Jewish Bible

The Jewish Study Bible (or JSB for short), English translation of Jewish Scripture, was prepared by The Jewish Publication Society and was published by Oxford University Press.  As expected it has only Old Testament books, arranged in three divisions: Torah (the Law), the Prophets (Nevi’im) and the Writings (Kethuvim). Tanakh, Jewish designation of their Scripture is the acronym of these three divisions.

The Law comprises five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  The Prophets or Nevi’im is divided into two sub-groups: former and latter prophets.  Former prophets have Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings.  Traditionally the two books of Samuel and Kings are combined into one.  The latter prophets comprise Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets (from Hosea to Malachi in one book).  The third division, Kethuvim, begins with Psalms, Proverbs and Job, followed by the Scrolls (or the Five Megillot): The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther; and ends with historical books (Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles).  Ezra and Nehemiah are traditionally combined into one book; and the same applies to 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles.  Total number of books is twenty four, if we combined all the above mentioned books or twenty eight, if we don’t.  They are equal, with different arrangement of books, to Protestant’s Old Testament. Catholic’s and Eastern Orthodox’ Old Testament has more books, known as apocryphal books to Protestants.

Genesis 3:15 of JSB reads (underlined emphasis added):

I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your offspring and hers;

They shall strike at your head,

And you shall strike at their heel.

Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament does not use third person plural but singular masculine (he and his).  Older Catholic translation, based on Vulgate, used third person singular feminine.  The last two lines of the same verse in KJV read (underlines emphasis added): it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (the reason is the word seed or offspring in Hebrews has neuter gender).

According to Exodus 15:4 of JSB the Egyptians were drowned in Sea of Reeds (marshland in upper Nile delta); while according to most, if not all, Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament they were drowned in Red Sea, as according to Septuagint (or LXX) and quoted in Acts 7:36 and Hebrews 11:29. The famous prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 of JSB has young woman (Hebrews “almah”); while following Septuagint, most Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament has virgin (Greek “parthenos”).

The Orthodox Study Bible

I bought my copy of Orthodox Study Bible (OSB for short) recently. The main reason why I bought it is because its text of Old Testament is based on Septuagint or LXX.  All (English) Bibles I know have their Old Testaments translated from Hebrews text, known as Masoretic text.  Masoretic text is traditional Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible, meticulously assembled and codified, and supplied with diacritical marks to enable correct pronunciation. This monumental work was begun around the 6th century AD and completed in the 10th by scholars at Talmudic academies in Babylonia and Palestine, in an effort to reproduce, as far as possible, the original text of the Hebrew Old Testament (source: Encyclopaedia Britannica 2000).  While all Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testaments are translated from this Masoretic text, most Old Testament quotation in New Testament are taken from Septuagint. For example if we compare Hebrews 10:5-7 that quotes Psalms 40:6-7, Masoretic text has “thou hast given me an open ear” (RSV) while Hebrews 5:6 reads (RSV) “a body hast thou prepared for me”. Luke relied on LXX when he mentioned Cainan in Christ’ genealogy (Luke 3:36, compared with Genesis 11:12).  While it has been known to me for quite some time that Eastern Orthodox Church always uses LXX as its source of Old Testament, there is no English translation (to the best of my knowledge) until the publication of Orthodox Study Bible in June 2008.

The Old Testament of OSB has 49 books in four divisions: (1) five books of the Law, (2) eighteen books of history, (3) seven books of Wisdom and (4) nineteen books of prophecy.  Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testaments follow the same divisions (LXX groupings) with slightly different orders of books.  OSB has Job before Psalms and ends with Daniel, not Malachi. It has all Catholic’s deuterocanonical books (known as apocryphal books to Protestants) plus two more books from LXX: 1 Ezra (or 1 Esdras) and 3 Maccabees – both are apocryphal books to Catholics.  OSB Psalms has 151 chapters compared to 150 chapters of Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament. Epistle of Jeremiah is separated from Baruch (it is Baruch 6 in Catholic Bible).  Books with the name Ezra (or Esdras, in Greek) may confuse some.  1 Ezra or 1 Esdras in OSB is not in Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament.  2 Ezra or 2 Esdras in OSB is equal to Ezra in Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament.  In Catholic Vulgate Ezra is referred as 1 Esdras while 2 Esdras in Vulgate is Nehemiah in OSB, Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament. To make thing even more complicated there is also apocryphal 2 Esdras, which is not part of OSB, Catholic and Protestant’s Old Testament.

