Apocalyptic Literature

APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE

During the three centuries leading up to and including the New Testament era, the distinctive kind of literature known as apocalyptic flourished among Jewish writers. The name apocalyptic comes from the Greek apokalypto, meaning to reveal (cf. Rev 1:1). The literature has been given this name because the authors presented their messages in the form of divinely sent visions that revealed heavenly secrets. The revelations were particularly concerned with coming great events.

The Old Testament books of Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah (also Isaiah Chapters 24-27) show some of the apocalyptic features that began to develop in the later prophetical writings. Likewise, some New Testament writings, such as the book of Revelation and Mark Chapter 13, contain apocalyptic features.

A message for difficult times

With Israels release from captivity in 539 BC and its re-establishment in its homeland, many Jews expected that the messianic age was about to dawn. Their hopes, however, were disappointed, and one powerful nation after another continued to rule over Israel.

By this time, the ministry of Israelite prophets, which had never been as prominent after the captivity as before, had almost disappeared entirely. Apocalyptic writers replaced prophetic preachers as the interpreters of Israels history. But whereas the prophets were largely concerned with denouncing Israels unfaithfulness and assuring the people of their coming judgment, the apocalyptists were more concerned with condemning Israels oppressors and announcing certain doom upon them.

A popular practice among apocalyptic writers was to write under the name of a respected Israelite of a previous era. Through prophecies and visions, this writer from the former era then spoke of events from his time to the time of the actual writer, as a means of assuring the readers that God was always in control of events. He wanted to encourage Gods people to endure their sufferings, in the assurance that God would soon overthrow evil and bring in the golden age.

Some features of the literature

Throughout the apocalyptic literature there is a sharp contrast between evil and good, between the present world and the age to come. In the present world Gods people suffer because of the evil that hostile governments and ungodly people direct against them. In the age to come, by contrast, Gods people will enjoy unending contentment, whereas those who are evil will be destroyed (cf. Isa 24:21-23; Isa 25:6-12; Dan 7:9-14; Rev 19:1-5; Rev 21:1-8).

Meantime, Gods people must persevere. They have to realize that history must move along the path that God has determined for it, till the time comes for him to intervene decisively (cf. Eze 39:1-6; Eze 39:21; Eze 39:25; Dan 12:6-13; Mar 13:24-27; Mar 13:32).

The visions reported by the apocalyptic writers were not usually in the form of scenes taken from real life. In most cases they contained features that were weird and abnormal, such as unnatural beasts and mysterious numbers (Dan 8:3-8; Dan 9:24; Dan 12:11-12; Rev 13:1-5; Rev 13:11-18). The visions had symbolic meaning and were often interpreted by angels (Eze 40:2-4; Dan 8:15-19; Zec 1:9; Zec 1:19; Zec 5:5-6; Rev 21:9; Rev 21:15). Such writings enabled the Jews to comment safely on the oppressors who ruled them; for they were able to use symbols (usually beasts) instead of the names of their overlords (Dan 7:1-8; Mar 13:14; Rev 13:1-4; Revelation 17).

In contrast to the prophets, who said, This is what God said to me, the apocalyptists said, This is what God showed me (Jer 7:1-3; Jer 23:18 with Zec 1:20; Rev 4:1). Yet in the biblical writings there is much overlap between the prophetic and the apocalyptic. The biblical apocalyptic writers, though they had similarities with other apocalyptic writers, also had the fervent evangelistic and pastoral spirit of the biblical prophets. Although they saw visions that carried symbolic meanings, they also had the prophets awareness that they spoke words from God. And those words made spiritual demands upon people (Eze 11:1-12; Eze 33:30-33; Zec 1:1-6; Zec 3:1; Rev 1:3; Rev 2:1-7; Rev 22:1-4; Rev 22:7; Rev 22:18).

Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Apocalyptic Literature

APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE

i.Name and Nature.

ii.Origin and History.

iii.The Apocalypses.

1.The Ethiopic Enoch.

2.The Slavonic Enoch.

3.The Sibylline Oracles.

4.The Assumption of Moses.

5.Fourth Esdras.

6.The Syriac Baruch.

7.The Greek Baruch.

8.The Psalter of Solomon.

9.The Testaments of the XII Patriarchs.

10.The Book of Jubilees.

11.The Ascension of Isaiah.

12.The Histories of Adam and Eve.

13.The Apocalypse of Abraham.

14.The Apocalypse of Elias.

15.The Apocalypse of Zephaniah.

16.Anonymous Apocalypse.

17.The Prayer of Joseph.

18.The Book of Eldad and Modad.

iv.General Characteristics.

1.The Vision Form.

2.Dualism.

3.Symbolism.

4.Angelology.

5.The Unknown as subject-matter.

6.Pseudonymity.

7.Optimism.

v.Theological Ideas.

1.The Doctrine of the two aeons.

2.The Impending Crisis.

3.The Conception of God.

4.Complex Cosmology.

5.Arch-enemy of God.

6.Doctrine of Man.

7.Doctrine of Sin.

8.The coming Messiah.

9.The Resurrection.

10.The Judgment.

11.Punishment of the Wicked.

12.The Reward of the Righteous.

13.The Renovation of the World.

14.Predestination.

vi.Contact with the New Testament.

1.Apocalyptic Forms in the New Testament.

2.Current Phraseology: Son of Man, etc.

3.Quotations.

4.Influence of Ideas.

5.Treatment of Common Questions.

Literature.

i. Name and Nature.The term apocalypse ( from , to uncover) signifies in the first place the act of uncovering, and thus bringing into sight that which was before unseen, hence revelation. It is predominantly a NT word. It occurs rather rarely in extra-biblical Greek, is used only once in the canonical portion of the LXX Septuagint (1Sa 20:30), and thrice in Sirach (Sir 11:27; Sir 22:22; Sir 42:1 [Sir 41:23]). In the NT it is used to designate the disclosing or communicating of knowledge by direct Divine act. The gospel is an apocalypse to the nations (Luk 2:32, Rom 16:25-26). St. Paul received it as an apocalypse (Gal 1:12). The manifestation of Jesus Christ in glory is an apocalypse (Gal 2:2, 2Co 12:1-7, 2Th 1:7; 1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 1:13; 1Pe 4:13).

An apocalypse is thus primarily the act of revelation; in the second place it is the subject-matter revealed; and in the third place a book or literary production which gives an account of revelation, whether real or alleged (e.g. The Apocalypse of St. John the Divine). As a matter of history, the form in which the revelation purports to come is of the utmost importance in determining the question whether a writing should be called an apocalypse or not. In general, the form is like the drawing of the veil from before a picture, the result of which action presents to the eye a definite image. All imparting of Divine truth is revelation; but it is not all given in the apocalyptic form, i.e. it does not all come in grand imagery, as if portrayed on canvas or enacted in scenic representation. Some revelations come in sub-conscious convictions. Those who receive them do not feel called upon to give an account of the way in which they have received them. In fact they seem ignorant of the method of communication; they only know that they have received knowledge not previously possessed. Apocalypse and revelation thus, though primarily the same thing, come to be distinguished from each other.

The term apocalypse is also sometimes used, with an effort at greater precision, to designate the pietorial portraiture of the future as foreshadowed by the seer. When so employed it becomes appropriate only as the title of certain passages in books otherwise not to be called apocalypses (so Bousset in Herzog-Hauek, PRE [Note: RE Real-Encyklopdie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] , s.v., who enumerates the following passages: Dan 2:7-12; Ethiopic En 8591, 3771; Ps-Sol 2, 17, 18; the Assumption of Moses; Slav. En.; 4 Ezra; Syriac Bar.; Sibyl. Orac. iii. 286 to the end, iii. 3692, iv., the Jewish source of i. and ii.; also certain sections of the Apocalypse, Apocalyptic John and 2Th 2:3-12; Matthew 24 with parallels).

To constitute a writing an apocalypse, it is not necessary that the author should have actually seen or experienced what he portrays. It is enough that he write as one who has had a vision and is describing it. Thus apocalypse becomes a form of literature precisely in the same manner as an epistle. Strictly an epistle is simply a letter from one person, or many persons, to another, or others. But, as a matter of usage, it has often been adopted as a form into which men have chosen to cast their thoughts for the public. The same is true of the dialogue, of fiction, and many other species of literature. Such forms become favourites in certain ages, usually after some outstanding character has made successful use of them. The dialogue became fashionable when Plato made it such a telling medium for the teaching of his philosophical system. The epistle was used by Horace, and later by Seneca. The apocalypse form appears as a favourite about the beginning of the 2nd cent. b.c. The most illustrious specimen, and perhaps the prototype of later apocalyptic literature, is the Book of Daniel.

ii. Origin and History.The question has been mooted as to the earlier antecedents of the apocalyptic form. Its ultimate source has been traced variously to Egypt, Greece, Babylonia, and Persia. In view of the fact, however, that the Hebrew prophets frequently incorporate visions into their writings (Isaiah 6, Jer 24:1-3, Eze 1:27, Isaiah 24-27), it is scarcely necessary to go outside of Israel to search for its origins. Nevertheless, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, and the Greeks had their apocalyptics. And it would be a mistake to ignore the influence especially of Persian forms during the period of the formation of Jewish apocalyptics. This was the very period when Jewish forms came most directly into touch with Persian. In any case, much of the material of the Jewish apocalypse has been adopted and naturalized from Persia (cf. Bousset, Die Jud. Apokalyptik, 1903; Gunkel, Schopfung u. Chaos, 1895). Apocalyptic literature in general begins before Christ. Soon after the Christian era it develops into the two naturally distinct forms of Christian and neo-Hebraic. Hence we may distinguish three classes of apocalypses:(1) The earlier Jewish ones, or those which were published from b.c. 200 to a.d. 100. Within this class, however, may be included also such writings as proceed from Jewish sources purely, though not written until half a century, more or less, later than the last limit of the period. (2) Christian apocalypses, including the canonical book known as the Apocalypse (Revelation of St. John), and a series of apocryphal imitations. These are mostly pseudonymous, but include an occasional work in which the author does not conceal his name behind that of an apostle or older prophet (The Shepherd of Hermas). Apocalypses of this class pass into Patristics and culminate in Dantes immortal Commedia. (3) The neo-Hebraie apocalypses, beginning with the predominance of the Talmud (especially the Babylonian) and including a series of revelations to the great Rabbis (The Revelation of R. Joshua b. Levi, The Alphabets of R. Akiba, The Hebrew Elijah Apocalypse, The Apocalypse of Zerubbabel, The Wars of King Messiah, The Revelations of R. Simon b. Yohai, The Prayer of R. Simon b. Yohai, and the Persian Apocalypse of Daniel).

It would be somewhat beside the purpose of this article to do more than sketch the first of these three classes of apocalypses. On the other hand, as Christ emerged in history at a definite period and in a definite environment, and as in this environment nothing is more conspicuous and potent than the early Jewish apocalyptic literature, the importance of this literature cannot be overestimated. A flood of light is shed by the form and content of these writings upon His life, teaching, and work. Happily, considerable attention has been given in recent years to this as a field of investigation, and some definite results may be registered.

iii. The Apocalypses.Of the earlier Jewish apocalypse, the canonical Daniel forms the prototype. The proper place, however, for a particular treatment of Daniel is conventionally the sphere of Old Testament Introduction (see art. Daniel in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible vol. i.). Our list will begin with the Books of Enoch.

1. The Ethiopic Enoch.The adjective Ethiopic has been attached to the title of this work because of another Book of Enoch discovered in a Slavonic version. Outside the canonical Daniel, this is the best known of the apocalypses, because of the quotation from it in Jud 1:14 f. Tertullian knows it, believes in its genuineness, and attempts to account for its transmission through and survival under the vicissitudes of the Flood. It appears to have been neglected, however, through the Middle Ages, and lost until 1773, when two MS copies of an Ethiopic version of it were brought from Abyssinia by J. Bruce. A translation of one of these was made by Lawrence, and published in 1821. But its full importance and significance came to be realized only with Dillmanns critical edition of the Ethiopic text in 1851, which was followed in 1853 by a thorough German translation and commentary. A portion of the Greek text was discovered in 18867, and edited by H. B. Swete.

Contents.As it stands to-day, the Book of Enoch can be subdivided into five main parts with an introduction and a conclusion, as follows: Introductory Discourse, in which the author announces his parable, and formally asks attention to the important matters which he is about to divulge (15).

(a) The first section is concerned with Angelology (636), beginning with the report of the fall of two hundred angels who were enticed by the beauty of the daughters of men, and left heaven in order to take them for wives. Out of these unions sprang giants 3000 cubits in height. The fallen angels, moreover, taught men all manner of secrets whereby they were led into sin. When the giants had consumed all the possessions of men, they turned against the men themselves and smote them until their cry went up to heaven. Ringleaders of the angels are Azazel and Semjz (69). Through the intercession of the four archangels, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel, God is moved to arrest bloodshed upon earth. He sends Uriel to Noah to tell him that He has determined to destroy the world. He commands Raphael to bind Azazel and throw him into a pit in the wilderness, where he shall remain until the day of the great judgment, and then be cast into the fire. He commands Gabriel to rouse the giants against each other; and, finally, he commands Michael to announce to Semjz the sentence of punishment, which is, that the fallen angels shall be kept enchained and imprisoned under the hills of the earth, waiting the last judgment, when they shall be cast into the fire (10). After the destruction of all impiety upon earth, the righteous shall flourish and live long, the earth shall yield abundantly, all people shall pray to God, and all evil shall be banished from the earth (11). The sentence upon the fallen angels is communicated to Enoch (12), and he reveals it to them; but, at their urgent request, he composes a petition on their behalf, that they might obtain forgiveness; while rehearsing this, preparatory to presenting it, he falls asleep and is informed in a dream that their request for forgiveness will not be granted, and once more makes known to the angels their impending doom (1316). Enoch tells of a journey in which he learned of the places where thunders and lightnings originate, and saw the stream of Hades, the corner-stone and the pillars of the world, the seven mountains of precious stones, and the places of punishment of the disobedient angels, i.e. the stars (1719). He gives the names and functions of the six (seven) archangels (20). He once more visits the place of punishment of the condemned angels, and the nether world (21), consisting of four parts (22). He travels to the West (2325). From there he returns to the city of Jerusalem, which is the centre of the earth (26, 27); then he travels to the East (2833), to the North (34, 35), and, lastly, to the South (36).

(b) The second section is Christological, and consists of chs. 3771, subdivided into three Similitudes. A short introductory discourse (37) is followed by the first Similitude, including chs. 3844. The appearance of the Messiah, the righteous One, brings an end of sinners upon earth (38). Enoch is carried by storm-clouds to the end of heaven, and there beholds the pre-existing Kingdom of God, the dwellings of the righteous and the elect, and of angels and archangels (39, 40). He then sees the weighing of mens actions in the balance, the rejection of sinners, the places prepared for the righteous, and certain physical mysteries (lightnings, thunders, winds, hail, mist, clouds, sun and moon, 41), also the place of Wisdom in heaven (42), and, finally, some more physical mysteries (43, 44). The second Similitude includes chs. 4557. It begins with the Messianic Judgment (45). Enoch sees the Son of Man beside the Head of Days (46). An angel explains the vision (47, the Son of Man will overthrow and judge the kings and mighty ones of the ungodly). The task of the pre-existing Son of Man is outlined (48, 49), and the happy consequences of the judgment for the pious, together with the punishments of the wicked, and the resurrection of those who have died in righteousness (50, 51). In a vision of six mountains of metal which pass away, the destruction of the heathen world by the Messiah is portrayed. The heathen world endeavours through offerings to propitiate God, but fails. The angels of punishment go forth to do their work. The synagogue service may now be carried on unhindered (5254:6). An account of the coming flood and its occasion is inserted (54:755:2), and is followed by the final assault of the heathen world-power (55:356) and the return of the dispersed Jews (57). The third Similitude comprises chs. 5869, to which chs. 70 and 71 are added by way of an appendix. It begins with the picture of the blessedness of the righteous in heaven (58); an account of the mystery of lightning and thunder follows (59). A vision of Noah, an account of Leviathan and Behemoth, and various nature-elements which take part in the Flood are then given (60). The judgment of the Son of Man over the angels in heaven, and the sentence of kings by Him, followed by vain pleas on their part for mercy, are given next (6164). Then comes the revelation to Noah of the fall of the angels, the Flood, his own preservation, the punishment of the angels, and the judgment of men by the Son of Man (6569). Enochs translation to Paradise, his ascension to heaven, and his acceptance by the Son of Man, are then given in the appendix (70, 71).

(c) The third section is Cosmological, and consists of chs. 7282. It has been called the Book of the Luminaries of Heaven. It contains a revelation given by the angel Uriel on all sorts of astronomical and geographical matters, among others on the convulsions that will occur during the period of the wicked upon earth. The course of the sun is first described (72), next the course of the moon (73, 74); untoward days (75); the winds (76); the four quarters of heaven (77); further details regarding the rising and setting of the sun (78, 79), changes in the order of things to come in the last Jays (80), and the return of Enoch to the earth; and the committal of these matters to Methusaleh (81, 82).

