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When, and by Whom, Was the Book of Isaiah Written?

When, and by Whom, Was the Book of Isaiah Written?

“The vision which Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah”—Isaiah 1:1 NAB

Until about the last 250 years, the book of Isaiah was generally accepted by Christians as being written entirely by the prophet Isaiah in the latter part of the 8th century BCE. Nowadays, however, many “scholars” think the book was written by various writers over the course of several centuries, citing factors such as differences in subject matter, style, theology, vocabulary, and the viewpoint that predictive prophesy is impossible. The real reason for this is, however, that they don’t think predictive prophecy is possible. While there are a variety of views about the writership of Isaiah, critics often claim that chapters 40-66 were not written by “Isaiah, son of Amos.” However, careful examination of the book reveals that chapters 36-39 are a historical interlude that concludes the first section of the book, chapters 1-35, and introduces the last section, chapters 40-66. This reveals the unity of the entire book.  read more

OLDEST, MOST COMPLETE HEBREW SCRIPTURE MANUSCRIPT WITH PUNCTUATION AND VOWELS

OLDEST, MOST COMPLETE HEBREW SCRIPTURE MANUSCRIPT WITH PUNCTUATION AND VOWELS

“‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the =&0=&   Almighty God promised to preserve his word, the Bible, and he has! Jesus Christ told his apostles:   “‘Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures”—Luke 24:44,45 NIV.   What Jesus referred to above was our present day 39 book Old Testament, the Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures, from Genesis through Malachi, which was divided into “twenty-four books” (2 Esdras 14:44), by the ancient Jews. These were considered to be “the Scriptures”, and “the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). It has been accurately preserved by God for 2,500 years.  The following article gives some evidence of this fact:   “By David Gritten, BBC News, May 18, 2023   =&1=&

The Codex Sassoon is thought to have been written about 1,100 years ago.

It is the earliest surviving example of a single manuscript containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible with punctuation, vowels and accents.

US lawyer and former ambassador Alfred Moses bought it for the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel.

” The Hebrew Bible is the most influential in history and constitutes the bedrock of Western civilisation,” Mr Moses said in a statement.

“I rejoice in knowing that it belongs to the Jewish people. It was my mission, realising the historic significance of Codex Sassoon, to see it resides in a place with global access to all people.”

The winning bid exceeded the $30.8m paid by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1994 for the Codex Leicester, Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific notebook.

But it fell short of the record for a historical document sold at auction set by hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who bought a first-edition printed copy of the US constitution for $43.2m two years ago.

The Codex Sassoon is named after a previous owner, David Solomon Sassoon, who acquired it in 1929 and assembled the largest and most important private collection of Hebrew manuscripts in the world at his home in London.

The text of the Hebrew Bible – whose 24 books make up what Christians call the Old Testament – remained in flux until the early Middle Ages, when Jewish scholars known as Masoretes began to create a body of notes that standardised it.

The Aleppo Codex, which was assembled around 930, is considered the most authoritative Masoretic text. However, damage from a fire in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1947 means that only 295 of the original 487 pages survive today.

The Codex Sassoon, which carbon dating shows was created around 900, is missing only 12 pages, according to Sotheby’s.

“It presents to us the first time an almost-complete book of the Hebrew Bible appears with the vowel points, the cantillation and the notes on the bottom telling scribes how the correct text should be written,” Sharon Mintz, senior Jewish artefact specialist at the auction house, said in March.

Centuries of annotations and inscriptions reveal that the manuscript was sold by a man named Khalaf ben Abraham to Isaac ben Ezekiel al-Attar, who later transferred ownership to his two sons, Ezekiel and Maimon.

In the 13th Century, the codex was dedicated to a synagogue in Makisin, in north-eastern Syria.

After the town was destroyed by either by the Mongols later in the 13th Century or by the Timurids at the start of the 15th Century, the manuscript was entrusted for safekeeping to Salama ibn Abi al-Fakhr. It then disappeared in history for 500 years.

