OLD TESTAMENT AND/ OR NEW TESTAMENT

BIBLE COMMENTARY

To give you a little bit of background on me, In 2000 I started studying to be a Nazarene minister. In the Nazarene church there are three levels you go through before being ordain a pastor of the Nazarene Church. You receive a local license, then with a certain amount of training and schooling you can move up to a District License. Here you remain until you finish all your schooling (most of it was college courses you take) Then you would apply to be a license minister. Between the District license and a license minister which is where I was when I started studying the founding Fathers of the Church.  At this point of studies, I and my family converted to become Catholics.  Around the year 2000 I started a small web page (Christ Is Alive Ministry) www.christisalive.net. God has blessed it and now it is used by people in over 20 different countries and about 1000 hits per month.

The founding fathers of the Church: Ambrose (340–397), Jerome (347–420), Augustine (354–430) and Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540–604) Basil the Great (329–379), Athanasius (296–373), Gregory of Nazianzus (329–389) and John Chrysostom (347–407)

To learn who are the fathers of the church and why do they matter go to 
https://aleteia.org/2018/02/02/who-are-the-fathers-of-the-church-and-why-do-they-matter/

All the books of the bible have human co-authors, God being the main author; however, the author comes up with the narratives of different books of the bible in many ways. From traditions that has come down from ages as old as Israel, snatches of songs relating to people of whom all other trace may have been lost, race memorizes enshrined in languages, tales that were told long ago around a shepherd’s watch-fires. Sacred stories that were center of worship, local traditions, Family history passed from father to son, and many more ways.

As the Word of God, the Bible is correct, however man is not, in many different translations of the bible you will see it totally translated differently, this is the human part that goes into the bible. Each different bible is a little different in wording, but the scripture is the same. Scripture itself is 100 percent true but it isn’t always 100 percent literal.

The answer is that the translators have discovered older Biblical manuscripts and more accurate manuscripts that the translators used for the bible that has them in. With the Bible Scholars researching through these manuscripts, they discovered over the course of 1500 years some words, phrases, and even sentences may of been added to the Bible either intentionally or accidentally. The verses mentioned were simply not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, so they were removed.

During Jesus' ministry there were two different versions of the Old Testament. The Hebrew Old Testament and the Septuagint which was the Old testment translated into Greek.l By the time of Christ the Septuagint was over 200 years old.

Jesus spoke Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic like4 most Judeans. Armaic was a Babylonian trade alnguage widely used in Jesus' day. When Jesus was reading a Hebrew version of the Old Testament when He quated form Isaiah athe beginning of His ministy Luke 4:18-19, Then other times Jesus' words were take directy from the Septagint during His public preaching.

All bibles today are translated as paraphrases. A literal translation from Greek to English would be unintelligable for any one to read and understand. If you translated John 3:16 with out making it a paraphrases it would be" Thus for He-loved God the World that the Son the only-born he gave that every the believing into him not he-might-perish but he-might-have-life e4ternal." (notes from years ago, unknown sorce)

the New American Bible and a few others you will find in some spots that the verse numbers are not in order or that verses are missing.

It is important to remember, however, that the verses in question are of minor significance. None of them change in any way the crucial themes of the Bible, nor do they have any impact on the Bible’s doctrines—Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection,

Christ as the only way of salvation, heaven and hell, sin and redemption, and the nature and character of God. These are preserved intact through the work of the Holy Spirit, who safeguards the Word of God for all generations.

SEPTUAGINT: There were many Greek speaking Jews in Alexandria where the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek. Tradition has it that at Ptolemy, Philadelphus request (285-247 (BC) seventy Jews skillful linguists were sent to Jerusalem, to Egypt to translate the Pentateuch. Then later the rest of the Old Testament books were added, and it was called the "Septuagint" Greek was the most common language used and this was the most common version used in Jesus' day. The New Testament was written in Greek with the Old Testament quotations coming from the Septuagint.

Originally written on skin and copied by hand. Hebrew was written different with it being in square characters from right to left with small dots or signs, variously attached for vowels. The Vowels system was introduced in the six century AD. The ooicial copies being kept in the Temples with many copies being sent to the Synogogs. With the invention of the printering presses the danger of errors were graatly reduced. Then with the results of the Scholars working together to comparing the various manuscripts a recognized Hibrew text known as the Messoretic was reconnized by many of the Scholars.

The Dead Sea Scrolls with the Qumran Caves Scrolls was discovered between 1946 and 1956 are ancient Jewish aand Hebrew religions manuscripts. The Qumran Caves is what was then Palestine near Ein Feahkha in the west bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, The caves the scrolls were found in is located in the Manly cliffs a mile or so west of the northwestern corner of the Dead Sea and the Eastern edge of the Wilderness of Judah.

