Bible

VIEW:57 DATA:01-04-2020

BIBLE
1. The Name.—The word ‘Bible’ strictly employed is the title of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, though occasionally by a loose usage of the term it is applied to the sacred writings of pagan religions. It is derived from a Greek word Biblia—originating in biblos, the inner bark of papyrus (paper)—literally meaning ‘Little Books’; but since the diminutive had come into common use in late popular Greek apart from its specific signification, the term really means simply ‘books.’ It is the Gr. tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the Heb. word for ‘books,’ which is the oldest designation for the Jewish Scriptures as a collection (see Dan_9:2). The title ‘Holy Books’—equivalent to our ‘Holy Scripture’—came later among the Jews (1Ma_12:9, Rom_1:2, 2Ti_3:15). The Greek word Biblia is first met with in this connexion in the Introduction to Sirach, written by the grandson of Sirach, the phrase ‘the rest of the books’ implying that the Law and the Prophets previously named, as well as those books subsequently known specially as ‘the Writings,’ are included. It is used in the Hebrew sense, for the OT, by the unknown author of the Christian homily in the 2nd cent. designated The Second Epistle of Clement (xiv. 2). It does not appear as a title of the whole Christian Scriptures before the 5th cent., when it was thus employed by Greek Church writers in lists of the canonical books. Thence it passed over into the West, and then the Greek word Biblia, really a neuter plural, came to be treated as a Latin singular noun, a significant grammatical change that pointed to the growing sense of the unity of Scripture. The word cannot be traced in Anglo-Saxon literature, and we first have the English form of it in the 14th century. It occurs in Piers Plowman and Chaucer. Its adoption by Wyclif secured it as the permanent English name for the Scriptures, as Luther’s use of the corresponding German word fixed that for Continental Protestants.
2. Contents and Divisions.—The Jewish Bible is the OT; the Protestant Christian Bible consists of the OT and the NT, but with the Apocrypha included in some editions; the Roman Catholic Bible contains the OT and NT, and also the Apocrypha, the latter authoritatively treated as Scripture since the Council of Trent. The main division is between the Jewish Scriptures and those which are exclusively Christian. These are known respectively as the OT and the NT. The title ‘Testament’ is unfortunate, since it really means a will. It appears to be derived from the Latin word testamentum, ‘a will,’ which is the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the Gr. word diathçkç, itself in the classics also meaning ‘a will.’ But the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] employs this Gr. word as the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the Heb. berith, a word meaning ‘covenant.’ Therefore ‘testament’ in the Biblical sense really means ‘covenant,’ and the two parts of our Bible are the ‘Old Covenant’ and the ‘New Covenant.’ When we ask why the Gr. translators used the word meaning ‘will’ while they had ready to hand another word meaning ‘covenant’ (viz. synthçkç), the answer has been proposed that they perceived the essential difference between God’s covenants with men and men’s covenants one with another. The latter are arranged on equal terms. But God’s covenants are made and offered by God and accepted by men only on God’s terms. A Divine covenant is like a will in which a man disposes of his property on whatever terms he thinks fit. On the other hand, however, it may be observed that the word diathçkç is also used for a covenant between man and man (e.g. Deu_7:2). The origin of this term as applied by Christians to the two main divisions of Scripture is Jeremiah’s promise of a New Covenant (Jer_31:31), endorsed by Christ (Mar_14:24, 1Co_11:25), and enlarged upon in NT teaching (e.g. Gal_4:24, Heb_8:6). Here, however, the reference is to the Divine arrangements and pledges, not to the books of Scripture, and it is by a secondary usage that the books containing the two covenants have come to be themselves designated Testaments, or Covenants.
The Jewish division of the OT is into three parts known as (1) the Law, (2) the Prophets, and (3) the Writings, or the Sacred Writings (Hagiographa). The ‘Law’ consisted of the first 5 books of our Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), ascribed to Moses; and it was treated as peculiarly sacred, the most holy and authoritative portion of Scripture. It was the only part of the Hebrew Scriptures accepted by the Samaritans, who worshipped the very document containing it almost as a fetish. But the name ‘Law’ (Heb. Torah, Gr. Nomos) is sometimes given to the whole Jewish Bible (e.g. Joh_10:34). The ‘Prophets’ included not only the utterances ascribed to inspired teachers of Israel, but also the chief historical books later than the Pentateuch. There were reckoned to be 8 books of the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets) and 11 of the Hagiographa (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Chronicles). Thus there were reckoned to be in all 24 books. Josephus reckoned 22—probably joining Judges to Ruth and Lamentations to Jeremiah. The list was reduced to this number by taking Samuel, Kings, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles as one book each, and by making one book of the Minor Prophets. Ezra is not divided from Nehemiah in the Talmud or the Massora.
The books now known as the Apocrypha were not in the Hebrew Bible, and were not used in the Palestinian synagogues. They were found in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , which represents the enlarged Greek Canon of Alexandria. From this they passed into the Latin versions, and so into Jerome’s revisioo, the Vulgate, which in time became the authorized Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. They were not accepted by the Protestants as Divinely inspired, but were printed in some Protestant Bibles between the OT and the NT, not in their old places in the Septuagint and Vulgate versions, where they were interspersed with the OT books as though forming part of the OT itself. The Apocrypha consists of 14 books (1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, The Rest of Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremy, The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasses, 1 and 2 Maccabees).
The NT was slowly formed. Probably the first collection of any of its books was the bringing together of the Synoptic Gospels into one volume (called by Justin Martyr ‘The Memoirs of the Apostles’). Subsequently the Fourth Gospel was included in this volume; Tatian’s Diatessaron is a witness to this fact. Meanwhile collections of St. Paul’s Epistles were being made, and thus there came to be two volumes known as ‘The Gospel’ and ‘The Apostle.’ The Apocalypse was early honoured as a prophetical book standing by itself. Gradually the other NT books were gathered in—probably forming a third volume. Thus the NT—like the OT—consisted of three parts—the Four Gospels, the Pauline Writings, and the remaining books. The similarity may be traced a step further. In both cases the first of the three divisions held a primacy of honour—the Law among the Jews, the Gospels among the Christians. The complete NT consists of 27 books, viz. Four Gospels, Act_13:1-52 Epistles of St. Paul, Hebrews, Jam_2:1-26 Epistles of St. Peter, 3 of St. John, Jude, Revelation.
Within the books of the Bible there were originally no divisions, except in the case of the Psalms, which were always indicated as separate poems, and elsewhere in the case of definite statements of differences of contents, such as the Song of Miriam, the Song of Deborah, ‘the words of Agur,’ and ‘the words of King Lemuel’ (in Prov.). For convenience of reading in the synagogues, the Law was divided into sections (called Parâshahs). Selections from the Prophets (called Haphtârahs) were made to go with the appointed sections of the Law. The first indications of divisions in the NT are ascribed to Tatian. They did not break into the text, but were inserted in the margins. The earliest divisions of the Gospels were known as ‘titles’ (Titloi); somewhat similar divisions were indicated in the Epistles by ‘headings’ or ‘chapters’ (Kephalaia), a form of which with more numerous divisions than the ‘titles’ was also introduced into the Gospels. Eusebius based his harmony on the references of the sections said to have been arranged by Ammonius of Alexandria in the early part of the 3rd cent., and therefore known as the ‘Ammonian Sections.’ These are much shorter than our chapters. Thus in Matthew there were 68 ‘titles’ and 355 ‘Ammonian Sections’; in Mark the numbers were 48 and 236, in Luke 83 and 342, and in John 18 and 232 respectively. The chapters in the Acts and the Epistles are ascribed to Euthalius, a deacon of Alexandria (subsequently bishop of Sulci, in Sardinia) in the 5th century. These chapters nearly corresponded in length to the Gospel ‘titles.’ Thus there were 40 in Act_19:1-41 in Romans, etc. A still smaller division of the books of Scripture was that of the stichoi, or lines, a word used for a line of poetry, and then for a similar length of prose, marked off for the payment of copyists. Subsequently “it was employed for the piece of writing which a reader was supposed to render without taking breath, and the marks of the stichoi would be helps for the reader, indicating where he might pause. In Matthew there were 2560 stichoi; the same Gospel has 1071 modern verses. Scrivener calculates 19,241 stichoi for the 7959 modern verses of the whole NT—giving an average of nearly 21/2 stichoi per verse. Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro is credited with having made our present chapter divisions about a.d. 1248 when preparing a Bible index. But it may be that he borrowed these divisions from an earlier scholar, possibly Lanfranc, or Stephen Langton. The Hebrew Bible was divided into verses by Rabbi Nathan in the 15th century. Henry Stephens states that his father Robert Stephens made verse divisions in the NT during the intervals of a journey on horseback from Paris to Lyons. Whether he actually invented these arrangements or copied them from some predecessor, they were first published in Stephens’ Greek Testament of 1551.
3. Historical Origin.—The Bible is not only a library, the books of which come from various writers in different periods of time; many of these books may be said to be composed of successive literary strata, so that the authors of the most ancient parts of them belong to much earlier times than their final redactors. All the OT writers, and also all those of the NT with one exception (St. Luke), were Jews. The OT was nearly all written in the Holy Land; the only exceptions being in the case of books composed in the valley of the Euphrates during the Exile (Ezekiel, possibly Lamentations, Deutero-Isaiah, or part of it, perhaps some of the Psalms, a revision of the Law). The NT books were written in many places; most of the Epistles of St. Paul can be located; the Gospel and Epistles of St. John probably come from Ephesus or its neighbourhood; but the sites of the origin of all the other books are doubtful.
Probably the oldest book of the Bible is Amos, written about b.c. 750. A little later in the great 8th cent. we come to Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah. The 7th cent. gives us Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk among the prophets, also Deuteronomy, and at the beginning of this century we have the earliest complete historical books, Samuel and Judges. The end of this century or beginning of the 6th cent. gives us Kings. In the 6th cent. also we have Obadiah (?), Ezekiel, part, if not all, of the Deutero-Isaiah (40–50), Haggai, Zechariah (1–8), Lamentations, Ruth. The 5th cent. gives us the completed Pentateuch—or rather the Hexateuch, Joshua going with the 5 books of the Law, perhaps the latter part of the Deutero-Isaiah (51–60), Malachi, Books 1 and 2 of the Psalter. The 4th cent. has Proverbs, Job, Book 3 of the Psalter, and the Prophets Joel and Jonah. From the 3rd cent. we have Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Zechariah (9–14), Ecclesiastes, Esther. Lastly, the 2nd cent. is credited with Daniel and Books 4 and 5 of the Psalter. Several of these later dates are more or less conjectural. Moreover, they refer to the completion of works some of which are composite and contain elements which originated in much earlier times. Thus Proverbs and the 5 Books of the Psalms are all collections which, though probably made at the dates assigned to them, consist of materials many of which are considerably older. When we look to the analysis of the books, and inquire as to the dates of their constituent parts, we are carried back to pre-historic ages. The Hexateuch contains four principal parts, known as J [Note: Jahwist.] (the Jahwistic prophetic narrative), E [Note: Elohist.] (the Elohistic prophetic narrative), D [Note: Deuteronomist.] (Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic notes in other books), P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] (the Priestly Code, represented especially by Leviticus, the author of which revised the earlier parts of the Law-books and inserted additions into them). But J [Note: Jahwist.] and E [Note: Elohist.] are closely intertwined—an indication that they have both been revised—and the result of this revision gives us the composite narrative known as JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] . Thus we have now three main strata, viz. (1) JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] , the prophetic element, written in the spirit of the prophets, dated about b.c. 700; (2) D [Note: Deuteronomist.] , the moral and legal element, seen especially in Deuteronomy, dated about b.c. 620; (3) P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , the priestly element, dated about b.c. 444. The author of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] appears to have revised the whole work and given it out as the complete Law. This may have been done by the Euphrates during the Exile, so that the Law-book brought up to Jerusalem would be the Pentateuch (or the Hexateuch), or it may have been after the Return, in which case the Law-book would be only P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] . But in any case the whole work after its completion underwent some further slight revision before it assumed its present form. See Hexateuch.
If now we ask not what was the first complete book of the OT, but what was the first portion of the OT actually written, it is not easy to give a reply. The literature of most peoples begins with ballads. Possibly the Song of Deborah is a ballad which should have assigned to it the first place in the chronological order of Hebrew writings. Such a hallad would be handed down in tradition before it was put into writing. Then some of the laws in Exodus, those of the ‘Book of the Covenant,’ may have come down in tradition or even in writing, from a remote antiquity. The code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon, b.c. 2285–2242, was a written law nearly 1000 years earlier than the time of Moses. The striking resemblance between some of the laws of Israel and some of these Babylonian laws points to a certain measure of dependence. This might go back to patriarchal days; but, of course, it would have been possible for the jews in the Exile to have access to this venerable code at the very time P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] was being constructed.
There is much less range of question for the dates of the NT books. The earliest date possible for any of them is a.d. 44 for James; although, as Prof. Harnack holds, perhaps this is almost the latest written book of the NT. Laying aside the much disputed question of the date of James, we have 1 Thess. as apart from this the earliest written NT book. Following the usually accepted chronology, the date of this Epistle is a.d. 53 (Harnack, a.d. 49; Turner, a.d. 51). The latest written NT book is 2Peter, which must be assigned to a late decade of the 2nd century. Apart from this Epistle, which stands quite by itself as a pseudonymous work, and James, which may be either the earliest or one of the latest NT books, the last written works are the Johannine writings, which cannot be earlier than near the end of the 1st century. Thus we have a period of about 50 years for the composition of the bulk of the NT writings, viz. the second half of the 1st cent. a.d.
4. Original Languages.—The bulk of the OT was written in Hebrew, and without vowel points. Hebrew is the Israelite dialect of the Canaanite language, which belongs to the Semitic family, and is closely allied to Aramaic. Some portions of the OT (viz. documents in Ezr_4:7 to Ezr_6:18 and Ezr_7:12-26, Dan_2:4 to Dan_7:28 and a few scattered words and phrases elsewhere) are in Aramaic, the language of Syria, which was widely known, being found in Babylonia, Egypt, and Arabia. After the Exile, since Aramaic then became the everyday language of the Jews, Hebrew was relegated to a position of honourable neglect as the language of literature and the Law, and Aramaic came into general use. Probably the earliest writings which are embodied in the NT were in this language. When Papias says that Matthew wrote ‘the oracles of the Lord in the Hebrew dialect,’ he would seem to mean Aramaic. Since Jesus taught in Aramaic, it is not likely that His discourses were translated into the more archaic language; it is more probable that they were written down in the very language in which they were spoken. Similarly, it is probable that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was in Aramaic. But, however far we may go with Dr. Marshall and Dr. Abbott in allowing that Aramaic writings are to be detected beneath and behind our Gospels, it cannot be held that any of these Gospels, or any other NT books, are translations from that language. Matthew, the most Jewish of the Gospels, contains quotations from the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] as well as direct translations from the Hebrew OT, which shows that while its author—or at all events the author of one of its sources—knew Hebrew, the Gospel itself was a Greek composition. All the NT was originally written in Greek. It was long held that this Greek was a peculiar dialect, and as such it was named Hellenistic Greek. But the discovery of contemporary inscriptions and papyri (especially the Oxyrhynchus papyri) shows that the colloquial Greek, used in commerce and popular intercourse all round the Mediterranean during the 1st cent., has the same peculiar forms that we meet with in the NT, many of which had been attributed to Semitic influences. These discoveries necessitate the re-writing of grammars on the Greek of the NT, as Prof. Deissmann and Dr. J. H. Moulton have shown by their recent studies in the new field of research. It must still be admitted that a certain amount of Hebrew influence is felt in the NT style. This is most apparent in the Gospels, especially Matthew and above all the earlier chapters of Luke (except the Preface), and also in the Apocalypse. The Preface of Luke is the nearest approach to classical Greek that we have in the NT. After this come Hebrews, the middle and latter part of the Gospel of Luke, and Acts. St. Paul’s writings and the General Epistles take an intermediate position between the most Hebraistic and the least Hebraistic writings. The Fourth Gospel is written in good Greek; but the structure of the sentences indicates a mind accustomed to think in Hebrew or Aramaic. Nevertheless, in spite of these differences, it remains true that the grammar and style of the NT are in the main the grammar and style of contemporary Greek throughout the Roman Empire.