The Codex Sassoon’s most recent owner was Swiss investor Jacqui Safra, who bought it for £2m ($2.5m) at auction in London in 1989.” read more

Restoration Prophecies – Israel of God

Restoration Prophecies – Israel of God

Restoration
Restoration is through Jesus Christ, not modern fleshly Israel, and would come first to Jews, then all others would be blessed

Revised April 2, 2022

Note: To see the entire article, click on “PDF Version”

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile”—Romans 1:16 NIV

“A person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision  is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God”—Romans 2:28,29 NIV

The New Testament makes clear that whether a person is a fleshly Jew or not, no longer makes any difference to God.

Let’s examine some Old Testament prophecies concerning the restoration of “Israel” through God’s “servant David”, a cryptic name for Jesus.
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Accurate Predictions of Jesus’ Mistreatment, Execution, Death and Resurrection

Accurate Predictions of Jesus’ Mistreatment, Execution, Death and Resurrection

Jesus' Resurrection
Was Jesus ‘ resurrection actually predicted with accuracy?

Predictions of the mistreatment, execution, death, and resurrection of Jesus can be found throughout the Old Testament, as well as in the New Testament by Jesus himself. Let’s examine a few of the scriptures in which these predictions can be found.

Old Testament Predictions of Jesus’ Execution, Death and Resurrection

Luke 24:44-47 – Jesus repeated the claims the Old Testament (OT) had predicted. (Luke 18:31-34; Acts 17:3; Acts 26:22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:4) read more

Jesus Believed the Old Testament to be The Infallible Word of God

Jesus Believed the Old Testament to be The Infallible Word of God

Some modern Christians, and virtually all non-Christians, believe the Old Testament (OT) was simply the word of man and is fallible. However, Jesus Christ Himself believed the OT to be the infallible word of God. Below, we will use scriptural quotations followed by comments to show why this is true:

“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.  If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:45-47)

The revelation God gave Moses is inseparable from the revelation God was giving through Jesus.

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'” (Luke 16:31)

If someone doesn’t listen to Moses and the Prophets – which means the entire OT – then nothing will convince them.

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'” (Luke 16:29)

We need to pay attention to the OT, since it’s part of the word of God.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

Jesus regarded the OT as accurate and reliable down to the smallest detail. Jesus taught that fidelity to the OT witness determines a person’s stature in the kingdom, obviously infallible.

“But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.” (Luke 16:17 NLT)

The new covenant fulfilled the OT law and prophets, however, the OT is still useful and important. It’s still God’s word for us today. There is much history, wisdom and counsel, and prophecies, both fulfilled, and yet to be fulfilled, that is there for our benefit today.

“And he continued, ‘You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.'” (Mark 7:9-10)

The OT, Jesus said, is from God. God is infallible. Therefore the OT is infallible.

“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.'” (Luke 18:31-33)

Jesus said everything written about himself through the prophets will be fulfilled. The OT must be God’s word.

“He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.'” (Luke 24:44-46)

“If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside-” (John 10:35)

“Scripture cannot be set aside.” Jesus testified to the complete authority, reliability and therefore infallibility of the OT.

“Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.'” (Matthew 22:29)

Jesus used the OT to correct false doctrine, indicating OT scripture is an important source of doctrinal authority.

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

When Jesus said “your word is truth,” what was he referring to? The OT is included.

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40)

Jesus affirmed that the book of Jonah was truthful, part of the OT.

“because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.” (Mark 13:19)

Jesus confirmed the Genesis creation account, part of the OT.

“from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.” (Luke 11:51; see also Matthew 23:35)

Jesus referred to the OT as factual, infallible by mentioning all the martyrs, from Genesis, first book and first martyr to Zechariah, last book, last martyr.

“But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31-32)

“Have you not read what God said to you?” Jesus said regarding the OT as the word of God.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ” (Matthew 24:37-39; see also Luke 17:26-27)

Jesus regarded the Genesis flood as truth, the word of God.

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:28-29)

Jesus also regarded the destruction of Sodom as factual, the word of God.

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’'” (Matthew 4:4) “Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’'” (Matthew 4:7) “Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’'” (Matthew 4:10)

Quotes and applies Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:16,13, considers it the word of God.

