Excerpt from Narratives of the Beginnings of Hebrew History From the Creation to the Establishment of the Hebrew Kingdom While Protestant Christianity will probably never entirely reverse the decision of Luther and his associates in rejecting the apocryphal writings from the Old Testament canon, it is obvious to the impartial reader that certain of these books, because of their intrinsic merit and historical significance, as linking the Old Testament writings to those of the New, do not deserve the neglect with which they are treated. Already their great value is being appreciated by the historian and ethical teacher. The records of Israel's history are sadly incomplete without the First Book of Maccabees, supplemented as it is by the Sec ond Book. Because of the importance of the events which it records and the deeply religious spirit which pervades it, this dramatic account of one of the most significant epochs in the life of Judaism is surely worthy of a place in a student's Old Testament side by side with the earlier books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. As a reflection of the life and thought of the Jews of the dispersion, the book of Tobit also belongs beside Esther. The later development of wisdom-thought is represented by the practical maxims of Ben Sira and the majestic Wis dom of Solomon. Our knowledge of later prophecy and psalmody is enriched by II. Esdras, Baruch, and the Prayer of Manasses. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.