• These scriptures were written in Hebrew (or Aramaic), while most (or all) of the New Testament was written in Greek.
  
  
• The first 39 books of the Bible were written for a distinctively Jewish religion and way of life, not explicitly by or for Christians.
  
  
• While we of the third millennium AD have the benefit of considerable historical information about the historical events and authors of the New Testament, much of the OT extends back beyond the reach of current methods for historical verification.
  
  
• The process for OT/NT canonization occurred largely on parallel tracks – with little direct interconnection between the two. Early Christians were primarily focused on assembling a collection of authentic inspired works for a "New Testament." The process for maintaining documents and then determining a canon of OT scriptures remained primarily in Jewish hands.

Despite these significant differences, there are two threads that bind the two collections together. First, both OT and NT are important as a single biblical document for Christianity.

Second and less obviously, the impetus for establishing a definitive collection of authoritative Hebrew Scriptures came, in large measure, as a reaction to Christianity. And this is why we now reach back – to the furthest ends of antiquity. The purpose – to discover the historical basis for the Hebrew Scriptures and their connection to faiths both Jewish and Christian.

Old Testament Canonizaton Themes: Before getting lost in the details, it is useful to delineate the main messages (or themes) that emerge from this OT review (in Building the Bible). Four themes are advanced for consideration:

1. Old Testament writings were created over a substantially longer time period and took more time to achieve canon status than for the New Testament. The earliest OT manuscripts date in the range of 1,000 or more years before the birth of Christ. The first known attempt to piece together a complete collection came in the 1st century after the death of Jesus but Jewish consensus over the contents of the Hebrew scriptures did not occur until about the 5th-6th centuries AD.
   
   
2. Threats to Jewish identity and perceived heresies helped stimulate both preservation and eventual clarification of an accepted set of Hebrew scriptures. Critical threats included the Babylonian captivity of Israel, Roman destruction(s) of Jerusalem, and the parallel emergence of what was to become a body of Christian New Testament (NT) writings.
   
   
3. Despite a wide range of source documents, there has been remarkable consistency over the last two millennia in the OT writings generally regarded as canonical. By the Council of Jamnia c. 90 AD, remaining disputes centered primarily on only a handful of books. The major point of continuing confusion (and some disagreement) has been over the status and usage of the Apocrypha.
   
   
4. There also has been and remains considerable variation in translation, owing in large measure to the lasting legacy of the Babylonian captivity six centuries before Christ. Differences in Hebrew and Greek translation affected early Christian understanding of the Old Testament. Divergent versions combined with greater availability of alternative manuscript texts have spawned an increased proliferation of Bible translations in the last one to two centuries of the modern era.
   

Back to Antiquity: Information as to when and how the OT was written is, of necessity, more conjectural than for the New Testament. The greater age of the manuscripts and murky archaeological evidence means that historically verifiable sources of the Hebrew Scriptures are mired in the obscurities of antiquity.

Moses, the reputed author of the first five books (or Pentateuch), lived approximately 1,500 years before Jesus. The entire period from Moses to the Babylonian exile spans nearly a millenium to 586 BC.
Of the 39 current OT books, today there is general agreement as to authorship and dating for only about 9 books – Esther, Jeremiah and Lamentations, and the minor prophets of Hosea, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and Haggai.

The earliest writings may have been composed over as much as a 1,000 year period, primarily in Hebrew. Comparatively little attention appears to have been given to the preservation and perpetuation of Hebrew scripture prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and resulting Babylonian captivity.

The OT itself refers to works no longer extant including works written by Hebrew women Deborah, Miriam and non-Hebrew writers Agur and Lemuel. One modern view is that few, if any, OT writings reached a form similar to that of today until the reign of King Hezekiah starting early in the 8th century BC.

Today’s OT can be traced to what is known as the Babylonian or Masoretic text. In contrast, both the Greek Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch likely emerged from the Old Palestinian text of Ezra (upon the return of some Jews to Jerusalem). Samaritans rejected the other OT books (except the Pentateuch).