(d) The fourth section is a Historical forecast. Enoch narrates to his son Methusaleh two visions which he saw before he had taken a wife to himself. The first of these (83, 84) came to him as he was learning to write. It placed before his eyes the picture of the Deluge. The second vision (8590) unfolded before him the whole history of Israel from the creation of man to the end of time. The children of Israel appeared in this vision in the forms of the clean animals (bulls, sheep, lambs, and goats). Their enemies were in the form of dogs, foxes, swine, and all manner of birds of prey. In the conflict between the clean and unclean, the struggle of Israel against her enemies was portrayed. The chosen people were delivered into the hands of lions, tigers, wolves, and jackals (the Assyrians and Babylonians); then they were put under the care of seventy shepherds (angels). (From this fact this section of the book takes the title of Vision of the Seventy Shepherds). The shepherds allowed more of the faithful to perish than was the will of God, but at the critical moment there appeared a white lamb in their midst and entered into a fierce combat with the birds of prey, while a heavenly being gave him assistance. Then the Lord Himself burst forth from heaven, the enemies of Israel were overthrown and exterminated, the judgment ensued, and the universal restoration; and the Messiah was born as a white bull.

(e) The fifth section (91105) is a Book of Exhortations. Enoch commands his son Methusaleh to summon to his side all his other sons, and when they have come he delivers to them an address on righteousness, which is especially designed to instruct the righteous of all ages (91:111). In this first discourse is inserted the prediction of the Ten Weeks (91:1217, 93). The remainder of the book (92, 94, 105) is taken up with final encouragements and messages of hope.

The conclusion of the whole Book of Enoch (106108) contains an account of the marvels destined to accompany the birth of Noah (106, 107), and a new description of the fiery tribulations reserved for the wicked and of the blessings that await those who loved eternal heaven better than their own lives (108).

Literary features.Thus far the Book of Enoch has been treated as it is extant. A closer inspection reveals the fact that it is composite. Criticism is still in a considerable state of flux as to the correct analysis of it. Charles believes it to consist of five primary documents. Clemen finds in it seven separate Enoch traditions or legends worked together by a redactor. The weight of probability, however, is rather in favour of three primitive documents: (1) A Book of Enoch, consisting of chs. 136 and 72105; (2) A Book of Similitudes, including chs. 3671; and (3) a Noachic document, broken up and inserted in various parts within the preceding two. The work of redaction appears to have been done after the two primary documents had undergone some modification, possibly accidental. The redactor used the lost Apocalypse of Noah, alluded to in Jubilees (10:13, 21:10), supplementing what he deemed to he lacunae. The passages inserted from the Book of Noah are the following: 54:755:2, 60, 65:169:25, and 106, 107. To these some would add several other passages.

The date of the first of these documents is the first quarter of the 2nd cent. b.c. (200 to 175); that of the Book of Similitudes offers an as yet unsolved problem whose difficulty is somewhat enhanced by the importance of the issue involved, i.e. the relation the hook sustains to the NT. The fact that this relation is undoubted and intimate has quickened interest and led to the perception of slight considerations otherwise easily left out of view. The weight of these considerations is, moreover, so well balanced that criticism seems unable to reach a general consensus on the subject. The views that divide the field are (1) that the book was composed in the Maccabaean period (Ewald, b.c. 144); (2) that it was produced between b.c. 95 and 64 (Dillmann, Sieffert, Charles); (3) that it was written during the days of Herod (Lcke, Hausrath, Lipsius, Schodde, Schurer, Baldensperger, Beer); (4) that it is a product of the 2nd cent, and written by a Christian who has used an older Jewish apocalypse as a basis (Hoffmann, Weisse, Hilgenfeld, Volkmar, Tideman); (5) that though a Jewish apocalypse and possibly written before the beginning of the Christian era, it was interpolated by a Christian through the insertion of the Son of Man passages (Drummond, Stalker). That the book should have been composed as a Jewish apocalypse and as such adopted the Messianic title Son of Man from the Christian Gospels, is not to be thought of. That it should have been originally a Jewish apocalypse and modified by a Christian, either with a free hand or by the mechanical interpolation of the Son of Man passages, is credible. But a more natural hypothesis is that it was a pre-Christian work, inclusive of the Son of Man passages.

It has been demonstrated by Baldensperger and Dalman that the title Son of Wan occurs in Jewish rabbinical writings as the name of the Messiah (Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , p. 90; Words of Jesus, p. 234 f.); and there is therefore nothing in the occurrence of this phrase to lead to its being considered due to a Christian author. Upon the whole it is probable that the hook was produced in the 1st cent. s.c. The redaction is difficult to locate with precision and may be post-Christian.

The originals of the book were undoubtedly Semitic (Hebrew or Aramaic). The fragment of the Greek version recently discovered shows clear evidences of being the translation of a Semitic original (the case is argued conclusively by Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 21, 22, 325, and Halvy, Journal Asiat. 1887, pp. 352395).

Editions.(1) Ethiopic Text: Lawrence (1838), Dillmann (1851), Flemming (Texte u. Untersuch., Neue Folge, vii. 1, 1902). (2) Greek Fragments: Bouriant (1892), Lods (1892). Charles (1893), Swete (1897).

(3) Translations.English: Lawrence (partial, 1821), Schodde (1882), Charles (1893).German: Hoffmann (18331838), Dillmann (1853), Flemming and Radermacher (1901).French: Lods (the Greek Fragments only, 1892).

Literature.(See Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 921); Lcke, Einl. in d. Offenb. Johan. (1852); Ewald, Abhandl. ub. d. Ethiopic B. Henoch (1855); Hoffmann, Ub. d. Entstehungszeit d. B. Henoch in ZDMG [Note: DMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlndischen Gesellschaft.] , 1852, pp. 8791; Kostlin, Ub. d. Entstehung d. B. Henoch in Theol. Jahrb. 1856, pp. 240279, 370386; Gebhardt, Die 70 Hirten d. B. Henoch in Merx Archiv, vol. ii. 1872, pp. 163246; Wieseler, Zur Abfassungszeit d. B. Henoch in ZDMG [Note: DMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlndischen Gesellschaft.] , 1882, pp. 185195; Lawlor in Journ. of Philol. 1897, pp. 164225; Clemen, Die Zusammensetzung d. B. Henoch, etc. in SK [Note: K Studien und Kritiken.] , 1898, pp. 210227; Stalker, The Christology of Jesus, 1899, App. B, pp. 269294.

2. The Slavonic Enoch.This is one of the most recent additions to our group of apocalypses. Its existence was not indeed suspected before its discovery. But this was due to the fact that a number of books were attributed to Enoch. In this very work Enoch is said to have written 366; cf. 23:6, 68:1. And because some of those were extant in the Ethiopic book no one thought of seeking for more. Nevertheless, it was no source of surprise when it was announced that a new Enoch had been found. This came first as an intimation that a copy of a Slavonic version of the Ethiopic Enoch was in existence (Kozak in Jahrb. f. Prot. Theol. 1892). Prof. Charles started to investigate the matter, and with the assistance of Mr. Morfill procured and examined printed copies of the Slavonic text in question. The result was the publication of the altogether independent and hitherto unknown pseudepigraph (1896). Prof. Charles title for the book is The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, but it is likely to be known in the future by the more convenient title, The Slavonic Enoch,* [Note: Bousset quotes these two works as I and II Enoch respectively (Die Religion des Judenthums, 1903).] which distinguishes it from the better known and older Ethiopic work.

Contents.The book may be divided into three parts, viz. (1) The Ascension of Enoch and his travels in the Seven Heavens (138). (2) The Return and Instructions to his children (3956). (3) Second Series of Instructions, including in his audience an assemblage of 2000 people, and final assumption (5768).

(a) Chs. 138. The book opens with a short prologue, introducing the personality of Enoch, and giving the time and place of a dream he saw (1). Enoch then warns his children of his impending absence from them for a time (2); he is taken by two angels up to the first heaven (3), where he sees 200 angels who guard the treasuries of the snow, the dew, and the oil (46). He is next taken up into the second heaven, and beholds and converses with the fallen angels (7). In the third heaven, the paradise prepared for the righteous (8, 9), he is led to the northern region, where he sees the places of torture (10). From thence he is taken up into the fourth heaven, the habitation of the sun and moon, and there sees the phnixes and chalkadris (chalkydries), mysterious composite beings with heads of crocodiles and bodies of serpents (11, 12). In the eastern portion of the fourth heaven he comes to the gates of the sun (13); thence he is led to the western regions, and hears a song by the phnixes and chalkydries (14, 15). He is then taken to the eastern course, and hears indescribable music by angels (16, 17). Here his visit to the fourth heaven ends; he is carried to the fifth heaven, where he sees the Grigori or Watchers (18). In the sixth heaven he delays only a short time, and thence passes to the seventh 19, 20), where the Lord is seated on a high throne. Here the ministering angels who have brought him take their departure; Enoch falls down and worships the Lord; he is stripped of his earthly clothing, anointed, and robed in suitable apparel; he is given over to Vretil, the archangel (patron of literature), to be instructed (21, 22). Under the guidance of this archangel he writes 366 books (23) He returns into the presence of the Lord, and holds direct converse with Him, learning the secrets of creation (2429:2), and of the formation of 10,000 angels and the fall of Satanail (29:35); also of the creation of man, i.e. Adam and Eve (30), his being placed in paradise, his fall and judgment (31, 32). God then declares His purposes for the future (33, 34), and sends him back to the earth to stay thirty days longer and teach his children the true knowledge of God (3538).

(b) Chs. 3956. Enoch now begins his admonitions and instructions to his children (39); he tells of the manner in which he was given his visions, and of how he wrote them down (40); of how he wept for the sins of Adam (41); of his visit to the gates of hell, and the impression produced upon him (42); of the judgment of the Lord (43); of the duty of charity (44); of the superiority of a contrite and broken heart to sacrifice as a means of pleasing God (45); of Gods love of purity in heart and His rejection of the sacrifices of the impure (46); and commends his writing to them as a permanent means of knowing Gods will (47, 48). He further instructs them not to swear by heaven or the earth, and deprecates vengeance (49, 50); he urges them to be generous to the poor, not to hoard up treasures on earth (51), to praise God, and to be at peace with men (52). He enjoins them not to trust in his own intercession with God, but to give heed to his writings and be wise (53); and closes his address with an exhortation to circulate his writings, announcing at the same time that the hour for his ascension to heaven has come (54, 55).

(c) Chs. 5667. The second series of Exhortations opens with a request by Methosalem for a blessing over the houses and children of Enoch (56); Enoch asks Methosalem to call his brothers together (57), and gives them his instructions (58), especially that they should not eat the flesh of cattle (59), nor kill any man through net, weapon, or tongue (60); but practise righteousness, and trust in repentance for the future (61, 62), and not despise the humble and thus incur Gods curse (63). At this point God calls Enoch with a loud voice, and 2000 persons come together to give him their greetings (64); he delivers his final exhortations to them, which are to the effect that they should fear and serve the Lord (65, 66). A thick darkness covers the earth, and while it lasts Enoch is taken up, but no one knows how (67). The book concludes with a summary of Enochs life and work, and an account of Methosalems building an altar upon the spot where his father was last seen before his ascension.

Literary questions.The author of the work was an Alexandrian Jew. This is made clear by the affinities of his style and thought with those of Philo, his use of the LXX Septuagint , his portraiture of phnixes and chalkadris (chalkydries), and his syncretistic cosmogony. The date of composition cannot be later than a.d. 70. The temple was evidently still standing, and sacrifice was offered (59:2). But the Ethiopic Enoch was also in existence (40:59, cf. also 43:2, 3, 52:8, 61:2, 4).

The original language was undoubtedly Greek. This is proved by the explanation of the name Adam, which is made upon the basis of the Greek form , each letter representing one of the cardinal points of the compass (, , , ). The book was known and used by Barnabas, by the author of the Ascension of Isaiah, by the author of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, by some of the many Sibyls, and by Irenaeus.

Editions.The Slavonic text has been published from different manuscripts, varying more or less from one another, and not as yet fully collated (Popoff, 1880).

Translations.English: Charles and Morfill, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, 1896.German: Bonwetsch, Das Slavische Henochhuch in Abhandl. d. Gott. Ges. d. Wiss. (Phil. [Note: Philistine.] -hist. Klasse, Neue Folg. 13, 1896).

Literature.Harnack, Gesch. d. Altchrist. Lift. ii. 1, 1897, p. 564; Charles in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , 1898; Volz, Jud. Eschatologie, 1903, pp. 29, 30.

3. The Sibylline Oracles.The name sibyl is of uncertain derivation. Even the spelling of the word varies in the earliest period. It is, however, a very ancient one, and occurs as early as in the works of Heraclitus. By the Romans a number (ten) of sibyls were distinguished. The one of Erythrae in Ionia is reckoned the oldest. The sibyl of Cumae (Kyme) became the most famous. Large collections of verses were circulated under her name during the latter years of the commonwealth and the early empire. Sibylline verses became common in Egypt, and there arose a so-called Jewish sibyl simultaneously with the appearance of the spirit of proselytism among the Jews. Finally, a Christian sibyl came into existence in succession to and imitation of the Jewish one. The productions of the Jewish and Christian sibyls are for the most part blended into one body. They constitute a compilation of hexameters in twelve Books, besides some fragments. Each of these is evidently independent of the others, and may have circulated separately.

Contents.Book I. opens with an account of the Creation, based upon Genesis. This is followed by the story of the Fall, the multiplication of mankind, the appearance of four successive races down to the days of the giants, the story of Noah and the Flood, a sixth race and the Titans, from whom the transition is made to Christ, and the dispersion of the Jews.Book II. predicts a time of plagues and wickedness, which is succeeded by the tenth race (the Romans), and a period of peace. After an interpolation of a group of proverbs, the woes of the last generations are portrayed, and the events of the last day of judgment and resurrection are foretold. Then follows a picture of the punishment of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous.Book III. extols the unity and power of God, denounces idolatry, proclaims the coming of the Great King, and of his opponent Beliar, foreshadows the reign of a woman (Cleopatra), and the subjection of the world to Christ. At this point the sibyl returns to the origin of man, and beginning with the Tower of Babel recounts the story as given in the OT down to Roman days. She foretells the doom of Rome, and of many Asiatic cities, as well as of the islands of the aegean. A general judgment and millennium (Messianic Day) closes the book.Book IV. declares the blessedness of the righteous, sketches successively the Assyrian and Medo-Persian dominations, announcing the Greek conquest, which will bring woes on Phrygia, Asia, and Egypt; one great king, especially will cause calamities to fall on Sicily and Greece. After the Macedonian will come a Roman conquest. The impious will suffer many evils, and a general resurrection, judgment and retribution will follow.Book V. opens with a prophecy of the reign of the Roman emperors; it then passes in review the calamities impending on Egypt and Asia Minor; it breaks out into a felicitation of the Jews and Judaea, and of the heavenly Joshua, and once more returns to further details of judgment, such as the destruction of Serapis, Isis, and the Ethiopians.Book VI. describes the pre-existence, incarnation, and baptism of the Son of God, His teaching and miracles, the miseries in store for the guilty land, and the glories of the Cross.Book VII. is an account of the woes impending upon various lands and cities of Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt, in which just one prediction of the signs of the Messiah is incorporated.Book VIII. is a history of the world under five monarchies. The fifth of these furnishes the subject for a prophecy of misery, judgment, and destruction. From this the sibyl passes to the denunciation of woes upon Egypt, the islands of the Mediterranean, and Persia, and closes with a picture of the Messiah.Books IX. and X. are in fragments.Book XI. is an orderly story of the world-powers from the time of the Tower of Babel to the subjection of Egypt under Cleopatra.Book XII. pictures the fortunes of the Caesars, beginning with Augustus and closing with Alexander Severus.Book XIII. concerns the times of the emperors of the 1st cent., beginning with Maximin. It touches more especially upon their relations with the Persians and Syrians, closing with an allegory of a bull, a stag, a lion, and a goat.Book XIV. is the most obscure of the Sibylline productions. The writer evidently intends to unfold the fortunes of a long succession of emperors and conquerors. He gives the initial letter of the name of each, and suggests other ways of identification. But his descriptions are so wide of the historical figures that they cannot be safely identified. The period portrayed is generally the late Roman and possibly the early Byzantine.

Literary questions.The a hove division into books was made in the 6th cent. of the Christian era (during the reign of Justinian). Whoever made it is also responsible for the collection of the oracles from various sources, and the insertion of certain verses of his own among them. It has been conjectured that he was a literary monastic and expert transcriber of manuscripts. Before his time the verses were circulated in a rude, undigested mass. The task of unravelling the confusion, which does not seem to have disturbed him, and of rearranging the material according to authorship and date of origin, is a very complex one, and not as yet fully accomplished. This much is evident, however, that there are four classes of utterances in the oracles: (1) those which issue from a Jewish source; (2) those which come from a Christian; (3) those which are of heathen origin; and (4) neutral elements. The last of these adds very much to the difficulty of the critical problem. The heathen elements are not very extensive, and attach themselves in general to the Jewish. For the rest, the analysis which results from the labours of Ewald and Alexandre may be safely adopted as workable, and is as follows:

The Sibylline Oracles may be grouped into eight parts, each by a different author and from a different age, as follows(1) The Prologue of Book I. and Book III., 97828, belong to the age of Ptolemy Physcon (b.c. 140). They were therefore written by an Alexandrian Jew. They constitute the pith and kernel of the whole collection in point of value for the study of inter-Testamental conditions and modes of thought, and for the times of Jesus. (2) Book IV. was written about a.d. 80. Its author may have been either a Christian or a Jew, with the probability largely in favour of the former alternative. (3) Book V., with the possible exception of the first part, issued from the 1st cent. a.d., and is a mixture of Jewish and Christian fragments impossible to disentangle from each other. (4) Books VI. and VII. (to which Ewald adds the first part of Book V.) date from the early part of the 3rd century. The author was a heretical Christian. (5) Book VIII., 1360, is also by a Christian, but not a heretic, probably of the middle of the 3rd century. (6) Book VIII. 361501, is also by an orthodox Christian of the 3rd century. (7) Book I. (without the Prologue), Book II., and Book III. 135, come from the middle of the 3rd cent., and are of Christian origin. (8) Books XI., XII., XIII., and XIV. were written by a Jew resident in Egypt, who, however, lived in Christian times, and is acquainted with some Christian practices. According to this analysis, these oracles cover a period of more than 400 years in their production, and represent a wide variety of types of thought.

