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Now we will consider how the Bible was completed, based on the historical facts. We will also consider when it was written and how it was accepted after being written. Although these are only some facts, they are intimately related to us as Christians.
In the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there were no written revelations of God. There were only His verbal instructions, such as His instructions to the forefathers, including Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Genesis we see that before the Bible was written, God often appeared to the forefathers and gave them verbal instructions.
Before the Bible was written, although there were no written revelations of God, there were verbal instructions handed down from generation to generation by the fathers. This fact can be proved from inscribed stone tablets discovered in Egypt and Babylon. In 1901 a black pillar was discovered in Persia on which were inscribed some of the laws of the ancient times. Some of them were similar to the Law of Moses, yet it was inscribed five to six hundred years before the time of Moses. This proves that before the Bible was written, among ancient civilizations there were verbal instructions of God handed down through their forefathers.
If we want to know how the Bible was written, we need to know about the alphabets and languages used by the ancient civilizations.
Before the flood, it is not known what language man used. According to historical research, the earliest language spoken by man after the flood came from Akkad in the northwest region of ancient Babylon and is called Akkadian. The three terms, Adam, Eden, and Sabbath in Genesis 2 are probably Akkadian and not Hebrew. Akkadian was originally made of lines. These lines were drawn into wedge shapes. Eventually, the writing developed into the cuneiform script. This script was used until approximately two thousand years before Christ, about the time of Abraham.
From about two thousand years before Christ, the Babylonian writing of the tribe of Shem replaced Akkadian. We believe that this is the origin of the Aramaic language that came later. This kind of writing was used until approximately six hundred years before Christ, at the time Nebuchadnezzar ruled in Babylon.
Ur of the Chaldeans was the original dwelling place of Abraham (Gen. 11:31); it was in Babylon. The people there were descendants of the tribe of Shem, and the language they used was the Babylonian language just mentioned. When Abraham was called by God into Canaan, historians all agree that he would naturally have given up his native Babylonian language of Shem and would have taken up the local language of Canaan. This language of Canaan probably became the later Hebrew language, or a part of it. Some have taken the “language of Canaan” in Isaiah 19:18 to mean the language used by the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham. Historians have postulated that a large portion of the subsequent Hebrew language was developed from such a language of Canaan.
About six hundred years before Christ, the Israelites were taken captive by the Babylonians to Babylon. They stayed there for a long time. Spontaneously, they gave up Hebrew and adopted the local Aramaic language, which was the Chaldean language. After their return from their captivity, history tells us that they were still using this Aramaic language. At the time of the Lord Jesus, the Romans had already occupied the land of Israel. Although Greek was commonly used throughout the Roman Empire, the Jews nevertheless still used Aramaic among themselves. Only the rabbis spoke and read the Scriptures in Hebrew in the synagogues. If there were some in the synagogues who did not understand Hebrew, there would be someone to translate it into Aramaic.
Many historians have postulated that the language used by the Lord Jesus to speak with the people daily was probably Aramaic, not Hebrew. When He spoke in Mark 5:41, “Talitha koum,” and in Mark 15:34, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,” the words were all Aramaic.
After the Roman Empire conquered the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and spread the Greek culture everywhere, Greek became the common vernacular language used by all the people in the Roman Empire at that time.
All these languages are directly or indirectly related to the completion of the Bible.
The main body of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.
In the Old Testament, there are four portions that were written in Aramaic. They are Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4—7:28; Ezra 4:8—6:18; and 7:12-26. These four portions are absolutely related to the Aramaic people (that is, the Babylonians). That is why the Bible used Aramaic there instead of Hebrew.
The whole New Testament was written in Greek. A few sentences in it were written in Aramaic. They are those already mentioned: “Talitha koum” and “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.”
The Pentateuch of Moses — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — was written by Moses. Moses was raised in the palace. He was a scholar, a politician, and a military leader. According to the world, he was also a religious leader. The Pentateuch was written by him at Mount Sinai and in the wilderness.
The book of Joshua was written by Joshua. He was a military leader and a politician. He wrote most of this book in Canaan and a smaller portion in the plains of Moab.
There are a lot of contentions about the authorship of Judges, and it is hard to verify. However, many authorities have postulated that Judges was written by Samuel.
