OTHCC Chapter 55: items 1081 - 1100

The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic Church < > All Chapters

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Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings || 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah || Tobit* Judith* Esther 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Job

Psalms

Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch* Ezekiel Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum >> Habakkuk << Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi

The Old Testament books with a star * are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120], but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called ''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.

Read Habakkuk, Hab 1:1-3. Habbakuk, like Jeremiah, shows a new form of prophecy:

a.   delivering God's word.
b.   foretelling the downfall of enemies.
c.   questioning God.

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Habbakuk asks, why does God use Babylon, which is more wicked than Jerusalem, to punish Jerusalem? Read Hab 1:13.

Read Hab 2:1-3 - God's answer to Habakkuk.

Read Hab 3. It is a beautiful canticle of the LORD's saving deeds, linked awesomely with his power over the whole of creation. <<

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Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings || 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah || Tobit* Judith* Esther 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Job

Psalms

Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch* Ezekiel Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah >> Malachi <<

The Old Testament books with a star * are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120], but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called ''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.

Many scholars place the book of Malachi as being written at a time of vast mediocrity. The Exile had ended and the Temple had been rebuilt, though not to its former splendor. Malachi very severely criticizes irreverent and indifferent worship in both priests and people, says that the priests have not been properly instructing the people, and criticizes marriage practices.

So: a far less splendid Temple, with far-from-splendid priests and people. Some scholars think that Malachi is even more outraged because so many priests and people seem to think that what they are doing is perfectly normal and OK. They don't even seem to understand that what they are doing is wrong. Malachi prophesies a day of judgment against Judah, with an eventual covenantal restoration by the LORD.

By tradition the book of Malachi is placed last in the Old Testament. Read the last verses of Malachi. Elijah will come to announce the day of the LORD. Here is what the Catholic Church professes about John the Baptist in CCC 718:

''John is 'Elijah [who] must come.' [Mt 17:10-13] The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of '[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord.''' [Lk 1:17]

Read Mal 1:1-11. Now re-read Mal 1:11. The literal meaning of this verse (what the sacred author intended) is in dispute among scholars.

Whatever other meanings the passage has, the Catholic Church sees this prophecy of a universal sacrifice as fulfilled in the Sacrifice of the Mass. <<

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Read Ex 32:1-20. After being rescued from Egypt, the people

a.   made other gods to worship.
b.   waited patiently for the Lord.
c.   worshipped the Lord alone.

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The ''golden calf'' has become a symbol of all idolatrous worship. When people ''worship the golden calf,'' they have forsaken God in favor of something that seems powerful and alluring to them. <<

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Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings || 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah || Tobit* Judith* Esther 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Job

Psalms

Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch* Ezekiel Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk >> Zephaniah << Haggai Zechariah Malachi

The Old Testament books with a star * are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120], but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called ''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.

If this textbook had been written at an earlier time, it would have taught you that most scholars confidently associate the destruction prophesied by the book of Zephaniah with a raid through Assyrian territories (including Israel) by Scythians. This Scythian raid is mentioned by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus.

However, more recent scholars have been unable to find even one bit of evidence that such a raid by Scythians ever took place - no records, no bits of broken pottery, nothing. The ''Scythian raid'' never existed, though at one time experts were sure that it had.

So, when this book tells you that ''most scholars'' or ''some scholars'' or even ''all scholars'' think something about the Old Testament, it is possible that, in ten years or a hundred years, this truth held by modern scholars will turn out to be as false and nonexistent as the ''Scythian raid.''

By teaching you a few things about the findings of scholars, this book might very well be teaching you some things that as early as tomorrow will be seen to be out-of-date, silly, or even downright false.

So what should you think about all this?

a.   All the information that experts possess is wrong.
b.   Experts have a useful but limited role in Bible study.
c.   Nowadays we have real experts who are never wrong.

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The expression ''day of the LORD'' developed many different meanings within the writings of the Old Testament. Zephaniah prophesies a fearsome ''day of the LORD'' - against Judah.

Read Zephaniah, Zeph 1:1-3. Scholars tell us that repeating the words ''sweep away'' three times is meant as a solemn undoing of God's promise to Noah not to destroy all living things.

However, the covenant with Noah, which extends to all men and all living creatures, remains in force until the Gospel, the New Covenant in Christ which completes and fulfills all covenants, is universally proclaimed at the end of time. [CCC 58]

Thus the Catholic Church teaches that in the book of Zephaniah the sacred author did not literally mean that God has broken the covenant he made with Noah. Probably a literary form, 'the three curses,' was being used to convey the seriousness of the wrong Judah had done.

Read Zeph 1:14-18. This passage was the inspiration for the ''Dies Irae,'' a hymn sung or recited for hundreds of years at Catholic funeral Masses. (The Dies Irae no longer appears in the Catholic rite for the funeral Mass). Now read the whole of Zeph 1.

