Daniel 9:24-27 contains a prophecy given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel about when the Messiah would come. It counts off a specific number of years from the start of the restoration of Jerusalem after the exile. This implies the messiah comes sometime in the 1st century AD. For someone that believes in the Tanak but doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, they must look at 1st-century Jerusalem and find another figure that matches the description of this prophecy.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Bible History
The history surrounding the construction of the bible
Authorship of Books in the Bible
Who wrote the bible? Did the bible copy from pagan myths? Are there alterations? Why should we trust it? How was it constructed? Can we trust it as a historical book? This is an exploration of how some of the books in the bible were possibly compiled based on literary design and a little comparison with other legends.
Continue reading1st Century Roman Marriage Law
In Roman law of the 1st century, it was illegal for a man or woman to not be married between the ages of 25-60 (for men) and 20-50 (for women). So for the Romans celibacy was a crime, and there were restrictions on those who were celibate, this is one of the many issues that put Christians at odds with the Roman empire. Especially Paul, because he was celibate and encouraged (but did not require) celibacy in 1 Corinthians 7.
Continue readingBible Apocrypha
Are there other books of the bible besides the 66 canonical ones? There are various groups of non-canon books all with different classifications. Today we are going to talk about the Bible Apocrypha. Apocrypha is a term for works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin.
Continue readingMasoretic vs Septuagint
There are two versions of the old testament, a Greek version, and a Hebrew version. The Masoretic Text is written in Hebrew and is dated to around 900-1100 AD. On the other side, there is the Septuagint (aka the LXX) which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament that goes back before the time of Jesus to around 300 BC. The Masoretic Text preserved the Hebrew since, for the layman Jews, spoken Hebrew had faded out of use by then and had been replaced by the Aramaic spoken by the empires that ruled Israel since Babylonian Exile. Some suspect that Jews tampered with the Masoretic Text to cover up messianic prophecies (like Psalms 22:16). While others suspect that this Septuagint was corrupted by Jews that adopted Greek philosophy and altered the meanings of certain scriptures. Then are those that see value in both and recognize that when one has errors the other offers a solution.
Continue reading