About eleven caves were found and in cave marked four at least 382 manuscripts were found and about 100 of them are biblical manuscripts. These fragments covered every book of the Old Testament except Ester. Fourteen different manuscripts of Deuteronomy, twelve different manuscripts on Isaiah, ten different manuscripts on Psalms. Great many fragments on book of Daniel changed from Hebrew to Aramaic in Daniel 2:4 and from Aramaic to Hebrew in 7:28 – 8:1 exactly as in the modern texts.

All were unanimously accepted as having come form the 1st Century B.C. and the 1st Century A.D. (Note: Remember that 1st Century A.D.  comes just after 1st Century B.C. 4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4)

Archaeologist have long associated the scrolls with the Essenes, an ancient Jewish sect. Recently interpretation have challenged this and argue that priest in  Zadokites or Jerusalem or some other unknown Jewish groups wrote4 the scrolls. No one knowns for sure who wrote them, but there is three believes and good evidences supporting them.

1. Jewish Sect known as the Essenes.
2. Unknown Jewish Sect living near the Dead Sea.
3. A group of Sadducees.

In February 2017 another cave was found, then in 2021 more caves were found.  Caves found in March 2021 written in Greek from the books of Nahum and Zechariah. A 10,500 year old basket hewn of woven reels, remains of a child wrapped in cloth dated around 6000 years ago, and a cache of coins from the days of the Bar Knoch Ba revolt. These findings are believed to have been placed there between 132 and 136 BC around the time of the revolt.

The official copies being kept in the Temples with many copies being sent to the Synagogue. With the invention of printing the danger of errors was reduced. Then with the results of the work of Scholars in comparing the various manuscripts there is a recognized Hebrew text known as Masoretic.

THE TARGUM: became necessary as the use of Aramaic became prevalent in Palestine. There were Hebrew Old Testament books in oral Translations, periphrasis, Aramaic and interpretations reduced to writings.

The Bible is not a history book or a science book but in a way is both. The biggest mistake people make with the bible is that they take one verse out of the bible and attempt to use it in a way that suite them.

The Old Testament begins with manmade in the image of God (Gen 1:26) and man being defeated by Satan in the garden (Gen 2:8)

The Old Testament was written to tell the story of the Hebrew Nation, telling largely of the events and the exigencies of its own time though the story there runs expectancy with the prevision of the COMING OF THE ONE MAJESTIC PERSON. This person long before their arrival came to be known as the MESSIAH WHO WOULD RULE AND BLESS THE WHOLE WORLD.

Held by many old Earth creationists is “the day-age theory” which is when people believe the days of creation were prolonged periods of time, each on lasting tens of thousands of years.

Held by the Young Earth Creationists is that God in six literal days created the Earth.

In short, the Old Testament, especially the books of Kings, prophetic writings are a constant reminder that the afflictions of Israel are results of their doing by turning away from God.

ASSYRIA: was a World-power 900-607 BC and occupied the North part of the Valley;                                                     
BABYLON: was a world power 606-536 BC and occupied the South part of the Valley;                                                        
PERSIA: was a world power 536-330 BC and occupied the East boundary of the Valley;                                                  
EGYPT: was a world power 1900-1200 BC                                                                                                                                  
ISRAEL: was nurtured by Egypt in the day of Egypt's power.  
Egypt power was destroyed by Assyria and Babylon. 

The two principal centers of population in the ancient world were the Euphrates Valley and Egypt with Canaan as a highway between the two.
THE ERIDU REGION: The region around Eridu was a region that centuries dominating center of the World.

Four distinct stages may be recognized in the O.T. religious development reflected

(1) THE NOMACIC STAGE, age of origins and small beginnings,
(2) THE AGRICULTURAL STAGE experienced a syncretism of the nomadic religion with elements contributed by the earlier inhabitants of Palestine. Palestine had already attained to an agricultural mode of life.
(3) THE PROPHETIC STAGE: created by the strange mixture of Canaanitic and Hebrew religion and the increasingly complex general culture, raised the religion to a very high level of spiritual and ethical appreciation and emphasis:
(4) LEGALISTIC STAGE: It sought to preserve and protect the gains of the past by emphasizing implicit obedience to formal law and the painstaking observance and use of religious forms and institutions.

In the Hebrew Old Testament 1st and 2nd Kings was one book. The Septuagint translators divided them. They cover a period of 400 years approximately 1000 to 600 B.C. 1st Kings open with the Hebrew nation in its glory and with 2nd Kings closes with the nation in ruins.

