The Real Power Player Who Shaped the Bible —And No, It’s Not Constantine

Most people have heard the name Constantine when it comes to early Christian history, but what if I told you that the real influence on how the Bible came to be structured traces back to another empire builder—Alexander the Great?

It might come as a surprise, but long before Constantine rose to power, Alexander’s conquests and the sweeping cultural changes he set in motion indirectly influenced how the books of the Old Testament are divided today.

Alexander the Great and the Spread of Greek Culture

When Alexander the Great set out to conquer vast portions of the ancient world, from Greece to Egypt and beyond, he brought more than just military dominance. His conquests initiated widespread Hellenization, embedding Greek language and culture into every corner of his new empire.

While some Jewish communities resisted Hellenization, others—especially those in the Diaspora—needed a way to access their scriptures. As the Greek language became dominant in the Mediterranean and Near East, Jewish communities—especially those outside of Israel—needed a way to access their scriptures in the common language. Enter the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

How the Septuagint Shaped the Bible

The Septuagint wasn’t just a simple translation. It became a crucial milestone in the transmission of biblical texts, particularly for early Christians who primarily spoke Greek. One significant impact of the Septuagint was its practical division of certain books.

In the original Hebrew scriptures, books like Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles were long, unified works. However, the scrolls used for recording Greek texts had limitations on how much content they could hold. As a result, the translators of the Septuagint made practical decisions to split these longer books into two parts each, giving us what we now know as 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and so on.

These divisions were purely practical at the time, but they stuck. Early Christian communities, who used the Septuagint as their primary Old Testament, adopted these divisions, which eventually became the standard for Christian Bibles.

The Lasting Impact of Alexander’s Influence

Because of Alexander’s conquests and the resulting spread of the Greek language, the Septuagint became a critical resource for Jewish communities in the Diaspora and for early Christians. While the content of the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Tanakh is the same, the Septuagint’s divisions of books, like Samuel and Kings, influenced the structure of the 39 books in the Christian Old Testament, as opposed to the 24 books of the Tanakh.

In the Jewish tradition, books like Samuel and Kings remain unified. But in the Christian tradition, shaped by the Septuagint’s influence, these books were split into parts that continue to define the structure of the Old Testament as we know it.

Why It Matters

Ok - I overstated the case in the title. Though Alexander was never directly involved in the formation of the Bible, his conquests set the stage for significant shifts in how the scriptures were structured and transmitted. Ultimately, this illustrates God's providence in using historical events to preserve His Word across generations.

Alexander’s conquests spread the Greek language, making it the vehicle for translating and preserving the Jewish scriptures in a way that later influenced the structure of the Christian Old Testament. Though these divisions were initially practical, they became part of the traditional structure that early Christian communities adopted.

These are the sorts of historical (and geographical, archaeological, etc) twists that fascinate me and caused me to start this project. It’s a reminder that the journey to truly discover the Old Testament as they knew it involves understanding the forces—both historical and cultural—that shaped the text. While many first-century Jews did not recognize the true meaning of their scriptures regarding the Messiah, their profound knowledge of those scriptures challenges us to seek a deeper understanding today.

Join us on this journey of rediscovery, as we uncover more of the forgotten layers and context that can deepen our understanding of the Bible today. Subscribe to our newsletter for more insights into the ancient world of the Old Testament.