KOT-04 The Old Testament Canon

Everyone who has led a large group of people — a church or some other kind of organization — knows that it’s important to have an overarching goal for the group and to establish some basic policies. But as time passes, it’s often necessary to address specific opportunities and challenges as well.

In the ancient world of the Bible, great kings had the goal of strengthening and expanding their kingdoms, and they established basic policies through international treaties. But these kings also addressed specific opportunities and challenges their kingdoms faced through a variety of royal communiques, some of which we actually have in museums today.

It was no surprise to ancient Israelites, then, that the God of Israel, the King of all creation, did much the same. His goal was to strengthen and expand his kingdom on earth, and he established the basic policies of his kingdom through covenants. But God also addressed specific opportunities and challenges that his kingdom faced through a variety of royal communiques, some of which we now have in the canon of the Old Testament.

This is the fourth lesson in our series Kingdom, Covenants & Canon of the Old Testament. In this lesson, we’ll focus on “The Old Testament Canon.” The word “canon,” is an ancient Greek and Latin term meaning our “standard” or “measure.” And in this lesson, we’ll see how the Scriptures were written as God’s authoritative standard for his people throughout the ages.

All Old Testament authors believed that God was spreading his kingdom from heaven to the ends of the earth. They also believed that God administered his kingdom through the basic policies he established in a series of major covenants. God made covenants in the days of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and in the new covenant that the prophets predicted would come in the future. Now, as far as we know, there were no Scriptures written when God made covenants in Adam, Noah and Abraham. But as Israel grew into a kingdom in the days of Moses and David, God applied the policies of his covenants to the lives of his people through the Scriptures of the Old Testament. These Scriptures were first designed to address ancient Israel, but they were also designed to be the canon or standard of faith and life for every generation of God’s people.