The Bible: The History Of The Bible

The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It presents salvation history as how God reveals himself, his plan for redemption of fallen mankind. His Divine plan starts with the creation of the world. The Bible is made up of both the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament pertains to God’s creation of the world and his Word to Israel. It is written in Hebrew Scripture except for a few written in Aramaic, and is composed of the Law(Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings. It was preserved in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Jesus of Nazarene and his Apostles spoke Aramaic. It became the biblical and liturgical language of the early Christian churches in the Middle East. “Canon of the New Testament was exactly the same for all of Christianity.

 Exodus contains history of Moses, Ten Commandments, Ark of the Covenant, and the Passover Feast.
 Deuteronomy which repeats the Ten Commandments and religious laws, and predicts the consequences of Israelite behavior in the Promise Land.
 Leviticus was the law pertaining to religious observance and proper conduct.
 Numbers While the Historical Books contained Joshua records of the Israelites into the Promise land and the conquest of Canaan, Psalms, Wisdom Literature contain the books of Job, Psalms, the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, the Book of Wisdom, and Sirach, and then the Prophets.
The New Testament records the oral tradition of the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, his Passion, Death and Resurrection, and the formation of the early Christian community, the church. It is said to contain 27 Books.
The Four Gospels (Synoptic Gospels) proclaim the “Good News” of the coming of Jesus Christ. They all present Miracles, and the Paschal Mystery of Christ Jesus.
There are three stages in the development of the Gospel narrative:
1) The teaching of Jesus

There are smaller, pivotal stories that make up the basic structure of the one big story such as: The story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50) and account of God’s faithfulness to his promises to Abraham. Moses and the Plagues in which God punishes the Egyptians with ten plagues and secures the Israelite’s freedom (Exodus 7:14). The Holiness of God (Leviticus) where this book is consumed with the holiness of God, that he is separate from all sin and that God forgives. The Wise and Foolish (Solomon) where Solomon was the wisest of all people, and yet he died a fool because he ignored his own advice (Proverbs). It is not enough to know the truth; you have to do it. Wisdom begins with knowing that “God knows best. Suffering and Faith in God (Job), Job learned that bad things happen to good people and bad people alike.
Israel
Israel goes back to god’s covenant with Abraham around 2000B.C. (Genesis 12) God had already chosen them to be in his plan from the beginning because of His love for them and the unconditional covenant with Abraham. His plan was to use Israel as His means to love and bless everyone. Israel was the smallest in numbers among all nations. (Deuteronomy