LXX	Vulgate	RSV	OSB
2 Esdras Ch. 1 – 10	1 Esdras	Ezra	2 Esdras
2 Esdras Ch. 11-23	2 Esdras	Nehemiah	Nehemiah
1 Esdras	3 Esdras (apocrypha)	1 Esdras (apocrypha)	1 Esdras
	4 Esdras (apocrypha)	2 Esdras (apocrypha)

OSB has short introduction to the (Eastern) Orthodox Church, who claims to have the fullness of New Testament faith.  The Catholic Church, of course, makes the same claim.  Only the Catholic and Orthodox Churches can claim apostolicity – they were founded by the apostles. According to the (Eastern) Orthodox Church it was the (Western) Catholic Church who broke away from orthodoxy (true faith) in 1054 AD. While there are numerous doctrinal, political, economic and cultural factors that contribute to separation, the two main factors are (1) primacy of bishop of Rome (or the Pope) and (2) the issue of “filioque” (Latin for “and the Son”) that the Catholic Church added to Nicene Creed (the Creed was formulated in ecumenical councils of Nicea in 325 AD and of Constantinople in 381 AD).

You shall not make for yourself a graven image

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear a dispute between the Alberta government and two Hutterite colonies whose members say their religious beliefs prevent them from carrying photo-bearing drivers’ licences. Members of the small colonies near Lethbridge, Alta.[Alberta], interpret the Second Commandment of the Old Testament – “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” – as meaning it’s a sin to be photographed. For years, Alberta allowed people with religious objections to carry special drivers’ licences without photographs. In 2003, the government changed the law, making photographs mandatory. The two colonies, supported by 14 other Hutterite communities in Alberta, sued the province and won. Last May, a 2-1 decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the trial court ruling that said forcing Hutterites to submit to photographs in order to obtain drivers’ licences, violated their constitutional right to religious freedom.

National Post, 30 November 2007

The Hutterites are one of Anabaptist Christians – they got their name from their leader, Jacob Hutter (tortured and burned as heretic in 1536).  Most of them now live in western part of Unites States of America and Canada.   Anabaptists, also known as Rebaptizer, was one movements of the sixteenth century Reformation.  Their most distinct tenet is adult Baptism, though they are known as pacifist and advocate separation of church and state. Keep in mind that not all Hutterites consider their photos as violation of first (Catholics consider “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” to belong to first commandment) Commandments of God (Exodus 20:2-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21).

If we only consider the phrase “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” by itself, it looks like they (the two Hutterite communities in Alberta) have a point.   A photo is image of living thing, in this case human, even it is two dimensional – after all the verse does not say it only forbids three-dimensional images.  A photo bears a person (or persons) likeness and Deuteronomy 5:8 says “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth“.   But from the Bible we know that God commanded Moses to make two gold cherubim (Exodus 25:18-20) and bronze serpent (Number 21:8-9).  Are they not likeness in heaven and on earth?  King Solomon decorated the Temple with cherubim made from olive word overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:23-28) and twelve likeness of oxen (1 Kings 7:25).  God through His written words cannot contradict Himself.  What is forbidden is worshipping them – in 2 Kings 18:4 king Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent Modes made because people had burned incense to it.  Well, do Catholics light candles and pray in front of statues?  

Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2132

After being healed from leprosy, Naaman told prophet Elisha: “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15) and “for henceforth your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord” (2 Kings 5:17).  But he also said: “In this matter may the Lord pardon your sevant; when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter” (2 Kings 5:18). Elisha did not tell Naaman to step down from his position in order to avoid bowing to Rimmon – the prophet response was: “Go in peace” (2 Kings 5:19).

Why God permits the use of images but forbids us to worship them, according to my opinion, is because our human nature.  We need something tangible and real to express or to channel our feelings.  Many of us keep photos of our loved ones either in our wallet or on our office desks.   Some of us express dislike to certain country or person by burning its flag or his/her effigy/photo.  We are angry if someone makes fun of photos of us or of our loved ones.  A man brings flowers (they must be real ones, not artificial flowers) to his wife or a girl he is dating.  Coming back to Naaman, he requested Elisha to let him take two mules’ burden of earth  (2 Kings 5:17).   What do you think he would do with it?