History of the Bible [pp. 257-261]

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THE LADIES' REPOSITORY.
CINCINNATI, SEPTEMBER, 1844.
Original.
HISTORY OF THE BIBLE.
THE Bible, independently of its religious character, is an interesting book, whether we consider its
antiquity, its origin, its wide circulation, or the
events which it relates and predicts.
Should an individual come among us, claiming
to have lived in this world more than three thousand years-to have had communications with the
Deity, and to have been sent to us to reveal his
will respecting our duty-bringing down to us the
sayings and doings of many of the wisest and
best men that have ever lived-giving us much
information respecting the early ages of our race,
and, indeed, the only information on which we
could confidently rely-I say, should such a man
appear among us, and take up his residence with
us, we should feel a deep interest in him-we
should be curious to know his origin —his education-where he had been-what he had done-in
short, to know his history.
Now, though we are acquainted with no individual of this description, yet we have a book
which does answer to it in several particulars.
Some portions of it are more than three thousand
years old-it claims to be a revelation from Godit contains the only authentic records of the early
history of man, and of the creation of the worldit tells us what wise and good men, in past ages, have
thought, and how they have conducted-it makes
us acquainted with some of the most astonishing
and interesting events that have transpired in the
world. Such a book is the Bible. Independently
of its religious character-considered simply as a
book of high antiquity-regarded merely in a literary point of view-it cannot fail to be interesting to those who are fond of acquiring knowledge.
With these views, I have selected as the subject
of this paper, the "literary history of the Bible."
1. The word Bible, as some of you may know, is
the English form of the Greek word Biblos, which
means book. It is called the Bible, or the book, by
way of eminence, to distinguish it from all other
books, as being infinitely superior to every uninspired production of the human mind. In the same
way, the name Koran is given to the writings of
Mohammed, intimating that they are the chief writings to be read, or, eminently, the reading.
2. The common division of the Bible is into the
Old and New Testament. This word, with us,
means a will, an instrument in writing, by which
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a person declares his will in relation to his property
after his death. This is not, however, its meaning
when applied to the Scriptures. It is taken from
the Greek translation of the Hebrew word meaning covenant, compact, or agreement. The word
is applied to the covenant or compact which God
made with the Jews to be their God; and thus primarily denotes the agreement, the compact, the
promises, the institutions of the old dispensation,
and then the record of that compact in the writings
of Moses and the prophets. The name Old Testament, or old covenant, therefore, denotes the record
of the compact, or institution, made by Jehovah
with his people, or his dispensation under the Jewish economy. The name New Testament denotes
the record of his compact with his people under the
Messiah, or since Christ came. By whom this title
was given is not certainly known; yet it can be
traced back to a very early date-to within two
centuries of the Christian era.
The Jews divided the Old Testament into three
parts-the law, the prophets, and the Hagiographlia,
or holy writings. To this division reference is made
by our Savior in Luke: "All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and
in he prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me."
The law comprised the first five books, called the
Pentateuch-Hagiographia included the Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Solomon's Song; and
the prophets comprised all the rest.
The books of the Old Testament were written
in Hebrew, with the exception of Daniel and some
parts of Ezra, which were written in Chaldee.
The reason of this is, that these books were written after the captivity, during which many of the
Jews had learned, by intercourse with the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, their language.
The books of the New Testament were all written in Greek, except, perhaps, Matthew, whose
Gospel is by some supposed to have been first written in Hebrew, or Syriac, the language then spoken in Judea.
3. It is the testimony of all antiquity, that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, with the
exception of the last chapter of Deuteronomy,
which records his death and burial. That was
probably added by Joshua, his successor. The
Hagiographia, or holy writings, were mostly written by David and Solomon, though several of the
Psalms were composed by other individuals. The
books of the prophets were written by the persons