Torah.—The Book of the Law, now commonly called the Pentateuch, is the most sacred of all Jewish books. Jews as well as Christians believe that it was written by Moses and dictated by God. It was not divided into five books as we have it. In the oldest Hebrew manuscripts the entire work forms but one book. It was subsequently divided into parshiyoth, or chapters, and these into sedarim, or sections.
Nebiim.—The Law and the Prophets were the chief authorities of the Jews. The books of the Prophets, called Nebiim, were believed by the orthodox Jews to be divinely inspired, but were esteemed of less importance than the Torah.
Cethubim.—This collection of writings comprised the hymns, poems, and other books now known as the Hagiographa.
Talmud.—The Talmud, while not regarded as a divine revelation, like the Law and the Prophets, is in some respects the most important of Jewish works. It is almost a library in itself, and constitutes a vast storehouse of information pertaining to Jewish history and theology.
Sacred Book of Christians.
Holy Bible.—The Christian Bible consists of two collections of small books, one called the Old Testament, the other the New Testament. The Old Testament comprises the Torah, Nebiim, and Cethubim of the Jews. It is divided into 39 books (including the Apocryphal books accepted by the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, about 50). The New Testament is a collection of 27 early Christian writings, which originally appeared in the various churches of Asia, Africa and Europe.
The Bible is but one of many books for which divinity is claimed. Christians deny the divinity of the other books, however, and affirm that they are of human origin—that their book is God’s only revelation to mankind. The orthodox claim respecting its divinity is expressed in the following words:
“Behind the human authors stood the divine Spirit, controlling, guiding, and suggesting every part of their different messages” (Birks).