5. Translations.—The OT was first translated into Greek, for the benefit of Jews residing in Egypt, in the version known as the Septuagint (LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ), which was begun under Ptolemy II. (b.c. 285–247), and almost, if not quite, completed before the commencement of the Christian era. Another Greek version is ascribed to Aquila, who is said to have been a disciple of the famous Rabbi Aki0ba, and is by some even identified with Onkelos, the author of the Targum. This version, which is commonly dated about a.d. 150, is remarkable for its pedantic literalness, the Hebrew being rendered word for word into Greek, regardless of the essential differences between the two languages in grammar and construction. On the other hand, about the end of the 2nd cent. a.d., Symmachus, who, according to Epiphanius, was a Samaritan turned Jew, although Eusebius calls him an Ebionite, produced a version the aim of which was to render the original text into idiomatic Greek of good style, with the result, however, that in some places it became a paraphrase rather than a translation. Lastly may be mentioned the version of Theodotion, a Marcionite who went over to Judaism. This is really a revision of the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ; it is assigned to about the year a.d. 185. Other versions of all or parts of the OT are known as the Quinta and the Sexta; there are doubtful references to a Septima.
Oral paraphrases, the Targums, or ‘interpretations,’ were made in Aramaic for the benefit of Palestinian Jews; but the earliest written paraphrase is that known as the Targum of Onkelos—the official Targum of the Pentateuch—the compilation of which in whole or part is assigned to the 2nd or 3rd cent. a.d. Later. with indications at least as late as the 7th cent. a.d., in its present form is the Jerusalem Targum, known as the Targum of pseudo-Jonathan. This is more free and interpolated with ‘Haggadistic’ elements. The official Targum of the Prophets also bears the name of Jonathan. Originating in Palestine in the 3rd cent. a.d., it received its final shaping in Babylon in the 5th century. The Targums of the Hagiographa are much later in date.
The oldest versions of the NT are the Syriac and the Latin, both of which may be traced back in some form to the 2nd cent. a.d., but there is much difference of opinion as to the original text of the former. First, we have the Peshitta, literally, the ‘simple’ version, which has become the standard accepted text in the Syrian Church. There is no doubt that in its present form this text represents successive revisions down to a late Patristic age. Two other versions, or two forms of another version of the Gospels, were discovered in the 19th cent., viz. the Curetonian, edited by Cureton, and the Sinaitic, found in a MS at the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. Lastly, there is the version represented by Tatian’s Diatessaron, which may be distinct from either of these. While it is admitted that a primitive text underlying the Peshitta may be as ancient as any of these versions, scholars are fairly agreed that the Peshitta, as we know it, is considerably more recent than Tatian and the Sinaitic Gospels, both of which may be assigned to the 2nd cent. a.d. The earliest Latin Version appeared before the end of the 2nd cent. and probably in North Africa, where Latin was the language commonly used, while Greek was then the language of Christian literature at Rome. Tertullian knew the North African Latin Version. Somewhat later several attempts were made in Italy to translate the NT into Latin. The confusion of text induced Damasus, bishop of Rome, to commit to Jerome (a.d. 382) the task of preparing a reliable Latin version of the Bible. This came to be known as the Vulgate, which for 1000 years was the Bible of the Western Church, and which, since the Council of Trent, has been honoured by Roman Catholics as an infallibly correct rendering of the true text of Scripture. Augustine refers to a version which he calls ‘ltala,’ but it has been shown that this was probably Jerome’s version. The NT was early translated into Coptic, and it appeared in three dialects of that language. The Sahidic Version, in Upper Egypt, can be traced back to the 4th century. The Bohairic, formerly used at Alexandria, has been assigned to as early a date as the 2nd cent.; but Prof. Burkitt shows reasons for bringing it down to the 6th. It is the version now used ecclesiastically by the Copts. Lastly, there is the Fayumic Version, represented by MSS from the Fayum. The original Gothic Version was the work of Ulfilas in the 4th century. He had to invent an alphabet for it. This work may be considered the first literary product in a Teutonic language. The Ethiopic and Armenian Versions may be assigned to the 5th century. Subsequent ages saw the Georgian Version (6th), the Anglo-Saxon (8th to 11th), the Slavonic (9th). The Reformation period—from Wyclif onwards—saw new translations into the vernacular; but the great age of Bible translation is the 19th century. The British and Foreign Bible Society now produces the Scriptures in over 400 languages and versions.
W. F. Adeney.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

THE Book by preeminence. "Next to God the Word," says Fuller (Pisgah Sight), "I love the word of God. I profess myself a pure leveler, desiring that all human conceits, though built on specious bottoms, may be laid flat, if opposing the written word." The term "Bible," though dating only from the 5th century in its sacred and exclusive use, is virtually expressed in the designations occurring in itself: "The Scripture" (Joh_10:35; Joh_20:9; Rom_4:3; 2Pe_1:20); "the Book" (Psa_40:7, cepher); "the Scripture (kithab) of truth" (Dan_10:21). The books composing it are not isolated, but form together an organic unity, one whole made up of mutually related parts, progressively advancing to the one grand end, the restoration of the fallen creature through the love and righteousness of our God.
The Lord comprehends and stamps with divine sanction the whole Old Testament, under the threefold division recognized by the Jews, "the law, the prophets, and the psalms" (including all the holy writings not included in the other two, namely, the Hagiographa) (Luk_24:44). The Torah, or law, is mentioned as a book (including the five books of the Pentateuch) (Jos_1:8; Jos_8:31-35; Jos_24:26). The Hebrew names of the five books of the Pentateuch are taken from the initial words of the several books. The names we use are from the Greek Septuagint: "Genesis" (creation) answering to bereeshit ("in the beginning".) And so the rest: Exodus (Israel's departure from Egypt) answering to weeleh shemot ("and these are the names"), etc.
"The prophets" comprise the former (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings), and the latter, comprising the greater (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and the less (the twelve minor prophets). The including of histories among the prophets arose from the fact that they were the inspired productions of such prophetic men as Samuel, Gad the seer of David (1Ch_29:29), Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo (2Ch_9:29). The schools of the prophets trained such men as Isaiah for the office of historian (2Ch_26:22; 2Ch_32:32). Daniel is not included among the prophets, because he did not hold the prophet's office among the chosen people.
The Hagio-grapha, or "sacred writings" (kethubim, from kathab, to write), include (1) Psalms, Proverbs, Job; (2) The Song of Solomon of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther; (3) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles. The first three, from their initial letters, were called meth, "truth." The second five were called "the five rolls" (chamesh megillot), written for use in the synagogue on special feasts. Ecclesiastes (qoheleth) means "The Preacher." Chronicles bear the Hebrew name "words of days," i.e. records, the Greek paraleipomena, "things omitted" in Kings and here supplied as a supplement. The apocryphal books are never found in the Hebrew canon, and exist only in the Greek Septuagint.
The Second Epistle of Peter (2Pe_3:16) shows that the epistles of Paul were recognized as part of "Scripture" at the time when Peter wrote: "in all his epistles are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned ... wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures;" compare 2Pe_3:2; "be mindful of the words ... spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior." Justin Martyr (Apology 1:66) states that "the memoirs of the apostles" were read side by side with the scriptures of the prophets. Clement of Alexandria speaks of the New Testament making up with the Old Testament "one knowledge." Tertullian terms them together "the whole instrument of both Testaments," "the complete-together Scripture." The Syrian version (Peshitto) at the close of the 2nd century contains the New Testament with the Old Testament.
The eastern churches set the catholic epistles before the Pauline. The quotations, Luk_20:37, "at the bush," i.e. the section concerning the flaming bush; Rom_11:2 margin, "in Elias," i.e. in the passage concerning Elias; Act_8:32, "the place of the Scripture"; show that some divisions of the Old Testament existed, with titles from their subjects. A cycle of lessons is implied in Luk_4:17; Act_13:15; Act_15:21; 2Co_3:14. The law was divided into 54 Parshioth or sections; a section for each sabbath in the year. Shorter Parshioth also existed, subdivided into open sections (Petuchoth) like our paragraphs, marking a change of subjects; and shut ones (Satumoth) or less divisions. The divisions of the prophets were called Haphtaroth, from patar, to "dismiss"; as Missa or "Mass" comes from the dismissal of the congregation on its completion.
Verses (Pecuqiym) were marked by the Masoretic editors of the text in the 9th century A.D. Stephens adopted them in his Vulgate, 1555; the English translation in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Our arrangement has adopted Cardinal Hugo's chapters and the Masoretic verses. Tartan, in the 2nd century, formed the first harmony of the four Gospels, called the Diatessaron. The elder Stephens, in a riding journey from Paris to Lyons, subdivided the New Testament chapters into verses, and the first edition with this division appeared in 1551. In reading the Bible we should remember these divisions have no authority; and where they break the sense, or mar the flow of thought, they are to be disregarded. The Four Gospels stand first in the New Testament, setting forth the Lord Jesus' ministry in the flesh; the Acts, His ministry in the Spirit, His church's (the temple of the Holy Spirit) foundation and extension, internally and externally.
To the histories succeed the epistles of Paul the apostle of faith, Peter of hope, and John of love, unfolding the gospel facts and truths more in detail; just as in the Old Testament the histories come first, then the inspired teachings based on and intimately connected with them, in Psalms, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon of Solomon, and the Prophets. Finally comes Revelation, answering to Daniel, the prophetic Apocalypse of the Old Testament The first three Gospels are called "the synoptical Gospels," giving a synopsis of Christ's ministry in Galilee; John's gives His ministry in Judea. They dwell more on Christ's Spirit-filled humanity; He on His Divinity, from everlasting one with God.
The New Testament 27 books, emanating from nine different persons, and the Old Testament 39 books, separated from each other by distances of time, space, and character, yet form a marvelously intertwined unity, tending all to the one end. Internal and external evidence disprove the possibility of their being written by several authors combining to palm an imposture on the world. How are we to account for the mutual connection and profound unity? The only answer that meets the exigencies of the case is, the word of God "came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2Pe_1:21).
Rationalists try to disintegrate the parts of the sacred volume, but the more they do so the greater is the need for believing in one divine superintending Mind to account for a unity which palpably exists, though the writers themselves did not design it (see 1Pe_1:10-12). If the parts of a watch be disconnected, it needs only for the maker to put them together again, to show their unity of design. However widely apart the makers of the several parts may live, the master mind used the makers as his workmen, and contrived and combined the parts into one. Infinite intelligence alone could combine into one the works of men of so various minds and of ages so. wide apart as the sacred writers, beginning with Moses the legislator and ending with John the divine. Moreover, anyone book cannot be taken from the canon without breaking a link in the complete chain. Inspiration was needed alike in producing each sacred book, and in guiding the church (while it was still possessing the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit) which to omit of even inspired books. Whatever was not necessary for all ages, though needed for the church's good for a time, were omitted (see Col_4:16).
The credibility of the Old Testament is established by establishing that of the New Testament, for the Lord quotes the Old Testament in its threefold parts, "the law, the prophets, and the psalms," as the word of God. The sacred Canon of the Old Testament was completed under Ezra. (See CANON.) We find Daniel shortly before having in his hands the book of Jeremiah (Jer_9:2). Paul says that one grand preeminence of the Jews was that unto them were committed the oracles of God (Rom_3:2), and they are never accused of unfaithfulness in their trust. The monotheism of the Old Testament is the very opposite to the tendencies of Gentile and Israelite alike to idolatry. Again the Bible inverts the relative importance of events as men commonly regard them. Its sole aim is the honor of God, contrary to man's inclination.
The great events of ordinary history are untouched, except in so far as flier bear upon the kingdom of God. Yet God is throughout represented as ruling in the kingdoms of men, Gentiles as well as Jews (Dan_4:17). Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus while doing their own will, appear in the Bible as God's instruments, overruled to carry out His purposes. It is no Jewish vanity which causes the Bible to be silent about most of the great political events of the world and to dwell so much on Israel; for what the Bible records redounds to Israel's shame as an apostate people, and its allusions to surrounding nations are often to record their being made God's instruments to chastise themselves.
Yet it is to the Bible alone we have owed for ages almost all that is most certain of the history of Moab (since confirmed by the Moabite stone), of the Amorites, and even of Nineveh and Babylon. The two latter were entombed for thousands of years until lately, and the discovery of their monuments has remarkably confirmed holy writ. The analogies of nature and of history to Bible truths powerfully confirm its emanation from the same God. The gradual development of the divine plan of redemption answers to the gradual development of God's design in the formation and in the moral government of the world.
The historic development of the Bible scheme corresponds to God's working out His plans in the world by moral agents. And His revealing His will "in many portions" (polumeros; Heb_1:1, one prophet or inspired person or writer receiving one portion of revelation, another another: to Noah the quarter of the world where Messiah should appear, to Abraham the nation, to Jacob the tribe, to David and Isaiah the family, to Micah the town, to Daniel the time), and "in divers manners," corresponds to tits sending from time to time a Bacon, Newton, Shakespeare, etc., into the social world for the advancement of mankind in science and civilization. As to natural science, the Bible is so framed in language as to adapt itself (on being closely examined) to advancing intelligence, according as the ruder theories are superseded by the more accurate.
The language being for all classes, not merely the so-called scientific, is phenomenal; it speaks by appearances, which even philosophers must often do, as in the phrase "sunrise," "sunset." The tongue through which the Old Testament revelation of God speaks is the Hebrew, that of the chosen nation, except parts of Ezra and Daniel and Jeremiah. The tongue of the New Testament is the Greek, best adapted of all languages for expressing most accurately the nicest and most delicate shades of thought and doctrine. A very remarkable proof of the Divinity of the New Testament is the marked difference between it and the writings of even the apostolic fathers that immediately succeeded: Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Polycarp. Daille remarked, "God has allowed a fosse to be drawn by human weakness round the sacred canon, to keep it from invasion."
How remarkably too God kept the Jews, our librarians of the Old Testament, from altering, to meet their prejudices, the sacred books that record their sins and national disgrace. Though they hated and killed the prophets, they never mutilated their prophecies. King Jehoiakim alone cut a roll of Jeremiah (Jer_36:23-24), and burnt it in the fire. But the act is recorded as one of exceptional profanity; and immediately the same words were written again with added woes, to show man's impotence against the word of God. Also for 14 centuries the church, though in various sections of it falling into various unscriptural heresies, has never added to, nor taken from, the New Testament canon. How natural it, would have been for the church of Rome to have added something favorable to her pretensions. She has burnt saints, with their writings hung round their neck. She has shown her will to add to Scripture itself adding the Apocrypha to the Old Testament just where her addition cannot prejudice the cause of truth fatally, for the Jews witness against her in this.
But in the New Testament, where she might have done mischief, she has been divinely constrained to maintain, without addition or subtraction, the canon which testifies against herself. The exact adaptation of the Bible to man's complex being, body, soul, and spirit - reason, emotion, conscience - and to outward nature in its varied aspects, confirms its divine authorship. It stands in marked contrast to all Gentile cosmogonies, in its majestic simplicity and evidently unmythical character. Of all other nations the oldest writings are poems, and they abound in poetic inventions. In the Bible, on the contrary, poetry is least found in the earliest books. Not until the broad midday light of David's reign does the first collection of poems, namely, his psalms, appear. The pagan ancient sacred stories, as those of the Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, present scenes of the unseen world merely gratifying idle curiosity and a prurient imagination. The same is true of the Koran.
