In my post, "The Scriptures: A Written Conversation" I noted the chiastic structure of the Writings (the third section of the OT canon) highlights Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) as the central book. I said, "This ending to the central book of the chiasm of the Writings is fitting. It is similar to ending the New Testament with the Book of Revelation given how Revelation ends warning about adding or subtracting from it. The effect of Ecclesiastes 12:12 is to say, the Writings are now complete until prophecy resumes, beware of adding to or subtracting from them."

Sailhamer notes in The Meaning of the Pentateuch that Scripture distinguishes between "writing in a book" and "making a book." Writing usually has more to do with copying. Making a book has to do with the composition of written works. His point is that making a book is much more complicated than simply taking dictation or copying.

He further argues that "many" can be an adjective "many books" or an adverb "constantly." Thus the verse may refer to either making an "endless number of books" or to how "the process of making a book is endless." He concludes it is the latter because of the warning about adding any more "wise sayings" (Ecclesiastes 12:11). So Sailhamer says, "in Ecclesiastes it aims at cutting short the process of making a book. The problem is not making more books, but deciding whether and when to end this one" (267). The composition of a book can involve several editions and revisions and such, and the author means to cut that process short rather than let it continue indefinitely.

I want to argue that the deeper problem is deciding whether and when to end the composition of the Hebrew Scriptures. Because of the placement of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew canon, I want to suggest that it is aiming to end the process of making the Scriptures. In other words, for the rest of this time when prophecy has ceased, there should be no more books added to the Book and there should be no more revisions (no more editions of Biblical books, no more editing of Biblical books, and the like). The composition of the Hebrew Scriptures was complete.

It is fitting then that the apostles did not publish their own edition of the Hebrew Scriptures. The apostles viewed the Hebrew Scriptures as a finished product. To be sure they and others close to them made new compositions and some of those are collectively a new composition we now call the New Testament. But early Christians did not write their own versions of the OT Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This is an important observation because various groups in Judaism did this very thing -- they continued to edit and revise the Hebrew Bible for some time.

Labels: composition, ecclesiastes, hebrew scriptures, qoheleth, sailhamer, writing, writings

In the Hebrew canonical arrangement the former prophets are Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings and the latter prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve. The number pattern of 3+1 and 3+1 is a feature of Biblical wisdom literature. Usually the +1 is the punch -- Kings ends with the nation of Judah in exile; the Twelve ends with Malachi announcing the coming Day of YHWH. I would dismiss this shape as simply coincidental, understanding that word in a context of faith, except that we have seen that the structure of the Writings is purposeful and because the Twelve were stitched together to make the pattern work. Should you wonder what the purpose of a wisdom shape to the prophets might suggest -- it is quite simple, study, study, study the written words of the prophets. It is an apologetic for the importance of the study of the written word of God.

It is no surprise, as I have observed elsewhere, that the prophets begin and end with wisdom language that emphasizes studying the Torah. The prophets are therefore styled as wisdom teachers of the written Torah. Joshua says, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (Josh 1:7-8, ESV modified).

Likewise, the ending of Malachi resounds the wisdom theme of studying the written word: "Remember the Torah of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel" (4:4 in English, ESV modified). Thus the way that the prophets are arranged highlights the way people are to use the prophets until the Day came -- study the written word (and in particular: study them as wisdom teachers of Deuteronomy). One should even wonder if the order throughout Joshua 1 of "Moses, my servant" is purposefully switched for Malachi 4:4 to "my servant Moses." The stress being that the written word of God is God's servant.

It is worth noting that one of the effects of putting the Book of the Twelve last is to give it more importance. It is understandable that particularly Isaiah would be perhaps the most influential book of the latter prophets because of its length. The Twelve gets some extra weight, which is lost in the English Bibles, by being read as a single long book. Moreover, it is the +1 book. And even furthermore it is the final book of the Prophets. All of these considerations promote studying the Twelve more than they often are. But like the Writings, sometimes cited by the first book the Psalms, citing Isaiah (or occasionally Jeremiah) is often shorthand for citing the latter Prophets in general.

The Book of the Twelve was stitched together and it follows a discernible geographical pattern -- north (Hosea to Israel), south (Joel to Judah), north (Amos primarily to Israel), south (Obadiah to Edom), north (Jonah to Ninevah), south (Micah to Judah), north (Nahum to Ninevah), south (Habakkuk to Judah), south (Zephaniah to Judah). Then the last three after the restoration of Jerusalem has begun (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) are concerned with priestly things, which mirrors the emphasis on priests in the wisdom tradition since they taught Torah. The latter Prophets moves in this direction as a whole in that the last two books are Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve. But the point here is that the Book of the Twelve has a purposeful order like drawing a spiral in to Jerusalem. It should be no surprise then that the gospel reverses this by going from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and the ends of the earth.

