The document discusses the origins and development of the Old Testament canon. It explains that God revealed scripture to Israel over 1000 years, which scribes then copied for centuries. The Old Testament canon was formed as the books' divine authority was recognized. The process included Moses receiving commandments on Mount Sinai, prophets speaking God's word, and writings being deposited at the temple. By 400 BC, prophecy had ceased in Israel. The New Testament affirmed the inspiration of the Old Testament, which Jesus and apostles viewed as authoritative.

1. HOW WE GOT OUR BIBLE
“Where did it come from?”

2. The Old Testament
God revealed His word to ancient Israel over a thousand-year period
(1400-400 BC), and then scribes copied the biblical scrolls and
manuscripts for more than a millennium after that. The process by
which the Old Testament books came to be recognized as the Word of
God and the history of how these books were preserved and handed
down through the generations enhances our confidence in the credibility
of the Old Testament as inspired Scripture (2 Timothy 3:6).
The Old Testament

3. What books belong in the Old
Testament?
The canon of Scripture refers to the list of books recognized as
divinely inspired and authoritative for faith and practice. The term came
to mean the standard by which a written work was measured for
inclusion in a certain body of literature. The books of the Bible are not
inspired because humans gave them canonical status. Rather, the books
were recognized as canonical by humans because they were inspired by
God.
The Old Testament

4. Different Canons
The Old Testament
Hebrew
• The Law
(Torah)
• The Prophets
(Nevi’im)
• The Writings
(Kethuvim)
Septuagint
• Pentateuch
• Historical
Books
• Poetical Books
• Prophetic
Books
Catholic
• Tobit
• Judith
• Wisdom of
Solomon
• Ecclesiasticus
• Sirach
• Baruch
• Letter of
Jeremiah
• 1 & 2
Maccabees
Orthodox
• Same as
Catholic
• Includes 4
additional
compositions
(1 Esdras,
Psalm 151, 3
and 4
Maccabees
and prayer of
Manasseh)

5. How were the Old Testament books
selected?
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the commandments God gave him,
the people of Israel immediately recognized their divine authority and promised to
obey them as the words of the Lord (Exodus 24:3-8). The writings of Moses were
stored at the central sanctuary because of their special status as inspired Scripture
(Exodus 25:16,21; Deuteronomy 10:1-2; 31: 24-26).
In (Deuteronomy 18:15-22), the Lord promised to raise up a succession of prophets
“like Moses” to speak His word for subsequent generations, and the
pronouncements of these messengers of God would also be recognized as
possessing divine authority.
The Old Testament

6. How were the Old Testament books
selected?
The prophet Samuel wrote down laws of kingship that were deposited before the
Lord when the monarchy was established in Israel (1 Samuel 10:25).
David’s extensive writings came to be recognized as inspired Scripture because the
Spirit of God spoke through him (2 Samuel 23:1-2), and the words of the prophets
came to be placed alongside the Torah in the Hebrew Scriptures because of the self-
authenticating message. Histories, psalms, and wisdom writings recognized as
coming from others speaking with a prophetic voice were also similarly respected
and preserved.
The Old Testament

7. When was the process completed?
Jewish tradition affirmed that prophecy ceased in Israel 400 BC after the ministry of
Malachi. 1st Maccabees 9:27 states, “So there was great distress in Israel, such as
had not been since the time that the prophets ceased to appear among them.” Baruch
85:3 makes a similar claim, and the Jewish Talmud states that the Holy Spirit
departed from Israel after the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi in the early
postexilic period. All of the canonical books of the Old Testament, except for
Esther, appear among the copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls (250 BC-AD 70).
The Old Testament

8. How does the New Testament view the
Old Testament?
Jesus and the apostles accepted the inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures and
often referred to or quoted them as authoritative. According to Jesus, the words
written by the human authors of Scripture were the “command of God” and “God’s
word” (Mark 7:8-13; Matthew 19:4-5). As God’s Word every part of the Old
Testament would be accomplished and fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18;54,56; Luke
24:27,44; John 7:38), and nothing it stated could be voided or annulled (Luke
16:17; John 10:35). Jesus described the Old Testament canon extending from
Genesis to Chronicles when speaking of the murders of Abel and the prophet
Zachariah in (Matthew 23:34-35; Luke
The Old Testament

9. NOT FINISHED WITH THIS BIBLE STUDY
• Still needs to be updated.
The Old Testament

10. Notes
The Old Testament
• Towns, Elmer L. The Essence of the New Testament: A Survey / Elmer
L. Towns, Ben Gutierrez, Editors. Nashville, Tenn.: B & H Academic,
2012. Print.
• Hindson, Edward E. The Essence of the Old Testament: A Survey.
Nashville, Tenn.: B & H Academic, 2012. Print.
• Holy Bible New King James Version, Black, Imitation Leather, Gift &
Award Bible. Holman Bible Pub, 2013. Print.

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