THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 21, JUNE 24, 2001

WHAT ABOUT THOSE EXTRA BOOKS IN THE CATHOLIC BIBLE?

Those extra books in the Roman Catholic Bible are called together, The Apocrypha, and individually, apocryphal. The noted 4th century translator, Jerome, was the first to refer to them in this way. The term itself means "hidden or concealed". Altogether there are 14 apocryphal works that appear in the Old Testament of the Catholic Bibles. They are as follows:

1 Esdras - This book dates from about 150 B.C. It tells of the restoration of the Jews to Palestine after the Babylonian Captivity. It is heavily influenced by 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, but also contains a great deal that is no more than legend.

For instance, it contains the story of the Three Guardsmen. These men were talking about what was the strongest thing in the world. One of them said, "Wine", another said, "the King"; and the third said, "Woman and Truth". They put their answers under the pillow of the Medo-Persian king. When the king woke up, he demanded that the three men defend their answers. It was decided that "Truth is greatly and supremely strong." This answer was supposedly given by Zerubbabel, and as a reward he was allowed to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem.

II Esdras - This books dates from approximately A.D. 100. It is apocalyptic in nature and contains seven visions. Martin Luther was said to have been so confused by the visions that he threw the book into the Elbe River.

Tobit - This comes from the 2nd century, B.C. It is really a short novel that is very Pharisaic in tone in its emphasis on the Law and ceremony. It is also clearly unscriptural because it indicates that the giving of alms will atone for sin.

Judith - Probably written about the middle of the 2nd century, B.C. It is a work of fiction that tells the story of Judith, who was a beautiful Jewish widow. Her city was attacked by the Assyrian army, and when it was, she took her maid, some clean Jewish food, and went out to the tent of the Assyrian general. He was taken by her beauty and gave her a place in his tent. When the general drank too much and fell into a drunken stupor, Judith took his sword and cut off his head. Together with her maid she left the camp, carrying the head of the general in the bag in which she had brought her provisions. The head was hung on the wall of a nearby city and the Assyrian army, now without its leader, was destroyed.

Additions to Esther - This was written about 100 B.C. It consists of long prayers that were supposedly offered by Mordecai and Esther and a couple of letters allegedly written by Aratxerxes, king of Persia.

The Wisdom of Solomon - Compiled approximately A.D. 40. This book was written to prevent the Jews from falling into skepticism, materialism, and idolatry.

Ecclesiasticus - This is sometimes referred to as "Wisdom of Sirach" and was written about 180 B.C. It is a lot like Proverbs and contains some very practical advice. It even deals with after dinner speeches in 32:8, "Speak concisely; say much in few words…"

Baruch, with the Letter of Jeremiah - Even though this book represents itself as being written by Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, in 582 B.C., most now agree that the book is actually trying to give an interpretation of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and probably was not written until 100 A.D. It urges the Jews not to revolt again. The sixth chapter, the so-called "Letter of Jeremiah", warns against idolatry and was probably written to Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt.

The Song of Three Children - It is found in the book of Daniel following Daniel 3:23 in the Latin Vulgate translation. It borrows heavily from Psalm 148, and is antiphonal like Psalm 136. Thirty two times it has the refrain, "Sing praise to him and greatly exalt him forever."

Susanna - The book of Daniel that we are familiar with contains 12 chapters. In the century immediately before Christ, and never accepted as canonical by the Jews, a 13th chapter was added. It is the story of Susanna. She was supposed to be the wife of a prominent Jew in Babylon. To the home of this prominent Jew many Jewish elders and judges came. Two of these visitors became infatuated with Susanna, and tried to seduce her. She cried out, and when she did so, the two offending Jewish elders said that they had found her in the arms of a young man. So she was brought to trial and convicted on the basis of the testimony of those two men. Her sentence was to be death.

However, a young man named Daniel entered the proceedings and began to cross-examine the two elders. He asked each one of them under which tree in the garden they had found Susanna and her young lover. They gave different answers and so they were put to death, and Susanna saved.

Bel and the Dragon - This is another legendary story written about the same time as Susanna, and added as the 14th chapter of Daniel. It really contains two stories.
In the first, King Cyrus asked Daniel why he does not worship the great deity, Bel. Bel showed his greatness by consuming a huge number of sheep everyday, along with flour and oil. So what Daniel did was to spread ashes on the floor of the Temple where the food was placed in the evening. The next morning Cyrus took Daniel to the temple to show him that Bel had eaten all the food in the course of the night. However, Daniel showed the king the footprints of the priests and their families that had been left in the ashes as they secretly entered into the temple under the table and consumed the food. The priest and the temple of Bel were destroyed.

The story of the dragon is simply Daniel defeating a dragon by feeding it clumps of fat, pitch and hair.
The Prayer of Manasseh - This is supposed to be a prayer by that wicked king of Judah. It is thought to have been written in the 2nd century, B.C.

I Maccabees - This comes from the 1st century B.C., and is truly a valuable book from a historical perspective. It gives us an account of the work of the three Maccabean brothers, Judas, Jonathan, and Simon.

II Maccabees - This was written in the same time period, but it is not a sequel - it is parallel. II Maccabees is generally held to be of a more legendary nature than I Maccabees.

These are the books of the Apocrypha. They were never accepted by the Palestinian Jews as being canonical. Even though Jesus and the New Testament writers used hundreds of quotes and references from practically every Old Testament book, they never once quoted from the Apocrypha. Even Jerome, the translator of the Latin Vulgate, rejected the Apocrypha. It was not until after his death that the apocryphal books were brought into the Vulgate Translation. Even the Roman Catholic Church did not give these books full canonical recognition until A.D. 1546, at the Council of Trent. It is my belief that they did so in an attempt to counter the force of the Protestant Reformation.

So now, if anyone should ask you about the extra books in the Catholic Bible, you will know what they are talking about. You will know what they are called, what the individual books are about, and why they are not generally accepted as belonging in the canon of God's Word.

Greg Litmer