Fun fact about Esther: like a lot of literature relegated to the Deuterocanon (except for Maccabees), Esther was probably originally performed as a play after theatre was introduced by the Greeks- meaning that the way we read it aloud today, with audience participation, has probably changed very little from its original use!
according to the kabbalistic writings evry time in the scroll appears name כהת OR התך - those are mentions of Daniel the Prophet . Regarding Greeks - the Ari's synagogue has a stage in the middle ( not like Ashkenazim) - like in a church.Reminds of an Amphitheater
If by the end of this series, which is awesome BTW, you manage to fit most of the graphs into an organized poster chart... I'd definitively would buy. And hopefully others are interested as well. Awesome work man!
@@maguffle I think Sam M was referring to the fact that we don't know who wrote any of the Gospels, that Matthew and Luke plagiarised great swathes of Mark verbatim and that only some of Paul's work is considered authentic. Finally, that we know what we posses now is not how the originals were as there's been multiple redaction and interpolation through the millennia.
This series continues to be very interesting! In college (a Catholic college) I took a course on the New Testament that reviewed and went over the literary/publication history in much the same way as you've been covering here, so it's very cool to get a similar overview of the history around the writing of the Old Testament as well. :)
I would love a whole series about how ancient stories relate to each other and are based off each other. I remember reading somewhere that there are some stories that appear to have travelled around the whole world tens of thousands of years ago. One example is the story of a man or group of men going into a cave disguised as animals to fight or steal from a god or monster. Most people recognize it from the story of the Greeks fighting the Cyclops, but there are versions of this story even in Native American culture! And scholars don't think it's mere coincidence, because they can actually trace the changes in the story as they follow the versions around the world.
Can't wait for the next episode...having been brought up a Jehovah's Witness I've learnt more from your channel about the bible than I did in a lifetime of meetings. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for my next poster.
Another theory I've heard about Job is that the author intentionally imitated an early written Hebrew style to make the story appear ancient thus more important. For a modern example, see The Book of Mormon.
@@urubu715 I said "style", not "language". He certainly had a book with the antiquated English style he wrote the book in as he included quotes from it.
He was able to match the style but use the word wherefore correctly definitely not he thinks wherefore is a synonym for where and not a synonym for why a good way to think about it is wherefore is asking where is the for so basically asking why although I haven’t read the Book of Mormon I have read the book of Moses and the book of Abraham and although they’re interesting, they still have that Joseph Smith quality to them where they have annoying retroactive rewriting of things to make it more Christian and I don’t know if it’ll ever come to pass that I’ll read the Book of Mormon because of that although I would like to some of it, if there’s any books that are interesting on their own merit, same thing with the Quran if there are any stories in it that are worth reading I would also read those too, but that doesn’t mean I believe it
I am Catholic Christian, my husband graduated in Catholic theology and I enjoy your explanations concerning the Bible, God's holy Word. I also admire the respect with which you approach the New Testament and the Christian doctrine.
I can't multitask when watching your videos. I always have to pay attention because it's just super interesting information. On my watch after work list. ☺️
@@hamzazulfiThe goal of religious texts is not to describe an accurate history, but to present a religious narrative. Telling people how they should act, what they should believe about the world, how they fit in to their religious community.
@@ObjectsInMotion Not only the name but the character of the person also matters. If I am unaware who the person is, I would also be unaware of his beliefs, his motivations and his care for conveying the right information.
Very much looking forward to episode 4! Learning about the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals was what really set off my interest in the history of the Bible!
When I was in college (more years ago than I like to think about), we were assigned the book of Job as a literature assignment. The lecture about this work emphasized that Job was known to be the first book written.
This series is great, very much looking forward to the rest of it! As someone who has worked a lot with Homeric Epic, which has its own fair share of difficulties regarding author and date, I´m fascinated by the way you manage to lay all of that out so clearly!
I just wanted to come here to a most recent video to tell you: Your channel is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for your work. It is truly incredible. The way you present, the way you explain, the words you choose, how clear it is made, reliance on facts. Thanks for that, and i hope you keep doing it.
Thank you for posting these series. I was always taught that the bible was the word of God and completely historical. But knowing how governments/Kings are and the embellishments people make today it only makes sense that some poetic licensing took place. Especially since they were verbally passed down before they were written. The part that hit me the most is when you said the people in that time were more concerned with the point of the message then the exact details of what happen. I wish we were more like that now.
I cannot wait to watch the next episode. I have wanted to read the apocrypha for a long time, see which books they were, and why they were left out of the Bible. Biblical history is just fascinating to me.
Same, I'm on a bit of a Biblical scholarship kick lately! I think the apocrypha he is covering next are only the Jewish/Protestant apocrypha, or the Catholic Deuterocanonical books. There are some texts that do not appear in any Bible as we understand it, such as the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Thomas, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (two different authors, very different content), the Book of Enoch, and the Book of Jubilees. Those last two are really where we get the idea of fallen angels from; no such concept appears within the Bible itself, only later Christian literature, including the misapplication of the names Satan and Lucifer to the "original fallen angel" character. Enoch was likely written after the Babylonian exile, due to the Zoroastrian influence
They have not been left out of the Bible. For the majority of Christians (Catholics and Orthodox - 1.5 billion people) these books are part of the Bible. They were considered part of the Christian Bible by all Christians for the first 1500 years of Christianity.
You could always just purchase a catholic bible... for the life of me I could never understand why Martin Luther chopped out 7 books if he wanted people to go sola scriptura... if you're going to drive a car, you need all 4 wheels, not just 3 🤷♀also, dont get a KJV, it's missing 7 books also 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ a proper catholic bible will have both nihil obstat and imprimatur marks (nothing obstructs, and go ahead and print it) meaning everything should be in the right places... I could also never understand why Martin Luther hated free will so badly that he said "Mine body is just an ASS that Got rides! Mein body is just an ASS the devil rides!"
This has been fascinating. Thank you. Really looking forward to the new testament as a comparator to the old in how it's been constructed and evolved. I'm also really impressed how you separate faith and fact in history. Excellent stuff. I hope it instills healthy and mutual debate and discussion between all of us.
Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked…. Just a plausible as some of these stories and at least we know the authors and when exactly they were written… :/
חִכּוֹ֙ מַֽמְתַקִּ֔ים וְכֻלּ֖וֹ מַחֲמַדִּ֑ים זֶ֤ה דוֹדִי֙ וְזֶ֣ה רֵעִ֔י בְּנ֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם The most sweet is his mouth altogether this is my friend muhammad (the most praised/lovely), O The Daughters of Jerusalem
I have found this series absolutely fascinating! I also believe that the Bible isn't meant to be taken word for word, but to be used as a tool to help you live a better more religious life in tune with God. Great job, Matt!
Love watching your work. Nice touch - using the "Yardbirds" song. Like your background. I studied the Bible for many years and have read the Torah and Quran. Took a class titled, "Bible as Literature." Was in Graduate School at a Catholic University in Pittsburgh. I "argued" the same things. Each religion grew out of the one before it. You do a good job at explaining.
Thank you Matt for your videos and knowledge. I’ve been going through a rough time and your videos were the only thing I could focus on. Keep on sharing💪🏼
Thank you so much for these videos, I really learn a lot and really enjoy your style / layouts of charts. Can I suggest a future project to you, Matt? How about a narrated chart of all the (major) christian schisms. Arianism, eastern ortho, latin / catholicism, ... lutheran etc. When they happened and why. Who the major players were. Historical context. Political agendas. Major supporters / followers at that time.
