Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Some more of the Old Testament the letter of additions to Daniel and one Maccabees, written by Bart Ehrman, read by Mike Johnson.
[00:00:12] The Old Testament Apocrypha Deutera. Canonical books are truly fascinating, even if not widely read. Few people outside of the catholic and orthodox traditions knows about the first one. The other two here, though, are better known and in fact, historically significant. Some descriptions from my book the New a historical and literary introduction the letter of Jeremiah this is one of the shortest books of the Apocrypha. It is only one chapter long, and in the latin tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, it is included as the final chapter of the Book of Baruch. The book is allegedly written by the prophet Jeremiah, sent to the Judeans bound for babylonian exile. In exile, they will be among people who worship other gods through idols. This book is nothing but an attack on pagan idolatry. The real historical context of the writing is a situation in which Jews around the world were surrounded by idol worship. It may have been produced in the aftermath of the maccabean revolt. It appears to have been composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. Much of the book consists of a mockery of idols and those who make them. We are told that one idol holds a scepter like a district judge, but is unable to destroy anyone who offends it. Another has a dagger in its right hand and an axe, but cannot defend itself from war and robbers.
[00:01:42] In other words, idols are powerless not only to help their worshippers, but even to help themselves. They are made by carpenters and goldsmiths, and they can be put into any form that the artisan desires. Those who make them will certainly not live very long themselves. How, then, can the things that are made by them be gods, like a scarecrow in a cucumber bed which guards nothing. So are their gods of wood overlaid with gold and silver.
[00:02:17] This kind of attack on idolatry makes a lot of sense to most readers today, as it did to Jews in antiquity. On the other hand, pagans who used idols in their worship would have been a bit baffled by it all, since as a rule, they did not actually think the idols were gods. The idols were simply representations of gods, and sometimes thought the physical means through which the transcendent gods worked their power. But to outsiders such as Jews, the entire worship practices of pagans seemed foolish, and it was easy indeed to mock it by pointing out that idols are made of wood that rots and metal that rusts and so have no real existence or power.
[00:02:58] The additions to Daniel we have seen that later redactors made several additions to the Book of Esther in order to fill out the story. In places, the same thing happens with the Book of Daniel. These additions were probably composed independently of one another as kinds of expansions on key points of the story. They were apparently written sometime after the maccabean revolt. There are three editions, the prayer of Azariah and the song of the three jews. We have seen that Daniel three tells the story of the three jewish youths who refuse to worship the statue of the king and so are punished by being thrown into an enormous fiery furnace. They gloriously survive the ordeal. But what were they doing in there? This one chapter edition tells us they were praying and praising God. Azariah is one of the three. In Daniel. He is also known as Abednego. He prays to God a prayer of confession in which he acknowledges that the nation of Judah has been exiled for its sins, and he prays that God will deliver it from its woes. This is not a prayer related to the fact that he has just been thrown into a raging furnace, making it appear that it was a prayer that was composed independently of Daniel and added to the story only later. Compare the prayer of Jonah in Jonah two. In addition, the three youths all then break into a song of thanksgiving and praise to God as they are protected in the fiery furnace. This, too, is a psalm that was originally written independently of the story that has now been put on the lips of the devout youths.
[00:04:37] Susannah this is a terrific short story of a woman who is falsely accused of sexual misconduct and condemned to be executed for it. But young Daniel intervenes in the proceedings and shows that the two men who have brought the accusation, in fact are the ones who were ill behaved and sexually motivated and that their accusations were false. She has vindicated, the men, are executed, and Daniel is exalted.
[00:05:05] Bel and the dragon this is two brief stories attacking idolatry. In one, the idol Bel is shown by Daniel not to have any real existence, but to be manipulated by its priests, who are getting some very good meals out of the offerings allegedly being consumed by the God. The other is about a dragon that Daniel shows convincingly is not a divine being at all. This gets Daniel into trouble with his enemies, who have him thrown into a lion's den. As in the Hebrew Bible account, he is protected by God, and they, his enemies, are eventually ripped to shreds by the lions as a reward for their efforts.
[00:05:45] One Maccabees with the Book of one Maccabees, we move from the genres of fiction and wisdom to the genre of history. This is a historical narrative that details the events that led up to the Maccabean revolt, chapters one and two, and that transpired during the years of rebellion. For three generations of the family that led the uprising, it is our principal source of knowledge about the period and so is of particular interest to historians of this crucial time in Ancient Israel. It was originally written in Hebrew. In chapter six. I have already summarized the events that precipitated the revolt. The first two chapters of one maccabees are particularly gripping in their portrayal of the hellenizing policies of Antiochus Epiphanes. The escalation of the tensions between Jews, who welcomed the new cultural advances, and those, including the author, who saw them as heinous. Attempts to destroy the jewish faith and the jewish people, and the heightened extreme measures taken by the monarch as he made it a crime against the state to retain jewish practices and customs. But in his attempt to establish hellenistic culture even in Judea, requiring sacrifice to idols and outlawing circumcision, Antiochus went a step too far.
[00:07:00] The family of Mattathias and his five sons started a local revolt in the town of Modin. Mattatheus killed a jew performing a pagan sacrifice, as well as the pagan official overseeing the act. Thus the uprising began.
[00:07:14] Much of the confrontation with the syrian oppressors was carried out as a kind of guerrilla warfare. It was Mattatheuss son, Judas the Maccabeus, the hammer, who took the lead. Chapters three through nine describe the skirmishes, battles, and diplomatic efforts of Judas himself. Chapters nine through 16 describe those of his successors. It ends with the work of Judass nephew, John Hyrcanus, who becomes the high priest and ruler of the people from 134 to 104 BCE. The book was probably written soon after that.
