What is the value of these books?

First of all, they are part of our Christian heritage. Our forebearers used them for sixteen centuries. These books give us an in-depth view into the religious and secular culture of those times.

Tobit and Judith are fascinating stories that enjoyed popularity in both Jewish and Christian circles.

Maccabees give us the history of the war for freedom and the pious practice of prayers for the departed.

Sirach or Ecclesiasticus meaning “Church Book” was widely used to give moral teaching to the catechumens.

Readings from Wisdom are used at funeral because of its clear teaching on immortality.

This was in dispute among the Jews of the first century (Pharisees vs. Sadducees).

In response to the reformers the Council of Trent (1546) declared as inspired by the Holy Spirit those 73 books with all their parts.

The authorship of the Bible

The Bible does not have a single author – it is a collection of 73 books which were written by many different authors over a long period of time. It is divided into two main sections – the Old Testament and the New.

The Old Testament is the Jewish Scriptures which were used by faithful Jews before the time of Christ. The New Testament consists of books and letters written by the early Christians.

The compilation of the Old Testament

The canon (list of books) of the Old Testament was not formally fixed and varied a great deal between different groups of faithful Jews. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Samaritans and othergroups all had different lists of books which they considered to be Sacred Scripture, although there was agreement on the core of which books were part of the canon.

Christians have the current 46 book Old Testament because this was the canon used by the leaders of the early Christian Church; the apostles and their followers.

This canon was found in a Greek translation of the Scriptures known as the Septuagint. This was the version used by very many Jews in the first century.

The Jews were using a Greek translation because very few Jews actually spoke Hebrew any longer. Owing to their capture by the Babylonians and subsequent freeing by the Persians, most Jews no longer spoke Hebrew, but rather spoke Aramaic – a Persian-derived language.

The priestly class still spoke Hebrew, but the average Jew did not. In addition, owing to the massive conquests of Alexander the Great of Macedon, the Greek language had become the common language of business and culture in the Near- and Middle East.

Accordingly, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was very popular.

It can clearly be seen that the Septuagint was used by the early Christians – when the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament over 90% of the quotations are taken from the Septuagint text.

Many Protestants will argue that the Septuagint canon is not the correct one – but it is clear that the correct canon of the Bible is the 46 book Septuagint one.