IMPORTANT OLD TESTAMENT EVENTS

Mighty World Flood (Gen 6:8)
First Human government (Gen 9:1-19)
The fall of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9)
Conversion and call of Abraham (Gen 12:1-3)
Giving of the Abraham Covenant (Gen 12:7 ; 13:14-17 ; 15:1-21)
Abraham's marriage to Hager (Gen 16:1-16)
Isaac;s birth (Gen 21:1-8)
Jacob's flight (Gen 28)
Joseph being sold into Egyptian Slavery (Gen 37)
The enslavement of Israel in Egypt (Ex 1)
The Call of Moses (Ex 3:1-10)
The ten plagues (Ex 7-12)
The Passover institution (Ex 12)
The Glory Cloud's appearance (Ex 13:21-22)
The Crossing of the Red Sea (Ex 14)
The giving of the Manna (Ex 16:4)
The institution of the Sabbath (Ex 16:29)
The giving of the Law (Ex 20:1-17)
The Tabernacle is completed. (Ex 40:33-34)
Aaron is anointed (Lev 8:1-12)
The unbelief at Kadesh-Barnea (Num 14)
Joshua & children of Israel crossed over, Jordan River into Palestine (Josh 3)
The falling of Jericho (Josh 6)
The death of Joshua (Josh 24:29)
The Marriage of Ruth to Boaz (Ruth 4)
The Philistines capturing the Ark (1st Sam 4)
The Israel rejection of Samuel (1st Sam 8:1-9)
Saul being anointed (1st Sam 9, 10)
Saul being rejected (1st Sam 15:23)
David being anointed (1st Sam 16:13)
David capturing of Jerusalem (2nd Sam 5:9)
David recovering the Ark (2nd Sam 6:15-16)
The giving of the Davidic Covenant (2nd Sam 7:8-17)
Solomon being anointed (1st King 1:39)
Solomon's Temple is completed (1st King 6:38)
The Israeli Civil War (1st King 12)
The deliverance of Josh from murderous Queen Ahaziah (2nd Chronicles 22:10-12)
The Northern Kingdom Assyrian Captivity (2nd Kings 17:6)
The deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrians (2nd Kings_19_:_32_35)
Josiah's Death (2nd Kings 23:29-30)
The Glory Cloud's Departure (Ezek 10:18)
The destruction of the Temple of Solomon (2nd King 25:8-9)
The Babylonian captivity of the Southern Kingdom (2nd Kings 25:11)
The return under Cyrus' decree (Ezra 1)
The completion of the new temple under Zerubbabel (Ezra 3)
The salvation of the Jews by Esther (Est 4-7)

THE PENTATEUCH, OR THE LAW

THE APOCRYPHA

THE BOOKS OF WISDOM WRITING

THE BOOKS OF MAJOR PROPHETS

THE BOOKS OF MINOR PROPHETS

Apocrypha

A selection of books which were published in the original 1611 King James Bible and then removed by some are called the "Apocrypha" As part of the King James for 274 years it was positioned between the Old and New Testament before being removed in 1885 A.D. Called by the Catholic Church, a portion of these books were called deuterocanonical books.

Dead Sea Scrolls fragments dating back to before 70 A. D. contained parts of the apocrypha books in Hebrew, including Tobit and Sirach.

Martin Luther stated that "Apocrypha--books which are not regarded as equal to the Holy Scriptures, are yet profitable and good to read.

Genesis is 300 years before Moses so Moses could only get the information from God or from historical records handed down. Genesis is a story of the pre-Israelite’s world Genesis can be broken into two sections:

1. Chapter 1 to 11 contains the ancient general history The ancient history which covers the first 2000 years of man's history from the creation of man to the settlement of God's chosen People in Egypt.
2. Chapter 12 to 50 contains the stories of the Hebrew Patriarch ADAM (Gen 1:1-26) Earth's first human appointed   head of all earthly creation.

   How you write the word God and Lord makes it a big different. If you spell god with all lower caps, it stand for things made from clay, mud, iron or anything that you which to place the word god on.
When you spell God with the first letter Capital it is the name of God the Father, “Jehovah, God or Gods.”  
With the word lord how, you capitalize the letters changes the meaning of the word. Lord with all lower cap letters, means many things, Landlord, lord of this or that, meaning someone who is in charge of something or place.
Lord with the first letter in upper cap is idolized and it means “Adonai” meaning Master in Hebrew. It should not be used as a general term because it is the proper name of God.
If you use all caps in the word LORD, it is still another meaning. LORD in all caps represents an ancient Hebrew spelling of “YHWH”. When pronounced it sounds like “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” because it contains no vowels. GENESIS 1:4; 10; 12; 18; 21; 25; 31

