JUDITH
Readers of the story of Judith will quickly see parallels to the story of Ya‘el and Sisera’ in Judges 4. Judith is a beautiful Jewish widow turned assassin who seduces and then decapitates the enemy Assyrian general, Holofernes. The book is considered by nearly all scholars to be historical fiction (due to many historical inaccuracies preserved in the text beginning with the very first verse, which describes Nebuchadnezzar II as the king of Assyria, not Babylonia) that serves as an extended parable about resistance against a foreign occupying army. This “salvation story” was likely composed as a model of bravery and deliverance during the Seleucid occupation of ancient Judah to both entertain and encourage Jews who found themselves discouraged and struggling under occupation.
ADDITIONS TO ESTHER
The Additions to Esther is exactly what it sounds like, a series of six extra sections added to the canonical text of Esther to solve a specific problem, the fact that the book of Esther, unique among the books of the Hebrew Bible, never mentions God, either by name (YHWH) or generically (’Elohim). If fact, many scholars believe this is the reason that no copy of Esther was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Additions to Esther remedies God’s absence in the book of Esther by adding prayers and narratives that explicitly mention God and filling in some details that the author of the Additions to Esther felt provided further explanation.
WISDOM OF SOLOMON AND SIRACH
The Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) are considered “wisdom” books; they record a litany of wisdom sayings and pithy aphorisms and read much like the canonical book of Proverbs. But unlike general collections of wisdom sayings, both books are theologically Jewish and define true wisdom as obedience to YHWH and the Torah.
BARUCH
Baruch (which is technically 1 Baruch to distinguish it from the later 2, 3, and 4 Baruch) is supposedly written by the prophet Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch ben Neriah (Jer. 36:4). A short text on the themes of exile and return, Baruch is primarily concerned with articulating in great detail how the exile to Babylon was the fault of Jews who were unfaithful to YHWH and not due to God’s negligence or impotence. The book ends on a word of hope, reflecting the return from exile under the Persian Empire.
THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH
In Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (his translation of the Bible into Latin), the Letter of Jeremiah is actually appended as the sixth chapter of Baruch, but in the Septuagint it is a separate letter. The oldest extant copy of the Letter of Jeremiah is a Greek copy from Cave 7 at Qumran (7Q2) dating to at least the first century CE. Bruce Metzger argues that the Letter of Jeremiah is a short satire on a single verse in the book of Jeremiah (10:11). This single verse is peculiar because it is written in Aramaic, not in Hebrew, the language that is used throughout the remainder of Jeremiah. In fact, it is the only Aramaic verse in the Hebrew Bible outside of the texts of Daniel and Ezra.29
This singular verse in the middle of Jeremiah 10 is a warning against idolatry and includes a quite appropriate Aramaic wordplay involving the worship of idols. Jeremiah 10:11 says in Aramaic, “Thus shall you say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” This verse is an Aramaic pun because the word for “make” used here is the Aramaic word ‘avadu (), while the word for “perish” in Aramaic is the similarly sounding ye’vadu ().30
Thus, the Letter of Jeremiah is an extended warning against the worship of idols stemming from an anomalous Aramaic verse. It includes some rather graphic and even comical portrayals of idol worship, including my favorite in vv. 20–23: “They do not notice when their faces have been blackened by the smoke of the temple. Bats, swallows, and birds alight on their bodies and heads; and so do cats. From this you will know that they are not gods; so do not fear them.” Essentially, if idols can’t stop cats from sleeping and birds from pooping on them, they’re probably not real gods.
PRAYER OF AZARIAH AND THE SONG OF THE THREE JEWS
Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews are actually two separate, yet closely related stories pertaining to the fiery furnace story from Daniel 3. In the canonical story, three of Daniel’s Jewish friends, Shadrach (Ḥananiah), Meshach (Misha’el), and ‘Abednego (‘Azariah; 1:7), refuse to bow down to an idol, so they are thrown into a fiery furnace and then saved from death by an angel of God.
