The Times of the Assyrians

 

David and Solomon ruled over a united kingdom, the core of which was the land of Palestine that was divided among the twelve tribes of Israel.

In 933 BC, King Solomon went the way of all mortal men and slept with his fathers.  Shortly thereafter, his kingdom was split in two.  The northern kingdom, consisting of the land assigned to the ten northern tribes, took the name Israel and the southern kingdom, the name Judah.  The southern kingdom was comprised of the land allotted to the tribe of Judah and a portion of the land occupied by the tribe of Benjamin, including Jerusalem.  Before that time, the tribe of Judah had absorbed the tribe of Simeon and their land.

Sargon II was king of Assyria, the superpower of that time.  In 722 BC, he completed the conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel, which was begun by his two predecessors, by capturing its capital city of Samaria.  He then imposed the Assyrian practice of transportation.  Some Israelites were exiled to other parts of the Assyrian empire.  At the same time, non-Jewish colonists were settled in Israel.  This was a form of cultural genocide which removed solidarity and the threat of national resistance against the Assyrian empire.  The intermarriage of the Israelite remnant with the settlers produced a people called Samarians and the land came to be known as Samaria.  As for the descendants of the Israelites deported by Sargon II and predecessor Pul, they became known as “the lost tribes of Israel.”

After Samaria fell, Hezekiah became king of Judah.  A decade later, Sargon's son, Sennacherib, succeeded his father to the Assyrian throne.  Hezekiah, supported by Egypt’s pharaoh, decided to test the new monarch and refused to pay his tribute to Assyria.  At the same time, the incorrigible Merodach-baladan established himself as king of Babylon.  Sennacherib felt the rebellion in the east was far more serious than Hezekiah's act of defiance and set his sights on Babylon.                                                                                                          

In 701 BC, after Sennacherib quelled the rebellion in Babylon, he turned his attention to Judah.  He seized forty-six of Judah's fortified cities and then laid siege against Jerusalem.  When Sennacherib's general presented Hezekiah with a letter demanding his surrender, he took the letter into the temple, knelt before the Ark of the Covenant, and prayed for the Lord’s deliverance.  That night the angel of the Lord visited the Assyrian camp and slew 185,000 soldiers.  Sennacherib returned to his palace in Ninevah and in later days was murdered by two of his sons.

Hezekiah, who fell ill after his ordeal, was visited by Merodach-baladan, self proclaimed king of Babylon.  He entertained the Babylonian and showed him all the treasures of Judah.  When the prophet Isaiah heard about the meeting, he made the following prophecy:

“Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left.

And some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away; and they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Josiah came to the throne of Judah about 640 BC.  The temple had been sadly neglected by his two predecessors, Amon and Manasseh.  Manasseh's acts were more wicked than all the kings who preceded or succeeded him for he committed that one, unimaginable sin; he placed an idol in the Holy of Holies.  He also filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.  The prophet Isaiah was sawed in two during the reign of Manasseh.

Josiah was determined to return his subjects to the worship of the Lord their God.  In 623 BC, he hired workmen to repair the damage to the temple.  Previously, the Levites had removed the Ark of the Covenant from the desecrated and dilapidated house of God.  After the repairs were completed, Josiah commanded the priests to return the Ark to Solomon’s temple. 

At that time, a Chaldean governor by the name of Nabopolassar defeated the Assyrian forces at Babylon.  The victory resulted in an independent Babylon and gave Nabopolassar the notoriety of becoming the first king of the Neo-Babylonian empire.  In 612 BC, the new king joined forces with the Medes to defeat the Assyrians at Nineveh, their capital city.  The Assyrians then retreated westward to the city of Haran.

Josiah, king of Judah, was pro-Babylonian.  When Necho II, pharaoh of Egypt and friend of the Assyrians, sought to join his allies at Haran in their last desperate battle against the Babylonian and Median forces, he was intercepted by Josiah at the strategic Megiddo Pass.  In 609 BC, Josiah was mortally wounded trying to block Necho's passage through the Valley of Megiddon.

Despite Egypt’s support, Assyria was crushed and Babylon began its reign as the most powerful kingdom on earth.  And Josiah, the last of Judah’s godly kings, was taken by chariot to Jerusalem and buried in his own tomb where he slept with his fathers.

