Download SECTION SEVEN

SECTION EIGHT
DEUTEROCANONICAL AND APOCALYPTIC
WORKS
Reading:
Ch. 8, “Deuterocanonical, Apocalyptic, and Extracanonical
Works,” pp. 305-347 in the Textbook.
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Books of the “Second Canon”:
• The Hebrew Bible closes with the Books of Chronicles;
• The Rabbis (ca. 90 A.D.) decided not to recognize as
authoritative about 14 books that had been included in the
Septuagint;
• The early Christian community, which used the Greek edition
of the Hebrew Bible, regarded these 14 books as
Deuterocanonical, i.e., belonging to a “Second Canon”;
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Books of the “Second Canon”:
• Today, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Bibles place
some of these books among the Prophets (Nevi’im) and
Writings (Kethuvim);
• Following the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th
centuries, most Protestant editions of the Bible either omit
Deuterocanonical books or relegate them to a separate unit
between the Old and New Testaments;
• Thus, in some Protestant editions of the Bible, these books
are called the Apocrypha;
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• See The “New Revised Standard Version” of the Bible;
• See Table 8.1: Deuterocanonical (Apocryphal Books) (p.
306 in Textbook);
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• In the Writings (Kethuvim), books such as Esther, Ezra,
and Nehemiah give a generally favorable picture of Persian
rule (see, Table 2.1: “major events …” pp. 45-47 in
textbook);
• Persian Emperors generally tended to support Judean
causes;
• during the period of the Persian Empire, the Jewish people
enjoyed two centuries of peace and stability;
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Alexander’s Conquests and the Hellenistic World:
• However, the situation changed in the fourth century B.C.
when a new world conqueror burst onto the international
scene;
• This emperor was Alexander of Macedonia (356-323 B.C.)
(See, Table 2.1, pp. 45-47 in textbook);
• Alexander rapidly conquered the Persian empire;
• He created the largest empire the world had yet known;
• See Figure 8.1 (p. 307) map of Alexander’s empire.
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Alexander the Great’s Defeat of Darius III (see textbook, fig. 8.2,9
p. 308).
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Alexander the Great
Alexander
the Great
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The Empire of Alexander the Great
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Alexander’s Conquests and the Hellenistic World
(contd.):
• Alexander brought Greek language, art, literature,
philosophy, and social customs to the subjects of his vast
empire;
• For the first time in history, a European power dominated
the older Near Eastern and Indian centers of civilization (see
Figure 8.2, p. 308);
• Alexander died before he could carry out his presumed
goal…;
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• Alexander’s most important successors:
• Ptolemy I: he founded a dynasty that ruled Egypt for
three centuries; capital at Alexandria; ruled Judea until
199 B.C.E;
• Seleucus: his descendants ruled Syria.
• See figure 8.1 (p. 307, in Textbook).
• Alexander’s successors presided over a new
international culture known as Hellenistic, a mixture of
the classical Greek (Hellenic) civilization with the older
cultures of the Near East.
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• The Hellenistic synthesis produced a creative flowering of
Greek and oriental motifs in religion, philosophy, and the
creative arts;
• The Hellenistic epoch chronologically overlaps the period
of Roman expansion and the early Christian centuries (see,
Table 2.1, pp. 45-47 in Textbook).
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Judaism and Hellenistic Assimilation:
• Israel’s religion had originally developed in a small arena;
• After Alexander’s conquests, however, Judeans were forced
to cope with life in a much larger and more culturally
complex environment;
• A cosmopolitan outlook emerged;
• A breaking down of national barriers;
• An integration of Greek with other ethnic customs;
• As a result, many Jews became Hellenized.
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• The Deuterocanonical Books and Covenant People’s
Encounter with Hellenism:
• For some authors, a peaceful coexistence between
Hellenistic culture and the practice of authentic Jewish
religion (see, e.g., The Book of Tobit and the Book of
Wisdom);
• In sharp contrast, the Books of Maccabees show
faithful Jews heroically resisting the imposition of
Hellenization; here, Hellenistic culture is seen as a threat
to the covenant people’s religious identity and purpose;
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• The Book Of Daniel, an apocalyptic work, pictures human
history as a series of Gentile empires that repeatedly attempt
to compromise the faith of pious Jews;
• (Why treat the Book of Daniel here? See, Textbook, p.
