In short
To a modern Christian, the Old Testament is 39 books in five sections. But to a Jew, the Hebrew Scriptures are 24 books in three sections called the Tanakh (or TaNaK, which I prefer). It’s still the same words, it’s just that the books are grouped differently.
Why it is important
There is wide belief that this is how Jesus knew the Scriptures, so that makes it important to me, and more than just some nerdy trivia.
Luke 24:44 is the clearest indication of this: “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” There are actually ten scriptures* in the New Testament that reference “the Law and the Prophets,” alluding to the TaNaK.
What does TaNaK mean?
It’s an acronym – in Hebrew, so just ignore the vowels.
- Torah – the Law
- Nevi’im – the prophets
- Ketuvim – the “writings” (everything else, basically)
Torah – the Law
Christians call it the Pentateuch, which I can’t stand, because, why not use the actual name for it? It’s the first five books of all of our Bibles, Genesis to Deuteronomy.
Nevi’im – the prophets
This is REALLY different from the Christian organization of “prophets.”
It starts with the “former prophets” of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. We don’t categorize any of these books as “prophets” today. Samuel (the man) was a prophet and David (in the book of Samuel) is considered one also. Kings has the prophets Elijah and Elisha but mostly it’s about… kings.
Next it has the “latter prophets”: Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
And finally in this section, the book of The Twelve, which are the twelve “minor prophets” (the last twelve in the Christian Old Testament).
Ketuvim – the “writings”
First section of the Ketuvim is poetry: Psalms, Proverbs and Job.
Next is the Five Megillot (scrolls): Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther.
And ending the section are Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. They all take place in, or conclude with, the exile in Babylon/Persia.
Theology and doctrine
The ending of the Hebrew Scriptures is different depending on which ordering you read.
In the Christian ordering, we end with Zechariah and Malachi. Zechariah is rich with prophesies of Christ, and Malachi ends the entire Old Testament with a prophecy of John the Baptist (Mal 4:5-6), who basically kicks off the New Testament (Mark 1).
But the TaNaK ends with Chronicles (a summary of the nation of Israel), and specifically it ends with an open-ended cliffhanger – the Jews can return to their homeland and….
Both editions point to something more to come, but in different ways.
Footnote
* Matt 5:17; Matt 7:12; Matt 11:13; Matt 22:40; Luke 16:16; Luke 24:44; Acts 13:15; Acts 24:14; Acts 28:23; Rom 3:21.
** Wikipedia has a really good article on the Tanakh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible#Books_of_the_Tanakh
No responses yet