King's Business - 1947-07

placed on the same level as the Old and New Testament books. To do this, these officials had to act against the standardized Jewish canon. They had to go contrary to the authority and opinion of Josephus, Eusebius, Origen, Athanasius, Epiphanus, Cyr­ il, Gregory of Nazianzen, Hillery of Poitiers, Augustine, and Jerome.24 Certainly this action is not one to be proud of, nor can we expect Cath­ olic scholars to be too anxious that the exact nature of the council and its action be made known. The Catholics use the Apocrypha to substantiate some of their doc­ trinal teachings. For instance (1) In­ tercession and help of angels (Tobit 12:12,15), (2) Intercession of depart­ ed saints (2 Macc. 15:12-14, Baruch 4:4), (3) Prayers for the dead (2 Macc. 12:44, 45), and (4) the merit of almsgiving and good works (Tobit (Tobit 3:10; 4:7). C o n c l u s io n Our study of the Apocrypha has brought to light the fact that, in spite of the errors and prejudices of men, God sees that His truth is not obscured. We are now more sure than ever before that the Old Testa­ ment canon of the Protestant Bible is the canon of the Jewish church, and the canon of the Lord and the apostles. Once again the historicity, the integrity, and the authenticity of our Scriptures shine forth in the light of facts, knowledge, investiga­ tion and research. For this we can thank Him for His grace and guid­ ance. 1. The Story of the Apocrypha, p. 7. 2. “Apocrypha,” vol. I, The Holy Bible Commentary, p. xi. 3. Ibid, p. 23. 6. The Apocryphal Literature, p. 3. 7. Miller, General Biblical Introduc­ tion (3rd edition), pp. 120, 121. Torrey thinks the entire termin­ ology needs revamping (p. 11). 8. Cf. “Aprocryphal Literature,” Ency Britamnica, 11:175-183, 11th edition. 9. Salmon, p. 18. 10. Goodspeed, p. 3. Salmon says Jerome was “ . . . the first West- tern scholar to acquire a knowl­ edge of Hebrew himself.” p. 26. 11. Goodspeed, p. 2. 12. Goodspeed, p. 4. 13. Ibid, p. 5. 14. “Apocryphal Literature,” Ency Brit. 11th edition, 11:177. 15. Davies, * Apocrypha, I. S. B. E., 1:181. 16. Salmon, p. 22. 17. Salmon, p. 16. 18 Torrey, p. 151. 19. Miller, pp. 117-119. 20. Humphry, The Written Word, p. 288. Quoted by Salmon, p. 29. JULY, 1947 4. Goodspeed, p. 6. 5. Goodspeed, p. 138.

T HE BOOK of Joshua bears much the same relation to the Pen­ tateuch that the Book of Acts bears to the four Gospels. Both books mark a new departure in religious history due to the withdrawal from the scene of a great leader and the nec­ essity of others’ taking up the task of conquest. To Joshua fell the lot of carrying forward the banner of Moses under new conditions. The glory cloud and the pillar of fire, as well as the mir­ aculous manna, were being with­ drawn. The program for conquering the whole land of Canaan had been revealed to Joshua. In the New Testament, JESUS, dur­ ing His earthly ministry, revealed His program of instruction and evan­ gelization, commissioning His disci­ ples to proceed with the witness unto all nations. After His resurrection, like Israel at the crossing of the Jordan, the disciples began at Jeru­ salem, as the forces of Joshua had begun at Jericho. These two beginnings are marked by strikingly similar occurrences. Di­ rectly against the background of vic­ tories won entirely through divine intervention, there was an outbreak of hypocrisy in the camp, clearly in­ stigated by Satan in order to try to accomplish from within the defeat which he had been unable to bring about by forces from without. Strangely enough, the chapters in­ troducing both of these incidents be­ gin with the word “BUT’ (Josh. 7; Acts 5), and in both cases the name of the offender begins with the let­ ter “A”. “BUT the children of Israel com­ mitted a trespass in the accursed thing: for ACHAN . . . took of the 21. Wescott, Bible In The Church, p. 257, Quoted by Salmon, p. 34. 22. Ibid, p. xxxiv. 23. Bungener, History of the Coun­ cil of Trent, p. 91. 24. Ibid, p. 92. 25. Salmon, p. 34.

accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the chil­ dren of Israel.” This follows upon the account of the miraculous victory over Jericho, granted because of the perfect obedience of the people to the Word of the Lord. “BUT a certain man named ANA­ NIAS, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price. . .’’ This is subsequent to the wonderful victory on the day of Pentecost, when three thousand souls were converted in one day. Both Achan and Ananias were tri­ fling with the Holy Ghost at a time when powers of the heavenly world were in extraordinary manifestation, m a k i n g their offences serious enough to call for swift judgment. In both cases, covetousness, that sin which first conquered Adam in Eden, lay at the root of their actions. In both cases, Satan was defeated in his effort to kill an infant nation and an infant church, because of stern penalty administered by; the Lord. Achan tried to enrich himself on that which had been forbidden to every Israelite, and would have his fellow-Israelites believe he was walking according to Joshua’s in­ structions. Ananias was trying to get credit for being as noble as Joses (Acts 4:36-37) who had laid his all at the feet of the apostles, but Ana­ nias was privately enjoying part of that which was believed to have been consecrated to the Lord. Satan times his work well. One Achan or one Ananias can do more mischief to the work of God than a hundred atheists. Let us learn from these two characters of widely separated ages, the danger of going to greater length in our profession than our inner lives will bear out. We may believe with St. Augus­ tine concerning both Achan and Ananias that “this terrible doom was inflicted on their bodies that their spirits may be saved in the day of the Lord.” PAGE SEVENÎEEN

Made with FlippingBook HTML5