TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH'S DAILY SCRIPTURE DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2014 "How the OT was formed"

TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH'S DAILY SCRIPTURE DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2014 "How the OT was formed"
"... as it is written in the Book of Jashar."  (Joshua 10:13).
People often ask me:  "How did the Bible come to be?"  It's a complex question and answer, but for today I'll just share that we believe that a lot of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible was originally in the form of oral tradition, with people in that non-literate culture having powerful and long memories of things spoken.  In addition, things were recorded in various "books" or scrolls, such as the "Book of Jashar" above, as well as other such books, mentioned and unmentioned.  During the time of the first exile of 587 - 520 BC, Israel became acutely aware that their identity as a people could easily be lost (their main city - Jerusalem - had been destroyed, along with their center of worship, the temple, and now they were in Babylon, a foreign and hostile area, with little hope of returning home.  So, they did what many people do in their elder years: they did genealogy; well, they did far more than that: they collected their sacred texts, written and oral and put them into what is now the Hebrew Bible/OT.
So, the OT we have today, came into most of its written form in this era of 580 - 520 BC, with some additional parts and edits added later.  Does that mean that those stories of much earlier times are unreliable?  No, because of the power of oral tradition and other ancient sources like the "Book of Jashar."  I hope this helps.  Dan
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