Books Of Maccabees Part 3rejected Scriptures

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Roman Catholic and Orthodox Faith Examined and
The Apocrypha

'The Jewish canon, or the Hebrew Bible, was universally received, while the Apocrypha added to the Greek version of the Septuagint were only in a general way accounted as books suitable for church reading, and thus as a middle class between canonical and strictly apocryphal (pseudonymous) writings. And justly; for those books, while they have great historical value, and fill the gap between the Old Testament and the New, all originated after the cessation of prophecy, and they cannot therefore be regarded as inspired, nor are they ever cited by Christ or the apostles' (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, book 3, chapter 9)

THE OLD GREEK BOOK OF BEL AND THE DRAGON: WHICH IS ALSO CALLED THE PROPHECY OF HABAKKUK JEROME'S PROLOGUE TO THE CANONICAL EPISTLES and More Latin Vulgate Apocrypha Books of Maccabees part 1 Books of Maccabees part 2 Books of Maccabees part 3 New Testament Apocrypha I New Testament Apocrypha II. Books of Maccabees part 3 - REJECTED SCRIPTURES These are the first 19 Chapters to 5 Maccabees, and the Epistle in the 22nd chapter. We will not print the complete text because 5 Maccabees 19 clearly states: 'Here ends the history as given in the two books usually attached to our Bibles.'

21 reasons why the Apocrypha is not inspired:

Part
  1. The Roman Catholic Church did not officially canonize the Apocrypha until the Council of Trent (1546 AD). This was in part because the Apocrypha contained material which supported certain Catholic doctrines, such as purgatory, praying for the dead, and the treasury of merit.
  2. Not one of them is in the Hebrew language, which was alone used by the inspired historians and poets of the Old Testament.
  3. Not one of the writers lays any claim to inspiration.
  4. These books were never acknowledged as sacred Scriptures by the Jewish Church, and therefore were never sanctioned by our Lord.
  5. They were not allowed a place among the sacred books, during the first four centuries of the Christian Church.
  6. They contain fabulous statements, and statements which contradict not only the canonical Scriptures, but themselves; as when, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in as many different places.
  7. The Apocrypha inculcates doctrines at variance with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection.
    8. And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen, in the sepulchers of their fathers. And they found under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Maccabees 12:39-46)
  8. The apocrypha contains offensive materials unbecoming of God's authorship.
    9. Ecclesiasticus 25:19 Any iniquity is insignificant compared to a wife's iniquity.
    Ecclesiasticus 25:24 From a woman sin had its beginning. Because of her we all die.
    Ecclesiasticus 22:3 It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined, and the birth of a daughter is a loss.
  9. It teaches immoral practices, such as lying, suicide, assassination and magical incantation.
  10. The apocryphal books themselves make reference to what we call the Silent 400 years, where there was no prophets of God to write inspired materials.
    11. And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. (1 Maccabees 4:46)
    And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel. (1 Maccabees 9:27)
    And that the Jews, and their priests, had consented that he should be their prince, and high priest for ever, till there should arise a faithful prophet. (1 Maccabees 14:41)
  11. Josephus rejected the apocryphal books as inspired and this reflected Jewish thought at the time of Jesus
    12. 'From Artexerxes to our own time the complete history has been written but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets.' .. 'We have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine..'(Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1:8)
  12. The Manual of Discipline in the Dead Sea Scrolls rejected the apocrypha as inspired.
  13. The Council of Jamnia held the same view rejected the apocrypha as inspired.
    14. They debated the canonicity of a few books (e.g., Ecclesiastes), but they changed nothing and never proclaimed themselves to be authoritative determiners of the Old Testament canon. 'The books which they decided to acknowledge as canonical were already generally accepted, although questions had been raised about them. Those which they refused to admit had never been included. They did not expel from the canon any book which had previously been admitted. 'The Council of Jamnia was the confirming of public opinion, not the forming of it.' (F. F. Bruce, The Books and Parchments [Old Tappan, NJ.: Fleming H. Revell, 1963], p. 98])
  14. Although it was occasionally quoted in early church writings, it was nowhere accepted in a canon. Melito (AD 170) and Origen rejected the Apocrypha, (Eccl. Hist. VI. 25, Eusebius) as does the Muratorian Canon.
  15. Jerome vigorously resisted including the Apocrypha in his Latin Vulgate Version (400 AD), but was overruled. As a result, the standard Roman Catholic Bible throughout the medieval period contained it. Thus, it gradually came to be revered by the average clergyman. Still, many medieval Catholic scholars realized that it was not inspired.
  16. The terms 'protocanonical' and 'deuterocanonical' are used by Catholics to signify respectively those books of Scripture that were received by the entire Church from the beginning as inspired, and those whose inspiration came to be recognized later, after the matter had been disputed by certain Fathers and local churches.
  17. Pope Damasus (366-384) authorized Jerome to translate the Latin Vulgate. The Council of Carthage declared this translation as 'the infallible and authentic Bible.' Jerome was the first to describe the extra 7 Old Testament books as the 'Apocrypha' (doubtful authenticity). Needless to say, Jerome's Latin Vulgate did not include the Apocrypha.
  18. Cyril (born about A.D. 315) - 'Read the divine Scriptures - namely, the 22 books of the Old Testament which the 72 interpreters translated' (the Septuagint)
  19. The apocrypha wasn't included at first in the Septuagint, but was appended by the Alexandrian Jews, and was not listed in any of the catalogues of the inspired books till the 4th century
  20. Hilary (bishop of Poictiers, 350 A.D.) rejected the apocrypha (Prologue to the Psalms, Sec. 15)
  21. Epiphanius (the great opposer of heresy, 360 A.D.) rejected them all. Referring to Wisdom of Solomon & book of Jesus Sirach, he said 'These indeed are useful books & profitable, but they are not placed in the number of the canonical.'

