Context at a Glance
Author:Traditional Attribution
Topic:malachi Chapter 4 Study
This chapter provides a foundational look at the theological themes of malachi, analyzed across multiple historic translations for maximum scholarly depth.
Malachi 4
New Revised Standard Version
1See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
2But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
3And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. Two appendices
4Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
5Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
6He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse. Copyright ©1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. THE APOCRYPHA with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books ZAINE RIDLING, Ph.D. Editor New Revised Standard Version Copyright ©1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. APOCRYPHA, TABLE OF CONTENTS
1TABLE OF CONTENTS to the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books Introduction to the Apocrypha …………….……………………. Tobit …………………………………………………………………. Judith ………………………………………………………………… Additions to Esther ……………………………………..………… Wisdom of Solomon ……………………………………….…..…. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) ………………………………..…….……… Baruch ………………………………………………………………. Letter of Jeremiah ………………………………………..………. Additions to Daniel ………………………………………….…… Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews ……… Susanna ………………………………………………………..… Bel and the Dragon ……………………………………………
1Maccabees ………………………………………………………..
2Maccabees ………………………………………………………..
1Esdras ………………………………………………..……………. Prayer of Manasseh …………………………………..………….. Psalm
151………………………………………………..………….
3Maccabees ………………………………………………...……..
2Esdras ………………………………………………………….….
4Maccabees ……………………………………………………..... HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH HT TH TH HT HT TH HT TH HT TH TH TH HT HT HT TH INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
2INTRODUCTION TO THE APOCRYPHAL/DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS Definitions As the terms are used in the New Revised Standard Version translation, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books are those works that were included in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible with additions, or in the Old Latin and Vulgate translations, but are not included in the Hebrew text that forms both the canon for Judaism and the Protestant Old Testament. All of these works, whether they are individual books or additions to the Hebrew texts of Esther and Daniel, have been regarded as canonical by one or more Christian communities, but not by all. (The exception to this is
4Maccabees, which appears in an appendix to the Greek Bible.) "Apocrypha" means "hidden things," but it is not clear why the term was chosen to describe these books. It could mean that they were "hidden" or withdrawn from common use because they were viewed as containing mysterious or esoteric teaching, too profound to be communicated to any except the initiated (see
2Esdras 14.45-46). Or it could mean that such books deserved to be "hidden" because they were spurious or heretical. This ambivalence has continued into the present, although increasingly even scholars from traditions that do not regard these books as canonical consider them of great value for understanding Judaism in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and thus in the wider contexts, both literary and historical, of the later books in the Hebrew Bible and of the New Testament as well. "Deuterocanonical," along with it coordinate term "protocanonical," is used in Roman Catholic tradition to describe the status of the two groups of books of the Old Testament. The "protocanon" consists of the books of the Hebrew Bible and the "deuterocanon" of the books whose inspiration came to be recognized later, after the matter had INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
3been discussed among some theologians and local churches. This distinction, introduced by Sixtus of Sienna in 1566, acknowledges the differences between the two categories while making clear that Roman Catholics accept as fully canonical those books and parts of books that Protestants call the Apocrypha (except the Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151,
3and
4Maccabees, and
1and
2Esdras, which both groups regard as apocryphal). Thus, although the terms "Deuterocanonical" and "Apocryphal" can describe the same collection of writings, they clearly indicated the difference in the status of the writings among different groups. In the NRSV translation, subheadings in the table of contents for these books, and in the text itself, explain the differing canonical status of various writings. The Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Canons of the Old Testament Toward the end of the fourth century CE, Pope Damascus commissioned Jerome, the most learned Christian biblical scholar of his day, to prepare a standard Latin version of the scriptures (the translation that was to become known as the Latin Vulgate). In the Old Testament Jerome followed the Hebrew canon; though he also translated the apocryphal books, he called attention to their distinct status in prefaces. Subsequent copyists of the Latin Bible, however, did not always include Jerome's prefaces, and during the medieval period the Western Church generally regarded these books as part of the holy scriptures without differentiation. In
