The Accuracy of the Scriptures
The Hebrew Canon
Article II
The writing of the Torah
God spoke to Moses on the desertous mountaintop at Mount Sinai and carved His laws in stone for His people in what we know of today as the Decalogue (or Ten Commandments). God also established another 613 laws which would protect His people as they began their new life away from the bondages of Egypt. In the establishing of His laws, God gave Moses the history of mankind, along with instructions on how He wanted His children to live their lives. The time was about 1450 B.C.
The writing of the Torah
The Hebrew language used by Moses and the Israelites was evolved from several ancient Semitic languages over centuries of time. As Moses wrote down what he heard from God in what had become the Hebrew language - the words of the Torah, instruction, and the history of the Israelites, the symbols of the Hebrew text slowly came into being. This text became known as the Book of Moses. In later centuries this book was separated into five different books. We know them today as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Many Christians refer to the books of the Bible as the Pentateuch, which means 5 or 50.
It is important to note that the Pentateuch is not the Torah. The Torah is contained withing the writings of the Pentateuch.
The original text of the Book of Moses was written on animal skin, wood, or stone, consisting of only consonants, having no vowels, nor spaces, and all ran together. There certainly were no listings of chapters or verses as we know the Scriptures to have today. They ran together as one continuous word.
The early Hebrew symbols consisted of only consonants, having no vowels, nor spaces, and they all ran together.
As the Scriptures were translated in other languages in later centuries, the system of transliteration helped define the vowel-less symbols of the ancient Hebrew language to another. Transliterations then helped the reader understand in their vernacular language what the Hebrew text was saying.
Transliteration
To represent or spell in the characters of another alphabet
Miriam Webster Dictionary-Online
God's name was so reverenced by His people to where they did not speak or write it. Instead, they used other names to demonstrate His nature and character.
The transliterated word of “Adonai” from Hebrew to English is a plural form of the singular of “adon,” meaning master or lord.
The transliterated name “El” means might, strong, and prominent. Adding to it - “Elohim” then refers to the creator, preserver, transcendent, mighty and strong one. “El Shaddai” refers to God Almighty or God all sufficient.[1]
When Moses, and those who followed him read from the Torah, the name of God was generally referred to as Adonai. The closest name to God that we have today is YHWH, which was not used until several centuries after the death of Moses. That name will be discussed later in the next article. Often God was referred simply as “the name.” Consequently, from this we can conclude that such phrases as “the name of “Adonai” or “Lord,” “Elohim,” or “El Shaddai” refers to God’s whole character. “The name” then was a summary statement embodying the entire person of God. [2]
The writings of the prophets
Warnings from the prophets
When the Israelites entered into the promised land of Canaan after the death of Moses, Joshua wrote down instructions from God to His people. He warned them to stay in obedience to God and stay away from false idols. The Israelites, however, slowly began to infiltrate themselves with the Canaanites and the people from the surroundings countries – becoming involved with idol paganism. A succession of prophets of God came forth warning them that if they did not mend their ways, and turn back to God, captivity would come upon them as judgment - and so it did. Many of those prophetic warnings became part of the writings of the prophets and stored for preservation.
From tabernacle to temple
When King Solomon came into power around 1050 B.C., his mission was to build a temple of God. Through elaborate building projects, the temple was built of gold with the Ark of the Covenant resting within the new holy of holies that was housed within the temple. The Torah (contained in the Book of Moses), and the writings of the early prophets were now protected and cared for.
Israel had split into two nations – the north and the south, and had become a nation filled with idolatry to other gods. While there remained some who stayed faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, much of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms were filled with idolatry to other gods. Judgment was about to come.
The exiles
Just as was warned by the prophets of God, judgment had come upon the people of God. Disobedience to their God brought upon their own demise as a people and nation. The dates of the Israelite exile began in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians came and conquered the Northern Kingdom. Any survivors were taken into captivity into Assyria, which by then had become the known world power. In 583 B.C., the people of the Southern Kingdom of Israel was either killed or taken into captivity in and around Babylon and Egypt when the Babylonians overcame the Assyrian kingdom. The Torah and the writings of the prophets were stolen from the temple in Jerusalem and laid dormant in the hands of its captors. During the 70+ years of the captivity many exiles blended into the culture of their captor; however, there were some who clung to their faith in God in whatever way they could. It was during this time that synagogues became popular as a Jewish community meeting place for activities and worship. Many prophets of God, along with rabbis who were taken into exile, set up a form of worship that would replace the worship they had at the temple in Jerusalem before they were brought into captivity. As God spoke to the prophets in exile, such as Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel, they continued to speak to the people for God while they remained in captivity. Having neither the Holy Writings of Scripture to read and follow, nor a temple to worship in, the rabbis spoke from memory what they had been preaching while in their homeland. Oral traditions became their only means of keeping in touch with their Jewish roots. This void formed the beginnings of a new work of Jewish writings that became known as the Babylonian Talmud.
