The MUSEUM of INTERTESTAMENTAL ANTIQUITIES INTERTESTAMENTAL LITERATURE THE

The MUSEUM of INTERTESTAMENTAL ANTIQUITIES

INTERTESTAMENTAL LITERATURE THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS “The greatest manuscript discovery of modern times” There is indeed no probability that we shall ever find manuscripts of the Hebrew text going back to a period before the formation of the text which we know as Massoretic. ~biblical scholar F. G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts (1939)

ABOUT QUMRAN Sectarian, separatist Jews who had repudiated the Jewish leadership at Jerusalem. Communal lifestyle emphasized a serious pursuit of piety and study of the Law Thanksgiving Hymns give “evidence of a deep devotional life that springs from the OT”

ABOUT THE SCROLLS Written on leather or parchment, stored in custom-made jars with sealed lids Width: from about 6 to 13 inches Length: fragments to scrolls 24 -27 feet long Number: 10, 000 s of fragments of several hundred original scrolls in 11 caves Date: ca. 150 BC - AD 68 Contents: community life at Qumran apocrypha and pseudepigripha commentaries on Biblical books biblical texts

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SCROLLS The DSS have had enormous impact on the study of the OT text. The DSS have great importance for the study of Intertestamental Hebrew and Aramaic. The DSS have great importance for the study of the Intertestamental era.

As a product of the Intertestamental era, the Dead Sea Scrolls furnish vital information that illuminates important areas of Biblical study that we have almost come to take for granted. Yet God, in His timeless providence over nameless people living two millennia ago, preserved this priceless product of the Intertestamental era for discovery within our lifetime.

INTERTESTAMENTAL LITERATURE THE APOCRYPHA (300 BC- AD 100)

MEANING “Apocrypha” is a plural form of a word that means concealed or hidden First applied by Jerome (AD 340 -420)—who translated the Bible into Latin (Vulgate)—to a collection of about 15 books Historically distinguished from those books that were widely held to be inspired and canonical Came to be applied to writings dogged by doubts either about their authenticity or their reliability Some of these books also qualify as pseudepigrapha (compositions “issued under the names of ancient Hebrew notables”).

NAMES 1 & 2 Esdras Tobit Judith Additions to the Book of Esther Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach) Baruch Epistle of Jeremiah Song of the Three Children Susanna Bel and the Dragon Prayer of Manasseh 1 & 2 Maccabees

LITERARY GENRES historical literature (1 Esdras, 1 & 2 Maccabees) religious fiction (Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther and Additions to Daniel) wisdom or ethical literature (Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, Baruch, Prayer of Manasseh) apocalyptic literature (2 Esdras)

Jewish Status included in the Greek OT (Septuagint), but never formed part of the Hebrew Scriptures excluded from the Masoretic Hebrew OT no indication they were ever regarded as canonical by the Jews Early Christian Status early church read Apocrypha for edification and study. assumed canonical by some Greek-speaking Christians, probably because of their inclusion in the Septuagint (their adopted Scriptures) Widely and increasingly regarded as valuable but noncanonical

TRANSLATION HISTORY 300 s—Jerome’s Latin Vulgate included the Apocrypha with a disclaimer 300 s—Augustine regarded Apocrypha as valid 1500 s—Reformers bypassed Latin translations and returned to historic Hebrew text and canon 1546—Council of Trent reaffirmed Augustinian view of Apocrypha as authoritative Most Protestant Bibles included Apocrypha Zurich Bible (1534) Coverdale Bible (1535) Geneva Bible (1560) AV (1611)

WHY PROTESTANTS REJECT THE APOCRYPHA AS INSPIRED 1. Jesus and the Apostles never quote from it 2. Historical sermons in Acts ignore Apocrypha as part of divine revelation 3. Hebrew OT canon did not include the Apocrypha 4. Some Apocryphal authors expressly differentiate their writings 5. Jewish writers (Philo, Josephus) who used the Septuagint never cite the Apocrypha as part of the authoritative Scripture of the Jews

6. Church fathers familiar with the Hebrew canon distinguished Apocrypha from canonical writings 7. Widespread, long-term disagreement over authenticity 8. Frequently reflect an inferior literary air compared to the canonical writings, including inaccuracies and anachronisms 9. Contribute no vital or unique doctrinal or theological material

VALUE OF THE APOCRYPHA 1. Historical—provide valuable data about the Intertestamental era 2. Artistic—literature, art, music

Martin Rinkart, “Nun Danket Alle Gott” Ecclesiasticus 50: 22 -24 Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, Now therefore bless ye the God of all, Who wondrous things hath done, in whom His world rejoices; Who only doeth wondrous things everywhere, Who from our mothers’ arms hath blessed us on our way Who exalts our days from the womb, With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today. And deals with us according to His mercy.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, May He grant us joyfulness of heart, With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us; And that peace may be in our days in Israel forever. And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed, That He would confirm His mercy with us, And free us from all ills in this world and the next. And deliver us at His time!

VALUE OF THE APOCRYPHA 1. Historical—provide valuable data about the Intertestamental era 2. Artistic—literature, art, music 3. Devotional—“Ye that fear the Lord, believe Him; and your reward shall not fail. Look at the generations of old and see; did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded? Or did any abide in His fear and was forsaken? Or whom did He ever despise that called upon Him? ”

“For all their value and influence, they are less than Scripture…. The influence of the Apocrypha on Western literature and thought has been great, and even though they cannot be accepted as canonical, this group of books has great value for the Christian’s understanding of the New Testament world. They can also be read with as much benefit as much of the modern popular devotional literature. While not inspired, the religious sensibilities of the pious authors of these ancient writings often ring true for the modern reader” (O’Brien in Wood, A History of Israel (revised), 378 -379).

INTERTESTAMENTAL LITERATURE THE SEPTUAGINT (ca. 250 BC-130 BC)

NAME The Septuagint is the name of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament made during the IT era. The version is often abbreviated as “LXX” “Septuagint” comes from the Latin word for “seventy”

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The LXX exported the only revelation of God in the world to the world at large, in a universally accessible language. The LXX became the Bible of IT and early NT Judaism. The LXX was the version of the OT from which Jesus and the apostles’ most frequently quoted. The LXX facilitated the writing of the NT. The LXX facilitated the international expansion of Christianity.

“The Septuagint had, in the providence of God, a great and honorable part to play in preparing the world for the Gospel” (Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, 162). Intertestamental “Greek Judaism, with the Septuagint, ploughed the furrows for the gospel seed in the Western world” (Deissmann, New Light on the New Testament, 95).

“The version which had once been officially authorized by Alexandrian Jewry and protected from alteration by the most solemn sanctions, the version which Philo regarded as written by inspiration, was now represented as the work of Satan; the `accursed day on which the seventy elders wrote the Law in Greek for the king’ was compared to the day on which Israel made the golden calf. ”

TRANSLATIONAL CHARACTER Pentateuch is a good translation. Isaiah is generally a poor translation Daniel, Esther, Job, Proverbs are freely paraphrased

“The translation of the Seventy dissenteth from the Original in many places, neither doth it come near it for perspicuity, gravity, majesty; yet which of the Apostles did condemn it? Condemn it? Nay they used it, which they would not have done, nor by their example of using it so grace and commend it to the Church, if it had been unworthy the appellation and name of the word of God. ” ~KJV Translators’ Preface

NEW TESTAMENT LITERATURE THE GOSPELS THE ACTS THE EPISTLES THE REVELATION Written for Our Growth in the Knowledge of Christ