Is the Apocrypha Inspired? Does it really belong in the Bible?

Let us consider while we are at this point, the subject of the Catholic apocrypha, for which they make such great claims; and because of which they deny the Bible in common use by most brethren. 2 Macc 12:38-46 seems to be the principal reason they cling to the apocrypha. There is no other doctrine that depends so heavily upon support in the apocrypha. If I were not afraid of absolute statements, I would say that their defense of the apocrypha is only because of the passage and their claims about its teachings.

The Catholics have 46 Old Testament books rather than the 39 found in our Bibles. However, they have added much more material to other books which does not appear under separate titles. That material follows: The Rest of Esther added to Esther; The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon added to Daniel; Baruch; 1 and 2 Maccabees; Tobias; Judith; Ecclesiasticus; and the Wisdom of Sirach.

The only powerful support for these books is that they appear in the Septuagint version. However, in many of our Bibles there is much material that is uninspired, including history, poetry, maps, dictionaries, and other information. This may be the reason for the appearance of this material in the Septuagint. The apocrypha was not in the Hebrew canon.

There are reputed to be 263 quotations and 370 allusions to the Old Testament in the New Testament and not one of them refers to the Apocryphal

Is The Book Of Maccabees True

The usual division of the Old Testament by the Jews was a total of 24 books: The Books of Moses (51, The Early prophets 14; Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings ~, The Late Prophets (4; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the 12 Minor Prophets), and the Hagiagrapha (11; Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon. Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles i. These 24 books contain all the material in our numbering of 39.

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Josephus spoke concerning the canon, but his book division combined Ruth-Judges and Lamentation-Jeremiah for a total of 22 books rather than 24:

'For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, .. only 22 books. which contain the records of ail the past times; which are justly believed to be divine;..It is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers;..and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, or to make any change in them.' (Flavius Josephus Against Apion Book 1, Section 8).

Plainly Josephus distinguishes between those books written before and after Artaxerxes. This eliminates most of the apocrypha, especially the Maccabees.

Books Of Maccabees Part 3rejected Scriptures King James Version

The apocrypha itself denies all notion of inspiration. Referring to the events in the Maccabees the author makes these statements:

'..all such things as have been comprised in 5 books by Jason of Cyrene, we have at-tempted to abridge in one book. For considering the difficulty that they find that desire to undertake the narrations of histories, because of the multitude of the matter, we have taken care for those indeed that are willing to read,..And as to ourselves indeed, in undertaking this work of abridging, we have taken in hand no easy task, yea. rather a business full of watching and sweat. . Leaving to the authors the exact handling of every particular, and as for ourselves. according to the plan proposed, studying to brief.. For to collect all that is known, to put the discourse in order, and curiously to discuss every particular point, is the duty of the author of a history. But to pursue brevity of speech and to avoid nice declarations of things, is to be granted to him that maketh an abridgement.' (2 Maccabees 2: 24-32).

The Book Of Maccabees Summary

'..I will also here make an end of my narration. Which if I have done well, and as it becometh the history, it is what I desired; but if not so perfectly, it must be pardoned me. For as it is hurtful to drink always wine, or always water, but pleasant to use sometimes the one, and sometimes the other, so if the speech be always nicely framed, it will not be grateful to the readers..' 12 Maccabees 15: 39-40).

This forms a bizarre contrast with passages in the New Testament:

'Take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak. but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you' (Matthew 10: 19-20).