Editions.The first eight books in the original Greek text were published in 1545 at Basel, and subsequently by others up to Angelo Mai (1819 and 1828, Milan). The first complete edition is that of Alexandre (1841, and again 1869). Recent critical editions by Rzach (1891), Geffcken (1902), and Heitz (1903).

Translations.Latin: Sebastian Castalio (1546), Angelo Mai (1817).English: Floyer (prose, 1731), M. S. Terry (metrical, 1899).French: Bouch Leclercq in Revue, de lHistoire des Religions, vols. vii. 1883, pp. 236248; viii. 1883, pp. 619635; ix. 1884, pp. 220233 (left incomplete).German: Friedlieb (1852), Blass (of III. IV. and V. in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900)

Literature.(See Englemann, Bibliotheca Seriptorum Classicorum, 1880, i. p. 528); Bleek, Ub. d. Entstehung u. Zusammensetz. d. Sibyl. Or. in Theol. Zeitschr., herausg. v. Schleiermacher, de Wette, u. Lcke, i. 1819, pp. 120246; ii. 1820, pp. 172239; Hilgenfeld, Die Judische Sibyllen-Weissagung in ZWTh, 1860, pp. 313319; also 1871, pp. 3050; Ewald, Abhandlung b. Entstehung, Inhalt u. Wert. d. Sibyll. Bucher, 1858; Laroque, Sur la date du troisieme Livre Sib. in Revue Archolog., 1869, pp. 269270; Bernhardy, Grundriss der Griech. Litt., iii. (ii. 1, pp. 441453, 1867); Buresch, Die Pseudosih. Or. in Jahrbb. f. Class. Phil. [Note: Philistine.] 1891, pp. 529555; 1892, pp. 273308; Friedlander, La Sibylle Juive in REJ [Note: EJ Revue des Etudes Juives.] , 1894, pp. 183196; Harnack, Gesch. d. Altchrist. Litt. i. 762, 861863; ii. 581589; Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. iii. 271292.

4. The Assumption of Moses.There is some vagueness in the early Patristic references to the Assumption of Moses. Syncellus (ed. Dind. i. 48) mentions an Apocalypse of Moses. Clement of Alexandria (Adumb. in Epist. Jud. [ap. Zahn, Supplementum Clementinum, 84]) and Didymus (Epist. Judae Enarratio [in Gallandi, Bib. Patr. vi. 307]), allude to an Assumptio Moysi. Origen (de Princ, iii. ii. 1) refers to an Adscensio Mosis. In the Acts of the Nicene Synod (Mansi, Sacror. Concil., Nova Collectio, ii. 18, 20) there is mention again of an Assumption of Moses. In other lists of apocrypha, a Testament () of Moses is mentioned (Stichometry of Nicephorus and Synopsis of pseudo-Athanasius). It has been argued (by Schrer, followed by Charles) that these two titles represent two separate divisions of one and the same book, or two books fused together in one. The work was lost during the Middle Ages, and recovered by Ceriani in an old Latin version in the Ambrosian Library at Milan in 1861.

Contents.Moses calls to himself Joshua, the son of Nun, and directs him to preserve his writings (1). He then forecasts the apostasy and distress of the twelve tribes of Israel and their divisions into the ten and two (2), their awakening to consciousness of their sin, their repentance (3), the restoration of the two tribes and the preservation of the ten among the Gentiles (4), their repeated backslidings (5), the tyranny of Herod (6), the prevalence of wicked leaders over them (7), the oppression by the Romans (8), the advent of the Levite Taxo,* [Note: After unsuccessful attempts by many others, a satisfactory explanation of this name has been given by Burkitt (see Hastings DB iii. 449b). Taxo is a copyists mistake for Taxok. And this is to be read by Gematria as Eleazar. . Eleazar the father of seven sons is the great Levite (2Ma 6:19).] who was destined to restore a better state of things among them (9). At this point the author inserts a Psalm of Hope and adds a few concluding words closing the discourse of Moses (10). Joshua then laments over the course of events revealed to him, and refuses to be comforted (11); but Moses urges him to take up his work, and conquer and destroy the Gentiles (12). At this point the book breaks off rather abruptly.

Literary questions.The Patristic quotations from the Assumption of Moses identify the words of Jud 1:9 as from this book; but as the extant text does not contain the words, it can only he that it is either (1) wrongly entitled, or (2) that the quotation is made from the second part of it which is lost (Schrer), or (3) that two separate works entitled respectively The Testament of Moses and the Assumption (Ascension) of Moses were fused into one (Charles). The last position is most convincingly supported by its advocate, and seems the most probable. The present so-called Assumption of Moses is then the Testament of Moses, bearing within it traces of the addition to it of the original Assumption of Moses.

The text of the book exists in a single Latin manuscript of the 5th (6th) cent. a.d. This is undoubtedly a translation from a Greek text. It has been further conjectured that the Greek itself was a translation of a Hebrew or Aramaic original; but though the advocates of each of these languages, as also of the Greek, strenuously defend each his position, in the absence of definite data nothing can be dogmatically asserted on the point. Hilgenfeld and Drummond favour a Greek original; Ewald argues for a Semitic (either Hebrew or Aramaic); Wieseler and Laogen, for a Hebrew; Hausrath, Schmidt-Merx, Dillmann, Thompson, for an Aramaic.

The author of the work was probably a devout Jew, a Pharisee, and a mystic who does not share but rather aims to defeat the purposes of the Zealots (so Charles, but it has been strenuously maintained that he was a Zealot). The date of the composition is fixed by the allusion to Herod the Great. At the earliest, it must be 44, but various dates down to 138 have been advocated. The design of the author seems to be to teach the lesson that God has foreseen and foreshadowed all things; hence Israel should entertain no fear. A deliverer is to come.

Editions.Ceriani (Monumenta Sacra et Profana, vol. i. Fasc. 1, pp. 5564), Hilgenfeld (NT extra Canonem Receptum, 1876, pp. 107135), Schmidt-Merx (Archiv, i. ii. 1868, p. 111 ff.), Fritzsche (Lib. Apocalypse, Apocalyptic Vet. Test. 1871, pp. 700 to 730), Charles (Assumption of Moses, 1897, pp. 54101).

Translations.Greek: Hilgenfeld (attempted restoration from the Latin, Messias Judaeorum, 1869, pp. 435468).English: Charles, Assumption of Moses (1897).German: Volkmar, Mose Prophetie und Himmelfahrt (1867), Clemen in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. (1900).

Literature.Colani, LAssomption de Mose in Revue de Theol. 1868, pp. 6594; Wieseler, Die jungst aufgefundene Aufnahme Moses, etc., in Jahrbb. f. deutsche Theol. 1868, pp. 622648; Heidenheim, Beitrage z. besser. Verstaodniss d. Ascensio Mosis in Vierteljahrschrift f. deutsche u. englische Theologie, 1874, pp. 216218; Hilgenfeld, ZWTh, 1886, pp. 132139; Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. iii. 7383.

5. Fourth Ezra (Second Esdras).This pseudepigraph has been known from the earliest Christian days, and widely circulated under the name of Ezra as his second, third, fourth, or fifth book, according to the various ways of grouping and entitling the books that issue from the Restoration generation. (See explanation of these names by Thackeray in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , art. Esdras, First Book of). Fourth Ezra, however, has come to be generally accepted as the name for it.

Contents.This is given in seven visions. The First Vision (2Es 3:1 to 2Es 5:19) is granted to Ezra in answer to disturbing doubts arising in his mind. These concern the origin of sin and suffering in the world (2Es 3:1-36). An angel gives him the answer: Gods ways are inscrutable. The human spirit can comprehend but little (2Es 4:1-21). But as he pleads that it is painful to be left in ignorance on such vital matters, he is assured of a change of aeon to take place soon. Definite signs will mark the change. He must fast for seven days, and receive another revelation at the end of that time (2Es 4:22 to 2Es 5:19).

The Second Vision (2Es 5:20 to 2Es 6:34) is granted in answer to the question, Why has God given over His only chosen people into the hands of the heathen? (2Es 5:20-30). He receives the answer that God loves His people, and the problem must be regarded as not solvable for man: nevertheless deliverance is drawing near; the generations of men are passing; the world has become old; the signs of the end are visible (2Es 5:31 to 2Es 6:34).

The Third Vision (2Es 6:35 to 2Es 9:25), like the second, is given after a period of seven days fasting, and is in answer to the question, Why does not Israel possess the land which belongs to it? (2Es 6:35-59). The answer is not direct. An evil age must necessarily precede the good that shall be in the future (2Es 7:1-16). The doom of sinners is grievous but well-deserved. The Son of God, the Christ, shall appear in judgment (2Es 7:17-44). Few are chosen, but all the greater is the honour conferred on them (2Es 7:45-70). A sevenfold suffering and a sevenfold joy await men in the intermediate state (7:75101). Intercession for the condemned will be of no avail at the last judgment (7:102115), they have deserved their doom (7:118131). Gods mercy is consistent with the sufferings of the condemned (7:1328:19). At this point Ezra interposes a prayer and receives an answer (2Es 8:20-45). The saved shall rejoice at their own lot, and forget the sufferings of sinners (2Es 8:46-61). It is certain that the end of the world is nigh. The signs are not to be mistaken (2Es 8:62 to 2Es 9:13). There are more of the lost than of the saved (2Es 9:14-25).

The Fourth Vision (2Es 9:26 to 2Es 10:58) is given upon the Plain of Ardath. It consists of a symbolic picture of Zions sorrow, followed by glory. The vision (2Es 9:26 to 2Es 10:28) presents a woman in tattered garments, weeping and wailing because of her lost son. The explanation by the angel (2Es 10:29-58) identities the woman with Zion, and points out the lesson to the seer.

The Fifth Vision (2Es 10:59 to 2Es 12:51) presents the fourth world-empire under the figure of an eagle coming out of the sea, and like the fourth vision falls into two parts, i.e. the Vision (2Es 10:59 to 2Es 12:3) and the interpretation of it by the angel (2Es 12:4-40). This is followed by a Conclusion in story form. The people come out to seek for Ezra, they find him in the plain, and he sends them back into the city (2Es 12:40-51).

The Sixth Vision (2Es 13:1-58) portrays a man emerging out of a stormy sea and floating on a cloudless heaven (2Es 13:1-4). A countless multitude comes to wage war against him; but by a stream of fire proceeding from his mouth he overcomes his enemies (2Es 13:5-11). Then another host of friendly men flock around him (2Es 13:12-13). The question is raised, Is it better to survive to the end of the world or to die beforehand? It is answered in favour of the former alternative (2Es 13:14-24). The explanation of the vision follows. The man in the cloud is the Son of God, the events are those of the Messianic age (2Es 13:25-58).

The Seventh Vision (2Es 14:1-48) is given three days after the sixth, under an oak. This is the familiar legend of Ezras restoring the lost Scriptures. But it begins with a command to keep his present vision secret (2Es 14:1-17). A prayer of Ezra follows, in which he beseeches the Lord for the privilege of rewriting the lost Scriptures (2Es 14:17-26). The prayer is answered, and Ezra reproduces the lost books together with seventy others (2Es 14:27-48). The book concludes with an account of Ezras decease.

The above does not include chs. 1, 2 and 15, 16, found in the Latin Version, which is the basis of the chapter divisions of the book. The Latin Version has also served as the basis of some current translations into English (The Variorum Apocrypha, by C. J. Ball, and in Waces Holy Bible, Apocrypha, by Lupton). These four chapters are universally regarded as later additions by a strongly anti-Jewish Christian author, appended respectively to the beginning and end of the Latin Version. The other versions do not contain them. They have been detached and published together as 5th Esdras by Fritzsche (Lib. Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] Vet. Test. Liber Esdrae Quintus, pp. 640653).

Literary questions.The book is a unity, and comparatively free from interpolations and editorial tampering. The author was a devout man for whom problems of theodicy especially had a considerable fascination, but he is also interested in the broader and more constant questions which recur in the religious sphere with every generation. He naturally looks into his own age, and finds no sign of a restoration to righteousness and recognition of God in the forces that work there. He accordingly plants his hopes in the world to come.

Kabisch has indeed analyzed the work into four different productions fused together into unity by clumsy redactors (Das Vierte Buch Esra, 1889), and his theory has been substantially accepted by de Faye, but his observations would lead rather to the composition of the book from pre-existing sources than to the bringing together of independent books of documents by a redactor. The impression of unity is too strong to be destroyed by such considerations as Kabisch alleges.

The date of the book cannot be earlier than the fall of Jerusalem, as that event is distinctly alluded to (3:2, 10:48, 12:48). The Temple is destroyed and the service in abeyance (10:21). A still later chronological starting-point is given in an allusion to the death of Titus (11:35); the author even expects the death of Domitian (12:2, 28). It is safe, therefore, to set down the year 90 as approximately the time of composition.

Editions.The book exists in Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic (2), and Armenian versions. The original was in Greek. This is made evident by the characteristic differences of the versions. They are all easily accounted for by an original Greek. The Latin text was first edited critically by Volkmar (1863); also by Fritzsche (Lib. Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] Vet. Test. 1871). The Syriac was published in Cerianis Monumenta Sacra, i. Fasc. 2 (1866); also in photolithographic reproduction, under the title Translatio Syro-Peseitto Veteris Testamenti, etc. (18761883); again by R. Bensly, with an introd. by M. R. James (Texts and Studies, Camb. iii. 2, 1895). The Ethiopic was published by Lawrence (1820), the Arabic by Gildemeister (1877), the Armenian by the Mechitharists in Venice (1806).

Translations.English: Bissell (Langes Commentary, 1880), Lupton (Waces Apocrypha, 1888).German: Volkmar (1863), Ewald (Abhandl. d. Gott. Gesellseh. d. Wiss. xi. 18621863), Zockler (Kgf. Kom. 1891). A translation into Greek was made and published by Hilgenfeld (Messias Judaerum, 1869).

Literature.Corrodi, Krit. Gesch. d. Chiliasmus, 1781, vol. i. pp. 179230; Gudschmid, Die Apocalypse, Apocalyptic des Esra, etc., in ZWTh, 1860; Volkmar, Handbuch d. Einleit. in die. Apokr. 1893; Wieseler, Das Vierte b. Ezra in SK [Note: K Studien und Kritiken.] , 1870, pp. 263304; Kabisch, Das Vierte B Ezra, 1889; Schieffer, Die religiosen und ethischen Ansehauungen des IV Ezra Buches, 1901; Clemen in SK [Note: K Studien und Kritiken.] , 1898, pp. 237246; Schrer, GJV [Note: JV Geschichte des Jdischen Volkes.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] iii. 232 ff. [HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. iii. 93 ff.].

6. The Syriac Baruch.Baruch is mentioned as Jeremiahs companion and helper during the trying days which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportations under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (Jer 32:12-13; Jer 32:36). The fact that he wrote under Jeremiahs direction seems to have stimulated the tendency to publish alleged prophecies and revelations in his name. The first of these was the book that passed into the group of OT Apocrypha. One of Cerianis many contributions to apocalyptics was the discovery, translation into Latin (1866), and later publication of a Syriac text of a Book of Baruch (Monumenta Sacra, v. 1871, pp. 1118).

Contents.The book is divided into two main parts, i.e. the Apocalypse proper (chs. 177) and the Letter to the Nine Tribes and a Half (chs. 7887).