Written by scribes, the Talmud began as an interpretation of the Scriptures remembered. It grew into theoretical legal information, as well as instruction on the daily life of the Jewish people regarding history, medicine, astronomy, commerce, agriculture, magic, demonology, botany, zoology, and other sciences. The Talmud also included illustrative stories and poetry.[3] In short, the Talmud became the Word of God to the Jewish people. It, however, was simply man’s interpretation of God’s Word.
The Talmud is still used as “supportive truth” in the orthodox Jewish religion - even today.
Allowed to return home
In 538 B.C. the Persian Empire overcame the Babylonian Empire and King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return home. While many had been absorbed into the culture of their captors, there were some who wanted to go back home to re-establish themselves and restore the forgotten laws of God.
The Hebrew Canon
The Great Synagogue
Following the return of the exiles, Ezra, the Jewish scribe and prophet led a group of 120 men who formed “ The Great Synagogue ” to set up a “ Hebrew Canon.” Their position was to find and gather together the lost Holy Scripture scrolls of old and then compile them together to bring back to the temple in Jerusalem. During the time of exile, however, a lot of different writings had come into being and were scattered around, with many of them claiming to have come from God. The challenge for the Great Synagogue was then to set up a standard of measurement to determine what was divine truth. That standard became known as the Hebrew Canon
Hebrew Canon
Measure rod - as a standard measurement of determining divine truth...a way of determining what is sacred truth.
The standard that the Great Synagogue set up was that all divine writings had to come from a recognized prophet of God or someone who was closely connected with one. Three measurements were used as a test for canonocity: 1) The writings had to be written by a prophet of God or someone closely connected to a prophet of God. 2) It had to be written to all generations, and 3) It had to be written in accord with previous revelation. All other writings had to be excluded.
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
The prophet Ezra and the men of the Great Synagogue, which included rabbis, scribes, and other prophets of God from the exiles were allowed to enter into the archives of the conquering temples to find the Torah (Law), writings of the history of God’s people, as well as the writings of the early prophets amongst other writings that had accumulated.
Slowly those scrolls that were written by holy prophets of God became part of what we know of today as the Holy Scriptures or the Hebrew Canon. Some of the writings were compiled in chronicles or separated into various books (scrolls).
Jot and Tittle
The greatest gift that the Jewish people have given to society is their accuracy in the copying of the Holy Spriptures own through the centuries. Every "jot" (swing of the pen) and "tittle" (small marks) had to be exact. If the slightest mistake was made, the parchment had to be discarded and done on a clean page.
Because the Jews held such an intense reverence toward their sacred scriptures, the scribes strove to preserve the absolute accuracy with an almost fanatical discipline. They followed an intricate system of safeguarding which governed the copying and transcribing of the sacred scrolls against “scribal slips.” Each letter was checked and rechecked. If a single mistake was found, the entire page was destroyed. So exacting and meticulous were the scribes or copyists to where they counted the exact number of individual letters. They even measured the prescribed space between each letter and calculated the middle word and letter in each scroll. They continuously compared the cross-checked new copies with these calculations to make sure they were identical. If there was any discrepancy or miscount, they searched until they located the error and corrected it.
The forming of the Hebrew Canon
The Pentateuch
The laws of God (Torah) as incorporated within the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are known as the Pentatuech. This was the only divine document that God ordained as Truth until other prophets came forth who heard from God. They were read at various feasts and sacrifices as a reminder that they were the words of the Lord.
The Law and the Prophets
Following the death of Moses, new prophets came forth who heard from God. When a prophet spoke, the people knew it was from God because they spoke the words of the Torah interpreted in a way they could understand. Often, however, the prophets were ignored.
The Hagiographa - "Holy Writings:" A collection of miscellaneous writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job; the five scrolls: Song of Solomon, Ruth Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. In addition, the books of Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles were added. These books were read at various feasts as a reminder of the Israelite's sin and captivity and how God had delivered them.
The Hebrew Canon came together in three steps – the Pentateuch, the law and the prophets, and the Hagiographa.
There were also prophets of God who were a part of the Great Synagogue who spoke for God during and after the exile. For those returning Jews, they needed to hear from God. God used His prophet after the exile, just like He used them before the exile. These latter prophets also added their writings to what God had revealed to them, as well as incorporated the history of those times to give accurate detail of the exiles and their return home. Most of these latter prophets of God were a part of the Great Synagogue. Over the next two centuries, the writings of the Hebrew Canon were copied for preservation.
Let’s look at the Hebrew Canon as compiled or written by the prophet Ezra and the Great Synagogue. Every book of the Hebrew Canon was written or compiled by a prophet of God, who was directed by God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net/References/OT/OTSurvey/Hebrew_Bible_Books.html#Anchor-The-57958
After this, the Hebrew Canon was considered complete, and it was closed.
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
To continue to the next article, click here
End Notes
[1] http://www.ldolphin.org/Names.html
[2] Lightner, Robert. The God of the Bible, An Introduction to the Doctrine of God . Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI 1973.
[3] Holman Bible Dictionary