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To: jo kus
Are you saying that this was beyond the ability of man to think of something like that beforehand?

Yes.

Considering that the Torah was the center of their cultic worship, along with the Temple, I would hardly think it unlikely that someone would imitate the style of their most treasured work.

You are correct. If men did this we can stop right now, but if it is God's work, we might want to watch for similar structure elsewhere. It turns out that the Bible is a pentateuch. You have the Law. History, Prophets, the experience books and the New Testament. These are connected once again by style and content. Each of the five groups can be arranged by style and content to form five pentateuchs. Paul's letters give us two more for total of eight and that is just for the arrangement of the books. Like the Psalms, there are many other pentateuchs in the books and many other patterns having to do with other numbers besides “five” as well.

An easy comparison would be Exodus and Acts which occupy the second position in their respective pentateuchs. In the first you have the Earthly people of God leaving the Egypt. In the Second you have the Heavenly people of God leaving “that city which spiritually is called Sodon and Egypt Where also our Lord was crucified.”

Yes, it is - but for what purpose?

I share your caution here, but think about it. If scripture is really the word of God, shouldn't we expect it to be awesome beyond belief!

Seven
641 posted on 11/07/2007 10:28:03 AM PST by Seven_0 (You cannot fool all of the people, ever!)
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To: Seven_0
You are correct. If men did this we can stop right now, but if it is God's work, we might want to watch for similar structure elsewhere. It turns out that the Bible is a pentateuch. You have the Law. History, Prophets, the experience books and the New Testament. These are connected once again by style and content. Each of the five groups can be arranged by style and content to form five pentateuchs.

Those are artificial "structures", in my opinion. There are not 5 prophets, unless you group some of them as "one" prophet, like Josephus tried to do in his numbering. It is not uncommon for men to try to make more meaning out of something by artificially categorizing writings. There are not 5 history books, and there are not five of anything in the New Testament. The Bible is not arranged in a "Pentateuch" fashion.

God inspired the sacred authors to write what HE wanted written, but that doesn't mean that we have to try so hard to make the bible fit some sort of pattern with a higher meaning. What is inspired are the individual writings, not the Bible as a whole so that we can take the various books and make such "holy arrangements". It is the Church that devised the Bible into its present format. Originally, the Old Testament was written independently on many scrolls, not in a codex or a book.

I share your caution here, but think about it. If scripture is really the word of God, shouldn't we expect it to be awesome beyond belief!

It is. I find, though, that such studies are not necessarily the intent of the Lord. I believe that the Bible was written to instruct us how to live, as 2 Timothy 3 states. All that other stuff, while interesting, is not very conclusive or meaningful, in my opinion. If people pore long another over Shakespeare, they will find similar patterns. I believe someone did a study on just that in an answer to the "Bible Code" books, that series that claimed to be able to predict the future by looking at the verse of the Hebrew Scriptures. Another person answered that with secular writings and showed the same thing. Thus, I do not put much stock in what you are saying.

Regards

644 posted on 11/07/2007 11:24:14 AM PST by jo kus (You can't lose your faith? What about Luke 8:13...? God says you can...)
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