My Take: This Christmas season, read those 'other' books of the Bible
As we prepare for Christmas, many Christians focus on growing in their faith and not just the treats and the gifts. This is also the season where we see Hanukkah menorahs on display. There may be some natural confusion and curiosity given that the events celebrated in Hanukkah are not contained in the most popular Protestant Bibles in this area. Called the Apocrypha by Protestants and Septuagint by most other Christians, this collection of books details some Jewish-Greek and Jewish-Roman relations, key points in Jewish history and the story of the time of Hanukkah. For those looking to grow in their faith or simply better understand history, I’d humbly suggest making an effort to read these “other” books of the Bible this season.
A little bit of history here might help Protestant readers understand the context and origin of these other Biblical books. When Martin Luther started the Reformation, he took a critical eye to the books the Roman Catholic Church relied on. Luther rejected inclusion of a group of Old Testament books called the Septuagint in the canon of the Bible, describing them as apocryphal. These books were either written in Greek or only available in a Greek translation, since Greek was a dominant language in the Mediterranean during that time. Luther and subsequent protestants reasoned these texts were inappropriate for inclusion in the Old Testament, with the thought that the Hebrew section of the Bible should only include books in Hebrew.
The majority of the world’s Christians still have the Septuagint included in the Old Testament section of their Bibles (generally not referred to as the Apocrypha). This is the case not just for the Roman Catholics and those in communion with them, from the Chaldeans in Iraq to the Syro-Malabar Church in India, but the Orthodox church in Greece, Russia and elsewhere. That might sound surprising to Christians in this area, but American and Western Europe are of course just one slice of Christianity.
The name “Septuagint” means “70.” It derives from a legend that 70 (or 72) Jewish translators were tasked (possibly by King Ptolemy of Egypt) to create a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible and, miraculously, all the translators generated the same translation. Whether or not that part is true, we do know that the Septuagint was read and used by early Christians. The Septuagint contains a handful of books not found in most Protestant Bibles, such as The Wisdom of Sirach and First and Second Maccabees.
At a minimum, Maccabees offers important historical information and context. The story of Hanukkah, with the rededication of the Temple and the miraculous lighting of the menorah, is contained within Maccabees. The underlying story involves a fight for religious freedom, martyrs and successful guerilla warfare. Those books also cover the Greek influence in Israel and a Jewish treaty and alliance with Rome. If you’ve ever read the New Testament — or watched "The Chosen" — and wondered how you got from Hebrews in Israel to Roman soldiers marching around and Greeks or Hellenized Jews in the Decapolis, then Maccabees is the missing link.
If it’s not in your home Bible, you can easily find it online — even a King James Version. This was included in the original King James Bible, where it was placed between the Old and New Testament as a resource rather than within the Old Testament as Catholic Bibles do. Later editions omit these books. You don’t have to share my Catholic view of these books to get something out of them as you seek to grow in faith this holiday season. Even Martin Luther explained that “These are books that, though not esteemed like the Holy Scriptures, are still both useful and good to read.”
— J.C. Miller is a resident of Ottawa County.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: This Christmas season, read those 'other' books of the Bible