The Bible, with its old law of the Ten Commandments, gives the most perfect manifestation of the divine character and requirements from man, and this at a time when the human legislator, Moses, had just come from a nation sunk in the most debasing pollution and superstition. Another striking fact is, Israel has left scarcely any remains of art, and certainly nothing comparable to the masterpieces of the pagan; but it has handed down the Book which infinitely excels all that the genius of the whole world beside has produced. Pantheism, and the worship of nature as an abstract entity, lay at the root of all pagan idolatries. The Bible alone reveals the holy, just, loving, omnipotent, omniscient, personal, one and only God. Whenever their gods became personal, they ceased to be ONE; they were mere personifications of various powers of nature; fate, not the will of God, ruled all.
But the word reflects the moral character of the perfectly holy God, and requires His worshippers to be what He is, holy. That such a book should originate among a small and rather perverse people, surrounded by idolatrous nations, and that it should receive additions in successive ages of the same people, harmonizing marvelously with the earliest books, in spite of frequent apostasy in the nation, can only be accounted for by believing its authorship to be divine. The Koran's moral precepts are at variance with its picture of the sensual heaven which awaits its votaries. The pagan mythologies in their indecent histories of gods counteracted their moral precepts. The morality of the Bible rests on the infinitely pure attributes of the God of the Bible.
The Bible faithfully portrays man's universal corruption, its origin, and at the same time the sure hope of redemption, thus meeting fully man's profoundest wants. It gives peace to the conscience, without lowering the holy strictness of God's justice, but, on the contrary, in Christ "magnifying the law and making it honorable." There is an entire correspondence between the gospel way of salvation and the soul's deep conviction of the need of atonement for guilt.
The lovely character of Christ in the Bible, the perfect manhood and Godhead combined, above whatever uninspired man conceived not to say attained, the adaptation of the Bible to man's varied distresses (which occupy the larger part of it), and to his circumstances in all times and places, the completeness wherewith the end corresponds to the beginning, the close presenting before us man enjoying God's presence and marriage-like union with Him, no curse, no sin, no pain, no death, and the tree of life and waters of life which the beginning represented him as possessing before the fall, all assure us that "the words of the Lord are pure, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psa_12:6).
There is a break in revelation now, just as there was for 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, after the outburst of them in connection with the rearing of the second temple. John the Baptist, at the close of the 400 years, ushered in the brightest light yet manifested. This period of New Testament revelations lasted for one century. Then have followed the 18 centuries which walk in the light of that last manifestation. The silence has been longer than before, but it will be succeeded by a more glorious revelation than all the past. The former 400 years' break directed the world's undivided attention to Messiah, so that His identity could not be mistaken.
The Jews scattered providentially over the world by the captivity, and everywhere bearing the Old Testament, matured the universal expectancy during the silent centuries. Their present longer dispersion, and the diffusion of the whole Bible in all lands, are preparing for Messiah's manifestation in glory. Finally, the miracles wrought in connection with the Bible, and attested on infallible proofs, and the prophecies of the Old Testament (proved to have been given when they profess to be, by the fact that the Jews who oppose Christianity attest their age, and fulfilled minutely in the New Testament) establish the inspired truth of the Bible. Bad men could never have written so holy a book, and good men would never have written it if it were an imposture. Its sobriety and freedom from fanaticism and mysticism preclude the idea of its being the production of self deceiving fanatics.
The national prejudices of all the New Testament writers, as Jews, were in behalf of an immediate temporal kingdom and an outwardly reigning Messiah, the very reverse of what His actual manifestation was. Nothing but superhuman inspiration could have turned them to write so spiritually and so at variance with all their early prejudices. Reader, if you want to know the divinity of the Bible, experimentally taste and feed upon it. The best defense of the Bible is the Bible itself. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. "Diamonds alone cut diamonds" (Fuller). "Have thou the palate of faith, that thou mayest taste the honey of God" (Augustine).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

the book, by way of eminence so called, as containing the sacred Scriptures, that is, the inspired writings of the Old and New Testament; or the whole collection of those which are received among Christians as of divine authority. The word Bible comes from the Greek Βιβλος, or Βιβλιον, and is used to denote any book; but is emphatically applied to the book of inspired Scripture, which is “the book” as being superior in excellence to all other books.
Βιβλιον again comes from Βιβλος, the Egyptian reed, from which the ancient paper was procured. The word Bible seems to be used in the particular sense just given by Chrysostom: “I
therefore exhort all of you to procure to yourselves Bibles, Βιβλια. If you have nothing else, take care to have the New Testament, particularly the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels, for your constant instructers.” And Jerome says, “that the Scriptures being all written by one Spirit, are one book.” Augustine also informs up, “that some called all the canonical Scriptures one book, on account of their wonderful harmony and unity of design throughout.” It is not improbable that this mode of speaking gradually introduced the general use of the word Bible for the whole collection of the Scriptures, or the books of the Old and New Testament. By the Jews the Bible, that is, the Old Testament, is called Mikra, that is, “lecture, or reading.” By Christians the Bible, comprehending the Old and New Testament, is usually denominated “Scripture;” sometimes also the “Sacred Canon,” which signifies the rule of faith and practice. These, and similar appellations, are derived from the divine original and authority of the Bible. As it contains an authentic and connected history of the divine dispensations with regard to mankind; as it was given by divine inspiration; as its chief subject is religion; and as the doctrines it teaches, and the duties it inculcates, pertain to the conduct of men, as rational, moral, and accountable beings, and conduce by a divine constitution and promise, to their present and future happiness; the Bible deserves to be held in the highest estimation, and amply justifies the sentiments of veneration with which it has been regarded, and the peculiar and honourable appellations by which it has been denominated.
2. The list of the books contained in the Bible constitutes what is called the canon of Scripture. Those books that are contained in the catalogue to which the name of canon has been appropriated, are called canonical, by way of contradistinction from others called deutero-canonical, apocryphal, pseudo-apocryphal, &c, which either are not acknowledged as divine books, or are rejected as heretical and spurious (See Apocrypha.) The first canon or catalogue of the sacred books was made by the Jews; but the original author of it is not satisfactorily ascertained. It is certain, however, that the five books of Moses, called the Pentateuch, were collected into one body within a short time after his death; since Deuteronomy, which is, as it were, the abridgment and recapitulation of the other four, was laid in the tabernacle near the ark, according to the order which he gave to the Levites, Deu_31:24. Hence the first canon of the sacred writings consisted of the five books of Moses; for a farther account of which see Pentateuch. It does not appear that any other books were added to these, till the division of the ten tribes, as the Samaritans acknowledged no others. However, after the time of Moses, several prophets, and other writers divinely inspired, composed either the history of their own times, or prophetical books and divine writings, or psalms appropriated to the praise of God. But these books do not seem to have been collected into one body, or comprised under one and the same canon, before the Babylonish captivity. This was not done till after their return from the captivity, about which time the Jews had a certain number of books digested into a canon, which comprehended none of those books that were written since the time of Nehemiah. The book of Ecclesiasticus affords sufficient evidence that the canon of the sacred books was completed when that tract was composed; for that author, in chapter 49, having mentioned among the famous men and sacred writers, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, adds the twelve minor prophets who follow those three in the Jewish canon; and from this circumstance we may infer that the prophecies of these twelve men were already collected and digested into one body. It is farther evident, that in the time of our Saviour the canon of the Holy Scriptures was drawn up, since he cites the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, which are the three kinds of books of which that canon is composed, and which he often styles, “the Scriptures,” or, “the Holy Scripture,” Mat_21:42; Mat_22:29; Mat_26:54; Joh_5:39; and by him therefore the Jewish canon, as it existed in his day, was fully authenticated, by whomsoever or at what time it had been formed.
3. The person who compiled this canon is generally allowed to be Ezra. According to the invariable tradition of Jews and Christians, the honour is ascribed to him of having collected together and perfected a complete edition of the Holy Scriptures. The original of the Pentateuch had been carefully preserved in the side of the ark, and had been probably introduced with the ark into the temple at Jerusalem. After having been concealed in the dangerous days of the idolatrous kings of Judah, and particularly in the impious reigns of Manasseh and Amon, it was found in the days of Josiah, the succeeding prince, by Hilkiah the priest, in the temple. Prideaux thinks, that during the preceding reigns the book of the law was so destroyed and lost, that, beside this copy of it, there was then no other to be obtained. To this purpose he adds, that the surprise manifested by Hilkiah, on the discovery of it, and the grief expressed by Josiah when he heard it read, plainly show that neither of them had seen it before. On the other hand, Dr. Kennicott, with better reason, supposes, that long before this time there were several copies of the law in Israel, during the separation of the ten tribes, and that there were some copies of it also among the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, particularly in the hands of the prophets, priests, and Levites; and that by the instruction and authority of these MSS, the various services in the temple were regulated, during the reigns of the good kings of Judah. He adds, that the surprise expressed by Josiah and the people, at his reading the copy found by Hilkiah, may be accounted for by adverting to the history of the preceding reigns, and by recollecting how idolatrous a king Manasseh had been for fifty-five years, and that he wanted neither power nor inclination to destroy the copies of the law, if they had not been secreted by the servants of God. The law, after being so long concealed, would be unknown almost to all the Jews; and thus the solemn reading of it by Josiah would awaken his own and the people's earnest attention; more especially, as the copy produced was probably the original written by Moses. From this time copies of the law were extensively multiplied among the people; and though, within a few years, the autograph, or original copy of the law, was burnt with the city and temple by the Babylonians, yet many copies of the law and the prophets, and of all the other sacred writings, were circulated in the hands of private persons, who carried them with them into their captivity. It is certain that Daniel had a copy of the Holy Scriptures with him at Babylon; for he quotes the law, and mentions the prophecies of Jeremiah, Dan_9:2; Dan_9:11; Dan_9:13. It appears also, from the sixth chap. of Ezra, and from the ninth chap. of Nehemiah, that copies of the law were dispersed among the people. The whole which Ezra did may be comprised in the following particulars: He collected as many copies of the sacred writings as he could find, and compared them together, and, out of them all, formed one complete copy, adjusted the various readings, and corrected the errors of transcribers. He likewise made additions in several parts of the different books, which appeared to be necessary for the illustration, correction, and completion of them. To this class of additions we may refer the last chapter of Deuteronomy, which, as it gives an account of the death and burial of Moses, and of the succession of Joshua after him, could not have been written by Moses himself. Under the same head have also been included some other interpolations in the Bible, which create difficulties that can only be solved by allowing them; as in Gen_12:6; Gen_22:14; Gen_36:3; Exo_16:35; Deu_2:12; Deu_3:11; Deu_3:14; Pro_25:1. The interpolations in these passages are ascribed by Prideaux to Ezra; and others which were afterward added, he attributes to Simon the Just. Ezra also changed the old names of several places that were become obsolete, putting instead of them the new names by which they were at that time called; instances of which occur in Gen_14:4, where Dan is substituted for Laish, and in several places in Genesis, and also in Numbers, where Hebron is put for Kirjath Arba, &c. He likewise wrote out the whole in the Chaldee character changing for it the old Hebrew character, which has since that time been retained only by the Samaritans, and among whom it is preserved even to this day. The canon of the whole Hebrew Bible seems, says Kennicott, to have been closed by Malachi, the latest of the Jewish prophets, about fifty years after Ezra had collected together all the sacred books which had been composed before and during his time. Prideaux supposes the canon was completed by Simon the Just, about one hundred and fifty years after Malachi: but, as his opinion is rounded merely on a few proper names at the end of the two genealogies, 1Ch_3:19; Neh_12:22, which few names might very easily be added by a transcriber afterward, it is more probable, as Kennicott thinks, that the canon was finished by the last of the prophets, about four hundred years before Christ.
4. It is an inquiry of considerable importance, in its relation to the subject of this article, what books were contained in the canon of the Jews. The Old Testament, according to our Bibles, comprises thirty-nine books, wiz. the Pentateuch or five books of Moses, called Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth , 1 & 2 Samuel , 1 & 2 Kings , 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah with his Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. But, among the ancient Jews, they formed only twenty-two books, according to the letters of their alphabet, which were twenty-two in number; reckoning Judges and Ruth, Ezra and Nehemiah, Jeremiah and his Lamentations, and the twelve minor prophets, (so called from the comparative brevity of their compositions,) respectively as one book. Josephus says, “We have not thousands of books, discordant, and contradicting each other: but we have only twenty-two, which comprehend the history of all former ages, and are justly regarded as divine. Five of them proceed from Moses; they include as well the laws, as an account of the creation of man, extending to the time of his (Moses) death. This period comprehends nearly three thousand years. From the death of Moses to that of Artaxerxes, who was king of Persia after Xerxes, the prophets, who succeeded Moses, committed to writing, in thirteen books, what was done in their days. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, (the Psalms,) and instructions of life for man.” The threefold division of the Old Testament into the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, mentioned by Josephus, was expressly recognised before his time by Jesus Christ, as well as by the subsequent writers of the New Testament. We have therefore sufficient evidence that the Old Testament existed at that time; and if it be only allowed that Jesus Christ was a teacher of a fearless and irreproachable character, it must be acknowledged that we draw a fair conclusion, when we assert that the Scriptures were not corrupted in his time: for when he accused the Pharisees of making the law of no effect by their traditions, and when he enjoined his hearers to search the Scriptures, he could not have failed to mention the corruptions or forgeries of Scripture, if any had existed in that age. About fifty years before the time of Christ were written the Targums of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, and of Jonathan Ben-Uzziel on the Prophets; (according to the Jewish classification of the books of the Old Testament;) which are evidence of the genuineness of those books at that time. We have, however, unquestionable testimony of the genuineness of the Old Testament, in the fact that its canon was fixed some centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus the son of Sirach, author of the book of Ecclesiasticus. makes evident references to the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and mentions these prophets by name: he speaks also of the twelve minor prophets. It likewise appears from the prologue to that book, that the law and the prophets, and other ancient books, were extant at the same period. The book of Ecclesiasticus, according to the best chronologers, was written in the Syro-Chaldaic dialect A.M. 3772, that is, two hundred and thirty-two years before the Christian aera, and was translated by the grandson of Jesus into Greek, for the use of the Alexandrian Jews. The prologue was added by the translator; but this circumstance does not diminish the evidence for the antiquity of the Old Testament: for he informs us, that the law and the prophets, and the other books of their fathers, were studied by his grandfather; a sufficient proof that they were extant in his time. Fifty years, indeed, before the age of the author of Ecclesiasticus, or two hundred and eighty-two years before the Christian aera, the Greek version of the Old Testament, usually called the Septuagint, was executed at Alexandria, the books of which are the same as in our Bibles; whence it is evident that we still have those identical books, which the most ancient Jews attested to be genuine. The Christian fathers too, Origen, Athanasius, Hilary, Gregory, Nazianzen, Epiphanius, and Jerom, speaking of the books that are allowed by the Jews as sacred and canonical, agree in saying that they are the same in number with the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, that is, twenty-two, and reckon particularly those books which we have already mentioned. Nothing can be more satisfactory and conclusive than all the parts of the evidence for the authenticity and integrity of the canon of the Old Testament scriptures. The Jews, to whom they were first committed, never varied respecting them; while they were fully recognised by our Lord and his Apostles; and, consequently, their authenticity is established by express revelation. And that we now possess them as thus delivered and authenticated, we have the concurrent testimony of the whole succession of the most distinguished early Christian writers, as well as of the Jews to this day, who, in every age, and in all countries, the most remote from one another, have constantly been in the habit of reading them in their synagogues.
