Conhecendo as Escrituras 1 (Antigo Testamento)

Hello, the Peace of the Lord Jesus! As it could not be otherwise, the first class of our Online Bible Course will be about the Bible. After all, the Bible is our study tool through which we learn more and more about what the Lord our God has left to us.

So the first thing we are going to do here is to learn about the structure of the Scriptures. In this first class we will learn a little about the structure of the Old Testament and how it works. Initially, let's talk about the first five books of the Bible.

You are seeing here [on the whiteboard]: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These first five books collectively form what is known as "Torah". The Hebrew word "Torah" means "the Law", “instruction”.

In the Gospels, the Torah is referred to as "the Law". Furthermore, in Western theology, because of its Greek influence, it is called "Pentateuch". What does Pentateuch mean?

"Penta" means "five" and "teuch" means "rolls", that is, “five rolls of books”, okay? ! However, the first five books of the Bible will be better called "Torah", because it better represents the origin of the books, since it was [originally] written in Hebrew.

In the Gospels, the Torah is referred to as "the Law" These first five books are very rich, they are the foundation for the entire structure of the rest of the Writings, which also includes the New Testament. For example, [the Torah] serves to explain to our children how God created everything. After all, it is there in Genesis that we read: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

So these books are fundamental to understanding everything about Scripture. The second group consists of 12 books. In Western theology they are called "Historical" books.

Why am I referring to “Western” theology? Because soon I will explain how they were differently organized by the Hebrews. So, this is the Pentateuch (or Torah).

Here we have the 12 books known as "Historical" books, however, these 12 books were not originally 12 books, okay? ! We have here, first, Joshua, Judges, then we will have the book of Ruth, Samuel (First Samuel and Second Samuel), you can see here that I "connected" [some of the books].

Why did I make this connection? Because Samuel is [originally] one book, however, it is a very long book, so it was divided into two rolls, making it easier for the scribes to copy these rolls. There is a very profound work of scribes when it comes to making copies.

They were copyists, that is, today we have printers to make several copies, but not in the past, so this was manual work. And, out of zeal, if they made many mistakes in their manuscripts [copies] they would throw that manuscript away, burn it, so that there was no possibility that someone could find this manuscript with something written wrong and end up confusing the Law of God. Then imagine how hard it was for them to copy the entire Book of Samuel.

So it was divided into two parts, okay? ! The same happened with the Book of Kings.

It is one Book of Kings, however, today we have the First and the Second Book of Kings. Here [on the whiteboard] you can also see that they are connected You can also see a connection here in the Book of Chronicles, it is actually one book, however, it was divided into First and Second Chronicles. [explanation regarding the correct use of the grammatical genre when applying ordinal numerals (such as "first" and "second") in Portuguese, not applicable or relevant in English.

] Ezra and Nehemiah are also connected as they are one book of Ezra and Nehemiah. And finally, the Book of Esther is the last book in the group of the twelve Historical books that we have today, those that are written in red on the whiteboard. You can also open your Bible index to follow our study.

Here you can see a sequence of five other books, known as "Poetic" books. "Poetic" or "Sapiential" [books]. They are books of wisdom.

So this group starts with a beautiful book, considered by some to be the greatest work ever written individually: the Book of Job. Then we have Psalms. Most of the psalms are attributed to David, but not all, some were written by Moses, Asaph, and others who contributed to this book.

Proverbs (by Solomon), Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. These three are the books that close this group of five books, known as "Poetic" or "Sapiential" books. Here we are going to have another five books called "major" Prophets.

These are the five books called "major" prophets in Western theology. This will be perfectly understood when we explain the Hebrew division of the Old Testament. Thus, there are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (by Jeremiah), Ezekiel and Daniel.

These are the five books called "major" prophets in Western theology. You might think: "If there are 'major' prophets, then there must be a group of 'minor' prophets". Yes, there is also a [book] roll known as “the Twelve”.

These "Twelve" are called "minor" prophets, which are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. These twelve formed a book, "the Twelve", and are called "minor" Prophets in Western theology. So, [the division of the Old Testament] would look like this: we have here, on my right, "the Law", then the “Historical” books, the “Poetic” books, which are “Sapiential”, of wisdom, "major" prophets and "minor" prophets.