By the way, in the Hebrew Bible the scribes saw the Book of the Twelve as one whole book and made it clear by putting only three spaces instead of four between each one and by giving statistics on the whole.

So we have 3+1 and 3+1. The hero of Kings (the +1 of the former prophets) will return before the coming of the Day (as noted in the +1 of the latter prophets: Malachi 4:5-6, English). Until then, study the written word of these wisdom teachers of Torah. And now that this Elijah has come as John the Baptist and the +1 (eighth) day has begun with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, continue to study the written word until the seventh day is done.

Labels: book of the twelve, deuteronomy, joshua, malachi, prophets, writings

The word Scripture simply means writings. Of course the only writings that are fully the words of God are those found in the Torah, Prophets and Writings of the Old and New Testaments. But the word Scripture only tells us they are writings. The more I study the structure of Scripture the more I realize that the shape of the book is an apologetic for the importance of the book. In fact, the third section of the canon in the Old Testament is called the Writings. Actually, we might as well call them the Scriptures. Thus just as the Torah (Deuteronomy) is a name we apply to the first section, so the Writings is a name we apply to all the Bible.

The shape of Scripture is an apologetic for the importance of Scripture study. You can see this clearly at the seams of the three sections: Deut 34, Josh 1, Malachi 4, and Psalm 1. It is the reason we are so passionate about The Book.

In any case, the Writings are in conversation (though not in an oral but written form) with the rest of Scripture. The Prophets interpret Torah for a new generation. The Writings are reflections on the Torah and Prophets. Likewise in the New Testament, the New Testament writings are interpreting the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ (Gospels, NT Torah) and the giving of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts, NT Prophets).

And the Writings are in conversation with each other. The first three: Psalms, Job, and Proverbs are all accented as poetry for chanting in Hebrew. The next five were chanted at festivals during the year: Ruth, Song of Songs, Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), Lamentations, and Esther. And then the last three are Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. The ones chanted at festivals form a chiasm -- Ruth the heroine, Song of Songs is erotic poetry, Ecclesiastes in the middle, Lamentations is sad poetry, and Esther the heroine. Thus with three before and three after these five the whole of the Writings makes a chiasm.

The sections within the Writings are stitched together when we realize that Proverbs ends with the poem about the ideal wife (Prov 31:10) and Boaz says that everyone knows Ruth would be the ideal wife (Ruth 3:11). In Hebrew the phrase is identical. Song of Songs gives us another example of the ideal wife, as does Esther parallel to Ruth. Also Esther in many ways is a female Daniel, which bridges those two books together. But already you should be able to see that the Writings are in conversation with one another.

One common literary form in the Writings is the alphabetic acrostic poem. One reason that you would do an alphabetic acrostic is to speak comprehensively. Thus the alphabetic acrostic par excellence is Psalm 119, with eight lines for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet (making it also the longest chapter in the Scriptures). The book of Lamentations consists of six alphabetic acrostics. The poem about the ideal wife in Prov 31:10ff is another example. It is a comprehensive description of the ideal wife from A to Z (for the English alphabetic equivalent). This is in conversation, as Longman notes in his Proverbs commentary on the ideal wife poem, with Psalm 112. Psalm 112:1-10 is an alphabetic acrostic about the ideal husband. The fear of YHWH, like at the end of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes 12:13) is the preeminent trait of both the wife (Prov 31:30) and husband (Psalm 112:1). The point of Ecclesiastes is to explain the limits of wisdom and this seems to be a favorite feature of this conversation. Job makes a similar point. The limit on wisdom is that we should fear God and keep His Torah.

Thus the Writings make the point about Writings, "My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh" (Ecclesiastes 12:12). We must keep this in conversation with how the delight of the blessed is in the written Torah of YHWH and on this Torah he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:2). Thus we should study (even toil until we are weary) the word of God. But this ending to the central book of the chiasm of the Writings is fitting. It is similar to ending the New Testament with the Book of Revelation given how Revelation ends warning about adding or subtracting from it. The effect of Ecclesiastes 12:12 is to say, the Writings are now complete until prophecy resumes, beware of adding to or subtracting from them.

