What is the Bible - the history textbook or the truth in the first instance?

On the question of what the Bible is, it is not possible to answer briefly. In the 3rd century BC. King of Egypt Ptolemy wanted to have a Greek translation of the Bible in the Alexandrian Library. But the interpreter sent from Judea did not know what to translate. And they explained it with the following fact. In the Hebrew text of the Bible there are several levels of text. First, words are read, then certain letters are counted: each 7, then each 10, each 50. And a new text is obtained, which serves as an interpretation to the previous one. Ptolemy ordered to translate just the main text. Thus the Septuagint was born - the translation of the Old Testament books into the Ancient Greek language. But this is only the history of the Bible. And if you look from the worldly point of view, then the question of what the Bible is, has a direct answer: The Bible is a collection of books that are divided into 2 parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Written before the coming of Christ, the Old Testament texts can be divided into four groups:

• Books of laws;
• Historical books;
• Books are instructive;
• Books are prophetic.

The books of the laws (the law in Hebrew - "torah") are called in another way the Pentateuch of Moses, and they consist of the following books:

• Being - it tells about the creation of the world and man, about the omnipotence of God, his wisdom and great love, the manifestation of which was the creation of man in his image and likeness. Genesis describes the greatest tragedy - the fall of man and his expulsion from paradise.
• Exodus - tells about the migration of Jews from Egypt. The heart of this book is the greatest event - the Sinai revelation. This is a narrative of how Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.
• Leviticus is a book about the Old Testament clergy.
• Numbers - tells about the number of the tribes of Israel, and also continues the description of the wanderings of the Jews in the desert.
• Deuteronomy is the repetition by Moses of the commandments to the new generation that was born at the time of the exodus.

To summarize, let us say that in the books of the law God taught people the law of truth to prepare them for the adoption of the law of love that Christ will bring.

Historical books include:

• The book of Joshua tells of the conquest of the promised land.
• Judges of Israel - covers the period from the conquest of Canaan until the appearance of royal power. For at that time the Jews had the only theocratic state in the world.
• Ruth is an addition to the previous book, with an emphasis on the biography of ordinary people.
• The Book of Kings (1-4) - describes the historical gap between the reign of King Saul and the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
• Chronicles is an addition to the previous book.
• The first book of Ezra - contains a detailed description of the return of Jews from the Babylonian captivity, as well as the construction of the 2nd temple.
• The book of Nehemiah complements the previous book and reveals the details of the spiritual revival of the Jewish people.
• Esther - this book narrates about the origins of the appearance of the Jewish Purim holiday.

The general outline of these books makes it possible to understand the Creator's craft in the events of history and God's active participation in people's lives. From his humanity, the Lord seeks to correct the sinful nature of man, to turn him from serving idols and turn to himself.

Teaching books - inherently texts are edifying. They teach a person how to treat the events of everyday life without losing sight of God and his commandments:

• The book of Job describes the life of the great Old Testament righteous Job.
• Solomon's books give us a poetic prototype of the church as the bride of Christ.
• The Psalter is a special part of the Old Testament texts. In the old days in Russia, she learned the ABCs. This is an invaluable source of prayer, and every Divine Service is saturated with prayers from this book. But most importantly, the Psalter is full of vivid prophecies about Christ.

Prophetic books are the books of the four great prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And also the twelve other small prophets. Almost all the most important prophecies were somehow connected with the birth of Jesus Christ.

In addition, mention should be made of non-canonical texts. Such they are considered because they are not preserved in the Hebrew script. Among them is the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, the Book of Wisdom of Solomon, Tobit and some others. These books are not included in the Canon, but are included in the Septuagint as useful and edifying. Of course, the division into groups is conditional. There are many historical facts in prophetic books, and in historical books there are prophecies.

That part of the Holy Scripture that was written after the birth of Christ is called the New Testament and is entirely devoted to one key theme and one exceptional person - Jesus Christ, who is both perfect kindness and perfect novelty in the history of mankind. We can say that the New Testament is a great book, which, in turn, consists of 27 books. Of course, judging not by volume, but by degree of importance. The basis of the New Testament texts are 4 Gospels:

• From Matthew;
• From Mark;
• From Luke;
• From John.

The Gospel in Greek means "Good News". And this message was brought by Christ himself, and this message is Christ. The Gospel speaks of the divine origin of Christ, his marvelous Nativity from a virgin, extraordinary wisdom, cross-suffering, death, his glorious resurrection and ascension to heaven. In relation to the rest of the New Testament books, the Gospel is a book of basic truths.

Acts of the Holy Apostles can be attributed to the historical books of the New Testament. This book tells about the life of the first Christian communities, apostolic sermons. Also to the New Testament texts are 21 letters of St. The Apostles. They are an exposition of the basic truths of the Christian dogma.

Among all the New Testament books there is one special - the Apocalypse. This Greek word means "revelation." From this book we learn about the future destiny of the church and the world, about the hard struggle of the church against all the deserts of hell, about the end of history, the triumph of Jesus Christ and the victory of the lamb of God over the forces of darkness.

This is what the Orthodox Bible consists of and how it is interpreted. But this does not give a definitive answer to the question of what the Bible is. According to the apostle Paul, if a person reads the Bible and does not believe in Christ, then his mind is blinded, and the veil lies on his mind. Until now, Jews, reading the Bible, understand only words, but not the meaning of the most holy scripture. It should be clarified that under the Jews, Paul meant people who do not believe in Christ as a son of God.

About 200 years ago, Saint Seraphim of Sarov approximately answered the question of what the Bible is: the Bible is a book of the inspired, which you can read with God. If you read the Old Testament, then you talk with God, and if you read the Gospel, the Lord talks to you. If a person reads the entire Bible with attention, the Lord will not abandon this feat and reward this ascetic with the gift of understanding.

Already passed many years, but no one denied the words of the holy old man. Maybe this is so?