About the Bible
The following is an excerpt from Mr. Benner’s book, A Cultural and Linguistic Excavation of the Bible.
The Old Testament
Most Christian denominations, including the Catholic and Protestant churches, recognize thirty-nine books in the Old Testament. These books are usually divided into four sections: The Pentateuch, the historical books, the poetic books and the prophetic books. Jews include the same thirty-nine books in their Bibles, but they divide them into three sections; Torah (teachings), Nevi’im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings). The Jews refer to these three sections, their Bible, as the Tanakh, a word created by the first three letters of each of the three sections (TaNaKh).
The Apocrypha
The Catholic Church includes another set of books in their Bible, generally seven in number, which are called the Apocrypha.[1] The Eastern Orthodox Church includes an additional five books in its Apocrypha. While most Protestants do not consider these apocryphal books as canon[2], many do consider them worthy of study for Biblical context.
We will examine several of the books of the Apocrypha when we go into more detail about the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments.
The Pseudepigrapha
There is another set of books, rarely accepted by Jews or Christians, called the Pseudepigrapha.[3] While there are very few groups that consider any of the books of the Pseudepigrapha as canon, like the books of the Apocrypha, they can help with Biblical context. For example, the Book of Enoch sheds light on the meaning of the scapegoat (Azazel in Hebrew) of Leviticus 16.
The following is a literal translation of Leviticus 16:7-10:
“[A]nd he will take the two hairy goats and he will make them stand to the face of YHWH[4], at the opening of the appointed tent, and Aharon will place upon the two hairy goats lots, one lot is for YHWH and one lot is for Azazeyl, and Aharon will bring near the hairy goat, which went up upon him the lot for YHWH, and he will do him as a failure, and the hairy goat which went up upon him the lot for Azazeyl, he will stand living to the face of YHWH to make a covering upon him, to send him for Azazeyl unto the wilderness.” (RMT)
Each goat represents one type of person. The goat selected for YHWH represents the obedient servant who is committed to God; this one sacrifices his life to serve before YHWH. The other goat represents the haughty and proud who is free to live his life his own way, separate from YHWH, and is sent out into the wilderness.
While it would seem that the goat released into the wilderness has the better deal, this is not true; the goat sacrificed to YHWH is completely dedicated to YHWH, while the other is sent out into the wilderness, probably to die from starvation. Actually, the Jewish tradition says the goat was taken to a high place, a cliff, and thrown over it.
What exactly is Azazel? Three theories have credence: The first is that Azazel is a combination word meaning “goat” (az) and “shake” or “sent away” (azel), hence the translation in some Bibles of “scapegoat.” The second is that it is the name of the place to which the goat was sent: a desert, solitary place, or a high place. The third is that Azazel is the name of an individual, angel or demon.
The latter is more reasonable, as the Hebrew says one of the goats is “to” YHWH, while the other is “to” Azazel (one who is the opposite of YHWH). The Hebrew translated as “to” could also be translated as “belonging to.” One goat “belonged to YHWH” and the other “belonged to Azazel.” The Book of Enoch sheds light on who Azazel was.
“And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.” (Enoch 8:1-3)
While Enoch, one of the extra-Biblical works, is not considered “canon” by most churches, one must embrace that they can be instrumental in explaining certain passages, customs, rituals and other aspects of the Old Testament.
The New Testament
The New Testament consists of twenty-seven books and is usually divided into four sections: the Gospels, the Book of Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles[5] and the book of Revelation. The New Testament is the story of Yeshua and his Jewish disciples. While most Christians, both Catholics and Protestant, accept the entirety of the New Testament as canon, religious Jews reject it, as they do not recognize Yeshua as the Messiah. However, secular Jews do study the New Testament because it is one of the very few documents from that period that depict Jewish life in the first century AD.
[1] A Greek word meaning “hidden.”
[2] Books that are considered sacred and inspired and valid for the interpretation of one’s religion.
[3] A Greek word meaning “false name” from the practice of attributing the authorship of a given work to a false author.
[4] The RMT uses YHWH to represent the four-letter name of God, often pronounced as Jehovah or Yahweh.
[5] A Greek word meaning “letters.”