By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
Most readers of this column have read the Bible straight through several times, but how many people know how we got our Bible? Four major sources exist, all of which were produced by Church leaders and committees who compiled the books of the Bible.
A near-total agreement exists on the final selections by both Protestant and Catholic sources. Most modern Bible translations rely on one of these well-supported collections of the Greek and Hebrew scriptures.
One compilation of fragments is the present-day Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which originated in the 3rd century BC.
The Septuagint was primarily made for Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria, Egypt. Many Protestant English translations also used the Septuagint.
Another version is the Latin Vulgate, completed between 382 and 405 AD. The Vulgate is a Latin translation of the Bible, primarily attributed to St. Jerome. It was later declared the official Bible of the Catholic Church.
Most Protestant and Jewish English translations of the Old Testament utilized the Masoretic Text as the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. The Masoretic Text was the culmination of centuries of work by Jewish scribes and scholars known as the Masoretes.
Their work, focusing on standardizing and preserving the Hebrew Bible, spanned from the 7th to the 10th centuries AD. The Aleppo Codex, the oldest complete copy of the Masoretic Text, dates to the 10th century.
In contrast to the rest of the Bible, the Apocrypha has a scattered history of acceptance. Although rejected by many Protestant bodies, the Apocrypha books were accepted by many Catholic authorities.
For example, at the 1546 Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church officially declared that all of these books were canonical and to be accepted with devotion. In contrast, Martin Luther did not accept them as Scripture but nonetheless deemed them so useful that he included the Apocrypha in his German translation of the Bible.
The Apocryphal book titled Bel and the Dragon was originally part of the Greek translation of the Book of Daniel. The books range in length from three pages (Bel and the Dragon) to 59 pages (parts 1 and 2 of Maccabees). The other books include Tobit, Judith, Ester, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three, Young Men, Susanna, 1 and 2 Esdras, and The Prayer of Manasseh.
The reason why many Bibles include the Apocrypha is that even among Christians who do not accept these books as Scripture, there is widespread agreement as to their importance in providing much valuable information on Jewish history, life, thought, worship, and religious practice during the centuries immediately before the time of Christ.
Reasons to read the Apocrypha include the fact that Old Testament names and places are often mentioned, providing some background for these events and people. The Apocrypha also supports many New Testament beliefs and teachings.
Furthermore, the Apocrypha helps readers to understand the historical and cultural environment in which Jesus lived and taught.
In the Catholic Church, the canonical status of Scripture was determined later than the proto-canonical books; ‘proto-canonical’ referring to the Old Testament. For this reason, they are called Deuterocanonical.
Protestants usually refer to the books as the Apocrypha, from the Greek term πόκρυφος meaning “to hide away.” In Biblical literature usage, this term refers to works outside the accepted Scripture canon.
First Maccabees covers military events of the Maccabean Revolt, extending from roughly 175-135 BC. The Second Book of Maccabees covers from 175 to 161 BC. These historical books describe the period of intense persecution of Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
Included is an account of the desecration of the Jerusalem Temple and the forced Jewish abandonment of their religious practices. The two Maccabees books chronicle the revolt’s beginnings under the leadership of the priestly family, the Hasmoneans, also known as the Maccabees.
Both books chronicle the military campaigns led by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers against the vastly superior Seleucid forces.
The Seleucid Empire was founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 312 BC. The Seleucid empire was a Hellenistic state that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great. The empire spanned a vast area from Thrace in Europe to the Indus Valley in the east.
The Seleucid empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture and played a significant role in the political and cultural landscape of the Middle East for nearly three centuries.
Summary
Good reasons exist to include the Apocrypha in the Scriptures, including that it helps to fill the large gap between the Old and New Testaments. Although Protestants in general do not consider the Apocrypha as Scripture, it does complement both the events in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures.
The current Bible is like a book missing several chapters in the middle; 1&2 Maccabees and several other Apocryphal books effectively convey an understanding of what the Jews faced in the hostile Greek world.
And Jews still face much the same hostility, even today, 2,000 years later. As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun.”
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Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning teacher and author. He has taught in the science and psychology area for over 40 years at the University of Toledo Medical College, Bowling Green State University, and other colleges. His 9 degrees include a Doctorate from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He has over 1,800 publications in both scholarly and popular science journals that have been translated into 13 languages. His publications are in over 2,400 college libraries in 65 countries. Bergman has spoken over 2,000 times at colleges and churches in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa.
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