Isaiah's Messianic Prophecy

 

In 1013 BC, David began his reign over the United Kingdom, the core of which was the land of Palestine.  He was a member of the royal tribe of Judah.  The United Kingdom was divided in 933 BC following the reign of David’s son, Solomon.  The northern kingdom took the name Israel and the southern kingdom, the name Judah.

Almost two centuries later, Ahaz, a descendant of David, became king of Judah.  In 735 BC, the king of Israel and the king of neighbouring Syria were waging war against Ahaz.

Isaiah was instructed by the Lord to meet with Ahaz and to quell his fear and uncertainty.  Isaiah prophesied the collapse of Israel and Syria and urged Ahaz to ask the Lord for a sign confirming his prophecy.  Ahaz refused but Isaiah gave him a sign despite his objections. 

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

In the Holy Scriptures, prophecies slated for fulfilment in Old Testament times often slide into prophecies destined for fulfillment in New Testament times.

In 732 BC, the king of Israel was murdered by his successor to the throne.  Shortly thereafter, Assyria captured the Syrian capital of Damascus and slew its king.  Then in 722 BC, Assyria conquered the kingdom of Israel by capturing its capital city of Samaria.  Isaiah’s first prophecy to Ahaz was fulfilled.  His second prophecy, the Christmas prophecy, was fulfilled some seven centuries later.  Indeed, from the royal tribe of Judah sprang forth the child Immanuel a.k.a. Jesus Christ.

Isaiah described the child Immanuel as follows:

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

This passage leaves no doubt as to the identity of Jesus.  He is Mighty God and He is co-eternal and co-equal with God the Father. 

But Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy didn’t stop there.  In chapter 53, Isaiah described Christ’s crucifixion.  What surprises me most about Isaiah’s prophecy was the attention he paid to detail.

“His grave was assigned to be with wicked men,

Yet with a rich man in His death.”

Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on His right and one on His left.  The Romans usually forbade burial and left the bodies on the crosses for the vultures to mutilate.  But along came Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man and a member of the prestigious Sanhedrin.  He asked Pontius Pilate for Christ’s body and laid it in his own tomb which was hewn out of rock, stopping the entrance with a huge boulder.  The tomb played a vital role in the Gospel for without a burial place there would have been no conclusive evidence of Christ's resurrection. 

The twentieth century science of archaeology offers further proof of the validity of Isaiah’s prophecies.  Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls between 1947 & 1956, the oldest Hebrew copy of the Book of Isaiah was completed about 1000 AD and the oldest Greek copy about 350 AD.  Some thought Jews and Christians had edited Isaiah’s prophecies.  But the discovery of the Great Isaiah Scroll, which was dated to 100 BC, proved there was no significant interpolation by either party.  In fact, the copy of Isaiah that we have in our Bibles today is virtually the same as the copy made over 2,000 years ago.

The Sword of the Spirit (83)

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God.  And today, Isaiah's vision touched my heart of hearts:

The vision of Isaiah the prophet concerning the southern kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem which he saw during the reigns of four Judean kings; good king Uzziah begat good king Jotham, who begat the bad king Ahaz, who in turn begat good king Hezekiah.  Notably, Ahaz reigned when Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and Hezekiah’s reign ended a century before Judah’s captivity in Babylon.  Isaiah called Judah a sinful nation and the city of Jerusalem a harlot; he disclosed the word of the Lord to Judahites saying, “So when you spread your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you.  Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.  Your hands are full of bloodshed."

According to Reuters News Agency, the US Defense Secretary has started leading Christian prayer services at the Pentagon.  At a service last Wednesday, he prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”.

According to Reuters, Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, addressed tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday telling them that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars.  In his homily, he cited Isaiah 1:15: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”

Something to contemplate as we enter the holiest week of our Christian calendar.

Jerusalem's Modern History: part two

For many years, a group of Americans, dubbed Christian Zionists, have espoused the restoration of the nation of Israel, including Jerusalem as its capital city.  They advocate the immigration of more Jewish settlers into the Holy Land.

Reportedly, Christian Zionists raise tens of millions of dollars per year in support of their cause and have a strong lobby with the US government including former Vice President Pence.  They believe their cause is in accordance with Bible prophecy and will set the stage for the building of Jerusalem’s Third Temple and ultimately, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In 1980, Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its eternal, undivided capital.  While Jerusalem was the seat of Israeli government, all national embassies were located in or near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.  Consequently, on May 14, 2018, Israel's 70th birthday, the US closed its embassy in Tel Aviv and opened a new embassy in Jerusalem.  By doing so, the US officially endorsed Jerusalem as Israel's capital city.

