I. Name

The name, Old Testament, is applied to that portion of our Bible which has come to us from the Jews. By them it was called "The Books," Dan. 9:2; 'The Holy Books," I Mac. 12:9; "The Books of the Law," 1 Mac. 1:56, or "A Book of the Covenant" R. V., 1 Mac. 1:57. In the New Testament it is called " Scripture," 2 Tim. 3:16, or "The Scriptures," Matt. 21:42; "The Sacred Writings," 2 Tim. 3:15; "Law," John 10:34. Among the early Christian writers we find the term "The Old Testament" or "The Old Covenant." The Latin translation of the Greek word (diatheke), employed in 2 Cor. 3:14, is Testamentum, out of which has been formed our English word Testament, which, although not very accurate, has become so familiar that its use is generally retained.

II. Text

The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, except Dan. 2:4 to 7:28, Jer. 10:11, Ezra 4:8 to 6:18, and 7:12-26, which are written in Aramaic, a language closely allied to the Hebrew, both belonging to the great Semitic group, different dialects of which were used in Arabia and among the Phoenicians. Originally the Hebrew was written without vowels; these not being added until about one thousand years after the advent of Christ.

For the preservation of the text of the Old Testament we depend on the Hebrew Manuscripts, whose accuracy we can test by comparing them with the Greek version made while yet the Hebrew was a living language, about 250 B. C. Much help may also be found by comparing them with the Samaritan Pentateuch and with the Greek translations made by Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion, and with the Old Latin Version made in the second Christian century.

The oldest Hebrew Manuscripts are one containing the Pentateuch, 820-850 A. D., and one containing the Prophets, 916 A. D., the former kept in the British Museum and the latter in St. Petersburg.

These Manuscripts were originally written on parchment or papyrus, prepared in long scrolls on which the text was written crosswise in columns, and these scrolls were rolled when not in use. Separate rolls were made for such parts as were used in their public service. This form is still preserved in those copies read in the Jewish synagogues. Later the Manuscripts were arranged in book form, the book sometimes containing the entire Old Testament, but more frequently each division or book having a volume to itself.

The small number of old Manuscripts and their substantial agreement has occasioned much comment. Some ascribe it to the determined effort of the Jews to secure a standard text by destroying such Manuscripts as were not in agreement with their ideas; others see in the fact an evidence of the extreme care exercised in securing only correct copies, very severe rules being observed to obtain accurate work by the transcribers. There is no evidence that the Jews have ever sought to corrupt the text, but very much to prove their earnest efforts to preserve its purity.

III. Divisions of the Text

The Jews maintained a two-fold division of the text, one general, into The Torah, or Law, The Prophets, and The Kethubim, or Miscellaneous Writings; the other into the individual books which we still recognize.

The three-fold division is based on the character and position of the writers; the Torah being all regarded as the work of Moses, the Prophets as the work of men who gave themselves wholly to teaching and proclaiming the will of God, and the Kethubim as the writings of men prepared by God to produce them, but whose life-work lay in other fields, as David the king, Daniel the statesman. This three-fold order is not recognized in the Septuagint or in our English Bible, where the arrangement is more topical, but in the New Testament it is frequently referred to (Luke 24:44.)

According to the Jewish numbering there were twenty-two or twenty-four books in the Old Testament. Josephus (Contra Apion, I, 8) says there were twenty-two, which he divides as follows: The five books of Moses, thirteen prophetical writings, and four books with hymns and precepts for practical life. Other Jewish writers make twenty-four, counting Ruth and Lamentations as separate books, while Josephus seems to have included them with Judges and Jeremiah. This number is based on the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

In our English Bible the thirty-nine books are obtained by considering Ruth and Lamentations as independent books, dividing the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles each into two books, separating Ezra from Nehemiah and counting the Minor Prophets as twelve, while the Jews reckoned them as one.

The order in which the individual books appear in the Hebrew Bible has been quite uniform, although a few changes are noted. The books of the Torah have always maintained the order in which they now appear in our English Bible. Among the Prophets Isaiah sometimes follows Ezekiel and sometimes is inserted between Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but generally stands first, as in English. Among the Kethubim the variations in the order of the books are very numerous.

In our examination of these books we follow the order usually found in our printed Hebrew Bibles.