The Old Testament-where did it come from?

The Old Testament is a collection of sacred literature produced by the ancient Israelites considered the inspired Word of God by the Church. The collection consist specifically of 46 books in the Catholic Tradition (24 books in the Jewish canon and 39 books in the Protestant canon). This collection contains books that are grouped together under a central theme. In the Jewish Tradition the 24 books are comprised of the books of the Law, books of Prophets, and Books of Writings while in the Catholic tradition the Old Testament is broken into the Pentateuch, Historical Books, Wisdom Books, and Prophetic books.

The Jewish Canon contains a total of 24 books, broken into the Torah (or Law), Nevi’im (or Prophets), which is further broken into the Prophets and Later Prophets, and the Ketubim (or writings). This 24 book canon does not stem from a well-established source, for there are additional Hebrew books from the period not included in the Jewish canon. Additionally, works such as 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Samuel are considered four books in the Catholic and Protestant Bible, while they are considered two books in the Jewish Canon. It is important to note the entire Catholic canon of the Old Testament is considered sacred by the Catholic Church, with the canon being endorsed at the council of Trent. The Jewish tradition only holds 24 books to be Sacred, and the Protestants at the time of the reformation pointed toward only the books written in Hebrew as inspired, resulting in the canon of 39 books.

The Old Testament is not just a single historical work but is actually work of Literature comprised by many authors over a thousand years. The Old Testament is considered to be much more than a work of art or a telling of a history but is a sacred account of God’s interaction with his people. These books came into being by the work of human hands in the same tradition as other works of literature at the time. The earliest book of the Old Testament was produced in 1100 BC, with the most current book being completed around 100BC. While some of the Old Testament was produced in Aramaic and Greek, most of the works where composed by Israelites in Hebrew.

The Christian Old Testament stems from the works circulating in Greek in the Septuagint during the time of the early Church. This Greek work is an expansion of the Hebrew writings, containing additional books such as 1&2 Maccabees and 1 Esdras, Wisdom writings such as the Wisdom of Solomon. In the canon produced by Jerome, the works contained in the Greek tradition that where not found in the Hebrew writings where separated from the rest of the canon and placed in an appendix.

The Church, however, affirmed both the Greek and Hebrew writings as inspired and placed them into a singular canon, forming a 46 book Old Testament. The Catholic Old Testament is broken into sections known as the Pentateuch, Histories, Poetical/Wisdom Books, and Prophets. During the time of the reformation, Martin Luther placed the deuterocanonical books in an appendix (the Apocroypha), an act which was rejected by the Council of Trent. This resulted in a Catholic Old Testament of 46 books and a Protestant Old Testament of 39 books with 7 books sometimes contained in the Apocroypha. The Orthodox tradition holds the same works as the Catholic tradition to be inspired and as part of the Old Testament Canon, but also adds additional works such as the Prayer of Manasseh and Psalm 151 as Canonical, ultimately resulting in an Old Testament canon of 51 books (with a 52^nd work, 4 Macabees, in an appendix).