Introduction to TOBIT, JUDITH and ESTHER. Although these three books have the literary form of historical stories, the events of which they tell are not attested from other sources and the books are found to treat the facts of history and geography with a good deal of freedom. Plainly they were written to teach lessons of another kind and some of the early Greek Bible include them with the wisdom writings.

TOBIT - (1) The Exile, Tobit blinded and Sarah and Tobias - Chapter 1 to 4 - (2) The fellow traveller of Tobias, the Fish, Raguel, the Grave,the Wedding Feast - Chapter 5 to 10 - (3) Tobit's sight restored. Raphael, Zion and Nineveh - Chapter 11 to 14 - In summary : Tobit, the story of a dutiful son who is given miraculous help by an angel, was written among the Jews of the dispersion, possibly in Egypt between the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. though the setting of the story is some two hundred years earlier. The book was not accepted into the Hebrew Bible and was recognised by the Church only after a certain hesitancy in the patristic period. In the new translation of the Bible made at the Reformation, it was put in the Apocrypha.

JUDITH - (1) The campaign of Holofernes - Chapter 1 to 6 - (2) Bethulia under siege and a portrait of Judith - Chapter 7 to 9 - (3) Judith and Holofernes and Triumph - Chapter 10 to 16 - In summary : The same treatment was given to the Book of Judith, it was put in the Apocrypha. The story of the defeat of Nebuchadnezzar's armies through a woman single-handed assassination of their commander. It was written about 100 B.C.

ESTHER - (1) Mordecai's dream, Ahasuerus and Vashti, Mordecai and Esther - Chapter 1 to 3 - (2) The Jews in peril - Chapter 3 to 5 - (3) The Jews' Revenge - Chapter 6 to 9 - (4) The feast of Purim - Chapter 9 to 10 -

In summary : It is similarly the deliverance of the nation by the actions of a woman. The Hebrew version was probably written about 300 B.C.; the Greek version which is longer and contains some important additions. God's care for His people under Gentile rule.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -