Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Wisdom Books and the Bible

While reviewing the Lectionary readings for November, I came across a reading from the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon. A quick check of the various bibles in my house showed that I own no copy of this Book. I wondered what the Book of Wisdom is, and why is it not in my Bible? So, I “Googled” the Book and was sent quickly to the Wikipedia.

“Book of Wisdom, or Wisdom of Solomon or simply Wisdom is one of the deuterocanonical books of the Bible. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books of the Septuagint, which includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (Song of Songs), and Ecclesiasticus (Sirach).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Wisdom

“Wait!” I thought. What is meant by “Deuterocanonical?” It means “of the second Canon.” It “is a term used since the sixteenth century in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe certain books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Jewish Bible...The Deuterocanonical books are considered canonical by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, but are considered non-canonical by Protestants.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuterocanonical

And what is “Septuagint?” The Septuagint, or simply ‘LXX,’ “... was the common Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC in Alexandria. It is the oldest of several ancient translations of the Hebrew Bible into Greek [and] is quoted by the Christian New Testament ... In the 3rd century BC, most Jewish communities were located in the Hellenistic world ... It is believed that the LXX was produced because many Jews ... needed a Greek version of the scripture for use during synagogue readings.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint

LXX was the basis of the Old Testaments of the earliest Christian Bibles. But, some things change.

“Some scriptures of ancient origin are found in the Septuagint but are not present in the Hebrew Bible ... The New Testament makes a number of allusions to and may quote the additional books. The books are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, Baruch, Epistle of Jeremy (which later became chapter 6 of Baruch in the Vulgate), additions to Daniel (The Prayer of Azarias, the Song of the Three Children, Sosanna and Bel and the Dragon), additions to Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Odes, including the Prayer of Manasses, and Psalm 151.”

Christian churches differ about what’s in their bibles. Moreover, some Christian churches have changed what they considered “canonical.” Some left their canons unchanged. Roman Catholics include some of these books in their bible. Eastern Orthodox Churches still use all the books of the Septuagint. In fact, “[t]he Ethiopian Orthodox church's narrower Old Testament canon includes the books of the Hebrew Bible, all of the Apocrypha, and "Jubilees, 1 Enoch, and Joseph ben Gurion's (Josippon's) medieval history of the Jews and other nations." http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/canon2.stm The full King James version of the Christian Bible often includes these additional books as "Apocrypha." Protestant Bibles follow the Hebrew Bible and exclude the additional books.

Anglican lectionaries use all of the books of the Septuagint except Psalm 151. While the Eastern Orthodox Church accepts Psalm 151 as canonical, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and most Jews consider it apocryphal. However, it is found in an appendix in some Catholic Bibles, as well as in some ecumenical translations, such as the New Revised Standard Version. (Psalms 151-155 are called the Five Apocryphal Psalms of David.)

Alas, the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon seems not to be part of the Hebrew Bible and so not part of any of my Protestant Bibles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Bible But that’s OK – the Lectionary suggests an alternative reading from Isaiah for Protestant Christians, while our Catholic and Orthodox brethren are reading from Wisdom. Besides, we all can now read Wisdom on line.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Happy New Year!

“On Friday night, Sept. 18, 2009, Jews will begin celebrating one of their most important religious holidays, Rosh Hashanah. It remembers the creation of the world. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means the "head of the year." It is also called the Feast of the Trumpets. The blowing of a ram's horn, a shofar, proclaims Rosh Hashanah.” [http://www.factmonster.com/spot/roshhashanah1.html for further information.]

September 19, 2009, marks the beginning of the year 5770 on the Hebrew calendar, and the first day of the month of Tishri. Some believe that Adam was created on this day, 5,770 years ago. [http://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day.asp?tdate=9/19/2009] You can read all about it in Genesis 1:26. “On the sixth day....”

Most of us in the west consider the celebration of New Year’s Eve/Day a secular holiday , an evening and a day wherein we consider the year past, plan for the coming year, and enjoy friends, food and drink. [In my 85-year-old COMMON SERVICE BOOK OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH, New Year’s Day is the time of celebrating “The Circumcision and Name of Jesus.”] While seeming to be all about celebrating, New Year’s provides many of us the occasion to consider seriously the times past and the times to come. Some people even make resolutions about changing their behaviors, perhaps giving up some “bad” habit, or resolving to change how they use their time or money.

For Jews, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the 10 “Days of Awe” or “Days of Repentance.” Just as many Westerners resolve to make personal life changes at New Year’s, Jews here and abroad understand Rosh Hashanah as a time of reflection and introspection.

“These ten days, called The Ten Days of Teshuvah, are the most solemn days of the year -- days designated for soul-searching and return (teshuvah) to G-d. G-d is near--more attentive to our prayers, more accepting of our repentance, than on the other days of the year.” [http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/59160/jewish/Day-One.htm]

During these ten days, Jews will seek to reconcile wrongs done to other people, and to right those wrongs where possible, and ask forgiveness.

The 10 days end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, this year beginning September 27 at sundown. Yom Kippur is a day of prayers, and one does not work or eat. Certain other limits apply: “...no bathing, no using creams and oils, no wearing of leather shoes, and no sexual relations.” [http://www.factmonster.com/spot/yomkippur1.html]

Jews believe that Yom Kippur atones for sins between people and God (Leviticus 23:26-32). Some (Jews and others) believe that God keeps books on our actions, writes down decrees about who will live and who will die during the next year, and “seals” the books on Yom Kippur.

Hmm... Reconciling wrongs, and being nearer to God, would make for a very happy New Year indeed!