1546the Council of Trent decreed that the canon of the Old Testament includes them (with the exceptions as listed above). Subsequent editions of the Latin Vulgate text, officially approved by the Roman Catholic Church, place these books within the Christian sequence of the Old Testament books. Thus Tobit and Judith come after Nehemiah; the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus come after the Song of Solomon; Baruch (with the Letter of Jeremiah as Chapter 6) comes after Lamentations; and
1and
2Maccabees conclude the books of the Old Testament. Esther is given in its longer (Greek) form rather than in the version based solely on the Hebrew text; the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Jews appear as vv. 24-90 of ch
3of Daniel, and the stories of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon as chs
13and
14of Daniel. An appendix after the New INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
4Testament contains the Prayer of Manasseh and
1and
2Esdras, without implying canonical status. The Eastern Orthodox Churches recognize several other books as authoritative. Editions of the Old Testament approved by the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church contain, besides the Roman Catholic Deuterocanonical books,
1Esdras, Psalm 151, the Prayer of Manasseh, and
3Maccabees, while
4Maccabees appears in the Appendix. Slavonic Bibles approved by the Russian Orthodox Church contain besides the Deuterocanonical books,
1and
2Esdras (called
2and
3Esdras), Psalm 151, and
3Maccabees. The Status of the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books in Christianity During the first centuries of the Common Era, early Christian theologians (most of whom knew no Hebrew) quoted, in Greek, passages both from books in the Hebrew canon and from these additional works without making any distinction between them. Such citations were usually preceded by a word or phrase making it clear that the writer regarded the text being cited as canonical. During this time, only a few thinkers investigated the Jewish canon or distinguished between, for instance, the Hebrew text of Daniel and the addition of the story of Susanna in the Greek version. By the fourth century, theologians in the eastern (Greek) churches had begun to recognize a distinction between the books of the Hebrew canon and the rest, thought they continued to cite all of them as scripture. During the following centuries the matter was debated and, consequently, practice varied in the East, but at the Synod of Jerusalem in
1672(which expressed the Orthodox churches' reaction to the Protestant Reformation), Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, Additions to Daniel, and
1and
2Maccabees were expressly designated as canonical. INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
5In the western (Latin) church, on the other hand, though there has been some variety of opinion, in general theologians have regarded these books as canonical. More than one local synodical council (e.g., Hippo, 393, and Carthage,
397and 419) justified and authorized their use as scripture. The so-called Decretum Gelasianum, a Latin document probably dating to the sixth century, contains lists of the books to be read as scripture and of books to be avoided as apocryphal. The former list, which is not present in all the manuscripts, includes among the biblical books Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and
1and
2Maccabees. Occasionally, however, theologians questioned the status of these books, Jerome, near the end of the fourth century, thought that books not in the Hebrew canon should be classed as apocryphal, and other thinkers, though always a minority, followed his view, at least theoretically. Toward the close of the fourteenth century John Wycliffe and his disciples produced the first English version of the Bible. This translation of the Latin Vulgate included all of the disputed books, with the exception of
2Esdras. In the Prologue to the Old Testament, however, it makes a distinction between the books of the Hebrew canon, listed there, and others which, the writer says, "shall be set among the apocrypha, that is, without authority of belief." In the books of Esther and Daniel the translators included a rendering of Jerome's notes calling the reader's attention to the additions. At the time of the Reformation, Protestant thinkers came to the conclusion fairly early that they would need to determine which books were authoritative for the establishment of doctrine and which were not. For instance, disputes over the doctrine of Purgatory and of the usefulness o prayers and Masses for the dead involved the authority of
