DAY 27
CHALLENGE
“The deuterocanonical books don’t belong in Scripture. They are not written in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament.”
DEFENSE
The language that a book was written in doesn’t determine whether it’s Scripture.
Hebrew was the national language of the Israelites for much of their history, and many Old Testament books were written in it, but the Israelites’ language changed over time. Sometimes it changed through the incorporation of loanwords from other languages. Thus we find Egyptian, Akkadian, and Persian loanwords in books of Scripture written when these cultures had influence in Israel.
During the Babylonian exile (sixth century B.C.), when Jews were ruled by Aramaic-speakers, Hebrew fell out of popular use and Aramaic came into use; following the conquests of Alexander the Great (fourth century B.C.), Greek came into use by Jews—particularly among those living among Greek-speakers.
These developments led to the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, first orally into Aramaic, and later in written form, in works known as the targums. They were also translated into Greek with the appearance of the Septuagint.
Scripture also began to be written in these languages. Ezra contains extensive passages from letters in Aramaic (Ezra 4:8–6:18, 7:12–26), much of Daniel is written in Aramaic (Dan. 2:4b–7:28), and the New Testament is in Greek.
The deuterocanonicals were written during this time of linguistic transition, and they reflect that. Deuterocanonicals written in Hebrew include Sirach (see the translator’s prologue; also, versions in that language have been found), Baruch, and 1 Maccabees (noted by Origen and Jerome). Judith and Tobit were both written either in Hebrew or Aramaic (fragments of Tobit in both survive, and Jerome used an Aramaic version in composing the Vulgate). The deuterocanonical portions of Daniel were originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and the deuterocanonical portions of Esther were partly written in Hebrew or Aramaic and partly in Greek. 2 Maccabees was written in Greek, though it includes two prefatory letters that were likely originally in Aramaic. Finally, Wisdom was written in Greek.
Ultimately, it is divine inspiration, not original language, that determines whether a book is Scripture. If Hebrew was required, all the New Testament and even some parts of protocanonical Old Testament books would have to be struck.