Part I. may again be subdivided into seven sections. (1) The first section (112) begins with the announcement of the impending fall of Jerusalem, and the captivity of Judah; next comes the portraiture of the advancing Chaldaeans, the hiding of the treasures of the Temple, and the destruction of the walls by angels, so that the Chaldaeans might not claim the glory of the capture of the city. The next day the city is occupied by the enemy (68). Baruch stays amid the ruins of the city, while Jeremiah, by Divine command, accompanies the exiles to Babylon (912).(2) The second section (1320) contains a vision given to Baruch while standing on Mount Zion. He is assured that the calamity just fallen on the chosen people has been inflicted in mercy (13); he complains that good men are no better than others, but is answered that sin in one who possesses the Law is worthy of being punished (14, 15). He expresses other misgivings which are answered. He is then promised a new revelation (1620).(3) The third section (2134) opens with Baruchs appearance at the end of seven days in the place appointed. Here he expresses his thoughts in the form of a prayer (21); he is shown that his knowledge is imperfect, that the time is coming when Gods judgment will mature (2225); he wishes to know of the distresses of the last days (26), and is given a revelation concerning the order of the times. The tribulation will come in twelve stages (27); the whole earth will be affected, but those in the chosen land will escape; the Messiah will appear, first to bring blessings to the righteous on the earth (28, 29), and then, as He returns to His glory, to raise from the dead both the righteous and the unrighteous, and consign them respectively to happiness and perdition (30). Baruch then summons the elders of the people, and announces to them that the ruined Zion shall be rebuilt and destroyed again, and finally restored in glory to last for ever (3134).(4) The fourth section (3546) gives a vision which Baruch saw as he slept amid the ruins of the Holy Place. On one side there appeared a great forest in a valley surrounded with mountains; on the other side a vine with a gentle spring streaming from beneath its roots. But the spring grew into a mighty river, and overwhelmed the forest, together with the mountains round about. A solitary cedar was left. The stream first addressed words of denunciation against the cedar, and then annihilated it. In the place of forest and mountains the vine grew, and the valley was filled with blossoms (3537). The interpretation of the vision is given as requested by Baruch. The kingdoms which have oppressed Zion shall be overwhelmed by the Messiah. The cedar is the last king of the last kingdom; he shall be slain by the Messiah, who shall then begin His eternal reign (3840). Baruch is commanded to warn the people and prepare himself for further visions (4143), which he accordingly does (4446).(5) The fifth section (4752) also opens with a prayer of Baruchs offered seven days later (4748:24). In answer Baruch receives a new revelation regarding the distress of the last days (48:2550), and of the resurrection both of the evil and the good, together with their punishment and reward (4952).(6) The sixth section (5376) is again in the form of a vision. A cloud ascends from the sea, and pours forth upon the earth black and white (dark and bright) waters. Lightning illumines it, and twelve streams are put in subjection under it (53). Baruch prays that it may be explained to him (54), and the angel Ramael is sent to him to interpret the vision (55). The cloud pouring forth the waters represents mankind in its historical unfolding; the dark waters stand for evil ages, the bright for good. The course of the world from Adam to the Exile is thus symbolized. The twelve periods are identified with the bright and dark streams (5668). The twelfth is the age of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and of the restoration of the Temple service. These twelve are followed by a last black stream, which stands for the tribulation of the Messianic age. Then shall the Messiah take charge of the few saved ones (6971). The lightning is the Messiah, and His eternal beneficent reign (7274). Baruch thanks God, and is informed that he will shortly be taken from the earth, though not by death (75, 76).(7) The seventh section tells how Baruch called the people together, told them of his impending departure, wrote two letters, one to the exiles in Babylon and the other to the nine and a half tribes in the regions beyond, and how he sent the first by messengers and entrusted the second to an eagle (77).

Part II. This part of the book is taken up with the letter to the nine tribes and a half (7887). In it Baruch recalls to the minds of the tribes Gods mercy, and assures them that their sufferings are intended for their good (7881). God has shown Baruch in visions the meaning of their experiences and the doom of their enemies (8284); they should therefore be undismayed, and expect speedy deliverance, for the end is near (85). The letter then ends with formal instructions (86, 87).

Literary questions.The extant text in Syriac is from an original Greek. This is shown by the use of such forms as Godolias, Sedekias, etc., which could only have been made from the Greek. The word for splendour in 3:7 is manifestly a translation of . But if the Syriac was made from a Greek text, was this Greek the original language of the book? The answer demanded by the facts seems to be negative. There are traces of a Hebrew original behind the Greek. The most distinct of these is the occurrence of Hebrew idioms surviving through the two translations. Moreover, the quotations agree in all cases with the Hebrew text as distinguished from the LXX Septuagint , which must have been used had the original been in Greek. Certain obscurities, too, can be cleared up by retranslation into Hebrew. (For the full argument see Charles, The Apocalypse, Apocalyptic of Baruch, pp. xliiiliii).

The relation of this apocalypse to 4 Ezra is very striking. Both books seem to be the products of the same environment. They deal with the same questions and in similar fashion. Their resemblances are indeed so marked that they have been denominated the twin apocalypses.

The author of Baruch was evidently a Jew. The date when he wrote is determined partly from his relation to the author of 4 Ezra. There are other data in the case. Papias quotes one sentence from it, though attributing the expression to Jesus. This fixes the terminus ad quem as a.d. 130. The terminus a quo is an allusion to Ethiopic Enoch 56:12, 13, hence b.c. 160. Charles, however, following Kabisch, believes that it was put together out of five or six independent writings, composed between a.d. 50 and 90, some time about the year 100.

Editions.The Syriac Text: Ceriani (Monumenta Sacra, v. fasc. 11, 1871; also in photolithographic reproduction of the entire MS of the Syriac OT, 1876).

Translations.Latin: Ceriani (1866); Fritzsche, Lib Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] 1861.English: Charles, The Apocalypse of Baruch, 1896.German: Rothstein in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900.

Literature.Laugen, de Apocalypsi Baruch, 1867; Renan, LApocalypse de Baruch in Journal des Savants, 1877, pp. 222231; Kneucker, Das Buch Bar. 1879; Hilgenfeld, ZWTh, 1888, pp. 257278; Kabisch, Die Quellen Baruchs in Jahrb. f. Prot. Theol. 1892, pp. 66107; Clemen, SK [Note: K Studien und Kritiken.] , 1898, pp. 227237.

7. The Greek Baruch.A hint as to the existence of another book bearing the name Baruch was long known to exist in a passage of Origen (de Princ. ii. iii. 6), in which he alludes to Baruchs account of the Seven Heavens. No such account is to be found either in the OT apocryphon or in the Syriac apocalypse bearing the name of Baruch. But it was not until 1896 that the book alluded to by Origen was discovered and published in Texts and Studies (Camb. vol. v. 1, pp. 8494).

Contents.The book opens with Baruchs lamentation and prayer over the fallen kingdom of Judah. Forthwith an angel visits him and promises to show him wonderful secrets (1). The promise is fulfilled. He is taken up into the first heaven, where he sees creatures with the face of bulls, the horns of stags, the feet of goats, and the haunches of lambs; he then inquires as to the dimensions of this heaven, and is given some astounding figures (2). In the second heaven he sees men with the look of dogs and the feet of deer. They are those who have counselled the building of the tower [of Babel] (3). In the third heaven he sees a dragon which lives on the bodies of the wicked; it is Hades. He further learns that the tree which caused Adams fall was the vine, and therefore the abuse of the fruit of the vine has ever since been the source of fearful evils to men (4). He is told the nature of Hades (5), and is shown the Phnix, which protects the earth from the burning rays of the sun (6). The approach of this monster terrifies him (7). He learns that the renewing of the crown of the sun is necessary, because the view of the sins of men daily dims and weakens this luminary; it must be cleansed and refreshed at the end of each day (8). The chariot of the moon and the explanation of its stages, together with the reason for its shining only at night, are then made known to Baruch (9). In the fourth heaven he comes into view of a vast plain and body of water which is the source of the dew of heaven (10). The gates of the fifth heaven are closed as he and his guide come to them; but upon being opened they admit the archangel Michael, who receives the prayers and good works of the righteous and presents them before God (11, 12). The guardian angels of the unrighteous petition to be released from their hated work, but are told to wait (13). Michael departs, but returns again bringing oil, which he gives to the angels that had brought to him the virtues of men (14, 15). He addresses the angels who had brought no good works (16). The gate closes, and the prophet and angel return to the earth.

Literary questionsThus far there are two recensions of this apocalypse known, the Greek and the Slavonic. But neither of them is believed to be the original. Their relations to one another are those of a more and a less condensed version of the same story. That the original must have been fuller and larger is clear from Origens intimation that it gave an account of seven heavens, whereas the Greek text before us stops with the fifth heaven, and the Slavonic knows of only two.

The relation of the book to the Syriac Baruch is probably explained by referring to 76:3, 4 of that work. Here God promises to give Baruch, after the lapse of forty days, a further revelation regarding the world of material elements (the cycle of the earth, the summits of the mountains, the depths of the valleys and of the seas, and the number of the rivers). The fulfilment of this promise is not recorded in what follows, and the Greek apocalypse was composed to show not only that it was fulfilled, but also in what way.

This dependence on the Syriac Baruch on the one side and the allusion of Origen to the work on the other, fix the date of its composition as between 100 and 175 a.d. It was written as a Jewish apocalypse, but shows traces of interpolation by Christians (cf. ch. 4, The Vine).

Editions.Greek Text: James (Texts and Studies, Camb. 1897, v. 1, pp. 8494).

Translations.English: James (as above); the Slavonic text, pub. by Novakovitch, is given in English translation by Morfill in the same volume with the edition of the Greek text by James.German: Bonwetsch (Nachrichten von d. Konig. Gesell. d. Wiss. zu Gtt., Phil. [Note: Philistine.] Klasse, 1896, pp. 94101); Ryssel in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900.

Literature.This is limited almost altogether to the introductions accompanying the editions and translations. Of these, however, that by Prof. James is quite ample and thorough.

8. The Psalter of Solomon.The Psalter of Solomon is placed in the Stichometry of Nicephorus among the Antilegomena of the OT, and not among the Apocrypha; so also in pseudo-Athanasius Synopsis S. Scripturae. It is a collection of lyrics, each one independent of every other. Only the last two of these (the 17th and 18th), strictly speaking, fall into the group of apocalyptic writings. They were known and referred to as the Odes of Solomon as early as the Pistis Sophia (200 to 250 a.d.), and frequently later than that date.

Contents.Psalms 17 is in general a prophecy of the restoration of the glory to the desolated throne of David. It opens with an expression of trust in the Lord, the Eternal King of Israel, addressed directly to Him (14). The Lord (still addressed in the second person) has chosen David to be king over Israel, and promised him and his seed perpetual dominion; but sinners have risen up against Israel and have desolated the throne of David (58); yet the Lord will cast these down and visit them according to their sins (912). They have done wickedly and acted proudly (1317); the righteous fled before them and wandered in desert places (1820); the sins of the wicked have abounded (21, 22); the Lord is to raise the son of David, His Servant, purge Jerusalem, cast down the unrighteous and lawless nation, gather together His people, and judge all the tribes of men (2336). He will not put confidence in human weapons of warfare, but in the Lord; and the Lord will bless him, will strengthen and give him dominion (3744). He shall rule righteously and wisely (4549). Blessed are they who shall live in his day (50, 51).

Psalms 18 is on the Messianic Age. It begins with an ascription of praise to the Lord for His favour to Israel and His love to the seed of Abraham (15). It foreshadows a blessed day in which God shall purge Israel and raise His Messiah (6); it declares the blessedness of those who shall live in the days of the Anointed (710), and closes with a doxology for the constancy and perpetuity of the heavenly luminary (1114).

Literary questions.Though the Psalter of Solomon is a collection of independent compositions, these apparently issue from the same historical conditions and are pervaded by the same spirit and tone. They nowhere claim to be Solomons composition. This claim was made for them by later copyists. In general, the conditions under which they were written are those of the period of thirty years between 70 and 40 b.c. Pompey is alluded to as the mighty striker who comes from the ends of the earth (8:16). Certain princes of the land go forth to meet him and welcome him (8:18). These are Aristobulns ii. and Hyrcanus ii. The Gentiles tread Jerusalem under foot (2:20, 8:23, 24); but he who has conquered it and inflicted severe sufferings on it is finally overtaken and suffers a shameful death in Egypt (2:29, 30). All this points directly to the Roman conquest under Pompey.

Some older critics read the allusions above indicated as having reference to Herod and his days (Movers, Keim); Ewald saw in them Antiochus Epiphanes and his times; but these identifications are manifestly far-fetched. The consensus of critics is now against them. But there are exceptions, such as Frankenberg, who advocates the age of Antiochus.

The original language of the Psalter was Hebrew. The radical difference between the type of Messianism held up in 17 and 18 and the eschatology of the rest of the collection points to a separate authorship of these two psalms. But apart from this, and the antecedent probability that lyrics of this class are apt to be independent contributions, there are no clear grounds for ascribing particular psalms to different authors. The author (or authors) belonged to the Pharisaic sect.

Editions.Hilgenfeld, ZWTh, 1868; Geiger, Der Psalter Salomos, 1871; Fritzsche, Libri Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] Gr. 1871, pp. 569, 589; Pick, The Psalter of Solomon in Presb. Rev., 1883, pp. 775812; Ryle and James, The Psalms of the Pharisees, 1891; O. von Gebhardt, Die Psalmen Salomos, 1895; Swete, The Psalms of Solomon, with the Greek Fragments of the Book of Enoch, 1899.

Translations.English: Bissell in Langes Com. Apocrypha, 1880; Pick (above cited), Ryle and James (above cited).German: Kittel in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900.

Literature.Ewald, GVI [Note: VI Gesehichte des Volkes Israel.] iv., p. 392 f.; Movers in Wetzer n. [Note: note.] Weltes Kirchenlex.1 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] i. p. 340; Keim, Gesch. von Jesu v. Nazara, i. p. 243; Carriere, de Psalterio Salomonis, 1870; Kanlen in Wetzer u. Welte2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , i. p. 1060 f.; O. Holtzmann in Stades GVI [Note: VI Gesehichte des Volkes Israel.] ; Jacquier, Les Psaumes de Salomon in Luniversit Catholique, Nouv. Srie, xii. 1893, pp. 94131, 251275; Frankenberg, Die Datirung d. Ps. Salomonis, 1890.

9. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.This production was well known to the ancient Patristic writers. It is quoted by Irenaeus (Fragm. 17, ed. Harvey, ii. 487), Origen (Hom. in Josephus 15:6), and Tertullian (adv. Marc. v. 1). It is named in the Synopsis of pseudo-Athanasius and in the Stichometry of Nicephorus. In the 13th cent. Bishop Grosseteste made a translation of it into Latin. It has been very frequently translated both in ancient and in modern times.

Contents.The book extends the idea of Genesis 49 to the sons of Jacob. Just as the father had called his sons together before his death and told them his last thoughts, so each of the sons is made to summon his own children to his deathbed and to give them a retrospective and a prospective view. Each, however, centres his discourse in a dominant idea or topic. (1) Reuben, on Thoughts. This Testament begins with the confession by Reuben of his sin and the penance he performed therefor (1). Man has seven spirits given him to perform his work in the world, i.e. life, sight, hearing, smell, taste, speech, reproduction (2); an eighth is added to these; but Beliar has intermingled with these seven misleading spirits, i.e. fornication, gluttony, strife, vanity, arrogance, lying, and injustice; sleep is a counterfeit eighth (3). Beware of fornication (4). Women have always been seducers. They misled the Grigori, watchers (5). Give heed to Levi, for he shall know the Law (6 and 7).(2) Simeon, on Envy. This also opens with a confession, but the sin confessed is envy (1, 2). The patriarch warns his children against this sin (3), commends Joseph, and urges them to imitate him (48).(3) Levi, on the Priesthood and Arrogance. This is the distinctively apocalyptic Testament. After introducing himself, the patriarch recounts the revelation given him of the seven heavens (14); then tells of being ushered into the presence of the Lord, who gave him the command to destroy the Shechemites (5). Contrary to the desire of his father, he executed the command (6, 7). He saw a second vision, in which he was invested with the priesthood and received instructions from his grandfather Isaac (8, 9). He foreshadows the corruption of the priesthood by his family (11, 12), instructs them in their duties and again warns against corruption (13, 14); foretells the destruction of the Temple, and indicates from the Book of Enoch that the Captivity will last seventy years (1517); he announces the Messiah, His rejection and the dispersion of Israel, and closes with an exhortation to choose well (18, 19).(4) Judah, on Fortitude, Avarice, and Fornication. After introducing himself, Judah gives a glowing account of his physical strength and agility, with many illustrative incidents (19). He tells of how he chose Tamar as the wife of his son Er, of the wickedness of his sons and their death, and of his own relations with Tamar (1012). Ascribing his fall to drunkenness and covetousness, he warns his children against these vices, as well as against fornication (1317); he foresees from the Books of Enoch the wickedness into which they shall fall in the last days, and warns them (1821); he urges them to love Levi, and predicts with sorrow their apostasies from the Lord and the wars and commotions until the time of Messias (2224). This shall be followed by the resurrection of the patriarchs (25).(5) Issachar, on Simplicity. Beginning with the circumstances of his birth, this patriarch gives an account of his early life and marriage (13), and points out his simplicity and singleness of mind as virtues to be imitated (47).(6) Zebulun, on Compassion and Mercy. After naming himself and the prosperous circumstances in which he was born, he claims not to have sinned except in thought. Only in the affair of Joseph, which he describes at length, he had conspired with his brothers, but with sorrow and compassion for Joseph (15). He was the first to construct a boat and go fishing. He used the fish he caught in feeding the needy (6, 7). He urges his children to be compassionate (8) and united in action (9, 10).(7) Dan, on Anger and Lying. This patriarch also begins with a confession. He had planned to slay Joseph out of envy, but the Lord had withheld the opportunity (1). He warns his children against the spirit of lying and anger (24); he predicts evil days in the future, of which he had learned from the Books of Enoch (5), and exhorts them to stand firm in righteousness (6, 7).(8) Naphtali, on Natural Goodness. This Testament opens with an account of the mother of the patriarch, Bilhah (1). It proceeds with a description of his fleetness of foot, which gives occasion for a speech on the fitness of the body to the character of the soul (2). He exhorts his children not to force the order of nature (3, 4), and tells of a vision he saw when forty years of age. It was on the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem. The sun and moon stood still; Jacob called his sons to go and seize them. Levi took hold of the sun, Judah of the moon; they were lifted up. A bull with two horns on its head and two wings on its back made its appearance. They tried to capture it, and Joseph succeeded. Finally, a holy writing appeared telling of the captivity of Israel (5). Seven months later he saw another vision. Jacob and his sons were standing by the Sea of Jamnia. A vessel full of dried fish appeared; but it had no rudder or sails. They embarked, and a storm arose. They were threatened with destruction; Levi prayed, and, though the vessel was wrecked, they were saved upon pieces of the wreckage (6). Naphtali told his visions to his father, who saw in them a token that Joseph was living (7). With the prediction of the Messiah (8, 9) the Testament closes.(9) Gad, on Hatred. After the customary account of himself, Gad (1) confesses that he hated Joseph and brought about his sale to the Ishmaelites (2, 3). He warns his children against hatred, points out its evil, and urges them to cherish and exercise love (48).(10) Asher, on the Two Aspects of Vice and Virtue. This patriarch begins with a portraiture of the two ways open before men, describing each carefully (1, 2). He commends simplicity of heart and devotion to virtue (3), gives reasons (4), and again commends the path of virtue (5, 6), closing with warnings and predictions (7, 8).(11) Joseph, on Chastity. Joseph begins with the contrasts between his many-sided suffering and Gods many-sided help and deliverance (1). He then proceeds to narrate the circumstances of his servitude in Egypt (2), his temptation (37), his imprisonment (8, 9), and exhorts to brotherly love (10) and the fear of God (11). He further goes back to tell the story once more of the circumstances of the temptation (1215), and concludes with an exhortation to honour Levi and Judah, predicting that from them should arise the Lamb of God (1720).(12) Benjamin, on a Pure Mind. Benjamin begins by telling of his birth (1); then of the meeting with Joseph in Egypt (2). This leads to the exaltation of Joseph as the perfect man, who should be imitated (3, 4). A pure mind will be recognized by the wicked (5). Beliar himself cannot mislead the pure-minded (6). There is a sevenfold evil in wickedness, and a sevenfold punishment is to be measured out to those who practise it (7). Flee wickedness, he urges, and concludes with the prediction of corruption among his descendants (8, 9), and of the resurrection and the judgment which will follow.