2Maccabees, which contains what was held to be scriptural warrant for them (12.43-45). The first extensive Protestant discussion of the canon was Andreas Bodenstein's treatise De Canonicis Scripturis Libellus (1520). Bodenstein (or Carlstadt, after his place of birth) distinguished the books of the Hebrew Old Testament from the books of the Apocrypha, classifying the Apocrypha into two divisions. Concerning Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Judith, Tobit, and
1and
2Maccabees, he INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
6says, "These are the Apocrypha, that is, are outside the Hebrew canon; yet they are holy writings" (sect. 114). He continues: What they contain is not to be despised at once; still it is not right that Christians should relieve, much less slake, their thirst with them.... Before all things things the best books must be read, that is, those that are canonical beyond all controversy; afterwards, if one has the time, it is allowed to peruse the controverted books, provided that you have the set purpose of comparing and collating the non-canonical books with those which are truly canonical (§118). The second group,
1and
2Esdras, Baruch, Prayer of Manasseh, and the Additions to Daniel, he declared without worth. The first Bible in a modern vernacular language to segregate the apocryphal books from the others was the Dutch Bible published by Jacob van Liesveldt in
1526at Antwerp. After Malachi there follows a section embodying the Apocrypha, which is titled, "The books which are not in the canon, that is to say, which one does not find among the Jews in the Hebrew." The first edition of the Swiss-German Bible was published in six volumes (Zurich, 1527-29), the fifth of which contains the Apocrypha. The title page of this volume states, "These are the books which are not reckoned as biblical by the ancients, nor are found among the Hebrews." A one-volume edition of the Zurich Bible, which appeared in 1530, contains the apocryphal books grouped together after the New Testament. One Swiss reformer, Oecolampadius, declared in 1530: "We do not despise Judith, Tobit, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the last two books of Esdras, the three books of Maccabees, the Additions to Daniel; but we do not allow them divine authority with the others." In reaction to Protestant criticism of the disputed books, on
8April 1546, the Council of Trent gave what is regarded by Roman Catholics as the definitive declaration on the canon on the canon of the holy scriptures. After enumerating the books, which in the Old Testament include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and the two INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
7books of Maccabees, the decree pronounces an anathema upon anyone who "does not accept as sacred and canonical the aforesaid books in their entirety and with all their parts, as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church and as they are contained in the old Latin Vulgate Edition" (tr. Father H.J. Schroeder). The reference to "books in their entirety and with all their parts" is intended to cover the Letter of Jeremiah as chapter
6of Baruch, the Additions to Esther, and the chapters in Daniel including the Prayer of Azariah, the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon. It is noteworthy, however, that the Prayer of Manasseh and
1and
2Esdras, though included in some manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, were denied canonical status by the Council. In the official edition of the Vulgate, published in 1592, these three are printed as an appendix after the New Testament, "lest they should perish altogether." In England, though Protestants were unanimous in declaring that the apocryphal books were not to be used to establish any doctrine, differences arose as to the proper use and place of noncanonical books. A milder view prevailed in the Church of England, and the lectionary attached to the Book of Common Prayer, from
1549onward, has always contained prescribed lessons from the Apocrypha. In addition, portions of the Song of the Three Jews are used as a canticle, or song of praise, alongside selected Psalms in the service of Morning Prayer. In reply to those who urged the discontinuance of reading lessons from apocryphal books, as being inconsistent with the sufficiency of scripture, the bishops at the Savoy Conference, held in 1661, replied that the same objection could be raised against the preaching of sermons, and that it was much to be desired that all sermons should give as useful instruction as did the chapters selected from the Apocrypha. The Historical Background to the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books With the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians in
586BCE, and the subsequent exile of the leading citizens of Judah in Babylon, the history of Israel underwent a decisive break. Henceforth there would always be Jewish communities outside the land of Israel, INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
8and even after the Persian king Cyrus allowed the exiles to return in
