If we picture the New Testament as a divinely painted masterpiece that hangs in the middle of a museum, then all around it are other works of the period, in different corridors of the museum, in many styles, painted by diverse artists, with variations of color and technique.
Let’s say you live in Jerusalem around the beginning of the first century. One morning, while the sun peeks over the Mount of Olives and you’re sipping Zion’s best coffee, you open your laptop to browse the ancient Amazon page for religious books (Okay, okay, I hear you protesting, but just play along with me).
What scrolls would you find? What popular Jewish literature was being read back then? And do any of these writings help us better understand the New Testament—its culture, history, use of language, and traditions? Let’s take a look.
Hammer Time: 1 and 2 Maccabees
For starters, crack open the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. These books, centered on events in the second century BC, fill in some of the historical gap between Malachi and Matthew, the so-called “Intertestamental Period.” 1 and 2 Maccabees make for some gripping reading, full of breathtaking battle scenes and martyrdoms, as Jews under the leadership of the Maccabean family (Maccabees means “hammer” in Hebrew) revolted against and overcame their Syrian overlords. Then, for almost a century, God’s people enjoyed relative independence.
What can we learn from the books of the Maccabees? For example, they provide the origin and meaning of Hanukkah, called “the Feast of Dedication” in John 10:22. They inform us of Jewish beliefs regarding martyrdom, resurrection, and the hope of a prophet who will arise. They also highlight the tensions in Israel between pro-Greek and anti-Greek parties. These tensions were still evident in various Jewish sects of the first century, some of which were more cozy with Rome, such as the Sadducees, and others, especially the later Zealots, who were violently opposed to Roman domination of Israel.
Wisdom and the Word
When you’ve finished with the Maccabees, click on “Wisdom Literature” in our make-believe first-century Amazon page. There you find, for instance, the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach (2nd-1st c. BC). Not only do these contain proverbial-type sayings, but profound sections about wisdom that echo later teachings in John and Hebrews about Christ.
For instance, in the Wisdom of Solomon, we read that wisdom “is a radiance [apaugasma] of eternal light” (7:26). This same Greek word is used in the opening of Hebrews to describe Christ: “He is the radiance [apaugasma] of the glory of God” (1:3). Likewise, John wrote that the Word “tabernacled [skēnoō] among us” (1:14). The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach uses an almost identical Greek verb to record how God told wisdom to “encamp [kataskēnoō]” in Jacob (24:8). The implication of John is this: “What is true of divine Wisdom is also true about the divine Word, both of which are Christ.”
These examples show how Jewish wisdom literature illuminates our understanding of why and how New Testament authors spoke of Christ in a way that was both truthful and that communicated well to their audience.
The First Bible Translation
While we are checking out this literature, why not grab the earliest Jewish Bible translation as well? The Septuagint (abbreviated LXX) was the first-ever translation of the Hebrew Bible into another language, in this case, Greek. Begun in the third century BC, by the time of Jesus and his apostles, the Septuagint was read and studied by Jews all over the Roman world. Indeed, this translation’s influence is unmistakable in the New Testament when the Old Testament is quoted or alluded to.
The Septuagint includes narratives and select verses not found in the Hebrew. These are called “Old Testament Expansions.” For instance, in the Hebrew text of Esther, God is never explicitly mentioned, but the Greek version has 107 extra verses in which prayer and God are added, presumably to make the book more overtly religious. Similarly, there are additions in the Greek version of Daniel, including the fascinating stories of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon, along with a psalm-like song by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
To read the Septuagint, especially in Greek but even in translation, is to be better prepared to understand quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament since the Septuagint is the primary source for these quotations. Among Greek-speaking Jews, the Septuagint might be compared to what the King James Version was for centuries in the English-speaking world: the go-to Bible version. Indeed, the Septuagint remains the official version of the Old Testament used in Orthodox churches around the world.
Enoch, Magicians, and Rolling Rocks
We have only touched on the vast array of literature that was written, read, and known by Jews living around the first century. There are writings in the genre of “Testaments,” such as the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. Do you like to read and study apocalyptic literature like Daniel and the book of Revelation? Then check out the Fourth Book of Ezra or 1 Enoch. This latter book was known by the early Christians and even quoted by Jude, in verses 14-15. Or are you into philosophy with a biblical accent? Read the works of Philo, a Jewish philosopher and Bible commentator in Egypt who was a contemporary of Jesus himself.
Other Jewish writings help us make sense of some New Testament passages that otherwise leave us scratching our heads. For instance, in 2 Timothy 3:8, Paul refers to the Egyptian magicians, Jannes and Jambres, although they are named nowhere in Exodus or elsewhere in the Old Testament. But they are in Jewish writings of that era. Again, in 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul says the rock that provided the Israelites with water followed them, but nowhere does the Old Testament say this rock rolled along with the Israelites. But Jewish writings recorded that tradition. Also, Hebrews 11:37 says some believers of old were “sawn in two.” The Old Testament does not include this kind of brutal martyrdom, the Jewish work, Martyrdom of Isaiah, records that the prophet died that way.
Read Broadly
All of these writings, some of which are included in the Apocrypha and others in the collection known as the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, are aids to Bible study.
Think of them this way: if we picture the New Testament as a divinely painted masterpiece that hangs in the middle of a museum, then all around it are other works of the period, in different corridors of the museum, in many styles, painted by diverse artists, with variations of color and technique. While they do not and cannot replace the New Testament masterpiece, nor equal it, they do help us to understand the art itself and the artists whom God used to paint it.
Additional Resources:
- Craig Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation (Hendrickson Publishers, 1992). An excellent and accessible introduction. See also his expanded work, Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature (Baker Academic, 2012)
- Chapter 18 of my book, Hitchhiking with Prophets: A Ride through the Salvation Story of the Old Testament (1517 Publishing, 2024).
- My brief video on this topic
