Prelude to World War 3'
The Hebrew Bible
The first five books of the Bible (Old Testament) or Torah were written in Hebrew. Torah is commonly referred to as the Law (or the Pentateuch). These 5 books are traditionally ascribed to Moses (1391–1271 BC), the recipient of the original revelation from God on Mount Sinai.
Almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in Aramaic.
Around the 5th Century BC, the canonisation of the original Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was ascribed to Ezra and his priests who were full of the Spirit of God.
The Hebrew Bible
The first five books of the Bible (Old Testament) or Torah were written in Hebrew. Torah is commonly referred to as the Law (or the Pentateuch). These 5 books are traditionally ascribed to Moses (1391–1271 BC), the recipient of the original revelation from God on Mount Sinai.
Almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in Aramaic.
Around the 5th Century BC, the canonisation of the original Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was ascribed to Ezra and his priests who were full of the Spirit of God.
These are some of the books written in Hebrew which were rejected as scriptures and were later banned :-
Book of Enoch
The Secrets of Enoch
The Psalms of Solomon
The Odes of Solomon
The Letter of Aristeas
The Story of Ahikar
Dead Sea Scrolls are Erred Texts
When the scribes erred while copying Scriptural texts, these erred and flawed texts were rejected, burned and destroyed.
The famous Dead Sea Scrolls including the Hebrew Old Testament discovered in 1947 actually date back to the first century BC but they are not originals.
These scrolls were rejected because they have erred with flawed texts in comparison with the original Septuagint. They should have been burnt or destroyed. All bible translations taken from these rejected scrolls will have missing or erred texts.
The Original Septuagint
According to tradition, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BC) the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt, sent seventy-two Hebrew translators —six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel—from Jerusalem to Alexandria to translate the Tanakh from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek, for inclusion in his library. It took possibly a year or two (some suggested 72 days) for the 72 scholars to translate the Tanakh into the Greek Septuagint.
The Septuagint was popular and was used in synagogues for the common Jews could not understand Hebrew anymore.
Meanwhile there were many religious books produced during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. The common ones were the 'Apocrypha' (or the Deuterocanonical books) all written in Koine Greek.
The Apocrypha are non canonical books. They are mainly of historic nature and do not affect the teachings of the Law.
Luke 4:21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Our Lord Jesus, having read Luke 4:17-20 in the Septuagint, confirmed the Septuagint was Scripture.
Independent Israel
The Maccabean Revolt, which began in 167 BC, led to the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple in 164 BC. Judea had a period of full independence from 104 to 63 BC.
The Jews must have hated the Greek regime that they fought for their independence for centuries.
Why were the Apocrypha not written in Hebrew or Aramaic?
Don't you find it strange that all the Apocrypha books including the 2 warfare books of Maccabees were written in Greek and not in Hebrew or Aramaic. This is the sure sign that the Jews had forgotten Hebrew their mother tongue and also Aramic which they learned during their captivity.
The only language they could understand then was Greek.
Jewish Priesthood Rejected the Apocrypha
The Tanakh was written in Hebrew with a little bit of Aramaic. It was canonized in the 5th Century BC by Ezra. In the 3rd Century BC, it was translated into the Septuagint.
The Apocrypha was written in the 1st and 2nd Century BC in Greek. It cannot be added to the Hebrew Bible. The Jews had rejected the Apocrypha as Scriptures.
Though it was written in Greek, it was not canonized and cannot be added to the Septuagint. Unfortunately, many unlearned Theologians refer to the Apocrypha as part of the Septuagint.
Note the Septuagint is the Grecian translation of the Tanakh (original Hebrew Bible) and nothing more.
The Protestant Bible consists of only the Septuagint and the New Testament books. Both the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles besides the Septuagint and the New Testament books also include some of the Apocrypha, which they know were not canonized.