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舊 約 正 典 與 現 代 信 徒
作 者 : 黃 儀 章 博 士 （ 伯 特 利 神 學 院 聖 經 系 教 授 ）
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一 舊的聖經的編排
（一)四分法
根據中文和英文聖經，舊約聖經由四部分組合而成:1
| 律法書 |
歷史書 |
詩歌智慧書 |
先知書 |
| 創世記 |
約書亞記 |
約伯記 |
以賽亞書 |
| 出埃及記 |
士師記 |
詩篇 |
耶利米書 |
| 利未記 |
路得記 |
箴言 |
耶利米哀歌 |
| 民數記 |
撒母耳記上 |
傳道書 |
以西結書 |
| 申命記 |
撒母耳記下 |
雅歌 |
但以理書 |
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列王紀上 |
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何西亞書 |
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列王紀下 |
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約珥書 |
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歷代志上 |
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阿摩司書 |
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歷代志下 |
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俄巴底亞書 |
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以斯拉記 |
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約拿書 |
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尼希米記 |
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彌迦書 |
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以斯帖記 |
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那鴻書 |
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哈巴谷書 |
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哈該書 |
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撒迦利亞書 |
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瑪拉基書 |
這個分法2將舊約聖經三十九卷經卷，按不同的體裁（genre）歸入四大類，就是律法書、歷史書、詩歌智慧書和先知書，並按時間的先後次序來排列，3給信徒一個整齊的感覺，也能夠幫助他們將這三十九卷經卷的名稱牢記在心。
但細心讀聖經的弟兄姊妹，不難發現以上的編排不是沒有值得商榷的地方。正典的第一部分稱為「律法書」，這稱號很自然給人一種感覺，就是這組經卷是以律法為主。但創世記、出埃及記、利未記、民數記和申命記是否真的以律法為主呢？研究這組經卷的學者大多指出，以律法的角度來了解它可能有偏差。4與其說是律法（law），倒不如說這組經卷講及一個敘述（narrative）、5一個真實的敘述（historical narrative)。6律法只不過是這組經卷的一部分，而有關律法的經文都是在敘述的框架（narrative framework）中出現。7從來沒有一條律法或一部法典是獨立存在的。8
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| 1 |
這部分主要內容見諸本人所寫〈舊約正典淺談〉(1)〉，曾於《天道書樓快訊》第七期（ 1997年5月)刊登。 |
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把舊約聖經分為四部分，即「律法書」、「歷史書」、「詩歌智慧書」和「先知書」的做法，始於主前二世紀希伯來文聖經被翻譯為希臘文(七十士譯本)的時候。Bernhard W. Anderson, Contours of Old Testament Theology（Minneapolis: Fortress Press,1999),6 |
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Cole: "The Greek tradition，at least, in the Christian era, is based principally on chronology and classification according to literary genre" (Robert Cole,“Canon of the 01d Testament," 5, from ); Wil1iamson: "In the tradition of the Greek Bible, the LXX, the books were arranged according to a different principle, and this has affected the order adopted for most English translations. Here, the historical books are grouped together, and a chronological order is followed. Thus Ruth is placed between Judges and Samuel. Chronicles fol1ows Kings, and then come Ezra-Nehemiah and Esther”(H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra ,Nehemiah, WBC [Waco: Word Books, 1985, xxii); Graffy: "In the third century BC the Jewish community in Alexandria in Egypt had set about producing a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, known subsequently as the 'Septuagint'. They divided the books differently as the law, the historical books, the prophetic books and the poetic books. This division led to the common Christian way of considering the parts of the Old Testament：the Pentateuch, the historical books, the prophets and the wisdom literature"（Adrian Graffy, Alive and Active: The 01d testament Beyond 2000 [Dublin, Ireland: The Columbia Press, 1999J, 9-10. |
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Kaiser: "When the Hebrew word hrt was rendered in the Greek Septuagmt as no,moj, an incorrect（or at least an overly restrictive, narrow，inadequate）translation arose. This, in turn, gave rise to the English rendering '1aw', the French loi, and the German Gesetz. Unfortunately, each of these translations continues to give credence to the notion that this portion of Scripture denotes merely formal regulations, often with ritual associations, to which those in the community who wished to attain redemption were subjected"（Walter Kaiser, "Images for Today: The Torah Speaks Today," in Studies ìn O1d Testament Theo1ogy: Historica1 and Contemporary Images of God and God's People, ed. R. L. Hubbard, R. K. Johnston and R. P. Meye（Dallas-London-Vancouver-Melbourne: Word Publishing， 1992], (17-18); Eskenazi: "the translation of Torah as 'Law' obscures the narrative nature of the Torah"（Tammara Cohn Eskenazi, “Torah as Narrative and Narrative as Torah," in Old Testament Interpretation: Past, Present, and Future: Essays in Honor of Gene M Tucker, ed, James L. Mays， David L. Petersen and Kent H. Richards [Nashvi11e: Abingdon Press, 1995], 14); Wenham:“On the face of it 'law' seems a good description of Exodus 20 to the end of Deuteronomy, at least if one ignores the narrative framework of the laws, but it seems somewhat awkward to describe the stories of Genesis as law, or the account of Moses’ early life and the exodus from Egypt”（Gordon Wenham, A Guide to the Pentateuch, Exploring the Old Testament (Downers Grove: IVP, 2003], 4); “should the whole Pentateuch be describe as“law' when so much of it is narrative?"（Wenham, A Guide to the Pentateuch, 2).)。 |