538BCE, large communities flourished in Babylon and elsewhere. For two centuries the Persians controlled the Near East, but little is known about Jewish history during this time. The Persian period came to an end when Alexander the Great completed a series of conquests that put him in control of Greece, the former Persian Empire, and Egypt. When Alexander died in 323, his empire was divided among his warring generals, and two of them — Seleucus, king of Syria, and Ptolemy, king of Egypt — and their successors fought over the territory of Judah, which fell first under Ptolemaic and then Seleucid dynastic control. Despite the political changes, however, the overall cultural influence remained: This was the era of the triumph of Hellenistic culture, including the use of the Greek language as the standard for the whole empire. There had already been, in the Hebrew Bible, contention about such issues as intermarriage (Ezra 9.1-10.44; Neh 13.23-31). Now, with large numbers of Jews living outside the land as minorities within much larger and more dominant cultures, this issue and those of other religious observances came to be much more important. Stories of faithfully observant Jews among non-Jewish populations (Tobit,
3Maccabees) were joined by expanded versions of books that strengthened this point (Greek Esther, the Prayer of Azariah, and Song of the Three Jews in ch
3of Daniel). The Seleucid kings increasingly pressured the Jews to adopt Hellenistic ways in their religious observance, and in fact had some success. This effort came to a head under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164). He installed Hellenizing high priests (Jason and Menelaus), against whom observant Jews rebelled. In response, Antiochus invaded Jerusalem in 169; in
167he effectively outlawed the Jewish religion, making the teaching of the Torah a crime and establishing polytheistic worship in the Temple. This final provocation led to the ultimately successful Jewish revolt under the Hasmonean family, led by Mattathias and his five sons, one of whom, Judas, was known as Maccabeus, "the hammer." The revolt and the subsequent establishment of a Jewish government (which took more than twenty years to accomplish) are INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
9therefore referred to as Maccabean. This rule lasted for eighty years, until (because of constant power struggles among the various factions of Jews) the Romans were able to intervene and take direct control of the territory in
63BCE. Kinds of Literature in the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books contain several different literary genres, including histories, historical fiction, wisdom, devotional writings, letters, and an apocalypse. Though several of the books combine more than one of these genres, most of the books can be classified as predominantly one or another. Thus
1Esdras,
1Maccabees, and, in a certain sense,
2Maccabees are histories. First Esdras summarizes
2Chr 35.1-36.23 and reproduces all of Ezra and Neh 7.38-8.12. Only
1Esd 3.1-5.6 is a significant addition. First Maccabees recounts the history of the Seleucid persecutions and the rebellion and rise of the Maccabees. Second Maccabees, with its bombastic rhetoric and abundant use of invectives against the Seleucid tyrants and Hellenizing Jews, is an example of a popular Hellenistic genre, the "pathetic history," which uses highly charged language, exhortation, exaggeration, and other methods to stimulate the imaginations and emotions ("pathos") of readers. Third Maccabees is misleadingly named: It actually has nothing to do with the Maccabean period or the Seleucid dynasty, but deals with a period a half-century earlier and concerns the sufferings of the Jewish community in Egypt under the Ptolemaic rulers. It is a religious novel, written in Greek by an Alexandrian Jew sometime between
100BCE and
70CE. Using legendary elements, it tells three stories of conflict between Ptolemy IV (221-205 BCE) and the Jewish community in Egypt. The most dramatic section (5.1-6.21) describes Ptolemy's scheme to martyr the Jews: They were to be herded into an arena near Alexandria to be trampled under the foot of five hundred intoxicated elephants. The king's plan was finally foiled when angelic intervention terrorized those supervising the persecutions and also frightened the elephants into turning upon the Egyptian soldiers. INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
10Fourth Maccabees is not a historical narrative but rather a Greek philosophical treatise addressed to Jews on the supremacy of reason over the passions of the body and soul. In the form of a Stoic diatribe, or popular address, it uses narratives of exemplary behavior, and the conversations and arguments of character in the narratives, to explore philosophical issues. The author begins with a philosophical exposition of his theme, which he then illustrates at length with examples of the martyrs drawn from
2Maccabees, who preferred death to committing apostasy. The book was probably written by a Hellenistic Jew before