Thank you for a wonderful series. It's such a relief to find a channel presenting well reasoned, rational arguments and explantions and not fundamentalist claptrap. More strength to you. (But you may want to give your channel a new title to reflect its awesomeness)
Love your charts and your summation of the books of the bible and their historical timelines. Totally engrossing and informative. As a non believer/Athiest it's great to see how the development of god/s grew with the cultural development of each civilization. Humans trying to make the best sense of the world prior to the scientific method being developed in the last 400 years.
It's in Greek Esther, which is part of the Deuterocanonical Books. It is a retelling of the Book of Esther in Greek, with some differences. Like Mordecai's prayer which, of course, mentions God. Esther also mentions God in her plea before the Persian King.
I did a quick check and the Roman Catholic book of Esther contains references to God but those verses do not exist in the Hebrew bible. The question is, did the Roman Catholic church add to, or did the Hebrew scholars take away from?
@@gomezjkv there were multiple versions of the book floating around in the ancient world. The most popular Hebrew one was shorter than the most popular Greek one. The Greek one was included in the Septuagint which was the Greek translation of the jewish scriptures. Most early Christians opted to use the Septuagint because within a few generations of the apostles they were more likely to speak Greek than Hebrew and also most of the new testament quotes of the old testament align with the septuagint's translation. It's also noteworthy that Esther's status as scripture was somewhat rocky for the early post temple Jews. Although the general outline of the Hebrew bible was probably settled around 200 bc, the exact edges continued to be debated including Esther. Its one of the few books of the hebrew bible with no fragments among the dead sea scrolls and there is evidence of rabbis who disputed its scriptural status in the mishnah in the late 100's ad. It also is one of the books of the old testament that you cant really argue is even referenced, never mind quoted in the new testament. When the protestant reformation came along they chose to use the hebrew bible as their old testament instead of the something based on the septuagint. They pointed to the assumption that this was probably the bible that Jesus used (although this correct in broad outlines, the exact bounds probably were not set and probably wasnt as much of a concern until later). They also pointed to a few Church fathers most notably St Jerome who translated the Bible around the same time the most diffinitive ancient councils settled it in the western Church (council of Rome and Carthage defined the bounds of Catholic scripture in the late 300's), but St Jerome advocated for using the Hebrew bible as the old testament instead of the majority view of the councils. Eastern Orthodox Churches use even larger old testaments because there were multiple versions of the septuagint floating around. Long story short neither added or took away, but through a long organic process chose two different already existing versions
Wonderful series! I can’t wait for the next episode. The narration is clear and spell-binding; the charts are beautiful and clear. There is so much content here that I had no idea about. Thank you so much!
As a person who once was chritian and religious I still love the stories of religions. I love to learn about everyone's perspective on religions, its the stories that help us grow and become better. I personally don't think a person needs a religion to define their position or philosophies of life. But do find religion has a purpose in helping people cope with life and death. My parents are extremely religious and I'm glad they accept my religion even though it goes 100 percent against what they believe but that's just it, it's all belief and faith and as you said should be the key take away. I respect and love everyone's religions. Can't wait for the next video.
@@TheMagnificentGman I'm a non theistic satanist. Meaning I don't worship Satan or believe in Satan. I just follow the philosophy and principals of satanism. I'm a member of the satanic temple just as in Christianity and most religions satanism has many branches and different methods of practice there is also satanic Buddhism which kinda blows my mind as a concept.
Do what thou wilt is from the order of thelema something aleister crowley was part of. The books he wrote are very interesting and good. They help give an insight to better understanding the psychology of the occult. I was in college for psychiatry and the first course they had me take was about religions and different philosophies. In satanism its indulgence over abstinence. But understanding that indulging to much can cause a negative affect mentally and physically
These videos have been absolutely amazing. I've been grappling with ideas about Judaism, especially the value and meaning of rituals and historically important Jewish texts in my life. It has really helped me hearing from another Jew who is also looking at the Tanakh as a series of intertextually connected volumes. The Christian bible has always reminded me of the 7 Kings of Rome, and perhaps, in the same way as this myth was important to Romans in preserving cultural and civic history as well as the Roman identity, so too was the Tanakh important in preserving the Jewish identity and it's history.
Whenever Pete Seeger sang “Turn, Turn, Turn” ( whose music and chorus he wrote, changing bits to rhyme) he would introduce it as a song written by a fellow named Ecclesiastes.
Considering the many conquerors of the Levant; the disporas, the wars, persecutions, changes to religion of the land... it is quite miraculous how resilient the people are holding to their beliefs. 🙏🏽 😌 Shalom!
I love this series! Are you only doing Jewish apocrypha, or will you also cover Christian ones later? I'd love to hear if we know anything on the authors of the Nag Hammadi texts
Hello i am so captive for all the information i am hearing about religion and how you are developing all the story behind of it. I am amazed for all the videos until here i am watching since i was looking for information. I want to thank you for the Tremendous investigation and for the interesting way to do narrative and for all what you must do to post every video. lot of work that you must do! Speachless
These are powerful, amazing and impartial videos with a huge learning opportunity for anyone. It would be great to do a comparison chart between shared stories of Torah, Bible and Quran - it’s a PhD project but I am sure you can make a whole series out of it
First of all, you are a nice person, Mark. Second, when I was in Egypt, I was impressed that the stories of the Egyptian mythology closely corresponded to the Judeau/Christian bible. I think the ancients heavily borrowed from both Egypt and the Fertile Crescent in developing their stories and mythology. Th one thing about the Old Testament is that it does provide us with a history of the ancient Judaic peoples. Thanks for giving it a chronology.
Fun fact about the flood myths of Mesopotamia, they only start showing up in texts during the Old Babylonian Period, according to Yi Samuel Chen's work on this. The copy of the Sumerian King list written before this doesn't contain the flood, but the one after does, and this goes for many other narratives as well. The Old Babylonian Period follows the Ur III Period, an era known for Kings calling themselves gods. This next part is based on faith more than history, but Islamic Belief holds that Abraham went up against a self-deified King (the name Nimrud is not found in the Quraj and is a based on early scholars researching the Bible for supplementary information) Thus, If Abraham came during the Ur III period, then he would maybe have been the source of the Mesopotamian flood traditions, with the mesopotamus incorporating his teachings into their mythology or even their pre-existing flood myths, we should explain the similarities between the abrahamic flood stories and the Mesopotamian ones. Of course, other Faith traditions and ideologies would probably see this differently
And logic would tell us that people who lived by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers needed no impetus whatsoever in the creation of flood myths. They experienced floods all the time. It would be more surprising if flood myths were never recorded.
I have once learned that the Book of Job has had several editing steps and transformations throughout history, and the Book of Job consists of several layers. The oldest part of which, the core story, is the five chapters (Job's opening speech 3, conversations 4-27, the true wisdom 28, Job's closing speech 29-31, and Elihu's monologue 32-37) about the conversation between Job and his brothers / friends. This oldest section is presumably of Babylonian origin and was written after the Babylonian exile. The frame-story of the book, the youngest part of the structure, is written in the form of a Greek play in the time of the Maccabees or the Second Temple or Herod the Great (maybe written at the same time as the pseudo-epigraphical Fourth Book of Estras and the Book of Enoch) because the frame-story (1:1-2:16 and 38:1-42:17) of the book mentions non-original angels and Satan that aren't part of original pre-Babylonian Judaism but of the later influence of Persian Zoroastrianism, from which dualism and the concept of evil are borrowed for Judaism and Christianity just shortly before the time of Jesus.
This reminds me of a movie - Nothing is real, Everything is shot out of order and, if you stay to watch the creditrs at the end, you'll see that a LOT of people are involved. Excellent stuff.