309 [Box 8.1].)
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Canonical and Deuterocanonical Books:
• First, Antiochus IV (167-164), a Greek-Syrian king (see,
Table 2.1, p. 46 and Table 8.2., p. 313 in Textbook; see also
Fig. 8.5, p. 321, for a profile of Antiochus IV on a coin);
• He attempts to eradicate Judaism;
• The Maccabean revolt begins;
• 1 and 2 Maccabees depict Anthiochus’ attack on Judaism;
• They record a major shift in Israel’s religious experience;
• Jews find themselves battling a foreign power not to defend
their state militarily but to defend their religion;
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• The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians had permitted the
people of Judea to worship Yahweh and to keep the Torah;
• Antiochus, on the other hand, deliberately set out to destroy
Judaism;
• He made loyalist Jews suffer for their faith;
• Thus, the “great tribulation” of which the Book of Daniel
speaks;
• the first saints and martyrs in a line of Jewish and Christian
religious heroes who kept their integrity unto death;
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• The Book Of Daniel depicts Antiochus’ persecution as
marking the climatic consummation of history;
• This depicted in Daniel’s eschatological visions;
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Books covering Antiochus’ persecution and the rise of
Apocalyptic writing:
• 1 Maccabees: a historical account of the Jewish revolt
against the oppression of the Syrian King Antiochus IV
(167-1674 BC);
• 2 Maccabees: a vivid elaboration of the persecution and
tortures that Antiochus IV inflicted on Jewish martyrs;
• See Figure 8.3, p. 312: Map of Palestine in the
Maccabean period (ca. 168-63 B.C.E);
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Map of
Maccabean
Period.
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Books covering Antiochus’ persecution and the rise of
Apocalyptic writing (contd.):
• Daniel: a canonical work, written during the
persecution of Antiochus IV, that combines quasihistorical narrative and apocalyptic visions of end time;
• Additions to Daniel;
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Other Deuterocanonical Writings (Books of the
Apocrypha):
• Tobit: a short story set at the time of the Assyrian
empire but reflecting Jewish life in the later Diaspora;
• Judith: a fictional romance that highlights dangers
threatening Diaspora Jews;
• Additions to Esther: prayers, etc. added to the
Canonical Book;
• Baruch: a narrative about Jews living in foreign
realms;
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Other Deuterocanonical Writings (Books of the Apocrypha)
(contd.):
• Ecclesiasticus or Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach: proverbial
wisdom and ethical advice to Jewish students, written by a
Jewish sage ca. 180 B.C.E;
• Wisdom of Solomon: a wisdom book combining traditional
Jewish and Hellenistic ideas, composed during the first century
B.C.E.
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Apocalyptic Literature and the Book of Daniel:
• Apocalyptic:
• From the Greek Apokalypsis;
• Meaning “an unveiling, an uncovering, a stripping naked of
what is normally hidden”;
• As a literary category, an apocalypse means a revelation of
dimensions or events ordinarily closed to human view, e.g.,
the invisible realm of heaven, or the future course of history;
• In the Hebrew Bible, only Daniel is a fully apocalyptic
work;
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Apocalyptic Literature and The Book Of Daniel (contd.):
• Apocalyptic elements in Isaiah 6.1-12 and Zechariah 3.110;
• See also, Isaiah 24-27, Ezekiel 30, 37-39, and Zechariah 914;
• The New Testament Book of Revelation is apocalyptic
literature;
• Much of the NT is permeated with apocalyptic thought;
• See, e.g., Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21, and 1 and 2
Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians.
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Eschatological Concerns:
• Apocalyptic literature is typically concerned with
eschatology:
• Speculations about “last things”, such as the final
consummation of history, the prophetic “day of Yahweh”;
• The ultimate fate of individual persons, e.g., death,
posthumous judgment, heaven, hell, and resurrection;
• The belief in the resurrection of the body is a by-product
of the apocalyptic movement (Dan 12.1-3).
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• The authors of the Torah and the Former Prophets
showed little or no interest in eschatological matters;
• During the last three centuries B.C.E., the situation changed
when apocalyptic speculation reached its height.