Literary questions.The book is extant in a Greek text, also in a complete Armenian and fragmentary Syriac and Aramaic versions. The Latin version, frequently reprinted from the 16th century onwards, is Grossetestes. An ancient Latin translation is not known to exist. A Slavonic version of uncertain origin is also published by Tichonravoff (Denkm. d. altruss. Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] Litt., St. Petersb. 1863).

The original of the work was either Greek or Hebrew. Grabe (Spicileg. Patr. 2, 1714, 129144) argued for the Hebrew. All other critics have favoured Greek until Prof. Charles revival of Grabes contention. Charles reasons mainly from the language (cf. also Gaster, The Heb. Text of One of the Twelve Testaments of the Patriarchs in PSBA [Note: SBA Proceedings of Soc. of Bibl. Archaeology.] , Dec. 1893).

As it stands, the book presents the anomaly of a work intensely Jewish upon the whole, but containing passages of quite as intensely Christian colour. To explain the anomaly, it must be assumed either that a Christian of late date adopted the mask of a Jew of an earlier period, or that the work was originally that of a Jew, and the Christian passages are later interpolations. The former of these alternatives is practically excluded by the type of Judaism running through the work as a whole. This is not such as one would assume for the sake of literary effect. Accordingly the tendency of all later writers has been towards the view that the main part of the Testaments was composed in the 1st cent. b.c. It is found, however, that the author incorporated into this work parts of an apocalyptic composition of the century preceding (b.c. 200100). The whole was later interpolated by a Christian, or rather a number of Christians, at least one of whom held Docetic views. These interpolations were made during the first three centuries of the Christian era.

Editions.Grabe (Spicileg. Patr. 1714), Fabricius (Cod. Pseudepigr. 1713), Gallandi (Bib. Vet. Pat. i. 1788), Migne (Patrol. Graec.), Sinker (Test. XII. Patr. 1869; Sinker also published an Appendix containing collating of readings and bibliographical notes, 1879).

Literature.Translations exist in English, French, German, Dutch, Bohemian, and Icelandic.English: Sinker (Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. xxii. 1871).French: Migne, Dictionnaire des Apocryphes, i. 1856.German: Anonymous, Acch, e Apokryphische Bucher (Tubing. 1875); Schnapp and Kautzsch in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900; Nitzsch, Comm. Crit. de Test. XII Patr. 1810; Reuss, Gesch. d. Heil. Schrift. NT, 25; Kayser, Die Test, der XII Patr. in Beitr. z. d. Theol. Wissenchaften, herausg. v. Reuss und Cunitz, 1851; Vorstmann, Disquisitio de Test. Patr. 1857; Hilgenfeld, ZWTh, 1859, p. 395 ff., 1871, p. 302 ff.; van Hengel, De Testamenten der twaalf Patriarchen op nieuw ter sprake gebragt in Godgeleerde Bijdragen, 1860; Geiger, Jd. Zeit. f. Wiss. u. Leben, 1860, pp. 116135, 1871, 123125; Presb. Rev. 1889; Schnapp, Test. der Zwlf Patr. 1884.

10. The Book of Jubilees.This book was known and often alluded to by the ancient and mediaeval ecclesiastical writers up to the days of Theodorus Metochita (a.d. 1332). It was called Jubilees (The Book of Jubilees), or Little Genesis (Parva Genesis, ). Some time after the middle of the 14th cent. it disappeared, and was known only through the references to it of the earlier writers. Its recovery in modern times was accomplished by the African missionary Krapf in 1844. Krapf found an Ethiopic version of it in Abyssinia, which he sent to Europe. Here it came into the hands of Dillmann, and was by him translated and published first in German and afterwards in Ethiopic.

Contents.The general plan of this book follows so closely that of the canonical Genesis that it will suffice to designate some of its distinctive features only. The book gives a haggadistic version of the history contained in Genesis, including also Exodus as far as ch. 14. The main events are identical in all essential points, but very many additions and embellishments are introduced. First of all, the whole of time is represented as subdivided into jubilee periods, these into sabbatical periods, and these into years. This, it is said, was the original plan of God, and the knowledge of it was communicated to Moses by revelation. The account of the manner and time of the revelation is given in ch. 1, in which, further, the angelus interpres (who is in this case the Angel of the Presence) furnishes an outlook into the future and foretells the apostasy of Israel and her restoration to God. In the rest of the book the feasts and observances of the Mosaic ritual are transferred to the days of Noah and Abraham, and in general the events of this earlier period are treated with much freedom and illustrated by amplification and tradition. In the account of the Creation, an addition is made with reference to the creation of the angels. The luminaries created on the fourth day are said to be for Sabbaths and festivals. Eve was created during the second week. Therefore the command that their defilement is to be seven days for a male child and fourteen days for a female. Adam is said to have been set to keep the garden from the incursions of the beasts of the field. Before the Fall animals could speak. It was between the 63rd and 70th year of Adams life that Cain was born; between the 70th and 77th that Abel was born; between the 77th and 84th that Awan his only daughter was born. Adam and Eve had nine other sons (making twelve children altogether). The names of the wives of antediluvians are generally given. Enochs wife was Edna, the daughter of Daniel. The corruption of mankind which led to the Flood is said to have spread through the whole creation, so that even animals were made subject to it, for which reason they perished in the waters. The Nephilim, who sprang from the union of the sons of God with the daughters of men, were set at enmity with one another, and slew each man his neighbour. After the Flood, Noah offered a sacrifice which is described as in every particular conforming to the Levitical law. The feast of the first-fruits was observed by Noah. The feast of the New Moon also had its origin at this time. The year consists of 13 months, each of 28 days, or altogether 364 days. After the Flood, Mastema (Satan) led men to sin through the building of the Tower of Babel and the worship of graven images. Abraham did not fall into this sin. He tried to convert his father from idolatry, and failing to do so he burned the house of idols, in which his brother Haran perished, and then was called to leave his native land. When Abraham had established himself in the Land of Canaan, and Ishmael and Isaac were born, after Hagar and Ishmael had been sent away, Mastema appeared before God to move him to try Abraham by demanding the offering of his son Isaac. Nine other events in Abrahams life were trials, thus making the complete number ten. Before his death, Abraham addressed his son Isaac, advising and warning him against idolatry. When he was about to die, he called Jacob his grandson and, taking his fingers, closed his own eyes with them and stretched himself on his bed. Jacob fell asleep with his fingers on his grandfathers eyes. When he awoke, he found that Abraham was cold and dead. The affair of Jacobs obtaining Esaus blessing from his father is narrated so as to eliminate direct falsehood. When Isaac asks, Who art thou? Jacob answers simply, I am thy son. The story of the massacre of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi is also softened, so as to justify the deed. The relations of Jacob and Esau are presented in a light entirely unfavourable to Esau, who is made to act the part of a cowardly and cunning traitor. In the story of Joseph, the elements of envy and cruelty on the part of his brethren are left out. The account of Jacobs death is given without his final addresses to his sons. It is simply said that he blessed his sons. The death of Joseph gives occasion for the mention of a new king who ruled over Egypt after Memkeron, thus intimating the end of the Shepherd dynasty. In the account of Moses early life, Hebrew maidens are represented as serving Pharaohs daughter. The last chapter is occupied altogether with the Sabbath law, which is given with great precision and rigidity.

Literary questions.The book is preserved as a whole in an Ethiopic version. A fragment, containing about one-third of it, is also found in Latin, probably made from a Greek copy. In addition to these, some smaller Syriac and Greek fragments are known to exist. The original was evidently in a Semitic language, but whether Hebrew or Aramaic is not absolutely certain. Hebrew was more usually the language of such apocalyptic books. Jerome, moreover, alludes to the Little Genesis as a book in Hebrew. But neither of these considerations is quite decisive. In using the term Hebrew, Jerome did not always keep in mind the distinction between that language and Aramaic. He followed the NT habit of calling Aramaic Hebrew (Joh 19:13). in favour of an Aramaic original, the use of the form Mastema as the name of Satan may be adduced. Mastema is the Aphel form from to accuse, and is Aramaic for . Further, it is said that when Abraham left Mesopotamia he took with him the books of his father (12:28), and they were written in Hebrew, which would be uncalled for if the account itself was in Hebrew.

The date of the book is approximately fixed by its relation to Ethiopic Enoch on one side, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs on the other. The Ethiopic Enoch is undoubtedly known and used by the author of Jubilees (cf. Jub 21 = Enoch 3; Jub 7 = Enoch 7; Jub 10 = Enoch 10:4, 6; Jub 2 = Enoch 60:16, 21). On the other hand, in all probability, the author of the Testaments had used Jubilees (Jub 30, 33 = Test. Reub. 1, 3; Jub 32 = Test. Leviticus 8; Jub 32 = Test. Leviticus 5; Jub 34 = Test. Jud 1:3-4; Jub 23 = Test. Zeb. 9). Its chronological place is therefore after the end of the 2nd cent. b.c. and before the end of the 1st cent a.d.

The author has been held to be an Essene (Jellinek), a Hellenist (Frankel), or a Sadducee; but there are strong reasons against any of these views. He was more probably a Pharisee (Dillmann, Ronsch, Drummond).

Editions.Dillmann, Kufale, sive Liber Jubilaerum, 1859; Ceriani, Monumenta Sacra, i. fasc. 1, 1861; Charles, Anecdota Oxon. viii., 1895.

Translations.English: Schodde in Biblioth. Sacra, 18851887; Charles in JQR [Note: QR Jewish Quarterly Review.] , 1893, pp. 703708, 1894, pp. 184217 and 710745, 1895, pp. 297328.German: Dillmann (as above); Ronsch, Das Buck der Jubilen, 1874; Littmann in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900. A translation into Hebrew was made and published with notes by Rubin (Vieuna, 1870).

Literature.Jellinek, b. d. Buck. d. Jub. u. das Nooh-Buch. 1885; Beer, d. Buck. d. Jub. u. sein Verhaltniss z. d. Midraschim, 1856; Frankel in Monatsschrift f. Gesch. u. Wiss. d. Jud. 1856; Hilgenfeld, ZWTh, 1874, pp. 435441.

11. The Ascension of Isaiah.The ancients allude to non-canonical literature associated with the name of Isaiah under four different titles. Origen speaks of the Martyrdom of Isaiah; Epiphanius names an Anabatikon, and Jerome an Ascension; in the list of canonical and kindred books published by Montfaucon (given by Westcott, Canon of the New Testament, App. D [Note: Deuteronomist.] , xvii), a Vision () of Isaiah is included. Of these, the Vision is again named by Euthymius Zigabenus in the 11th cent., and a Testament of Hezekiah is spoken of by Georgius Cedrenus in the 12th century. Whatever the facts may have been as to the identity of these writings or their relations to one another, nothing was definitely known of them until 1819, when Archbishop Lawrence accidentally found an Ascension of Isaiah in a second-hand bookstore in London. It was an Ethiopic text, and Lawrence published it with a translation and notes. Upon this, together with two other MSS [Note: SS Manuscripts.] ., later brought to light, Dillmann based his edition of the Ethiopic Ascension of Isaiah in 1877.

Contents.The work consists of two parts.

Part I. (15). In the 26th year of Hezekiah, Isaiah predicts that Manasseh would be led by Satan to apostatize. Hezekiah wishes to slay his son, but is prevented by the prophet (1). After the death of Hezekiah, Manasseh does give himself up to the service of Satan and practises all manner of wickedness. Isaiah takes refuge in the desert (2). Balkira, a Samaritan, accuses the prophet of uttering threats against Jerusalem and raising himself above Moses in authority, whereupon Manasseh, possessed by Satan, causes the capture of Isaiah (3:112). The reason for this is the wrath of Satan, roused by Isaiahs disclosures regarding the coming of Christ from the seventh heaven, regarding His death, His resurrection, His, ascension, His second coming, the sending of the twelve disciples, the persecutions of the Church, the advent of Antichrist, and his destruction (3:134:22). Manasseh causes Isaiah to be sawn asunder, and the prophet endures the martyrdom with steadfast calmness in spite of the derision of Balkira and Satan (5).

Part II. (611). In the twentieth year of Hezekiah, Isaiah saw a vision which he narrated to the king and council of prominent men (6): an angel took him through the firmament and through the six lower heavens into the seventh. Here he saw the departed patriarchsAdam, Abel, and Enochand God Himself. He learned that Christ should come into the earth; and having received this information, he was led by the same angel back into the firmament (710). In the firmament he saw the future birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus into the seventh heaven. The angel left him, and Isaiahs soul returned into his earthly body. It was because of this vision, which he had related to Hezekiah, that Manasseh caused Isaiah to be put to death (11).

Literary questions.The signs of the compositeness of the book are too plain to require critical demonstration. The question is simply whether it consists of two, three, or four independent writings. The most obvious partition is into two. The Vision of Isaiah is complete in itself and distinct from the Martyrdom. Even its being put after the Martyrdom, which it would precede in historical sequence, is an evidence of independence. But these two main sections have been enlarged by the addition of a preface and two minor passages in the second part. Thus the analysis is: (1) the Martyrdom of Isaiah (15, exc. 1 and 3:135:1). (2) The Vision of Isaiah (611, exc. 11:2, 22). (3) An introduction by a later hand (1). (4) Additions by a later Christian writer (3:135:1, and 11:222). This is Dillmanns analysis, and has been generally accepted.

The dates of these two sections are also widely apart. The Vision belongs to the class and period of Christian apocalypses which culminate in Dantes Divina Commedia. It was probably produced in the 2nd cent. a.d. The Martyrdom is the embodiment of a ancient tradition regarding the death of the prophet, and was probably composed just before the Christian era.

Editions.Ethiopic Text: Lawrence (1819), Dillmann (1877).

Translations.Latin (with both the above). A Greek translation of a late Patristic origin has been published by von Gebbardt (ZWTh, 1878, pp. 330353).English: Luth. Quar. Rev. 1878, p. 513 ff.French: Migne in Dictionpaire des Apocryphes, i., 1838; Basset, Les Apocryphes Ethiopiens, iii., 1894.German: Jolowicz (based on Lawrences text, 1854); Clemen in Kantszchs Pseudepigr. 1900.

Literature.Gesenius, Com. ub. Jesaja, 1821; Stokes in Smith and Waces Dict. of Christ. Biogr.; Harnack, Gesch. d. altchr. Litt. i. p. 854 f., ii. pp. 573579, 714 ff.; Armitage Robinson in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible ii. 499; Charles, Ascension of Isaiah.

12. The Histories of Adam and Eve.This work appears under two main forms, almost as distinct as two works: one in Greek and one in Latin. The Greek is entitled Narrative and Citizenship of Adam and Eve (). It was published by Tischendorf in 1866 (Apocal. Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] pp. 123) under the misleading title of The Apocalypse of Moses. The Latin version is entitled Vita Adae et Evae, and was published by W. Meyer (Abhandl. d. Mnchen. Akad. Phil. [Note: Philistine.] -Hist. Klasse xiv. 3, 1878, pp. 185250). A third slightly varying form exists in Slavonic, and a fourth in Armenian. Both of these are from the Greek narrative.

Contents.The story opens with an account of the deeds of Adam and Eve immediately following the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve seek for food, experience difficulties in obtaining it, and perform penance in order to secure Gods mercy (18). Satan once more tempts Eve (911), and narrates at the request of Adam the circumstances of his own fall (1217). Then follows an account of the birth of Cain and Abel, and Adam is taught how to cultivate the soil (1822). Eve dreams of Abels death, which presently occurs; but Seth and other children are born to Adam and Eve (23, 24). Adam informs Seth of a vision given him through the archangel Michael, after he and Eve had been cast out of Eden. It was a chariot similar to the wind, but with wheels of fire. The Lord sat upon it, and many thousand angels stood on His right hand and on His left. Adam addressed a prayer to the Lord, and the Lord assured him that those who should know and serve Himself would not fail from the seed of Adam. Adam enjoins Seth to receive this knowledge and keep it (2529). At the age of 930, Adam falls sick, and, calling his sons together, once more tells them of the circumstances of the Fall (3034). He then sends Eve and Seth to the vicinity of Paradise in order that, putting dust upon their heads, they might plead for him and receive some of the oil of life to anoint him (35, 36). On the way they are met by the Serpent, which bites Seth, but is persuaded by Eve to let him go (3739). They reach the gates of Paradise, present their petition, but, instead of the oil for which they had asked, they receive the promise of a blessing in the distant future (4042). They return to Adam, and report their experiences (43, 44). Adam then dies and is buried (4551).