5. The five books of the law are divided into fifty-four sections, which division is attributed to Ezra, and was intended for the use of their synagogues, and for the better instruction of the people in the law of God. For, one of these sections was read every Sabbath in their synagogues. They ended the last section with the last words of Deuteronomy on the Sabbath of the feast of the tabernacles, and then began anew with the first section from the beginning of Genesis the next Sabbath after, and so went round in this circle every year. The number of these sections was fifty-four, because in their intercalated years (a month being then added) there were fifty-four Sabbaths. On other years they reduced them to the number of the Sabbaths which were in those years, by joining two short ones several times into one. For they held themselves obliged to have the whole law thus read over in their synagogues every year. Till the time of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, they read only the law; but being then prohibited from reading it any more, they substituted in the room of the fifty-four sections of the law, fifty-four sections out of the prophets, the reading of which they ever after continued. Thus, when the reading of the law was restored by the Maccabees, the section which was read every Sabbath out of the law served for their first lesson, and the section out of the prophets for their second lesson; and this practice was continued to the times of the Apostles, Act_13:15; Act_13:27. These sections were divided into verses, called by the Jews pesukim, and they are marked out in the Hebrew Bible by two great points at the end of them, called from hence, sophpasuk, that is, the end of the verse. This division, if not made by Ezra, is very ancient; for when the Chaldee came into use in the room of the Hebrew language, after the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, the law was read to the people first in the Hebrew language, and then rendered by an interpreter into the Chaldee language; and this was done period by period. The division of the Holy Scriptures into chapters is of a much later date. The Psalms, indeed, appear to have been always divided as they are at present, Act_13:33; but as to the rest of the Bible, the present division into chapters was unknown to the ancients.
6. From the time when the Old Testament was completed by Malachi, the last of the prophets, till the publication of the New Testament, about four hundred and sixty years elapsed. During the life of Jesus Christ, and for some time after his ascension, nothing on the subject of his mission was committed to writing. The period of his remaining upon earth may be regarded as an intermediate state between the old and new dispensations. His personal ministry was confined to the land of Judea; and, by means of his miracles and discourses, together with those of his disciples, the attention of men, in that country, was sufficiently directed to his doctrine. They were also in possession of the Old Testament scriptures; which, at that season, it was of the greatest importance they should consult, in order to compare the ancient predictions with what was then taking place. Immediately after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his disciples, in the most public manner, and in the place where he had been crucified, proclaimed that event, and the whole of the doctrine which he had commanded them to preach. In this service they continued personally to labour for a considerable time, first among their countrymen the Jews, and then among the other nations. During the period between the resurrection and the publication of the New Testament, the churches possessed miraculous gifts, and the prophets were enabled to explain the predictions of the Old Testament, and to show their fulfilment. After their doctrine had every where attracted attention, and, in spite of the most violent opposition, had forced its way through the civilized world; and when churches or societies of Christians were collected, not only in Judea, but in the most celebrated cities of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, the scriptures of the New Testament were written by the Apostles, and other inspired men, and intrusted to the keeping of these churches.
The whole of the New Testament was not written at once, but in different parts, and on various occasions. Six of the Apostles, and two inspired disciples who accompanied them in their journeys, were employed in this work. The histories which it contains of the life of Christ, known by the name of the Gospels, were composed by four of his contemporaries, two of whom had been constant attendants on his public ministry. The first of these was published within a few years after his death, in that very country where he had lived, and among the people who had seen him and observed his conduct. The history called the Acts of the Apostles, which contains an account of their proceedings, and of the progress of the Gospel, from Jerusalem, among the Gentile nations, was published about the year 64, being thirty years after our Lord's crucifixion, by one who, though not an Apostle, declares that he had “perfect understanding of all things, from the very first,” and who had written one of the Gospels. This book, commencing with a detail of proceedings, from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, carries down the evangelical history till the arrival of Paul as a prisoner at Rome. The Epistles, addressed to churches in particular places, to believers scattered up and down in different countries, or to individuals, in all twenty-one in number, were separately written, by five of the Apostles, from seventeen, to twenty, thirty, and thirty-five years after the death of Christ. Four of these writers had accompanied the Lord Jesus during his life, and had been “eye witnesses of his majesty.” The fifth was the Apostle Paul, who, as he expresses it, was “one born out of due time,” but who had likewise seen Jesus Christ, and had been empowered by him to work miracles, which were “the signs of an Apostle.” One of these five also wrote the book of Revelation, about the year A.D. 96, addressed to seven churches in Asia, containing Epistles to these churches from Jesus Christ himself, with various instructions for the immediate use of all Christians, together with a prophetical view of the kingdom of God till the end of time. These several pieces, which compose the scriptures of the New Testament, were received by the churches with the highest veneration; and, as the instructions they contain, though partially addressed, were equally intended for all, they were immediately copied, and handed about from one church to another, till each was in possession of the whole. The volume of the New Testament was thus completed before the death of the last of the Apostles, most of whom had sealed their testimony with their blood. From the manner in which these scriptures were at first circulated, some of their parts were necessarily longer in reaching certain places than others. These, of course, could not be so soon received into the canon as the rest. Owing to this circumstance, and to that of a few of the books being addressed to individual believers, or to their not having the names of their writers affixed, or the designation of Apostle added, a doubt for a time existed among some respecting the genuineness of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, and the book of Revelation. These, however, though not universally, were generally acknowledged; while all the other books of the New Testament were without dispute received from the beginning. This discrimination proves the scrupulous care of the first churches on this highly important subject.
At length these books, which had not at first been admitted, were, like the rest, universally received, not by the votes of a council, as is sometimes asserted, but after deliberate and free inquiry by many separate churches, under the superintending providence of God, in different parts of the world. It is at the same time a certain fact, that no other books beside those which at present compose the volume of the New Testament, were admitted by the churches. Several apocryphal writings were published under the name of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, which are mentioned by the writers of the first four centuries, most of which have perished, though some are still extant. Few or none of them were composed before the second century, and several of them were forged as late as the third century. But they were not acknowledged as authentic by the first Christians; and were rejected by those who have noticed them, as spurious and heretical. Histories, too, as might have been expected, were written of the life of Christ; and one forgery was attempted, of a letter said to have been written by Jesus himself to Abgarus, king of Edessa; but of the first, none were received as of any authority and the last was universally rejected. “Beside our Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles,” says Paley, “no Christian history claiming to be written by an Apostle, or Apostolical man, is quoted within three hundred years after the birth of Christ, by any writer now extant or known, or, if quoted, is quoted with marks of censure and rejection.” This agreement of Christians respecting the Scriptures, when we consider their many differences in other respects, is the more remarkable, since it took place without any public authority being interposed. “We have no knowledge,” says the above author, “of any interference of authority in the question before the council of Laodicea, in the year 363. Probably the decree of this council rather declared than regulated the public judgment, or, more properly speaking, the judgment of some neighbouring churches, the council itself consisting of no more than thirty or forty bishops of Lydia and the adjoining countries. Nor does its authority seem to have extended farther.” But the fact, that no public authority was interposed, does not require to be supported by the above reasoning. The churches at the beginning, being widely separated from each other, necessarily judged for themselves in this matter, and the decree of the council was founded on the coincidence of their judgment. In delivering this part of his written revelation, God proceeded as he had done in the publication of the Old Testament scriptures. For a considerable time, his will was declared to mankind through the medium of oral tradition. At length he saw meet, in his wisdom, to give it a more permanent form. But this did not take place till a nation, separated from all others, was provided for its reception. In the same manner, when Jesus Christ set up his kingdom in the world, of which the nation of Israel was a type, he first made known his will by means of verbal communication, through his servants whom he commissioned and sent out for that purpose; and when, through their means, he had prepared his subjects and collected them into churches, to be the depositaries of his word, he caused it to be delivered to them in writing. His kingdom was not to consist of any particular nation, like that of Israel, but of all those individuals, in every part of the world, who should believe in his name. It was to be ruled, not by means of human authority, or compulsion of any kind, but solely by his authority. These sacred writings were thus intrusted to a people prepared for their reception,—a nation among the nations, but singularly distinct from all the rest, who guarded and preserved them with the same inviolable attachment as the Old Testament scriptures had experienced from the Jews.
7. Respecting the lateness of the time when the scriptures of the New Testament were written, no objection can be offered, since they were published before that generation passed away which had witnessed the transactions they record. The dates of these writings fall within the period of the lives of many who were in full manhood when the Lord Jesus was upon earth; and the facts detailed in the histories, and referred to in the Epistles, being of the most public nature, were still open to full investigation. It must also be recollected, that the Apostles and disciples, during the whole intermediate period, were publicly proclaiming to the world the same things which were afterward recorded in their writings. Thus were the Scriptures, as we now possess them, delivered to the first churches. By the concurrent testimony of all antiquity, both of friends and foes, they were received by Christians of different sects, and were constantly appealed to on all hands, in the controversies that arose among them. Commentaries upon them were written at a very early period, and translations made into different languages. Formal catalogues of them were published, and they were attacked by the adversaries of Christianity, who not only did not question, but expressly admitted, the facts they contained, and that they were the genuine productions of the persons whose names they bore. In this manner the Scriptures were also secured from the danger of being in any respect altered or vitiated. “The books of Scripture,” says Augustine, “could not have been corrupted. If such an attempt had, been made by any one, his design would have been prevented and defeated. His alteration would have been immediately detected by many and more ancient copies.” The difficulty of succeeding in such an attempt is apparent hence, that the Scriptures were early translated into divers languages, and copies of them were numerous. The alterations which any one attempted to make would have been soon perceived; just even as now, in fact, lesser faults in some copies are amended by comparing ancient copies or those of the original. “If any one,” continues Augustine, “should charge you with having interpolated some texts alleged by you as favourable to your cause, what would you say? Would you not immediately answer that it is impossible for you to do such a thing in books read by all Christians; and that if any such attempt had been made by you, it would have been presently discerned and defeated by comparing the ancient copies? Well, then, for the same reason that the Scriptures cannot be corrupted by you, neither could they be corrupted by any other people.” Accordingly, the uniformity of the manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures that are extant, which are incomparably more numerous than those of any ancient author, and which are dispersed through so many countries, and in so great a variety of languages, is truly astonishing. It demonstrates both the veneration in which the Scriptures have been always held, and the singular care that has been taken in transcribing them. The number of various readings, that by the most minute and laborious investigation and collations of manuscripts have been discovered in them, are said to amount to one hundred and fifty thousand; though at first sight they may seem calculated to diminish confidence in the sacred text, yet in no degree whatever do they affect its credit and integrity. They consist almost wholly in palpable errors in transcription, grammatical and verbal differences, such as the insertion or omission of a letter or article, the substitution of a word for its equivalent, or the transposition of a word or two in a sentence. Taken altogether, they neither change nor affect a single doctrine or duty announced or enjoined in the word of God. When, therefore, we consider the great antiquity of the sacred books, the almost infinite number of copies, of versions, and of editions, which have been made of them in all languages, in languages which have not any analogy one with another, among nations differing so much in their customs and their religious opinions,—when we consider these things, it is truly astonishing, and can only be ascribed to the watchful providence of God over his own word, that, among the various readings, nothing truly essential can be discerned, which relates to either precept, or doctrine, or which breaks that connection, that unity which subsists in all the various parts of divine revelation, and which demonstrates the whole to be the work of one and the same Spirit.
8. Having considered the appellations by which the Bible is distinguished, the books of which it consists, the time and manner in which they were collected, it may not be improper to subjoin a few observations on the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures, on their high original and divine authority, and on their great importance and utility.
It should here be considered, that the genuineness of the Scriptures proves the truth of the principal facts contained in them; to which purpose we may observe that it is very rare to meet with any genuine writings of the historical kind, in which the principal facts are not true, unless it be in instances where both the motives which engaged the author to falsify, and the circumstances which gave some plausibility to the fiction, are apparent; neither of which can be alleged in the present case with any colour of reason. As this is rare in general, it is more rare when the writer treats of things that happened in his own time, and under his own cognizance and direction, and communicates his history to persons under the same circumstances; all which may be said of the writers of the Scripture history. Beside, the great importance of the facts mentioned in the Scriptures makes it more improbable, that the several authors should either have attempted to falsify, or have succeeded in such an attempt. The same observation may be applied to the great number of particular circumstances of time, place, persons, &c, mentioned in the Scriptures, and to the harmony of the books with themselves, and with each other. These are arguments both for the genuineness of the books, and truth of the facts distinctly considered, and also arguments for deducing the truth from the genuineness. Moreover, if the books of the Old and New Testaments were written by the persons to whom they have been ascribed, that is, if they be genuine, the moral characters of these writers afford the strongest assurance, that the facts asserted by them are true. The sufferings which several of the writers underwent both in life and in death, in attestation of the facts delivered by them, furnish a particular argument in favour of these facts. Again, the arguments here alleged for proving the truth of the Scripture history from the genuineness of the books, are as conclusive in respect to the miraculous facts, as of the common ones. It may also be observed, that if we allow the genuineness of the books to be a sufficient evidence of the common facts which they record, the miraculous facts must also be allowed from their close connection with the others. It is necessary to admit both or neither. We cannot conceive that Moses should have delivered the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, or conducted them through the wilderness for forty years, at all in such manner as the common history represents, unless we suppose the miraculous facts intermixed with it to be true also. In like manner, the fame of Christ's miracles, the multitudes which followed him, the adherence of his disciples, the jealousy and hatred of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, with many other facts of a common nature, are impossible to be accounted for, unless we allow that he did really work miracles. And the same observations hold, in general, of the other parts of the Scripture history. We might urge that a particular argument in favour of the miraculous part of the Scripture history, may be deduced from the reluctance of mankind to receive miraculous facts; which would put the writers and readers very much upon their guard, and would operate as a strong check upon the publication of a miraculous history at or near the time when the miracles were said to be performed; and thus it would serve as a strong confirmation of such a history, if its genuineness be previously granted.
9. In connection with the preceding proposition we may observe, that the genuineness of the Scriptures proves their divine authority. Porphyry in effect acknowledges the truth of this proposition, in its reference to the book of Daniel, by being unable to devise a method of invalidating its divine authority implied in the accomplishment of the prophecies which it contains, without asserting that they were written after the event, or that they were forgeries. Many of the other books of the Old and New Testaments have unquestionable evidences of the divine foreknowledge, if they be allowed genuine; such are those supplied by Moses's prophecy concerning the captivity of the Israelites, or of a state not yet erected; Isaiah's concerning Cyrus; Jeremiah's concerning the duration of the Babylonish captivity; Christ's concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity that was to follow; St. John's concerning the great corruption of the Christian church; and Daniel's concerning the fourth empire in its declension; which last was extant in the time of Porphyry, at least; that is, before the events which it represents. The truth of the proposition might also be argued from the sublimity and excellence of the doctrines contained in the Scriptures; in no respect suiting the supposed authors, or the ages in which they lived, their education or occupation; so that, if they were the real authors, we are under the necessity of admitting the divine assistance. The converse of this proposition, namely, that the divine authority of the Scriptures infers their genuineness, will be readily and universally acknowledged. Moreover, the truth of the principal facts contained in the Scriptures proves their divine authority. Such is the frame of the human mind, that the Scripture history, allowed to be true, must convince us that Christ, the Prophets, and the Apostles, were endued with a power greater than human, and acted by the authority of a Being of the highest wisdom and goodness. By such mode of reasoning it is shown that the genuineness of the Scriptures, the truth of the principal facts contained in them, and their divine authority, appear to be so connected with each other, that, any one being established upon independent principles, the other two may be inferred from it. On the subject of the inspiration of the Scriptures, See INSPIRATION.
10. Another argument in favour of the genuineness of the books of the Old and New Testaments, and of the truth of the principal facts contained in them, may be deduced from the manner in which they have been transmitted down from one age to another; resembling that in which all other genuine books and true histories have been conveyed down to posterity. As the works of the Greek and Roman writers were considered by these nations as having been transmitted to them by their ancestors in a continued succession from the times when the respective authors lived, so have the books of the Old Testament been accounted by the Jews, and those of the New by the Christians; and it is an additional evidence in the last case, that the primitive Christians were not a distinct nation, but a great multitude of people dispersed through all the nations of the Roman empire, and even extending itself beyond the bounds of that empire. As the Greeks and Romans always believed the principal facts of their historical books, so the Jews and Christians did more, and never seem to have doubted of the truth of any part of theirs. In short—whatever can be said of the traditional authority due to the Greek and Roman writers—something analogous to this, and for the most part of greater weight, may be urged for the Jewish and Christian. Now, as all sober minded persons admit the books usually ascribed to the Greek and Roman historians, philosophers, &c, to be genuine, and the principal facts related or alluded to in them to be true, and that one chief evidence for this is the general traditionary one here recited, they ought, therefore, to pay the same regard to the books of the Old and New Testaments, since there are the same, or even greater, reasons for it. Beside, these traditionary evidences are sufficient; and we thus obtain a real argument, as well as one ad hominem, for receiving books thus handed down to us. For it is not conceivable, that whole nations should either be imposed upon themselves, or concur to deceive others by forgeries of books or of facts. These books and facts must therefore, in general, be genuine and true; and it is a strong additional evidence of this, that all nations must be jealous of forgeries for the same reasons that we are.
