OLD TESTAMENT
Catechism #50-141
Outline
1. Bible is Inspired Word of God
2. Jewish Bible or Tanak
3. Christian Old Testament
4. History - Pentateuch plus Historical Books
5. History - Exile and Return
6. Prophets
7. Psalms
8. Liturgy of Hours
9. Wisdom Books
10.
Inspiration
11.
Aids for Bible Study
12.
Events, Rulers, and Prophets.
13.
Chronology of the People of
14.
History of the
15.
History of the Southern Kingdom
16.
Exile and Return
17.
Eras when Various Prophets Preached
1. Bible Is Inspired Word of God
Written
by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit
The
message is inspired and unerring
The writers provide the style
There are grammar,
geography, history errors
Sometimes
there are multiple authors
The
book of Genesis has four main sources or authors
Some
chapters (e.g. Chap. 1) use the word "God" for God
(Elohist
author), while others (e.g. Chap. 2) use
"Lord God" or
"Yahweh" (Yahwist author)
Elohim
is the Hebrew generic name for God, and
Yahweh is the name by which God revealed
himself.
In addition to these two sources there are also Priestly
and Deuteronamic author sections of
Genesis.
The
three parts of
Isaiah were written over a 200 year period
Isaiah
himself wrote Ch 1-39 before fall of
Ch. 40-55 was written in Exile, Ch. 56-66 is Postexilic
2. Jewish Bible or Tanak
The
Jews have the classification:
Torah (Pentateuch):
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy
Former prophets: Joshua, Judges,
Samuel (2 books), Kings (2 books)
Latter prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Book of 12 with the minor
prophets: Hosea, Joel,
Amos Obadiah Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
Writings: Psalms
Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs,
Qoheleth or Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther (½),
Daniel (½) Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles
(2 books)
3. Christian Old Testament
Christians
have a somewhat different classification of the
books of the Old
Testament than the Jewish people.
We divide them into the Pentateuch,
historical books,
the prophets,
and wisdom books
Thus
what the Jews call former prophets are to us historical
books, as are
some of the Writings such as Ezra,
Nehemiah and
Chronicles.
The
Hebrew Masoretic text Old Testament is shorter
than the Greek
Septuagint version.
Catholics
accept the
longer version with the additional
Deuterocanon or
Apocrypha books,
namely:
Tobit, Sirach, Judith,
Baruch, Wisdom,
Esther
(½), Daniel (½), and 1,2 Maccabees
The feast of Hanukkah is described in 1 Macc. Chap. 4
These
books were added when the Hebrew text was translated
into Greek after
the Exile, during the third century BC.
The
translation was made for the Jews who never returned
to the promised
Land after the exile, but spread
throughout the
world, and could no longer read Hebrew.
Old
Testament quotations in the New Testament are
mainly from the
Greek Septuagint.
4. History - Pentateuch plus Historical
Books
The
contents of the Pentateuch and historical books are
Genesis:
creation, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac
Jacob renamed
Exodus:
10 Plagues,
10 Commandments,
Numbers:
Sinai to Promised Land, laws
Leviticus:
about laws, Deuteronomy Is a repetition
Joshua-Judges:
conquest and division of
Samuel
1 and 2: last of the judges, first two kings
Saul, then David who founded
Kings
1 and 2: David, Solomon built the 1st
both are
conquered (by
respectively),
the latter followed by the exile
5. History - Exile and Return
Ezra:
Exile in
Return
to
Nehemiah:
repeopling of
Rebuilding the
Maccabees
1 and 2: brothers Judas, Jonathan, Simon
Rebel
against the Seleucides, Jewish state formed 160 BC
Minor
Events: Tobit,
Ruth, Judith, Esther
Chronicles
1 and 2: summarize much of the history
The 3rd temple may never be built since
the Dome of
the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque are at the
Creation
occurred: according to Ussher 4004 BC,
physicists say
17 billion years ago
6. Prophets
Prophets
are called by God, are spokesmen of God
mediators between God and man
denounce evil,
bring message of God to the people
then Amos,
Hosea, Jonah
Ezekiel, Micah, Nahem,
Zephaniah, Habukkuk
During
the Babylonian Exile: Ezekiel, Deutero-Isaiah,
Daniel,
Baruch, Lamentations
After
the Exile: Trito-Isaiah,
Joel, Obadiah, Malachi,
Zechariah, Haggai
Others: Moses, Samuel, Nathan
7. Psalms
150
psalms are both personal and communal
Types: lamentations, penance, praise, wisdom thanksgiving,
hymns, royal,
Authors
are many: David, sons of Korah,
songs of ascent,
plus more
Longest
#119 has 8x22 = 176 verses, is acrostic meaning
that each set of verses starts with a successive
letter
of the Hebrew
alphabet, and in addition each verse