70CE. In early Christianity the Maccabean martyrs were venerated as saints and eventually accorded a yearly festival in the ecclesiastical calendar (August 1). Judith, Tobit, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon are short historical fictions written to convey a moral point, as well as to entertain. Except for Judith, which is set in Judah, the rest are sometimes referred to as "Diaspora novels" since they are all set in the Jewish Diaspora of Mesopotamia. Yet they differ from one another in other respects. Like the canonical stories of Daniel 1-6, Bel and the Dragon are court tales, in which the hero's relationship with the king and other members of the court provides the conflict of the plot. The motif of the lion's den, which occurs in Daniel 6, also occurs in the story of the dragon. In contrast to the earlier Daniel tales, however, Bel and the Dragon is preoccupied with the theme of the exposure of idols as false gods and their priests as fraudulent (see also the Letter of Jeremiah). Bel and the Dragon and Susanna are sometimes referred to as ancient examples of the detective story. Whereas Daniel functioned as an interpreter of dreams and visions in Daniel 1-6, in these stories Daniel uses cleverness and logical deduction to disclose deception. Although Tobit, like Daniel, is represented as a court official of a Mesopotamian king, the story is concerned with personal and family affairs, not a rivalry at court. Thematically, Tobit maybe be compared with the prose story of Job, since it concerns the suffering of the righteous (both Tobit and his daughter-in-law Sarah). The book of Tobit is distinguished by the use of various folktale motifs (e.g., the motifs of the grateful dead, the angel in disguise, the dangerous bride, INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
11and the demon lover), and by its reference to Ahikar, the hero of a non-Jewish folktale from Mesopotamia. Judith might seem to bear comparison with
1and
2Maccabees, since it concerns a threat to the people from a foreign army. But whereas
1and
2Maccabees are histories, the fictional nature of Judith is evident from the story's flagrant historical inaccuracies (describing Nebuchadnezzar as king of Assyria and the invasion as taking place after the people's return from exile!). A better comparison might be between Judith and Esther. Though set in Judah rather than in the Diaspora, Judith, like Esther, tells how a courageous Jewish woman saves her people from enemies bent on destroying them. Didactic literature is represented in the Apocrypha by the two treatises on wisdom: the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus). Sirach, which was originally composed in Hebrew ca.
180BCE, shows particularly close connections with the style and content of the book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible, from which it is a natural development. The Wisdom of Solomon, by contrast, contains no proverbial material, such as characterizes the Hebrew wisdom tradition. It does, however, share with Proverbs and Sirach an interest in the figure of wisdom personified as a woman. What makes the Wisdom of Solomon distinctive is the strong influence of Greek literary styles and philosophical ideas. Thus, it comes from the Greek-speaking Diaspora, most probably from Alexandria. The Prayer of Manasseh is a hymnic lament of great feeling and literary skill. The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews are both modeled on psalms that are liturgical in form. In addition to the
150psalms comprising the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods such hymns were composed in Hebrew and in other languages; there are a number of such compositions in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Another, which celebrates the prowess of young David at slaying Goliath, is appended (as Ps 151) to the Psalter in Greek manuscripts. INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
12The Hebrew Bible contains no books that are in the form of a letter, although letters (or excerpts) occur at various places. There are decrees (Ezra 1.1-6), diplomatic correspondence (1 Kings 5.2-6), royal commands (2 Sam 11.14-15), even forgeries (1 Kings 21.8-10), but all are used to advance the narratives in which they occur, or explain incidents that follow, so it is unclear how representative they are. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are in the form of letters, though some (for instance, Hebrews) are more like sermons than letters. The Letter of Jeremiah, which dates from the Hellenistic period, may have provided later, Christian writers with an example of how this literary form could be used for religious purposes, combining theological content with a direct personal approach. Finally,
2Esdras, a book that purports to reveal the future, is a specimen of apocalypse. An apocalypse is literally "an unveiling." Like the last six chapters of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible and the book of Revelation in the New Testament, which are also apocalypses,