Breaking News, September 22, 2025

"There is accelerated, Israeli settlement building across the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

Prime Minister Netanyahu reacted to the sudden increase in recognitions of the State of Palestine by Canada and other nations by saying, "A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River."

One of "the main sticking points" in a two-state solution is "naming Jerusalem as a shared capital".  That is, a divided capital by which East Jerusalem would be the official capital city of a Palestinian state.

Special Notes:  In the Old Testament, Canaan was the name of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants.  It referred to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.  The Canaanites were defeated by Joshua during his conquest of Canaan.  As a result, the tribes of Israel occupied the land between the northern city of Tyre (Sur) and the southern city of Raphia, west of the Jordan River.  Notably, Raphia (Rafah) is on the southern border of Gaza Strip.  

Strictly speaking, Palestine refers to "The Land of the Philistines" who inhabited the coastal plain east of the Mediterranean Sea and south of the city of Joppa in ancient times.  Palestine was later applied to the land occupied by the twelve tribes of Israel which included Canaan as well as Gilead and Bashan, regions along the east side of the Jordan River.

Crying Wolf for the End Times

Many commentators, including myself, believe that the final week of Daniel's Messianic Prophecy will consist of three and a half years of prosperity followed by three and a half years of extreme suffering, called the Great Tribulation.  The Abomination of Desolation, also called the antichrist or beast, will be at the helm of those seven years.  He will control a global empire, not unlike ancient Rome, Greece, and Persia.

However, let's not raise false alarms about the End Times.  We are not at the end, or even the beginning of the end, but perhaps we are nearing the end of the beginning.  The Holy Scriptures coupled with current events bear this out.

Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him to be an Apostle.  He was an eyewitness to Christ’s earthly ministry which he recorded in his Gospel.  In Matthew 24, he quoted the very words of Jesus Christ who stated emphatically that wars and rumours of wars, famines, and earthquakes are not the end but merely the beginning.

Despite third party peace efforts, the wars continue between Russia and the Ukraine, Israel and Hamas.

On March 28th, Myanmar (Burma) was struck by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake.  To put that in perspective, the 1960 Chilean earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5, the greatest magnitude ever recorded.

Christ went on to say that there will be martyrdom, apostasy (falling away from the faith), false prophets, and an increase in lawlessness.  People's love will grow cold and the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire world, “and then the end shall come”.

And then Jesus said, "Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place...then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall."

The Apostle Paul relayed the same message.  He said that the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy (abandoning the faith) comes first "and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God".

The “holy place” mentioned by Christ and the “temple of God” mentioned by the Apostle Paul are references to Jerusalem’s Temple.  But, at the present time, there is no Temple in Jerusalem.  And of course, a Temple is crucial to the fulfillment of the aforementioned prophecies. 

Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.  It was rebuilt by Zerubbabel during the reign of the Persian emperor Darius the Great.  Zerubbabel’s Temple didn’t approached the magnificence of Solomon’s Temple.  However, it was renovated by Herod the Great with such lavish splendour that it became one of the wonders of the Roman Empire.  Herod’s Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.  There has never been a Third Temple in Jerusalem.  In fact, Temple Mount a.k.a. Mount Moriah is now the site of Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, two Muslim holy places.

Observant Jews would never share the Temple Mount with Muslims.  The building of Jerusalem’s Third Temple would require removal of the two Islamic sanctuaries followed by the cleansing of Temple Mount by qualified Levitical priests.

The construction of Jerusalem’s Third Temple will be a sign that the end is near.  The building of the Third Temple will occur prior to the final week of  Daniel’s Messianic prophecy.  Exactly when they will break ground, nobody knows.  But one thing for certain.  When Jews start construction on the Third Temple, it will be the time for Christians to stand up and take notice.  And that will be the moment to sound the alarm for the End Times.

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.  For in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Will Believers Be Judged?

Will "believers" or, more precisely, "the righteous in Christ" be judged?  The answer is no; not with respect to their salvation.  And what is salvation?  Spiritual rescue from the consequences of sin; to be saved from eternal damnation.

Make no mistake about it.  We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ.  God says it; I believe it; that settles it.