In Jewish literature composed during the Second Temple period, we consistently find that those desiring deliverance from God must first pray to God for help, confess their sins, beg for forgiveness, and then offer a promise of praise after God delivers them. Apparently, because the canonical text of Daniel 3 proceeds directly from the descent of the three faithful Jews into the furnace to God’s miraculous intervention on their behalf without so much as a cry for help from them, the author of the Prayer of Azariah felt it necessary to “supplement” the story with the prayer that was “omitted” from the original text of Daniel 3. Thus, the text of the Prayer of Azariah is exactly that: the text of a supposed penitential prayer of ‘Azariah (‘Abednego).
The Song of the Three Jews is the text of a hymn sung by Shadrach, Meshach, and ‘Abednego as they realized that God was saving them from the flames of the fire.
SUSANNA
The book of Susanna is a wonderful story again featuring Daniel as the wise hero who essentially provides a Law & Order–style prosecution and cross-examination of two creepy, corrupt, elderly voyeurs who peep at Susanna, the wife of a righteous man, as she bathes in her garden. And once again, the story features a prayer of petition asking God to deliver Susanna from the near-death situation in which she found herself.
After Susanna refuses to sleep with two of the city’s respected elders, they falsely accuse her of adultery. Knowing that she would not be believed, Susanna prays to God for justice, causing God to rally the story’s hero, Daniel, to her defense. Daniel chastises the people of the city for condemning Susanna without evidence (v. 48) and accuses the two elders of false testimony—a crime equally punishable by death if convicted. Daniel traps the two elders into offering conflicting accounts in their testimony, and Susanna is exonerated. The book of Susanna encourages Jews to refrain from sin even in the face of false accusations and certain death, because God will ultimately save the righteous.
BEL AND THE DRAGON
Bel and the Dragon is yet another narrative doublet starring Daniel that criticizes the practice of idolatry. Daniel is placed in two separate life-threatening situations for refusing to worship Babylonian idols. In the first story, Bel (an Akkadian and Babylonian title meaning “lord” or “master,” similar to the Cana‘anite Ba‘al) is the name of an idol that Daniel refuses to worship. He successfully demonstrates that the priests of Bel are eating the sacrificial food placed nightly before the idol, and the king kills the priests instead of the faithful Daniel. In the accompanying story of the Dragon, Daniel again faces death for refusing to worship a great dragon that the Babylonians revered. Daniel destroys the idol and faces six days in a den of seven lions in retaliation, which Daniel survives with God’s help.
Interestingly, in the stories of Bel and the Dragon, Daniel is ordered to worship the idol by “Cyrus the Persian” (v. 1), who ultimately converts to the worship of Daniel’s God (YHWH), uttering in v. 41, “You are great, O Lord, the God of Daniel, and there is no other besides you!” Thus, in addition to serving as a humorous polemic against idolatry, Bel and the Dragon provides an apology for the problematic text of Isaiah 45:1, where the Persian king Cyrus is referred to as God’s messiah. Bel and the Dragon offers a solution to the problem of a foreign king being named as the messiah: King Cyrus converted and therefore allowed his fellow Jewish “brothers” to return to Jerusalem.
PRAYER OF MANASSEH
The Prayer of Manasseh is yet another book of the Apocrypha that serves an apologetic purpose by supplying the text of a prayer the author felt was missing from the canonical text of the Bible. In 2 Chronicles 33:12–13, one of the
most idolatrous kings of Judah, King Menasheh (Manasseh), is said to have uttered a prayer to God, but the words of the prayer are not given. Therefore, the author of the Prayer of Manasseh provides the supposed words of the prayer. This serves an apologetic role because the text of 2 Chronicles 33:1–20 itself contains an apology added to its parallel text of 2 Kings 21:1–18 in the form of a report of Manasseh’s repentance.
