC.^[12] Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments contain two (Catholic Old Testament) to four (Orthodox) Books of Maccabees, written in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.

The history books make up around half the total content of the Old Testament. Of the remainder, the books of the various prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and the twelve "minor prophets" – were written between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, with the exceptions of Jonah and Daniel, which were written much later.^[13] The "wisdom" and other books – Job, Proverbs and so on – date from between the 5th century BC and the 2nd or 1st BC, with the exception of some of the Psalms.^[14]

Themes

God is consistently depicted as the one who created or put into order^[15] the world and guides its history. Although he is not consistently presented as the only god who exists, he is always depicted as the only god whom Israel is to worship, and both Jews and Christians have always interpreted the bible as an affirmation of the oneness of God.^[16]

The Old Testament stresses the special relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel, but includes instructions for proselytes as well. This relationship is expressed in the biblical covenant (contract) between the two, received by Moses. The law codes in books such as Exodus and especially Deuteronomy are the terms of the contract: Israel swears faithfulness to Yahweh, and God swears to be Israel's special protector and supporter.^[16]

Further themes in the Old Testament include salvation, redemption, divine judgment, obedience and disobedience, faith and faithfulness, among others. Throughout there is a strong emphasis on ethics and ritual purity, both of which God demands, although some of the prophets and wisdom writers seem to question this, arguing that God demands social justice above purity, and perhaps does not even care about purity at all. The Old Testament's moral code enjoins fairness, intervention on behalf of the vulnerable, and the duty of those in power to administer justice righteously. It forbids murder, bribery and corruption, deceitful trading, and many sexual misdemeanors. All morality is traced back to God, who is the source of all goodness.^[17]

The problem of evil plays a large part in the Old Testament. The problem the Old Testament authors faced was that a good God must have had just reason for bringing disaster (meaning notably, but not only, the Babylonian exile) upon his people. The theme is played out, with many variations, in books as different as the histories of Kings and Chronicles, the prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and in the wisdom books like Job and Ecclesiastes.^[17]

From scripture to canon: formation of the Old Testament

Main articles: Books of the Bible and Biblical canon

The interrelationship between various significant ancient manuscripts of the Old Testament, according to
the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903) Some manuscripts are identified by their siglum. LXX here denotes
the original Septuagint.

Greek, Latin and Protestant Old Testaments

See also: Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, Development of the Old Testament canon, Septuagint, and Books of the Latin Vulgate

The process by which scriptures became canons and Bibles was a long one, and its complexities account for the many different Old Testaments which exist today. Timothy H. Lim, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh, states that, "The Old Testament (OT) or Tanak was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. This collection of books was not written by one man, nor did it drop down from heaven as assumed by fundamentalists. It is not a magical book, but a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing.”^[18] By about the 5th century BC Jews saw the five books of the Torah (the Old Testament Pentateuch) as having authoritative status; by the 2nd century BC the Prophets had a similar status, although without quite the same level of respect as the Torah; beyond that, the Jewish scriptures were fluid, with different groups seeing authority in different books.^[19]

Greek Bible

The scriptures were first translated into Greek in Alexandria between about 280–130 BC.^[20] These early Greek translations – supposedly commissioned by Ptolemy Philadelphus – were called the Septuagint (Latin: "Seventy") from the supposed number of translators involved (hence its abbreviation "LXX"). This Septuagint remains the basis of the Old Testament in the Eastern Orthodox Church.^[21]

It varies in many places from the Masoretic Text and includes numerous books no longer considered canonical in other traditions: 1st & 2nd Esdras, Judith, Tobit, 3rd & 4th Maccabees, the Book of Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch.^[22] Early modern Biblical criticism typically explained these variations as intentional or ignorant corruptions by the Alexandrian scholars, but most recent scholarship holds it is simply based on early source texts differing from those later used by the Masoretes in their work.