The Diegesis gives a parallel account of the Fall by Eve (1530), of Adams last will and death (30, 31), of the intercession of the entire angel host in behalf of forgiveness for Adam (3336), of the acceptance of the prayer (37), of the burial of Adam by the angel (3842), and of Eves death and burial (42, 43).

Literary questions.This book (or couplet of books) is found in three recensions, Greek, Latin, and Slavonic. It is based on a Jewish original (Tischendorf, Conybeare, Spitta, Harnack, Fuchs). Others, however, do not believe in the Jewish original (Schurer, Gelzer).

The date of the composition is uncertain. The author was a Jew. [Hort, however, finds traces of Christian influence, and relegates the Adam story to post-Christian times.]

Editions.Greek Text: Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apocryphae, 1866; Wilh. Meyer, Vita Adae et Evae.English translations: in Schaff and Waces Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. xxii.; Conybeare in JQR [Note: QR Jewish Quarterly Review.] vii. 1895, pp. 216235.German: Litteraturblatt. d. Orients, 1850, pp. 705 ff., 732 ff.; Fuchs in Kautzschs Pseudepigr. 1900.

Literature.Hort, art. Adam Books in Smith and Waces Dict. of Christ. Biog.; Gelzer, Julius Africanus, ii. I, 1885.

13. The Apocalypse of Abraham.This is a work preserved only in a Slavonic translation. It was published in that language (1863), but only made known more widely through a German translation by Bonwetsch (1897). It tells of how Abraham took offence at the idolatry of his father, how he despised both the wooden image Barisat and the stone statue Marumath, and was on that ground made the subject of a special visit on the part of the angel Jaoel, who taught him to offer sacrifice, and then took him into heaven on the wings of a dove. Here Abraham received many revelations. This work should not be mistaken for the Testament of Abraham, edited by James in the Cambridge Texts and Studies (ii. 2, 1892).

14. The Apocalypse of Elias.Mention of this work occurs in Origens Com. on Mat 27:9 (ed. de la Rue, iii. 916; ed. Lommatzsch, v. 29). Here it is said to be the source from which St. Paul quotes 1Co 2:9 Eye hath not seen, etc. Cf. also Epiphanius, Haer. 42 [Dindorf, ii. 398]; and Jerome, Epist. 57 ad Pammachium. Fragments of this writing have been recovered in a Coptic manuscript brought from Akhmim. Some of these fragments were taken to Paris and some to Berlin. Those in the former place have been edited and published by Bouriant; those in Berlin by Steindorff (Texte u. Unters., Neue Folge, ii. 3a). This editor thinks that the original was a Jewish apocalypse interpolated by a later Christian writer.

15. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah.This was a larger work than the preceding, and was known to Clement of Alexandria (Strom. v. 11. 77). Among the Akhmim fragments published by Bouriant and Steindorff there are portions of this apocalypse also, but they are not extensive enough to serve as a basis of any trustworthy judgment as to its origin and nature. The extracts recovered do not, however, contain Christian interpolations.

16. An Anonymous Apocalypse.The Akhmim fragments contain, in addition to the above, portions of a purely Jewish apocalypse, which cannot be identified or associated with any special name. The author, speaking in the first person, names Elias among other saints whom he has seen in heaven (14). The fragments are published along with Steindorffs above-named edition of the Akhmim manuscripts.

17. The Prayer of Joseph.Origen (ed. de la Rue, iv. 84; Lommatzsch, i. 147) calls this a writing not to be despised, current among the Hebrews. Nothing, however, besides Origens quotations from it, is known of the contents of the work.

18. The Book of Eldad and Modad.These names [Authorized and Revised Versions Medad] occur in Num 11:26-29. A book bearing this name is mentioned in Hermas Shepherd (Vis. ii. 3), but nothing more is known of it with certainty.

iv. General Characteristics.The general characteristics of apocalyptic literature may not all be found in ideal vividness in any single production of the class. Nevertheless, in so-called apocalypses, most of the following traits are predominant, and, with the majority of them, all appear in some degree of clearness.

1. The Vision Form.This is what gives the name to the class, and, although not an indispensable feature, is quite determinative. The authors put themselves in the place of seers, and throw upon the canvas large, vivid, lifelike portraitures. The imagery is in many cases fantastic and unreal as compared with the actual world, but it is striking and clearly drawn. Conflicts and struggles, judicial assizes, conversations and debates, as well as cosmographical delineations, are placed before the eyes of the seer, and by him described more or less in detail.

2. Dualism.The distinction between the world of sense and the world of Divine or spiritual realities is always prominently in the mind. The other world is, however, conceived as only imperceptible to the bodily senses, not as different in kind. A dualism as between matter and spirit underlies the philosophy of the apocalypse, but is necessarily ignored in the presentation of the realities of the spiritual. These are put before the bodily senses as if a simple heightening of the powers of the senses would bring them into view.

3. Symbolism.The visions portrayed abound in conventional symbolical figures. Mixed organisms, partaking of the parts and characteristics of different creatures (beasts), frequently recur. Generally the different parts that enter into these mixed figures represent different abstract principles, and the mixed figure as a whole stands for combinations of powers. Mystic and symbolic numbers, too, constantly appear (seven heavens, seven archangels, ten shepherds). Sometimes this symbolism is explained in minute terms, but sometimes it is left for the seer to unravel. Sometimes the purpose of the use of such symbolism seems to be simply to harmonize the form of presentation to the mysterious nature of the subject-matter; but at other times it is evidently designed to conceal the exact import of the revelation from the uninitiated, and to keep it a secret within an esoteric circle. The method of interpretation known as Gematria is to this end frequently resorted to.

4. Angelology.A system of mediators between the two worlds is pictured as establishing their connexion. In comparison with the angelology of the OT (with the exception of Daniel), this mediatorial hierarchy is complex and definite. It is, moreover, subdivided into two branches, the good and the evil, which are at enmity with one another. In some apocalypses one particular angel is commissioned to the task of acting as the companion and friendly interpreter of the seer (angelus interpret). To him the seer appeals in his ignorance of the meaning of the mystic visions, and from him he receives needed explanations. Here, too, a difference must be noted between the apocalypses and the earlier prophets (cf. Amos 7-9), who see visions, but speak directly with the Almighty in person.

5. The Unknown as subject-matter.The subject-matter revealed concerns one of two spheres, viz., either the inscrutable mechanism of the other world, or the purposes of God regarding the present world: (a) Under the first head are portrayed the characteristics, deeds, and destinies of angels, both good and evil, the secret forces and courses of the great nature-powers and elements, and the mode of the Creation. (b) Under the second head naturally two divisions are distinguishable, the historical and the eschatological. Such great landmarks in the history of the world as the entrance of sin, the fortunes of the first human pair, the Flood, the destinies of Israel, are given as known and decreed of God. The whole eschatology, including the final judgment, the Messianic Age, the fate of mankind, the resurrection of the dead, and the destruction of the world, are of the utmost interest to the apocalyptist. In fact, so prominent is this part of the world of mystery in the apocalypses, that some authorities have yielded to the temptation of making it the sole test of an apocalypse. Apocalyptic is, according to this view, synonymous with eschatological. (So Lcke, and, among more recent scholars, Bousset).

6. Pseudonymity.The author of an apocalypse generally assumes the name of a very ancient person, preferably of some one who is represented in the canonical books as having enjoyed direct communication with the spiritual world. Enoch, Moses, and Elijah stand out as those who passed from this world to the other in a preternatural manner, and therefore were favoured even while here with apocalyptic glimpses of the other. Others, because of their exceptional holiness and nearness to God, are easily put into the same place of favour. Such are Isaiah, Ezra, Baruch, and Daniel. The name of Ezekiel, however, quite singularly does not seem to have drawn any of these writings to itself. Jeremiahs began to be used, but did not become very popular. That of Solomon was attached to a body of psalms for quite obvious reasons. The Sibyl was probably drafted into the service in order to gain the confidence of heathen readers through the use of the voice of a trusted prophetess of their own. It was intended to propagate Jewish doctrines among the Gentiles (Schrer). This pseudonymity is accompanied by a not altogether accidental tendency to tamper with the apocalypses. More than any other class of writings they show signs of having been edited and modified. Many of them are manifestly collections or compilations of smaller productions. Others abound in interpolations and additions designed to embellish, clarify, and expand their portraitures.

7. Optimism.The design of the whole class is predominantly that of encouraging and comforting the chosen people under persecution. Some, of course, are more or less sectarian in their tendency, i.e. they address their words of encouragement and hope to a particular section of the people, who are regarded as faithful or righteous par excellence. The majority are meant to teach and comfort the whole nation.

v. Theological Ideas.The root of the apocalyptic theology is the sense of need. Though it may not be strictly accurate to call the apocalypses tracts for hard times, it is quite true that they issue from a faith which looks to God for deliverance from evil days. The eye is turned into the future for the good which the God of the Covenant has promised to Israel. The darker the outlook, the brighter the hope which breaks through it and sees ultimate victory. The rallying point of thought is here furnished by the conception of the Day of Jahweh in the prophets of the earlier period. But this hope for the future is impatient. It cannot await the working of the slow moral forces gradually evolving the consummation. It rather sees the Golden Age bursting forth in a sudden and supernatural manifestation of Gods power and favour to His chosen people. Accordingly, the cardinal doctrines of the apocalyptic theology must begin with the contrast of the ages.

1. The doctrine of the two aeons (4 Ezr 7:50).This is developed from the older idea of the latter days ( ) which the earlier prophets always held up as a source of comfort and encouragement whenever they were moved to denounce the existing evils of their day. A great day of Jehovah would bring about the righting of all that was wrong with the world. In the apocalypses, all that precedes the critical day is summed up under the conception of the present age ( , ): the future, with its ideally good conditions, is the coming age ( , , ). The noteworthy feature about the conception of the aeons is that each is a coherent unity, and has a character of its own. The present age is unpropitious, evil (4 Ezr 7:12); the future will be good. The past is the age of the world-kingdom, portrayed under the symbolic figure of beasts; the future, the age of the Divine reign; it has a human aspect. All this is put forth as a source of comfort and encouragement to the faithful. The duration of the evil age is variously computed. Enoch makes it 10,000 years (Ethiopic Enoch 16:1, 18:16, 21:6); in the Assumption of Moses it is 5000; at any rate, it is definite and near its end. It is soon to pass away. The question is even pertinent whether those living shall continue to the end of it. This question, however, is not answered (4 Ezr 4:37, 5:50f., 6:20, Syriac Bar 44:9).

2. The impending Crisis.The passing of the old will be accompanied by great changes in nature. The order of things will be reversed. The moon will alter her course, and not appear at her appointed times; the stars shall wander from their orbits and be concealed (Ethiopic Enoch 80:37). Trees will flow with blood, and stones will ery out (Syriac Bar 27). In the heavens, dread signs of portentous significance will appear (Sib. Or 3:796806). Fountains will dry up, the earth will refuse to yield; the heavens will be turned into brass; the rains will fail, and springs of waters will be dried up. Among men, wars and rumours of wars will prevail (Ethiopic Enoch 99:4, 4 Ezr 9:3), and private feuds and recklessness of the life of men will be the rule (Ethiopic Enoch 100:2, Sib. Or 3:633647, Syriac Bar 48:32, 70:3). Women will cease to be fruitful, and miscarriages will occur (4 Ezr 5:8; Ezr 6:21). These are the of Mat 24:8, Mar 13:8.

3. The Conception of God is more definitely anthropomorphic than in the earlier period. He is pictured by the apocalyptists as seated on the highest heaven, and surrounded by a host of attendants. In the Slavonic Enoch, in the Ascension of Isaiah, in the Greek Baruch, and in general in all the apocalypses, God is regarded as a monarch with an army to fight His battles, and a retinue of servants to execute His orders. Much of this is naturally a part of the drapery of the vision, but it all tends to accentuate the gulf which separates God from man. Especially where the anthropomorphism is conscious of its own inadequacy, and is combined with descriptions of the fearfulness of Gods person, the idea of transcendency is accentuated, and begins to dominate the apocalyptists thought of God.

4. The cosmology is a corollary of the transcendence of God. The distance between heaven, His dwelling-place, and earth, the abode of man, is enlarged and filled with six stages, making altogether seven heavens. These are minutely described in the Slavonic Enoch, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Greek Baruch (cf. also Test. Leviticus 2, 3). The substance of which these heavens are made is light, or rather luminous matter (Ethiopic En 14:825). The language is not metaphorical. This light becomes fuller and more intense as one approaches the throne of God Himself. With God are to be found in this sphere the forces and persons that wage His warfare and serve to carry out His plans. Besides the hierarchy of angels (already spoken of), there are here the abodes of the sun, moon, stars, and nature-powers; also the Messiah, ready to be manifested at the proper time.

5. An arch-enemy called Beliar, Mastema, Azazel (Satan), at every point undertakes to thwart the purposes of God. It was he who tempted and misled Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Life of Adam and Eve). As he takes on himself a body and appears on earth in order to defeat the Messiah, he is Antichrist. In this capacity he is sometimes represented as taking the form of a king (Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero, Caligula) and sometimes that of a false prophet (Sib. Or 3:63ff.)

6. Man.There is a definite realization of the unity of the human race. Sin, need, and death are looked upon as affecting all men. They have one cause for all. The world was created for the sake of man (4 Ezr 8:44, Syriac Bar 14:18). Similarly, the plans of God have in view the welfare of men as such. The blessings of the Messianic age come to men in general, although with varying degrees of fulness (Sib. Or 3.367ff., 767ff.). But the distinction between those who please God by obeying His law and those who do not is never lost sight of. Israel is His chosen people, and He has given it the Law; but the Israelite who transgresses the Law is punished, whereas the Gentile who observes the Sabbath shall be holy and blessed like us, says the author of Jubilees.

7. Sin.All misery among men is the result of sin, and the fall of the first pair in the Garden of Eden is the cause of it. This is predominantly the lesson of the Life of Adam and Eve; but it is also clearly put in 4 Ezra and in the Syriac Baruch (Tennant, The Sources of the Doctrine of the Fall and Original Sin, 1905).

8. The coming Messiah.The central development of apocalyptic literature is the figure of the Messiah; but it is nowhere outlined so clearly as in the Ethiopic Enoch. He is here designated as the Son of Man; He is also called the Righteous One, the Elect One, the Elect of Righteousness and the Faithful One, and the Anointed One. He is not a mere human being; He has His home in heaven with the Ancient of Days (39:7, 46:1). Enoch sees Him as pre-existing. This pre-existence is also implied in the declaration that His name was named by the Creator of spirits before the creation of the sun and stars (48:3), that He was chosen and concealed before the foundation of the world (48:6, 62:6). He will become manifest in the day of consummation, taking His seat beside the Lord of the Spirits, and all creatures shall fall down before Him (51:3, 4, 61:1, 63:3). Other portraitures are to be found in 4 Ezr 13:3 (One in the form of a man), and in the Psalms of Solomon (17 and 18).

9. The Resurrection.The doctrine of Dan 12:2 is that many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. In the Ethiopic Enoch (51:1) this is broadened into a universal resurrection, the object of which is defined as judgment for the deeds done in the body (Ethiopic Enoch 22). This idea is also taught elsewhere (4 Ezr 7:32, 5:45, 14:35, Syriac Bar 42:7, 50:2, Test. Benj. 10, almost in the words of Dan 12:2, Life of Adam, 41, 10, 13, 28, 51).

10. The Judgment.This undoubtedly developed from the prophetic conception of the Day of Jahweh. It is to be distinguished from the judgment which takes place during the course of the present age. It is called the Great Judgment ( , Ethiopic Enoch 10:6, 12, 23:4, 45:3, 6, 48:9, 50:4, 58:6, 60:5, 65:5, 10, 67:10, Jub 5:10, 32:11, Ethiopic En 91:7, Test. of Levi 3, Assump. Mos 1:18); Eternal Judgment (Slav. Enoch 7:1, 40:12, 4 Ezr 7:7073, Syriac Bar 20:4, 57:2, 59:8, 83:7, 85:12 ff., Life of Adam, 39). It consists in a spectacular revelation of the wickedness of Gods opponents, and their condemnation and punishment for their enmity to Him. The subjects of the judgment are both heavenly and earthly powers. Satan and Antichrist (if these two be looked at as different), the fallen angels, the world-powers, and wicked men are all included. The judgment will be upon the ground of books in which either the names or the deeds of men have been inscribed according to their good or evil. Sometimes the deeds are represented as being weighed in the scales. Each person judged must stand upon his own merits. Intercession in his behalf by another is of no avail. The judge is God Himself. He appears as the Ancient of Days (one having a Head of Days), with white hair and beard. He is seated on a glorious throne, and surrounded with myriads of angels (Ethiopic En 1:4, 9, Sib. Or 3:91, 92, Slav. En 20:1, Test. Levi 4, Assump. Mos 12:9). In some representations it is the Messiah who acts as the judge (uniformly in the Book of Similitudes, Ethiopic Enoch 3771, with the exception of 47:3). His sphere of judgment, however, includes the fallen angels and demons, not men. For the most part, the Messiah appears either before or after the judgment (4 Ezr 7:33, before; Ethiopic Enoch 90, after). Again, Messiah is associated with God and acts as the judge while God executes sentence (Ethiopic En 62).

