OT: Structure and Arrangement

Back to: How We Got The Bible

The word “testament” in the designations “Old Testament” and “New Testament,” given to the two divisions of the Bible, goes back through Latin testamentum to Greek diatheke, which in most of its occurrences in the Greek Bible means “covenant” rather than “testament.”

– GEISLER/NIX

Definition: TESTAMENT = COVENANT

The word testament, which is better translated “covenant,” is taken from the Hebrew and Greek words designating a compact or agreement between two parties.

In the case of the Bible, then, we have the old contract between God and His people, the Jews, and the new compact between God and Christians.

– Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (p. 12). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

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Testament (also, “covenant”) – A lasting agreement that defines a relationship between two or more parties and requires at least one of them to fulfill specified obligations.

God’s testaments—or, covenants—with humanity throughout the Bible are like a spine that binds together the entire storyline of Scripture. The holy writings of Israel tell the story of God’s covenants with Israel and Israel’s failure to keep these covenants. It was the apostle Paul who first referred to these texts as the “old covenant” or “old testament” (2 Corinthians 3:14).

These writings looked forward to the “new covenant” or “new testament” that would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:31–32; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:1–13; 9:15; 12:24).4

-Jones, Timothy Paul. How We Got the Bible . Rose Publishing. Kindle Edition.

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The terms “Old Testament” and “New Testament” for the two collections of books came into general Christian use in the later part of the second century; Tertullian rendered diatheke into Latin by instrumentum (a legal document) and also by testamentum; it was the latter word that survived, unfortunately, since the two parts of the Bible are not “testaments” in the ordinary sense of the term.

Comfort, Philip W.. The Origin of the Bible (p. 5). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

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The term “testament” is an unfortunate translation (Greek, diatheke) and would be better rendered as “covenant.” Thus the basic structure of the Bible hinges on the idea that God has made two significant covenants with his people and that the New Covenant has displaced the Old.

-Lightfoot, Neil R.. How We Got the Bible (p. 25). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

“The New Testament is veiled in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New Testament.”

-Augustine

STRUCTURE: Comparisons Between OT/NT

Christ is central theme

The OT Church

The continuity of the covenant people from the Old Testament to the New Testament is obscured for the reader of the common English Bible because “church” is an exclusively New Testament word, and he naturally thinks of it as something which began in the New Testament period.

But the reader of the Greek Bible was confronted by no new word when he found ekklesia in the New Testament; he had already met it in the Septuagint as one of the words used to denote Israel as the “assembly” of the Lord’s people.

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ARRANGEMENTS: Comparisons Between English/Hebrew

English Bibles

The Old Covenant appears in our English Bibles in the following arrangement:

• 5 books of Law or the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy);
• 12 books of History (Joshua to Esther);
• 5 books of Poetry (Job to Song of Solomon);
• 17 books of Prophets (Isaiah to Malachi),
  • 5 books of Major Prophets
  • 12 books of Minor Prophets.

The fourfold division of the Old Testament is based on a topical arrangement of books stemming from the translation of the Hebrew into Greek. It is derived from the Latin Vulgate translation, which in turn was derived from the Septuagint or Greek version.

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible does not follow this fourfold topical classification of books. Instead, a threefold division is employed, possibly based on the official position of the author.

Moses, the lawgiver, has his five books listed first (Law, Torah); these are followed by the books of men who held the prophetic office (Prophets, Nebhi’im). Finally, many believe that the third section contained books by men who were believed to have had a prophetic gift but who did not hold a prophetic office (Writings, Kethubhim).

Hence, the Hebrew Old Testament has the following structure:

Law

• Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Prophets

• Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings
• Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the

Writings:

• Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles

However different the arrangement, it is important to remember that the books included in Protestant English Bibles are precisely the same as found in the Hebrew Bible.

The Law and the Prophets

• The earliest arrangement of the Jewish Bible was twofold: Law and Prophets.
• It is alluded to in Zechariah 7:12 and in Daniel 9:2, 6, 11, 13. It is used in the intertestamental period (2 Macc. 15:9), in the Qumran Community (Manual of Discipline 9.11), and repeatedly in the New Testament (cf. Matt. 5:17; Luke 16:31).
• Indeed, in Luke 24:27 the Law and Prophets are called “all the Scriptures.”

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Moses and the 5 Scrolls

TORAH – Hebrew: “instruction, guidance, law.”

PENTATEUCH – The first five books of the Old Testament, also known as “Pentateuch,” from Greek penta (“five”) and teuchos (“containers,” “scrolls”)

TRIVIA – The English names for these five books come from the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament:

• Genesis (Hebrew Bereshit, “In the Beginning”)
• Exodus (Hebrew Shemot, “Names”)
• Leviticus (Hebrew Vayikra, “And he called”)
• Numbers (Hebrew Ba Midbar, “In the Wilderness”)
• Deuteronomy (Hebrew D’Varim, “Words”)

ASIDE: The Significance of ‘penta’

Pentecost – 50th week (7 full sabbaths)

Leviticus 23:15-16 ESV
"You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. [16] You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD.”

Jubilee/Atonement (freedom) and setting captives (slaves) free occurred every 50th year…

Leviticus 25:8-12 ESV
"You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. [9] Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. [10] And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. [11] That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. [12] For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.”

Leviticus 25:53-55 ESV
”He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. [54] And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. [55] For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

This is critical to understanding the ‘kinsman-redeemer’ concept of Boaz/Ruth and subsequently, Jesus/Israel

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