The TaNaKh is the Hebrew acronym for the Old Testament, consisting of the Torah (instruction), Nevi'im (prophets), and Ketuvim (writings). The Torah tells the story of creation, humanity's rebellion, and God's promise to rescue the world through a new human. The story follows Abraham's family, their failures, and God's covenant promise to bless humanity through them. The Nevi'im continues the story, focusing on Israel's failures, corruption, and the prophets' warnings of the Day of the Lord. The Ketuvim, a diverse collection of scrolls, develops the key themes from the Torah and Prophets, including the promise of a new king who will restore God's blessing to the world. The TaNaKh ends with the hope of an ultimate return from exile and the arrival of an Israelite whose God is with him to restore the new Jerusalem. The collection is intentionally designed to tell a unified story of God's covenant promise to Israel and humanity, offering a divine word of wisdom and future hope.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The Old Testament is a collection of 39 smaller works grouped into four main sections.
2. The arrangement of the books in the Old Testament is a later Christian tradition that developed after Jesus and the apostles.
3. In ancient Jewish tradition, these works were on separate scrolls and were conceived of as a unified three-part collection called TaNaKh.
4. TaNaKh is a Hebrew acronym for "Torah", "Nevi'im", and "Ketuvim".
5. The TaNaKh has the same books as the Protestant Old Testament but they are arranged differently.
6. The "Torah" corresponds to the Pentateuch.
7. The "Nevi'im" consist of four historical narrative books and 15 works named after specific prophets.
8. The "Ketuvim" is a diverse collection of poetic and narrative texts.
9. The 3-part design of the TaNaKh is referred to in ancient Jewish texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Wisdom of Ben Sirach.
10. Jesus of Nazareth mentioned the TaNaKh.
11. The scrolls were coordinated by means of cross-references that link each work into the larger 3-part collection.
12. The authors of the scrolls remain mostly anonymous, referred to as "Scribes" or "the Prophets".
13. The process of collecting and shaping the material into the unified library of scrolls took place throughout Israel's history.
14. The prophetic scribes believed that God's Spirit was guiding the process of collecting and shaping the material.
15. The final shape of the TaNaKh offers a prophetic interpretation of Israel's history that claims to reveal God's purposes to rescue the whole world.
16. The Torah begins with the story of creation and the appointment of humanity to rule the world as kings and queens of creation.
17. The story of Abraham's family forms a dark background for the handful of bright moments in the story.
18. God makes an eternal promise called a "covenant" to Abraham's family that he will rescue and bless all humanity through them.
19. The job of Israel's prophets was to accuse the old Israel of failure and corruption, and to warn them about the looming result: the great Day of the Lord.
20. The prophets promised that God had a purpose: to purify his people and recreate a new Israel who would be faithful like Abraham was.
21. The conclusion of the Nevi'im is a note from the TaNaKh's prophetic scribes reflecting back over the whole story so far.
22. The Ketuvim is a diverse collection of scrolls, each designed to link back into the key themes from the Torah and the Prophets.
23. The Psalms scroll is introduced by two poems that are coordinated to the beginning of the Torah and the Prophets.
24. The wisdom scrolls address some of the most difficult questions raised by the story of the Torah and the Prophets.
25. The final lines of the Chronicles scroll have been coordinated with key texts from all over the TaNaKh, keeping alive the hope of an ultimate return from exile.