The ‘Bible’ as it is known today is generally and widely understood as being ‘a Holy compilation’ of Divinely inspired religious books defining the religion of the God of Creation:
The Bible is comprised of 66 books with two major divisions: the ‘Old Testament’ (The Tanach or Jewish Scriptures – we will use the abbreviation OT) (39 books) and the ‘New Testament’ (we will use the abbreviation NT) (27 books).
The OT (Jewish Scriptures – Tanach) has four major divisions: (1) the Law (Torah) – 5 books; (2) History (Cituvim) – 12 books; (3) Poetry Cituvim) – 5 books; and, (4) Prophecy (Nvi’yim) – 17 books.
Similarly, the NT has four major divisions: (1) the Gospels – 4 books; (2) the Acts of the Apostles – 1 book; (3) the Epistles – 21 books; and, (4) the Revelation – 1 book.
The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia and ultimately from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία ta biblia “the books” (singular βιβλίονbiblion).
The word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of “paper” or “scroll” and came to be used as the ordinary word for “book”. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, “Egyptian papyrus”, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos (also known as Gebal) from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece
The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, and it is known as the Codex Vaticanus.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible
Underpinning the development of the Bible into the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book is a volatile history of millennia of religious evolution amongst contentious proclamations of this hotly debated topic of life. This volatile process cannot possibly be effectively condensed into the scope of an article such as this, but information abounds and is easily accessible today via Internet and Google Search. We will have to contend here with simply summarising the main pinnacles of this spiritual evolutionary process as it developed in the spiritual warfare against the Truth and, as most targeted, against the formation and establishment of the Universal kingdom of the God of Israel.
The ensuing conclusions may be regarded by many NT followers as an indictment of the precious Word of God and His Purpose for mankind. The rest of this analysis will however reveal the great inner conflict between the 2 featured parts between the same outer covers. Through raising awareness of this disputation within the same book, we intend to promote the restoration of the Original True Faith of the Creator, to advance reconciliation towards forming the Scripturally prophesied re-united 12-Tribed Kingdom of the God of Israel.
For this purpose it is important to understand the link between this modern held concept of ‘The Bible’ as ‘The Word of God’ and the main obstacle which is obstructing the Reconciliation required for the establishment of this Kingdom. Readers of this article will mostly be aware of the current world wide Phenomenon of millions of non-Jews turning towards Torah and Jewish religious concepts of the ages. This is what the prophets of Jewish Tanach foretold for the ‘End Times’, which commentators of all faiths and even science believe we have now reached.
The ‘old testament’ part of the Bible is generally regarded by NT believers as the ‘legal’ part which is applicable only to Jews and which has been ‘done away with’ for NT Messianic believers. Surprisingly, according to the observations of an orthodox Rabbi published in a 460 page book (details below), the NT actually confirms the Torah, not only by the statements of its purported Messiah, but also through the general underlying text of the NT. This observation by an orthodox Rabbi who emphatically rejects the authenticity of this ‘New Testament’ as well as its purported Messiah, should be a flashing red warning for the NT believer who rejects the Torah Message of the ‘old’ Part of the Bible. In this publication the author highlights many of these ‘hidden Jewish secrets contained in the NT‘. This fact is generally unbeknown and unacceptable to most ardent readers of the ‘New Testament’ (NT) because of traditional Church interpretation,
The sub-title of this book is “The Growing Global Torah Revolution”. There can be no doubts that it is this underlying and hidden Torah foundation which is the cause of a current worldwide Torah revolution in which millions of NT believing non-Jews are turning to and accepting Jewish Torah culture in a progressive and spiritually evolutionary, on-going restoration of original Hebraic Faith principles – a virtual growing tidal wave which is engulfing the earth.
This all, as revealed also in this book, is occurring in accordance to to the Main Theme of Prophecy which is equally ‘hidden’ in the ‘Old’ part of this ‘Bible’ to most of its readers.’ In religious spiritual interpretation, this ‘Coming to Life’ of a former Skeleton of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37), depicts the fulfillment of the ‘End Time rebirth of Israel’ – the Final Redemption.
