Ecclesiastes: The Penance of Solomon
This content is for members only
Proverbs: The Catechism of Ancient Israel
Proverbs is a textbook for young Israelites in the school of virtue. It is divided into 31 chapters for daily study on a monthly basis. It should be read several times by all young people through adolescence. Just as Psalms is the “Prayer Book” of Israel, so the Proverbs is the “Catechism” of Israel.
Read More
Review of Pre-Exile Historical Books
This content is for members only
Job: The Story of God’s Faithful Servant
Job may be the oldest book in the Old Testament.
Job is wealthy man who is attacked by Satan with God's permission. He loses his seven sons, his three daughters, his health, and his property. He struggles to understand his situation and begins a search for the answers to his difficulties. It is an exercise in theological “theodicy” – the justice of God and the problem of evil.
Read More
1 and 2 Maccabees The Maccabean Revolt and Hannukah
1 Maccabees (16 chapters) is historical and 2 Maccabees (15 chapters) is a theological treatise on the events of 1 Maccabees.
Unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees does not attempt to provide a complete account of the events of the period, instead covering only the period from the high priest Onias III and King Seleucus IV (180 BC) to the defeat of Nicanor in 161.
Read More
Esther: The Feast Of Purim
The book takes place after the Jews have been exiled and are now living under Persian rule.
The king is Xerxes who is called Ahasuerus in this book. Both words derive from the authentic and original Persian name of the king: Khshayarsha which is corrupted to Ahasyerush or Xauarsa or Xerses
Read More
Judith: The Widow Who Decapitates
The name Judith (Hebrew: יְהוּדִית) is the feminine form of name Judah. It could be translated as “Jewess” or “praised.” The town where he dwells is “Bethulia,” which means “Virgin.”
The book may be a parable for the “Jewish people” in the form of “Judith” and about the city of Jerusalem as “Behtuliah” or “Virgin.” This allegory is suggested because the story contains an obvious anachronistic error that most Jews would have caught: The book refers to "Nebuchadnezzar", a "King of Assyria", who "reigns in Nineveh,” yet Nebuchadnezzar was in fact the King of the Babylonians.
Read More
Tobit: Demons and Christ the Fish
Tobit is a love story between a man named Tobiah and a woman named Sarah who marry after a fantastical sage of bird droppings, blindness, and demonic infestation.
Read More
Deuterocanonical Apologetics
How do we know which books of the Bible are in the Bible? Who gets to decide? The Apostles didn’t leave a list of books, but they did leave a Church.
7 Books plus wider versions of Esther and Daniel
- Tobit
- Judith
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Wisdom of Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus)
- Baruch including the Letter of Jeremiah
- Additions to Esther
- Additions to Daniel:
- Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children (Septuagint Daniel 3:24–90)
- Susanna (Septuagint prologue, Vulgate Daniel 13)
- Bel and the Dragon (Septuagint epilogue, Vulgate Daniel 14)
Ezra and Nehemiah: Rebuilding Israel as a Plan for the Catholic Church
The Old Testament is concerned with building: building the Temple of God, building the walls of Jerusaelm, building a Messianic dynasty. Originally Ezra and Nehemiah were one book (Esdras) but it was divided by Origen in the earliest days of the Catholic Church. We look at the theology of "building walls" and how it relates to the attack on the Catholic Church and how we priests and laity can build and protect the City of God through doctrine, devotions, sacraments, prayers, and asceticism.
Read More