“and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.'” (Luke 4:17-19)

Regards Isaiah as God’s word.

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,  and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'” (Matthew 5:21) “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.'” (Matthew 5:27)

Viewed Exodus as factual (20:13-14; 21:23-25), the word of God.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.'” (Matthew 5:33)

Quotes Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:2, the word of God.

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Quotes Hosea 6:6, the word of God.

“For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—” (Matthew 10:35)

Regards Micah as truthful (7:6), the word of God.

“This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'” (Matthew 11:10)

Applies Malachi 3:1, the word of God.

“‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?'” (Matthew 21:16) ” Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?'” (Matthew 21:42)

Regards the Psalms as truthful (8:3; 118:22)–as the word of God.

“‘It is written,’ he said to them, ”My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.'” (Matthew 21:13)

Quotes Jeremiah 7:11 as the word of God.

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ” (Matthew 24:15)

Views Daniel as genuine and prophetic (9:27; 11:31), as the word of God.

Paul’s View of the Old Testament and Luke’s writings

Paul’s View of the Old Testament and Luke’s writings

Some modern Christians believe the Old Testament (OT) was simply the word of man and is fallible. However, the Apostle Paul viewed the OT as the infallible word of God. Below, we will use scriptural quotations followed by comments to show why this is true:

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Paul affirms God’s active involvement in the writing of Scripture, an involvement so powerful and pervasive that what is written is the infallible and authoritative word of God. read more

The Origin, Transmission, and Canonization of the Old Testament Books

The Origin, Transmission, and Canonization of the Old Testament Books

Escribano

The term canon is used to describe the list of books approved for inclusion in the Bible. It stems from a Greek word meaning “rod,” as in a straight stick that serves as a standard for measuring. Hence, to speak of the biblical canon is to speak of authoritative books, given by God, the teachings of which define correct belief and practice. Obviously, only books inspired by God should be received as canonical. The Bible before you includes 39 books in the Old Testament (OT). Are these the right books? Who wrote them? What were their sources of information? These questions are asked by friends and foes of biblical faith. ThIs article touches on such issues with an aim to bolster confidence in the OT as the “inspired” “word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13 NLT; 2 Timothy 3:16 NLT).

 Sources for the Earliest Histories

Genesis chapters 1-11 are referred to as “primeval history” because they cover events that occurred far back in the shadows of earliest time. Genesis chapters 12-50 are in turn called “patriarchal history” since they recount the lives of Israel’s founding fathers from Abraham down to Joseph. From the creation of the world to Joseph’s establishment in Egypt, all the events retold in Genesis occurred long before Moses was born. This is significant because the Bible and long-standing Jewish tradition assert that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch). Most likely he composed them between 1the late 1500’s and early 1400’s BCE. while he and the Israelites sojourned outside Canaan. Many events in Exodus through Deuteronomy coincided with Moses’ lifetime, and so he authored these largely as an eyewitness. But what about Genesis? How did Moses know details about events and people that preceded him by many centuries?

Some suggest Moses knew the ancient histories because God revealed them to him supernaturally. In this scenario, God’s inspiration of Moses would include God supplying Moses with historical details about far gone people, places, times, and even conversations—information Moses would not have known had God not told him. This possibility cannot be ruled out in principle since God is capable of working such miracles, but careful analysis reveals the Pentateuch nowhere hints that the historical narratives were given to Moses in this manner. For instance, Genesis never says anything like, “The word of the Lord came to Moses, saying, ‘This is the history of Abraham.'” Instead, the Genesis narratives about Abraham and other historical figures read like straightforward accounts that have been handed down in the usual way: through oral and written records, with the oral records presumably originating soon after the events occurred. In this case, we would add that God superintended the transmission of the early oral and written accounts so that Moses received reliable histories worthy of inclusion in Genesis.