That is, all of these books here ["major" and "minor" prophets] are Prophetic books. So we end the understanding [of the organization of the Scriptures] in theology, which you may study in a seminary, This is the division that will be taught. There are also seven books that are included in the Catholic Bible, but that are not included in the Protestant Bible.

Part of these seven books were in the Septuagint. What is Septuagint? It is the Greek translation of the Old Testament by 70, or 72, Jewish rabbis.

They translated [into Greek] the Old Testament [originally] written in Hebrew, in fact, some portions were [originally written] in Aramaic. Like some portions of Ezra, in chapter 4, 7 and 12. A portion of Daniel chapter 2 was also in Aramaic.

And there is also a portion of the Book of Jeremiah, in chapter 10, written in Aramaic. But in general, the Old Testament was [originally] written in Hebrew, these Jewish sages took the entire Old Testament in Hebrew and translated it [into Greek], so we have the Septuagint. In the Septuagint there are some of the writings that are in the Catholic Bible, among the seven books that are [only] there.

Based on all the analysis I did, the First Book of the Maccabees is very useful. It is useful mainly to understand a little better the Book of Daniel, a Prophetic book. The negative reviews I read about [the First Book of the Maccabees] did not convince me, and I think it is a very important book.

Now let's talk about the Hebrew division of the Old Testament. You can see [on the whiteboard] that I put some orange and red dots next to some of the books. All of these [marked books] are grouped differently.

In the organization of the Hebrew version of the Old Testament, “the Law” (Torah) remains these first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. But we will see a different division when it comes to what we are going to see Jesus talking about. When Jesus speaks in Luke 24:44 (Let me get my Bible) Luke 24:44: “Jesus said to them, 'These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms'”.

So we're going to see what this division looks like. Well, for Jews there is an acronym called "Tanakh". [The Tanakh is divided into three sections:] first section is the Torah, (the Law), then the second section is Nevi'im (the prophets), and the third section is Ketuvim, which are the Writings.

So I'm going to do something here to make it easier: when it’s Ketuvim I’ll put a red dot next to the book. (I do not know if this will appear in the video) But for the prophets [Nevi'im] I’m going to put an orange dot, ok? !

So let's go find out which are Ketuvim and which are Nevi'im, that is, what is a prophet and what is Writing. First, let's check out the Prophets, those who are considered prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Incredible as it may seem, Joshua is considered a prophet, and so is Judges.

We also have the Book of Samuel, remembering that it is originally one book, the Book of Kings, which is one book. We have here, in this column, the others considered prophets, which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all "the Twelve" are also called prophets in the Hebrew Bible. We already know that "The Law" consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

And the Prophets are the ones I have already mentioned. It is a little different from our division, right? !

This, which is being taught now, of course, is not for beginners, it is for you who are already studying deeply to understand what Jesus meant in Luke 24:44. The remaining books, such as: Ruth. (the red here is not very good, I will circle them in blue to make it more distinguishable) So, Ruth, the Book of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther: these are called “Writings” [Ketuvim].

The others that are part of the Writings [Ketuvim] are these: the ones we call Poetic books. And incredible as it may seem, Lamentations is part of the Hebrew Writings [Ketuvim], and they do not consider Daniel a prophetic book, although it contains several prophecies, it is inserted in the group of Writings [Ketuvim]. So here we saw the division between the Law, the Prophets and the Writings in which we see Jesus, in Luke 24:44, citing the whole Tanakh as divine inspiration.

Jesus said something important: the Law talks about him, the Prophets talk about him, and the Psalms (the Writings), talk about him. Everything in the Bible talks about him. We are starting to talk about Scriptures yet.

The Holy Bible starts with a foundation, this foundation comes from the Law, which is all of these here [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy]. Which is an important foundation for all types of teaching, there are literal truths, and especially spiritual ones, which are applications that will be developed throughout the biblical content. I hope you liked it.

These are all 39 Old Testament books. In the next class we will learn about the 27 books of the New Testament. May God bless you and I ask you to help us with your comment, with your prayer, or sharing this video with our brothers and sisters who are going to start [this study], because the purpose is precisely to bring people to Bible understanding.

May God bless you, see you later.