Part II.

ESSAY

1. Tanakh reflects a three-part organization of the Bible; for Jews, this is the
standard division of the Bible. The name of each of its parts, however,
warrants some explanation. The name of the first part is Torah. It is a
broad term that means Instruction. The name of the second part,
Neviim, means Prophets However, many of its books are not actually
prophetic works. Its first portion, often called the Former Prophets,
consists instead of narrative texts. They continue the story begun in the
Torah. Although prophets play an important role in these narrative books,
they dwell on far more than prophecies. The name of the final part,
Kethuvim, means Writings.Kethuvim has come to serve as a catchall
term. It is a miscellany. It contains such diverse works as Psalms
(prayers), Chronicles (history), Daniel (prophecy, and Song of Songs
(erotic poetry). The early Christians came to adopt the order of the
Septuagint. The Septuagint is divided into four sections: Torah; Historical
Books; Wisdom and Poetic Books; and Prophetic Books. This order is
quite logical it begins with Torah, the most basic text, followed by books
about the past (Historical Books), the present (Wisdom and Poetic Books),
and the future (Prophetic Books).

There is another group of books, not included in the Jewish Bible, that
have been accepted into the Old Testaments of the Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox churches. These books circulated in ancient Judaism,
and many of them were very popular and widely read. For some reason
they were never accepted by Judaism as authoritative, probably because
they were not included in Hebrew versions of the text. This collection
came to be called by the Jews as the Apocrypha, a Greek term meaning
hidden things. In reference to the writings, it has the connotation of
books not meant for common use.

The ending of the Christian Old Testament is revealing. It concludes with
the last chapter of Malachi, a prediction of the second coming of Elijah
(Mal 4:5). This ending leads nicely into the first book of the New
Testament (NT), the Gospel of Matthew, which describes the coming of
John the Baptist, who is clothed like Elijah and prophesies the coming of
Jesus (Matt 3:1-6).

2. Ezekiel 34:11-16
11 I will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12 so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains
of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in
a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down
Mark 6:30-44
34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had
compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a
shepherd.
37 You give them something to eat.

According to Ezekiel 34:11-16, a true shepherd resolves to seek and
deliver his sheep. He would search or seek the sheep who have been
exploited by corrupt shepherds and left to scatter. He will deliver them.
Interpretation is ultimately of millennial restoration. Application to
shepherds is to seek to deliver scattered sheep who have been sucked
into cults, Perseverance/Lordship teaching, bad doctrine such as watering
down of the sanctity of life expressed by creation of death panels,
euthanasia, the murder of unborn children, etc. He will also feed them.
Feed used in two-fold sense: (1) feed with material blessing, and (2)
teach the sheep in contrast to the corrupt shepherds who did not teach.

Ezekiel 34:11-16 and Mark 6:30-44 are related to each other in such a
way that they both narrate how compassionate the Lord is. In Ezekiel, a
true shepherd is described to be someone who will seek, deliver and
feed the sheep. Mark 6:30-44 is a concrete example of this. The Lord fed
the 5,000 people. He felt compassionate, because they were like sheep
without a shepherd. Like the true shepherd in Ezekiel, He directed them
to sit down in groups on the green grass then He gave five loaves and two
fishes to His disciples, and ordered them to distribute it to the people.

3. The Bibles description as stated in the worksheet is different from the
moderns understanding of history. For one, the modern understanding on
history is about reliable facts that show accurate methods of its
formulation and acquirement. Also, the aforementioned should not be
biased with judgments often coming from ones set of beliefs. As
mentioned in the statement that the Bible is described to have peoples
recording of Gods presence in their history, it is not safe to say that it is
accurately similar to all individuals understanding given that such is
relative. Therefore, the Bible will only make sense to those who have
similar beliefs with the people who made the books in the Bible.
Otherwise, stories found in the Old and New Testaments will be put into
question to some with contrasting beliefs towards God.