That Moses possibly used such sources may seem surprising at first. People often assume the Bible is the product of divine dictation, but it is more accurate to view Bible composition as having involved both supernatural and natural means, with the result that the original Bible manuscripts were fully reliable and stemmed simultaneously from divine inspiration as well as regular human approaches to writing. This model is supported by Luke 1:1-4, where Luke says he did a lot of research before writing his Gospel. A similar example is found in Numbers 21:14, where a quote is lifted from the now lost “Book of the Lord’s Wars.” From these examples we see that Bible writers were free to draw reliable historical data from non-biblical sources. Thus it seems Moses was able to write about historical events that occurred long before his birth by drawing upon information found in pre-existing sources, all while God’s Spirit inspired him in penning Genesis.

How did these written sources come down to Moses? For the primeval history, it is reasonable to suggest that from earliest times people passed down carefully preserved oral accounts about key events and significant persons. Later, when elementary writing arose, many of these would have been committed to writing. The transfer to written format may have happened earlier than is commonly supposed. Rudimentary alphabets are known to have circulated in the early second millennium b.c., and with the discovery of the Palermo Stone we have solid evidence that the Egyptians wrote detailed historical records (in hieroglyphic text) at least as far back as 2600 BCE, a time that predated Moses by over 1,100 years. The rich details inscribed on the Palermo Stone reach back toward the very dawn of Egypt, naming kings from 3100 BCE and even earlier. In light of this example it is fitting to suppose that key remembrances of early human history were preserved and passed down to later generations.

That the very earliest writings have not survived to our day is no surprise, for they would have been rare to begin with and would have perished long ago as the acids of time worked their destruction. But they survived long enough to bequeath vital facts to later societies who learned to write the histories in more permanent formats. Some of the greatest modern archeological digs have uncovered ancient nonbiblical texts that resemble the biblical accounts of Noah’s flood and the Tower of Babel. These texts date from 1600 BCE and earlier, and in broad strokes they corroborate Genesis. Their points of departure from Genesis may reflect corruptions that slipped in as cultures pulled farther and farther away from knowledge of God. By contrast, people who kept alive a faith like Noah’s preserved the stories uncorrupted, and it is these accounts that came down to men like Moses in later generations.

As for the patriarchal histories, it goes without saying that men such as Abraham would pass down close accounts of their remarkable experiences with God. Once God interrupted Abraham’s life and promised to create a nation through him, he knew his life was unique. This heritage was repeatedly confirmed to his descendants as God kept up His habit of revealing Himself and confirming His covenant of blessing. Somewhere down the line Abraham’s descendants began writing down these stories. This may have begun most earnestly with Joseph, the son of Israel who became a great political figure in Egypt. Writing was a very old art in Egypt by the time Joseph ascended to power. Having achieved a royal-like status and having married a well-placed Egyptian, Joseph and his family would have had every opportunity to learn the Egyptian writing craft. As a chief bearer of Abraham’s lineage, Joseph would have been keen to preserve the family traditions and the link to the one true God.

In the years after Joseph’s death, the Hebrews grew in number but came to be suppressed by the Egyptians. This suppression highlighted the need to preserve the histories. One theory holds that one of the Israelite families, possibly the Levites, became the official preservers of the old stories. If so, these materials would have been available to Moses (a Levite) when he became leader of the Hebrews. This inheritance, plus God’s commission of Moses and the fact that he was raised and educated in Pharaoh’s household, put Moses in a fine position to write an early history of humankind from the Hebrew perspective. A possible exception would be the portions of the creation accounts (Genesis 1-2) that could not stem from human eyewitness testimony. These accounts bear close resemblance to visionary revelations that were later given to prophets such as Isaiah and Ezekiel, as well as John in the book of Revelation. Hence, it is plausible to suggest that God gave Moses a revelatory vision for the first two chapters of Genesis. But in his writings generally, whether he was making use of oral accounts, written histories, or relying on God’s Spirit for the unveiling of the creation accounts, Moses often wrote more than he knew. In other words, Moses could not plumb the depths of everything he wrote, for an Author greater than he breathed profundity and prophecy into the works of his pen.

Who Wrote the Books and When?