This Phenomenon of a Global Torah Revolution is the cause of a reconciliatory awareness which is taking place between the new ‘returnees’ to Torah and the persistent millennia old ‘guardians’ of Torah – the Jews (Gen, 49:10; Ps. 60:7; Rom. 3:2). Prophetically and as required by God, this reconciliation should ultimately result in the formation of a Kingdom which will be born from the peaceful re-uniting of the 2 Houses of Israel which had split the original Kingdom of Israel in two, 2,700 years ago. This occurred during the rule of King Solomon over the World Empire of Israel (approx. 1.000 BCE). This tragic division caused the fall of the World Empire of King Solomon (ruling from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River). Though totally hidden by the world’s academic historians, this kingdom was of the stature of other World Empires like Rome, Persian, modern USA – ref. Lost Ten Tribes Israel Found). The entire nation was exiled from the Land – first the 10 Northern Tribes of the House of Israel (720 BCE – world-wide and into oblivion), and later the House of Judah (586 BCE, to Babylon, and again 70 CE world-wide).
Final Stumbling Block
Restoration of this Empire remained a Divine Promise – which is taking shape only today, in these times. The main and final stumbling block remains, viz. acceptance of and reconciliation with each other, by the 2 divided Houses of Israel (since the split of the Israel World Empire).
A clear understanding of the concept of ‘The Bible’ will highlight this tragic division amongst humans and especially amongst the readers of the Bible. Hopefully, this realization and identification of this obstacle will present valuable guidelines for Reconciliation in the ongoing saga between the 2 Houses of the Nation of the God of Israel.
‘The Bible’ as we have it today.
The Bible, in its present format, presents a ‘New’ Testament as an integrated part of one whole, viz. the Scriptures or the Word of God – thus as part of one book, representing one canon. By their very definition of a ‘new’ Testament, Christians derogated the Hebrew (Jewish) part as ‘old’, ‘done away with’. Had they simply published their own ‘Bible’, the effect would not have been as devastating. By presenting one book as ‘the Bible of Truth’, they high-jacked the Jewish Scriptures and in so doing piggy-backed on the original Hebraic Truth by linking their own scriptures and oral traditions to what the NT itself, repeatedly, confirms as ‘The Scriptures, i.e. the Word of God.’.
Which are ‘the Scriptures’, the ‘Word of God’ according to the NT?
Luke 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Luke 24:45 “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.”
2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Acts 17:11 “These (students, followers) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Continue this confirmation by doing a Google Search of the NT for ‘the Scriptures’ and you will find multiple confirmations.
The NT did not exist until some 300 years after these words had been spoken – that is, after the NT had been compiled and canonized by the Church. Until then believers had only the Jewish Scriptures at hand in the synagogues of the Jews.
Are the NT Scriptures part of the Original True Faith, the Written Word of God, or not?
For the answer to this, let us turn to the claims of the NT itself. Nowhere in the entire NT will any claim be found for it to be ‘the Word of God’ or the Divinely authorized Canon of Scriptures. The NT scriptures that are presented as proof of it being The Word are all misinterpreted by the assumption that the NT already existed in the time of the apostles who “proclaimed the Word of God”. Repeatedly, even by the NT Messiah himself, NT readers and enquirers after Truth are referred to the Tanach (the authorized Hebrew Scriptures) for proof of Truth. These were the only ‘Scriptures’ available until the appearance of the formal NT some 500 years later.
The audacity of the inclusion of the NT into one book, together with the Jewish Scriptures (the Tanach) and as integrally part of ‘the Bible’, is evident from the fact that NT promoters vehemently reject the Jewish Oral Torah and all the Jewish Sages’ writings (Chazal) as ‘man-made’, while presenting their own ‘Oral’ traditions (the NT) under ONE cover with the authentic Word of God, the Hebrew Scriptures. Never has Judaism presented their Oral Torah (interpreted renderings of the Written Word of God) as part of ONE Book next to the Tanach (OT). When Jews may claim their Oral Torah as “evenly important” or “more important” than the Written Word (as NT opponents of Jewish Oral Torah will claim), then it is simply because of the fact that the Written Word, without proper interpretation, does not provide the full answers for proper guidance. Someone has to interpret the greatly truncated version of the all encompassing Universal Laws of the Creator God (which should fill libraries and not only a 300 page book as we have it from Moses in the Torah part of the Tanach).
The Question now is: WHO has this authority to interpret the Written Law and proclaim the wider scope of Torah as given to Moses alone on Mt Sinai. For the Scriptural answer to this, please refer to the comprehensive study: Judah – The Lawgiver of God (Hebrew: Mechoqeck)
Independent research scholar. He works tirelessly as an activist promoting Israel and settlement of the Land of Israel, and as Webmaster and co-ordinator of Kol HaTor. Read More.