Labels: acrostic, alphabetic acrostic, chronicles, daniel, ecclesiastes, esther, ezra-nehemiah, job, lamentations, proverbs 31, psalms, qoheleth, ruth, scripture, song of songs, writings

As earlier posts make clear, the canonical order of the books of Scripture makes a difference in how we read them. Thus I want to explore the effect of Deuteronomy's position in the Torah as the last book without repeating observations made in previous posts like Old and New Testament Torah, Prophets & Writings and The Way of Wisdom: The Canon and Cessation. If you have not read those posts, please do so before continuing with this one.

Simply put, the effect of putting Deuteronomy last is to make it the most important. This is reflected in later Scripture. For example, whenever the Prophets refer to Torah (or the longer form 'Torah of Moses') they are referring not to the canonical designation for Genesis through Deuteronomy but they are referring to the Book of Deuteronomy. The late Al Groves researched each of these references to "Torah" and concluded that every one of them was a reference to Deuteronomy. Moreover, the most quoted book of the Torah in the New Testament is Deuteronomy.

But it is actually a little more complicated than this. Deuteronomy shows us the shift from the spoken Torah of Moses to the written Torah of Moses. As noted elsewhere, not every word of the written Torah of Moses was written by Moses. In fact, the written Torah of Moses was undoubtedly edited later, has an updated vocabulary throughout, and has the extra poem and epilogue telling us about the death of Moses written from the standpoint of the cessation of prophecy. On the updated vocabulary Pete Enns notes as he reflects on the comments of an unnamed Old Testament scholar: "The specific point concerned the state of Hebrew in the 2nd millennium BC, and how no one living at that time (i.e., Moses) could have written the Pentateuch as we know it, as it reflects a state of Hebrew that did not develop until the 1st millennium" (see II). But for our purposes here, the effect is to highlight the editor(s)' comments and especially the editor(s)' conclusion. This is fitting for the gospel genre because the NT Torah was not written down by Jesus and so you will see this similarity between Deuteronomy and Matthew-John. Deuteronomy is most like John because it assumes you know the story (a point that I could develop further).

This same effect is observable in the Hebrew Scriptures as a whole because the Prophets interpret Torah and show more acts of God and then the Writings interpret the Torah and Prophets. Likewise in the New Testament as particularly the epistles (writings) interpret the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (gospels, NT Torah) and the giving of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts, NT Prophets). Each Torah is foundational to the rest and so it is most important in that respect. Though no Christian would dispute that the effect of the Gospels coming later makes them more important. In the Old Testament, it is also clear that God spoke to Moses face to face but to the later prophets and especially to the writers this revelation becomes increasingly indirect. But we cannot underestimate the impact for those living just before and at the time of Christ to have the canon in this order. It was the Writings that showed you how to interpret the written Torah for your new situation.

We see this even in the Torah because what Deuteronomy does is show us the torah (instruction) adapted to a new generation. There are a variety of inconsistencies between the laws found earlier and found in Deuteronomy (many of which simply reflect a later situation, this cannot be said of all the differences). McConville notes in his commentary in the AOTC series that Deuteronomy is concerned to apply torah (instruction of Moses) to not only the Moab generation but also to all generations (cf. p.136). The point being that the book is concerned for transmission of the Decalogue and all the torah (instruction including law and history) of the Torah to future generations. As Deuteronomy itself demonstrates, this transmission requires teaching and interpretation (concerns highlighted by the editor of Deuteronomy who promotes the priests as teachers of written Torah).

So in summary the effect of Deuteronomy being the last book of the Torah is to make the equation of Deuteronomy and Torah. That is, Torah = Deuteronomy. And to emphasize that the Torah must be taught and interpreted for every new generation by wisdom teachers. Thus the spoken words of Moses are not nearly as important, even though the book consists of three major speeches, as the written book of Deuteronomy. And so we should pay careful attention and highlight any comments made by the editor(s) as we proceed through our investigation of this Torah especially noting his fascination with giants (something I remember Al Groves noting).

As a final point for now, just as when you read the New Testament and find the end of the story and then go back and re-read the Old Testament to see how it points to the end, you should also re-read the whole Torah from Genesis to Numbers after you have read Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is inviting you to do this. It is assuming that you know the story of Numbers in particular and is encouraging you to read it again. But it is also inviting you to compare the Decalogue in Exodus with the new presentation in Deuteronomy and so forth. May this observation keep you studying Torah in a loop so long as you keep seeing the one who is its subject: Jesus Christ.