contains a word
for law
Shortest
#117, only 2 verses long
Music
directions given at the beginning of some psalms
The
responsorial psalm at Mass generally consists
of parts of a
psalm
8. Liturgy of Hours
Four week psalter or psalm book
Long
psalms are divided into segments
Each
day - includes office of the readings,
morning prayer,
A
passage is read from the old or new testament
and a father of
the church (gospels are not used)
Seasonal
cycle - Advent - Christmas - Lent - Easter
- ordinary
time
Sanctorial
cycle for
feasts of saints
9. Wisdom Books
The
emphasis is on Individual and his destiny
Real wisdom is fear of the Lord
Job:
sufferings of Job; dialogues with Eliphaz,
Bildad and Zophar
Proverbs:
blessings of wisdom, constitutes
groups of short
sayings
Ecclesiastes:
Search for Meaning, Nothing is new
under the sun,
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
Song
of Songs: an allegory, lover and beloved are
like the God and
Sirach:
Jewish way of life superior to secular way
Book
of Wisdom: appeal to make learning have
an impact on the
moral life
10. Inspiration and Preservation
The
Bible is the inspired word of God
God is the real author
Written
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
Torah
became official 400 BC, Prophets 200 BC, Writings 100 AD
Oldest
Old Testament manuscripts were 1000 AD until
Dead Sea Scrolls dated 0 AD
The
New Testament Canon was established at Councils
of Hippo
393 and
Oldest
New Testament manuscripts date from the 3rd century
All
scripture scholars now agree on the true text of the
New Testament
11. Aids for Studying the Bible
Concordance; an index for
looking up words
in the
scriptures
Commentary:
explains meaning of scripture verses
Dictionary
of scripture terms
Bible
discussion and study guides
Who's
Who in the Bible:
Brief biographies of the personalities
Lectionary:
scripture readings for all the Masses
used by the
lector at Mass
Atlas
of scripture geography with many maps
Treatises
on background of the scriptures
12. Events, Rulers, Prophets
The
historical books of scripture emphasize the scripture
writer's
perspective
Here
we present the history of the Jewish people
to emphasize how
the prophets fit into this history
To
understand a prophetic book of the Bible
we must learn
how, when, where and why it was written
When
a reading of a prophet appears in the liturgy
we can find its
historical setting from information below
The
format is to list rulers, events, dates and prophets in
parallel columns
Important distinctions are the country
(
historical period (pre-exilic, during
exile, after return)
These
have a strong influence on message of each prophet
13. Chronology of the People of
From the Beginning Years BC
Adam
and Eve, Noah,
Flood,
Era of the Patriarchs
Abraham
Isaac Jacob/Israel; slaves in
Rule
by Judges
Moses
leads Exodus, Joshua occupies
One
Saul
(20 yrs), David (38 years) founded
Solomon (39 yrs) built first temple 1020-922
14. History of
Kings Years BC Prophets
Jeroboam
I, x, x, x, Zimri 922-876
Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah 876-849 Elijah
Jehoram,
Jehu, Jehoahaz, x 849-786 Elisha
Jeroboam
II
786-746 Amos, Hosea, Jonah
Zechariah,
x, x, x, Pekah 746-732 Hosea
Hoshea 732-724
Siege
of capitol
Tiglath-Pileser
15. History of Southern Kingdom
Judah, 2 Tribes
Kings Years BC Prophets
Rehoboam,
x,x,x,x,x, Uzziah 922-742
Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah 742-687 Isaiah (Ch 1-39), Micah
Manasseh, Amon 687-640
Josiah
640-609 Jeremiah, Nahum, Zephaniah
Jehoahaz
II, Jehoiakim
609-598 Jeremiah, Habakuk
First
exiles 598
Jehoiachin,
Zedekiah 597-587 Jeremiah, Ezekiel
Siege
of
16. Exile and Return
Event Years BC Prophets
Exile
in
Edict
of Cyrus,
return to
Zerubabel, built 2nd Temple 520-515 Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, Obadiah,
Malachai,
Later events 458-440 Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah
Maccabean
Revolt, Jewish nation
167-63
Roman
rule began
63
Herod the Great rebuilt 2nd
Life
of Jesus about
4 BC - 31 AD
17. Eras When Various Prophets Preached
Place, Event Years BC Prophets et al.
Era
of Patriarchs 1800-1200 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
Exodus,
Judges Rule 1240-1020 Moses, Aaron, Samuel
" 876-786 Elijah, then Elisha
" 786-732 Amos, Hosea, Jonah
Southern
Kingdom
" 742-687 Isaiah (Ch 1-39), Micah 640-609 Jeremiah, Nahum, Zephaniah
" 609-598 Jeremiah, Habakkuk
" 597-587
Jeremiah, Ezekiel
Exile
in
Daniel, Baruch, Lamentations
Back
from Exile 520-515 Haggai, Zechariah, Obadiah
Malachai, Trito-Isaiah (Ch 56-66)
Later
events 458-400 Joel, Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah
"
180 book of Sirach
Maccabee
Revolt 167-63 Judas, Jonathan, Simon
CPPoole,