The Bible

Word of God
- Holy – sacred scripture or sacred writing.
- historically accurate

Book of Truth
- to prove something by some people to their own satisfaction
- a “proof text” which is not because we cannot pick out isolated quotations, lines or
verses to support a point of view

Bible
- Greek word “biblia” which means “books”

Two Divisions of the Bible

- Old Testament – written before the time of Jesus
- New Testament – written during the one hundred years after Christ’s death and
resurrection

Authorship, Inspiration and Human Limitation, Interpretation

- God communicates with us through the beauty of nature, through events in our
lives, through other people, and through the experience of prayer.
- Listen to God through senses, intellect, memory, will, imagination, emotions, to
the reality of God’s presence, action and communication.
- Quality of messages from God may be clouded by factors such as:
~ Mind is blinded by sin
~ Conflicting messages that deny God’s existence confuse our hearts
~ Senses, intellect, memory, imagination, emotions may be burdened down with
earthly pursuits and material things
- Important words of the Bible which were spoken by Jesus were written in Armaic
then translated to Greek then into English.

Jewish Christian History:

- Searched for God so intensely that they saw God’s face and heard God’s voice.
- Inspired by scholarly research without realizing that God is working through them.
- Isaiah – through visions
Jewish or Christian Communities
- Recognized their perceptions of God to be authentic, recorded those and treasured
them as sacred.
- Writing was the important thing, who wrote it was secondary.

Catholic Church
- God inspired the human authors of the Bible to write using their own talents, abilities
and styles.

Different Types of Writing in the Bible

1) Epic
2) Laws
3) History
4) Poetry
5) Romance
6) Proverbs
7) Prophesies
8) Letters
9) Popular Philosophy
10) Official Documents
11) Account of Scandals
12) Speeches
13) Folktales and Legends
14) Songs and Hymns
15) Parables

History Behind the Bible

Abram
- a native of Ur which is an ancient city north of the Persian Gulf
- migrated to Haran (near present-day Turkish-Syrian border) along with his family
- received a call from God to move to Canaan (the promised land)
- changed his name from Abram to Abraham
- his wife changed her name from Sarai to Sarah
- Isaac, their son, became the father of Jacob who eventually had 12 sons
- in 1720 B.C., Jacob and his family moved to Egypt where their descendants, the
Hebrews, became Slaves.
Moses
- Hebrew
- in 1250 B.C., he heard God telling him to guide his people to the promised land of
Canaan where there is freedom
- he received the 12 Commandments in Mt. Sinai
- wandered through the desert with the Israelites for 40 years
- died before reaching the promised land

Saul
- in 1020 B.C., he brought the tribes together
- king
- went insane and was killed in battle

David
- replaced Saul
- young soldier
- united the tribes and made Jerusalem the center of his government

Solomon
- son of David
- succeeded him as king
- built a temple in Jerusalem
- worshipped false gods
- ghosted his people and left them with taxes and forced labor

Rehoboam
- continued what his dad (Solomon) did

922 B.C. – a civil war split the kingdom

Israel
- north
- Samaria as its capital

Judah
- south
- Jerusalem as its capital
721 B.C. – Israel was attacked by Syria, citizens were slaughtered or exiled

Samaritans
- Assyrians who intermarried with Israelites

587 B.C. – Judah was conquered by Babylon, survivors were exiled in Babylon

Cyrus
- king of Persia
- defeated Babylon
- allowed Israelites to return home in 44 B.C.

Alexander the Great

- took command of the government in 332.

Maccabees
- family of warriors who resisted the Syrians’ prosecution of the Jews
- succeeded in 142 B.C. but their independence only lasted until 63 B.C. until the
Romans conquered Jerusalem.

Herod the Great

- set up as the Romans as king
- built a lot of structures
- ruled until 4 B.C.
- two years before his reign ended, Jesus Christ was born (Gloria in excelsis Deo!!
Heart heart)