Bible is an account of a people and their God. This God has made known his powers to his worshippers in the course of history. Bible is not a neutral or objective story of the events. On the contrary it is very much biased, it has its roots in its own times.

It has been an open secret that Bible contained diverse elements. There are enlightening treatises. There are thrillers, sermons, legal texts, hymns, love songs. They are all in there. There is historyography, there is novel, there are legends, anectodes, and folk-tales. What a mixture! In consequence, some books of the Bible carry more weight for the historians and archaelogists while some others are thought as 'literary'. The summary is: This Book is a collection of various materials and the worst part is the crude 'editing' where the joints are much in evidence.

As Spenta Mainyu mentioned above, gathering and the codification - the final written form - of the Books of the Bible took centuries. It uses descriptive methods. Its language is abstract, very rich in images. The smallest or shortest of reports turns into a story in the Bible, full of puzzling descriptions whose ambiguity is intentional. Do you want an example? Read the story on the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. It is commanded by God, but not carried out just at the last moment (Genesis 22). This story could be interpreted in three ways:

* It may be the trace of a primitive initiation rite, a kind of blood baptism. Only he who wholly and unconditionally submits himself to his God becomes a full member of the community.

* The passage may be an allegorical renunciation of the custom of human sacrifice and more particularly of the sacrifice of boys which was widespread in the ancient east.

In order to transport ourselves back into the thoughts of the authors of the Old Testament, we have to turn back the wheel of history to that point in time which marks the beginning of the codification; of the writing of the definitive text of the oral or written and separate traditions of Israel; and thus of the growth of the complex structure known as the Bible, the Greek translation of which is called the Septuagint ('the seventy').

Bible has the place of honour among Christians next to the figure of Jesus. The Old Testament and the New Testament together, in reality are a collection of books, written over more than 1000 years, in a plurality of languages and styles. The Old Testament is the Judaic scripture containing the history of the Jews and all the centuries of Hebrew thought. Christians see themselves as heirs to this history and thought. The books are rich in stroy, fable, allegory and poetry. The word testament means a covenant or a bond. The explanations outlined in the two Testaments about the relationship with God are in contrast with each other: The Old Testament does this according to the Law, and the New Testament does it according to the Holy Spirit. Christians regard the New Testament as the fulfilment of the Old. Why? Well, because the figure of Jesus and the events of his life fulfil the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. "And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen: And they had possessions therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly. " (Genesis 47). For a period covering 400 years, the whole of the fertile crescent experienced a complete change. But one cannot find anything in the Bible relating to this period. Bible is silent. National groups were displaced, resettled, and a vast rearrangement took place. This movement interrupted the history of the Semitic kingdoms which had maintained their sway on the Euphrates and the Tigris for 1000 years. For 150 years there is also silence in Egypt. Armies of Egypt and Hittites joined battle at Kadesh. In 1280 BC. Hittites and Egyptians concluded at Kadesh the first non-aggression and mutual defence pact in history. Ramesses II married a Hittite Princess. Any of the children of Israel, and their ancestors who were in Egypt at that time, could have been eye-witnesses to the ceremonial arrival of the Biblical procession in the city of Per-Ramesses-Meri-Ýmen (The House of Ramses the Beloved Amun). As the Biblical description indicates however their presence in this city was by no means of their own accord. It is at this point also that the Bible resumes its narrative. Four hundred years which the children of Israel had spent as immigrants in the land of the Nile have been passed over in silence. A new and significant chapter of the history of the Biblical people now begins. Remaining silent for 400 years of the Bible is correct only if the period of the Patriarchs really occurred between 2000 BC and approximately 1800 BC.

Exodus 12 gives the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt as 430 years. According to this the migration to Egypt must have taken place about 1720 BC. And the Exodus then must have taken place about 1290 BC. The first time Israel as a name was used in history in a triumphal hymn written in 1229 BC. "The people of Israel is desolate..." goes the hymn. So for the first time Israel is described as a 'people' and in connection with Palestinian place names. Which means that Israel was already properly settled in Canaan in 1229BC., and no longer completely unknown. Following Nebuchadnezzar's assault on Jerusalem, and its final razing to the ground, the curtain of history was lowered on a desolate land. The tribes of Israel were scattered in every direction. The end of the kingdom of Judah is the end of the history of ancient Israel, and the beginning of the history of Jews.