Although I come from a Muslim background, I started to learn about the origin of Judaism and Christianity since high school, initially just to pinpoint the evidences of corrupted scriptures. But after years of studying, I just found out that Jewish scriptures are merely the products of a Canaanite subgroup known as ancient Israelites who are not really living like some sort of modern montheists. They keep progressing just like some indigenous tribes in every corner of the world with their own tradition and belief. Thus the one God of Islam and Christianity as in Monotheism or Abrahamic Religions are nothing but the Canaanite/Israelite/Midianite gods merged together to become one. Islam and Christianity just come after the ancient Israelites become Jews who set up their own Judaism. Thus there is no such thing as original Tawrah or Zabur to begin with. If ancient Judaism were all about Greek mythology, maybe we would hear different things in alternative world of Islam and Christianity.
And current research suggests that Judaism is a blend of Egyptian monotheistic thought from the era of Akhenaten (Moses) (Northern Israel) with Sumerian monotheistic thought and creation history (Abraham) (Southern Judaism).
Well said. Judaism was a monolatristic religion at the start and Yahweh was basically the Levantine deity of storms, war, and metallurgy. Over time he began to take on the aspects of his brother Baal, father El, and El’s consort Asherah. It’s no wonder the Old Testament is all about the Jews conquering their neighboring lands, since they had a war deity at their back.
I'm longing for your video on Deuterocanonical books, to be honest I thought you weren't going to make one about them, as is my perception that most times those books are overlooked by Jewish and protestant views. I remember to have made a school essay on Judith well into my last teen years and discover to my surprise -I was raised catholic, even almost enter to the seminary- that a book I liked so much wasn't considered a "true" biblical book by the Masoretic tradition. Just the other day I said jokingly to a Jewish friend, who asked me if I would convert to Judaism, something in the lines of "I can't take seriously a religion that considers Miss Persia (Esther) canon but not the wisdom of the Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)". Anyway, I'm not specially religious, but I like to read and study about the Bible, and I like your videos so much.
18:43. Great point!. That's not only applied to Bible but also Quran and other religions' books as well. And the one who compiled all the books to publish what we all have today is no other than God Himself. Everyone reading and understanding their own holy books bringing them to the same God and same life purpose. That's why we need to keep finding our similarities not the differences.
I have to give you a ton of respect for your belief and your foundation of it. I see many religious people trying to alter scientific facts in many fields like history, but you stay true to reality and the subject and even find meaning in life through your passion for it. I am still curious why exactly you decide to hold up the beliefs you do, but I don't want to debate you on them as you are doing great working in educating the public about religion, which is to this day one of society. Have a good one
imagine being a writer of explicit poetry 2500 years ago trying to popularize your smut by saying Solomon wrote it only to find out your book made the cut for the most well known religious text in the world…
Having been raised evangelical Christian and learning Esther as a very serious, very dramatic historical book, it blows my mind to hear that it was comedic! I thought nothing could surprise me anymore.
Very interested about Daniel being partly written in Aramaic. That's as if Hamlet started in English, changed to Danish, and got back to English again at the end. Looking forward to that episode.
@@abc_cba Maronite Syriac Church. It is one the 23 Churches of the East which are in communion with the Catholic Church. Our patron Saint is Mar Maroun. Our liturgical language is Syriac, a descendant of an Aramaic Eastern dialect. We were an independent Church of the East until the XI century when we entered in contact with Rome.
@@alfredthepatientxcvi Ah, Maronites ? I know about your church's history and how you guys battled our with the Druze and then the Ottomans. I've been reading about the situation in Lebanon being horrible financially, is Hezbollah to blame for it?
Grew up Christian and studied the Bible in depth with a variety of people (seminary students, pastors, Jewish folk of varying ages, self proclaimed mystics and Hebrews) then became Muslim after my studies. I am still fascinated with the Bible I grew up with and I have learned even more on your channel. A lot of information confirmed (as I studied on my own), but theres also so much new stuff. I delve shallow into Egyptology and a little deeper into Assyriology in conjunction with my Biblical studies... but I would like to deep dive Egyptology next. Learning is endless in this life Mashallah.
Also just as a Muslim I understand your point that there is no archeological evidence to support there being original "texts" of the 4 books you mentioned. Often times we do not believe they were written down... for example if Moses really wrote down a Torah at all... we would have to assume Phonetics had even been developed at that point in time. Knowing Moses grew up essentially as royalty in Egypt, he have would have likely spoken Kemetic languages, Arabic, whatever Semitic language the majority of the Levites/Hebrew people in captivity used, and possibly language used in trade around the Levant (maybe Phoenician or Aramaic???), but not sure if all of these had developed into the phonetic representation of the written languages we have today. If you have any insight into this I would love to hear it as well.
Oh and one more bit of logic would be if Moses had a revelation from God that he physically wrote down... Idk who was able to read that other than him and Aaron. According the Tanakh he had Midianites (Arabs) and Hebrew slaves with him all of whom probably did not read and I wouldnt think in the same language either. I realize there are arguments in all of this as well, but these were just my thoughts in studying the Bible.
The mystery isn't really all that mysterious, as the historical line is pretty easy to follow and stems from a single fact they all share but none of the rest of the Old Testament does: they were originally written in Greek, not Hebrew. They were similarly popular to other more recent and literary books of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in Jewish communities throughout the Roman World, and the story of Maccabees is actually pretty important to the Jews even today, being the basis for Hanukkah. But the fact that they were written in Greek would greatly affect how they were preserved through history. When early Christians started collecting and codifying the Bible, the entire new testament was already originally written in Koine Greek (a fairly simplistic dialect of Greek used throughout the Roman world), with decent translations into Latin readily available, so they had no problem including these other Greek-language works of Jewish literature alongside the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, and thus they were still included tagged on to the end of the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate editions when the Chalcedonian churches (ie the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, but NOT the Oriental Orthodox churches, who schismed from the Chalcedonians either before or during the Council of Chalcedon, long before any of them started worrying about "canon" and thus have entirely different lists of deuterocanonical/apocryphal books they include in their Bibles) established their canon in various councils (There was actually very little debate among Chalcedonian Chrisitians at the time about the Old testament, with far more debate focused on whether to include The Letter to the Hebrews and/or Revelation in the New Testament). But being originally written in Greek, the Deuterocanon were left out of medieval rabbinical canons of the Hebrew Bible, because it was, well, the HEBREW Bible and it was hard enough teaching every jew in the diaspora to learn one language they didn't use in their daily lives, let alone learn a second one without the same inherent religious significance that Hebrew has. So when Martin Luther decided to look at the Hebrew Bible for guidance on how best to translate the Bible into German, and not knowing the full history of the books, he was scandalized to discover that the Church had mysteriously "added" these books to the Hebrew Bible (before said canon of the Hebrew Bible was even firmly established, but Luther didn't know that). And since they're honestly pretty minor books it doesn't really make that much of a difference to be honest (except Maccabees, again, because the Festival of Lights/Hanukkah). Ultimately, all of these individual books were just that--separate books--for large periods of history, and it was only in the LATE classical and medieval period that people really started worrying about an official canon, which was plenty of time for different communities to come to different conclusions as to what books were important and which were just books.
@@IONATVS At least two of the deuterocanonical books - Sirach and 1 Maccabees were originally composed in Hebrew - as probably was Judith. These books were accepted as authoritative by Greek speaking Jews (thus their inclusion in the Septuagint in the first place - which is a translation made by Jews not Christians). The Septuagint was the version of the “Hebrew” scriptures quoted in the the New Testament (rather than the Hebrew version - and there are slight differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions in some passages - most notably ‘a virgin shall conceive’). There was never any doubt about their canonical status until the reformation. There is at least one significant theological practice explicitly supported in these books, that is praying for the dead, that is rejected by most protestants as it is not explicitly countenanced in other books of the Bible.
