At the turn of the era, when BCE dawned into CE (2nd century BCE-2nd century CE), there were approximately four million “Hebrews” (Jews and Samaritans) in the world out of a then global human population of around three hundred million. One million of these Hebrew humans lived in Egypt. Roughly half of these four million overall were Judeans and half were Samarians.
With the
Samarians/Samaritans making up half of the four million, adding the
Judean/Jewish sect of the Sadducees to that number leaves a clear majority of
Hebrews in Palestine and in the Diaspora held no writings sacred except those
called the Torah, or Pentateuch: the five writings commonly known in English as
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
By contrast, the predominant
version among Jews world-wide of the Tanakh at this time, what Christians call
the Old Testament, was the Greek Septuagint.
For example, all the quotes from the Tanakh in the Christian New
Testament come from the Septuagint, which contains all the books currently
recognized by Jews plus the additional books sometimes called the Apocrypha,
which Hellenistic Jews regarded as sacred.
The Septuagint was
superceded among both Christians and Hebrews by a translation by a Jewish
scholar in Ephesus named Theodotion in 150 CE, which is quoted in the Shepherd of Hermas and in Justin
Martyr’s Trypho. Theodotion’s version of the Book of Daniel replaced the Septuagint’s
and the Hebrew translations upon which it was based in popularity and scholarly
esteem, as did his versions of the Book
of Jeremiah and the Book of Job. The Karaite Masoretes whose version of the
Tanakh now dominates Judaism and is favored by Protestant Christians,
especially in the American South, based their version largely on his work.
The Septuagint, and its
Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jewish and Christian readers counted as sacred
several books and parts of books which never made it into the Palestinian
canon.
Among the Jews in more
conservative Palestine at the turn of the era, Hebrew translations were used,
with an Aramaic targum, or translation into the common language of the people,
since the Canaanite language of Hebrew had long been a dead language. The Pharisees and other sects held many other
writings as sacred. At the time only the
Torah (Law) and the Nevi’im (Prophets) were standardized, while the Ketuvim
(Writings) still being collated, at least in Palestine.
In addition to the written
Tanakh, the Pharisees (and only the
Pharisees) followed the Mishna, or Oral Law, which had not yet been codified
and written down. A small Jewish sect
called the Bene Sedeq, the forerunners of today’s Karayim or Karaite Jews,
accepted the whole Tanakh but rejected the Mishna. The sect at Qumran, probably the Essenes, seemed
to have some of its own texts, such as the Manual
of Discipline, the Damascus Document,
and the War of the Sons of Light and Sons
of Darkness.
In addition, apocalyptic
literature (of which Daniel is a
prime example) and pseudepigraphic literature (of which Daniel is also a prime example) flourished in the 2nd century BCE through 1st century CE.
Some of the more prominent examples, in addition to those found at
Qumran specifically of the Essenes, include the Assumption of Moses, the Testament
of the Twelve Patriachs, 1 Enoch,
2 Enoch, the Apocalypse of Abraham, Jubilees,
the Sibylline Oracles, and the Martyrdom of Isaiah. These books were widely popular at the time,
some quoted directly or referenced implicitly in the New Testament as well as
being found at Qumran and Nag Hamadi.
Regardless of translation,
edition, redaction, collection, etc., none of these supposedly sacred writings
were dictated by a superior being and all are the product of the hand of each
copyist, scribe, translator, editor, redactor, forger, fabricator, etc., kind
of like what they said in the early days of the AIDS epidemic that when you
have sex with someone you are also having sex with everyone that person has
already had sex with.
Septuagint
(originally completed
c. 132 BCE)
The first collection of
Hebrew scripture was the Septuagint. In
fact, collecting and editing the religious writings of the Hebrews (politically
divided into Samerina and Yehud) for the Library at Alexandria is probably how
the five books of the Torah came into being (as we have them today) in the
first place. Though superceded in Jewish
circles and among some Christian circles by the translation of Theodotion, the
Septuagint remained a primary edition and remains the official translation for
the Eastern churches.
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
1 Esdras
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
1 Esdras
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Judith
Tobit
1 Maccabees
Tobit
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
Psalms
(incl. Psalm 151)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Job
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Job
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus
Hosea
Amos
Micah
Joel
Obadiah
Jonah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Baruch
Lamentations
Letter of Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Daniel (with “additions”)
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Baruch
Lamentations
Letter of Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Daniel (with “additions”)
Some ancient editions of
the Septuagint included Odes of Solomon, Psalms of Solomon, and 1 Enoch, all
three of which are considered canon by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Vulgate
In the West, Latin was the
common language of the people while Greek was the language of the
educated. Therefore, the Western Church
produced a Latin translation differing somewhat in its ordering of books and
leaving out 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, and Psalm 151.
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Kings
2 Kings
3 Kings
4 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
1 Esdras (Ezra)
2 Esdras (Nehemiah)
Tobit
Judith
Esther
Judges
Ruth
1 Kings
2 Kings
3 Kings
4 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
1 Esdras (Ezra)
2 Esdras (Nehemiah)
Tobit
Judith
Esther
Job
Psalms (minus Psalm 151)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus
Psalms (minus Psalm 151)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Ezekiel
Daniel (with “additions”)
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Ezekiel
Daniel (with “additions”)
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Note
in the two lists above that although the Torah, or Pentateuch, books are in
order at the beginning, the remaining books (considered noncanonical by
Samaritans and Sadducees) were mixed up, or not separated according to genre
and degree of sacredness assigned them by their Jewish users.
Hebrew Canon
It
is in the Hebrew Canon, formulated over about two or three centuries by the
Masorete scholars of the Karaite sect and published a little over a millennium
after the turn of the era, that the books are first divided into three separate
genre, with descending degrees of sacredness.
