B I B 



367 



B I B 



After these observations the following diagram will be 

 understood, and will facilitate the finding of Hebrew pas- 



sages, since most Christians are accustomed to a different 

 succession of biblical books : 



If we count both books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, 

 we find that the Old Testament consists of thirty-nine 

 books ; but the Talmud counts only twenty-four books, be- 

 cause the twelve minor prophets are considered as one book, 

 and the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Ne- 

 hemiah constitute, according to the Talmudists, only four 

 books. (Baba Bathra, f. 14, o. 2.) After the five books of 

 Moses, the rest of the biblical books are enumerated as 

 follows : 



rrro 

 bv PTD : "wy nm rryw 'wprrm PPOT 



'n T'ty n^npi ^ai UVNI o^rrn nn 

 D'DM nn-n Kity nno^ rnWi ^ri 



mrpi 



The arrangement of the Septuagint and Vulgate, which is 

 followed in the English Bible, will be explained under SEP- 

 TUAGINT, and VULGATE. Josephus, who was born A. o. 37, in 

 a passage which we shall soon quote from Whiston's trans- 

 lation. enumerates twenty-two biblical books (Mo /tova n-pic 

 role iiKoat 8i/3A(o), which he probably numbered as fol- 

 lows 



Five books of Moses . 



1. Genesis. 



2. Exodus. 



3. Leviticus. 



4. Numbers. 



a. Deuteronomy. 



The Prophets in thirteen. 



books. 



6. Joshua. 



7. Judges and Ruth. 



8. Two Books of Samuel. 

 9 ..... Kings. 



10. Chronicles. 



1 1 . Ezra and Nehemiah. 



12. Esther. 



13. Isaiah. 



14. Jeremiah and Lamentations. 



15. Ezekiel. 



16. Daniel. 



17. Twelve minor prophets. 



18. Job. 



19. Psalms. 



20. Proverbs. 



21. Ecclesiastes. 



22. Song of Songs. 



This rather artificial arrangement arose from a desire of 

 having as many and no more biblical books than there are 

 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. 



In the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius (iv. 26), Meliton, 

 in a letter to Onesimus, states that he travelled to the East 

 in order to investigate exactly the nature of the Old Testa- 

 ment in those countries in which it was written, and where 

 the events related therein happened, and that he found the 

 following to be the names of the books contained in the 

 Old Testament : MwiJffswc irivrf Tivefftf, "Etodot, AewrueAl/, 



The other four contain 

 hymns to God, and max-' 

 ims for the conduct of life. 



,, , 



(i. , 1 Sam, and 2 Kings), napaXuTroptvuf Mo, 