As with the chronicler of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah appear to reflect a more priestly view emphasizing purity and separation. In contrast, other OT books evidence more sympathy for "the poor people who owned nothing." (Jeremiah 39:10)

The oldest known extant manuscripts of a set of Hebrew scriptures comes from what is called the Septuagint – a translation to the Greek made at Alexandria starting about 285 BC. Likely authorized by Ptolemy Philadelphus, a widespread legend was that 72 interpreters, working independently, composed their translations within just 72 days. Despite numerous translation difficulties, the Septuagint was the only OT version used by the early Christian church up to the 4th century AD.

Early Manuscripts: The earliest portion of an OT manuscript available today dates from the 2nd century BC – as a fragment of Deuteronomy from the Greek Septuagint. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, the oldest surviving Hebrew texts were copies of manuscripts from the ben Asher family prepared at Tiberias by the Sea of Galilee in 1008 AD. Isaiah now is the oldest intact OT manuscript, dating to about 150 BC as part of the Qumran Dead Sea discovery.

OT Canonization: The Pentateuch (or Torah) appears to have been recognized as authoritative to the Hebrews by about the 6th – 5th centuries BC. Acceptance of the Prophets came within about the next century, with the Writings (the last 13 books) being well circulated by the 2nd century BC.

Detailed knowledge of how the OT canon came together remains somewhat indefinite. What is known is that at least five books were questioned by the Jewish community as late as 90 AD at the rabbinic council of Jamnia – Esther, Proverbs, Ecclesiates, Song of Solomon and Ezekiel. It was not until completion of the Jewish Talmud in the 5th-6th centuries AD that discussions over "disputed books" reached a more definitive conclusion.

Translation problems with the Septuagint were widely recognized within the early Christian church by the 2nd century AD, with numerous attempts at re-translation from Hebrew to Greek. It would be the early 5th century before Jerome would compose the Vulgate – comprising an entirely new translation from the Hebrew, this time into Latin.

The first Rabbinic Bible was printed by Daniel Bomberg in 1516-17 from a ben Asher text, followed by the Jacob ben Chayyim edition in 1524-25. The King James Version of 1611 relied primarily on ben Chayyim’s edition of the ben Asher text for the Old Testament.

Apocrypha: Translated literally as "hidden things," the role of these apocryphal writings – tacked onto the OT – has been long disputed, if not a comedy of errors. Generally believed to have composed between about 200-100 BC, these writings appear to have been added to later editions of the Septuagint. The early Christian community misunderstood the Jewish distinction and therefore often included the Apocrypha.

As author of the Latin Vulgate, Jerome also apparently opposed recognition of the Apocrypha as part of the OT canon. However, later additions failed to make Jerome’s distinction so that, over time, later editions came to more directly incorporate these writings. The Apocrypha was accepted as canon by the Council of Trent (extending from 1545-1564) and as Deutero-Canon by the Vatican Council of 1870. Although the King James version of 1611 included the Apocrypha, Protestant churches have generally excluded these books.

NT/OT Linkages: Of the 39 books of the OT, 21 are clearly quoted in the NT. Quotes attributed to Jesus by NT writers come from only 14 books. Jesus quoted extensively from all five books of the Pentateuch plus the Psalms and Isaiah. OT works not referenced by the NT appear to be those which were:

• Also questioned by (non-Christian) Jewish sources – such as Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Lamentations.
  
  
• Manuscripts that may have been viewed as more extreme in viewpoint – including the writings of Ezra the chronicler, Joshua, Judges, Obadiah, Nahum and Zephaniah.

Christianity has often muddied the waters of the Hebrew scriptures. However, Christians have also (perhaps inadvertently) found themselves in league with their Jewish brethren by adopting a remarkably similar OT canon. Interestingly, Judaism and Christianity share similar views as to OT books of primary versus secondary importance – including OT references most often cited by Jesus (notably the Pentateuch, Psalms and Isaiah).

This summary is adapted from portions of the chapter "Origins of the Old Testament," excerpted from the approximately 115 page book Building the Bible.

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