11. The Punishment of the Wicked.The most manifest effect of the judgment is the overthrow of Gods enemies and the infliction of fit penalties upon them. Of these enemies, three classes may be distinguished: (a) Spirits, including Satan and fallen angels (Test. Benj. 3, Sib. Or 3:73, Test. Sim. 6, Zeb. 9). (b) Heathen world-powers, looked at either in the abstract or as special individual kings 4 Ezr 11, 12:3, Sib. Or 3:250380, Ps-Sol 17:22, Ethiopic En 51:4, 52:6, 53:7). (c) Sinners in general. But special mention is made of Israelites who transgressed the law (Syriac Bar 85:15, 54:22). Satan (Beliar) is cast into the fire (Test. Jud 1:25), though he rules in hell with his angels (Ethiopic En 53:3, 56:1). The fallen angels pass at the judgment into a permanent condition of damnation. The giants who sprang from the union of the angels with the daughters of men are also confined in eternal torment. The heathen who have opposed God and oppressed Israel are destroyed. Destruction (), however, is not conceived as equivalent to annihilation, but as involving existence in a wretched state.

12. The Reward of the Righteous.The works of the pious are preserved as in a treasury in heaven (4 Ezr 7:77, 8:33, Syriac Bar 14:12, 24:1). When they are raised from the dead, it is in order that they may come into eternal life (Ps-Sol 3:16). This they are said to inherit (Ethiopic En 37:4, 40:9, Ps-Sol 9:9, 14:1, 3). Eternal life is sometimes looked at as simply a prolonged bodily life (Ethiopic En 5:9, 10:10, 17, 62:14, Jub 23:2729); but sometimes it appears as a superior kind of life in another world (4 Ezr 8:53, Syriac Bar 21:22, Test. Leviticus 18.

13. The Renovation of the World.This is the natural corollary of the idea that the world as at present constituted has been corrupted by rebellion against God and sin, and therefore cannot stand. Deutero-Isaiah (65:17, 66:22) foreshadows the advent of a new heaven and a new earth. The same world-reconstruction is held in prospect by the apocalyptists. The Ethiopic Enoch (91:16f.) announces that the first heaven will vanish and pass away, and a new heaven will appear. The present order of the material heavens will last only until the new eternal creation is brought into existence (Ethiopic En 72:1). Time distinctions will cease when the new creation is accomplished (Jub 50:5).

14. Predestination.In the sense of the determination of the destiny of individuals beforehand, as elect or non-elect, the idea of predestination does not clearly appear in the apocalyptic literature. In the sense, however, that all the experiences of Gods people are known and have always been known by Him, and do not come to pass without His consent, the doctrine is constant as the undertone of thought. All the events unfolded in the eschatological pictures are certain to come to pass because God wills that they should. Certainty of blessedness for the righteous is not dependent upon their own piety, but upon Gods having foreordained it (Assump. Mos 12:8). The age is as a whole fixed and measured (Book of Jubilees). When its course has run, it comes to an end (4 Ezr 4:29, 7:74). A certain number of righteous must be gathered in. Only when this takes place can the consummation occur. It was this doctrine that made the whole apocalyptic theory a practical effective scheme, because it enabled it to impart the assurance of the realization of that good in the future which was missed in the present.

vi. Contact with the New Testament.The significance of apocalyptic literature for the NT is very large. In general apocalyptic furnishes the atmosphere of the NT. Its form, its language, and its material are extensively used.* [Note: This does not mean, however, that there are not in the fundamental matters sharp contrasts between the NT and the apocalypses. The New Testament is the New Testament. Its originality is beyond question.] In particular, this is true of the following main lines:

1. The apocalyptic form is used as such in the literary composition of the NT. In the Apocalypse of John this becomes the form of the whole book. In other places it is introduced as a part of productions of a different literary type (cf. Matthew 24 and parallels). Whether these passages were originally separate works and the Gospel writers incorporated them, or whether they make up integral parts of the plans of the Gospels, is a question for historical criticism to deal with. In their interpretation no satisfactory results will be reached if their formal affinity to the apocalypses be ignored. In 2Th 2:2-12 the case is clear. The Apostle evidently weaves an apocalyptic passage of his own construction into his Epistle. A firm base of operations is thus furnished for the interpretation of the apocalyptic portions of the NT. These must be read as the apocalypses in general are read.

2. Some outstanding phrases in the NT terminology deserve special mention. The expression Son of Man occurs first in Daniel (7:13). From here, if the now predominant pre-Christian dating of the Book of Similitudes (Ethiopic En 3771) be correct, it is adopted into that work, and this usage serves as the bridge of connexion between Daniel and Jesus, who treats this term constantly as His own title. Closely associated with this title is the phrase Head of Days (Ethiopic En 47:3, 48:26), as applied to God. Other phrases of this class are the Day of Judgment, the Great Day of Judgment (Ethiopic En 19:1, 22:411).

3. Quotations from apocalyptic books are not very common in the NT. The most familiar is that in Jud 1:14 f. from Ethiopic En 1:9, Jud 1:9 is also a quotation from the Assumption of Moses (Charles, Testament of Moses). The book is not named here, and the quotation is identified by ancient writers to whom this apocalypse was familiar. But coincidences of phraseology, suggesting quotations cither of one from the other or of both from a common source, are quite frequent (cf. Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 4249; Apocalypse of Baruch, pp. lxxvilxxix; Book of the Secrets of Enoch, pp. xxii, xxiii; Assumption of Moses, pp. 113; also Sinker, Testamenta XII Patriarcharum, pp. 209210). Some of these parallelisms must be ascribed to the nature of the thought expressed, which perhaps would not admit, or at least would not easily lend itself to very different phraseology; but in a large number the coincidence can occur only where literary affiliation of some kind exists.

4. The most important point of contact, however, is that in subject-matter. And here it is no mere point of contact that we have to note, but a large and free adoption of the forms worked out by the apocalyptists. To undertake a list would be to repeat the summary given above of the apocalyptic theology. The simplest way to describe the relation is to say that Jesus and the writers of the NT found the forms of thought made use of in apocalyptic literature convenient vehicles, and have cast the gospel of Gods redemptive love into these as into moulds. The Messianism of the apocalyptists has thus become unfolded into the Christology of the NT. The theocratic judgment has passed into the universal ethical discrimination between individuals according to the deeds done in the body. Other doctrines, such as angelology and demonology, have likewise been used as the vehicles of great eternal verities.

5. Solutions of some questions which St. Paul faced are proposed in some of the apocalypses (notably 4 Ezr and Syriac Bar). These are often as different as they can possibly be. Whether they are meant to be a secret form of attack on Christianity or simply independent ways of approaching the same subjects, they are of the utmost importance. In the first case, they throw light on the growth of Christian belief and the manner of the polemic waged against it. In the latter, they illustrate the nature of the setting in which the gospel found itself as soon as preached.

Literature.Besides the special works (referred to above) on the individual apocalypses, the following comprehensive works may be consulted:Gtrorer, Das Jahrhundert d. Heils, 1838; Hilgenfeld, Jd. Apokal. 1857, and Messias Judaeorum, 1869; Drummond, The Jewish Messiah, 1877; Smend, Jud. Apok. in ZATW [Note: ATW Zeitschrift fr die Alttest. Wissenchaft.] , 1885, pp. 222250; Deane, Pseudepigrapha, 1891; Thomson, Books which Influenced Our Lord and His Apostles, 1891; de Faye, Les Apocalypses Juives, 1892; Bousset, Der Antichrist [English translation by Keane, 1896], and the same authors Offenbarung Johannis, 1896, Die Bel. d. Judentums, 1903, and Jud. Apokal. 1903; Charles, Eschatology, Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian, 1899; Schrer, GJV [Note: JV Geschichte des Jdischen Volkes.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , 1898, iii.; M. S. Terry, Biblical Apocalyptics, 1898; Wellhausen, Skizzen u. Vorarbeiten, 1899; Volz, Jud. Eschatologie, 1903; Baldensperger, Die Messianisch Apokalyptischen Hoffnungen des Judentums, 1903 [this is the 3rd ed. of his Selbstbewusstsein Jesu1 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , 1888]; H. A. A. Kennedy, The Eschatology of Paul, 1904; Muirhead, The Eschatology of Jesus, 1904; articles by Charles in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible and in Encyc. Biblica; Porter, Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers, 1905.

A. C. Zenos.

Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels

Apocalyptic Literature

APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.The apocalypse as a literary form of Jewish literature first appears during the Hellenistic period. Its origin is to a considerable degree in dispute, but is involved in the general development of the period. Among the Hebrews its forerunner was the description of the Day of Jehovah. On that day, the prophets taught, Jehovah was to punish the enemies of Israel and to establish His people as a world power. In the course of time this conception was supplemented by the further expectation of a judgment for Jews as well as for heathen (Amo 2:3-8; Amo 3:9-15; Amo 5:10-13, Zec 1:2-18; Zec 2:4-13; Joe 2:18-28, Eze 30:2 f.). The first approach to the apocalyptic method is probably to be seen in Zec 9:1-17; Zec 10:1-12; Zec 11:1-17; Zec 12:1-14; Zec 13:1-9; Zec 14:1-21. It was in the same period that the tendencies towards the aesthetic conceptions which had been inherited from the Babylonian exile were beginning to be realized under the influence of Hellenistic culture. Because of their religion, literature was the only form of aesthetic expression (except music) which was open to the art impulses of the Jews. In the apocalypse we thus can see a union of the symbolism and myths of Babylonia with the religious faith of the Jews, under the influence of Hellenistic culture. By its very origin it was the literary means of setting forth by the use of symbols the certainty of Divine judgment and the equal certainty of Divine deliverance. The symbols are usually animals of various sorts, but frequently composite creatures whose various parts represented certain qualities of the animals from which they were derived.

Apocalyptic is akin to prophecy. Its purpose was fundamentally to encourage faith in Jehovah on the part of those who were in distress, by revealing the future. Between genuine prophetism and apocalyptic there existed, however, certain differences not always easy to formulate, but appreciable to students of the two types of religious Instruction. (a) The prophet, taking a stand in the present, so interprets current history as to disclose Divine forces at work therein, and the inevitable outcome of a certain course of conduct. The writers of the apocalypses, however, seem to have had little spiritual insight into the providential ordering of existing conditions, and could see only present misery and miraculous deliverance. (b) Assuming the name of some worthy long since dead, the apocalyptist re-wrote the past in terms of prophecy in the name of some hero or seer of Hebrew history. On the strength of the fulfilment of this alleged prophecy, he forecast, though in very general terms, the future. (c) Prophecy made use of symbol in literature as a means of enforcing or making intelligible its Divinely inspired message. The apocalyptists employed allegorically an elaborate machinery of symbol, chief among which were sheep, bulls, birds, as well as mythological beings like Beliar and the Antichrist.

The parent of apocalyptic is the book of Daniel, which, by the almost unanimous consensus of scholars, appeared in the Maccaban period (see Daniel [Bk. of]). From the time of this book until the end of the 1st cent. a.d., and indeed even later, we find a continuous stream of apocalypses, each marked by a strange combination of pessimism as to the present and hope as to the future yet to be miraculously established. These works are the output of one phase of Pharisaism, which, while elevating both Torah and the Oral Law, was not content with bald legalism, but dared trust in the realization of its religious hopes. The authors of the various works are utterly unknown. In this, as in other respects, the apocalypses constitute a unique national literature. Chief among apocalyptic literature are the following:

1. The Enoch Literature.The Enoch literature has reached us in two forms: (a) The Ethiopic Enoch; (b) The Slavonic Book of the Secrets of Enoch. The two books are independent, and indicate the wide-spread tendency to utilize the story of the patriarch in apocalyptic discourse.

(a) The Ethiopic Book of Enoch is a collection of apocalypses and other material written during the last two centuries before Christ. It was probably written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and then translated into Greek, and from that into Ethiopic and Latin. As it now exists, the collection is a survival of a wide-spread Enoch literature, and its constituent sections have been to a considerable extent edited by both Jews and Christians. Critics, while varying as to details, are fairly well agreed as to the main component sources, each probably representing a different author or school.

(i.) The original ground-work of the present book is to be found in chs. 136 and 72104, in the midst of which are, however, numerous interpolations (see iv. below). These chapters were probably written before b.c. 100. Chs. 136 deal chiefly with the portrayal of the punishment to be awarded the enemies of the Jews and sinners generally on the Day of Judgment. The eschatology of these chapters is somewhat sensuous as regards both the resurrection and rewards and punishments. In them we have probably the oldest piece of Jewish literature touching the general resurrection of Israel and representing Gehenna as a place of final punishment (see Gehenna).

The dream visions (chs. 8390) were probably written in the time of Judas Maccabus or John Hyrcanus. By the use of symbolic animalssheep, rams, wild beastsHebrew history is traced to the days of the Hasmonan revolt. The years of misery are represented by a flock under seventy shepherds, who, in the new age about to dawn, are to be cast with the evil men and angels into an abyss of fire. The Messiah is then to appear, although his function is not definitely described. In ch. 91 the future is somewhat more transcendentally described.

In the later chapters of this oldest section the new eschatology is more apparent. In them are to be found representations of the sleep of the righteous, the resurrection of the spirit of the Messiah, though human, as Gods Son (105.2), the Day of Judgment, and the punishment of the wicked in hell.

(ii.) Whether or not the second group of chapters (3771), or the Similitudes, is post- or pre-Christian has been thoroughly discussed. The general consensus of recent critics, however, is that the Similitudes were probably written somewhere between b.c. 94 and 64: at all events, before the time of Herod. The most remarkable characteristic of these Similitudes is the use of the term Son of Man for the Messiah. But it is not possible to see in the use of this term any reference to the historical Jesus. More likely it marks a stage in the development of the term from the general symbolic usage of Dan 7:13 to the strictly Messianic content of the NT. In the Similitudes we find described the judgment of all men, both alive and dead, as well as of angels. Yet the future is still to some extent sensuous, although transcendental influences are very evident in the section. The Messiah pre-exists and is more than a man. The share which he has in the reorganization of the world is more prominent than in the older sections.

(iii.) Interspersed throughout the book are sections which Charles calls the book of celestial physics. These sections are one of the curiosities of scientific literature, and may be taken as a fair representative of the astronomical and meteorological beliefs of the Palestinian Jews about the time of Christ.

(iv.) Interpolations from the so-called Book of Noah, which are very largely the work of the last part of the pre-Christian era, although it is not possible to state accurately the date of their composition.

The importance of Enoch is great for the understanding of the eschatology of the NT and the methods of apocalyptic.

(b) The (Slavonic) Secrets of Enoch probably had a pre-Christian original, and further, presupposes the existence of the Ethiopic Enoch. It could not, therefore, have been written much prior to the time of Herod, and, as the Temple is still standing, must have been written before a.d. 70. The author (or authors) was probably a Hellenistic Jew living in the first half of the 1st cent. a.d. The book is particularly interesting in that in it is to be found the first reference to the millennium (xxxii. 2xxxiii. 2), which is derived from a combination of the seven creative days and Psa 90:4. At the close of the six thousand years, the new day, or Sabbath of the thousand years, was to begin. The Secrets of Enoch is a highly developed picture of the coming age and of the structure of the heaven, which, it holds, is seven-fold. Here, too, are the Judgment, though of individuals rather than of nations, the two ons, the complete renovation or destruction of the earth. There is no mention of a resurrection, and the righteous are upon death to go immediately to Paradise.

2. The Book of Jubilees is a Haggadist commentary on Genesis, and was probably written in the Maccaban period, although its date is exceedingly uncertain, and may possibly he placed in the latter half of the last cent. b.c. In this writing angelology and demonology are well developed. While there is no mention of the Messiah, the members of the Messianic age are to live a thousand years, and are to be free from the influence or control of Satan. The book contains no doctrine of the resurrection; but spirits are immortal. While there is punishment of the wicked, and particularly of evil spirits and the enemies of Israel, the Judgment is not thoroughly correlated with a general eschatological scheme. The chief object of the book is to incite the Jews to a greater devotion to the Law, and the book is legalisticrather than idealistic.

The new age was to be inaugurated by wide-spread study of the Law, to which the Jews would be forced by terrible suffering. Certain passages would seem to imply a resurrection of the dead and a renewing of all creation along with the endless punishment of the wicked.

3. The Psalms of Solomona group of noble songs, written by a Pharisee (or Pharisees) probably between b.c. 70 and 40, the dates being fixed by reference to the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the death of Pompey (Ps-Sol 2:30, 31). The collection is primarily a justification of the downfall of the Maccaban house because of its sins. Its author (or authors) was opposed to monarchy as such, and looked forward to the time when the Messiah would really be king of Juda. The picture of this king as set forth in Psa 17:1-15; Psa 18:1-50 is one of the noblest in Jewish literature. He is to be neither sufferer nor teacher, pre-existent nor miraculously horn. He is not to be a priest, or warrior. He is to be sinless, strong through the Holy Spirit, gaining his wisdom from God, conquering the entire heathen world without war, by the word of his mouth, and to establish the capital of the world at Jerusalem. All the members of the new kingdom, which, like the Messiah, is miraculous, are to be sons of God. These two Psalms are not of a kin with the ordinary apocalyptic literature like the Enoch literature, and probably represent a tendency more religious than apocalyptic. At the same time, the influence of the apocalyptic is not wanting in them.