My statement of faith is described in the article entitled "Justification By Faith”.  A short synopsis:  "Only the act of justification by faith in Christ can save a man's soul.  That is, the righteousness bestowed by God through faith in Christ by whom a sinner is freed from the penalty due for his sins."

The Apostle Paul says:

"I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."

According to civil law, if a man is convicted of a crime, he is sentenced by the courts to pay a debt to society.  That could result in a prison term or even capital punishment.  In much the same way, according to God's Law, a sinner owes a debt to God because of his sins.

And again, the Apostle Paul says:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And once again:

"He has cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

And let's not forget the Apostle John:

"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Now believers will stand before the judgement seat (2 Corinthians 5:10) and some have said that their works will be judged.  However, the word "judged" can be confusing, especially to babes in Christ.  More correctly, their works will be "put to the proof”.  The NAS uses the word "test," the KJ the word "try," and the Douay the word "assay" and this is by fire.  The Apostle Paul gives a vivid description in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:

"The fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.  If any man's work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he shall receive a reward.  If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire."

Translations of the Old Testament Canon

"Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  Romans 10:17

The remarkable Holy Scriptures of Judaism: written by the sacred writers who were legends in their own time and for generations beyond; inspired by Almighty God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, in whose hand is our very life's breath; culminating with the unfolding of Jesus the Christ from its sacred pages by which the prophetic mystery was concealed and then revealed at the fulness of time.

The Protestant Old Testament is identical to the Holy Scriptures of Judaism.  It consists of the 39 protocanonical books.  The Catholic Old Testament includes seven additional books as well as additions to Esther and Daniel.  Catholics call them the deuterocanonical books or second canon.  Protestants call them the apocrypha, meaning of doubtful authenticity or authorship.  However, Protestants recognize the historical value of some of the apocryphal books because they fill the 420 year gap between the prophet Malachi and the Gospel of Matthew.

The two most noteworthy translations of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism are the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate.

When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he built the city of Alexandria to showcase the superiority of the Greek culture.  The Diaspora was encouraged to settle there and Alexandria became a haven for Hellenists—Jews who adopted the Greek culture.

By the time Ptolemy II took the throne, the Jews in Alexandria spoke Greek rather than Hebrew.  Because there was a need for a Greek translation of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Ptolemy II commissioned 70 Palestinian Jews to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the third century BC.  In recognition of their work, the translation was dubbed the Septuagint (from the Latin, septuaginta, meaning seventy).

Fast forward to the fourth century AD and the Golden Age of the Church Fathers.  A scholar named Jerome was one of the most able Fathers in the early Christian Church.  A superb translator and commentator, he was fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.  He was a contemporary of Augustine who was an extraordinary theologian, perhaps second only to the Apostle Paul.  Augustine praised Jerome’s talents by remarking, “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal man has ever known.”

Jerome's greatest accomplishment was a Latin translation of the Bible known as the Vulgate.  The New Testament was his revision of the old Latin versions which were translated from the Greek.  About 390 AD, he began his work on the Old Testament.  However, he went beyond the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament and created a new Latin version translated directly from the Hebrew Scriptures.  It was completed about 405 AD.

The Douay Bible is the English translation of Jerome's Latin Vulgate.  The New Testament was published in 1582; the Old Testament was published in two volumes, the first in 1609 and the second in 1610.  It was the only official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church until well into the twentieth century.

The King James Bible was published in 1611.  It was authorized by King James I of England.  Twenty-five gifted translators were involved in the creation of its Old Testament.  That translation was based on  the Masoretic Text, abbreviated MT.

The MT is the official Hebrew version of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism.  It was copied, edited, and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 8^th and 11^th centuries AD.  Codex Leningrad is the oldest copy of  the MT.  It is dated to 1000 AD.

The King James Bible is probably the most widely read Bible in the English-speaking Protestant world.  For a few decades, it has been available in modern English as the New King James Bible.

"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."  2 Timothy 3:16    

Cherry Picking God's Word

How can the pastor of a prominent Toronto church claim there is no Hell?  Did she not attend a seminary before being ordained as a minister?  Is the cross displayed on her church not a symbol of Christ's crucifixion?  For if there is neither sin nor punishment for sin, then Christ died needlessly.  While believers are freed from the penalty due for their sins through faith in Jesus Christ, unbelievers will be judged according to their deeds.  Because all men are sinners and Christ's crucifixion is the only sacrifice that atones for sinful deeds, how shall unbelievers escape if they ignore so great a salvation?