"Even today archaeology find evidence that the original religion of Egypt was a belief in one God and the words I "JAHWE (JOHOVAL) IS GOD" on tablets dated before Abraham was found in the ruins of Babylon, Nineveh, Nippur, and Ashur are "EPICS OF CREATION" story striking similar to Genesis. The seven tablets states that on the seventh Day God rested to show that we are to cease from all our business and rest and worship him. (EPICS OF CREATION www.scred-texts.com)

GOD THE SON, JESUS IN OLD TESTAMENT?           YES   

You can find Jesus in Every Book of the Old Testament. The following list is from: https://www.christrevealed.com/finding-jesus-in-every-book-of-the-old-testament/

Genesis – He is the offspring of woman who will crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15)
Exodus – He is the lamb of God without blemish (Exodus 12)
Leviticus – He is our high priest (Leviticus 21:11-12)
Numbers – He is the one who is lifted up in the wilderness of sin (Numbers 21:9)
Deuteronomy – He is the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18)
Joshua – He is the one who will lead the people into the land of rest (Joshua 1)
Judges – He is God’s appointed deliverer  (Entire context of the book)
Ruth – He is our kinsman redeemer (Ruth 4:1-12)
1 Samuel – He is God, rejected as the king (1 Samuel 8:7 )
2 Samuel – He is the heir of David’s throne (2 Sam 5:4)
1 Kings – He is the one who is greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42)
2 Kings – He is the one like Elijah, not accepted in his own country  (Luke 4:24)
1 Chronicles – He is the “son of David” (Matthew 22:41-46)
2 Chronicles – He is the only perfect king (Entire context of the book)
Ezra – He is the divine temple rebuilder (Ezra 3-5, John 2:19)
Nehemiah – He is the guide of the remnant of God’s people (Nehemiah 1:3; 2:5)
Esther – He is our providential protector (Esther 4:14)
Job – He is our advocate to plead our case to God, and the redeemer (Job 9:33)
Psalm – He is the one who is crucified, but not left in Hades (Psalm 16:10)
Proverbs – He is the wisdom of God, and the founder of the Earth (Proverbs 9:10)
Ecclesiastes – He is the one who will bring everything into judgement (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
Song of Solomon – He is the best example we have of true love (Entire context of the book)
Hosea – He is the forgiving and redeeming husband to the unfaithful wife (Hosea 1:2)
Joel – He is the savior of those who call on God (Joel 2:32)
Amos – He is the rescuer of Judah (Entire context of the book)
Obadiah – He is the deliverer of Mount Zion (Obadiah 1:17)
Isaiah – He is the virgin-born suffering servant (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 53)    
Jeremiah – He is the branch (Jeremiah 23:5)  
Lamentations – He is the man of sorrows who weeps over Jerusalem (Entire context of the book) 
Ezekiel – He is God’s servant and God’s prince (Ezekiel 34:23-24) 
Daniel – He is king over the kingdom that will never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44)  
 Micah – He is the blessing of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) 
Nahum – He is the stronghold in the day of wrath (Nahum 1:7) 
Habakkuk – He is the justifier of those who live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4) 
Zephaniah – He is the channel through whom all nations can worship (Zephaniah 3) 
Haggai–He is the shaker of heaven and earth whose kingdom can never be shaken (Haggai 2:6)  
Zechariah – He is the one betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12- 13)  
Malachi – He is the one whose forerunner is Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6)

In verse 28 chapter 1 “have dominion over the fish of the Sea, and over the fowl of the Air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
God gives Adam dominion over the fish of the sea; the question is how would he have dominion over the fish?
Now the word dominion means “the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority or rule; control; domination.” 
I believe Adam was able to communicate with the animals with his mind.

IMPORTANT OLD TESTAMENT EVENTS IN GENESIS

CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE ( Gen 1:26-27 , 2:7 ; 21-22 )
THE DEATH OF MOSES ( Deut 34: 5-8 ) Institution of Marriage (Gen 2:23-25)

“The Battle for the Original Text. It has been a hard and long fight to get back Erasmus’ late and imperfect text to a text closer to that of the first century. Even Bengel in 1734 published the Textus Receptus because the publisher and the public would not accept a corrected text. It was not till the time of Griesbach (1744-1777) that the revolt against the work of Erasmus took shape in a way that counted. Griesbach published his Greek N.T. with a critical apparatus that gave scholars an instrument with which to work.

