Thursday, April 3, 2014

Authors of the Hebrew Scriptures

The Hebrew Scriptures are composed of many sacred Jewish writings and are the main foundation for the Jewish faith. The Hebrew Scriptures are also referred to as the Hebrew Bible and The Old Testament by Christians. These scriptures were not written by a single person. Many different people wrote these over a long period of time.

The Hebrew Scriptures are three different sections: Laws, Prophets, and  Scriptures (writings). These three sections are also known respectively as the Torah, Nebi’im, and Ketuvim (Fisher 695). Today the Hebrew Scriptures are still present and have laid down the foundation for many beliefs and religions. Based off of the chronological account of when the various books of the Hebrew Scriptures were written, found in Heaton’s book “The Old Testament Prophets: A Short Introduction”, it can be determined that they were written over a period of at least 800 years (Heaton). So it can be hard at times to pinpoint who exactly wrote certain pieces of text.

An explanation for this confusion and difficultly can be due to an event in history. During that long span of years, in 606 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar took over Judah and the Hebrew people were forced to move to Babylon, thus starting the Babylonian captivity. It wasn’t until 70 years later that the Jews were allowed to return to their homes and try to piece together their broken history and culture (Burges 19). The sacred texts that were saved before they were forced into captivity became the building blocks of what the Jews used to form the Hebrew Scriptures. In many years to follow, they were also the building blocks for other faiths and the New Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures were a way for the Hebrew people to continue their culture and hold on to something that was very dear to them, since they were being conquered so often.

To first understand who wrote these various parts of the Hebrew Scriptures we need to break them down (since they are so detailed and diverse). The first part of the Hebrew Scriptures is the Torah, and is comprised of five different sections. These sections are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Sarna 878). The Torah also takes on the name the Torah of Moses because it was written by Moses. It is a “continuous narrative from the creation of the world to the death of Moses in which is embedded a considerable amount of legal and ritual prescription”  (Sarna 879).


The Nebi’im, or Prophets, section of the Hebrew Scriptures has two major sections. Those sections are the Major Prophets and the twelve Minor Prophets. The Major Prophets, thee books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekial, make up the major prophet section and were written by the prophets in their titles. Some scholars have debated on how these oracles of the prophets were put into their written form. One view is that the prophets each had their own circle of devoted disciples that would pass these on by word through generations until they were written (Heaton 150). The other view that scholars have on this method is similar but differs in the fact that they believe the prophets teachings were passed down in some written forms and orally (Heaton 150).  


This is a picture of the Well of Moses that shows two of the prophets that are a part of this sculpture: Jeremiah and David (Sluter).

The last section of the Hebrew Scriptures is the Ketuvium, which is a collection of various pieces ranging from poetry to wisdom. Ketuvium actually translates into the word “writings”. This is the section of the Hebrew Bible that is made up of many writings that were written by many different people. The proverbs were written by a king of Judah and the Job was written by Moses. King David played an important role in composing and writing down a majority of these writing such as Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Sometimes it was a group of people that wrote these sections. Daniel and Esther were both written by the Men of the Great Assembly. Most of the writings that are found in the Hebrew Bible are written in Biblical Hebrew but some are in Aramic (“Ketuvium”). Of course today we have many translations of these writings, but the original languages are available as well.

Works Cited

Burge, Lorenzo. Origin and Formation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Boston: Lee and
            Shepard, 1890. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

Fisher, E. J. "Hebrew Scriptures." New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 6.
            Detroit: Gale, 2003. 695-696. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28
            Mar. 2014.

Heaton, E. W. The Old Testament Prophets: A Short Introduction. Rockport:
            Oneworld Publications, 1997. Print.

“Ketuvim.” Kyovel. n.p. n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

Sarna, Nahum M. "Biblical Literature: Hebrew Scriptures." Encyclopedia of
            Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference
            USA, 2005. 878-880. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

Sluter, Claus. Well of Moses. 1350. Musee Archeologique, Dijon. Web Gallery of
            Art. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.




1 comment:

  1. Natalie, I really liked your blog post. I attended nine years of Catholic education growing up, yet I did not know that there were three sections that the writings of the Old Testament are divided into. I also did not know that they were written over a period of over eight hundred years. That is a really long time. This also makes it all the more likely that the authors of the texts are not who I have always believed them to be. As far as I know, there are some recent studies that have surfaced that suggest that Moses was not the actual author of the Torah. My reaction to this was a lot like my reaction to the suggestion that the Gospels were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. At first, I rejected the idea. This was in part because I had sat through nine years of religion classes that told me, these men wrote the books of the Bible. However, now that I am older, I have come to the realization that other men could have written parts of the Bible. I also realized that this knowledge did not have to shake my faith. This could actually strengthen the core beliefs that I have. It forces me to look at the words of the Bible, rather than put faith in the authors.

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