Chapter One - Intro and Prologue to the Torah

Question 1

What is Tanak?

Answer 1

The Hebrew names for these subcollections are Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim. Taking the first letter of each of these three words and inserting the vowel a, the Jewish community gave its Bible the name Tanak.

Question 2

What is difference between OT and Hebrew Bible?

Answer 2

The Jewish Bible, also called the Hebrew Bible, contains the same books as the Old Testament of the Protestant Christian Bible, but they organize the books in significantly different ways.

Hebrew Bible is commonly used to refer to the Old Testament even outside Jewish circles, especially because of its nonsectarian character, whereas the term Old Testament is undeniably Christian.

Question 3

What is canon?

Answer 3

An authoritative or authorized collection of materials.

Question 4

What is LXX/Septuagint/Apocrypha?

Answer 4

The additional materials—some complete books, others just appendixes—are known as the Apocrypha.

They are accepted as part of Holy Scripture by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The Greek canon, which includes the Apocrypha, is called the Septuagint (often abbreviated by Roman numerals LXX, referring to the seventy-plus Jewish elders who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek).

Question 5

Difference between dynamic equivalence and more literal interpretation

Answer 5

The original text or translate biblical notions and metaphors into modern ones using the translation practice known as dynamic equivalence.

Literal interpretation is the original text.

Question 6

Ancestral covenant

Answer 6

Through Abraham, recorded in Genesis 17, is more restricted, being tribal in scope. In this covenant, God assures the ancestral family that it will become a nation under his care and protection.

Question 7

Anthropomorphism

Answer 7

deity as having human characteristics

Question 8

Covenant

Answer 8

A binding relationship between God and the earth.

Question 9

Deuteronomic source

Answer 9

The book that Hilkiah found in the temple and presented to Josiah in 622 BCE.

Question 10

Documentary hypothesis

Answer 10

Attempts to rationally explain how the various materials came together.

Question 11

Elohim

Answer 11

God

Question 12

Elohist source

Answer 12

Written after the Yahwist source and was composed in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 800s or early 700s BCE by a priest. The Elohist source gets its name from its use of the Hebrew word elohim to refer to the deity.

Question 13

Five Books of Moses

Answer 13

The Torah corpus can also be referred to as the Five Books of Moses because the traditional view held that in addition to being the central figure in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, he was also responsible for writing the Torah books.

Question 14

Historicity

Answer 14

Uncertainties regarding biblical chronology and the question of the very existence of the early figures of biblical history. Readers may want to know if the events described in the Torah—and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for that matter—are fictional or true.

Question 15

Pentateuch

Answer 15

This is a term derived from the Greek word for ‘‘five scroll jars,’’ which then came to designate the five scrolls themselves.

Question 16

Priestly document

Answer 16

Last of the four great Pentateuchal documents.

Question 17

Source analysis

Answer 17

source criticism

Question 18

Tetrateuch

Answer 18

The first was constituted by JEP and consists of Genesis through Numbers. Scholars call this the Tetrateuch (on analogy with the term Pentateuch)—a set of four books.

Question 19

Torah

Answer 19

Oral instruction and teaching of various kinds, often delivered by priests and other community leaders.

Question 20

Yahweh (YHWH)

Answer 20

The Lord

Question 21

Yahwist

Answer 21

narrative dated to the 900s or 800s BCE,

Question 22

Yahwist narrative

Answer 22

It got this name because it uses the divine name YHWH to refer to God. Its story line formed the backbone of the Torah narrative with the other sources building upon it. The Yahwist narrative is sometimes considered an epic because with broad historical scope it tells the story of how humankind developed and how one branch became the people of God.

Question 23

Torah / Books of Moses / Books of the Law / Pentateuch

Answer 23

Torah - The term Torah has a variety of meanings and possible connotations. It can refer to the T part of the Tanak. But it can also have a much broader meaning. In early biblical tradition, torah primarily designated oral instruction and teaching of various kinds, often delivered by priests and other community leaders. According to Schniedewind (2004), oral torah came to be written down relatively late in biblical history, and from then on it became Torah with a capital T, designating a corpus of documents.

Books of Moses - The Torah corpus can also be referred to as the Five Books of Moses because the traditional view, examined later in this prologue, held that in addition to being the central figure in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, he was also responsible for writing the Torah books.

Pentateuch - the set of books that includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, many modern readers tend to call it the Pentateuch. This is a term derived from the Greek word for ‘‘five scroll jars,’’ which then came to designate the five scrolls themselves.

Question 24

Documentary Hypothesis (DH)

Answer 24

This theory posits the existence of a collection of written documents that preceded the Torah as we now have it and served as the basis for it. These documents are hypothetical in the sense that they are reconstructions done by biblical scholars, and they do not physically exist today. Scholars developed this theory as a way to account for the many inconsistencies and irregularities they observe in the Torah.

Question 25

Tetragrammaton (YHWH)

Answer 25

The sacred name of God in the Hebrew Bible; also known as the tetragrammaton. Because Hebrew was written without vowels in ancient times, the four consonants YHWH contain no clue to their original pronunciation; they are generally rendered YHWH in contemporary scholarship. In traditional Judaism, the name is not pronounced, but Adonay (‘‘Lord’’) or something similar is substituted

Question 26

J

Answer 26

Yahwist Source
Abbreviation: J
Date BCE: 900s 
Location: Judah 
Divine Designation: YHWH

Question 27

E

Answer 27

Elohist Source
Abbreviation: E
Date BCE: 800s - 700s 
Location: Israel 
Divine Designation: Elohim, El, YHWH beginning with Moses

Question 28

D

Answer 28

Deuteronomic Source
Abbreviation: D
Date BCE: 600s
Location: Judah 
Divine Designation: YHWH

Question 29

P

Answer 29

Priestly Source
Abbreviation: P
Date BCE: 500-400s
Location: Judah or Exile
Divine Designation: Elohim (primeval story) El Shaddai (ancestral story) YHWH (Israel)

Question 30

Importance of covenant as a concept in the OT

Answer 30

In addition, the Priestly writer employed a series of covenants to add theological structure to Israel’s relationship with God and a macrostructure organization to history.

Question 31

Tetrateuch (1st four books)

Answer 31

Consists of Genesis through Numbers. Scholars call this the Tetrateuch (on analogy with the term Pentateuch)—a set of four books. The Tetrateuch covered the early history of the nation from creation to conquest.

Question 32

Deuteronomistic History

Answer 32

Deuteronomy through Kings. The Deuteronomistic history told the story of the rise and fall of Israel, from conquest to exile. Each collection has its own integrity and perspective.

Question 33

The hypothesis that there are four main traditions or sources in the Torah is known as the:

Answer 33

Documentary Hypothesis

Question 34

The Torah contains how many books?

Answer 34

Five

Question 35

The Hebrew Bible contains how many main parts?

Answer 35

Three

Question 36

Which books are in the Terateuch?

Answer 36

Four (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers)

Question 37

Most scholars today (do/do not) accept Mosaic authorship of the Torah?

Answer 37

DO NOT

Question 38

Elohim is translated as:

Answer 38

God

Question 39

The Torah, according to the Bandstra, was formed roughly when?

Answer 39

C) 400 BCE

Question 40

In biblical studies, “J” stands for which narrative source?

Answer 40

Yahwist

Question 41

Bandstra says that describing the deity as having human characteristics is known as:

Answer 41

anthropomorphism

Question 42

Of the four main traditions contained in the Torah, which do scholars believe is the oldest source?

Answer 42

Yahwist (J)

Question 43

What is another commonly used word to refer to the books of the Torah?

Answer 43

Pentateuch