11. We may proceed to state farther, that the great importance of the histories, precepts, promises, threatenings, and prophecies contained in the Scriptures, is in evidence both of their genuineness, and of the truth of the principal facts mentioned in them. The history of the creation, fall, deluge, longevity of the patriarchs, dispersion of mankind, calling of Abraham, descent of Jacob with his family into Egypt, and the precepts of abstaining from blood, and of circumcision, were of such concern, either to mankind in general, or to the Israelites in particular, and some of them of so extraordinary a nature, as that it could not be a matter of indifference to the people among whom the account given of them in Genesis was first published, whether they received them or not. On the supposition that this account was first published among the Israelites by Moses, and then confirmed by clear, universal, uninterrupted tradition, it will be easy to conceive how it should be handed down from age to age among the Jews, and received by them as indubitable. But, supposing the account to be false, or that there was no such vestiges and evidences of these histories and precepts, it will be difficult to conceive how this could have happened, let the time of publication be what it may. If early, the people would reject at once the account, for want of a clear tradition; if late, it would be natural to inquire how the author was informed of things never known before to others. As to other cosmogonies and theogonies current among Pagans, which are evident fictions, they furnish no just objection against the Mosaic history, because they were generally regarded merely as amusing fictions; and yet they concealed in figures, or expressed in plain words, some truths which agree with the book of Genesis, and afford a strong presumptive evidence in favour of this book. with respect to the law of Moses, this was extremely burdensome, expensive, and severe, particularly in its reference to the crime of idolatry, to which mankind were then extravagantly prone; and it was absurd, according to human judgment, in the instances of prohibiting their furnishing themselves with horses for war, and of commanding all the males of the whole nation to appear at Jerusalem three times a year. Nevertheless, it claims a divine authority, and appeals to facts of the most notorious kind, and to customs and ceremonies of the most peculiar nature, as the memorials of these facts. Can we then conceive that any nation, with such motives to reject, and such opportunities of detecting the forgery of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, should yet receive them, and submit to this heavy yoke? That the Jews did submit to the law of Moses in these circumstances, is evident from the books of the Old and New Testaments, if we allow them the least truth and genuineness, or even from profane writers, and from the present observance of it by the Jews scattered through all the kingdoms of the world. Should it be said that other nations have ascribed divine authority to their lawgivers, and submitted to very severe laws, it may be alleged in reply to this, that the pretences of lawgivers among the Pagans to inspiration, and the submission of the people, may be accounted for from their peculiar circumstances at the time, without recurring to real inspiration; and more especially if we admit the patriarchal revelations related by Moses, and his own divine legation, as Heathen lawgivers copied after these, and hence we derive a strong argument in their favour. Beside, no instance occurs among the Pagans of a body of laws framed at once and remaining invariable; whereas the body politic of the Israelites assumed a complete form at once, and has preserved it, with little variation, to the present time, and under many external disadvantages; thus supplying us with an instance altogether without parallel, and showing the high opinion which they entertained of the great importance of their law. In short, of all the fictions or forgeries that can happen among any people, the most improbable is that of the Jewish body of civil laws, and seems to be utterly impossible.
12. If we farther examine the history contained in the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and extending from the death of Moses to the re-establishment of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity by Ezra and Nehemiah, we shall find a variety of important facts, most of which must be supposed to leave such vestiges of themselves, either external and visible, or internal in the minds and memories of the people, as would verify them if true, or cause them to be rejected if false. The conquest of the land of Canaan, the division of it, and the appointment of cities for the priests and Levites by Joshua; the frequent slaveries of the Israelites. to the neighbouring kings, and their deliverance by the judges; the creation of a kingdom by Samuel; the translation of this kingdom from Saul's family to David, with his conquests; the glory of Solomon's kingdom; the building of the temple; the division of the kingdom; the idolatrous worship set up at Dan and Bethel; the captivity of the Israelites by the kings of Assyria; the captivity of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar; the destruction of their temple; their return under Cyrus, rebuilding the temple under Darius Hystaspes, and re- establishment under Artaxerxes Longimanus, by Ezra and Nehemiah:— these events are some of them the most glorious, and some of them the most reproachful, that can happen to any people. How can we reconcile forgeries of such opposite kinds, and especially as they are interwoven together by various complicated and necessary connections, which do not admit of separation? The facts, indeed, are of such importance, notoriety, and permanency in their effects, that no particular persons among the Israelites could first project the design of feigning them, that their own people would not concur with such a design, and that neighbouring nations would not permit the fiction to pass. Nothing but the invincible evidence of the facts here alleged, could induce a jealous multitude among the Israelites or neighbouring nations to acquiesce. This must be acknowledged upon the supposition that the several books were published in or near the times when the facts that are recorded in them happened. But suppose all these historical books forged by Ezra; the hypothesis is evidently impossible. Things so important and notorious, so honourable and so reproachful to the people for whose sake they were forged, would have been rejected with the utmost indignation, unless there were the strongest and most genuine traces of these things already among the people. They must therefore, in part at least, be true. If it be said that additions were made by Ezra, these additions must have been either of important or trivial matters. On the first supposition, the difficulty already stated recurs; and if the important facts are true, what possible motive could have induced Ezra to make additions of no importance? Beside, if any ancient writings were extant, Ezra must either copy after them, which destroys the present supposition, or differ from and oppose them, which would betray him. If there were no such ancient writings, the people would be led to inquire with regard to matters of importance, for what reason Ezra was so particular in things of which there was neither any memory, nor account in writing. Should it be said that the people did not regard what Ezra had thus forged, this reduces the subject in question to matters of small or of no importance. Beside, why should Ezra write if no one would read or regard? Farther: Ezra must have had, like other men, friends, enemies, and rivals; and some, or all of these, would have been a check upon him, and a security against him, in matters of importance. If we suppose these books, instead of having been forged at once, to have been forged successively, at the interval of one, two, or three centuries after the facts related, we shall involve ourselves in the same or similar difficulties. Upon the whole, then, we may conclude, that the forgery of the annals of the Israelites appears to be impossible, as well as that of the body of their civil laws. It is needless to examine the books of Esther, Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles; and we might proceed to the Prophecies; but this will be resumed under the article Prophecy. For the subjects comprehended in the books of the New Testament. See GOSPEL, and See CHRISTIANITY.
13. We shall here subjoin some general evidences in attestation of the truth of the books of Scripture. That Jews and Christians have thought their sacred books very highly important, most genuine, and true, appears from the persecutions and sufferings which they have undergone on account of their attachment to them, and because they would not be prevailed upon to surrender them. The preservation of the law of Moses, probably the first book written in any language, whilst many others of a later date have been lost, shows the great regard that has been paid to it; and from this circumstance we may infer that this and the other books of the Old Testament have been preserved on account of their importance, or from some other cause, equally evincing their genuineness and truth. The great value set upon these books appears also from the many early translations and paraphrases of them; and these translations and paraphrases serve to correct errors that are unavoidable in the lapse of time, and to secure their integrity and purity. The hesitation and difficulty with which some few books of the New Testament were received into the canon, show the great care and concern of the primitive Christians about the canon, and the high importance of the books admitted into it: and afford a strong evidence of their genuineness and truth. The same observation is in a degree applicable to the Jewish canon. Moreover, the religious hatred and animosity which subsisted between the Jews and Samaritans, and between several of the ancient sects among the Christians, convince us of what importance they all thought their sacred books, and disposed them to watch over one another with a jealous eye. Farther: the genuineness of the books of the Old and New Testaments may be evinced from the language, style, and manner of writing used in them. The Hebrew language, in which the Old Testament was written, being the language of an ancient people, who had little intercourse with their neighbours, would not change so fast as modern languages have done, since different nations have been variously blended with one another by the extension of trade, arts, and sciences; and yet some changes must have occurred in the interval that elapsed between the time of Moses and that of Malachi. The biblical Hebrew corresponds so exactly to this criterion, as to afford a considerable argument in favour of the genuineness of the books of the Old Testament. Beside, these books have too great a diversity of style to be the work of either one Jew, or of any set of contemporary Jews. If they be forgeries, there must have been a succession of impostors in different ages, who concurred in the same iniquitous design. Again: the Hebrew language ceased to be spoken, as a living language, soon after the time of the Babylonish captivity; and it would be difficult or impossible to forge any thing in it after it became a dead language. Hence it appears, that all the books of the Old Testament must at least be nearly as ancient as the Babylonish captivity; and as they could not all be written in the same age, some must be much more ancient, and this would reduce us to the necessity of supposing a succession of conspiring impostors. Moreover, there is, as we have already observed, a simplicity of style, and an unaffected manner of writing, in all the books of the Old Testament, which is a strong evidence of their genuineness. The style of the New Testament, in particular, is not only simple and unaffected, but is Greek influenced by the Hebrew idiom, and exactly answers to the circumstances of time, places, and persons. To which we may add, that the narrations and precepts of both the Old and New Testament are delivered without hesitation; the writers teaching as having authority: and this circumstance is peculiar to those who unite, with a clear knowledge of what they deliver, a perfect integrity of heart. But a farther argument for the genuineness and truth of the Scriptures is supplied by the very great number of particular circumstances of time, place, persons, &c, mentioned in them. It is needless to recount these; but they are incompatible with forged and false accounts, that do not abound in such particularities, and the want of which furnishes a suspicion to their discredit. Compare, in this respect, Manetho's account of the dynasties of Egypt, Ctesias's of the Assyrian kings, and those which the technical chronologers have given of the ancient kingdoms of Greece, which are defective in such particulars, with the history by Thucydides of the Peloponnesian war, and with Caesar's of the war in Gaul, and the difference will be sufficiently apparent. Dr. Paley's admirable treatise, entitled, “Horae Paulinae,” affords very valuable illustrations of this argument as it respects the genuineness of the books of the New Testament. The agreement of the Scriptures with history, natural and civil, is a farther proof of their genuineness and truth. The history of the fall agrees in an eminent manner both with the obvious facts of labour, sorrow, pain, and death, with what we see and feel every day, and with all our philosophical inquiries into the frame of the human mind, the nature of social life, and the origin of evil. Natural history bears a strong testimony to Moses's account of the deluge. Civil history affords many evidences which corroborate the same account. (See Deluge.) The Mosaic account of the confusion of languages, of the dispersion of Noah's sons, and of the state of religion in the ancient post-diluvian world, is not only rendered probable, but is in a very high degree established, by many collateral arguments. See CONFUSION OF LANGUAGES, and See DIVISION OF THE EARTH.
14. The agreement of the books of the Old and New Testaments with themselves and with each other, affords another argument both of their genuineness and truth. The laws of the Israelites are contained in the Pentateuch, and referred to, in a great variety of ways, direct and indirect, in the historical books, in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies. The historical facts also in the preceding books are often referred to in those that succeed, and in the Psalms and Prophecies. In like manner, the Gospels have the greatest harmony with each other, and the Epistles of St. Paul with the Acts of the Apostles; and, indeed, there is scarcely any book of either the Old or New Testament, which may not be shown to refer to many of the rest, in one way or other. For the illustration of this argument, let us suppose that no more remained of the Roman writers than Livy, Tully, and Horace; would they not, by their references to the same facts and customs, by the sameness of style in the same writer, and difference in the different ones, and numberless other such like circumstances of critical consideration, prove themselves, and one another to be genuine, and the principal facts related, or alluded to, to be true? Whoever will apply, this reasoning to the present, case will perceive, that the numberless minute, direct, and indirect agreements and coincidences, that present themselves to all diligent readers of the Scriptures, prove their truth and genuineness beyond all contradiction.
The harmony and agreement of the several writers of the Old and New Testament appear the more remarkable, when it is considered that their various parts were penned by several hands in very different conditions of life, from the throne and sceptre down to the lowest degree, and in very distant ages, through a long interval of time; which would naturally have led a spirit of imposture to have varied its schemes, and to have adapted them to different stations in the world, and to the different vicissitudes of every age. David wrote about four hundred years after Moses, and Isaiah about two hundred and fifty after David, and Matthew more than seven hundred years after Isaiah; and yet these authors, with all the other Prophets and Apostles, write in perfect harmony, confirming the authority of their predecessors, labouring to reduce the people to the observance of their instructions, and loudly exclaiming against the neglect and contempt of them, and denouncing the severest judgments against such as continued disobedient. Consequently, as the writers of the Holy Scriptures, though they all claim a divine authority, yet write in perfect connection and harmony, mutually confirming the doctrine and testimony of each other, and concurring to establish the very same religious truths and principles, it is a strong proof that they all derived their instructions from the same fountain, the wisdom of God, and were indeed under the direction and illumination of the same Spirit. This leads us to add, that the unity of design, which appears in the dispensations recorded in the Scriptures, is an argument not only of their truth and genuineness, but also of their divine authority. In order to perceive the force of this argument, it is only necessary to inquire what this design is, and how it is pursued, by the series of events and divine interpositions recorded in the Scriptures. (See Dispensation.) It should also be considered, that the historical evidences in favour of the genuineness, truth, and divine authority of the Scriptures, do not become less from age to age; but, on the contrary, it may rather be presumed that they increase. Since the three great concurring events of printing, the reformation of religion in these western parts, and the restoration of letters, so many more evidences and coincidences have been discovered in favour of the Jewish and Christian histories, as may serve, in some measure, to supply the want of those that have been lost in the preceding times; and as this accumulation of evidences is likely to continue, there is great reason to hope that it will at length become irresistible to all and silence even every gainsayer.
15. The moral characters of the Prophets, and the Apostles, prove the truth and divine authority of the Scriptures. The characters of the persons who are said in the Scriptures to have had divine communications, and a divine mission, are so much superior to the characters that occur in common life, that we can scarcely account for the more eminent individuals, and much less so for so large a succession of them, continued through so many ages, without allowing the divine communications and assistance which they allege. Notwithstanding considerable imperfections that pertained to many of these eminent persons, and the occasional offences chargeable upon one or two of them, yet the impartial reader should consider whether the Prophets, Apostles, &c, were not so much superior, not only to mankind at an average, but even to the best men among the Greeks and Romans, as is not fairly to be accounted for by the mere powers of human nature. If this statement should not be conceded, their characters, however, are too good to allow the supposition of an impious fraud and imposture, which must have been the case if they had not divine authority. Beside, it should be recollected, that the undisguised and impartial manner in which the imperfections and faults of the eminent persons mentioned in Scripture are related, furnishes a remarkable additional evidence for the truth of those parts of the Scripture history in which such relations occur, beside such evidences as extend to the whole.
16. The excellence of the doctrine contained in the Scriptures is an additional evidence of their authority. This argument has great force independently of all other considerations. Suppose, for instance, that the author of the Gospel, which goes under the name of St. Matthew, was not known, and that it was unsupported by the writers of the primitive times; yet such are the unaffected simplicity of the narrations, the purity of the doctrine, and the sincere piety and goodness of the sentiments, that it carries its own authority with it. The same observation is applicable in general to all the books of the Old and New Testaments; so that if there was no other book in the world beside the Bible, a man could not reasonably doubt of the truth of revealed religion. If all other arguments were set aside, we may conclude from this single consideration, that the authors of the books of the Old and New Testaments, whoever they were, cannot have made a false claim to divine authority. The Scriptures contain doctrines concerning God, providence, a future state, the duty of man, &c, far more pure and sublime than can in any way be accounted for from the natural powers of men, so circumstanced as the sacred writers were. Let the reader consider whether it can be reasonably supposed, that Jewish shepherds, fishermen, &c, should, both before and after the rise of the Heathen philosophy, so far exceed men of the greatest abilities and accomplishments in other nations, by any other means than divine communications. Indeed, no writers, from the invention of letters to the present times, are equal to the penmen of the books of the Old and New Testaments in true excellence, utility and dignity; and this is surely such an internal criterion of their divine authority, as ought not to be resisted.