@@willx9352 I had always been told the originals of all the Deuterocanon were in Greek, and would've thought for certain that Maccabees would be included in the modern Hebrew Bible if a Hebrew version had existed, given its importance to Hanukkah. In any case, yeah, until Luther decided they shouldn't be there, there really was no debate about the deuterocanon in Christendom--they were by no means the most important books in the old testament, but deserved to be there just as much as other minor books. And given that there are also several lines in the Gospels and other New Testament books that casually mention Jesus celebrating the Festival of Lights (ie Hanukkah) or where the speakers or authors seem to be deliberately alluding to or quoting from deuterocanonical stories--even in quotes directly attributed to Jesus--which alone is grounds for their inclusion in my opinion, even if you think them more "literary" than "scriptural" (which, again, is a pretty ahistorical view given it was considered scriptural at least in Greek-speaking Jewish community at the time of Jesus).
@@IONATVS The fact that some of the Deuterocanonical books were originally composed in Hebrew (and some are thought to be composed in Aramaic - as was the core of the Book of Daniel that was composed in Aramaic not Hebrew) is well accepted scholarship and acknowledged in the notes to NRSV. Greek speaking Jews (ie mostly living in the Roman Empire) accepted the Septuagint as authoritative. Aramaic speaking Jews (living in Palestine, Syria which were part of the Roman Empire ) and living outside the Roman Empire did not accept these books as authoritative. This was not really an issue in the Jewish world until after the destruction of the temple and the need for the Jews to adapt to this situation (and possibly to the influence of Christianity). Given that the major Rabbinical schools and Jewish scholarship were in the Aramaic speaking parts of the Jewish world, it is not surprising that the weight of Jewish scholarship was to exclude these books. The point remains that many Jews and all of the early Christians saw these books as authoritative.
@@willx9352 I dont think there is anything contradictory in these writings compared to the ;main' NT and OT, there may be less scope for inspiration and teaching out of them , possibly do they less prophercy the arrival of messiah salvation in Christ ? They are on my to read list though, as the cover the time of the second temple ?
I am salivating in tortuous anticipation for the rest of the episodes! I wish I had your self discipline. The walls of my house are full of art already so I'm thinking I may need to build in my front porch to fit your posters 😆😆
Only because Job is an Abraham-like tent dwelling shepherd. There are no Kings nor Jidges in Job. So the argument of its age comes from comparing with other OT stories, not from linguistic, theological or literary clues.
@@idjles Wrong. Job has been placed as the oldest book based on liturgical and linguistic clues, at least part of it. A read of it makes it pretty clear that there are 2 or 3 writers to it. The style shifts so wildly and the point being made is altered within the parts that are likely the newer parts that it becomes fairly clear that it has multiple authors. There are mentions of things that only someone from a much older era would know about and talk about in the way it is talked of in there. And it has specific rythms and such that are more in line with an older period. So it has been placed as the one of, if not the oldest, books/stories in the bible.
@@Durakken I wouldn't because things change through oral tradition but copy errors are less frequent. That said I've never heard of any 3500 year old paper being discovered in the area, but a scribe imitating an older style makes less sense than an older story being revised
Your statement at 20:11 The purpose of the Bible - to me - sometimes I feel many feel the reason or purpose of the Bible is to condemn others for their ways. For me God is love and the Bible I try to find reasons to love others. I really enjoy your works so far. Thanks
The last section of the Ketuvim seems out of place if you ask, as if whoever was responsible with sorting out the orders of the books didn't have time to properly order it out. Personally I like it sort it in a based on the events in the book chronically, with Chronicles at the start, Daniel in the middle and Ezra-Nehemiah at the end. But that's just me.
UPDATE: A summary chart is now available: usefulcharts.com/collections/religion/products/timeline-of-the-bible
Complete Series:
1. Torah - ua-cam.com/video/NY-l0X7yGY0/v-deo.html
2. Prophets - ua-cam.com/video/IAIiLSMOg3Q/v-deo.html
3. Writings - ua-cam.com/video/Oto0UvG6aVs/v-deo.html
4. Apocrypha - ua-cam.com/video/HYlZk4Hv-E8/v-deo.html
5. Gospels & Acts - ua-cam.com/video/Z6PrrnhAKFQ/v-deo.html
6. Epistles - ua-cam.com/video/2UMlUmlmMlo/v-deo.html
7. Daniel & Revelation - ua-cam.com/video/fTURdV0c9J0/v-deo.html
8: Summary Chart - ua-cam.com/video/9uIXzUEwrOg/v-deo.html
Sir I sincerely thank you for making this video because it helps me to understand who wrote the Bible thank you God Bless
Simon Abney Hastings Baggagagagagahhahahahahahha
Fun fact about Esther: like a lot of literature relegated to the Deuterocanon (except for Maccabees), Esther was probably originally performed as a play after theatre was introduced by the Greeks- meaning that the way we read it aloud today, with audience participation, has probably changed very little from its original use!
Hot tip: Subscribe to Sam's channel if you're interested in learning more about Jewish history.
according to the kabbalistic writings evry time in the scroll appears name כהת OR התך - those are mentions of Daniel the Prophet . Regarding Greeks - the Ari's synagogue has a stage in the middle ( not like Ashkenazim) - like in a church.Reminds of an Amphitheater
@@Mango-webIl Oh, archeologists have found ticket stubs from Jerusalem's theatre in the Second Temple Period!
@@SamAronow ticket stubs? That sounds anachronistic 😅😂
How do we read Esther out loud today? 🤔
This is my favorite thing on the internet right now.
If by the end of this series, which is awesome BTW, you manage to fit most of the graphs into an organized poster chart... I'd definitively would buy. And hopefully others are interested as well.
Awesome work man!
Absolutely, you could count on me! But it would have to be a huge poster.
Do you have a large enough wall?
That's what she said
As a Christian pastor, I just want to say that I'm loving this series so far!
A bit curious as to how you may feel come October, 10th. 😉
@@sam21462 what happens on October 10th?
@@maguffle - That's when his video on The Gospels is scheduled to come out.
@@sam21462 I look forward to it!
@@maguffle
I think Sam M was referring to the fact that we don't know who wrote any of the Gospels, that Matthew and Luke plagiarised great swathes of Mark verbatim and that only some of Paul's work is considered authentic. Finally, that we know what we posses now is not how the originals were as there's been multiple redaction and interpolation through the millennia.
This series continues to be very interesting! In college (a Catholic college) I took a course on the New Testament that reviewed and went over the literary/publication history in much the same way as you've been covering here, so it's very cool to get a similar overview of the history around the writing of the Old Testament as well. :)
💖
I would love a whole series about how ancient stories relate to each other and are based off each other. I remember reading somewhere that there are some stories that appear to have travelled around the whole world tens of thousands of years ago. One example is the story of a man or group of men going into a cave disguised as animals to fight or steal from a god or monster. Most people recognize it from the story of the Greeks fighting the Cyclops, but there are versions of this story even in Native American culture! And scholars don't think it's mere coincidence, because they can actually trace the changes in the story as they follow the versions around the world.
Can't wait for the next episode...having been brought up a Jehovah's Witness I've learnt more from your channel about the bible than I did in a lifetime of meetings. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for my next poster.
Not surprised given JWs, as a cult, rely deeply on a lack of critical thinking.
You might want to study the history of Rev. Charles Taze Russel and the origin of the JW.
Another theory I've heard about Job is that the author intentionally imitated an early written Hebrew style to make the story appear ancient thus more important. For a modern example, see The Book of Mormon.
Except that the Book of Mormon was produced by a country farm boy with basically no education, let alone knowledge of ancient languages.
@@urubu715 I said "style", not "language". He certainly had a book with the antiquated English style he wrote the book in as he included quotes from it.