Labels: canon, deuteronomy, gospel genre, prophets, torah, writings

OT Canonical Order assumed in the NT: Jesus said,

"everything written about me in the Law of Moses [Torah] and the Prophets and the Psalms [Writings] must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44).

The Psalms, the first and largest book of the writings section, is often used to refer to all of the writings. And Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees,

"on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sancturary and the altar" (Matt 23:35).

Jesus is refering to the first book Genesis (where Abel is the first death) and the last book of the Hebrew canon Chronicles (where this Zechariah is the last death). Thus he is using this as shorthand for all of the righteous saints who died in the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus assumed the OT canonical order stated below.

It is the order found in Jewish Bibles. Thus, the Hebrew Scriptures are often called the Tanakh (in Hebrew, T is for Torah, N for Prophets, K for Writings). Here the Westminster Confession of Faith could use some reformation as it lists the Old Testament books in a different order reflected also in English language translations of the Bible. Notice that the New Testament follows the same God-given pattern...

Torah: In the beginning (Genesis); Exodus; Leviticus; In the wilderness (Numbers); and These are the words (Deuteronomy). The phrases are the Hebrew titles (the first word in the Hebrew text).

Prophets: Joshua; Judges; Samuel; Kings; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Ezekiel; The Book of the Twelve (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

Writings: Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles.

New Testament Torah: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

New Testament Prophets: Acts

New Testament Writings: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation.

Eugene Peterson suggests that Acts is partially Torah and partially Prophets, making the fifth book of NT Torah. Then he makes most of the epistles Prophets while James and Revelation are writings. Sometimes I am persuaded by this argument.

Early comments: As you might guess, you can compare the Books of Moses to the gospels and Joshua to Acts. And putting them this way helps you see why Daniel and Revelation have so much in common -- they are both apocalyptic (genre) writings (section). Nevertheless, do not flatten the Bible and ignore the historical nature of special revelation.

First observation: Old Testament books that have been divided in the English Bible into two should be read as one book. For example, 1 Kings and 2 Kings is one book as is 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles. One you might not realize is that Ezra-Nehemiah is also one book. And it is very important to read the so-called minor prophets instead of as separate books as The Book of the Twelve. They have been edited together to be read as a single book. It would also be appropriate, though divided in the order of the New Testament, to read Luke and Acts as one book. The reason that the gospel of John divides them in our canon is that John is assuming that you already know the stories we can find in Matthew, Mark & Luke. Thus he writes a book that reflects much more theologically on the life of Christ.

It is worth noting, unlike in the OT the 1 Letter, 2 Letter, 3 Letter designations in the NT are indeed separate letters and should be read as such but putting them next to one another also encourages you to see the connections between them. In this order the authors of the epistles are separated: Romans through Philemon are by Paul, Hebrews is by an unknown author, James, Peter, John, and Jude are as the names suggest.

Second observation: You should read Scripture according to these divisions (Torah, Prophets, Writings, Old and New). How you read the OT Torah is different than how you read the OT Writings.

To build on this observation: Each book needs a unique reading strategy and knowing where they fall in the canoncial order helps. One thing that is necessary for interpretation is to identify the kind of writing (the genre) that you are reading. You read a grocery list differently than a love letter and a fable different than a history textbook. And so you should read Matthew differently than Revelation and Psalms differently than Isaiah. Not every scholar will agree on the genre of a text. For example, one person might say that you should read Deuteronomy like you would read the gospels. It contains his speeches but it also includes information that is likely told by someone telling us the story. Another will mention that the book resembles an ancient treaty formula. Actually both of these observations are helpful for Deuteronomy, especially the former given our discussion. Knowing which section of the canon a book falls into will help you to identify the genre. For another example, Daniel is a wisdom book (found in the writings alongside other wisdom books) and not one of the prophetic books. This does not mean that Daniel does not include prophecy but it does mean that you should read it differently than one of the prophetic books. It is a failure to recognize this truth that has led to all sorts of interpretive mistakes.

Third Observation: And when we read the books in order we should also interpret them in order, thus Ruth and the woman in Song of Songs are examples of the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 (in the Hebrew order it is Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs).

May you read Scripture afresh. Amen.

Labels: bible, book of the twelve, canon, daniel, deuteronomy, ezra-nehemiah, hebrew scriptures, prophets, proverbs 31, psalms, ruth, scripture, song of songs, Tanakh, torah, writings