J-M's History Corner

This is my monthly reblog of an older post. The canon of Scripture is a settled issue, isn’t it?  You’ve got your 66 books total, 39 in the Old Testament (24 by the Jewish counting) and 27 in the New Testament.  However, when you do the research, things are not so simple.  There are many “other” books claiming to be Scripture, a number of them accepted by various denominations and/or included in various Bibles over the years.  Are they Scripture?  Or just heretical additions? Read the rest at  https://jmshistorycorner.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-canon-of-scripture-part-1-apocrypha.html .

Shabbat Shalom!  Today (December 21st, 2018) is (in Australia) the first day of Hanukkah (known in Hebrew of Chanukkah), the 8-day feast commemorating the rededication of the Jewish Temple by the Maccabees three years to the day after it was defiled by pagans. You may notice that most people have already celebrated Hanukkah.  I explain the calendar I use in Yom Teruah – The Feast of Trumpets .  It begins on the 25th day of the 9th month (Kislev), and ends on the 3rd day of the 10th month (Tevet).  You can see the feast calendar I’m following for the next year here: Feast Calendar . What is the origin of Hanukkah?  It is explained in the Bible: 1  The Jews in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea, To their Jewish kindred in Egypt, Greetings and true peace. 2  May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants. 3  May he give you all a heart to w...

The canon of Scripture is a settled issue, isn't it?  You've got your 66 books total, 39 in the Old Testament (24 by the Jewish counting) and 27 in the New Testament.  However, when you do the research, things are not so simple.  There are many "other" books claiming to be Scripture, a number of them accepted by various denominations and/or included in various Bibles over the years.  Are they Scripture?  Or just heretical additions? The most well-known (and most widely accepted) body of these "extra" works is the Apocrypha (which means "Hidden").  People disagree as to which books constitute the Apocrypha.  For the purpose of this article, the word refers to the following 18 books: Baruch Letter of Jeremiah Tobit Prayer of Manasseh Psalms 151-160 Wisdom of Solomon Wisdom of Ben Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus) "Additions" to Esther Judith Prayer of Azariah Susanna Bel and the Dragon 1 Ezra 2 Ezra 1 Maccabees 2 Macca...