The book of Ruth is connected to the preceding book of Judges and the following books of Samuel in history and in time. Therefore, it was most probably written by Samuel.
The first twenty-four chapters of 1 Samuel were probably written by Samuel. Chapter 25, verse 1 says that Samuel died. Therefore, from chapter 25 on, the rest of 1 Samuel and the whole book of 2 Samuel were surely not written by him. First Chronicles 29:29 says that regarding the things of David, there was not only the record of Samuel but also the records of the prophets Nathan and Gad. Bible scholars have concluded from this verse that the records in the books of Samuel after the death of Samuel must have been continued by the prophets Nathan and Gad.
Why was 2 Samuel called by that name even though it was not written by Samuel? This is because these two books form one group in history. Therefore, the author or authors continued to write from chapter 25 of 1 Samuel until the end of 2 Samuel. Moreover, in the original Hebrew Old Testament, the two books of Samuel were a single book, not two. It was only when the Old Testament was translated into Greek in the Septuagint that Samuel was divided into the first and second books, because it was too long and difficult to roll up into one scroll.
Samuel was a Nazarite consecrated to God. He became a priest, and he also became a judge and a prophet. In addition, he brought in the kingship. It is certain that his book was written in Canaan.
Both Nathan and Gad were seers. It is also certain that their records were written in Canaan.
The books of 1 and 2 Kings were one book in the Hebrew Old Testament. It was divided by the Septuagint. It is hard for Bible scholars to ascertain who was the author of Kings, but some think that Jeremiah was the author.
The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles were also one book in the Hebrew Old Testament. It was also divided by the Septuagint. This book has been generally ascertained by many authorities to have been written by Ezra. If we compare the ending of Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra, we can see that the style, the grammar, and the phrases are all very similar and have to be from the same author. Therefore, it has been proposed that Chronicles was written by Ezra.
The book of Ezra was certainly written by Ezra. Ezra was a very learned scribe and priest. He knew the laws of God very well and therefore was also a lawyer. His books were written in Jerusalem.
The book of Nehemiah was certainly written by Nehemiah. Ezra was a descendant of Levi, the tribe of the priests. Nehemiah was a descendant of Judah, the tribe of the kings. One attended to religion, and the other attended to politics. At that time the Persian Empire treated Judea as a province, and Nehemiah became the governor of Judea. His book was also written in Jerusalem.
It is hard to ascertain the authorship of the book of Esther. Probably Mordecai was the author, because in 9:20 and 23 it is mentioned that Mordecai recorded the happenings then. He was one who loved God and loved the Jews. If it was written by him, it was written in the heathen city of Susa.
There is a greater contention about the authorship of the book of Job. The things recorded in this book took place before the time of Moses and may have been concurrent with Abraham, which is about two thousand years before Christ. Some have said it was written by Elihu, and some have said that Moses was probably the author.
Among the Psalms there are some that do not mention any author, but the authorship of most of them is identified. Among the one hundred fifty psalms, at least seventy-three are designated clearly as the psalms of David. In addition to these, there are quite a few that were clearly written by David, even though the author was not clearly stated. Therefore, David wrote the largest number, nearly one hundred psalms. In addition, there were Asaph, Heman, Ethan, the sons of Korah, Solomon, and Moses. Therefore, at least seven authors were clearly indicated. The sons of Korah are plural in number in the manuscript, and this may therefore refer to more than one person. All the psalms of these people were probably written in the land of Israel. David was first a shepherd and then a king. Quite a number of his psalms were written while he was being persecuted in the wilderness. Some were written while he was reigning in the palace. We are not very clear about Asaph, Heman, and Ethan. It may be that they were common people. The sons of Korah were the descendants of Korah. Bible scholars admit that this Korah is the Korah recorded in Numbers 16 as the one leading the rebellion against God. However, from the descendants of this rebellious one, there came out such godly and God-loving people. They did not want to divulge their own names. They would rather show forth the greatness of the grace of God by acknowledging that they were the descendants of the rebellious one against God.
Most of the book of Proverbs was written by Solomon. There were a few words by Agur and Lemuel. Hence, Proverbs was written by at least three persons. Solomon was the most glorious king and the wisest one in human history. All his books were written in Jerusalem. Agur may have been a common person, and Lemuel was a king.
