It is briefly impossible to answer the question of what the Bible is. In the 3rd century BC King of Egypt Ptolemy wanted to have a Greek translation of the Bible in the Alexandria Library. But 72 translators sent from Judea did not know what to translate. And they clarified this with the following fact. There are several levels of text in the Hebrew text of the Bible. First, words are read, then certain letters are counted: each 7, then each 10, each 50. And a new text is obtained, which serves as an interpretation to the previous one. Ptolemy ordered to translate just the main text. So the Septuagint was born - the translation of the Old Testament books into the ancient Greek language. But this is only the story of the Bible. And if you look from a worldly point of view, the question of what the Bible has is a direct answer: the Bible is a collection of books that are divided into 2 parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament texts written before the coming of Christ can be divided into four groups:
- books of laws;
- historical books;
- educational books;
- books of prophecy.
The books of laws (the law in Hebrew - “Torah”) are called the Pentateuch of Moses in a different way, and they consist of the following books:
- Genesis - tells about the creation of the world and man, about the omnipotence of God, his wisdom and great love, the manifestation of which was the creation of man in his own image. Genesis describes the greatest tragedy - the fall of man and his expulsion from paradise.
- Exodus - talks about the resettlement of Jews from Egypt. The heart of this book is the greatest event - the Sinai revelation. This is a story of how Moses received the 10 commandments from God.
- Leviticus is a book about the Old Testament clergy.
- Numbers - tells about the number of tribes of Israel, and also continues the description of the wanderings of Jews in the desert.
- Deuteronomy - Moses repeating the commandments of a new generation born at the time of the exodus.
To summarize, let us say that in the books of the law God taught people the law of truth in order to prepare them for the adoption of the law of love that Christ will bring.
Historical books include:
- The book of Joshua - tells of the conquest of the promised land.
- Judges of Israel - covers the period from the conquest of Canaan to the appearance of royal authority. For at that time the Jews had the only theocratic state in the world.
- Ruth is an addition to the previous book, with an emphasis on the biography of ordinary people.
- Kings Book (1-4) - describes the historical gap between the reign of King Saul and the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
- Chronicles is an addition to the previous book.
- The first book of Ezra - contains a detailed description of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, as well as the construction of the 2nd temple.
- The book of Nehemiah - complements the previous book and reveals the details of the spiritual rebirth of the Jewish people.
- Esther - this book tells about the origins of the Jewish holiday of Purim.
The general outline of these books makes the Creator's providence in the events of history and the active participation of God in human life accessible for understanding. From his philanthropy, the Lord seeks to correct the sinful nature of man, to turn him away from serving idols and to turn to himself.
Teaching books are essentially edifying texts. They teach a person how to relate to the events of everyday life, without losing sight of God and his commandments:
- The book of Job describes the life of the great Old Testament righteous Job.
- Books of Solomon - give us a poetic prototype of the church as the bride of Christ.
- The Psalter is a special part of the Old Testament texts. In the old days in Russia, the alphabet was taught by it. This is an invaluable source of prayer, and each service is full of prayers from this book. But most importantly, the Psalter is replete with vivid prophecies about Christ.
Prophetic books are the books of four great prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. As well as twelve other minor prophets. Almost all major prophecies were somehow related to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Additionally, noncanonical texts should be mentioned. They are considered as such because they have not been preserved in the Jewish original. Among them are the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, the Book of the wisdom of Solomon, Tobit and some others. These books were not included in the Canon, but are included in the Septuagint as useful and instructive. Of course, the division into groups is conditional. There are many historical facts in prophetic books, and there are prophecies in historical books.
The part of the Holy Scripture that was written after the birth of Christ is called the New Testament and is entirely devoted to one key topic and one exceptional person - Jesus Christ, who is both perfect kindness and perfect novelty in the history of mankind. We can say that the New Testament is one great book, which, in turn, consists of 27 books. Of course, judging not by volume, but by degree of importance. The basis of the New Testament texts is 4 Gospels:
- from Matthew;
- from Mark;
- from Luke;
- from John.
The gospel translated from Greek means "Good News." And Christ himself brought this message, and this message is Christ. The Gospel speaks of the divine origin of Christ, his miraculous birth from a virgin, extraordinary wisdom, cross suffering, death, his glorious resurrection and ascension to heaven. In relation to the rest of the New Testament books, the Gospel is a book of basic truths.
The acts of the Holy Apostles can be attributed to the historical books of the New Testament. This book tells about the life of the first Christian communities, apostolic sermons. Also included in the New Testament texts are 21 epistles of St. Apostles. They are a statement of the basic truths of Christian doctrine.
Among all the New Testament books, there is one special one - the Apocalypse. This Greek word means "revelation." From this book we learn about the future fate of the church and the world, the hard struggle of the church against all the fiends of hell, the end of history, the triumph of Jesus Christ and the victory of the lamb of God over the forces of darkness.
This is what the Orthodox Bible consists of and how it is interpreted. But this does not give a definitive answer to the question of what the Bible is. According to the Apostle Paul, if a person reads the Bible and does not believe in Christ, then his mind is blinded, and a veil lies on his mind. Until now, the Jews, reading the Bible, understand only the words, but not the meaning of the scripture itself. It must be clarified that by Jews Paul meant people who did not believe in Christ as the son of God.
About 200 years ago, St. Seraphim of Sarov answered in approximately the same way the question of what the Bible is: the Bible is a book of God-inspired reading which you can talk with God. If you read the Old Testament, then you are talking to God, and if you are reading the Gospel, then the Lord is talking to you. If a person reads the entire Bible with attention, the Lord will not abandon this feat and reward this ascetic with the gift of understanding.
So many years have passed, but no one has denied the words of the holy elder. Maybe this is so?