The OT books do not have copyright dates on them, and few of them explicitly identify their author. Nevertheless, by aid of biblical testimony and Jewish history we know the approximate time at which the books were composed. We also know in many cases who the author was or who was likely to have been chiefly responsible for a book’s content. For thousands of years now scholarly people of faith have studied the matter and have concluded that the OT books and their earliest recipients have reliably portrayed the authorship and dates for the sacred writings, yet today critics say the books were written many hundreds of years after the dates and authors traditionally assigned to them. For instance, it is claimed that the Pentateuch was actually written nearly 1,000 years after Moses. In its extreme version, this theory even says men such as Moses and Abraham never existed; they and their histories were allegedly invented by priests who sought to provide hope-inspiring stories during the tough years when the Hebrews were exiled in Babylon in the sixth century BCE.

Such theories are chiefly built on the slim supports of (1) skepticism, which presupposes that God does not exist and/or that the Bible is just a human book, and (2) the occasional anachronisms scattered throughout the early portions of the OT. Skepticism is itself a faith of sorts, for the assertions that God does not exist, or did not inspire the Bible if He does exist, cannot be proven from the data at hand. Ironically, skeptics, who insist we should form beliefs only on the basis of evidence, contradict their own mantra. But what about the anachronisms found in the OT? It is true that the Pentateuch occasionally includes such things as place names or vocabulary that did not belong to the era described. In other words, some of these only came into usage hundreds of years after men like Abraham died. Skeptics take this as proof that the books (and all the stories they contain) originated much later than popularly believed, and that the priests who invented these stories occasionally slipped up and placed contemporary names and words into ancient settings.

But this radical theory is firmly against the evidence. In reality, the early OT books consistently bear the mark of ancient contexts—contexts that suit times long before national Israel arose. For instance, the laws, customs, and political situations described in the Pentateuch fit very naturally with the second millennium b.c. and earlier. This is proven by the discovery of many nonbiblical texts and artifacts from that era. It is unlikely that unethical priests a thousand years or more removed from the historical situations described in the Pentateuch could have gotten things so right. Also, the concerns that dominated the Hebrew mindset during the Babylonian exile are not addressed by the Pentateuch. Hence, how could priests hope to encourage their downtrodden fellow Hebrews in Babylon by inventing stories that bore no semblance to their situation? Further, it is unimaginable that the mass of Hebrews would fall for such a ruse, choose to base their entire worldview on false histories passed off on them by a band of inventive clergymen, and then succeed in selling the hoax to their children for generations to come. So what should we conclude about the anachronisms? Simply this: in the years after the Pentateuch was written, inevitable changes in place names, vocabulary, and political situations made these old books harder to comprehend. To alleviate this problem, priestly guardians of the sacred oracles updated the texts at key junctures to reflect contemporary word usage and geopolitical situations. Such changes as these (e.g., Judges 1:10; 1 Samuel 9:9) would have been undertaken soberly and with great care to preserve the meaning and intention of the holy text. Thus, under strict guidelines the books underwent helpful editing, with the result that the texts remained accessible with the passage of time.

On the whole, however, virtually all the scribes who ever touched the sacred scrolls did so only to read them or copy them word for word. Literary copying was an important skill in the ancient world since there was no means of rapid duplication, such as modern printing presses or photocopiers. Believing that the writings in their care were authoritative and inspired by God, the Hebrew scribes took exceptional care when copying the scrolls.

In conclusion, we can be confident in the traditional beliefs about the date and authorship of the OT books. We can also rest assured that the books were carefully copied and preserved, and that all editorial updates of the books were done in a strictly conservative fashion.

Do We Have the Right Books?

Are the 39 books of our OT really the ones God meant for us to revere? The first step to answering this question is to address the issue of collection: who was it that originally collected the sacred writings together? Solid evidence indicates that the priests undertook this duty. In Deuteronomy 31:24-26, Moses commanded that the book of the law be kept with the ark of the covenant, where the Ten Commandments were stored. This put Moses’ writings at the very center of Jewish religious life just as soon as they were complete. Further, in Deuteronomy 4:2 we read the command to preserve the commandments of God faithfully. Taken together, these passages indicate that the priests were to keep charge of God’s written revelations, and that these were to be safeguarded against perversion.