The Septuagint was originally used by Jews so thoroughly Hellenized that their knowledge of Greek was better than their Hebrew. The ever-increasing number of gentile converts to Christianity created a growing need for translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek and Latin. The three most acclaimed early interpreters were Aquila of Sinope, Symmachus the Ebionite, and Theodotion; in his Hexapla, Origen placed his edition of the Hebrew text beside its transcription in Greek letters and four parallel translations: Aquila's, Symmachus's, the Septuagint's, and Theodotion's. The so-called "fifth" and "sixth editions" were two other Greek translations supposedly miraculously discovered by students outside the towns of Jericho and Nicopolis: these were added to Origen's Octapla.^[23]

In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople. Athanasius^[24] recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists, and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles.^[25] There is no evidence among the canons of the First Council of Nicaea of any determination on the canon, however, Jerome (347–420), in his Prologue to Judith, makes the claim that the Book of Judith was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures".^[26]

Latin Bible

In Western Christianity or Christianity in the Western half of the Roman Empire, Latin had displaced Greek as the common language of the early Christians, and about 400 AD Pope Damasus I commissioned Jerome, the leading scholar of the day, to produce an updated Latin bible to replace the Vetus Latina. Sometime in the centuries after the Septuagint (exactly when is disputed) the Rabbis (Jewish religious scholars and teachers) defined the Jewish canon, which is a much shorter canon of only 24 books, and Jerome used it (commonly called the Hebrew Bible) instead of the Greek Old Testament as the basis for his translation, citing "Hebraica Veritas" (Latin: Truth of the Hebrew). His Vulgate (i.e. common language) Old Testament became the standard bible used in the Western Church, specifically as the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, while the Churches in the East continued, and still continue, to use the Septuagint.^[27]

Jerome had wanted to drop all the books that did not appear in the Hebrew Bible, but St Augustine, a bishop and another great scholar of the day, opposed him and won the argument, notably at the Council of Carthage on 28 August 397. In the 16th century the Protestant reformers reopened the debate, and sided with Jerome, but only for their own congregations^{[citation needed]}: yet although Protestant Bibles now have only those books that appear in the Jewish Bible, they have them in the order of the Greek Bible.^[28]

Rome, largely in reaction to this attack on tradition, officially adopted a canon, the Canon of Trent, which can be seen as following Augustine's Carthaginian Councils or the Council of Rome,^[p] and includes most, but not all, of the Septuagint (3 Ezra and 3 and 4 Maccabees are excluded);^[29] the Anglicans after the English Civil War adopted a compromise position, restoring the 39 Articles and keeping the extra books that were excluded by the Westminster Confession of Faith, but only for private study and for reading in churches, while Lutherans kept them for private study, gathered in an appendix as Biblical Apocrypha.^[28]

Other versions

While the Hebrew, Greek and Latin versions of the Hebrew Bible are the best known Old Testaments, there were others. At much the same time as the Septuagint was being produced, translations were being made into Aramaic, the language of Jews living in Palestine and the Near East and likely the language of Jesus: these are called the Aramaic Targums, from a word meaning "translation", and were used to help Jewish congregations understand their scriptures.^[30]

For Aramaic Christians there was a Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Peshitta, as well as versions in Coptic (the everyday language of Egypt in the first Christian centuries, descended from ancient Egyptian), Ethiopic (for use in the Ethiopian church, one of the oldest Christian churches), Armenian (Armenia was the first to adopt Christianity as its official religion), and Arabic.^[30]

Christian theology and the Old Testament

Main article: Christian views on the old covenant

Christianity is based on the claim that the historical Jesus is also the Christ, as in the Confession of Peter. This claim is in turn based on Jewish understandings of the meaning of the Hebrew term messiah, which, like the Greek "Christ", means "anointed". In the Hebrew Scriptures it describes a king anointed with oil on his accession to the throne: he becomes "The LORD's anointed" or Yahweh's Anointed. By the time of Jesus, some Jews expected that a flesh and blood descendant of David (the "Son of David") would come to establish a real Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem, instead of the Roman province.^[31]

Others stressed the Son of Man, a distinctly other-worldly figure who would appear as a judge at the end of time; and some harmonised the two by expecting a this-worldly messianic kingdom which would last for a set period and be followed by the other-worldly age or World to Come. Some thought the Messiah was already present, but unrecognised due to Israel's sins; some thought that the Messiah would be announced by a fore-runner, probably Elijah (as promised by the prophet Malachi, whose book now ends the Old Testament and precedes Mark's account of John the Baptist). None predicted a Messiah who suffers and dies for the sins of all the people.^[31] The story of Jesus' death therefore involved a profound shift in meaning from the tradition of the Old Testament.^[32]

