The Catholic Defender: Answering The Cessation Of Prophecy Objection To The Deuterocanon With Catholic Convert William Hemsworth and his Guest Gary Michuta

https://deepertruthdon.podbean.com/e/answering-the-cessation-of-prophecy-objection-to-the-deuterocanon/

One of the objections that our Protestant friends give to the Deuterocanon, the 7 books that Catholic Bibles have and Protestants don't, is the cessation of prophecy.

This is also known as the 400 years of silence between the time of Malachi and the New Testament.

Gary walks us through to show the holes in this objection, and how the Deuterocanonical books show prophecy.

He also discusses Jewish sources who also claim this.

The cessation of prophecy objection, which argues that divine inspiration ceased after Malachi (approx. 400 B.C.), is answered by noting that the Jewish canon was still in flux during the Maccabean period, and the New Testament and historical evidence show prophetic activity continued. The Deuterocanonical books (e.g., Sirach, Maccabees) reflect a, not a broken, prophetic tradition. 

The objection incorrectly assumes the Hebrew canon was already finalized or "closed" during the intertestamental period. The Dead Sea Scrolls show that books now called deuterocanonical were considered sacred scripture by many Jewish groups during that era.

While Josephus noted a lack of an "exact succession of prophets" after Artaxerxes, this does not mean all prophecy ceased. Historical accounts from that era, such as those in Antiquities by Josephus, show that spiritual gifts, prophetic figures, and insights continued to be recognized.

The deuterocanonical books contain examples of fulfilled and future-oriented prophecies similar to the protocanonical books. Examples include:

2 Maccabees 15:13–29: A prophetic vision.

Baruch 4:21–5:9: Prophecies concerning Israel's restoration.

Wisdom 2:12–23: A clear Messianic, pre-figuration prophecy.

The New Testament, particularly in the Gospels, demonstrates that prophetic, spiritual activity did not cease during the intertestamental period.

Hellenistic Jewish Tradition: The Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria, and early Church fathers like Augustine, accepted these books as part of the Old Testament canon, indicating that the belief in the end of prophecy was not universal. 

The objection assumes the canon was already closed at 400 B.C., yet the authors of books like

Sirach

and

2 Maccabees

did not view the Hebrew canon as finished. They referred to "the law, the prophecies, and the rest of the books" as an ongoing collection still in formation.

• Josephus is Not Binding: Josephus’s personal opinion in

  Against Apion

  does not represent a universal Jewish consensus of his time. The

  Dead Sea Scrolls

  (400 B.C. – A.D. 100) contain copies ofSirach,Tobit , andBaruch

Contrary to the claim that these books lack prophetic content, they actually contain both predictive and messianic prophecies. For example,

Wisdom 2:12–23

contains a vivid description of the wicked plotting against a "son of God" who suffers a "shameful death," which many Christians view as a clear messianic prophecy.

The author of

Hebrews 11

references the "men of old" who received divine approval, including the

Maccabean martyrs

described in the Deuterocanon. Early Church Fathers like Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria cited these books as "Holy Scripture".

Inconsistency of the Rule: If prophetic cessation is the standard, several "protocanonical" books (like

Proverbs

or

Ecclesiastes

would also be at risk, as they do not contain predictive prophecy. Conversely, if we trust the later rabbinical