What About the Apocrypha? (Part 5)

We are at the end of a series of posts considering the Apocrypha, and whether they should be considered as part of the canon. In this post, we will look at a statement of Jesus to help us determine the extent of the Old Testament canon.

In Luke 11:50–51, we read “Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.” In this passage, Jesus is pronouncing woes upon the generation that was rejecting Him. In doing so He says they will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets spilled from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. Could this be a clue to what Jesus considered to be the Old Testament? I believe so.

The great scholar FF Bruce thought so as well. He writes “There is evidence that Chronicles was the last book in the Hebrew Bible as Jesus knew it. When he said that the generation he addressed would be answerable for ‘the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world’, he added, ‘from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary’ (Luke 11:50f.). Abel is the first martyr in the Bible (Gen. 4:8); Zechariah is most probably the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned to death ‘in the court of Yahweh’s house’ because, speaking by the Spirit of God he rebuked the king and people of Judah for transgressing the divine commandments (2 Chron. 24:20-22). Zechariah (c 800 BC) was not chronologically the last faithful prophet to die as a martyr; some two centuries later a prophet named Uriah was put to death in Jerusalem because his witness was unacceptable to King Jehoiakim (Jer. 26:20-23). But Zechariah is canonically the last faithful prophet to die as a martyr, because his death is recorded in Chronicles, the last book in the Hebrew Bible.” (FF Bruce, Canon of Scripture, 31.)

If Bruce is correct, and I think he is, Jesus is giving a hint of the Old Testament that He considered authoritative. It ran from Genesis to 2 Chronicles (the last book in the Hebrew canon ordering). If he considered the Apocryphal books as part of the Old Testament canon, why did He not include the martyrs found in their pages – for there were many! It is admittedly only a hint, but I think it needs to be considered as we look at this question. For it gives a hint that Jesus considered the Old Testament to be the same books as the Jews of his day and later considered to be canon – and this did not include the books of the Apocrypha.

In Christ,

Bret