Posted on Jun 04, 2024 by Mike LeDuke Next article:The Time Between the Testaments
The Writings
Where did the Bible come from? Who put it together? And what is its connection to God?
So far as in this series of posts, we have seen that the Hebrew Bible, often called the Old Testament by Christians, was originally divided into three sections: the law, the prophets, and the writings. According to the text itself, the law was given by God to Moses. Then, the prophets communed with God and then wrote about their experiences. But what about this third section?
The third section of the Hebrew Bible, unlike the other two, is a blend of many different kinds of writing. While the law is mostly law, and the prophets are mostly history, the writings is poetry (Psalms), wisdom literature (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes), history (Ruth, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther), and apocalyptic prophecy (Daniel). So what is it that unites these books together?
For the most part, the books are united by timing. Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “the law and the prophets” before. The Lord Jesus himself used it a few times (Matthew 5:17; 7:12; 11:13; 22:40). But do you notice what’s missing in that phrase? For some reason, the writings have been totally left out. You might remember, though, that a few posts ago we considered how all three sections were referenced after Jesus’s resurrection. Nevertheless, there’s still something different in the way Jesus describes it: Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. (Luke 24:44).
Rather than referring to “the Writings,” Jesus describes this entire section as “the Psalms.” That could simply be because Psalms is the largest book in it, but it also suggests that there was something different about this section at that point in time. Indeed, five of the books in this section are grouped together because they are called “the megillot” (which translates to “scrolls”), and they are specifically read during Jewish holidays. Nevertheless, this practice of reading the megillot on holidays only started approximately 1000 years ago––that’s when these five scrolls were specifically placed in this order in the writings. In other words, though the books of the Hebrew canon didn’t change, their order and grouping did (thus, at the time of Christ, the book of Ruth appears to have been part of the book of Judges, which was in the historical section).
This final section appears to be organized differently than the law and the prophets because it contained the books that were written and organized last. The books in this section were largely put together by the Jewish exiles who returned from Babylon, and thus, many of these books, at least in their final form, are not as old as the other two sections. For example, some of the psalms were written by David, but the psalter itself was not fully compiled until much later. As such, its order was still being worked out by the time of the Lord Jesus.
Nevertheless, this set of writings is powerful and beautiful. The psalms show the raw emotion inherent in life. The wisdom literature discusses the best choices and the best actions in life. The historical books consider the return of the exiles from Babylon (and their records of the kings of Judah), and the prophecy gives a vision of the coming kingdom of God.
All together, the Hebrew scriptures lay an essential foundation for understanding the next section of the Bible: the Christian scriptures.
— Jason Hensley, PhD
