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Tag: Deuterocanonical

Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, What’s new?.

What are the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical books?

Roman Catholic Bibles have several more books in the Old Testament than Protestant Bibles. These books are referred to as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. The word apocrypha means “hidden,” while the word deuterocanonical means “second canon.” The Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals were written primarily in the time between the Old and New Testaments. The books of the Apocrypha include 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees, as well as additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. Not all of these books are included in Catholic Bibles.

The nation of Israel treated the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books with respect, but never accepted them as true books of the Hebrew Bible. The early Christian church debated the status of the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals, but few early Christians believed they belonged in the canon of Scripture. The New Testament quotes from the Old Testament hundreds of times, but nowhere quotes or alludes to any of the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. Further, there are many proven errors and contradictions in the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals. Here are a few websites that demonstrate these errors:
http://www.justforcatholics.org/a109.htm
http://www.biblequery.org/Bible/BibleCanon/WhatAboutTheApocrypha.htm
https://carm.org/roman-catholicism/errors-in-the-apocrypha/

The Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books teach many things that are not true and are not historically accurate. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had included the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals in various listings of canonical books, and the Council of Hippo in AD 393 and the Third Council of Carthage in AD 397 accepted the Apocrypha as inspired. Neither council was an ecumenical or general council, though, and the impact of those decisions was limited. Many within the Catholic Church still viewed the Apocrypha as useful but not inspired. Catholics officially declared the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals to be inspired, authoritative Scripture at the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s, primarily in response to the Protestant Reformation. The Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals support some of the things that the Roman Catholic Church believes and practices that are not in agreement with the Bible. Examples are petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers and almsgiving to merit grace or atone for sins.

Some of what the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals say is true and correct. However, due to the historical and theological errors, the books must be viewed as fallible historical and religious documents, not as the inspired, authoritative Word of God.

Book of Judith

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, What’s new?.

What is the book of Judith?

The Book of Judith is part of the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical scripture and appears in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles. The nation of Israel treated the Apocryphal books with respect, but never accepted them as true books of the Hebrew Bible. The early Christian church debated the status of the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals, but few early Christians believed they belonged in the canon of Scripture.

The Book of Judith, believed to be written in the late second century or early first century B.C., recounts the story of God providing a woman, Judith, to deliver the Jewish people in a time of great need and despair. In the story Judith lives in the town of Bethulia. She is a beautiful and wise widow who becomes incensed with her town elders when they “test” God rather than trust Him and they decide to capitulate to King Nebuchadnezzar’s top general, Holofernes, to surrender if God does not save them in five days.

Judith feels that giving God such a deadline is arrogant and inappropriate in the extreme. She tells the elders she has a plan, but must leave the city for it to be successful. She refuses to divulge any details, departs with her slave woman, and enters Holofernes’s camp on the pretext of providing him help to defeat her fellow Jews.

Holofernes is mesmerized by her beauty and takes her into his camp and company. Her voluptuousness and wiles attract him, and lust blinds him to her deceit. Judith manages to get Holofernes alone in his tent when he is excessively drunk. When he passes out, she beheads him, steals back to Bethulia, displays the result of her intrigue, and becomes the town’s heroine.

This Book of Judith was believed to be written first in Hebrew, but the Septuagint scripture crafted in Koine Greek was accepted by the Catholic Church for its Bible. Jerome, a Catholic priest and apologist (c. A.D. 347 – 420), was said to produce a text of Judith in Latin from a secondary Aramaic text.

As with other books in the Apocrypha, there are anachronisms, most notably the claim that Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the Assyrian Empire from Nineveh. He actually ruled over Babylonia. Plus, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar, had destroyed Nineveh years earlier, making this story’s history suspect. However, many view this account as a variation of the Exodus story, where faith in God and reliance on Him for deliverance from fear and protection from harm and evil is what believers must always do. This book is regarded as an appropriate reflection during the Passover celebration.