The Three-Fold Division of Scripture

[Spyridon]

How old is the three-fold division of the Hebrew Bible? How did it originate?

[Spyridon]

Does anyone know?

[Andrew Gabriel Roth]

Shlama Akhi Spyridon,

There is a difference of opinion about the precise origins of this tradition. The earliest (and traditional) dating is sometime after the return of the Jews from Captivity under Ezra. The Talmud makes reference to the "men of the Great Assembly" receiving the final form of the 24 Tanakh books (your 39) in about 450 BCE.

Other scholars are of the opinion that the three fold division took about another 250 years, roughly speaking. There certainly seems to be a relationship between what could fit on a scroll and what got organized into a division on a scroll. Strictly speaking there is long standing Jewish tradition of varying degrees of authority that the Torah (5 books of Moses) had more weight than the Prophets and the Prophets more than the Writings. Moses being singled out in this way is hardly surprising, as he "knew Elohim face to to face" and that same line in Deuteronomy says "there NEVER arose in Israel a prophet like Moses". Obviously we Nazarenes have a different take on that line, but let's stay focussed on how that line would impact on Jewish tradition.

From the natural dividing line between Deuteronomy and Joshua, a further distinction was made between prophets and seers. Strictly speaking the prophets sent a message to the current populace in Israel or, in some cases like Jonah, nations abroad. But Daniel is technically NOT a prophet because his writings deal with the FUTURE. There is also a division between major and minor prophets, these terms relating to length, since 12 of these could fit on one scroll.

The thing is certain things which are in the Writings now were probably not originally. Josephus in Against Apion 1.8 talks about 22 books, rather than the traditional 24. There have been two solutions to resolving this. One is that a few books were disputed then that were later (barely) put in official Jewish canon in the late first century. Song of Songs and Esther are the two most common suggestions here.

The better answer I think, and one that is both the majority answer and my answer, is that internal evidence in Josephus points to Lamentations being attached to Jeremiah and Ruth being attached to Judges, and this evidence I go over in Mari.

In any case, the probable time frame for the three fold division is about 100 BCE, but no one is certain. I think it likely the events of the Maccabean Revolt and the re-dedication of the Temple, along with the rise of the Hasmonean independent kingdom in Israel, strongly favored stabilization in this direction.

What we can say 100% is that by the first century this had long been in place. Our two best lines of evidence are Josephus and the NT. First, Josephus:

For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have,] but only twenty-two books, (8) which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. It is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add any thing to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it is become natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them.

So, in Josephus' version, we have this three-fold division clearly as 1) Genesis through Deuteronomy, 2) Joshua through Esther, 3) An abbreviated "Writings" section, most likely, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. As such the traditions regarding Daniel and Job in this third section probably had not taken hold yet, as we would do well to remember that Josephus was a Pharisee and a prestly decsendant, not to mention with Hasmonean blood, so he really is in the best position to know this.

The other reference is of course, Luke 24:44, "that everything written in the Torah and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled". The Psalms are of course part of the Writings section, but other references like the Psalm 110 teachings indicate Y'shua called Daniel NEVIA, a PROPHET, again, because the other traditions had not taken hold yet. It is probably, given the note in James 5:11, that Job too was considered a prophet.

That's the best I can say.

[Spyridon]

Thank you for your response.

I find it hard to believe that Jesus read the Septuagint, since he alluded to the three-fold disvision of Scripture as the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhi Spyridon,

Thank you for your response.

I find it hard to believe that Jesus read the Septuagint, since he alluded to the three-fold disvision of Scripture as the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.

It's impossible that Jesus read the Septuagint. Read Luke 11:51:

From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.'

In the Jewish order of books, Abel was the 1st murder and the last book contains the account of the murder of Zechariah.

What Jesus was saying was all of the blood shed in the OT was on the hands of this generation. That OT couldn't have been the Septuagint, since the order of books is completely different than the traditional ordering of Jewish scripture.