LOL
He was able to match the style but use the word wherefore correctly definitely not he thinks wherefore is a synonym for where and not a synonym for why a good way to think about it is wherefore is asking where is the for so basically asking why although I haven’t read the Book of Mormon I have read the book of Moses and the book of Abraham and although they’re interesting, they still have that Joseph Smith quality to them where they have annoying retroactive rewriting of things to make it more Christian and I don’t know if it’ll ever come to pass that I’ll read the Book of Mormon because of that although I would like to some of it, if there’s any books that are interesting on their own merit, same thing with the Quran if there are any stories in it that are worth reading I would also read those too, but that doesn’t mean I believe it
@@Maxinestabile At least he knew how to punctuate the end of sentences.
I am Catholic Christian, my husband graduated in Catholic theology and I enjoy your explanations concerning the Bible, God's holy Word. I also admire the respect with which you approach the New Testament and the Christian doctrine.
6:31 "Well, I suppose that's one way to look at things." Ah, the restraint in the man's voice. Admirable. 👏🏻
Forgive me for raining confetti on you. You are amazing. Rigorously scientic, honest, respectful work, and faithful yourself. I am green... Thank you.
I can't multitask when watching your videos. I always have to pay attention because it's just super interesting information. On my watch after work list. ☺️
The bit at the end about how the historical accuracy doesn't matter is solid. Keep up the good work man!
@Kack Jelly Why historical accuracy doesn't matter?
@@hamzazulfiThe goal of religious texts is not to describe an accurate history, but to present a religious narrative. Telling people how they should act, what they should believe about the world, how they fit in to their religious community.
@@jack_corvinus If they are anonymous for the most part then how can we trust their religious narrative?
@@hamzazulfi Because why does the name of someone matter? A true statement is true regardless of who said it.
@@ObjectsInMotion Not only the name but the character of the person also matters.
If I am unaware who the person is, I would also be unaware of his beliefs, his motivations and his care for conveying the right information.
Very much looking forward to episode 4! Learning about the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals was what really set off my interest in the history of the Bible!
I've listened to either of the two previous episodes every night or morning for the past couple of days. Can't get enough of the bible nor your voice
When I was in college (more years ago than I like to think about), we were assigned the book of Job as a literature assignment.
The lecture about this work emphasized that Job was known to be the first book written.
:O
This series is great, very much looking forward to the rest of it! As someone who has worked a lot with Homeric Epic, which has its own fair share of difficulties regarding author and date, I´m fascinated by the way you manage to lay all of that out so clearly!
I just wanted to come here to a most recent video to tell you: Your channel is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for your work. It is truly incredible. The way you present, the way you explain, the words you choose, how clear it is made, reliance on facts. Thanks for that, and i hope you keep doing it.
Excellent video. This is my favorite series on YT right now.
As a Christian, your answer on the question about the historicality of the books was pretty enlightening!
I think I'm gonna use that answer now.
Thank you for posting these series. I was always taught that the bible was the word of God and completely historical. But knowing how governments/Kings are and the embellishments people make today it only makes sense that some poetic licensing took place. Especially since they were verbally passed down before they were written. The part that hit me the most is when you said the people in that time were more concerned with the point of the message then the exact details of what happen. I wish we were more like that now.
These videos are extremely fascinating. Thank you very much for your work, Matt!
Agreed ... very interesting and informative work.
I cannot wait to watch the next episode. I have wanted to read the apocrypha for a long time, see which books they were, and why they were left out of the Bible. Biblical history is just fascinating to me.
Same, I'm on a bit of a Biblical scholarship kick lately! I think the apocrypha he is covering next are only the Jewish/Protestant apocrypha, or the Catholic Deuterocanonical books. There are some texts that do not appear in any Bible as we understand it, such as the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Thomas, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (two different authors, very different content), the Book of Enoch, and the Book of Jubilees. Those last two are really where we get the idea of fallen angels from; no such concept appears within the Bible itself, only later Christian literature, including the misapplication of the names Satan and Lucifer to the "original fallen angel" character. Enoch was likely written after the Babylonian exile, due to the Zoroastrian influence
They have not been left out of the Bible. For the majority of Christians (Catholics and Orthodox - 1.5 billion people) these books are part of the Bible. They were considered part of the Christian Bible by all Christians for the first 1500 years of Christianity.
You could always just purchase a catholic bible... for the life of me I could never understand why Martin Luther chopped out 7 books if he wanted people to go sola scriptura... if you're going to drive a car, you need all 4 wheels, not just 3 🤷♀also, dont get a KJV, it's missing 7 books also 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ a proper catholic bible will have both nihil obstat and imprimatur marks (nothing obstructs, and go ahead and print it) meaning everything should be in the right places... I could also never understand why Martin Luther hated free will so badly that he said "Mine body is just an ASS that Got rides! Mein body is just an ASS the devil rides!"
Thanks
Perfect timing! So happy 😁
I was just thinking when the series would continue and I immediately received the notification
Brilliant stuff.
This has been fascinating. Thank you.
Really looking forward to the new testament as a comparator to the old in how it's been constructed and evolved.
I'm also really impressed how you separate faith and fact in history. Excellent stuff. I hope it instills healthy and mutual debate and discussion between all of us.
I never knew the legend of Korra was biblical.
lmao
The book containing the fire nation attack in the Aang era is unfortunately lost to time!
Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked…. Just a plausible as some of these stories and at least we know the authors and when exactly they were written… :/
Korakh
you just made me laugh so hard hahahaha
Thanks!
The rest of the Bible: 😇
Song of Solomon: 😏
Best comment
@BrooklynBorn 83 theres a line in hebrew that if recite is "Muhammadin"
@@MonsieurMaskedMan Solomon: “What you doing?”
Muhammad: “Oh you know, just Muhammadin’ around”
חִכּוֹ֙ מַֽמְתַקִּ֔ים וְכֻלּ֖וֹ מַחֲמַדִּ֑ים זֶ֤ה דוֹדִי֙ וְזֶ֣ה רֵעִ֔י בְּנ֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם
The most sweet is his mouth altogether this is my friend muhammad (the most praised/lovely), O The Daughters of Jerusalem
@@Wertsir Muhammadin'
¡Gracias!
I have found this series absolutely fascinating! I also believe that the Bible isn't meant to be taken word for word, but to be used as a tool to help you live a better more religious life in tune with God. Great job, Matt!
Love watching your work. Nice touch - using the "Yardbirds" song. Like your background. I studied the Bible for many years and have read the Torah and Quran. Took a class titled, "Bible as Literature." Was in Graduate School at a Catholic University in Pittsburgh. I "argued" the same things. Each religion grew out of the one before it. You do a good job at explaining.
Great videos. I've always curious about the origin of the Bible. I loved the way in wich you present them. I'll wait anxiously the next episodes.
Superb lectures. I am in awe of Matt Baker's work.
It should be mentioned that in Hebrew, "Song of Solomon" is actually called "(the) Song of Song" (shir ha-shirim).
No one asked, but same in Polish: Pieśń nad Pieśniami
In Thai is still called "Song of Solomon" (เพลงโซโลมอน)
True. I’ve seen many English translations that now call it the “Song of Songs.”
In English I’ve seen it in both ways many times I honestly don’t know what to call it. It’s a weird language🤷♂️
In Malay/Indonesian its "Kidung Agung". "Kidung" means song/poem and "Agung" means great/grand/glorious.
Thanks for the research or investigation you did to provide us the best information. God bless you.
Thank you Matt for your videos and knowledge. I’ve been going through a rough time and your videos were the only thing I could focus on. Keep on sharing💪🏼
secular biblical studies are way better than defending monarchies on the internet, great content
I love these in depth videos, they really give an alternative side to religion and how it developed
Wow, you seem to be an extremely reasonable person. Thanks for your clarity and thoughtfulness.