2Esdras uses metaphoric language, symbolic numbers and animals (including composites, like the eagle with three heads and numerous wings in ch 11), and angelic messengers who reveal hidden information. Despite this diversity of genres, most of which parallel or are developed from similar ones in the Hebrew Bible, there is no correlative to classical prophecy. Even within the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, apocalyptic elements had already begun to supplant strict prophecy (for instance, Isaiah chs 24-27; Ezekiel chs 38-39; Joel ch 2; Zechariah chs 9-14). This absence perhaps supports the view that Josephus, the Jewish historian, expressed (Ag. Ap. 1.8), that "the exact succession of the prophets" had been broken after the Persian period; a similar idea is found in later rabbinic literature. Sometimes there is a direct statement that "prophets ceased to appear" (1 Macc 9.27); at other times the writers express the hope that prophecy might one day return (1 Macc 4.46; 14.41). When a writer imitates prophetic style, as in the book of Baruch, he repeats with slight modifications the language of the older prophets. But the introductory phrase, "Thus says the LORD," which occurs so frequently in the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible, is absent from the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
13The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books within Judaism All of the writings in the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books are Jewish in origin, but it is not clear that they were collected by any particular community of Jews. Some of them (for instance, Sirach) were quoted by the rabbis, but for others no evidence exists that they were regarded as central to the Jewish community at any point. Some (Tobit, parts of Sirach, the Letter of Jeremiah, and Psalm 151) are among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and were therefore presumably of importance to the Essene community there, but whether or not they were considered "canonical" is not clear. Nevertheless, influences from some of these works are apparent within Judaism. As mentioned above, rabbinic literature quotes and appropriates sayings from Sirach. The martyrdom of the woman and her seven sons (2 Macc 7.1-42;
4Macc 8.3-18.24) is recounted in several places (Lam. Rab 1. 50; Git. 57b; Seder Eliyahu R 29). First and Second Maccabees (1 Macc 4.36-59;
2Macc 10.1-8) provide the original accounts of the purification of the Temple in
164BCE, which is commemorated in the festival of Hanukkah. The Talmudic legend (Shab. 21b) that oil in the Temple, though only enough for one day, nevertheless burned for eight — the supposed reason for the eight-day length of the observance — is not found in the books of the Maccabees. Judith was, during the Middle Ages, associated with Hanukkah as well, on the grounds that both had to do with rallying an oppressed Jewish population to overthrow a threatening or occupying power. Both Tobit and
2Esdras influenced later Jewish literature and were popular during the Middle Ages. Baruch may have been read in synagogues at one time (see Bar 1.14), and Baruch himself, and therefore his writing, were regarded in some rabbinic writings as sharing Jeremiah's prophetic status (Sifre Num 78; Seder Olam R 20; Bab Meg. 14b; Jer Sot. 9.12). Susanna's story is recounted in the Babylonian Talmud (b. San. 93a). INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
14New Testament Uses of the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books None of the books of the New Testament quote directly from any Apocryphal book, in distinction from the frequent quotation of the thirty-nine books in the Hebrew Bible. On the other hand, several New Testament writers make allusions to one or more apocryphal books. For example, what seem to be literary echoes from the Wisdom of Solomon are present in Paul's Letter to the Romans (cf Rom 1.20-29 with Wis 13.5, 8; 14.24, 27; and Rom 9.20-23 with Wis 12.12, 20; 15.7) and in his correspondence with the Corinthians (compare
2Cor 5.1,
4with Wis 9.15). The short Letter of James, a typical bit of "wisdom literature" in the New Testament, contains allusions not only to the book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible but to gnomic sayings in Sirach as well (cf Jas 1.19 with Sir 5.11; and Jas 1.13 with Sir 15.11-12). The Further Influence of the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books The influence of the Apocrypha has been widespread, inspiring homilies, meditations, and liturgical forms, and providing subjects for poets, dramatists, composers, and artists. Some common expressions and proverbs have come from the Apocrypha. The sayings, "A good name endures forever" and "You can't touch pitch without being defiled," are derived from Sir 41.13 and 13.1. The affirmation in
1Esd 4.41, "Great is Truth, and mighty above all things" (King James Version), or its Latin form, Magna est veritas et praevalet, has been used as a motto or maxim in a wide variety of contexts. The importance of these books extends to the information they supply concerning the development of Jewish life and thought just prior to the beginning of the Common Era. The stirring political fortunes of the Jews in the time of the Maccabees; the rise of what has been called normative Judaism, and the emergence of the sects of the Pharisees and and Sadducees; the lush growth of popular belief in the activities of angels and demons, and the use of magic to drive away malevolent influences; the first reflections on "original sin" and its relation to the "evil inclination" present in every person; the blossoming of apocalyptic hopes relating to the messiah, the resurrection of the body, INTRO TO THE APOCRYPHA
