Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mike@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Michael I. Bushnell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: sidelight on inspiration of Scripture Message-ID: Date: 15 Jan 90 08:43:10 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of No Money, Albuquerque, New Mexico Lines: 38 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article our moderator writes: >[In the OT, even book divisions aren't always significant. E.g. the >division between I and II Kings is almost certainly just because the >whole thing wouldn't fit on one scroll. This may even be the case >with Genesis and Exodus, etc. --clh] The Jewish tradition is precisely that Kings is *one* book. Same with Chronicles, and Samuel. Ezra and Nehemiah seem to have been split similarly, though for different reasons (they aren't nearly as long). But there is little possibility that Genesis and Exodus were so split. The term "pentateuch" is quite ancient, and I doubt is was originally a quadrateuch. The text has very obvious divisions in content between the books, so I don't think they were split that way. Ezra and Nehemiah have such divisions, but there they are largely superficial, perhaps added later in order to explain the different names. In the septuagint, they are I Esdras and II Esdras respectively, so the names aren't quite as old. In fact, when deciding what is and isn't sacred scripture, remember that the titles aren't either. The titles are church/Jewish tradition, but not part of the books. Note in particular that "A Letter to Hebrews" doesn't look like a letter, and doesn't say anything pertaining to Jewish Christians in particular. There is, in fact, no reason to suppose it was a letter at all. The same applies to books such as "The Gospel According to XXX", in which the authorship is indicated *only* in the title, not the text. -- Michael I. Bushnell \ This above all; to thine own self be true LIBERTE, EGALITE, FRATERNITE \ And it must follow, as the night the day, mike@unmvax.cs.unm.edu /\ Thou canst not be false to any man. Telephone: +1 505 242 2329 / \ Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!