Aprocryphal Tales
Most people have a vague awareness of the existence of the Apocrypha, but how many people do you know who have actually read it? It is a strange collection of texts that fit around and among the books of the Old Testament, some historical, some wisdom, and some verging on the mythical.
You won’t find the Apocrypha in most bibles, as for Christians of the Reformation it is not regarded as Scripture. The books are found in the earliest Latin and Greek old testaments, but not the Hebrew. They were included in bibles until the seventeenth century, sometimes with a caveat. Luther’s Bible prefaces them, “Apocrypha, that is, books which are not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures, and nevertheless are useful and good to read”.
Puritanical disapproval of the Apocrypha led to their gradual exclusion from bibles, and now most Christians don’t get chance to read them. For me, the Apocrypha is a useful secondary source of contemporary information on what happened between the end of the Old Testament and the time of Jesus. While not the Word of God, as with many books, God can speak to us through it.
Some Apocryphal books are pure history. 1 Esdras includes Josiah and Darius, and the two Maccabees books tell broadly similar tales of Judas Maccabeus’ recapture of Jerusalem in 170BC. Others are almost footnotes and omissions from Biblical books — additions to Esther and Daniel, a letter of Jeremiah, and a book of Ezra’s visions.
There are books of prayer (Mannaseh), confession (Baruch) and wisdom. Solomon states “Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth, think of the Lord with uprightness and seek him with sincerity of heart”. Sirach, the collected writings of Jesus son of Sirach, runs to 51 chapters, with such wisdom as
Do not praise a man for his good looks, nor loathe a man because of his appearance. The bee is small among flying creatures, but her product is the best of sweet things. Do not boast about wearing fine clothes, nor exalt yourself in the day that you are honoured; for the works of the Lord are wonderful, and his works are concealed from man.
Some of the Apocrypha’s reputation as slightly odd comes from two books. Tobit’s tale of his life and God’s blessings seems strange in places, but by far the least explainable is the matter of fact way in which a dragon is slain in the account of Bel and the Dragon by Daniel. Before being thrown in the lions’ den, Daniel also exposes the truth behind alleged consumption of food by an idol, but I won’t give away the details …
Perhaps some of the Apocrypha’s unpopularity with the Puritans comes from the comparatively liberated women: it is Judith who saves Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege, conning her way into the enemy camp and slaying their commander in his sleep. Susanna is a more passive heroine, who is steadfast despite facing death in a tale of voyeurism, blackmail and abuse of power.
For me, the Apocrypha gave new insight into the Old Testament. The unexpected discovery of relevance among some of its books has led me to look for the same in more familiar texts — it seems some human tales will be forever repeated.