Why don't Jesus and the apostles quote the apocryphal books, and does Esther's absence from the Dead Sea Scrolls matter?
A viewer asks why Jesus and the apostles do not quote from the apocryphal (deuterocanonical) books, and notes that the Dead Sea Scrolls lacking Esther does not prove it was not in the old Bibles.
Answer
The ultimate authority on what is in the canon is the Holy Spirit, who inspired it. You have to be very careful making absolute judgments about canonicity based on quotation, because it produces anomalies. The book of the Apocalypse does not directly quote any book of the Old or New Testament, only alludes to them, so are we going to throw it out because it does not quote other books? Of course not. So the fact that Jesus and the apostles do not quote a particular book does not by itself decide the matter. As for Esther, it has always been a canonical question, and about half a dozen documents, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, do not have Esther. But all it takes is one document that does have it, and the church, guided by the Holy Spirit, said yes, Esther belongs in the canon. Collating fifteen hundred years of writing into a perfect canon takes more than men; the Holy Spirit had to be involved at each stage, and Jesus promised the Spirit would lead the church into all truth. Unless you can believe that, and that the canon is one hundred percent accurate, you might as well throw the Bible away. That is where all argument stops.