Truth About "Lost Books" Of Tanak a.k.a Apocrypha

[Christian Zionist]

The Truth About The So-Called Lost Books Of Tanak a.k.a Apocrypha:

The apocrypha (απόκρυφα means "hidden") is a set of books written between approximately 400 B.C.E. and 1 C.E.  Judaism and Protestant Christianity describe Apocrypha as non-cannonical and was not inspried by Ruah HaKodesh.

Tanak Apocrypha

1 Esdras

1 Maccabees

2 Esdras (a.k.a 4 Ezra)

2 Maccabees

3 Maccabees

4 Ezra (a.ka. 2 Esdras)

4 Maccabees

Baruch

Bel and the Dragon (addition to Daniel)

Daniel and Susanna (addition to Daniel)

Esther, Additions to

Judith 

Letter of Jeremiah

Prayer of Azariah (addition to Daniel)

Prayer of Manasseh, The

Psalm 151

Sirach

Tobit

Wisdom of Solomon, The


     But if the Apocrypha is a Scripture, then it should not have any errors and some of the errors are documented below:
 
 
Problems in the Apocrypha
 

When we look into the apocrypha itself, we find numerous problems.  For example, we see it advocating magic where the smoke of a fish heart on a fire drives away devils.

    Magic:
         Tobias 6:5-7, "Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines. 6 And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. 7 Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? 8 And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them." 

Is it true that the smoke from a fish's heart when burned, drives away evil spirits?  Of course not.  Such a superstitious teaching has no place in the word of G-d.

The Apocrypha also teaches that forgiveness of sins is by human effort.

    Salvation by works:
         Tobias 4:11, "For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness."
         Tobias12:9, "For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting."

Now it is the constant teaching of the Law that atonement is made by a blood sacrifice. For example Leviticus 17:11 states: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

But Sirach teaches that honouring parents and giving alms atones for sin. Sirach teaches that a person can be justified by another method apart from substitutionary sacrifice.




    Money as an offering for the sins of the dead:
         2 Macabees 12:43, "And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection."

Can anyone truly except that money isn't offering for the sins of dead people?  such a superstitious and unbiblical concept has no place in Scripture.

There are also historical errors in the apocrypha:

         Judith 1:5, "Now in the twelfth year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city, fought against Arphaxad and overcame him."

    Baruch 6:2, "And when you are come into Babylon, you shall be there many years, and for a long time, even to seven generations: and after that I will bring you away from thence with peace."

The book of Judith incorrectly says that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Assyrians when he was the king of the Babylonians.1   

Baruch 6:2 says the Jews would serve in Babylon for seven generations where Jer. 25:11 says it was for 70 years.  "And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

For example, Tobit claims to have been alive when Jeroboam revolted (931 B.C.) and when Assyria conquered Israel (722 B.C.). These two events were separated by over 200 years and yet the total lifespan of Tobit was 158 years (Tobit 1:3-5; 14:11)!

Conclusion

Obviously the apocrypha has serious problems.  From magic, to salvation by works, to money as an offering for the sins of the dead, and blatant incorrect historical facts, it is full of false and unbiblical teachings.  It isn't inspired.

Apocrypha On Women:

The apocrypha contains offensive materials unbecoming of G-d’s authorship.

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.


Islam's pedophile prophet muhammed (piss be upon him) borrowed many materials from the Apocrypha.

[mord]

Do Jews or Christians use the  Apocrypha?Jews don'nt it's not in the tanach

[Fruit of thy loins]

The Catholic church actually considers many of these apocryphal books canonical.  They are included in Catholic Bibles.

[mord]

I never knew that

[Christian Zionist]

Do Jews or Christians use the  Apocrypha?Jews don'nt it's not in the tanach

Jews do not use Apocrypha.  Jesus, His immediate disciples and the early Church fathers never recongized Apocrypha as inspired. Unfortunately Apocrypha is included in the Catholic bible. 

Protestant Christian scholars follow the Jewish Canon and hence reject the Apocrypha as part of the Tanak.

[Christian Zionist]

More on apocrypha:

An angel named Uriel (2 Esdras)

A good soul fell to Solomon’s lot. Wisdom 8:19, 20

The body weighs down the soul. Wisdom 9:15

Whoever honors his father atones for sins. Sirach 3:3

God is unaware the origin of some is evil. Wisd. 12:10

" That is why God gave them a chance to repent which they did not take.

