What is the Bible and how did it start? That is the question we will be looking at in this post. Many of my readers may be well acquainted with the Bible and may know the answer to this question, but some not be as well acquainted.
While the Bible today may be thought of as one book, it is actually a collection of books. How many books are in the Bible depends on which Bible you read. If you are Jewish, there are 24 books in the Bible. Those 24 books are written over a 1,000-year period. If you are Christian, then how many books are in the Bible depends on whether you are Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant and those books were written over 1,500 year period. The Orthodox Bible has 81 books. The Catholic Bible has 73 books and the Protestant has 66 books. We will delve into the differences as to why these Bibles differ in the number of books in a later post.
So how did the Bible get its start? It got its start with the writing of five books. Those books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. In Judaism, these five books are known as the Torah. They are also known as the books of Moses, and also the Pentateuch. These books are referred to throughout the Bible. These books were absolutely foundational to ancient Israelite life and faith. These books continue to be foundational to modern-day Judaism.
Genesis is all about the origins of the Israelites. Genesis gives an account of the beginning of the world and humanity and details the story of how God took a barren couple and gave them a son. Through that son, God made the decedents of that barren couple a small clan. That small clan lives in the land of Canaan. At the end of Genesis, that small clan settles in Egypt to get relief from a famine that was ravaging the Ancient Near East.
Exodus picks up the story where Genesis ends. About 400 years passes from the time that small clan arrived in Egypt. That small clan grew into a large group of people known as the Hebrews. The Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews and Exodus tells the story of how God delivered the Hebrews from slavery and is leading them back to the land of Canaan (the promised land). God picks a Hebrew man named Moses to deliver and lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Exodus details how God enters into a relationship with the Hebrews after they leave Egypt. In Exodus, God gives the Hebrews the famous 10 Commandments as well as other commandments and laws.
The next book is Leviticus. In that book, God details to the Hebrews how they should worship Him. God gives them instructions on things like how to conduct animal sacrifices or the specific diet the Hebrews should have. God instructs them on the holidays they should observe and a number of other laws.
In the book of Numbers, there are census records and various laws sprinkled throughout the book. The main story of Numbers details how the Hebrews did not listen to God when he told them to go into the land of Cannon. They were fearful of the people living in Canaan and refused to enter the land of Cannon. As a result, God told them they would not enter for forty years and would live as nomads in the wilderness during those years. The book of Numbers details many events of those forty years.
The last book is Deuteronomy. This book is a speech given by Moses before he dies and right before his successor Joshua takes over and leads the Hebrews into the promised land. Deuteronomy is in many ways a retelling of what Israel has gone through during their forty years in the wilderness and a retelling of the laws they are to keep.
It is the writing of these five books that kicked off the process of making the Bible. Traditionally, these five books have been said to be written by Moses somewhere around the timeframe of 1400–1200 BC. In my next post, we will look to see what evidence there is to back up that tradition and what scholars say about when these books were written and who was responsible for writing them.