Thank you so much for these videos, I really learn a lot and really enjoy your style / layouts of charts.
Can I suggest a future project to you, Matt? How about a narrated chart of all the (major) christian schisms. Arianism, eastern ortho, latin / catholicism, ... lutheran etc. When they happened and why. Who the major players were. Historical context. Political agendas. Major supporters / followers at that time.
Thank you for a wonderful series. It's such a relief to find a channel presenting well reasoned, rational arguments and explantions and not fundamentalist claptrap. More strength to you. (But you may want to give your channel a new title to reflect its awesomeness)
Love this series
Love your charts and your summation of the books of the bible and their historical timelines.
Totally engrossing and informative.
As a non believer/Athiest it's great to see how the development of god/s grew with the cultural development of each civilization.
Humans trying to make the best sense of the world prior to the scientific method being developed in the last 400 years.
The version of Esther included in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles does mention God
This is the hebrew bible
It's bound to be edited in translation
It's in Greek Esther, which is part of the Deuterocanonical Books. It is a retelling of the Book of Esther in Greek, with some differences. Like Mordecai's prayer which, of course, mentions God. Esther also mentions God in her plea before the Persian King.
I did a quick check and the Roman Catholic book of Esther contains references to God but those verses do not exist in the Hebrew bible. The question is, did the Roman Catholic church add to, or did the Hebrew scholars take away from?
@@gomezjkv there were multiple versions of the book floating around in the ancient world. The most popular Hebrew one was shorter than the most popular Greek one. The Greek one was included in the Septuagint which was the Greek translation of the jewish scriptures. Most early Christians opted to use the Septuagint because within a few generations of the apostles they were more likely to speak Greek than Hebrew and also most of the new testament quotes of the old testament align with the septuagint's translation. It's also noteworthy that Esther's status as scripture was somewhat rocky for the early post temple Jews. Although the general outline of the Hebrew bible was probably settled around 200 bc, the exact edges continued to be debated including Esther. Its one of the few books of the hebrew bible with no fragments among the dead sea scrolls and there is evidence of rabbis who disputed its scriptural status in the mishnah in the late 100's ad. It also is one of the books of the old testament that you cant really argue is even referenced, never mind quoted in the new testament.
When the protestant reformation came along they chose to use the hebrew bible as their old testament instead of the something based on the septuagint. They pointed to the assumption that this was probably the bible that Jesus used (although this correct in broad outlines, the exact bounds probably were not set and probably wasnt as much of a concern until later). They also pointed to a few Church fathers most notably St Jerome who translated the Bible around the same time the most diffinitive ancient councils settled it in the western Church (council of Rome and Carthage defined the bounds of Catholic scripture in the late 300's), but St Jerome advocated for using the Hebrew bible as the old testament instead of the majority view of the councils. Eastern Orthodox Churches use even larger old testaments because there were multiple versions of the septuagint floating around.
Long story short neither added or took away, but through a long organic process chose two different already existing versions
Wonderful series! I can’t wait for the next episode. The narration is clear and spell-binding; the charts are beautiful and clear. There is so much content here that I had no idea about. Thank you so much!
Hey Matt, I'm really enjoying these videos. Keep up the good work!
amazing series, it's good to know precisely how these, often beutiful, writings came into being
As a person who once was chritian and religious I still love the stories of religions. I love to learn about everyone's perspective on religions, its the stories that help us grow and become better. I personally don't think a person needs a religion to define their position or philosophies of life. But do find religion has a purpose in helping people cope with life and death. My parents are extremely religious and I'm glad they accept my religion even though it goes 100 percent against what they believe but that's just it, it's all belief and faith and as you said should be the key take away. I respect and love everyone's religions. Can't wait for the next video.
Pray tell what is your religion
@@TheMagnificentGman I'm a non theistic satanist. Meaning I don't worship Satan or believe in Satan. I just follow the philosophy and principals of satanism. I'm a member of the satanic temple just as in Christianity and most religions satanism has many branches and different methods of practice there is also satanic Buddhism which kinda blows my mind as a concept.
@@Exziotas the philosophy of satanism is do what thou wilt correct?
Do what thou wilt is from the order of thelema something aleister crowley was part of. The books he wrote are very interesting and good. They help give an insight to better understanding the psychology of the occult. I was in college for psychiatry and the first course they had me take was about religions and different philosophies. In satanism its indulgence over abstinence. But understanding that indulging to much can cause a negative affect mentally and physically
@@Exziotas interesting
Thank you for this video. I love the way you say your opinions and the facts separately. Keep it going, please!
These videos have been absolutely amazing. I've been grappling with ideas about Judaism, especially the value and meaning of rituals and historically important Jewish texts in my life. It has really helped me hearing from another Jew who is also looking at the Tanakh as a series of intertextually connected volumes. The Christian bible has always reminded me of the 7 Kings of Rome, and perhaps, in the same way as this myth was important to Romans in preserving cultural and civic history as well as the Roman identity, so too was the Tanakh important in preserving the Jewish identity and it's history.
Loving the research and ex-libation. I have never learned so much about such a pivotal book. Thank you.
This series is terrific! Thank you.
Wonderful, very informative and non-biased information in your videos! Thanks!~
Whenever Pete Seeger sang “Turn, Turn, Turn” ( whose music and chorus he wrote, changing bits to rhyme) he would introduce it as a song written by a fellow named Ecclesiastes.
it is great to see the information in a way that is easy to understand
Wonderful informative vid. Hadn't watched yet as it was uploaded 24 seconds ago, but I bet its wonderful and informative.
I just finished watching. It is! Lol
Considering the many conquerors of the Levant; the disporas, the wars, persecutions, changes to religion of the land... it is quite miraculous how resilient the people are holding to their beliefs. 🙏🏽 😌 Shalom!
that is why they never formed any opposing sects, isn't it? /s
I love this series! Are you only doing Jewish apocrypha, or will you also cover Christian ones later? I'd love to hear if we know anything on the authors of the Nag Hammadi texts
Hello i am so captive for all the information i am hearing about religion and how you are developing all the story behind of it. I am amazed for all the videos until here i am watching since i was looking for information. I want to thank you for the Tremendous investigation and for the interesting way to do narrative and for all what you must do to post every video. lot of work that you must do! Speachless
These are powerful, amazing and impartial videos with a huge learning opportunity for anyone. It would be great to do a comparison chart between shared stories of Torah, Bible and Quran - it’s a PhD project but I am sure you can make a whole series out of it
First of all, you are a nice person, Mark.
Second, when I was in Egypt, I was impressed that the stories of the Egyptian mythology closely corresponded to the Judeau/Christian bible. I think the ancients heavily borrowed from both Egypt and the Fertile Crescent in developing their stories and mythology. Th one thing about the Old Testament is that it does provide us with a history of the ancient Judaic peoples. Thanks for giving it a chronology.
Fun fact about the flood myths of Mesopotamia, they only start showing up in texts during the Old Babylonian Period, according to Yi Samuel Chen's work on this. The copy of the Sumerian King list written before this doesn't contain the flood, but the one after does, and this goes for many other narratives as well. The Old Babylonian Period follows the Ur III Period, an era known for Kings calling themselves gods.
This next part is based on faith more than history, but Islamic Belief holds that Abraham went up against a self-deified King (the name Nimrud is not found in the Quraj and is a based on early scholars researching the Bible for supplementary information)
Thus, If Abraham came during the Ur III period, then he would maybe have been the source of the Mesopotamian flood traditions, with the mesopotamus incorporating his teachings into their mythology or even their pre-existing flood myths, we should explain the similarities between the abrahamic flood stories and the Mesopotamian ones.