The book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon.
The Song of Songs was also written by Solomon.
There are seventeen books of the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi. They are written by sixteen prophets, with Jeremiah and Lamentations both written by Jeremiah.
Isaiah was a minister serving the king and was also a historian (2 Chron. 26:22; 32:32). His book was written in Jerusalem, the capital city.
Jeremiah was born a priest and became a prophet. He spent most of his time in Judea and the last period in Egypt.
Ezekiel was a priest turned prophet. He wrote the book of Ezekiel in the land of captivity in Babylon.
Daniel was of the tribe of Judah. His book should have been written in the land of captivity in Babylon and Ulai.
Amos was the most peculiar among the sixteen prophets. He was a shepherd, a caretaker of mulberry trees, and probably would not have received much education. His book should have been written in the land of Israel.
Jonah probably wrote his book in Nineveh.
Zephaniah was a royal descendant turned prophet. His book was written in the land of Judea.
Zechariah was also a priest turned prophet. His book was also written in the land of Judea.
In addition to these, Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, and Malachi, eight altogether, were most probably common people who became prophets. Their books were written either in Judea or in the land of Israel.
Therefore, there were at least thirty-two authors of the Old Testament from Moses to Malachi. If Job was written by Elihu, and if more than one of the sons of Korah wrote, then there were more than thirty-two authors. Among them, all except Elihu, the probable Gentile author, and Agur and Lemuel, whose tribal sources are unknown, were Israelites. Among these authors of the Old Testament, there were people of various levels and backgrounds. There were scholars, religious persons, politicians, military leaders, kings, priests, prophets, common people, shepherds, and farmers. Some were highly educated, and some, without much education. Some were persecuted and oppressed, and some enjoyed glory and honor. Some were living in Israel, and some were in the land of the Gentiles in captivity.
The Gospel of Matthew was written by Matthew. He was originally a tax collector, and his origin was not honorable. The Lord called him to be one of the twelve apostles. His Gospel was probably written in Judea.
The Gospel of Mark was written by Mark. He was a very ordinary disciple. His Gospel was probably written in Rome.
The Gospel of Luke was written by Luke. He was a Gentile doctor. His Gospel was probably written in a Gentile land.
The Gospel of John was written by John. John was a fisherman in Galilee and was not well educated. But he was also called by the Lord to be one of the twelve apostles. His Gospel was probably written in a Gentile land.
The Acts of the Apostles was also written by Luke, the doctor. This book was probably also written in a Gentile land.
The fourteen books from Romans to Hebrews were written by Paul. He was originally zealous for Judaism and was also a very learned person. He had capability, ability, and capacity and could accomplish things. He was specially called by the Lord early in life to become an apostle to the Gentile people. His books were all written in the Gentile lands, and some were written in a Roman jail.
The Epistle of James was written by James. He was the flesh brother of the Lord Jesus (Gal. 1:19) and was a devout Christian who became a pillar of the church (2:9), but he was rather full of Judaism from his background. His book was probably written in Jerusalem.
The first and second Epistles of Peter were written by Peter. Peter was also a fisherman without much education, but he was called by the Lord to become the first of the twelve apostles. His book was probably written in a Gentile land.
The first, second, and third Epistles of John were all written by the apostle John. These three books should have been written in a Gentile land.
The book of Jude was written by Jude. He was also a flesh brother of the Lord. He could have written this book in Judea.
The book of Revelation was also written by the apostle John. It was written in a Gentile land and probably on the island of Patmos.
Hence, there were eight authors of the New Testament. Among them, Paul was a Jewish scholar, and Luke was a Gentile physician. They were the only two who had received a high education. The rest were all common people and without much education.
The number of authors of the whole Bible was more than forty, and most of them were Jews. Luke was one who was a Gentile. This indicates that among the authors there were Jews and Gentiles, kings and common people, scribes and soldiers, scholars and uneducated ones. Some were in high places, and some were very lowly; some were rich, and some were poor. There were all kinds of people. As to the places where the books were written, some were written in the wilderness; some, in a palace; some, on an island; and some, in jail.
The first few books in the Old Testament, the Pentateuch of Moses, were written about 1500 B.C. The last book, Malachi, was written about 400 B.C. Therefore, all thirty-nine books in the Old Testament were completed within eleven hundred years.
Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, was written between A.D. 37 and 40. Revelation, the last book, was written in approximately A.D. 90. Therefore, the whole New Testament was finished within fifty or so years. Hence, the whole Bible spans about fifteen to sixteen hundred years from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation.
Among the Old Testament writings, the Pentateuch has always been recognized by the Jews as being from God and having absolute and divine authority. This is because it was the written revelation of God to Moses, and it was handed down through their ancestors. Although the Jews acknowledge that the whole Old Testament was from God, they gave the Pentateuch of Moses a very special position. In all the Jewish synagogues throughout the world today, there are at least two or three copies of the Pentateuch of Moses. They may not have the other books of the Old Testament, but they always have the Pentateuch. Incidentally, the Samaritans acknowledged only the Pentateuch of Moses. Of course, the Samaritans’ religion is a distorted one, but this proves the authority of the Pentateuch of Moses among the ancient worshippers of God.
The other books in the Old Testament were gradually acknowledged by the people of God to be from God by virtue of their own value and authority. One author put it very well by saying, “There is no need to declare a tree by its name. It only needs to grow up gradually, to bloom, and to bear fruit; spontaneously men will recognize what kind of tree it is. In the same way, whether or not all the other books in the Old Testament were from God is best answered by the test of time; there is no need for any explicit declaration. The values and authority of the books spontaneously manifest themselves.” This is surely true. All the inspired writers among God’s people after the Pentateuch had their writings recognized as being from God through a long period of testing and through the identification of authority in them.
In approximately 457 B.C. the scribe Ezra compiled the Pentateuch of Moses and all the other authoritative writings commonly recognized among the people of God to become the various books in the Old Testament. (Nehemiah and Malachi were not included, because they were not written yet.) The Jewish historian, Josephus, and other Gentile historians all verified this fact.
After Ezra there was a group of scribes among the Jews called “The Great Synagogue” who continued with this compiling and ascertaining work. In 400 B.C. they completed the compilation of all the books we have in the Old Testament today. However, in their work there were not thirty-nine books but twenty-four books. We will speak about this later. Hence, by 400 B.C. the writing of the Old Testament was not only completed but was also acknowledged and recognized.
At any rate, by approximately 277 B.C. at the latest, when the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek was made, all the books of the Old Testament must have already been recognized.
The early churches frequently read the Gospels and the Old Testament during their meetings. Hence, the four Gospels were the earliest recognized books of the New Testament.
After the apostles passed away, there was some confusion because some people wrote books in the names of the apostles. Therefore, the leaders of the early churches, the so-called Fathers, collected all the books written by the apostles and put them together with the Gospels. Not long after Polycarp was martyred, the New Testament was viewed basically the same way among all the different churches. However, there were still disagreements as to whether or not the seven books of Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation should be included. These books were truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and have spiritual authority and value, so after a long time of testing, a council of the leaders of all the churches was held. These seven books were acknowledged to be part of the New Testament in A.D. 397 at Carthage in North Africa. The New Testament was recognized as having the same twenty-seven books as we have it today. Hence, by A.D. 397 at the Council at Carthage, the whole Bible, including both the Old and the New Testaments, was recognized and acknowledged by God’s people.
The arrangement we now have of the books of the Old Testament is not the original sequence in the Hebrew Old Testament. Rather, this is the sequence adopted in the Septuagint. In 277 B.C. seventy scribes translated the Old Testament into Greek, and they rearranged the sequence of the books. They were arranged quite properly according to the spiritual context, and Bible scholars acknowledge God’s sovereignty in this arrangement.
The original Hebrew Old Testament was divided into three parts, in accordance with the Lord’s speaking in Luke 24:44 and 27. These three parts were the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.
The Law of Moses consisted of the Pentateuch of Moses, five books in all.
The Prophets were divided into the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets consisted of four books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (without distinction of first and second), and Kings (without distinction of first and second), in that order. The Latter Prophets also consisted of four books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets. (The remaining twelve prophetic books, excluding Lamentations and Daniel, were combined into one as the Minor Prophets.)
The Psalms, or other writings, included quite much and were altogether eleven books: the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra and Nehemiah were counted as one), and Chronicles (with no distinction of first and second).