The name "Old Testament" reflects Christianity's understanding of itself as the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophesy of a New Covenant (which is similar to "testament" and often conflated) to replace the existing covenant between God and Israel (Jeremiah 31:31).^[1] The emphasis, however, has shifted from Judaism's understanding of the covenant as an eternal contract between God and Israel to one between God and those who are "in Christ".^[33]

See also

• Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
• Book of Job in Byzantine illuminated manuscripts
• Books of the Bible
• Covenant (biblical)
• Expounding of the Law
• Hebrew Bible: Timeline
• Law and Gospel
• List of ancient legal codes
• List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts
• Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
• Quotations from the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament
• Supersessionism
• Biblical narratives and the Quran

Notes

1. Jump up ^ Generally due to derivation from transliterations of names used in the Latin Vulgate in the case of Catholicism, and from transliterations of the Greek Septuagint in the case of the Orthodox (as opposed to derivation of translations, instead of transliterations, of Hebrew titles) such Ecclesiasticus (DRC) instead of Sirach (LXX) or Ben Sira (Hebrew), Paralipomenon (Greek, meaning "things omitted") instead of Chronicles, Sophonias instead of Zephaniah, Noe instead of Noah, Henoch instead of Enoch, Messias instead of Messiah, Sion instead of Zion, etc.
2. Jump up ^ The foundational Thirty-Nine Articles of Anglicanism, in Article VI, asserts these disputed books are not used "to establish any doctrine," but "read for example of life." Although the Biblical apocrypha are still used in Anglican Liturgy,^[7] the modern trend is to not even print the Old Testament apocrypha in editions of Anglican-used Bibles.
3. Jump up ^ The 24 books of the Hebrew Bible are the same as the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament, only divided and ordered differently: the books of the Minor Prophets are in Christian Bibles twelve different books, and in Hebrew Bibles, one book called "The Twelve". Likewise, Christian Bibles divide the Books of Kingdoms into four books, either 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings or 1–4 Kings: Jewish Bibles divide these into two books. The Jews likewise keep 1–2 Chronicles/Paralipomenon as one book. Ezra and Nehemiah are likewise combined in the Jewish Bible, as they are in many Orthodox Bibles, instead of divided into two books, as per the Catholic and Protestant tradition.
4. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} This book is part of the Ketuvim, the third section of the Jewish canon. They have a different order in Jewish canon than in Christian canon.
5. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d} The books of Samuel and Kings are often called First through Fourth Kings in the Catholic tradition, much like the Orthodox.
6. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e f} Names in parentheses are the Septuagint names and are often used by the Orthodox Christians.
7. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Some Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Septuagint and the Hebrew bibles by considering the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as one book.
8. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} The Catholic and Orthodox Book of Esther includes 103 verses not in the Protestant Book of Esther.
9. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} The Latin Vulgate, Douay-Rheims, and Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition place First and Second Maccabees after Malachi; other Catholic translations place them after Esther.
10. Jump up ^ In Greek Bibles, 4 Maccabees is found in the appendix.
11. Jump up ^ Eastern Orthodox churches include Psalm 151 and the Prayer of Manasseh, not present in all canons.
12. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} In Catholic Bibles, Baruch includes a sixth chapter called the Letter of Jeremiah. Baruch is not in the Protestant Bible or the Tanakh.
13. Jump up ^ Eastern Orthodox Bibles have the books of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah separate.
14. Jump up ^ Hebrew (minority view); see Letter of Jeremiah for details.
15. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} In Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, Daniel includes three sections not included in Protestant Bibles. The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children are included between Daniel 3:23–24. Susanna is included as Daniel 13. Bel and the Dragon is included as Daniel 14. These are not in the Protestant Old Testament.
16. Jump up ^ Augustine's "2 of Esdras" could be 1 Esdras and Ezra-Nehemiah as in the Septuagint and Orthodox canon or Ezra and Nehemiah as in the Vulgate and Catholic canon.