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Apocalyptic Writings:
• Commonly arise during times of persecution and tension;
• They are a response to severe persecution or to that which
threaten a group’s welfare;
• Daniel and Revelation composed to encourage their
respective audience to remain faithful before the threat of
state persecution;
• They tell of the persecutors’ certain doom;
• Rekindle hopes of future blessedness.
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Apocalyptic Literature and the Book Of Daniel (contd.):
• The Book of Daniel:
• Written to encourage Jewish Torah loyalists during the
persecutions of Antiochus IV (mid-2nd century B.C.);
• Assures readers that even though Israel is scattered and
oppressed by Gentile powers, its God still controls all
nations;
• the book is a two-part drama of supernatural
deliverance:
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The Book of Daniel:
Outline:
Chs. 1-6: stories of personal piety, divine intervention,
folktales, and encouragement to Jews under foreign
domination;
Chs. 7-12: apocalyptic material; depict extreme hostility
to foreign governments;
Additions to Daniel: “The prayer of Azariah and the Son
of the Three Jews” (generally placed between Daniel
3.23 and 3.24 by ancient manuscripts); “Susanna” (The
Septuagint and the Vulgate place it after Daniel 13); and
Bel and the Dragon” (appears as Ch. 14 in the Greek
version of the book of Daniel).
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Part 1 (Chs. 1-6):
• The book portrays Daniel, one of Nebuchadnezzar’s court
magicians, and his three young friends as scrupulous Torah
observers whom God miraculously rescues from unjust
punishment;
• Part 2 (Chs. 7-12):
• A series of apocalyptic visions surveying the rise and fall
of Near Eastern empires, from Babylon to the Hellenistic
states of Syria and Egypt, that dominated Palestine in the
author’s day.
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Book Of Daniel (contd.):
• Book ends by predicting public vindication and the
physical resurrection of the wise who remained faithful
under persecution (see 12.13; see also 12.2 – earliest clear
enunciation of belief in the resurrection);
• The book was written ca. 167-164 B.C.E. when Jews were
suffering intense persecution by Antiochus IV;
• It is chronologically the latest written book in the Hebrew
Bible.
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Additions to the Book of Daniel:
• The Greek version of Daniel contains three long poetic and
narrative units not found in the Hebrew canon;
• The Song of the Three Holy Children (3.24-90 in Catholic
Bible Editions);
• Susanna (The Jerusalem Bible includes it as Ch. 13);
• Bel and the Dragon (usually appended as Ch. 14).
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Daniel 3.130; see
especially
3.25.
Three
Faithful
Hebrew
Youths:
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and
Abednego.
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Daniel in the lions’ den.
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Questions:
1. How does the canon of Hebrew Scripture end? By whom
and when was the decision made as to what books were to
be considered authoritative for Jews?
2. What was the practice of the early Christian community
relative to a number of books that were contained in the
Greek edition of the Hebrew Bible? What did the
community call these books? Where are some of these
books placed in Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox
Bibles?
3. When did Protestants decide to omit from their editions
of the Bible certain books that are contained in the Greek
edition of the Hebrew Bible? Why? What do Protestants
call these books and why?
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4. Describe the situation of the Jewish people under the
Persian Empire. How and when did this situation change?
5. Describe some of the changes that the conquests of
Alexander the Great brought to the Near East and, in
particular, to Palestine.
6. Describe the situation of the Jews of Palestine in the
centuries immediately following the death of Alexander the
Great.
7. What is meant by the expression “Hellenism”?
8. How do the Deuterocanonical books depict the covenant
peoples’ encounters with Hellenism?
9. Describe how 1 and 2 Maccabees depict Antiochus’ attack
on Judaism. How does the Book of Daniel depict the same
attack?
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10. List and give a short description of the Deuterocanonical
books.
11. What is meant by apocalyptic literature? What is the best
example in the Hebrew Bible of this type of literature? Where
are other examples of apocalyptic literature found in the
Hebrew Bible? What are examples of apocalyptic literature in
the New Testament?
12. Apocalyptic literature is typically concerned with
eschatology. What is meant by this statement?
13. Explain the origin of apocalyptic literature.
14. Describe the Book of Daniel under the headings: a)
purpose; b) major divisions; c) time of writing; and d) additions
that are not found in the Hebrew Bible.
PEACE!
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