Orthodoxy declares that the Bible is the word of God; liberals believe that the Bible contains the word of God, a dangerous philosophy indeed.

"For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths." 

Liberals are tailoring the Bible to their own liking; cherry picking the word of God; rejecting those parts of the Bible that aren’t compatible with their lifestyle.

"Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied it's power; and avoid such men as these.  Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

We must remain "all in" with the Lord.  We can't be deceived by the devil or those who distort the Gospel.  We must fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.

How Was The New Testament Canon Created?

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

The creation of the New Testament canon was a slow process largely completed by 175 AD.  Admission of a book to the canon was based on three criteria:  Was it written by an Apostle or a person who was a close associate of the Apostles; Did the words of the book have the power of edification when read before a congregation; Was the book in agreement with the established doctrines of faith?

"The historical verification of apostolic authorship or influence and the universal consciousness of the church, guided by the Holy Spirit, resulted in the final decision concerning what books should be considered canonical and worthy of inclusion in what we know as the New Testament."

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul were the first books collected for the canon. They were gathered together by the elders of the Ephesian church.

Paul's Epistles were followed by a collection of the Gospels sometime after 100 AD:

Matthew was a tax collector at Capernaum when Jesus called him to become a disciple and later an Apostle.  Hence, he was an eyewitness to the events described in his Gospel.

Mark was a convert of the Apostle Peter and a companion of the Apostle Paul.  His mother Mary had a house in Jerusalem that was a gathering place for Christians.  Mark finally settled in Rome where he documented the memories of the Apostle Peter.  Both Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. 

Luke was a physician who never actually saw Jesus.  A pagan by birth, he was an early convert who became a companion and co-worker of the Apostle Paul.  He wrote his Gospel for Theophilus who was a cultured Greek.  Therefore, Luke carefully examined the evidence and assigned  precise dates to the events which occurred in his Gospel.  Luke was also the author of Acts of the Apostles.

John was at first a disciple of John the Baptist.  He was the Apostle most loved by Jesus and an eyewitness to the events described in his Gospel.  John also wrote three Epistles and then the book of Revelation while exiled on the barren Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea.  After the death of the Roman emperor Domitian, John was allowed to return to Ephesus where he died at an advanced age.

In 180 AD, the so-called Muratorian Canon contained 22 New Testament books.

About 324 AD, Eusebius the Father of Church History determined that at least 20 books were worthy of inclusion in the New Testament canon.  The books of Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and Revelation were still under consideration because of authorship uncertainty.

Finally, in 367 AD, Athanasius the bishop of Alexandria listed as canonical the same 27 New Testament books that we have today.  That same Athanasius was the champion of the orthodox view when it was challenged about 325 AD.  He believed that Christ was coeternal, coequal, and consubstantial with God the Father, a belief for which he was exiled five times when he was a young man.

While some have thought the New Testament canon was a product of the Roman Catholic church, that was not the case.  About 170 AD, the church was calling itself the "catholic" or universal church.  The term was coined by Ignatius, an early church father who was arrested because of his Christian testimony and sent to Rome where he was killed by beasts in the imperial games.

According to historians, the Old Catholic Imperial church existed between 100 and 590 AD.  As that period ended, the Old Catholic Imperial church virtually became the Roman Catholic church.                         

Inspiration Incompatible With Error

Can faith in the Holy Scriptures be restored in the third millennium since the beginning of the Christian era?  Is it possible to re-establish the belief that the 39 traditional books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament are inerrant in their original manuscripts as left by the hagiographers?

There are two schools of thought: those who believe the Bible is the word of God and those who believe the Bible contains the word of God.  The former believe that the sacred writers were inspired by Almighty God and that divine inspiration is incompatible with error.

Augustine was a Church Father who was esteemed by Catholics and Protestants alike.  If he came across an apparent discrepancy in Scripture, he didn't attribute it to the sacred writers.  Instead, he concluded that it was a copying error, a translation error, or that he himself had failed to understand the passage in question.

Augustine as quoted by Leo XIII:  "On my own part I confess to your charity that it is only to those books of Scripture which are now called canonical that I have learned to pay such honor and reverence as to believe most firmly that none of their writers has fallen into any error.  And if in these books I meet anything which seems contrary to truth, I shall not hesitate to conclude either that the text is faulty, or that the translator has not expressed the meaning of the passage, or that I myself do not understand."