References

1. Jump up to: ^{a b} Jones 2001, p. 215.
2. Jump up ^ Barton 2001, p. 3.
3. Jump up ^ Lim, Timothy H. (2005). The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 41. 
4. Jump up ^ Riches, John (2000). The Bible: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-19-285343-1. 
5. Jump up ^ Philip R. Davies in The Canon Debate, page 50: "With many other scholars, I conclude that the fixing of a canonical list was almost certainly the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty."
6. Jump up ^ Boadt 1984, pp. 11, 15–16.
7. Jump up ^ The Apocrypha, Bridge of the Testaments (PDF), Orthodox Anglican, "Two of the hymns used in the American Prayer Book office of Morning Prayer, the Benedictus es and Benedicite, are taken from the Apocrypha. One of the offertory sentences in Holy Communion comes from an apocryphal book (Tob. 4: 8–9). Lessons from the Apocrypha are regularly appointed to be read in the daily, Sunday, and special services of Morning and Evening Prayer. There are altogether 111 such lessons in the latest revised American Prayer Book Lectionary [Books used are: II Esdras, Tobit, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Three Holy Children, and I Maccabees.]" 
8. Jump up ^ Britannica, 1911 
9. Jump up ^ Blenkinsopp 1998, p. 184.
10. Jump up ^ Rogerson 2003, pp. 153–54.
11. Jump up ^ Coggins 2003, p. 282.
12. Jump up ^ Grabbe 2003, pp. 213–14.
13. Jump up ^ Miller 1987, pp. 10–11.
14. Jump up ^ Crenshaw 2010, p. 5.
15. Jump up ^ There is a major discussion in the field of theology about the meaning of the word "bara", the secod word of Genesis. Some interpret it as "created" (out of nothing), but others argue it was "remodelled/ordered" (something existing before)
16. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Barton 2001, p. 9.
17. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Barton 2001, p. 10.
18. Jump up ^ Lim, Timothy H. (2005). The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 41. 
19. Jump up ^ Brettler 2005, p. 274.
20. Jump up ^ Gentry 2008, p. 302.
21. Jump up ^ Würthwein 1995.
22. Jump up ^ Jones 2001, p. 216.
23. Jump up ^ Cave, William. A complete history of the lives, acts, and martyrdoms of the holy apostles, and the two evangelists, St. Mark and Luke, Vol. II. Wiatt (Philadelphia), 1810. Accessed 6 Feb 2013.
24. Jump up ^ Apol. Const. 4
25. Jump up ^ The Canon Debate, pp. 414–15, for the entire paragraph
26. Jump up ^ "Book of Judith". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.  Canonicity: "..."the Synod of Nicaea is said to have accounted it as Sacred Scripture" (Praef. in Lib.). It is true that no such declaration is to be found in the Canons of Nicaea, and it is uncertain whether St. Jerome is referring to the use made of the book in the discussions of the council, or whether he was misled by some spurious canons attributed to that council".
27. Jump up ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 91–99.
28. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Barton 1997, pp. 80–81.
29. Jump up ^ Soggin 1987, p. 19.
30. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Würthwein 1995, pp. 79–90, 100–4.
31. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Farmer 1991, pp. 570–71.
32. Jump up ^ Juel 2000, pp. 236–39.
33. Jump up ^ Herion 2000, pp. 291–92.