Torah (or “Law”)
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Nevi’im (or “Prophets”)
Joshua
Judges
Samuel
Kings
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Minor Prophets*
Judges
Samuel
Kings
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Minor Prophets*
*(Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)
Ketuvim (or “Writings”)
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ruth
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Job
Proverbs
Ruth
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Note that in the Hebrew
canon Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles are each one book rather
than two each, and that the canon concludes with Chronicles. Also worthy of note is the fact that the Masoretes
placed the book of Daniel so beloved by fundamentalist Christians in with the
Writings rather than the Prophets.
Noncanonical books referenced in the Old
Testament
In the Tanakh, or Old
Testament, quite a few noncanonical writings are referenced, some of which are
explicitly cited as the basis for what is written in the canonical
literature. As a matter of fact, the
books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles state so explicitly.
Book
of Jasher
Book
of the Wars of Yahuweh
Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel
Chronicles
of the Kings of Judah
Book
of Shemaiah
Manner
of the Kingdom
Acts
of Solomon
Annals
of King David
Book
of Samuel the Seer
Book
of Nathan the Prophet
Book
of Gad the Seer
Prophecy
of Ahijah
Book
of the Kings of Judah and Israel
Book
of Jehu
Story
of the Book of the Kings
Acts
of Uziah
Visions
of Isaiah
Acts
of the Kings of Israel
Sayings
of the Seers
Laments
for Josiah
Chronicles
of King Ahasuerus
Wisdom
of Ahikar
Aesop’s
The Two Pots
The
Egyptian Satire of the Trades
Memoirs
of Nehemiah
The
5 books of Jason of Cyrene
Protestant Old Testament
During the Protestant
Reformation, many new sects of Christians threw out books from their Old
Testament which were not recognized by the Masoretes. Anglicans, Lutherans, and Continental
Reformers considered these books inspired if not sacred and collected them into
the Apocrypha, which they placed between the Old Testament and the New
Testament.
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Job
Hosea
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Job
Hosea
Amos
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Micah
Joel
Obadiah
Jonah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Protestant Apocrypha
(Anagignoskomena)
Tobit
Judith
Additions to Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Wisdom of Jesus ben
Sira (or Sirach or Ecclesiasticus)
Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah
Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children
Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Take
note that in the original translation ordered by King James I of England and VI
of Scots these books, the Apocrypha, were placed together in between the Old
Testament and the New Testament, and that any copy of the Bible not containing
the Apocrypha which calls itself the King James Version is lying, unless it
calls itself the King James Version, Abridged.
Deuterocanonicals
There are a number of books
considered canon by the Eastern churches yet not by the Roman church which is
the anatagonist of the Protestants, often called Deuterocanonicals. The book 1 Enoch is counted as canon only by the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox.
3
Maccabees
4
Maccabees
Psalm
151
Prayer
of Mannasseh
Odes
of Solomon
2
Esdras
1 Enoch
1 Enoch
Qumran Writings
In addition to copies of
several canonical books of the Tanakh/Old Testament and known pseudepigraphal
writings, the Essene center at Qumran held a number of sect-specific works.
Great
Isaiah Scroll
War
of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness
Community
Rule
Pesher
on Habakkuk
Thanksgiving
Hymns
Genesis
Apocryphon
Book
of Mysteries
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
In the 2nd century BCE through 1st century CE, quite a number of forgeries in
the name of worthies mentioned in the Tanakh appeared and became popular. Four of these are referenced and/or alluded to
in the Christian New Testament.
1 Enoch
2 Enoch
3 Enoch
2 Baruch
3 Baruch
4 Baruch
3 Esdras
4 Esdras
5 Ezra
6 Ezra
5 Maccabees
6
Maccabees
7 Maccabees
8 Maccabees
1 Meqabyan
2 Meqabyan
3 Meqabyan
Adam Octipartite
Adjuration
of Elijah
Apocalypse of
Abraham
Apocalypse of Adam
Apocalypse of Elijah
Apocalypse
of Ezekiel
Apocalypse of
Sedrach
Apocalypse of the Seven Heavens
Apocalypse of
Zephaniah
Apocryphon of
Ezekiel
Apocryphon of Jacob and Joseph
Apocryphon
of Melchizedek
Apocryphon of the Ten Tribes
Ascension of Moses
*Assumption of Moses
Book of Assaf
Book of Noah
Cave of Treasures
Conflict of Adam and
Eve with Satan
(Coptic) Apocryphon of Jeremiah
Eldad and Modad
Enochic Book of Giants
Epistle
of Rehoboam
(Greek) Apocalypse of
Daniel
(Greek) Apocalypse of
Ezra
History of Joseph
History of the
Rechabites
Jannes and Jambres
Joseph and Aseneth
Jubilees
Ladder of Jacob
Letter of Aristeas
Life of Adam and Eve
Lives of the
Prophets
Manual of Discipline
Martyrdom and
Ascension of Isaiah
Prayer of Jacob
Prayer of Joseph
Psalms of Solomon
Questions of Ezra
Revelation of Ezra
Rule of the
Congregation
Rule of the Blessing
Sibylline Oracles
Signs
of the Judgement
Sword of Moses
Testament of Abraham
Testament of Adam
Testament of Isaac
Testament of Jacob
Testament of Job
Testament of Solomon
Testament of the
Twelve Patriarchs
Treatise of Shem
Vision of Ezra
Visions of Heaven and Hell
Words
of Gad the Seer
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha mention in the New Testament
Assumption of Moses
1 Enoch
Martyrdom of Isaiah
Life of Adam and Eve
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha mention in the New Testament
Assumption of Moses
1 Enoch
Martyrdom of Isaiah
Life of Adam and Eve
2 comments:
absolutely lovely and useful information
Thank you, Wondell
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