The book explores the history of symbolism and idolatry in relation to the House of Rechab and the keys of Saint Peter. The author delves into the symbolism of keys and their significance in Christianity, particularly the keys of Saint Peter which are said to represent the power and authority of the church. Bunsen also examines the history and beliefs of the Rechabites, a group of nomadic people mentioned in the Old Testament, and their connection to the symbolism of keys. The book provides a detailed analysis of the religious and cultural significance of keys and their role in shaping the history of Christianity and idolatry.

Excerpt:
A mysterious silence rules over the period of nearly five hundred years, which separates the events chronicled in the Old Testament from those that are recorded in the New Testament. Yet the New and the Old hang together. There are Scriptures, which refer to these times, and they form part of the Greek version of the Hebrew Canon, of the Septuagint, which was published during the three last centuries of the pre-Christian era.

That Alexandrian collection of holy writ was pre-eminently, if not exclusively, the Canon of the Apostles, and of their Divine Master. Those Scriptures which were excluded from the Hebrew Canon, for reasons hitherto not generally known, form not a supplement, but the very centre of the Greek Canon, and they explain, why the Septuagint is a freely handled version, and not a literal translation of the Hebrew Canon.

These Scriptures were called Apocrypha, because they referred to what had, in earlier times, been hidden.

Category: Origins of Christianity

Subjects: Bible, Christianity, religion