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Wenham: "It is essentially a long narrative" (Wenham, A Guide 的the Pentateuch, 1); Blenkinsopp: "[the Torah] is first and foremost a narrative”(Joseph Blenkinsopp, The Pentateuch An Introduction the First Five Books of the Bible [New York: Doubleday, 1992], 31; Clines:“[The Torah] is essentially a narrative”(David Clines, The Theme of the Pentateuch, rep.ed. [Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1984], 102)；Mann:“ The Pentateuch is...unified narrative”(Thomas W.Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the Pentateuch [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988], 6); Alexander:“ Although the books of Genesis to Deuteronomy are made up of very diverse components, someone has skillfully brought them together to form a narrative plot”(T. Desmond Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised land: An Introduction to the Main Themes of the Pentateuch [Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1995], 2); “As it stands, the Pentateuch is an unfinished story”(Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land, 5); Whybray:“ The form in which the Pentateuch presents itself to the reader is that of a history. The narrative thread which begins in Genesis 1 continues unbroken up to the notice of the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy. Other elements— laws, poems and songs— are also sung by persons who appear in the narrative, and so form an integral part of it. There is no break in the chronological sequence of the events”(R. Norman Whybray, Introduction to the Pentateuch [Grand Rapids: Zondervan,1992], 13); “The Pentateuch presents itself as a history. That is, it is a narrative or ‘story’ in which the events which it narrates, from the creation of the world to the death of Moses, are arranged in chronological sequence”(R. Norman Whybray, Introduction to the Pentateuch [ Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1995], 8): 「聖經首五卷是以色列人歷代的訓誨，以故事的形式表達出來」李熾昌: 《古經奇釋》(香港：崇義，1988)，頁34。 |
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Sailharmer:“Events and characters are put before the reader as happening just as they happen in real life. The reader looks at the events in the narrative in much the same way as he or she would look at events in real life”(John H. Sailharmer. The Pentateuch as Narrative; A Biblical-Theological Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan,1992],13). 有關這組經卷的歷史性的研究， 讀者可參K A. Kitchen, The Bible in Its Wor1d (Downers Grove: 1VP, 1977); K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and O1d Testament (Downers Grove: IVP, 1966); A. R. Millard and D. J Wiseman, ed., Essays on the Patriarcha1 Narratives (Leicester: IVP, 1983)。
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Kaiser:“the legal sections of the Torah are a relatively small part of the Torah as a whole. And these laws, or directions, appear fully integrated within the total story and text of the Pentateuch which traces the progress of God’s word of promise to his people”(Kaiser,: “Images for Today”, 118); Eskenazi: “of course not all the material in the Torah is prose narrative; the Torah incorporates laws, songs, genealogies, and lists. But these are carefully embedded in narrative and receive their meaning from the narrative context”(Eskenazi, “Torch as Narrative and Narrative as Torah,”14). |
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Wenham: “all the laws are set within a narrative framework”(Gordon Wenham, Leviticus, NICOT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1979], 5-6); Sailharner:“ The Decalogue follows the account of the Covenant ceremony in Exodus19:1-25. This narrative is complex and includes two major segments: an account of the establishment of an initial covenant on Mount Sinai (19:1-16a）and an account of Israel’s fearful retreat from God (19:16b-25). The Decalogue (20:1-17), in turn, is followed by a short narrative, again recounting the fear of people at Sinai (20:18-21). The Covenant Code is then embedded in the Sinai narrative between Exodus 20:21 and 24:1ff.; it is followed by the code of the Priests (Ex 25-Lev 16). Furthermore, the account of the making of the golden calf (Ex 32) and the reestablishment of the Sinai covenant (Ex 33-34), both parts of the Sinai narratives, break into the Code of the Priests just after the instructions for making the tabernacle (Ex25-31) and before the account of its completion (Ex 35-40). Consequently, the instructions for building the tabernacle are separated from the remainder of the Code of the Priests by the account of the failure of the house of Aaron in the incident of the golden calf (Ex 32) as well as by the account of the renewal of the Sinai covenant (EX 33-34)”(Sailharner, The Pentateuch as Narrative,44-59). |
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