To none has he [God] given power to proclaim his works;..." Sirach

Never use deceit (Sirach 25:26) vs. Deceive people for God (Judith)

Divorce if your wife does not obey you-Sirach 25:26

"for from garments comes the moth, and from a woman comes woman's wickedness. Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; and it is a woman who brings shame and disgrace." Sirach 42:14

"Wine is like life to men, if you drink it in moderation. What is life to a man who is without wine? It has been created to make men glad." (Sirach 31:27) {Does A.A. quote this often?}

"Pamper a child, and he will frighten you; play with him, and he will give you grief." Sirach 30:9

"Speak, you who are older, for it is fitting that you should, but with accurate knowledge and do not interrupt the music." Sirach 32:3

Jeremiah, though dead, prays for Jews 2 Mac5:12-16

We should pray for the dead 2 Macc 12:44


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The Catholic New Jerusalem Bible even says in Intro "The book of Judith in particular shows a bland indifference to history and geography."

· Mordecai taken by Nebuchadnezzar (617 BC.)

2nd year of Artaxerxes court (~130 years later). Contradicts regular part of Esther: (additions to Esther)

· Haman was an Agagite, not Macedonian. -add Esth.

· Do not remember the dead (Sirach 38:21-23) vs. pray for the dead (2 Macc 12:44)

· Baruch not really in Babylon 1:1,2 vs. Jer.43:5-7

· Baruch 6:2 says the Jews would serve Babylon for 7 generations. Jeremiah 25:11 & 29:11 says 70 years; .

· The Babylonians did not worship and feed a living dinosaur-like creature. (additions to Daniel 14:23-27)

· In 2 Macc 8:10 Nicanor wanted to pay 2,000 talents to the Romans; the Seleucids were not under the Romans.

· In 2 Macc 8:20 8K Seleucids plus 4K Macedonians did not destroy 120,000 Galatians in Babylonia.

· Minor historical discrepancies between 1 & 2 Mac.

[mord]

Some of those qoutes are funny no wonder people did'nt use it

[Fruit of thy loins]

Here in the UK some Liberal synagogues use the books of the Maccabees in their liturgy if I remember right. 

[jdl4ever]

The talmud says that Israel had prophets twice as many (men) that left egypt = 1.2 million prophets but only certain prophesies were permanently recorded, namely those that were relevent to the future and that were required to learn important information/lessons from.

[Lisa]

Christian Zionist, what about the Book of Jubilees?  I believe that is included in the Ethiopian Bible.

Regarding the Maccabe books, I've read that they are part of the Catholic Bible, but they are not part of the Jewish Bible.  Chaim said on one of the Ask JTF programs that it was due to the later Maccabe kings being very corrupt. 

[Christian Zionist]

Shalom Lisa!

* The Book Of Jubilees talks a lot about demons and angels. 

*Hebrew was the language originally spoken by all creatures, animals and man, and is the language of Heaven. After the destruction of the tower of Babel, it was forgotten, until Abraham was taught it by the angels.

*Yes, it is included in the Ethiopian Bible and in the Ethiopian version it says angels were the disobedient descendents of Seth and mortal females were daughters of Cain.

*Book of Jubilee 3:10 states that the law of purification of woman after childbirth are written in the tablets in heaven.  Jubilee 5:13 states that the divine judgement on all that exists on earth is written on tablets in heaven.

*It is also known as "little Genesis" and "Apocalypse of Moses"

Popular quote from the book of Jubilees:

"He that sees but does not bear witness, be accursed"

According to the Book of Jubilee, nine-tenths of the Nephilim were destroyed during Noah's time, but God left one-tenth on earth to worship Satan as a challenge to mankind.

Jubilees recounts Enoch, his book, works, the fall of the angels, their teachings, marriage to woman, several types of Nephillim (the hybrid offspring of mortal woman and angels), even the finding of the artifacts left by the teachings of the angels when Noah’s descendants reached Egypt. In other words, the book of Enoch predated Jubilees.

Jubilee 4:9
...after giving birth to Cain and Abel, Eve bore a daughter named Awan, who eventually became Cain's wife.' After the birth of his son Seth, Adam fathered another daughter and named her Azura, who later became Seth's wife.

Book of Jubilees is based on a lunar calendar. It asserts that the year is exactly 364 days. Jubilees 6:23-38.

It is unclear whether the first year of the next jubilee cycle starts after the 50th year, or whether it overlaps the 50th year. The Book of Jubilees demonstrates that a jubilee period is 49 years, and not 50 years and thus the Book of Jubilee remove the ambiguity present in the Bible. Jubilees 4:29


Esau's sons confront him about the peace arrangement between him and Jacob.