The remainder of Zephaniah consists of oracles against foreign nations, and then a statement of the restoration of the covenant. (Obviously, the covenant could not be restored if 'the three curses' prophecy meant that the entire world really was going to be destroyed). Read Zeph 3:19-20. <<

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If you looked really, really hard at a Host that had been consecrated at Holy Mass, you would see

a.   Christ, but only faintly.
b.   Christ himself.
c.   perfectly ordinary bread.

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If you looked really, really hard at the Holy Father, or at bishops united with him, at the exact moment when they made a judgment about what the Bible means, you would see

a.   Christ, but only faintly.
b.   Christ himself.
c.   perfectly ordinary men.

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If you looked really, really hard at the Bible, using every single scientific tool that scholars will ever have available, you would see

a.   Christ, but only faintly.
b.   Christ himself.
c.   perfectly ordinary words.

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Read Ex 33:7-11. The ''pillar of cloud'' is a theophany. A theophany is

a.   a fire that does not seem to go out.
b.   a theology of divine visitations.
c.   a visible appearance of God to man.

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First recall that 10,000 BC is farther back in time than 1 BC. Roughly speaking, scholars date the time of David and Solomon as around

a.   1000 BC.
b.   900 BC.
c.   800 BC.

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You will probably spend your life in a technologically-advanced society, either in the United States, Europe or the Far East. Because Christianity has (so far) never been more than a minority religion in nearly all Far Eastern countries, and because some historians have begun to call the structure of society in the United States and Europe (especially Europe) ''post-Christian,'' the following ideas may prove to be valuable to you.

Some devout Catholics even today are shocked at the success of societies that seem remarkably uninterested in knowing Christ, or that actively reject him. These people have missed one of Babel's obvious implications: fallen men, even fallen men who want to be gods, still possess real power to build a city of partial unity by themselves.

Babel did not collapse the instant men started to build it without God. Thus, some ''part'' of fallen humanity (one of ''the nations'') may possess real knowledge, real power, and even real unity, and yet not necessarily be moving closer to Christ. >>

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Moreover, especially within the context of the story, Babel is clearly the most remarkable, most successful, and most unified human society ever known. Thus, Babel does not teach that mere men can predict just how successful or unified a society can become without God. Such a society may indeed become the greatest, most wonderful, and most unified society man has ever seen.

However, Babel also teaches that whenever man tries to build a city of unity without union with Christ's Body and without joining Christ on his Cross, then man eventually will neglect and abandon even the partial unity that he truly can accomplish: ''They left off building the city.'' [Gen 11:8] >>

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In CCC 845, the bishops and the Holy Father teach that man's disunity can ultimately be overcome, but only by the free union of humanity with the Son of God and with his Bride and Body, the Catholic Church. God will not force this union on even one man, but this union is nonetheless the only way humanity will no longer be ''scattered.'':

''To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is 'the world reconciled.' She is that bark which 'in the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.' According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's ark, which alone saves from the flood.''

The tower of Babel may be just a story, but it is a story about grown-ups, for grown-ups, about the Fall, sin, the Son of God and his Cross, the Catholic Church, and the reality - but also the limits - of human powers and yearnings. The older you get, the more meaning it will have. <<

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Catholics and other Christians have often decided that the word ''Old'' in the term ''Old Testament'' meant ''used up,'' which then supposedly justified the persecution of Jews. To avoid using the term ''Old Testament,'' some people have begun to call the Old Testament the ''Hebrew Scriptures.'' (''Hebrew'' can mean either the ancient Jews, or occasionally, all Jews). Calling the Old Testament the ''Hebrew Scriptures'' is

a.   more accurate.
b.   not accurate.
c.   praiseworthy.

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The word ''scriptures'' means ''sacred writings.'' So, ''Hebrew Scriptures'' would mean ''the sacred writings of the Hebrews.'' However, the actual Catholic Old Testament contains some writings that the Jewish people specifically rejected as not part of their sacred writings. Therefore, calling the Old Testament the ''Hebrew Scriptures'' is

a.   more accurate.
b.   not accurate.
c.   praiseworthy.

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Considering with what violence, sinful arrogance, and contempt Catholics have often treated the Jews over the last two thousand years, the least that modern Catholics can do is

a.   avoid the term ''Old Testament'' whenever and wherever we possibly can.
b.   stop trying to tell the Jews that the Old Testament is the ''Hebrew Scriptures.''
c.   use the term ''Hebrew Scriptures'' to refer to the Old Testament.

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Catholic bishops, the successors of the apostles, when they act in communion with the Pope, infallibly teach and protect the true meaning of the Bible, only because

a.   bishops are very holy.
b.   Holy Orders is a sacrament.
c.   there are so many saints.

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The Catholic Church freely admits that if the sacraments are not real, then

a.   Christ is still protecting the true meaning of the Bible.
b.   she has no authority whatever to say what the Bible means.
c.   the wisdom of all mankind will protect the meaning of the Bible.

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