"Ketuvim"

Ketuvim opens with Psalms (Tehillim). These poems include liturgies for public celebrations in the Temple, individual meditations at times of danger or suffering, and expressions of awe at Creation. Taken together the Psalms leave the impression of an “official theology” of Temple, priesthood, and nation, but what makes them timeless is the personal voice expressing peril, doubt, and celebration.

The books of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) come out of what scholars term the “Wisdom tradition.” Wisdom was an international literature in the biblical Near East, nurtured by scribes in every culture from Egypt to Mesopotamia. Its characteristics included the observation of nature and the world as the source of understanding, and the use of reason to determine the best course for human happiness.

Two stories and one poem are set at particular points in Jewish history. Ruth presents a narrative set in the time of the book of Judges about a Moabite woman who follows her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem when her own husband dies. She joins her destiny with Israel and becomes the ancestor of King David. Esther, set in Persia, is well-known as the (scroll) that tells the story behind the holiday of Purim. Lamentations is a series of poems set in Jerusalem in the days after the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.

Unlike any of the other books are Song of Songs and Daniel. The former is a collection of passionate love poetry, by tradition an allegory of the love affair between God and Israel. Daniel is an eclectic book most often noted as the earliest apocalyptic text in Judaism.

Ketuvim concludes with Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles, two largely historical narratives. Ezra-Nehemiah tells the history of the return to Judea under the Persians and reflects the viewpoint of the priests and scribes who came to represent Temple and Torah in the renewed nation. Chronicles retells the earlier pre-exile history found in Kings, from a similar point of view as that of Ezra-Nehemiah.