Since Moses was the author of the earliest biblical books, and since Moses himself charged the priests with the duties to store and protect God’s words, the high value of identifying, collecting, and protecting the sacred writings was established when the Pentateuch originated. When other prophets and holy men arose in Israel subsequent to Moses and were given revelations by God, their teachings (whether written by them or by their close associates) would have been gathered quickly by the community of the faithful. At some later point the books came to be stored at the Jerusalem temple. We know this because in a time of national backsliding the unused books collected dust in the temple’s storerooms (2 Kings 22:8-13). At a much later time in history the books were still kept in the temple, for Josephus (a reputable Jewish historian) received the Scriptures from his Roman benefactors who had sacked the temple in 70 CE.

We have seen that the Jews identified, collected, and preserved the sacred writings as a matter of course. Next we must ask if or when they believed the production of sacred writings had ceased. Josephus is helpful for elucidating this matter. He tells us ( Against Apion 1.37-43) that the Jews widely recognized that the succession of the prophets ended in the time of Artaxerxes, when Latter Prophets such as Haggai and Malachi fell silent and left no successors. Hence, says Josephus, books written after about 400 BCE were not regarded as Scripture, even if they were valuable on other terms. In 164 BCE Judas Maccabaeus reconsolidated the Scriptures in the temple after the fires of the Antiochene persecution died out, and it appears that the scrolls were harbored there in a long stretch of safety that did not end until the abovementioned Roman aggressions. There can be no doubt of the identity of the Scriptures held at the temple throughout this time: there were 22 books (or 24, depending on how they were divided and counted), and they were lumped into three major divisions: the Law (Pentateuch), the Prophets, and the Writings. Though we divide them into 39 books rather than 22 or 24, the Protestant OT canon is identical to those books that were safeguarded at the temple before the time of Christ. The two most significant religious bodies in Israel (Pharisees and Sadducees) both accepted this body of books as the canon of Scripture, though one often hears it mistakenly asserted that the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch.

What about the books of the Apocrypha? This is a diverse set of books—most of which were written between 200 BCE and early in the first century CE—that treat various aspects of Jewish religious and national life in the Intertestamental period, which ranged from 400 BCE. to the time of Christ. They offer important windows into the Jewish context, and some Jews of that time regarded them as valuable religious literature. However, they were never received as Scripture by mainstream Judaism, and even fringe groups such as the Essenes reckoned them valuable, but not scriptural. The books of the Apocrypha were never stored in the temple, a sure sign that they were not thought to be inspired by God. Please see the two articles on this site about the Apocrypha for more details about why these writings are not part of “All Scripture [that] is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT).

This is not to say there were no struggles among the Jews about the identity of the canon. In fact, five of the books that were counted as canonical had a hard time winning unilateral acceptance. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Song of Songs, and Ezekiel were subjected to scrutiny because they seemed secular in outlook or else promoted teachings that initially seemed inconsistent with the Pentateuch. Jewish leaders debated the merits of these books from time to time, as Christian leaders would do in the centuries to come, but all in all their status in the canon was well established.  The Apocryphal books were added to the Septuagint (Greek translation of the canonical OT) because Greek speaking Jews wanted access to Jewish holy books plus important non-biblical books. The early Church widely used the Septuagint, but the Apocrypha was rightly rejected. Seeing the need to clarify the status of the Apocrypha, the Reformers elected to separate it from the canonical books. Thus the Apccrypha came to be excluded from Protestant Bibles.

Following Jesus’ example, early Christians adopted the Jewish consensus on the OT canon. During His ministry Jesus showed that He was in line with the standard Jewish assessment of the canon by quoting from all three divisions of the OT. Furthermore, He demonstrated that the OT included many prophecies and veiled allusions to Himself, the Messiah. Thus, Christians learned to read the Jewish holy books with a view to seeing Jesus in them. In fact, for the first few decades of the church the majority of Christians had little access to the New Testament (NT) writings that were starting to emerge. The OT was the only Bible many of them knew, and they valued it greatly as they read it from a Christ-centered vantage point. Interestingly, they tended to hold the Apocrypha in high esteem as well—higher than most Jews did, in fact. A little background information helps us understand how this situation arose.

