Three central ideas of the Bible, part 1
Date
539BCE
539–332 BCE
The Bible moves from the God who created all peoples to his relationship with Israel, and the problem that occupies it is how to sustain the bond sealed at Sinai.
Sourced narrative
Each block is a verifiable statement. The number opens the cited page; amber or coral blocks flag tradition or contested interpretation.
8 statements
01One God, one people
The Bible begins with God as creator of all the world's peoples but soon narrows to his relationship with Israel, a people favored as a 'treasured possession' (Exodus 19:5), with blessings and protection but also responsibilities that set it apart from others. Why God chooses the Israelites is never made clear.
The biblical writers are wary of outsiders, above all the Canaanites, whom they tie to idol worship and sexual offenses, yet Israel's own forebears hardly behave well: Jacob tricks his way to his father's blessing, Joseph's jealous brothers sell him into slavery, and the Israelites leaving Egypt turn out disobedient and disloyal.
Tradition or narrative
In spite of all this, God picks them out for favor. He promises Abraham a multitude of descendants and the land of Canaan; he rescues the Israelites from Egyptian slavery; he shields them in the desert against hunger and foes; at Mount Sinai he discloses himself through Moses and instructs them to make a mobile sanctuary where he can dwell among them; and after four decades of wandering he lets them go into Canaan, a 'land of milk and honey'.
02Sinai
Tradition or narrative
What most occupies the Hebrew Bible is the question of how to keep up the unique bond with God formed at Sinai. The Five Books call that bond a covenant, a freely accepted agreement tying God and Israel to duties toward each other. Its roots reach back to Noah and Abraham, each of whom has a covenant with God, but the Torah mostly deals with the Sinai covenant, brokered by Moses, whose terms are the laws of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Tradition or narrative
The Sinai covenant is of immense importance for Jewish religious life and thought: its obligations set the ground rules for Israelite society in Canaan (dealings with neighbors, slaves, enemies, criminals and those living among them) and, no less, the framework of the ongoing relationship with God, that is, how to approach him and keep his support through sacrifices.
Tradition or narrative
The commandments are wide in scope. They include directions for constructing the Tabernacle, where God was believed to be present, rules about the Sabbath and other holy days, prohibitions on foods and sexual conduct, and laws for running the courts and caring for the needy. Observing them was vital to the tie with God: it gave Israel title to Canaan and guaranteed, or brought back, divine protection.
Even now, the revelation at Sinai and the covenant sealed there are the moments that define how Jews relate to God, and for Jews they matter as much as the crucifixion does for Christians.
Context
Some biblical texts were composed before the Exile, but much of the Bible took shape in the Persian age. It was then that reading the Bible began to weigh on Jewish identity, an influence that endures wherever Jews still read it for clues about where they come from and how to live.
§ 04Network
Connections
§ 05Bibliography
Further reading
Michael Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
Introduction to the contents of the Hebrew Bible · recommended in Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 60
§ 06Apparatus
Sources on this page
- 01Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54inspect
- 02Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54inspect
- 03Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54inspect
- 04Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54inspect
- 05Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 54; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 55inspect
- 06Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 55inspect
- 07Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 55inspect
- 08Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 34; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 34inspect
- Documented evidenceAttested by contemporary evidence: texts, inscriptions, coins, papyri or archaeology.
- Scholarly reconstructionHistorians' inference from indirect evidence.
- Tradition or narrativeA literary, traditional or religious account; significant in itself, but not independently verified.
- Contested interpretationScholars explicitly disagree; see the positions in the debate.
- Illustrative reconstructionA hypothesis or visual scheme to guide reading; not a historical claim.