In 2 Kings 21:1–18, we are told of the great evils that King Manasseh did in Judah, but there is not a word of repentance mentioned anywhere in the passage. However, the parallel retelling of this episode in 2 Chronicles 33:1–20 says King Manasseh was exiled to Babylon, where he repented of his evil ways, prompting God to return him to his throne to rule out the rest of his days in Jerusalem—fifty-five years, longer than any other king of Judah.
The archaeological record suggests that Manasseh was a loyal Assyrian vassal, which would certainly have been the reason for his condemnation in the biblical text.31 But we are left with the discrepancy between 2 Kings 21, which depicts Manasseh as an unrepentant, evil king, and 2 Chronicles 33, which says he was exiled, repented, and was returned to his throne in Jerusalem to live out his years. Second Chronicles 33:15–16 further describes the righteous deeds of King Manasseh after his repentance, thus providing a reason why God allowed him to stay on the throne. However, we have no record of what Manasseh actually said—a problem that is exacerbated in 33:19, where the text specifically states that the text of his prayer was written in the “records of the seers.”
Enter the Prayer of Manasseh, which offers the short text of the “missing” prayer purportedly offered to God by Manasseh while in Babylon. The short Prayer of Manasseh supplies the text of Manasseh’s prayer, and in doing so further repairs the discrepancy between 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33 by elaborating upon Manasseh’s repentance and justifying his longevity.
PSALM 151
Many readers may not know that there were far more psalms than the 150 canonical psalms contained with the Hebrew Bible’s book of Psalms. Several additional psalms were discovered, for instance, among the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QPsa = 11Q5), including Psalm 151. This psalm is found immediately after Psalm 150 (the final canonical psalm) in the Septuagint, and the superscript of Psalm 151 tells us exactly what the psalm is about: “This Psalm is ascribed to David and is outside the number.32 When he slew Goliath in single combat.” The psalm appears to be a composite of David and Goliath traditions.
1–2 MACCABEES
Simply put, the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees are propaganda for the Hasmonean dynasty, the Jewish line of kings who ruled following the Maccabean Revolt. Written sometime in the late second or early first century BCE, 1–2 Maccabees are used by scholars as a record of what the Hasmoneans wanted people to know about their rise to power beginning with the end of the rule of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167 BCE) up to the end of Simon’s reign (134 BCE) and the ascension of John Hyrcanus to the throne. Second Maccabees is essentially a prequel to 1 Maccabees (think Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace), narrating history from the rise of Hellenism in Judea and highlighting the Maccabean Revolt against Antiochus IV, led by the revolt’s namesake, Judas Maccabeus.
3 MACCABEES
Third Maccabees is very different from 1–2 Maccabees. Written sometime between 80 and 15 BCE in Greek (likely in Alexandria), the book appears to be missing its original beginning. The first part of 3 Maccabees (chaps. 1–2) is two episodes; first, the text recalls a story of how the Ptolemaic king Ptolemy IV planned to enslave the Jews unless they converted to worshipping Dionysus, the god of wine, and also that he wanted to enter Holy of Holies. Then the book’s theme of royal arrogance and divine retribution comes alive when God punishes Ptolemy IV following a prayer by the high priest Simon.
The second part of 3 Maccabees (chaps. 3–7) is a series of reworked legends originally set in the reign of Ptolemy VII. The theme here is the persecution and vindication of the righteous and the faithful, including one peculiar attempt at the public extermination of the Jews involving a herd of drunk, stampeding elephants (3 Macc. 5–6). Fortunately, God sent two angels—visible to everyone but the Jews—to stand in front of the stampeding drunken herd. The angels threw the elephants into confusion, and they turned back upon their armed Greek zookeepers, trampling and destroying them.
One significant difference between 3 Maccabees and the Letter of Aristeas, discussed earlier, is the response to hellenization by the Jews. While the Letter of Aristeas attempts to demonstrate how Greek culture and Judaism have much in common and can (and should) coexist, 3 Maccabees portrays how exclusivist Jewish attitudes about the worship of one God made them the object of derision and persecution. Thus the Letter of Aristeas was written in an effort to convince Jews to trust the Greeks, and 3 Maccabees was written to show Jews that God will protect them when they resist the Greeks.
