OT281 How We Got the Old Testament
Overview
In this course, ancient-language expert Dr. Mike Heiser gives a thorough background of the Hebrew Bible’s writing, composition, canonicity, and transmission through the ages. This course also surveys text criticism—what are Hebrew scholars today doing with these ancient manuscripts? How does their work affect English translations of the Bible? By understanding criticism, your personal Bible study will be richer, even with little knowledge of the Hebrew language.
Top Highlights
“Now, if we start with the Torah, which is the first five books of the ot, the law—also known as the Pentateuch, again, because there’s five of them—if we start with that, and we assume that Moses wrote the Pentateuch or he at least wrote part of the Pentateuch, then according to biblical chronology, Moses would have lived around 1450 bc. That would sort of be a starting point, the earliest possible point. The last books of the ot are written, finished somewhere around 400 bc. When it comes to the scope of the ot, you’re talking about a timespan of authorship of about a thousand years or a millennium.” (source)
“The oldest examples of writing specifically would be Sumerian (roughly 3300 bc) and Egyptian (roughly 3150 bc), according to scholars.” (source)
“It’s a very clear indication that you have two hands in the text, some sort of editorial activity going on where first person language on Ezekiel’s part is part of the text, and third person language (the result of an editor) is also in the text. If inspiration happens by dictation, none of this makes any sense.” (source)
“With respect to Hebrew, the oldest evidence we have of Hebrew writing is about 1000 bc, and it’s not the biblical material that comes from inscriptions.” (source)
“There are about 1,375 different readings between the Great Isaiah Scroll and the traditional Masoretic Text that we have” (source)
- Title: OT281 How We Got the Old Testament
- Author: Michael S. Heiser
- Series: Logos Mobile Education
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Courseware
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Criticism, textual; Education › Bible. O.T.--Criticism, textual
- Resource ID: LLS:OT281HEISER
- Resource Type: Courseware Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T04:58:02Z
Dr. Michael S. Heiser was a former Scholar-in-Residence for Faithlife Corporation, the makers of Logos Bible Software. He then served as the Executive Director of the Awakening School of Theology and Ministry. His varied academic background enabled him to operate in the realm of critical scholarship and the wider Christian community. His experience in teaching at the undergraduate level and writing for the layperson both directly contributed to Logos’ goal of adapting scholarly tools for nonspecialists.
Dr. Heiser earned his PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages and holds an MA in ancient history and Hebrew studies. He was the coeditor of Old Testament Greek Pseudepigrapha with Morphology and Semitic Inscriptions: Analyzed Texts and English Translations, and he was able to do translation work in roughly a dozen ancient languages, including Biblical Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Ugaritic cuneiform. He specialized in Israelite religion (especially Israel’s divine council), contextualizing biblical theology with Israelite and ancient Near Eastern religion, Jewish binitarianism, biblical languages, ancient Semitic languages, textual criticism, comparative philology, and Second Temple period Jewish literature. In 2007 he was named the Pacific Northwest Regional Scholar by the Society of Biblical Literature.