Bibliography

• Bandstra, Barry L (2004), Reading the Old Testament: an introduction to the Hebrew Bible, Wadsworth, ISBN 978-0-495-39105-0 
• Barton, John (1997), How the Bible came to be, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 978-0-664-25785-9 
• ——— (2001), "Introduction to the Old Testament", in Muddiman, John; Barton, John, Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5 
• Blenkinsopp, Joseph (1998), "The Pentateuch", in Barton, John, The Cambridge companion to biblical interpretation, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-48593-7 
• Boadt, Lawrence (1984), Reading the Old Testament: an introduction, Paulist Press, ISBN 978-0-8091-2631-6 
• Brettler, Marc Zvi (2005), How to read the Bible, Jewish Publication Society, ISBN 978-0-8276-1001-9 
• Bultman, Christoph (2001), "Deuteronomy", in Barton, John; Muddiman, John, Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5 
• Coggins, Richard J (2003), "1 and 2 Chronicles", in Dunn, James DG; Rogerson, John William, Commentary on the Bible, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0 
• Crenshaw, James L (2010), Old Testament wisdom: an introduction, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 978-0-664-23459-1 
• Davies, GI (1998), "Introduction to the Pentateuch", in Barton, John, Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5 
• Dines, Jennifer M (2004), The Septuagint, Continuum, ISBN 978-0-567-08464-4 
• Farmer, Ron (1991), "Messiah/Christ", in Mills, Watson E; Bullard, Roger Aubrey, Mercer dictionary of the Bible, Mercer University Press, ISBN 978-0-86554-373-7 
• Gentry, Peter R (2008), "Old Greek and Later Revisors", in Sollamo, Raija; Voitila, Anssi; Jokiranta, Jutta, Scripture in transition, Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-16582-3 
• Grabbe, Lester L (2003), "Ezra", in Dunn, James DG; Rogerson, John William, Commentary on the Bible, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0 
• Hasel, Gerhard F (1991), Old Testament theology: basic issues in the current debate, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-0537-9 
• Herion, Gary A (2000), "Covenant", in Freedman, David Noel, Dictionary of the Bible, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2 
• Jobes, Karen H; Silva, Moises (2005), Invitation to the Septuagint, Baker Academic 
• Jones, Barry A (2000), "Canon of the Old Testament", in Freedman, David Noel, Dictionary of the Bible, William B Eerdmans, ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2 
• Juel, Donald (2000), "Christ", in Freedman, David Noel, Dictionary of the Bible, William B Eerdmans, ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2 
• Lim, Timothy H. (2005). The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• McLay, Tim (2003), The use of the Septuagint in New Testament research, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-6091-0 
• Miller, John W (2004), How the Bible came to be, Paulist Press, ISBN 978-0-80914183-8 
• Miller, John W (1987), Meet the prophets: a beginner's guide to the books of the biblical prophets, Paulist Press, ISBN 978-0-8091-2899-0 
• Rogerson, John W (2003), "Deuteronomy", in Dunn, James DG; Rogerson, John William, Commentary on the Bible, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0 
• Schniedewind, William M (2004), How the Bible Became a Book, Cambridge, ISBN 978-0-521-53622-6 
• Soggin, J. Alberto (1987), Introduction to the Old Testament, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 978-0-664-22156-0 
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995), The text of the Old Testament: an introduction to the Biblia Hebraica, William B Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-0788-5 

Further reading

• Anderson, Bernhard. Understanding the Old Testament. ISBN 0-13-948399-3
• Bahnsen, Greg, et al., Five Views on Law and Gospel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).
• Berkowitz, Ariel; Berkowitz, D'vorah (2004), Torah Rediscovered (4th ed.), Shoreshim, ISBN 0-9752914-0-8 .
• Dever, William G (2003), Who Were the Early Israelites?, Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans, ISBN 0-8028-0975-8 .
• von Rad, Gerhard (1982/1984), Theologie des Alten Testaments [Theology of the Old Testament] (in German), Band 1–2, München: Auflage  Check date values in: |date= (help).
• Hill, Andrew; Walton, John (2000), A Survey of the Old Testament (2nd ed.), Grand Rapids: Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-22903-0 .
• Kuntz, John Kenneth (1974), The People of Ancient Israel: an introduction to Old Testament Literature, History, and Thought, Harper & Row, ISBN 0-06-043822-3 .
• Lancaster, D Thomas (2005), Restoration: Returning the Torah of God to the Disciples of Jesus, Littleton \ publisher = First Fruits of Zion .
• Papadaki-Oekland, Stella, Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts of the Book of Job, ISBN 978-2-503-53232-5 .
• Rouvière, Jean-Marc (2006), Brèves méditations sur la Création du monde [Brief meditations on the creation of the World] (in French), Paris: L'Harmattan .
• Salibi, Kamal (1985), The Bible Came from Arabia, London: Jonathan Cape, ISBN 0-224-02830-8 .
• Schmid, Konrad (2012), The Old Testament: A Literary History, Minneapolis: Fortress, ISBN 978-0-8006-9775-4 .
• Silberman, Neil A; et al (2003), The Bible Unearthed (hardback|format= requires |url= (help)), New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-86912-8  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help), ISBN 0-684-86913-6 (paperback).
• Sprinkle, Joseph ‘Joe’ M (2006), Biblical Law and Its Relevance: A Christian Understanding and Ethical Application for Today of the Mosaic Regulations (clothbound|format= requires |url= (help)), Lanham, MD: University Press of America, ISBN 0-7618-3371-4  and ISBN 0-7618-3372-2 (paperback).