The five books of the Law of Moses, the eight books of the Prophets, and the eleven books of the Psalms totaled twenty-four books. This was the ancient Jewish Old Testament and its sequence.
At the beginning of the church age, the Fathers preferred to consider the Old Testament as twenty-two books to correspond to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This division was also confirmed by the historian Josephus.
Some of the names of the Old Testament books were also first used by the Septuagint. Originally, many books had the first word of the book as their name. For example, the original name of Genesis was “The Beginning.” Some took the meaning of the name of the prominent person of that book as the name. For example, the original name of the book of Samuel was “Given from God,” the meaning of the name Samuel (1 Sam. 1:20). The original name for the book of Isaiah was “Salvation of Jehovah,” the meaning of the name Isaiah. After the compilation of the Septuagint, these books were called by the names we use today.
Since A.D. 397, after the recognition of the books of the New Testament at the Council at Carthage, the books and sequence of the New Testament became what we have today.
There were fourteen books of the Apocrypha, which were not included in the Bible. Some have thought that these fourteen books were included in the Old Testament before the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek in 277 B.C. But we can find out from verified historical information that such a postulate is wrong.
The authoritative Jewish historian Josephus (born in A.D. 37) said, “We [the Jews] are not like the Greeks, having a lot of books that do not agree and are contradicting. We have only twenty-two books, including all the past writings, as recognized correctly to be divine. After such a long time, no one has ever dared to add to, delete from, or alter them.” This proves that even at the time of Josephus (first century A.D.), the Old Testament had only the original twenty-two books without the additional fourteen books from the Apocrypha. Therefore, to assume that the Old Testament contained the Apocrypha before 277 B.C. is not correct.
There was a scholar in Jerusalem called Cyril, born in A.D. 315 who said, “Please read the Holy Scripture, the twenty-two books of the Old Testament, which were translated by the Seventy-Two.” This shows that even as late as A.D. 315, the authoritative Jewish scholars still recognized their Old Testament to have only twenty-two books. His words also clearly prove this in the translation of the Septuagint (Cyril referred to the Seventy-Two, the number of scholars who translated the Septuagint. The historians are unclear whether it was seventy or seventy-two people there.) There were no fourteen apocryphal books in the Old Testament.
The Lord Jesus and the apostles quoted the Old Testament frequently. If the fourteen books of the Apocrypha were already among the Old Testament books, the Lord and the apostles should have quoted them. However, we cannot find them quoting from the Apocrypha once. This proves that at the time of the Lord Jesus and the apostles, these books of the Apocrypha were not there in the Old Testament.
Among three manuscripts of the Bible that are considered some of the oldest in the world, one is kept in the Vatican, the place where the Roman Catholic Pope resides. It is called the Codex Vaticanus, or the Vatican Manuscript. According to the historians, this manuscript was finished in the fourth century A.D., and in the Old Testament part, which was a Septuagint translation, it included the fourteen books of the Apocrypha. This must have been added after A.D. 315. It might have been the objection to this move that caused the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church to call a council at Laodicea in A.D. 361 to officially denounce these fourteen books of the Apocrypha. They also forbade the use of these apocryphal books in the church. This proves that up until A.D. 361 there was a big question concerning whether or not these apocryphal books should be included in the canon of Scripture.
It was not until April 8, 1546, that the Roman Catholic Church called a council in Trent directly under the pope to affirm the authority of these fourteen books of the Apocrypha. From that time on, these apocryphal books remained in the Roman Catholic Bible. This proves that until the sixteenth century, even the Roman Catholic Church did not officially acknowledge these apocryphal books as canonical. Although this matter was affirmed at the Council of Trent by the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutherans solemnly denounced that these apocryphal books were divinely inspired. In 1646 more than one hundred fifty Protestant Bible scholars put together the “Westminster Confession,” which also declared that the Apocrypha has no divine authority and is the same as any other human composition.
By now we should be clear that the whole Bible consists of the present thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The fourteen books of the Apocrypha were added in by the Roman Catholic Church arbitrarily and cannot be trusted. Moreover, the contents of the Apocrypha include many ridiculous historical anecdotes. There is no way to trace some of the authors or the time and place they were written. For this reason they do not have any canonical value.