17. The many and great advantages which have accrued to the world from the patriarchal, Judaical, and Christian revelations, confirm the whole. These advantages relate partly to the knowledge, and partly to the practice, of religion. The internal worth and excellence of the Scriptures, as containing the best principles of knowledge, holiness, consolation, and hope, and their consequent utility and importance in a moral and practical view, fully and directly demonstrate their divine original. For an enlarged view of this branch of evidence
See CHRISTIANITY.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

This article is concerned solely with a summary of the Bible’s contents, book by book. Concerning the Bible as the inspired and authoritative Word of God see INSPIRATION; REVELATION; WORD. Concerning the formation of the Bible and the organization of its contents see CANON; MANUSCRIPTS; SCRIBES; SCRIPTURES; SEPTUAGINT; WRITING. Concerning the present-day reader’s understanding of the Bible see INTERPRETATION; QUOTATIONS.
Human sin and divine salvation
The first book of the Bible, Genesis (meaning ‘origin’ or ‘beginning’), opens with a brief account of the creation of the world, chiefly as an introduction to the story of the people who live in the world. From the beginning people failed repeatedly, but God still loved them and initiated a plan for their salvation. He chose Abraham, a man from Mesopotamia, promising to make of him a nation, to give that nation the land of Canaan as a homeland, and to use that nation as his channel of blessing to the world. Genesis traces the growth of Abraham’s descendants over the next two or three centuries, and closes with them settling down as a distinct and unified people in Egypt. These events mark the beginning of the nation Israel.
Over the next four centuries the Israelites so increased their numbers that the Egyptian rulers considered them a threat and made them slaves of the government. The book of Exodus (meaning ‘a going out’) records how Moses became the Israelites’ leader, overthrew the oppressors and led his people out of Egypt (about 1280 BC). His intention was to lead them to a new homeland in Canaan, but first he took them to Mt Sinai, where they formally became God’s people in a covenant ceremony. Then, over the next year, they organized themselves according to the laws God gave them for the new life that lay ahead. Many of these laws are recorded in the latter part of Exodus and in the next book, Leviticus (named after the Israelite tribe Levi, which had special responsibilities in religious affairs).
The book of Numbers takes its name from two census that Moses conducted in preparation for the move into Canaan. The book contains further laws, along with details of arrangements for the journey. But the people rebelled against God, and their entrance into Canaan was delayed forty years as a punishment. During this time most adults of the rebellious generation died and a new generation grew up. When the time drew near to enter Canaan, Moses repeated, and in some ways expanded and up-dated, the law for the new generation. The book that records this renewed instruction in the law is called Deuteronomy, meaning ‘second law’.

Israel established in Canaan
Moses died before Israel entered Canaan, and his chief assistant, Joshua, became the nation’s new leader. The book of Joshua records how Israel under Joshua conquered Canaan and divided the land among its twelve tribes.
During the following generations the people of Israel became increasingly rebellious against God. The book of Judges shows how they copied foreign religious practices and as a result brought God’s judgment upon themselves, usually in the form of invasions from hostile neighbours. Israel had no central government, but when the people cried to God for help he provided specially gifted leaders from among them. These leaders were called judges, because they carried out God’s judgment upon Israel’s enemies and administered justice in local disputes. But among the ungodly people as a whole some remained faithful, and the story of one such family is recorded in the book of Ruth.
In an effort to improve national stability, the people decided to establish a monarchy. Their spiritual leader at this time, Samuel, advised against this, for the cause of their troubles was not their system of government, but their ungodliness. The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel, with the result that Israel gained its first king, Saul (1050 BC). He was a failure, and the story of events leading to and including his reign is recorded in the book of 1 Samuel.
The book of 2 Samuel records the reign of the next king, David, who was a strong and godly king, in spite of some mistakes. He established a dynasty through which God promised to bring a messiah-king who would be the saviour of the world.
The nation divided
Solomon succeeded David, and the history of the Israelite kingdom from his time onwards is recorded in 1 and 2 Kings. Solomon spent much of his time developing the national capital Jerusalem, but in the process he treated his people harshly and created widespread unrest. When he died, the ten tribes to the north and east of Jerusalem broke away and formed their own monarchy. They still called themselves Israel and, after some early temporary arrangements, established their capital in Samaria. The two tribes to the south remained loyal to the dynasty of David, whose kings continued to reign in Jerusalem. The southern kingdom became known as Judah, after its leading tribe.
Throughout the time of the divided kingdom, Israel and Judah had conflict with neighbouring countries, and sometimes with each other. Political, social and religious conditions steadily worsened, though a minority of people always remained true to God. Out of these, God chose some to be his messengers to his people. They condemned the people for their sin, warned them of judgment and instructed them in righteousness. They were known as prophets, and some of their writings have been collected and grouped together in a separate section of the Old Testament.
Captivity and return
As the prophets had warned, both parts of the divided kingdom were eventually destroyed. The northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC and its people taken captive into various parts of the Assyrian Empire. A little over a century later, Assyria was conquered by Babylon, who then advanced into the Palestine region. In a series of attacks starting in 605 BC, Babylon overpowered Judah and took its people into captivity, finally destroying Jerusalem in 587 BC.
The book of 1 Chronicles contains a shorter and parallel account of 1 and 2 Samuel, and the book of 2 Chronicles a shorter and parallel account of 1 and 2 Kings. But the books of Chronicles were written much later, after the kingdoms and Israel and Judah had been destroyed and the people were in captivity. A chronicle is an orderly record of events, and the books of Chronicles helped preserve national history and family records, in order to help those who were to re-establish the nation after the captivity.
When Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC, the king of Persia quickly gave permission for captive peoples to return to their homelands. As a result captive Israelites returned to their land and set to work rebuilding Jerusalem. No longer was there a division between north and south. However, since most of those who returned were from the former southern kingdom Judah, the name Jew (short for Judean) soon became a name for Israelites in general.
The story of this reconstruction of Israel is told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, who were two of the more prominent leaders in post-captivity Israel. The book of Esther gives a glimpse of Jewish life in Persia during the same period. The three books cover a period of about one hundred years, and with them the historical section of the Old Testament comes to a close.
Wisdom teachers and song writers
In the arrangement of books in the English Bible, the historical books are followed by a group of five books that are largely poetical. The largest of these books is Psalms, which is a collection of 150 songs and poems that express the writers’ feelings during their varied experiences. David wrote about half the psalms, but many of the authors are unknown.
Three of the books belong to a category of Hebrew literature known as wisdom literature. Wisdom teachers examined life’s affairs with the aim of teaching people how to live rightly. The book of Job consists mainly of a debate between Job and his friends about the problem of human suffering. The book of Proverbs, as its name indicates, is a collection of wise sayings, the majority of which are from Solomon. Ecclesiastes (meaning ‘the teacher’ or ‘the philosopher’) is concerned with the search for a meaning to life.
The remaining book in this group, the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon), is neither a psalm nor a wisdom writing. It is a collection of love poems that recount the exchanges of love between a young man and a young woman.
Words of the prophets
The final section of the Old Testament consists of writings from the prophets. These were preachers who brought God’s message to his people during the periods of the monarchy, the captivity and the later reconstruction of Israel. Each book, except for Lamentations, is named after the person who wrote it.
Isaiah and Jeremiah were probably the two most important prophets and their books are the longest. Isaiah belonged to the time of the divided kingdom and was concerned mainly with Judah. Jeremiah preached during the forty years leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The book of Lamentations reflects the suffering of the Judeans at the hands of the Babylonians. Ezekiel and Daniel were among those Jerusalemites taken captive to Babylon, but whereas Ezekiel lived in one of the workers’ camps, Daniel was taken into the palace and trained to be an administrator.
The twelve prophets who follow are usually called the Minor Prophets, not because they were less important than the previous four (usually called the Major Prophets), but because their books are shorter. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah all belong to the period that began with the division of the kingdom and ended with the captivity in Babylon. The final three, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, belong to the period of Israel’s reconstruction after the captivity, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah.
At the time the Old Testament story closes, Israel was back in its land but still under foreign rule, namely, the rule of Persia. When the Persians fell to the expanding power of the Greek Empire (334-331 BC), the Jews came under Greek rule. Several generations later, through persistent fighting during the years 165-143 BC, the Jews regained their independence. But in 63 BC they lost this independence to Rome, and were still under Roman rule when Jesus Christ was born.
Jesus and the early Christians
The books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, known as the four Gospels, are concerned with the life and teaching of Jesus. They do not provide a detailed record of his life, but deal mainly with the three years or so leading up to and including his death and resurrection. At times the writers record the same events, but always in a way that is fitted to their separate purposes and the needs of those for whom they write.
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the apostles and other enthusiastic Christians spread the message of his salvation. This is recorded in the book of Acts, sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles. Much of the first half of the book is concerned with the work of Peter, John and others who worked in Jerusalem and surrounding areas. The second half of the book is concerned largely with the work of Paul, who made three main missionary journeys through Asia Minor and Greece and eventually reached Rome.
Letters from Christian leaders
Much of the rest of the New Testament consists of letters written by leading Christians of the first century. These have been arranged in sections. First are letters that Paul wrote to various churches in the course of his missionary activity. The letters are named after the churches to whom they were written and are arranged in order of length. The letters are Romans 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
Following Paul’s letters to churches are the letters he wrote to individuals. They are named after the people to whom they were written and likewise are arranged in order of length. The group consists of two letters to Timothy, one to Titus and one to Philemon.
The next group consists of eight letters that come from five writers. An unknown author wrote a letter (known as Hebrews) to Jewish Christians who were tempted to give up their belief in Jesus and go back to Judaism. The other seven letters are named after their authors. James the brother of Jesus wrote one, Peter the apostle wrote two, John the apostle wrote three, and Jude (probably another brother of Jesus) wrote one.
At the end of the New Testament is the book of Revelation. Although it contains letters written to churches, it is different in style from all the other books of the New Testament. Through a series of visions, God gave a revelation to the writer, who then passed it on to persecuted Christians. The message is that Jesus is still in control and the final victory of his people is certain.
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

Bible, a name supposed to have been first applied in the fifth century to denote the collective volume of the sacred writings. The word occurs in the Prologue to Sirach, 'the Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the books,' and 2Ti_4:13, 'and the books.' Before the adoption of this name the more usual terms in the Christian Church by which the sacred books were denominated were, the Scripture or Writing, the Scriptures, the Sacred Writings, and the Sacred Letters. The term in question was first applied to the entire collection of sacred writings by St. Chrysostom. In the course of time it superseded all others both in the Eastern and Western Church, and is now everywhere the popular appellation.
The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. The name Old Testament is applied to the books of Moses by St. Paul (2Co_3:14), inasmuch as the former covenant comprised the whole scheme of the Mosaic revelation, and the history of this is contained in them. The names given to the Old Testament were, the Scriptures (Mat_21:42); Scripture (2Pe_1:20); the Holy Scriptures (Rom_1:2); the sacred letters (2Ti_3:15); the holy books, the law (Joh_12:34); the law, the prophets, and the psalms (Luk_24:44); the law and the prophets (Mat_5:17); the law, the prophets, and the other books (Prologue of Sirach); the books of the old covenant (Neh_8:8); the book of the covenant (1Ma_1:57; 2Ki_23:2).
The other books (not in the canon) were called apocryphal, ecclesiastical, and deuterocanonical. The term New Testament has been in common use since the third century, and is employed by Eusebius in the same sense in which it is now commonly applied. Tertullian employs the same phrase, and also that of 'the Divine Instrument' in the same signification. For detailed information on subjects connected with Bible, see Scripture.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Bible
(Anglicized from the Greek Βιβλία, i.e. little books, libelli; Latinized Biblia), the popular designation (usually in the phrase “Holy Bible”) now everywhere current for the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament in their present collected form. The sacred books were denominated by the Jews the writing (כְּתִיב, kethib', written, or מִקְרָא, mikra', recitation), a name of the same character as that applied by the Mohammedans (Koran) to denote their sacred volume. SEE SCRIPTURES, HOLY.
The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments, ἡ παλαιά, καὶ ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη. The name Old Testament is applied to the books of Moses by Paul (2Co_3:14), inasmuch as the former covenant comprised the whole scheme of the Mosaic revelation, and the history of this is contained in them. This phrase, “book of the covenant,” taken probably from Exo_24:7; 1Ma_1:57 (βιβλίον διαθήκης), was transferred in the course of time-by a metonymy to signify the writings themselves. The word διαθήκη signifies either a testament or a covenant, but we now render it testament, because the translators of the old Latin version have always rendered it from the Sept., even when it was used as a translation of the Hebrew, בְּרִית, Berith' (covenant), by the word Testamentum. The names given to the Old Testament were the Scriptures (Mat_21:42), Scripture (2Pe_1:20), the Holy Scriptures (Rom_1:2), the sacred letters (2Ti_3:15), the holy books (Sanhed. 91, 2), the law (Joh_12:34), the law, the prophets, and the psalms (Luk_24:44), the law and the prophets (Mat_5:17), the law, the prophets, and the other books (Prol. Ecclus.), the books of the old covenant (Neh_8:8), the book of the covenant (1Ma_1:57; 2Ki_23:2). — Kitto, s.v. SEE TESTAMENT.
The other books (not in the canon) were called apocryphal, ecclesiastical, and deuterocanonical. The term New Testament has been in common use since the third century, and is employed by Eusebius in the same sense in which it is now commonly applied (Hist. Eccles, 2, 23). Tertullian employs the same phrase, and also that of “the Divine Instrument” in the same signification. SEE ANTILEGOMENA; SEE APOCRYPHA.
I. Appropriation of the term “Bible.”—
1. In its Greek form. — The application of the word Βιβλία, the Books, specially to the collected books of the Old and New Testament, is not to be traced farther back than the 5th century. The terms which the writers of the New Testament use of the Scriptures of the Old are ἡ γραφή (2Ti_3:16; Act_8:32; Gal_3:22), αἱ γραφαί (Mat_21:42; Luk_24:27), τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα (2 Timothy in. 15). Βιβλίον is found (2Ti_4:13; Rev_10:2; Rev_5:1), but with no distinctive meaning; nor does the use of τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν βιβλίων for the Hagiographa in the Preface to Ecclesiasticus, or of αἱ ἱεραὶ βίβλοι in Josephus (Ant. 1, 6, 2), indicate any thing as to the use of τὰ βιβλία alone as synonymous with ἡ γραφή. The words employed by early Christian writers were naturally derived from the language of the New Testament, and the old terms, with epithets like θεῖα, ἃγια, and the like, continued to be used by the Greek fathers, as the equivalent “Scriptura” was by the Latin. The use of ἡ παλαιὰ διαθήκη in 2Co_3:14, for the law as read in the synagogues, and the prominence given in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb_7:22; Heb_8:6; Heb_9:15) to the contrast between the παλαιά and the καινή, led gradually to the extension of the former to include the other books of the Jewish Scriptures, and to the application of the latter as of the former to a book or collection of books. Of the Latin equivalents which were adopted by different writers (Instrumentum, Testamentum), the latter met with the most general acceptance, and perpetuated itself in the language of modern Europe. One passage in Tertullian (adv. Marc. 4, 1) illustrates the growing popularity of the word which eventually prevailed, “instrumenti vel quod magis in usu est dicere, testamenti.” The word was naturally used by Greek writers in speaking of the parts of these two collections.
