God’s Word for You

2 Chronicles 6:1-3 The canon

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, October 1, 2024

6:1 Then Solomon said, “The LORD said that he would dwell in deep darkness. 2 I have built you a majestic house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” 3 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing there.

First, Solomon calmed the people. The sudden descent of the cloud upon the city and into the temple surely frightened a lot of people, probably including the King’s own wife and little son Rehoboam. But he remembered a saying from the Holy Scriptures, that the Lord said that he made “darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky.” This comes from 2 Samuel 22:12, which is the same as Psalm 18:11. It was a Psalm written by Solomon’s father David. More about that in a bit. But the words showed the people that there was nothing to fear. This wasn’t some strange demon wrapped up in a black, blustering cloud who had come to possess the temple that had taken so long to build. It was God, who came down to sanctify this holy place; to set it apart for a sacred purpose.

And so Solomon also turned to bless the people. He had been facing inward, at the holy place now enveloped in the cloud, and he turned to face the musicians and the people who were gathered all around but especially at the eastern entrance. We will look and listen to the words of that blessing later.

Solomon includes his father David as one of the authors of the Bible. Not every book lists its author (for example, 1-2 Chronicles!), and every book is not necessarily quoted by other books, although many of them are. But the Old Testament Scriptures are summed up by Jesus, who said, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). The books that do not testify about Jesus are not the Scriptures. Not all ancient books are part of the canon. The little word “canon” (κανῶν) means “rule,” and we get it from 2 Corinthians 10:13; Galatians 6:16; Philippians 3:16 and other places. Jesus limited the Old Testament canon to “Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).

The apocryphal books get their name from ἀπoκρύτω (apokrypto), “to hide, keep secret.” The ancient commentator Jerome said, “They are not to be read publicly in the Church to prove the authority of the doctrines of the Church but only to edify behavior.” Readers of these devotions may have noticed that I sometimes refer to the apocryphal books and quote from them, especially to help define Greek words, since they were written in the same Greek dialect as the New Testament. I do the same with certain early writings of the Christian Church known as the Apostolic Fathers.

The canonical books were written by prophets (and apostles) by the impulse and inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). The apocryphal books were not written by the Spirit’s inspiration, and not by prophets; they are not part of the canon, even though they frequently have good things to say. Also, 1 Esdras agrees in many respects with the end of 2 Chronicles and much of the book of Ezra, but has some additional material that does not point to Christ.

In the case of the Old Testament books (and the argument against the apocryphal books), they must meet these requirements:

1, They were written at the impulse of the Holy Spirit.
2, They were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
3, Therefore, they contain no errors and do not contradict the other Scriptures.
4, According to Luke 24:27; John 5:39; Acts 3:24; Acts 10:43 and 1 Peter 1:11, the Old Testament books bear witness to Christ and prophesy about Christ.

“Although no express oracle about Christ seems to be contained in the Book of Ruth,” writes Gerhard, “the account that writing provides serves the genealogy that the evangelists put together (Matthew 1; Luke 3) and shows that Christ was the Son of David and Abraham, both of whom had been specifically promised that the Messiah would be born of their seed” (On Holy Scripture §71, p. 83). We also note that the so-called Council of Jamnia, which had at least some influence on the condition of the canon in the time of Christ, did not argue whether the book of Esther belonged in the canon, but argued about various reasons as to why it did.

While some skeptics want to argue whether every apocryphal book has errors (such as the impossible chronology of Judith 1:1, or the unnecessary pseudo-miracle of Bel and and Dragon 1:36), errors are not the only issue with the apocrypha. Contradiction of Scripture, failure to be written at the impulse of the Spirit, failure to show the inspiration of the Spirit, and especially the failure to prophesy about Christ and to bear witness to him are the main things.

More than this, the ancient Catholic Church rejected the apocryphal books under the authority and wisdom of many learned men: Jerome, Eusebius, Augustine, and others. In more recent times, only since the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century have these books been insisted upon by the Catholic Church.

However, many of those books, especially the proverbs in the book of Sirach and the fairly reliable historical portions of 1 Maccabees can be good to read, if it is done with a discerning eye. They are better for the Christian to read than any modern fiction, and better than any books about philosophy, psychology, science, or most other subjects.

But as with the New Testament, the true and vital subject of the Old Testament Scriptures is this: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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