VI. Superiority of Christian’s position (12:18-29)

A. Not approaching a literal mountain, but a heavenly Zion and Jerusalem, assembly of angels, congregation of firstborn, God the Judge of all and Jesus the Mediator (12:18-24)

B. God will shake both earth and heaven to remove shakable things (12:25-27)

C. Christians receive kingdom that cannot be shaken (12:28, 29)

VII. Concluding exhortations and remarks (13:1-25)

A. Counsel on brotherly love, hospitality, keeping marriage honorable and dependence on Jehovah (13:1-6)

B. Imitate faith of those taking lead; avoid being carried away with strange teachings (13:7-9)

C. Suffer reproach of Christ, looking for city to come (13:10-14)

D. Offer sacrifices of praise, do good, share with others (13:15, 16)

E. Be submissive to those taking lead (13:17)

F. Writer requests prayer of brothers, promises visit to Jerusalem, closes with greetings (13:18-25)

See the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 241-245.

HEBREW SCRIPTURES

The thirty-nine divinely inspired books from Genesis to Malachi, according to the popular present-day arrangement, constitute the major portion of the Bible.

The books of the Hebrew Scriptures as they appear in most of the common Bibles may be divided into three sections: (1) Historic, Genesis to Esther, seventeen books; (2) Poetic, Job to The Song of Solomon, five books; (3) Prophetic, Isaiah to Malachi, seventeen books. Such divisions are rather general, since the historical section contains poetic portions (Gen. 2:23; 4:23, 24; 9:25-27; Ex. 15:1-19, 21; Judg. chap. 5) as well as prophetic (Gen. 3:15; 22:15-18; 2 Sam. 7:11-16); the poetic section contains historical material (Job 1:1–2:13; 42:7-17); and in the prophetic section historical data is also found.—Isa. 7:1, 2; Jer. 37:11-39:14; 40:7–43:7.

By combining and rearranging these same thirty-nine books in a different order, the Jews counted only twenty-four or twenty-two books, and, according to their traditional canon, arranged them as follows: First, there was the Law (Heb., Toh·rahʹ), also called the Pentateuch, consisting of (1) Genesis, (2) Exodus, (3) Leviticus, (4) Numbers and (5) Deuteronomy. (See PENTATEUCH.) Second came the Prophets (Heb., N^evi·ʼimʹ), divided into the “Early Prophets,” (6) Joshua, (7) Judges, (8) Samuel (First and Second together as one book), (9) Kings (First and Second as one book), and the “Later Prophets,” subdivided into the Major prophets, (10) Isaiah, (11) Jeremiah and (12) Ezekiel, and (13) Twelve Minor Prophets (a single book composed of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). The third section was called the Holy Writings (Hagiographa or, in Hebrew, K^ethu·vimʹ), beginning with (14) Psalms, (15) Proverbs and (16) Job; then came the “Five Megilloth” or five separate scrolls, namely (17) The Song of Solomon, (18) Ruth, (19) Lamentations, (20) Ecclesiastes and (21) Esther, followed by (22) Daniel, (23) Ezra-Nehemiah (combined) and (24) Chronicles (First and Second together as one book). The book of Ruth was sometimes appended to Judges, and Lamentations to Jeremiah, to give twenty-two books, a total corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, although this is not the conventional arrangement in Hebrew Bibles today.

Not all the early catalogues had the books of the Hebrew Scriptures arranged in the above order, and as found in the Septuagint and all extant Greek manuscripts. This is because at the time the individual books were in separate scrolls. To illustrate: In the Baraitha on the Scriptures in the Talmudic tractate Baba Bathra (which is the earliest extant Jewish list, dating back at least to the early second century C.E.), it is stated: “Our Rabbis have taught that the order of the Prophets is Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the Twelve.” (The Journal of Theological Studies, October 1950, p. 155) This may explain why Jeremiah precedes Isaiah in a number of Hebrew manuscripts written in Germany and France.

THE WRITERS

All the Hebrew Scriptures were written and compiled by Jews, members of the nation “entrusted with the sacred pronouncements of God.” (Rom. 3:1, 2) And, for the most part, these pre-Christian Scriptures were written in Hebrew, with the following limited portions in Aramaic: Genesis 31:47; Ezra 4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12-26; Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4b to 7:28. Aramaic words are also found in Job, certain Psalms, The Song of Solomon, Jonah, Esther, and in the Hebrew parts of Daniel. The book of Ezekiel likewise shows Aramaic influence.

Moses wrote and compiled the first five books of the Bible, and he was followed by some thirty-eight other writers and compilers including Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah. They lived over a period of eleven hundred years, from the sixteenth to the fifth century B.C.E., and came from various occupations, such as that of the shepherd, copyist, governor, king, prophet and priest.

Some of the Bible writers were eyewitnesses of the incidents they recorded, such as Moses’ experiences before Pharaoh. (Ex. 5:1–12:32) Certain historical data they gathered from previous records through diligent research, as when compiling the genealogical records. (1 Chron. chaps. 1 to 9) But many things, such as knowledge concerning the assembly of angelic hosts in heaven, and revelations in the field of prophecy, were matters beyond the realm of human knowledge and could be learned only by direct inspiration of God. This, and the perfect unity of the whole, despite being the composite work of many writers extending over so long a period of time with their various backgrounds, all attest to and demonstrate that Bible writers indeed “spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.”—2 Pet. 1:21.

CANON OF HEBREW SCRIPTURES

The books of the Hebrew Scriptures do not appear in our Bibles in the order in which they were written. Joel, Amos and Jonah lived about two centuries or so before Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Neither do the titles of the books always disclose their writer. The book of Job, for instance, was presumably written by Moses, the book of Ruth by Samuel. Details about the individual books, as to when and by whom each was written, are set out in the “Table of Bible Books in Order Completed” in the article BIBLE. See the articles on the individual books for contents, importance and significance, proof of authenticity and other information.

The canon of the Hebrew Scriptures was well established when Jesus Christ was on earth, as evidenced by his statements recorded in the Christian Greek Scriptures. For example, he referred to the three-section arrangement when he spoke of “all the things written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms.” (Luke 24:44) His followers wrote of or spoke of “the public reading of the Law and of the Prophets,” “the Scriptures,” “the law of Moses and the Prophets,” “the holy Scriptures” and “the holy writings.”—Acts 13:15; 18:24; 28:23; Rom. 1:2; 2 Tim. 3:15; see CANON.

Noteworthy too is the fact that no apocryphal writings were admitted into the Hebrew canon. From the days of Ezra and Malachi, in the fifth century B.C.E, the completed canon of the Hebrew Scriptures has been guarded and protected against the inclusion