They enumerate (e.g. Athan. Synop. Sac. Script.) τὰ βιβλία of the Old and New Testament; and as these were contrasted with the apocryphal books circulated by heretics, there was a natural tendency to the appropriation of the word as limited by the article to the whole collection of the canonical Scriptures. Jerome substitutes for these expressions the term Bibliotheca Divina (see Hieronymi Opera, ed. Martianay, vol. 1, Proleg.), a phrase which this learned father probably borrowed from 2Ma_2:13, where Nehemiah is said, in “founding a library” (βιβλιοθήκη), to have “gathered together the acts ‘of the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.” But although it was usual to denominate the separate books in Greek by the term Biblia, which is frequently so applied by Josephus, we first find it simply applied to the entire collection by St. Chrysostom in his Second Homily, “The Jews have the books (βιβλία), but we have the treasure of the books; they have the letters (γράμματα), but we have both spirit and letter.” And again, Hom. ix in Epist. ad Coloss., “Provide yourselves with books (βιβλία), the medicine of the soul, but if you desire no other, at least procure the new (καινή), the Apostolos, the Acts, the Gospels.” He also adds to the word βιβλία the epithet divine in his Tenth Homily on Genesis: “Taking before and after meals the divine books” (τὰ θεῖα βιβλία), or, as we should now express it, the Holy Bible. It is thus applied in a way which shows this use to have already become familiar to those to whom he wrote. The liturgical use of the Scriptures, as the worship of the Church became organized, would naturally favor this application. The MSS. from which they were read would be emphatically the books of each church or monastery. And when this use of the word was established in the East, it was natural that it should pass gradually to the Western Church. The terminology of that Church bears witness throughout (e.g. Episcopus, Presbyter, Diaconus, Litania, Liturgia, Monachus, Abbas, and others) to its Greek origin, and the history of the word Biblia has followed the analogy of those that have been referred to. Here, too, there was less risk of its being used in any other than the higher meaning, because it had not, in spite of the introduction even in classical Latinity of Bibliotheca, Bibliopola, taken the place of libri, or libelli, in the common speech of men.
2. The English Form. — It is worthy of note that “Bible” is not found in Anglo-Saxon literature, though Bibliothece is given (Lye, Anglo-Sax. Dict.) as used in the same sense as the corresponding word in mediaeval Latin for the Scriptures as the great treasure-house of books (Du Cange and Adelung, s.v.). If we derive from our mother-tongue the singularly happy equivalent of the Greek εὐαγγέλιον, we have received the word which stands on an equal eminence with “Gospel” as one of the later importations consequent on the Norman Conquest and fuller intercourse with the Continent. When the English which grew out of this union first appears in literature, the word is already naturalized. In R. Brunne (p. 290), Piers Plowman (1916, 4271), and Chaucer (Prol. 437), it appears in its distinctive sense, though the latter, in at least one passage (House of Fame, bk. 3), uses it in a way which indicates that it was not always limited to that meaning. From that time, however, the higher use prevailed to the exclusion of any lower; and the choice of it, rather than of any of its synonymes, by the great translators of the Scriptures, Wickliffe. Luther, Coverdale, fixed it beyond all possibility of change. The transformation of the word from a plural into a singular noun in all the modern languages of Europe, though originating probably in the solecisms of the Latin of the 13th century (Du Cange, s.v. Biblia), has made it fitter than it would otherwise have been for its high office as the title of that which, by virtue of its unity and plan, is emphatically THE Book.
II. The Book as a Whole. — The history of the growth of the collections known as the Old and New Testament respectively will be found fully under CANON. It falls within the scope of the present article to indicate in what way and by what steps the two came to be looked on as of co- ordinate authority, and therefore as parts of one whole — how, i.e. the idea of a completed Bible, even before the word came into use, presented itself to the minds of men. As regards a large portion of the writings of the New Testament, it is not too much to say that they claim an authority not lower, nay, even higher than the Old. That which had not been revealed to the “prophets” of the Old dispensation is revealed to the prophets of the New (Eph_3:5). The apostles wrote as having the Spirit of Christ (1Co_7:40), as teaching and being taught “by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal_1:12). Where they make no such direct claim their language is still that of men who teach as “having authority,” and so far the old prophetic spirit is revived in them, and their teaching differs, as did that of their Master, from the traditions of the scribes. As the revelation of God through the Son was recognised as fuller and more perfect than that which had been made πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως to the fathers (Heb_1:1), the records of what He had done and said, when once recognised as authentic, could not be regarded as less sacred than the Scriptures of the Jews. Indications of this are found even within the N.T. itself. Assuming the genuineness of the 2d Epistle of Peter, it shows that within the lifetime of the apostles, the Epistles of Paul had come to be classed among the γραφαί of the Church (2Pe_3:16).
The language of the same Epistle in relation to the recorded teaching of prophets and apostles (3:2; comp. Eph_2:20; Eph_3:5; Eph_4:11) shows that the πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆς can hardly be limited to the writings of the Old Testament. The command that the letter to the Colossians was to be read in the church of Laodicea (Col_4:16), though it does not prove that it was regarded as of equal authority with the γραφὴ θεόπνευστος, indicates a practice which would naturally lead to its being so regarded. The writing of a man who spoke as inspired could not fail to be regarded as participating in the inspiration. It is part of the development of the same feeling that the earliest records of the worship of the Christian Church indicate the liturgical use of some at least of the writings of the New, as well as of the Old Testament. Justin (Apol. 1, 66) places τὰ ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν ἀποστόλων as read in close connection with, or in the place of τὰ συγγράμματα τῶν προφητῶν, and this juxtaposition corresponds to the manner in which Ignatius had previously spoken of αἱ προφητείαι, νόμος Μωσέως, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον (Ep. ad Smyrn. c. 7). It is not meant, of course, that such phrases or such practices prove the existence of a recognised collection, but they show with what feelings individual writings were regarded. They prepare the way for the acceptance of the whole body of the N.T. writings, as soon as the Canon is completed, as on a level with those of the Old. A little farther on and the recognition is complete. Theophilus of Antioch (ad Autolyc. bk. in), Irenaeus (adv. Haer. 2, 27; 3:1), Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, 3, 10; 5:5), Tertullian (adv. Prax. 15, 20), all speak of the New Testament writings (what writings they included under this title is of course a distinct question) as making up, with the Old, μία γνῶσις (Clem. Al. l. c.), “totum instrumentum utriusque testamenti” (Tert. l. c.), universae scripturae. As this was in part a consequence of the liturgical usage referred to, so it reacted upon it, and influenced the transcribers and translators of the books which were needed for the instruction of the Church. The Syriac Peshito in the 3d, or at the close of the 2d century, includes (with the omission of some of the ἀντιλεγόμενα) the New Testament as well as the Old. The Alexandrian Codex, presenting in the fullest sense of the word a complete Bible, may be taken as the representative of the full maturity of the feeling which we have seen in its earlier developments. The same may be said of the Codex Sinaiticus, lately brought to light by Prof. Tischendorf.
III. Order of the Books. — The existence of a collection of sacred books recognised as authoritative leads naturally to a more or less systematic arrangement. The arrangement must rest upon some principle of classification. The names given to the several Looks will indicate in some instances the view taken of their contents, in others the kind of notation applied both to the greater and smaller divisions of the sacred volumes. The existence of a classification analogous to that adopted by the later Jews and still retained in the printed Hebrew Bibles, is indicated even before the completion of the O.T. Canon (Zec_7:12). When the Canon was locked upon as settled, in the period covered by the books of the Apocrypha, it took a more definite form. The Prologue to Ecclesiasticus mentions “the law and the prophets and the other books.” In the N.T. there is the same kind of recognition. “The Law and the Prophets” is the shorter (Mat_11:13; Mat_22:40; Act_13:15, etc.); “the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luk_24:44), the fuller statement of the division popularly recognised. The arrangement of the books of the Hebrews text under these three heads requires, however, a farther notice.
1. The LAW, Torah', תּוֹרָה, νόμος, naturally continued to occupy the position which it must have held from the first as the most ancient and authoritative portion. Whatever questions may be raised as to the antiquity of the whole Pentateuch in its present form, the existence of a book bearing this title is traceable to a very early period in the history of the Israelites (Jos_1:8; Jos_8:34; Jos_24:26). The name which must at first have attached to those portions of the whole book was applied to the earlier and contemporaneous history connected with the giving of the law, and ascribed to the same writer. The marked distinctness of the five portions which make up the Torah shows that they must have been designed as separate books; and when the Canon was completed, and the books in their present form made the object of study, names for each book were wanted and were found. In the Hebrew classification the titles were taken from the initial words, or prominent words in the initial verse; in that of the Sept. they were intended to be significant of the subject of each book, and so we have
(1.) בְּרֵאשִׁית. . Γένεσις, Genesis.
(2.) שְׁמוֹת(וְאֵלֶּה) . ῎Εξοδος, Exodus.
(3.) וִיּקְרָא. . . . Λευϊτικόν, Leviticus.
(4.) בְּמִדְבִּר. . . Α᾿ριθμοί, Numbers.
(5.) דְּבָרִים. . . Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronomy.
The Greek titles were adopted without change, except as to the fourth, in the Latin versions, and from them have descended to the Bibles of modern Christendom.
2. The PROPHETS. — The next group presents a more singular combination. The arrangement stands as follows:
Nebiim'. נְבִיאִיםProphetae.
1. רִאשׁוֹנִים (priores) Joshua. Judges 1 and 2 Samuel 1 and 2 Kings.
2. אִחֲרוֹנִים (posteriores)
a. גְּדוֹלִים (majores) Isaiah. Jeremiah. Ezekiel.
b. קְמִנִּים (minores) The twelve minor prophets.
The Hebrew titles of these books corresponding to those of the English Bibles; so also in the Septuagint, except that this version (like the Vulgate) reckons 1 and 2 Samuel as 1 and 2 Kings , , 1 and 2 Kings as 3 and 4 Kings.
The grounds on which books simply historical were classed under the same name as those which contained the teaching of prophets, in the stricter sense of the word, are not, at first sight, obvious, but the O.T. presents some facts which may suggest an explanation. The sons of the prophets (1Sa_10:5; 2Ki_5:22; 2Ki_6:1), living together as a society, almost as a caste (Amo_7:14), trained to a religious life, cultivating sacred minstrelsy, must have occupied a position as instructors of the people, even in the absence of the special calling which sent them as God's messengers to the people. A body of men so placed naturally become historians and annalists, unless intellectual activity is absorbed in asceticism. The references in the historical books of the O.T. show that they actually were such. Nathan the prophet, Gad, the seer of David (1Ch_29:29), Ahijah and Iddo (2Ch_9:29), Isaiah (2Ch_26:22; 2Ch_32:32), are cited as chroniclers. The greater antiquity of the earlier historical books, and perhaps the traditional belief that they had originated in this way, were likely to co-operate in raising them to a high place of honor in the arrangement of the Jewish canon, and so they were looked upon as having the prophetic character which was denied to the historical books of the Hagiographa. The greater extent of the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, no less than the prominent position which they occupied in the history of Israel, led naturally to their being recognised as the Prophetae Majores. The exclusion of Daniel from this subdivision is a more remarkable fact, and one which has been differently interpreted, the Rationalistic school of later criticism (Eichhorn, De Wette, Bertholdt) seeing in it an indication of later date, and therefore of doubtful authenticity, the orthodox school on the contrary, as represented by Hengstenberg (Dissert. on Daniel ch. 2, § 4, 5), maintaining that the difference rested only on the ground that, though the utterer of predictions, he had not exercised, as the others had done, a prophet's office among the people. Whatever may have been its origin, the position of this book in the Hagiographa led the later Jews to think and speak slightingly of it, and Christians who reasoned with them out of its predictions were met by remarks disparaging to its authority (Hengstenberg, 1. c.). The arrangement of the Prophetae Minores does not call for special notice, except so far as they were counted, in order to bring the whole list of canonical books within a memorial number, answering to that of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, as a single volume, and described as τὸ δωδεκαπρόφητον.
3. The HAGIOGRAPHA. — Last in order came the group known as Kethubim', כְּתוּבַים(from כָּתִב, to write), γραφεῖα, ἁγιόγραφα, ι.ε. “holy writings,” including the remaining books of the Hebrew canon, arranged in the following order, and subordinate divisions:
(a) Psalms, Proverbs, Job.
(b) The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther.
(c) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah , 1 and 2 Chronicles.
Of these, (a) were distinguished by the memorial word אֶמֶת, “truth,” formed from the initial letters of the three books; (b) as חָמֵשׁ מְגַלּוֹת, the five rolls, as being written for use in the synagogues on special festivals on five separate rolls. Of the Hebrew titles of these books, those which are descriptive of their contents are: תְּהַלַּים, Tehillim', the Psalms; מַשְׁלֵי, Mishley', Proverbs; אֵיכָה, Eykah', Lamentations (from the opening word of wailing in 1:1); the Song of Songs, שַׁיר הִשַׁירַים, Shir hash-Shirim'; Ecclesiastes, קֹהֶלֶת, Kohe'leh, the Preacher; 1 and 2 Chronicles, דַּבְרֵי הִיָּמַים, Dibrey' hay-yamim', words of the days = records. The Sept. presents the following titles of these last: Ψαλμοί, Παροιμίαι, Θρῆνοι, Ασμα ἀσμάτων, Ε᾿κκλησιαστής, Παραλειπόμενα (i.e. things omitted, as being supplementary to the books of Kings). The Latin version imports some of the titles, and translates others: Psalmi, Proverbia, Threni, Canticum Canticorum, Ecclesiastes, Paralipomenon, and these in their translated form have determined the received titles of the book in our English Bibles — Ecclesiastes, in which the Greek title is retained, and Chronicles, in which the Hebrew and not the Greek title is translated, being exceptions. The Sept. presents also some striking variations in the order of the books (we follow the Sixt. ed. — MSS. differ greatly). Both in this and in the insertion of the ἀντιλεγομενα, which we now know as the Apocrypha, among the other books, we trace the absence of that strong reverence for the Canon and its traditional order which distinguished the Jews of Palestine. The Law, it is true, stands first, but the distinction between the greater and lesser prophets, between the Prophets and the Hagiographa, is no longer recognised. Daniel, with the Apocryphal additions, follows upon Ezekiel; the Apocryphal 1st or 3d book of Esdras comes in as a 1st, preceding the canonical Ezra. Tobit and Judith are placed after Nehemiah, Wisdom (Σοφία Σαλομών) and Ecclesiasticus (Σοφία Σειράχ) after Canticles, Baruch before and the Epistle of Jeremiah after Lamentations, the twelve lesser prophets before the four greater, and the two books of Maccabees at the close of all. The common Vulg. follows nearly the same order, inverting the relative position of the greater and lesser prophets. The separation of the doubtful books under the title of Apocrypha in the Protestant versions of the Scriptures left the others in the order in which we now have them. SEE SEPTUAGINT; SEE VULGATE.