Of course, other Faith traditions and ideologies would probably see this differently
And logic would tell us that people who lived by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers needed no impetus whatsoever in the creation of flood myths. They experienced floods all the time. It would be more surprising if flood myths were never recorded.
VERY WELL SAID! Excellently done! Congrats!
The book of Job (ayub) is always interesting for me because we all can literally relate to the story
Honestly tho, I read the book as a Muslim, its an amazing and somewhat relatable point of view.
I have once learned that the Book of Job has had several editing steps and transformations throughout history, and the Book of Job consists of several layers. The oldest part of which, the core story, is the five chapters (Job's opening speech 3, conversations 4-27, the true wisdom 28, Job's closing speech 29-31, and Elihu's monologue 32-37) about the conversation between Job and his brothers / friends. This oldest section is presumably of Babylonian origin and was written after the Babylonian exile.
The frame-story of the book, the youngest part of the structure, is written in the form of a Greek play in the time of the Maccabees or the Second Temple or Herod the Great (maybe written at the same time as the pseudo-epigraphical Fourth Book of Estras and the Book of Enoch) because the frame-story (1:1-2:16 and 38:1-42:17) of the book mentions non-original angels and Satan that aren't part of original pre-Babylonian Judaism but of the later influence of Persian Zoroastrianism, from which dualism and the concept of evil are borrowed for Judaism and Christianity just shortly before the time of Jesus.
Useful. Some new targets once my time machine is up and running.
What's the power core, Unobtanium? 🥴
Very interesting. Good research is always worthful and rare. This is a good starting point even though many things will be seen different in future.
This reminds me of a movie - Nothing is real, Everything is shot out of order and, if you stay to watch the creditrs at the end, you'll see that a LOT of people are involved. Excellent stuff.
Excellent !
Although I come from a Muslim background, I started to learn about the origin of Judaism and Christianity since high school, initially just to pinpoint the evidences of corrupted scriptures. But after years of studying, I just found out that Jewish scriptures are merely the products of a Canaanite subgroup known as ancient Israelites who are not really living like some sort of modern montheists. They keep progressing just like some indigenous tribes in every corner of the world with their own tradition and belief. Thus the one God of Islam and Christianity as in Monotheism or Abrahamic Religions are nothing but the Canaanite/Israelite/Midianite gods merged together to become one. Islam and Christianity just come after the ancient Israelites become Jews who set up their own Judaism. Thus there is no such thing as original Tawrah or Zabur to begin with. If ancient Judaism were all about Greek mythology, maybe we would hear different things in alternative world of Islam and Christianity.
I am Jewish and I agree with you completely.
Israelite nation is very different from other nations of word,it actually seems that the are the chosen one's
And current research suggests that Judaism is a blend of Egyptian monotheistic thought from the era of Akhenaten (Moses) (Northern Israel) with Sumerian monotheistic thought and creation history (Abraham) (Southern Judaism).
@@allangibson8494 no, i am saying this much fascinating and weird stuff about religion,god ,etc,is different from other nations
Well said. Judaism was a monolatristic religion at the start and Yahweh was basically the Levantine deity of storms, war, and metallurgy. Over time he began to take on the aspects of his brother Baal, father El, and El’s consort Asherah.
It’s no wonder the Old Testament is all about the Jews conquering their neighboring lands, since they had a war deity at their back.
Thanks for this. I'll be starting with the beginning and watching the full series.
I'm longing for your video on Deuterocanonical books, to be honest I thought you weren't going to make one about them, as is my perception that most times those books are overlooked by Jewish and protestant views.
I remember to have made a school essay on Judith well into my last teen years and discover to my surprise -I was raised catholic, even almost enter to the seminary- that a book I liked so much wasn't considered a "true" biblical book by the Masoretic tradition. Just the other day I said jokingly to a Jewish friend, who asked me if I would convert to Judaism, something in the lines of "I can't take seriously a religion that considers Miss Persia (Esther) canon but not the wisdom of the Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)". Anyway, I'm not specially religious, but I like to read and study about the Bible, and I like your videos so much.
18:43. Great point!. That's not only applied to Bible but also Quran and other religions' books as well. And the one who compiled all the books to publish what we all have today is no other than God Himself. Everyone reading and understanding their own holy books bringing them to the same God and same life purpose. That's why we need to keep finding our similarities not the differences.
Currently going through Joshua Bowen's book! They recently released it on audiobook!
Isn't he behind the "Digital Hamurabi" channel? I probably should look at that book some day...
@@Ugly_German_Truths Yup
I have to give you a ton of respect for your belief and your foundation of it. I see many religious people trying to alter scientific facts in many fields like history, but you stay true to reality and the subject and even find meaning in life through your passion for it. I am still curious why exactly you decide to hold up the beliefs you do, but I don't want to debate you on them as you are doing great working in educating the public about religion, which is to this day one of society. Have a good one
10:30 - Job is actualy mentioned and connected to the lineages. He is a descendant if Issachar. (Gen.46.13)
from England with love: I am so looking forward to the next episode !
imagine being a writer of explicit poetry 2500 years ago trying to popularize your smut by saying Solomon wrote it only to find out your book made the cut for the most well known religious text in the world…
Safe to say that gambit paid dividends.
Very innovative and technical prowess👏🏻
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion
Confession: I love Boney M. songs.
damn, I remember my father used to play this song when I was kid
@@UsefulCharts same fam, stay safe
Funny how Boney M didn't get to the "O daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery" bit. Maybe their tongues had cloven to the roofs of their mouths.
@@nendwr Lots of people also like to leave out the "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." bit.
Having been raised evangelical Christian and learning Esther as a very serious, very dramatic historical book, it blows my mind to hear that it was comedic! I thought nothing could surprise me anymore.
Very interested about Daniel being partly written in Aramaic. That's as if Hamlet started in English, changed to Danish, and got back to English again at the end. Looking forward to that episode.
More like a text in Old English that strays into French or Latin every now and again.
This series is one of the best on UA-cam
UsefulCharts, can you please make a video on Confucius's family tree. Thank you very much.
Very useful overview and context.
As a middle-eastern Christian I am autoigniting :’D
What ethnic group do you belong to ?
He is a convert to Rabbinical teaching watch out !
@@abc_cba Maronite Syriac Church. It is one the 23 Churches of the East which are in communion with the Catholic Church.
Our patron Saint is Mar Maroun. Our liturgical language is Syriac, a descendant of an Aramaic Eastern dialect.
We were an independent Church of the East until the XI century when we entered in contact with Rome.
@@drea7295 not at all.
@@alfredthepatientxcvi Ah, Maronites ? I know about your church's history and how you guys battled our with the Druze and then the Ottomans.
I've been reading about the situation in Lebanon being horrible financially, is Hezbollah to blame for it?
Grew up Christian and studied the Bible in depth with a variety of people (seminary students, pastors, Jewish folk of varying ages, self proclaimed mystics and Hebrews) then became Muslim after my studies. I am still fascinated with the Bible I grew up with and I have learned even more on your channel. A lot of information confirmed (as I studied on my own), but theres also so much new stuff. I delve shallow into Egyptology and a little deeper into Assyriology in conjunction with my Biblical studies... but I would like to deep dive Egyptology next. Learning is endless in this life Mashallah.
Also just as a Muslim I understand your point that there is no archeological evidence to support there being original "texts" of the 4 books you mentioned. Often times we do not believe they were written down... for example if Moses really wrote down a Torah at all... we would have to assume Phonetics had even been developed at that point in time. Knowing Moses grew up essentially as royalty in Egypt, he have would have likely spoken Kemetic languages, Arabic, whatever Semitic language the majority of the Levites/Hebrew people in captivity used, and possibly language used in trade around the Levant (maybe Phoenician or Aramaic???), but not sure if all of these had developed into the phonetic representation of the written languages we have today. If you have any insight into this I would love to hear it as well.