Several centuries before Christ the Jews living in Alexandria commissioned a Greek translation of the Hebrew OT. They did this because they increasingly spoke and read Greek rather than Hebrew. Known as the Septuagint, this Greek translation was the Bible of choice for many Jews and early Christians. In addition to the authoritative Holy Scriptures, the Septuagint included Greek translations of some key Jewish apocryphal books. The reason they were added is clear: Jews living in predominantly Greek-speaking areas wanted access to all the important Jewish writings, both canonical and noncanonical. As the early church grew and experienced ever greater tensions with traditional Judaism, Christian and non-Christian Jewish communities were increasingly isolated from one another socially and religiously. The Jewish assessment that the Apocrypha was noncanonical was also the view of the early Church. Additionally, early Christians noted that the NT authors most often quoted from the Septuagint, not the Hebrew OT. In summary, the early church automatically adopted the Jewish OT canon, most often read the Septuagint version of the OT rather than the Hebrew.

Jesus never quoted any of the books of the Apocrypha, and neither did His disciples in their writings. While Jude 9 on the surface seems to allude to an event described in a minor non-canonical book, nowhere in the entire NT is any book of the Apocrypha cited.In fact, there is no proof that Jude 9 alludes to anything in the Apocrypha, since he does not cite it as a source. Given the fact that neither Jesus nor his apostles quoted from the Apocrypha, it would be remarkable if early Christians trumped their example and counted these books as Scripture.

Even the early Reformers included the Apocrypha in their English and German translations of the Bible, though they set it off in sections that were separate from the canonical OT books and introduced it with a note saying that throughout church history the Apocrypha had not been received as Scripture. Thus the Reformers initially kept alive the old tradition of packing the Apocrypha into the Bible, though as in a seatless balcony reserved for bystanders. As they continued to debate Roman Catholic leaders over the proper bases for doctrinal formation, the Reformers eventually concluded that for the sake of clarity the Apocrypha should be dropped altogether from the Bible. Protestant Bibles today rightly exclude the Apocrypha, signifying that they are nonbiblical.

Conclusion

We have solid reasons for believing that the OT books include only true history and that they were written by men who were appointed by God to deliver Spirit-inspired writings to humanity. Further, it is clear that the Jews of old received these books with awe and a sense of responsibility. Hence, the sacred books were identified, collected, preserved, and transmitted through the generations by men approved for such high tasks. The 39 books of the Protestant OT are assuredly the books God would have us venerate as scriptural. The books of the Apocrypha are rightly excluded.

ONE SOURCE: HCSB Study Bible

What Is The Apocrypha?

What Is The Apocrypha?

“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms”—Luke 24:44 NIV

Jesus referred to the Hebrew scripture Bible canon, by referring to the three sections that the Jews divided it into. These sections comprise the 39 book Old Testament, from Genesis through Malachi.

As the early church developed, Gentile believers needed to be taught “sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Although Jesus, Paul and the apostles exclusively used the Old Testament (referred to in Luke 24:44) as their canonical Bible, Gentiles also en­countered many other Jewish religious texts among the Greek scrolls of the Scriptures. Over time some Gentile believers began to embrace these books as authoritative, and debate over their place in the churches has raged ever since.

The term “Apocrypha” (meaning “hidden away”) refers broadly to a grouping of non-canonical books. However, the collection most commonly called the Apocrypha is limited to 14 or 15 documents that were for the most part written during the last two centuries B.C.E. and the first century C.E.. These books are:

Tobit

Judith

Additions to the Book of Esther

Wisdom of Soloman

Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach

Baruch

The Letter of Jeremiah (= Baruch chapter 6)

Additions to the Book of Daniel: The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews; Susanna; Bel and the Dragon

1 Maccabees

2 Maccabees

The Apocrypha actually represents only a small portion of the extant noncanonical Jewish literature from this period. Second Esdras, which is in the Slavonic Bible and the Latin Vulgate appendix, but not in the Roman Catholic Church’s apocrypha, explic­itly refers to the large amount of such materi­al known at that time. In

14:45,46,  read more

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