From spoken to written

Hard times came to the people of the Old Testament. There were wars, invasions, reforms, retrenchments, and suddenly people realized they were going to lose their stories.

People were being separated from loved ones. Other cultures and beliefs were imposed on them. They were forgetting their laws. So they began to write down the stories.

Read some of the oldest parts of the Bible passed on from generation to generation until they were finally written down: 2 Samuel 1:9-27 - The Song of the Bow Numbers 21: 17-18 - Song of the Well Genesis 4:23-24 - The Song of Lamech Numbers 10: 35-36 - The Saying about the Ark Judges 14: 14, 18 - Samson's Riddle (for the answer to the riddle, read all of chapter 14) Exodus 15:21 - The Song of Miriam Judges 5 - The Song of Deborah

The books of the Bible were first written in Scroll form.

Written stories helped the people of the Old Testament:

• Preserve their traditions (Read Exodus 19:11; Leviticus 7:38; Dueteronomy 4: 15-1; 1 Kings 19:8) - Refugees who wrote down their stories kept two versions. These versions may have different names for people or places. Mount Sainai and Mt. Horeb are the same place!
  
• Preserve their laws and customs (Read Kings 22:3-20) Wrokmen repairing a temple found a book of law (probably Deuteronomy). So the king set out to make reforms based on this law from God!
  
• Remember stories and lessons that were important to their beliefs

Sound serious?

Well, think about the stories in your family or in your culture that explain a lot about who you are. What are they?

More Indepth

Do you want to go really in depth? Look at these timelines and pick out key instances that people would have wanted to write down their stories so they weren't lost forever.

Timeline #1: Events before Jesus was born

Timeline #2: Events after Jesus was born

What about the Books that have been lost?

Treasure hunt time!

Look through these scripture. How many titles of books can you find that we no longer have?

• Numbers 21:14
• Joshua 10:13
• 2 Samuel 1: 18
• 1 Kings 11:41
• 2 Kings 23:28
• 1 Chronicles 29:29
• 2 Chronicles 35:25
• 2 Chronicles 35:27

Tough Question: What if someone walked into your room right now and annouced they had found a copy of one of the lost books.

• How would you decide if this book was authentic?
• If authentic, would you accept or reject it?

List your answers on a piece of paper.

Let's move on to find out
who wrote the stories of the Bible.

More Indepth

You can go more indepth and explore the adult Bible study pages:

Old Testament World

Crisis Writings

Return to The Bible home page