He went back behind the printed Greek Testaments to the MSS, which he divided into three families: (1) the Byzantine or Constantinopolitan (the text of Erasmus) (2) the Western type found in D and the Latin Versions; and (3) the Alexandrian as seen in A, B, C, L. The tide began to turn. Lachmann (1842-50) was brave enough to publish his own text with variations of the Textus Receptus at the end. This great innovation bore fruit. His idea was to restore the text of the oldest MSS. Tregelles (1857-1879) carried on the work by showing what was the oldest type of text, not merely that of old MSS. Tischendorf (1864-1872) gave a fuller apparatus than Tregelles, but to the great loss of scholarship Caspar Rene Gregory a famous German specialist in the Greek text, waws killed in the Great war without bringing Tischendorf up to date. None of the important new discoveries since 1872 are noted in Tischendorf.

It is Westcott and Hort (1881) who have shown modern scholars how to find the best text. They worked out a reliable theory for using the vast mass of MS. Evidence for the N.T. books. There are, they said, two lines of evidence, internal and external. The internal evidence of single readings consist of transcriptional b looks at the problem of variations in a given passage or reading from the standpoint of  the copyist or scribe. Intrinsic evidence looks at it from the standpoint of the author. By study and care one is able to weigh the evidence in each single reading and to draw a tentative conclusion. By a like process, one may test a whole document when each single reading in the document has been duly weighted.

Then a group of documents can likewise be weighed. Last and most important of all, the several families or class of documents can be tested. Westcott and Hort find four families of documents or MSS.  (1) The Syrian (like the Byzantine of Griesbach) is found in the late documents only, and when standing alone is wrong. (2) The Western (same term as that used by Griesbach) appears in early documents like D, Old Latin, and Old Syriac, and is not always geographically, “Western.” (3) The Neutral is represented by the oldest and best documents, like N, A, B, C, Bohairic and Sahidie (4) The Alexandrian has no document always Alexandrian; it is often found in N, C, L, and represents scholarly corrections of limited range. Streeter in his Four Gospels prefers the term “Byzantine” to “Syrian”; he makes Alexandrian include Neutral, and he divides the Wester into Eastern  and Western, all of which is plausible. He argues, however, for a further division of Eastern into Antiochian and Caesarean, which is less probable. Von Soden has his own way of reaching very much the same result as Westcott and Hort by a much more complicated system. The method of Westcott still holds the field as scholars endeavor to feel their way back to the first-century MSS. (For a full statement of Westcott and Hort’s principles for arriving at the correct reading, see the Appendix to their Greek N.T.) by THE TRANSMISSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT by Professor A. T. Robertson

MANUSCRIPT;  Handwritten documents from the Earliest Christians to the Printer press. Manuscript are divided into minuscules or cursives and uncials. Minuscules or cursives are normally written in lower caps or small letters and joined together. The Uncials were     written in upper caps or large letters with each letter being separated.

Papyrus, a material obtained from a reed was used for the earliest manuscript. Long ones were rolled however over time only pieces survived.

About the fourth century. The papyrus was replace by vellum or parchment (skin from trees) Whit this it made it possible for the codex (plural codices) A book that was formed by placing separate leaves together.

A version was a part of or the whole translation of the New Testament  into another language.

The Syriae was one of the most important early versions of which there were several. The Syriac New Testament as we know it today is an early translation of the Greek text back into Syriac, the Aramaic dialect of Edessa (Modern Urfa in Southeast Turkey)

Made by Jerome in the fourth century was the Latin Vulgate which included the Old Testament.

With the age of printing the Nazarin Bible 1455 AD was the first Book printed.

The edition of Ximenes was the first Greek N. t. printed in 1544 but was not published actually until 1522.

Erasmus in 1516 was the first Greek N.T. to be published

CHAPTER 3 THE FALL OF MAN
The fall of man is when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden by eating of the forbidden fruit. Versus 6 chapter 3. God being sovereign, not confined to time, and can see the beginning to the end knew this was going to take place.

I look at it like a long privacy fence where we are standing on one side looking through a knot hole in the fence. We can only see a small part of the parade. The parade being time, as God is sitting on top of the fence, also being the maker of the parade and can see the beginning, and the end of the parade or time itself.

Promise of the Redeemer (Gen 3:15)
Mighty World Flood (Gen 6:8)

Conversion and call of Abraham (Gen 12:1-3)
Giving of the Abraham Covenant (Gen 12:7 ; 13:14-17 ; 15:1-21)
Abraham's marriage to Hager (Gen 16:1-16)
Isaac;s birth (Gen 21:1-8)
Jacob's flight (Gen 28)
Joseph being sold into Egyptian Slavery (Gen 37)

EPHESIANS AND COLOSSIANS covers the doctrine of the Doctrine of the Church

updated 29 March 2023

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