Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: The OT?

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The OT?
  • Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 12:38:34 -0400


At 10:36 AM 8/26/2002 -0500, stoney wrote:
> At 11:07 AM 8/26/2002, J. Safrenwrote:
> Does anyone teach the order of books of the Tanakh as given by the Rabbis
>in the Baraitha in B.T. Baba Bathra 14b?
>
> Is for instance the placement of Ruth an inspired datum which exegesis
>must take into account?
>
Every tradition tends to take for granted that its own traditional order is
"inspired" to some extent. The primary Jewish division of
Torah-Prophets-Writings is based on authority: the Torah (Pentateuch) being
dictated from God to Moses, the Prophets (including Joshua-Kings) being
written by authors with "prophetic authority" and the Writings being of
lesser authority (even if written by the same person, but not writing in
his role as prophet, like Jeremiah in Lamentations or Ezra, who is
identified also as Malachi). Within each division, the order is
more-or-less chronological, but with some exceptions. In the Btaitha that
Jonathan mentioned, Ruth is placed before Psalms, since Ruth was the
G.G.G.mother of the Psalmist (David). And Jeremiah is placed before Isaiah,
because they wanted the theme of destruction in Jeremiah and the first part
of Isaiah to lead in to the theme of restoration in the latter part of
Isaiah (they didn't know about "Deutero-Isaiah") and Ezekiel.

The common Christian tradition treats all the Jewish prophets and writings
(and some of the Apocrypha for Orthodox, Catholics etc.) equally and
arrange them thematically: History, Wisdom and Prophecy. But here, there is
definitely significance to Malachi, last in the (Protestant) OT leading in
to the birth of Jesus in Matthew, the prophecy of Elijah leading into his
"double" John the Baptist.




Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page