• Internal Records of the OT’s Origins
• Evidences within the Torah
• Evidences within the Former Prophets
• Evidences within the Latter Prophets
• Evidences within the Writings
• What do we make of all these?
• The Origins of Human-Divine Partnership
• Questions

Internal Records of the OT’s Origins

At this point, it is necessary to recall the 3-part collection we discussed previously

Evidences within the Torah

Victory over Amalek

The first mention. of the Bible being written in the Bible is found in Exodus

Too long, please open your Bible Exodus 17: 8-9, 14

God had just given His redeemed people victory over Amalek, and Moses was instructed by God to write the events of that battle on a scroll as a reminder for Joshua (and by extension the rest of the people). The first record of scripture being written was to tell the story of how God delivers His people.

Terms of the covenant

Next, we have Moses recording the terms of God’s covenant with His people.

Moses came and told the people all the commands of the LORD and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has commanded.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. Exodus 24: 3-4

Moses had earlier received 10 commandments and another 42 (the number eventually grew to 613), so he wrote these 52 terms on a scroll. This helps us see scripture as a covenant story.

Prophetic witness

Too long, please open your Bible Deuteronomy 31: 19, 22, 24-26

God’s people had spent 40 years in the wilderness, doing the exact opposite of what they committed to at the inauguration of the covenant. Moses then wrote a song that critiqued the people, but also comforted them that God would not abandon His promise to them, and to the rest of the world.

Evidences within the Former Prophets

Moses and many of the prophets and scribes after him collected narratives, poems and laws, and composed them to form one coherent narrative. The authors at least 40 times named their sources.

Therefore it is stated in the Book of the LORD’s Wars: Waheb in Suphah and the ravines of the Arnon, even the slopes of the ravines that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab. Numbers 21:14

So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. Joshua 10:13

The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written in the Book of Solomon’s Events. 1 Kings 11:41

Evidences within the Latter Prophets

One would have imagined that the prophets just sat and wrote as they heard God dictate the words to them, but that’s not entirely true. The prophets collected their materials and committed them to scribes and their disciples/students who formed them into latter editions till we have the version(s) that have endured until now.

Too long, please open your Bible Isaiah 8: 1-4, 16-18 (NASB)

Too long, please open your Bible Jeremiah 36: 1-4, 32

Evidences within the Writings

A number of books of the Old Testament open with the name of a person associated with the writing of the book. However, we see that within those books, we also have contributions of other authors.

Too long, please open your Bible Proverbs 1:1, 22:17, 25:1, 30:1, 31:1

The book of Proverbs starts with Solomon’s wisdom, but goes through the process of editing and shaping till we reach the final form which we have today.

What do we make of all these?

When Jesus showed up, He validated the Old Testament, and said it all testified of Him.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me John 5:39

Furthermore, the resurrection is also a validation of the Old Testament.

Too long, please open your Bible Luke 24: 25-26, 44

For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

When we say that scripture is inspired, what we are acknowledging is that God was at work all through the 1,500 year history of the making of the Old Testament, working through all the human activity to birth the scriptures we have today.

Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1: 20-21

The Origins of Human-Divine Partnership

Too long, please open your Bible Genesis 2: 4-7, 15

In Genesis, we saw God create a world which He judged as very good. Creation however was to be nurtured and God decided that He would work with/through humanity to steward creation well. Humanity’s stewardship was participation in the divine act of creation. In humanity’s day-to-day tilling, planting and harvesting, God’s will would be done, and His good world would flourish. This is the first portrait of human-divine partnership that we have in scripture.

Throughout scripture, we see God working on earth through active, conscious, Spirit-empowered individuals like David, Moses, Solomon, e.t.c. The fact that God is working doesn’t diminish human agency, and human involvement does not nullify divine activity. We see this partnership at play in the making of scripture.

Questions

If you have questions, please ask them here.