Soul Food - 12/6/8

From today's reading: Malachi 1-4, Luke 1-2, John 1:1-14, Matthew 1-2

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

- Luke 2:1-14

Point of Interest:

Between the book of Malachi and the coming of Jesus, there is a period if approximately 400 years of silence. No authoritative or significant writings appear during this time.

That is not to say that there wasn't activity.

In 332 BC, a Greek named Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world. His goal was to unite the Mediterranean under Greek language, Greek culture and Greek rule.

It is during this time that the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint is written. This was a breakthrough for the scriptures as fewer and fewer people spoke or understid Hebrew. Under the unifying language of Greek, the Old Testament scriptures were made available to a much wider population.

Along with the Hebraic scriptures ending with Malachi, the writers of the Septuagint included more contemporary works that have come to be known as the Apocrypha.

Without going into a full treatment of the Apocryphal works here - the Apocrypha was part of the scriptures until the Protestant reformation of the 16th century which considered the Hebraic texts to be the only valid Old Testament scriptures.

The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches include the Apocryphal books in their canon to this day.

Around 166 BC, Greek rule led to a revolt in Jerusalem headed by the Maccabees. The origins of Hanukkah are from this period.

Also during this time, the Dead Sea Scrolls are written.

The Old Testament covers a period of 1450 years. The New Testament covers a period of about 90 years.

Personally, the sections of the Old Testament that I least enjoy are Leviticus and the prophets during the Babylonian captivity. It is like chewing rocks for weeks on end. But, of course, that was pretty much the state of Israel's relationship with God during this period.

It is always such a joy to turn to the Gospel accounts during the holiday season and the all pervading sense of hope and wonder!