It seems very difficult to prove that the Alexandrian Jews who used the
LXX did not regard this piece as canonically valid; though how they
reconciled their canon with the Palestinian one is not clear. Their
frequent communication with Palestinian Jews must have brought any
considerable discrepancy to the notice of both sides. F.C. Movers (_Loci
quidam Hist. can. V.T._, Breslau, 1842, pp. 20, 22) solves the
difficulty by imagining that this and the other Apocrypha were similarly
regarded both in Palestine and Alexandria, "vix credibile est alios
libros a Palestinensibus inter profanos repositos ab Alexandrinis codici
sacro adscitos esse." Acts ii. 10 proves the presence of Egyptian Jews
at Jerusalem for Pentecost, and vi. 9 that they had a synagogue there.
This close connection must have brought their religious practices to one
another's knowledge, and any differences, considered seriously
important, could hardly have failed to raise disputes. Now Bleek
(_Introd. to O.T._, II. 303, Engl. transl, Lond. 1869), says "the
additions to Esther and Daniel were certainly looked upon by the
Hellenistic Jews in just the same light as the portions of the books
which are in the Hebrew.
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