Question for the scholars

I think he was referring to the Law. He says many times in the Psalms that He loved God's Law and meditated on it day and night.


But I'm no scholar, just an ignorant member of the laity. What do I know?

 

I do not think you will get much agreement on this topic. Nor do I think you will get a lot of takers to the question. However, being a retired businessman with no church career at stake--and very little learning too boot--I will have a go at your question.

. . .

I checked my current inventory of Bibles and resources for timelines. Most timelines list approximate dates for events, not approximate writing dates of books of the Bible. Of course, many Bibles and biblical resources provide some sort of approximate writing date in the introductions. However, that is more research than I want to get into on this snowy morning in Kentucky.

Nevertheless, despite my laziness, I did find one chart labeled "The Progress of Revelation" listed in the first The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV (Word Publishing, 1997, p. xxxi).

The next sticky wicket comes with ascribing the above quote in Ps 119:162 to David himself, and dating that quote. I will take the easy way and say David wrote the above quote himself at some time prior to his death. For David's death date (for purposes of this thread), I will accept the date (970 B.C.) listed in the "Old Testament Chronology" printed at the beginning of The NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, 1985).

Now for MacArthur's Revelation Chart. Here are the entries with approximate writing dates prior to David's Death (970 B.C).

.......Book......................Appoximate.........Author
....................................Writing Date

1.....Job.........................Unknown............Anonymous
2.....Genesis...................1445-1405 BC.....Moses
3.....Exodus....................1445-1405 BC.....Moses
4.....Leviticus..................1445-1405 BC.....Moses
5.....Numbers..................1445-1405 BC.....Moses
6.....Deuteronomy............1445-1405 BC.....Moses
7.....Psalms.....................1445-450 BC.......Multiple Authors
8.....Joshua.....................1405-1385 BC.....Joshua
9.....Judges..................ca 1043 BC............Samuel
10...Ruth.....................ca 1030-1010 BC.....Samuel (?)
11...Song of Solomon.......971-965 BC.........Solomon
12...Proverbs...................971-686 BC.........Solomon primarily​

Therefore, one answer to your question is, for David "thy word" included the complete books of Job, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth; with a portion of the book of Psalms; and possibly the Song of Solomon and a portion of the Proverbs.

I am sure our resident scholars will debate every one of the above dates (and possibly with some good cause). However, true to his fashion, MacArthur provides a single concise answer to a thorny question that may have many answers.


...Bob

 

Bob, that's what I meant by the Law. I think David is referring to the books of Moses mainly.

 

I would agree to the Pentateuch, Judges, Ruth (whom he would have known of personally) and some of the Proverbs and Psalms.

There is also some hint that there were other books that did not make it into the official canon of Scripture that detailed the history of Israel and Israel's kings, their actions, etc., that David may have had in his possession. Those may have been used to formulate actual canonical books by their writers/editors.

 

This brings up another question: Did David consider the Psalms he put down and sang to be "thy word"?

...Bob

 

Well, Bob, JESUS said David was a prophet...

 

Why assume that "thy word" means written words? They received most of their instructions from God through prophets speaking to them (and oral transmission). Of course, there was also visions, dreams, etc.

 

The Davidic authorship of the psalms is not what mainstream Old Testament scholarship thinks any longer. Authors like Mowinckel and Bruggemann see them as the product of the Temple priesthood and the corps of musicians that supported Temple worship. Some do think that Psalms like 23 and 51 may very well be Davidic ... but not much else.

 

I have no serious problems with the dates suggested for the completion of particular books. Yes, there may have been as many as a dozen of our canonical books in existance in David's lifetime. However, it is another thing altogeher to assert that David possessed all these books and recognized them all as inspired Scripture.

Certainly, David would have revered the Torah. Would he have felt the same for the other books? Maybe some. Which ones? We don't know. David would have had much respect for Samuel, yet Samuel likely wrote other things besides the portions that eventually were accepted into the canon. Could David have known the difference? I'm not sure that David and the Hebrew people had been given enough time to analyze these later books in order to declare them Scripture.