4. The history of the arrangement of the books of the NEW TESTAMENT presents some variations, not without interest, as indicating differences of feeling or modes of thought. The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles uniformly stand first. They are thus to the New what the Pentateuch was to the Old Testament. They do not present, however, in themselves, as the books of Moses did, any order of succession. The actual order does not depend upon the rank or function of the writers to whom they are assigned. The two not written by apostles are preceded and followed by one which was, and it seems as if the true explanation were to be found in a traditional belief as to the dates of the several Gospels, according to which Matthew's, whether in its Greek or Hebrew form, was the earliest, and John's the latest. The arrangement once adopted would naturally confirm the belief, and so we find it assumed by Irenaeus, Origen, Augustine. The position of the Acts as an intermediate book, the sequel to the Gospels, the prelude to the Epistles, was obviously a natural one. After this we meet with some striking differences. The order in the Alexandrian, Vatican, and Ephraem MSS. (A, B, C) gives precedence to the catholic Epistles, and as this is also recognised by the Council of Laodicea (Can. 60); Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech. 4, 35): and Athanasius (Epist. Fest. ed. Bened. 1:961), it would appear to have been characteristic of the Eastern churches. Lachmann and Tischendorf (7th ed.) follow this arrangement. (The Sinaitic MS. places Paul's Epistles even before the Acts.) The Western Church, on the other hand, as represented by Jerome, Augustine, and their successors, gave priority of position to the Pauline Epistles; and as the order in which these were given presents, (1.) those addressed to churches arranged according to their relative importance, (2.) those addressed to individuals, the foremost place was naturally occupied by the Epistle to the Romans. The tendency of the Western Church to recognize Rome as the center of authority may perhaps, in part, account for this departure from the custom of the East. The order of the Pauline Epistles themselves, however, is generally the same, and the only conspicuously different arrangement was that of Marcion, who aimed at a chronological order. In the four MSS. above referred to, Hebrews comes after 2 Thessalonians (in that from which Cod. B was copied it seems to have stood between Galatians and Ephesians). In those followed by Jerome, it stands, as in the English Bible and the Textus Receptus, after Philemon. Possibly the absence of Paul's name, possibly the doubts which existed as to his being the sole author of it, possibly its approximation to the character of the catholic Epistles, may have determined the arrangement. The Apocalypse, as might be expected from the peculiar character of its contents, occupied a position by itself. Its comparatively late recognition may have determined the position which it has uniformly held as the last of the sacred books.
IV. Division into Chapters and Verses. — As soon as any break is made in the continuous writing which has characterized in nearly all countries the early stages of the art, we get the germs of a system of division. But these divisions may be used for two distinct purposes. So far as they are used to exhibit the logical relations of words, clauses, and sentences to each other, they tend to a recognised punctuation. So far as they are used for greater convenience of reference, or as a help to the memory, they answer to the chapters and verses of our modern Bibles. At present we are concerned only with the latter.
1. The Hebrew of the Old Testament. — It is hardly possible to conceive of the liturgical use of the books of the Old Testament without some kind of recognised division. In proportion as the books were studied and commented on in the schools of the rabbins, the division would become more technical and complete, and hence the existing notation which is recognised in the Talmud (the Gemara ascribing it to Moses [Hupfeld, Stud. und Krit. 1830, p. 827]) may probably have originated in the earlier stages of the growth of. the synagogue ritual. The New-Testament quotations from the Old are for the most part cited without any more specific reference than to the book from which they come. The references, however, in Mar_12:26, and Luk_20:37 (ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου), Rom_11:2 (ἐν ῾Ηλίᾷ), and Act_8:32 (ἡ περιοχὴ τῆς γραφῆς), indicate a division which had become familiar, and show that some, at least, of the sections were known popularly by titles taken from their subjects. In like manner, the existence of some cycle of lessons is indicated by Luk_4:17; Act_13:15; Act_15:21; 2Co_3:14; and this, whether identical or not with the later rabbinic cycle, must have involved an arrangement analogous to that subsequently adopted.
(1.) The Talmudic division is on the following plan.
[1.] The Law was, in the first instance, divided into fifty-four פִּרְשַׁיּוֹת, parshiyoth. =sections, so as to provide a lesson for each Sabbath in the Jewish intercalary year, provision being made for the shorter year by the combination of two of the shorter sections. Coexisting with this, there was a subdivision into lesser parshiyoth, which served to determine the portions of the sections taken by the several readers in the, synagogues. The lesser parshiyoth themselves were classed under two heads-the "open" (פְּתוּחוֹת, pethuchoth'), which served to indicate a change of subject analogous to that between two paragraphs in modern writing, and began accordingly a fresh line in the MS., and the "closed" (סְתוּמוֹת, sethumoth'), which corresponded to minor divisions, and were marked only by a space within the line. The initial letters פ and ס served as a notation, in the margin or in the text itself, for the two kinds of sections. The threefold initial פפפor סססwas used when the commencement of one of the parshiyoth coincided with that of a Sabbath lesson (comp. Keil, Einleitung in das A.T. § 170, 171).
[2.] A different terminology was employed for the Prophetme Priores and Posteriores, and the division was less uniform. The tradition of the Jews that the Prophets were first read in the service of the synagogue, and consequently divided into sections, because the reading of the Law had been forbidden by Antiochus Epiphanes, rests upon a very slight foundation; but its existence is, at any rate, a proof that the Law was believed to have been systematically divided before the same process was applied to the other books. The name of the sections in this case was הִפְטָרוֹת (haphtaroth', from פָּטִר, to dismiss). If the name were applied in this way because the lessons from the Prophets came at the close of the synagogue service, and so were followed by the dismissal of'the people (Vitringa, De Synag. 3:2, 20), its history would pre. sent a curious analogy to that of "Missa," "Mass," on the assumption that this also was derived from the “Ite missa est," by which the congregation was in. formed of the conclusion of the earlier portion of the service of the Church. The peculiar use of Missa shortly after its appearance in the Latin of ecclesiastical writers in a sense equivalent to that of haphtaroth (" sex Missas de Propheta Esaia facite," Caesar Arelat. and Aurelian in Bingham, Ant. 13:1) presents at least a singular coincidence. The haphtaroth themselves were intended to correspond with the larger parshiyoth of the Law, so that there might be a distinct lesson for each Sabbath in the intercalary year as before; but the traditions of the German and the Spanish Jews, both of them of great antiquity, present a considerable diversity in the length of the divisions, and show that they had never been determined by the same authority as that which had settled the parshiyoth of the Law (Van der Hooght, Profat. in Bib. § 35).
(2.) Of the traditional divisions of the Hebrew Bible, however, that which has exercised most influence in the received arrangement of the text was the subdivision of the larger sections into verses (פְּסוּקִים, pesukin'). These do not appear to have been used till the post Talmudic recension of the text by the Masoretes of the 9th century. They were then applied, first to the prose, and afterward to the poetical books of the Hebrew Scriptures, superseding in the latter the arrangement of (στίχοι, κῶλα, κόμματα, lines and groups of lines, which had been based upon metrical considerations. The verses of the Masoretic divisions were preserved with comparatively slight variations through the Middle Ages, and came to the knowledge of translators and editors when the attention of European scholars was directed to the study of Hebrew. In the Hebrew MSS. the notation had been simply marked by the " SophPasuk" (:) at the end of each verse; and in the earlier printed Hebrew Bibles (Sabionetta's, 1557, and Plantin's, 1566) the Hebrew numerals which guide the reader in referring are attached to every fifth verse only. The Concordance of Rabbi Nathan, 1450, however, had rested on the application of a numeral to each verse, and this was adopted by the Dominican Pagninus in his Latin version; 1528, and carried throughout the whole of the Old and New Testament, coinciding substantially, as regards the former, with the Masoretic, and therefore with the modern division, but differing materially, as to the New Testament, from that which was adopted by Robert Stephens, and through his widely circulated editions passed into general reception.
(3.) The chief facts that remain to be stated as to the verse divisions of the Old Testament are that they were adopted by Stephens in his edition of the Vulgate, 1555, and by Frellon in that of 1556; that they appeared, for the first time in an English translation, in the Geneva Bible of 1560, and were thence transferred to the Bishops' Bible of 1568 and the Authorized Version of 1611. In Coverdale's Bible we meet with the older notation, which was in familiar use for other books, and retained, in some instances (e.g. in references to Plato), to the present times. The letters A B C D are placed at equal distances in the margin of each page, and the reference is made to the page (or, in the case of Scripture, to the chapter) and the letter accordingly.
2. The Septuagint translation, together with the, Latin versions based upon it, have contributed very little to the received division of the .Bibles. Made at a time when the rabbinic subdivisions were not enforced, hardly perhaps existing, and not used in the worship of the synagogue, there was no reason for the scrupulous care which showed itself in regard to the Hebrew text. The language of Tertullian (Scorp. ii) and Jerome (in Mic_6:9; Zep_3:4) implies the existence of "capitula" of some sort; but the word does not appear to have been used in any more definite sense than "locus" or "passage." The liturgical use of portions of the Old Testament would lead to the employment of some notation to distinguish the ἀναγνώσματα or "lectiones," and individual students or transcribers might adopt a system of reference of their own; but we find nothing corresponding to the fully organized notation which originated with the Talmudists or Masoretes. It is possible, indeed, that the general use of Lectionaria-in which the portions read in the Church services were written separately--may have hindered the development of such a system. Whatever traces of it we find are accordingly scanty and fluctuating. The sticho-metric mode of writing (i.e. the division of the text into short lines generally with very little regard to the sense) adopted in the 4th or 5th centuries (see Prolegom. to Breitinger's Septuagint, i, 6), though it may have facilitated reference, or been useful as a guide to the reader in the half-chant commonly used in liturgical services, was too arbitrary (except where it corresponded to the parallel clauses of the Hebrew poetical books) and inconvenient to be generally adopted. The Alexandrian MSS. present a partial notation of κεφάλαια, but as regards the Old Testament these are found only in portions of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Traces exist (Monum. Eccles. Coteler. in Breitinger, Proleg. ut sup.) of a like division ins Numbers, Exodus, and Leviticus, and Latin MSS. present frequently a system of division into " tituli" or “capitula," but without any recognised standards. In the 13th century, however, the development of theology as a science, and the more frequent use of the Scriptures as a text-book for lectures, led to the general adoption of a more systematic division, traditionally ascribed to Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury (Triveti Annal. p. 182, ed. Oxon.), but carried out by Cardinal Hugh de St. Cher (Gibert Genebrard, Chronol. 4:644), and passing through his Commentary (Postilla in Universa Eiblia, and Concordance, cir. 1240) into general use. No other subdivision of the chapters was united with this beyond that indicated by the marginal letters A B C D, as described above.
3. As regards the Old Testament, then, the present arrangement grows out of the union of Cardinal Hugo's capitular division and the Masoretic verses. It should be noted that the verses in the authorized English Bible occasionally differ from those of the Heb. Masoretic text, especially in the Psalms (where the Heb. reckons the titles as Zep_3:1) and some chapters of the Chronicles (perhaps through the influence of the Sept.). A tabular exhibit of these variations may be found at the end of the Englishman's Heb. Concordance (Lond. 1843). Such discrepancies also (but less frequently) occur in the N.T. The Apocryphal books, to which, of course, no Masoretic division was applicable, did not receive a versicular division till the Latin edition of Pagninus in 1528, nor the division now in use till Stephen's edition of the Vulgate in 1555.
4. The history of the New Testament presents some additional facts of interest. Here, as in the case of the Old, the system of notation grew out of the necessities of study.
(1.) The comparison of the Gospel narratives gave rise to attempts to exhibit the harmony between them. Of these, the first of which we have any record was the Diatessaron of Tatian in the 2d century (Euseb. H. E. 4:29). This was followed by a work of like character from Ammonius of Alexandria in the 3d (Euseb. Epist. ad Carpianvm). The system adopted by Ammonius, however, that of attaching to the Gospel of Matthew the parallel passages of the other three, and inserting those which were not parallel, destroyed the outward form in which the Gospel history had been recorded, and was practically inconvenient. Nor did their labors have any direct effect on the arrangement of the Greek text, unless we adopt the conjectures of Mill and Wetstein that it is to Ammonius or Tatian that we have to ascribe the marginal notation of κεφάλαια, marked by Α Β Γ Δ, which are found in the older MSS. The search after a more convenient method of exhibiting the parallelisms of the Gospels led Eusebius of Caesarea to form the ten canons (κάνονες, registers) which bear his name, and in which the sections of the Gospels are classed according as the fact narrated is found in one Evangelist only, or in two or more. In applying this system to the transcription of the Gospels, each of them was divided into shorter sections of variable length, and to each of these were attached two numerals, one indicating the canon under which it would be found, and the other its place in that canon. Luk_3:21-22, e.g. would represent the 13th section belonging to the first canon. This division, however, extended only to the books that had come under the study of the Harmonists. lihe Epistles of Paul were first divided in a similar manner by the unknown bishop to whom Euthalius assigns the credit of it (cir. 396), and he himself, at the instigation of Athanasius, applied the method of division to the Acts and the Catholic Epistles. Andrew, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, completed the work by dividing the Apocalypse (cir. 500). SEE HARMONIES (of the Gopels).
Of the four great uncial MSS. extant prior to the recent discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus by Dr. Tischendorf, A presents the Ammonian or Eusebian numerals and canons, C and D the numerals without the canons. B has neither numerals nor canons, but a notation of its own, the chief peculiarity of which is, that the Epistles of Paul are treated as a single book, and brought under a continuous capitulation. After passing into disuse and so into comparative oblivion, the Eusebian and Euthalian divisions have recently (since 1827) again become familiar to the English student through Bishop Lloyd's edition of the Greek Testament, and other critical editions.
(2.) With the New Testament, however, as with the Old, the division into chapters adopted by Hugh de St. Cher superseding those that had been in use previously, appeared in the early editions of the Vulgate, was transferred to the English Bible by Coverdale, and so became universal. The notation of the verses in each chapter naturally followed the use of the Masoretic verses for the Old Testament. The superiority of such a division over the marginal notation "A B C D'" in the Bible of St. Cher led men to adopt an analogous system for the New. SEE CHAPTERS.
In the Latin version of Pagninus accordingly, there is a versicular division, though differing from the one subsequently used in the greater length of its verses. The absence of an authoritative standard like that of the Masoretes left more scope to the individual discretion of editors or printers, and the activity of the two Stephenses caused that which they adopted in their numerous editions of the Greek Testament and Vulgate to be generally received. In the preface to the Concordance, published by Henry Stephens, 1594, he gives the following account of the origin of this division. .His father, he tells us, finding the books of the New Testament already divided into chapters (τμήματα, or sections), proceeded to a farther subdivision into verses. The name versiculi did not commend itself to him. He would have preferred τμηματία or sectiunculae, but the preference of others for the former led him to adopt it. The whole work was accomplished " inter equitandum" on his journey from Paris to Lyons.
While it was in progress men doubted of its success. No sooner was it known than it met with universal acceptance. The edition in which this division was first adopted was published in 1551, another came from the same press in 1555. It was used for the Vulgate in the Antwerp edition of Hentenius in 1559, for the English version published in Geneva in 1560, and from that time, with slight variations in detail, has been universally recognised. The convenience of such a system for reference is obvious; but it may be questioned whether it has not been purchased by too great a sacrifice of the perception by ordinary readers of the true order and connection of the books of the Bible. In some cases the division of chapters separates portions which are very closely united (see e.g. Mat_9:38; Mat_10:1; Mat_19:30; Mat_20:1; Mar_2:23-28; Mar_3:1-5; Mar_8:38; Mar_9:1; Luk_20:45-47; Luk_21:1-4; Act_7:60; Act_8:1; 1Co_10:33; 1Co_11:1; 2Co_4:18; 2Co_5:1; 2Co_6:18; 2Co_7:1), and throughout gives the impression of a formal division altogether at variance with the continuous flow of narrative or thought which characterized the book as it came from the hand of the writer. The separation of verses has moreover conduced largely to the habit of building doctrinal systems upon isolated texts. The advantages of the received method are united with those of an arrangement representing the original more faithfully in the structure of the Paragraph Bibles, lately published by different editors, and in the Greek Testaments of Lloyd, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. The student ought, however, to remember, in using these, that the paragraphs belong to the editor, not the writer, and are therefore liable to the same casualties rising out of subjective peculiarities, dogmatic bias, and the like, as the chapters of our common Bibles. Practically the risk of such casualties has been reduced almost to a minimum by the care of editors to avoid the errors into which their predecessors have fallen, but the possibility of the evil exists, and should therefore be guarded against by the exercise of an independent judgment. (Davidson, in Horne's Introd. new ed. ii, 27 sq.; Tregelles, ibid. 4:30 sq.; Davidson, Bib. Criticism, i, 60; ii, 21.) SEE VERSES.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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