'Now we have received. not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth' (1 Corinthians 2: 12-131.

Catholics argue:

This is refuted because:

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Early Christians quote from the apocrypha proves it belongs in the Bible

Early Christians quoted from all kinds of uninspired writings other than the apocrypha. Why do Catholics not include these in their Bible's

They were included in the Septuagint.

The Jews Never accepted the apocrypha as part of the Old testament canon.

The Church Councils at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397, 419), listed the apocrypha as Scripture. Since these same councils also finalized the 66 canonical books which all Christians accept, they must accept them all.

False. The canon of the New Testament was set from the first century. It is Catholic myth that Catholics gave the world the Bible!

The New Testament never quotes from the any of the apocryphal books written between 400 - 200 BC. What is significant here is that NONE of the books within the 'apocryphal collection' are every quoted. So the Catholic argument that 'the apocryphal books cannot be rejected as uninspired on the basis that they are never quoted from in the New Testament because Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon are also never quoted in the New Testament, and we all accept them as inspired.' The rebuttal to this Catholic argument is that 'Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther' were always included in the 'history collection' of Jewish books and 'Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon' were always included in the 'poetry collection'. By quoting one book from the collection, it verifies the entire collection. None of the apocryphal books were ever quoted in the New Testament. Not even once! This proves the Catholic and Orthodox apologists wrong when they try to defend the apocrypha in the Bible.

The apocrypha does not belong in the Bible because It IS not inspired.

Steve Rudd

First and Second Maccabees were Jewish writings regarding the history of the Jews during portions of the time period between the Old and New Testaments. They were written in the second century BC (likely date of 1 Maccabees) or first century BC (likely date of 2 Maccabees), probably originally in Hebrew for 1 Maccabees and Greek for 2 Maccabees, though the surviving manuscripts are in Greek. These two books are included in the Apochrypha or Deuterocanonical Books that are accepted by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, but are rejected as Scripture by most Protestant groups since they were not part of the Jewish Old Testament or the New Testament.
The Maccabees were Jewish leaders who took part in a revolt against the Seleucids between 175 and 134 BC. First Maccabees covers the efforts of the Jewish people to regain their freedom following the desecration of the temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
Second Maccabees includes a different edition of the first seven chapters of 1 Maccabees and was written at a later date, likely in Alexandria, Egypt. The author is unknown. He claims to provide a shortened version of a five-volume history by Jason of Cyrene.
Books Of Maccabees Part 3rejected Scriptures During this time period, an older priest named Mattathias lived with his five sons. When Antiochus commanded some soldiers to Mattathias' village of Modein to force Jews to offer sacrifices to pagan gods, the priest was commanded to do so first. Mattathias refused, offering a powerful speech (1 Maccabees 2:15-22). Another Jew offered to take his place, but Mattathias killed him as well as the soldiers in response. He also destroyed the pagan altar and led many followers to hide in the wilderness. Their newly-formed revolt began conducting military battles against other towns to destroy pagan altars, killing enemies, and putting to death Jews who worshiped other gods.
Mattathias died early in the revolt and his son Judas led in his place. Against many foes, the rebels continued to win, including the defeat of 50,000 soldiers in one battle. The group became known as the 'Maccabees;' Judas was given the nickname 'Maccabeus' for his ability to 'hammer' enemy forces into the ground. Antiochus responded to the Maccabean Revolt with an even larger army to destroy the Jews in Emmaus. Judas prayed to God and won a victory with only 10,000 on his side. After their victory, he led the Jews to Jerusalem to cleanse the temple.
Both 1 and 2 Maccabees offer an important history that forms the background of the Jewish Hannukah holiday that celebrates the cleansing and restoration of the temple. Jonathan, another of Mattathias' sons, became new high priest after the rededication of the temple and also became commander of the army. First Maccabees concludes with the line of Maccabean leaders who followed, including Simon, another of Mattathias' sons, and Simon's son John Hyrcanus.
Though it includes a compelling historical account, there are concerning theological teachings particularly in 2 Maccabees. One concerning theological teaching from 2 Maccabees is the concept of praying on behalf of the dead (2 Maccabees 12:34-35). Second, 2 Maccabees 15:14 speaks of Jeremiah praying for the people on Earth, introducing what Catholics teach as the prayers of the saints, a doctrine not found in the Old and New Testaments. Third, the Catholic teaching regarding purgatory comes from 2 Maccabees 12:46 that reads, 'It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.' The belief is that people first enter purgatory upon death (at least in some cases) and that the actions of believers on Earth can help a person move to heaven. This teaching is only found in this book which is not considered Scripture by Protestants or Jews.

Books Of Maccabees Part 3rejected Scriptures In The Bible