4 MACCABEES
Fourth Maccabees is another text likely written in Alexandria somewhere around the late first or early second century CE. Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome, who gave it the title “On the Sovereignty of Reason,” both wrongly attribute it to Flavius Josephus. It is set as a beautifully written Greek eulogy for the martyred priest Eleazar, his seven brothers, and their mother, praising the “noble bravery of those who died for the sake of virtue” (1:8). A wisdom text that argues “whether reason is sovereign over the emotions” (1:13), 4 Maccabees then attempts to argue that true wisdom is obedience to the Jewish law, even unto death as exemplified by Eleazar. And in good Hellenistic fashion, the author writes of the immortality of the soul, but never mentions the resurrection of the dead.
1–2 ESDRAS
First Esdras is also known as Greek Ezra, because it is an old version of the canonical book of Ezra, only written in Greek and with a sizable addition to the text of chapter 4. It was used by both ancient Jews and Christians and is considered canonical among Eastern churches (like the Eastern Orthodox Church), but considered deuterocanonical among Western churches (like the Roman Catholic Church).
Second Esdras is an apocalyptic text that claims as its author the biblical prophet Ezra, but was composed in parts between the first and third centuries CE. But throughout the years, different parts of the text have been preserved separately using different names. The first two chapters of 2 Esdras are referred to as 5 Ezra by scholars and are found only in the Latin version of 2 Esdras. They are thought to have been composed by Christians who depicted Ezra as a prophet predicting God’s rejection of the Jews and their replacement by the church. Second Esdras 3–14 is known as 4 Ezra by scholars and offers a discussion about the significance of Israel’s past sufferings followed by a series of seven apocalyptic visions that offer a hope for the redemption of Israel. Second Esdras 15–16 is known as 6 Ezra and consists of a series of oracles pronouncing doom upon the enemies of the church and instructions to those suffering persecutions.33 Also of note, 2 Esdras was composed far too late to have been included in the Septuagint, but since it was preserved as an appendix in the Latin Vulgate, it wound up in the Apocrypha section of the King James Version.
Scholars are not certain why the texts of the Apocrypha were ultimately rejected from the Hebrew canon. It may be because they were written later than most of the canonical books or because many of them were composed in Greek and not in Hebrew, which many rabbis considered the holy tongue (leshon ha-qodesh). Still, the Apocrypha provided Second Temple–period Jews with examples of faithfulness to God during times of foreign occupation and distress and prayers that could be used in their daily lives.
Alexandria is a city that helped build the Bible because, whether the Letter of Aristeas is historical or wholly contrived, Alexandria served as the setting for the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The resulting Septuagint became not only the de facto Bible for Palestinian Jews, but the version used most by the Christian authors of the New Testament, who wrote in Greek. At the very least, inclusion of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Library of Alexandr
ia was the rationale for the creation of the Septuagint.
Alexandria also gave us the Apocrypha via the Septuagint. Although ultimately not canonized in the Hebrew Scriptures, these popular Jewish writings inspired Jews and, later, Christians to faithfulness and righteous behavior in times of persecution. Thus, although it is never mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and is only mentioned in passing in the New Testament, Alexandria played no small role in building our modern Bible.
CHAPTER 8
Jerusalem
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.” For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.”
—Psalm 122:6–8
It is the city I love: Jerusalem. The very mention of this one name brings to mind a stairway to heaven and horrific images of terror. It is holy to three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And it is home to over eight hundred thousand people representing hundreds of ethnicities and nationalities and religious traditions, all crammed together in the hills and valleys of this legendary center of the world.
Of all the cities on earth to be associated with the Bible, Jerusalem stands alone at the top. This is not necessarily because any significant part of the Bible was written here; in fact, it is difficult to claim that any part of the Bible was written in Jerusalem, given the lack of evidence for anything other than administrative writing in Jerusalem.
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