15and the vindication of the righteous — all these and many other topics receive welcome light from the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. Copyright ©2001, New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. Ed. Michael D. Coogan. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Used by permission. All rights reserved. TOBIT
16TOBIT Introduction Combining ethical exhortation, prayers, and doxologies with broad humor, a rollicking plot, and vivid characters, the book of Tobit is a splendid example of the Jewish novella. In addition to its entertainment value, it offers to historians information about the postexilic period and to theologians a view of a God who test the faithful, responds to prayers, and redeems the covenent community. The title character, Tobit, was exiled with his wife Anna from the region of Galilee held by the tribe of Naptali. Removed to Assyria, he eventually, like Joseph, Mordecai, and Daniel, found himself in the service of a foreign ruler — in Tobit's case, as an officer of the court of Shalmaneser. This pious Israelite too is tested: First he is removed from his official position and then he is persecuted by Shalmaneser's successor for his insistence on burying the corpses of his fellow Jews. Most ignominious of all: One evening, following yet another burial, Tobit is blinded by a bird with unfortunate aim. Forced to depend on others, including his wife, for support, and following an argument with her in which she questions the value of his piety, Tobit prays for death. At the same time his relative Sarah is also praying for death. The demon Asmodeus, who has fallen in love with her, has killed each of her seven successive grooms on the wedding night. To resolve these somewhat improbable situations, the angel Raphael will escort Tobit's son, Tobias, first to Media to exorcise the demon and marry Sarah and then back to Nineveh to cure Tobit. The relatively complex plot is tied together by the parallel situations of older father and bride-to-be, frequent doxologies, almost incessant references to almsgiving, and the shifting of scenes between Nineveh and Ecbatana. The humorous aspects of the tale — from the angel in TOBIT
17disguise to the attack of a magical fish — make the stories of Tobit and Sarah border on the farcical and so prevent the book from becoming tragic or mauldlin. Readers familiar with biblical motifs will recognize various genres and themes incorporated in the volume: wisdom sayings, the antipathy between Sarah of Genesis and her maidservant Hagar, the search for a bride for Isaac, the success of the Jew in the royal court, the problems of life in the Diaspora, Job's trials, the role of angels, the centrality of Jerusalem, the fulfillment of prophecy and, especially, the importance of charity. The numerous personal prayers, found also in the stories of Judith, Daniel and the Additions (Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon), the Greek Additions to Esther, and elsewhere in Jewish postexilic literature, emphasize the universal authority and righteousness of God. The book of Tobit is also replete with information concerning family life, travel, burial and eating customs, gender roles, and medicine. More than mere data, these various matters testify to the author's interest in providing guidance for life in exile: Where Temple sacrifice is unavailable and the people are scattered, the story insists that Jews maintain their identity not only through piety and practice, but also through strong bonds between parents and children, between husbands and wives, and with family members and fellow Jews. To preserve the community, Tobit also insists that his son imitate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who "took wives from among their kindred" (4.12-13). In addition to its references to biblical prophecy, characters, and theology, the volume offers connections to well-known folktale motifs, including the dangerous bride, the monster in the nuptial chamber, the supernatural being in disguise, the miraculous animal, and the grateful dead. Specifically mentioned are the characters of Ahikar and his nephew, whose story was well known in antiquity; there may also be some hints of Homer's 'Odyssey.' TOBIT
18Although the original language of the document was likely Aramaic, that text has not survived. The translation below is based on the Greek text of Codex Sinaiticus; other versions include the Old Latin, Jerome's Vulgate, a medieval Aramaic rendering, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, and even fragments in both Hebrew and Aramaic from Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls). The book dates to the early postexilic period, likely sometime in the third century BCE; its place of composition remains unknown, with plausible suggestions including the eastern Diaspora, Egypt, and Israel.