J
Journeyman
Guest
I am trying to get a handle on various issues regarding the Apocrypha. A few questions—
- When the Jews revised their canon to exclude the Apocrypha books, was it mostly because these books or portions of the books were not written in Hebrew? Or was the real reason to exclude additional messianic prophecies that pointed to Jesus? Or was there another reason for the exclusion of these books?
- If one of the reasons for the exclusion of Sirach is that Hebrew manuscripts for Sirach were not believed to be in existence at the time of the Apocrypha exclusion, then does the discovery of portions of the Hebrew manuscripts of Sirach in the last 120 years negate this argument that Sirach should be excluded from the Palestine Canon.
- Did the early Protestants also eliminate the Apocrypha books from the Bible because of doctrinal differences? If so, what were the differences? Or were the Protestants not finding a problem with all the books, but the problem was mostly in Maccabees (regarding purgatory), so that the one way to eliminate Maccabees was to just exclude the entire Apocrypha and use the excuse of the Apocrypha?