Oh and one more bit of logic would be if Moses had a revelation from God that he physically wrote down... Idk who was able to read that other than him and Aaron. According the Tanakh he had Midianites (Arabs) and Hebrew slaves with him all of whom probably did not read and I wouldnt think in the same language either. I realize there are arguments in all of this as well, but these were just my thoughts in studying the Bible.
Absolutely cannot wait for the apocrypha, they're more interesting than that bible IMO plus there's an air of mystery and intrigue surrounding them
The mystery isn't really all that mysterious, as the historical line is pretty easy to follow and stems from a single fact they all share but none of the rest of the Old Testament does: they were originally written in Greek, not Hebrew. They were similarly popular to other more recent and literary books of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in Jewish communities throughout the Roman World, and the story of Maccabees is actually pretty important to the Jews even today, being the basis for Hanukkah. But the fact that they were written in Greek would greatly affect how they were preserved through history.
When early Christians started collecting and codifying the Bible, the entire new testament was already originally written in Koine Greek (a fairly simplistic dialect of Greek used throughout the Roman world), with decent translations into Latin readily available, so they had no problem including these other Greek-language works of Jewish literature alongside the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, and thus they were still included tagged on to the end of the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate editions when the Chalcedonian churches (ie the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, but NOT the Oriental Orthodox churches, who schismed from the Chalcedonians either before or during the Council of Chalcedon, long before any of them started worrying about "canon" and thus have entirely different lists of deuterocanonical/apocryphal books they include in their Bibles) established their canon in various councils (There was actually very little debate among Chalcedonian Chrisitians at the time about the Old testament, with far more debate focused on whether to include The Letter to the Hebrews and/or Revelation in the New Testament).
But being originally written in Greek, the Deuterocanon were left out of medieval rabbinical canons of the Hebrew Bible, because it was, well, the HEBREW Bible and it was hard enough teaching every jew in the diaspora to learn one language they didn't use in their daily lives, let alone learn a second one without the same inherent religious significance that Hebrew has. So when Martin Luther decided to look at the Hebrew Bible for guidance on how best to translate the Bible into German, and not knowing the full history of the books, he was scandalized to discover that the Church had mysteriously "added" these books to the Hebrew Bible (before said canon of the Hebrew Bible was even firmly established, but Luther didn't know that). And since they're honestly pretty minor books it doesn't really make that much of a difference to be honest (except Maccabees, again, because the Festival of Lights/Hanukkah).
Ultimately, all of these individual books were just that--separate books--for large periods of history, and it was only in the LATE classical and medieval period that people really started worrying about an official canon, which was plenty of time for different communities to come to different conclusions as to what books were important and which were just books.
@@IONATVS At least two of the deuterocanonical books - Sirach and 1 Maccabees were originally composed in Hebrew - as probably was Judith. These books were accepted as authoritative by Greek speaking Jews (thus their inclusion in the Septuagint in the first place - which is a translation made by Jews not Christians). The Septuagint was the version of the “Hebrew” scriptures quoted in the the New Testament (rather than the Hebrew version - and there are slight differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions in some passages - most notably ‘a virgin shall conceive’). There was never any doubt about their canonical status until the reformation. There is at least one significant theological practice explicitly supported in these books, that is praying for the dead, that is rejected by most protestants as it is not explicitly countenanced in other books of the Bible.
@@willx9352 I had always been told the originals of all the Deuterocanon were in Greek, and would've thought for certain that Maccabees would be included in the modern Hebrew Bible if a Hebrew version had existed, given its importance to Hanukkah.
In any case, yeah, until Luther decided they shouldn't be there, there really was no debate about the deuterocanon in Christendom--they were by no means the most important books in the old testament, but deserved to be there just as much as other minor books. And given that there are also several lines in the Gospels and other New Testament books that casually mention Jesus celebrating the Festival of Lights (ie Hanukkah) or where the speakers or authors seem to be deliberately alluding to or quoting from deuterocanonical stories--even in quotes directly attributed to Jesus--which alone is grounds for their inclusion in my opinion, even if you think them more "literary" than "scriptural" (which, again, is a pretty ahistorical view given it was considered scriptural at least in Greek-speaking Jewish community at the time of Jesus).
@@IONATVS The fact that some of the Deuterocanonical books were originally composed in Hebrew (and some are thought to be composed in Aramaic - as was the core of the Book of Daniel that was composed in Aramaic not Hebrew) is well accepted scholarship and acknowledged in the notes to NRSV. Greek speaking Jews (ie mostly living in the Roman Empire) accepted the Septuagint as authoritative. Aramaic speaking Jews (living in Palestine, Syria which were part of the Roman Empire ) and living outside the Roman Empire did not accept these books as authoritative. This was not really an issue in the Jewish world until after the destruction of the temple and the need for the Jews to adapt to this situation (and possibly to the influence of Christianity). Given that the major Rabbinical schools and Jewish scholarship were in the Aramaic speaking parts of the Jewish world, it is not surprising that the weight of Jewish scholarship was to exclude these books. The point remains that many Jews and all of the early Christians saw these books as authoritative.
@@willx9352 I dont think there is anything contradictory in these writings compared to the ;main' NT and OT, there may be less scope for inspiration and teaching out of them , possibly do they less prophercy the arrival of messiah salvation in Christ ? They are on my to read list though, as the cover the time of the second temple ?
I am salivating in tortuous anticipation for the rest of the episodes! I wish I had your self discipline. The walls of my house are full of art already so I'm thinking I may need to build in my front porch to fit your posters 😆😆
I’m soooo earlyyyyy, HI USEFULCHARTSS 🤩
I am a total atheist but I have very much enjoyed and appreciated your series of lectures.
OMG- Did the question about why you converted to Judaism come from the REAL King Of England? THE notorious Simon Abney-Hastings?
This series is so good, fantastic work!
I was under the impression Job was the oldest book of the Bible
Only because Job is an Abraham-like tent dwelling shepherd. There are no Kings nor Jidges in Job. So the argument of its age comes from comparing with other OT stories, not from linguistic, theological or literary clues.
@@idjles Wrong. Job has been placed as the oldest book based on liturgical and linguistic clues, at least part of it. A read of it makes it pretty clear that there are 2 or 3 writers to it. The style shifts so wildly and the point being made is altered within the parts that are likely the newer parts that it becomes fairly clear that it has multiple authors.
There are mentions of things that only someone from a much older era would know about and talk about in the way it is talked of in there. And it has specific rythms and such that are more in line with an older period. So it has been placed as the one of, if not the oldest, books/stories in the bible.
Depends on if you consider the oral histories that predated the Bible as part of the age of a book.
@@matthewkreps3352 Why wouldn't you?
@@Durakken I wouldn't because things change through oral tradition but copy errors are less frequent. That said I've never heard of any 3500 year old paper being discovered in the area, but a scribe imitating an older style makes less sense than an older story being revised
Your statement at 20:11 The purpose of the Bible - to me - sometimes I feel many feel the reason or purpose of the Bible is to condemn others for their ways. For me God is love and the Bible I try to find reasons to love others. I really enjoy your works so far. Thanks
The last section of the Ketuvim seems out of place if you ask, as if whoever was responsible with sorting out the orders of the books didn't have time to properly order it out. Personally I like it sort it in a based on the events in the book chronically, with Chronicles at the start, Daniel in the middle and Ezra-Nehemiah at the end. But that's just me.
I have read the bible in approx order of when the events were set in, and their is a 'bible in order' which does that.
I love all these videos and believe that you could easily do a hundred more and I would watch them all.