4. The Assumption of Moses was probably written in the opening years of the 1st cent. a.d., and narrates in terms of prophecy the history of the world from the time of Moses until the time of its composition, ending in an eschatological picture of the future. As it now stands, the writing is hardly more than a fragment of a much larger work, and exists only in an old Latin translation. The most striking characteristic is the importance given to Satan as the opponent of God, as well as the rather elaborate portrayal of the end of the age it narrates. The Judgment is to be extended to the Gentiles, but no Messiah is mentioned, the Messianic kingdom rather than He being central. Further, the writer, evidently in fear of revolutionary tendencies among his people, says distinctly that God alone-is to be judge of the Gentiles.

5. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a composite work purporting to preserve the last words of the twelve sons of Jacob. It was probably written during the first two centuries of the Christian era, although some of its material may be earlier. As it now stands, it is full of Christian interpolations, and it has little apocalyptic material, being rather of the nature of homilies illustrated with much legendary matter, including eschatological pictures and references to demons and their king Beliar. The new age is not distinctly described, but apparently involves only earthly relationships. Gods judgment on wicked men and demons is, however, elaborately pictured, sometimes in terms hard to reconcile with the less transcendental accounts of the blessings assured to the Jewish nation. Each of the patriarchs is represented as dealing with that particular virtue or vice with which the Biblical account associates him, and also as foretelling appropriate blessings or curses. The work is preserved in Greek and Armenian translations.

6. The Ascension of Isaiah is a composite book which circulated largely among the Christian heretics of the 3rd century. At its basis lies a group of legends of uncertain origin, dealing with the Antichrist and Beliar. These in turn are identified with the expectation that Nero would return after death. The book, therefore, in its present shape is probably of Christian origin, and is not older than the 2nd cent., or possibly the latter part of the 1st. The Isaiah literature, however, was common in the 1st cent., and the book is a valuable monument of the eschatological tendencies and beliefs of at least certain groups of the early Christians. Particularly important is it as throwing light upon the development of the Antichrist doctrines. It exists to-day in four recensionsGreek, Ethiopic, Latin, and Slavonic.

7. The Apocalypse of Ezra (Second Esdras), written about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is the most complete expression of Pharisaic pessimism. Written in the midst of national misery, it is not able to see any relief except in the creation of a new world. The age was coming to an end, and the new age which was to belong to Israel would presently come. The judgment of Israels enemies was presently to be established, but not until the number of the righteous was complete. The book is no doubt closely related to the Apocalypse of Baruch, and both apparently reproduce the same originally Jewish material. It has been considerably affected by Christian hopes. Both for this reason and because of its emphasis on generic human misery and sin, with the consequent need of something more than a merely national deliverance, it gives a prominent position to the Messiah, who is represented as dying. As Second Esdras the book has become part of the Apocrypha of the OT, and has had considerable influence in the formation of Christian eschatology. In 2Es 7:30-70 is an elaborate account of the general Resurrection, Judgment, and the condition of souls after death; and it is this material quite as much as the Messianic prediction of chs. 1214 that make it of particular interest to the student. It is possessed, however, of no complete unity in point of view, and passes repeatedly from the national to the ethical (individual) need and deliverance. The separation of these two views is, however, more than a critical matter. As in Mar 13:1-37, the two illustrate each other.

8. The Apocalypse of Baruch is a composite work which embodies in itself a ground-work which is distinctly Jewish, and certain sections of which were probably written before the destruction of Jerusalem. Criticism, however, has not arrived at any complete consensus of opinion as regards its composition, but there can be little doubt that it represents the same apocalyptic tendencies and much of the material which are to be seen in Second Esdras. Just what are the relations between the two writings, however, has not yet been clearly shown. The probability is that the Apocalypse of Baruch, as it now stands, was written in the second half of the 1st cent. a.d., and has come under the influence of Christianity (see esp. chs. xlixli). Like Second Esdras, it is marked by a despair of the existing age, and looks forward to a transcendental reign of the Messiah, in which the Jews are to be supremely fortunate. It exists to-day in Greek and Syriac versions, with a strong probability that both are derived from original Hebrew writing. This apocalypse, both from its probable origin and general characteristics, is of particular value as a document for understanding the NT literature. In both the Apocalypse of Baruch and Second Esdras we have the most systematized eschatological picture that has come down to us from Pharisaism.

9. The Sibylline Oracles are the most important illustration of the extra-Palestinian-Hellenistic apocalyptic hope. As the work now exists, it is a collection of various writings dealing with the historical and future conditions of the Jewish people. The most important apocalyptic section is in Book iii. 97828, written in Maccahan times. In it the punishment of the enemies of the Jews is elaborately foretold, as are also the future and the Messianic Judgment. This third book was probably edited in the middle of the 2nd century by a Christian. In general, however, this Sibylline literature, although of great extent, gives us no such distinct pictures of the future as those to be found in the Ezra-Baruch apocalypses.

Shailer Mathews.

Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible

Apocalyptic Literature

a-pok-a-liptik liter-a-tur:

INTRODUCTORY

I.Background of Apocalyptic

1.Judaism and Hellenism

2.Political Influences

II.General Characteristics of Apocalyptic

1.Differences from Prophecy in Content

2.Differences from Prophecy in Literary Form

III.Authorship of Jewish Apocalyptic Works

1.Pseudepigraphic Authors not Known Individually

2.General Resemblance and Mutual Dependence Show Them to be Products of One Sect

3.Three Jewish Sects Comprise Whole Literary Class

4.Not the Product of the Sadducees

5.Nor of the Pharisees

6.Probably Written by the Essenes

WORKS ENTITLED APOCALYPTIC

I.Apocalypses Proper

1.Enoch Books

(1)History of the Books

(2)Summary

(3)Language

(4)Date

(5)Internal Chronology: The Book of Noah

(6)External Chronology

(7)Slavonic Enoch

(8)Secrets of Enoch

2.Apocalypse of Baruch

(1)Summary

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date

(5)Relation to Other Books

(6)The Rest of the Words of Baruch

3.The Assumption of Moses

(1)Summary

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date

(5)Relation to Other Books

4.The Ascension of Isaiah

(1)Summary

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date

5.The Fourth Book of Esdras

(1)Summary

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date

II.Legendary Works

The Book of Jubilees

(1)Summary

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date

III.Psalmic Pseudepigrapha

1.The Psalter of Solomon

(1)Summary

(2)Language

(3)Date

(4)Christology

2.The Odes of Solomon

(1)Relation to Pistis Sophia and Summary

(2)Date

IV.Testaments

1.Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(1)Summary

(a)Reuben

(b)Simeon

(c)Levi

(d)Judah

(e)Issachar

(f)Zebulun

(g)Dan

(h)Naphtali

(i)Gad

(j)Asher

(k)Joseph

(l)Benjamin

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date and Authorship

(5)Relation to Other Books

2.Testament of Adam

3.Testament of Abraham

4.Testament of Job

(1)Summary

(2)Structure

(3)Language

(4)Date and Authorship

V.Sibylline Oracles

VI.Conclusion

Literature

A series of pseudepigraphic works, mainly of Jewish origin, appeared during the period between 210 bc and 200 ad. They have many features in common. The most striking is the resemblance they all bear to the Book of Daniel. Following this model, most of them use vision as a literary device by which to introduce their conceptions of the remote future. A side product of this same movement was the composition, mainly in Alexandria, of the Sibylline books. The literary device of vision was one used in the Aeneid by Virgil, the classical contemporary of a large number of these works. One peculiarity in regard to the majority of these documents is the fact that while popular among the Christian writers of the first Christian centuries, they disappeared with the advent of the Middle Ages, and remained unknown until the first half of the 19th century was well on in its course.

I. Background of Apocalyptic

1. Judaism and Hellenism

When the Jews came back from Babylon to Palestine, though surrounded by heathen of various creeds, they were strongly monotheistic. The hold the Persians had of the empire of Southwest Asia, and their religion – Zoroastrianism – so closely akin to monotheism, prevented any violent attempts at perverting the Jews. With the advent of the Greek power a new state of things emerged. Certainly at first there does not seem to have been any direct attempt to force them to abandon their religion, but the calm contempt of the Hellene who looked down from the superior height of his artistic culture on all barbarians, and the influence that culture had in the ruling classes tended to seduce the Jews into idolatry. While the governing orders, the priests and the leaders of the Council, those who came in contact with the generals and governors of the Lagids of Egypt, or the Seleucids of Syria, were thus inclined to be seduced into idolatry, there was a large class utterly uninfluenced by Hellenic culture, and no small portion of this class hated fanatically all tampering with idolatry. When the dominion over Palestine passed out of the hands of the Ptolemies into that of the house of Seleucus, this feeling was intensified, as the Syrian house regarded with less tolerance the religion of Israel. The opposition to Hellenism and the apprehension of it naturally tended to draw together those who shared the feeling. On the one side was the scribist legal party, who developed into the Pharisaic sect; on the other were the mystics, who felt the personal power of Deity. These afterward became first the Chasidim, then later the Essenes. These latter gradually retired from active participation in national life. As is natural with mystics their feelings led them to see visions and to dream dreams. Others more intellectual, while they welcomed the enlightenment of the Greeks, retained their faith in the one God. To them it seemed obvious that as their God was the true God, all real enlightenment must have proceeded from Him alone. In such thinkers as Plato and Aristotle they saw many things in harmony with the Mosaic law. They were sure that there must have been links which united these thinkers to the current of Divine revelation, and were led to imagine of what sort these links necessarily were. The names of poets such as Orpheus and Linus, who survived only in their names, suggested the source of these links – these resemblances. Hence, the wholesale forgeries, mainly by Jews, of Greek poems. On the other hand, there was the desire to harmonize Moses and his law with the philosophical ideas of the time. Philo the Alexandrian, the most conspicuous example of this effort, could not have been an isolated phenomenon; he must have had many precursors. This latter movement, although most evident in Egypt, and probably in Asia Minor, had a considerable influence in Judea also.

2. Political Influences

Political events aided in the advance of both these tendencies. The distinct favor that Antiochus the Great showed to the Greeks and to those barbarians who Hellenized, became with his son Antiochus Epiphanes a direct religious persecution. This emphasized the protest of the Chasidim on the one hand, and excited the imagination of the visionaries to greater vivacity on the other. While the Maccabees and their followers were stirred to deeds of valor, the meditative visionaries saw in God their refuge, and hoped for deliverance at the hand of the Messiah. They pictured to themselves the tyrant smitten down by the direct judgment of Yahweh. After the death of Epiphanes, the Maccabeans had become a power to be reckoned with, and the visionaries had less excitement from external events till the Herodian family found their way into supreme power. At first the Herodians favored the Pharisaic party as that which supported John Hyrcanus II, the friend of Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, and the Essenes seem to have taken Herod at first into their special favor. However, there was soon a change. In consequence of the compliance with heathen practices, into which their connection with the Romans forced the Herodians, the more religious among the Jews felt themselves compelled to withdraw all favor from the Idumean usurper, and to give up all hope in him. This naturally excited the visionaries to new expectation of Divine intervention. Behind the Herodians was the terrible iron power of Rome. The Romans had intervened in the quarrel between John Hyrcanus and his brother Aristobulus. Pompey had desecrated the temple by intruding into the Holy of Holies. The disastrous overthrow that he suffered at the hands of Caesar and his miserable end on the shores of Egypt seemed to be a judgment on him for his impiety. Later, Nero was the especial mark for the Apocalyptists, who by this time had become mainly Christian. Later Roman emperors impressed the imagination of the Apocalyptists, as the Flavians.

II. General Characteristics of Apocalyptic

1. Differences from Prophecy in Content

Both in matter and form apocalyptic literal and the writings associated with it differ from the prophetic writings of the preceding periods. As already mentioned, while the predictive element as present in Apocalypses, as in Prophecy, it is more prominent and relates to longer periods and involves a wider grasp of the state of the world at large. Apocalypse could only have been possible under the domination of the great empires. Alike in Prophecy and in Apocalypse there is reference to the coming of the Messiah, but in the latter not only is the Messianic hope more defined, it has a wider reference. In the Prophets and Psalmists the Messiah had mainly to do with Israel. He will save his people; He will die for them; His people shall be all righteous. All this applies to Israel; there is no imperial outlook. In the Apocalypses the imperial outlook is prominent, beginning with Daniel in which we find the Messianic kingdom represented by a son of man over against the bestial empires that had preceded (Dan 7:13) and reaching the acme of Apocalypse, if not its conclusion, in the Revelation of John: The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ (Rev 11:15). While the prophet was primarily a preacher of righteousness, and used prediction either as a guarantee, by its fulfillment, of his Divine mission, or as an exhibition of the natural result of rebellion against God’s righteous laws, to the Apocalyptist prediction was the thing of most importance, and in the more typical Apocalypse there is no moral exhortation whatever.

2. Differences from Prophecy in Literary Form

In the literary form employed there are marked differences between Apocalyptic and Prophecy. Both make use of vision, but in Prophecy, in the more restricted sense of the word, these visions are as a rule implied, rather than being described. Although Isaiah calls the greater part of his Prophecy vision, yet in only one instance does he describe what he sees; as a rule he assumes throughout that has audience knows what is visible to him. The only instance (Isa 6:1-13) in which he does describe his vision is not at all predictive; the object is exhortation. In the case of the Apocalypses the vision is the vehicle by which the prediction is conveyed. In Ezekiel there are visions, but only one of these – the valley of dry bones – is predictive. In it the symbols used are natural, not, as always in Apocalypses, arbitrary. Compare in Daniel’s vision of the Ram and the He-goat (Dan 8). In Ezekiel the dry bones naturally suggest death, and the process by which they are revivified the reader feels is the natural course such an event would take did it come within the sphere of ordinary experience; while in what is told of the horns on the head of the Greek goat there is no natural reason for the changes that take place, only a symbolical one. This is still more marked in the vision of the Eagle in 4 Esdras 11. What may be regarded as yet more related to the form is the fact that while the Prophets wrote in a style of so elevated prose that it always hovered on the border of poetry – indeed, frequently passed into it and employed the form of verse, as Isa 26:1 – the apocalyptists always used pure prose, without the elaborate parrallelism or cadenced diction of Hebrew poetry. The weird, the gorgeous, or the terrible features of the vision described are thrown into all the higher relief by the baldness of the narrative.

III. Authorship of Jewish Apocalyptic Works

1. Pseudepigraphic Authors Not Known Individually

In most cases the question of authorship is one that has to be discussed in regard to each work individually. A number of the characteristics of the works render such a procedure impossible in regard to them. If we put to the one side the two Apocalypses that form part of the canon, they are all pseudonymous, as Enoch and Baruch, or anonymous, as the Book of Jubilees. Many of them in addition show traces of interpolation and modification by later hands. If we had a full and clear history of the period during which they were written, and if its literature had to a great extent been preserved to us we might have been in a position to fix on the individual; but as matters stand, this is impossible. At the same time, however, from internal evidence, we may form some idea of the surroundings of those who have written these works.

2. General Resemblance and Mutual Dependence Show Them Products of One Sect

From the striking resemblance in general style which they exhibit, and from the way in which some of them are related to the others, many of these works seem to have been the product of similar circumstances. Even those most removed from the rest in type and general attitude are nearer them than they are to any other class of work. All affirmative evidence thus points to these works having been composed by authors that were closely associated with each other. The negative evidence for this is the very small traceable influence these works had on later Jewish thought. Many of them axe quoted by the Christian Fathers, some of them by New Testament writers. The whole of these works have been preserved to us through Christian means. A large number have been preserved by being adopted into the Old Testament canon of the Ethiopic church; a considerable number have been unearthed from Ambrosian Library in Milan; most of them have been written in Palestine by Jewish writers; yet no clear indubitable sign of the knowledge of these books can be found in the Talmud.

3. Three Jewish Sects Comprise Whole Literary Class

The phenomenon here noted is a striking one. Works, the majority of which are written in Hebrew by Jews, are forgotten by the descendants of these Jews, and are retained by Gentile Christians, by nations who were ignorant of Hebrew and preserved them in Greek, Latin or Ethiopic translations. A characteristic of the Judaism during the period in which these books were appearing was the power exercised by certain recognized sects. If one takes the most nearly contemporary historian of the Jews, Josephus, as one’s authority, it is found how prominent the three sects, Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, were. To a certain extent this is confirmed by the Gospels and the Acts, with this noticeable exception – the Essenes are never mentioned by name.

4. Not the Product of the Sadducees

The scribes, the literary class among the Jews, all belonged to one or other of these ruling sects. Consequently these works must have proceeded from members of one of those sects. Their mutual resemblance precludes their authors from belonging some to one sect and some to another. We know pretty exactly from Josephus and the New Testament what the character and tenets of the Sadducees were. They were the priestly sacerdotal class, and were above all, political schemers. They received only the Pentateuch as authoritative, and had no share in the Messianic hopes of which the Prophets were full. They believed neither in angel nor spirit, and had no hope of immortality (Act 23:8). Josephus compares them with the followers of Epicurus among the Greeks. Nothing could be farther removed from the spirit and doctrines of the Apocalypses than all this. The Messianic hopes bulk largely; angels are prominent, then, hierarchies are described and their names given. The doctrine of immortality is implied, and the places of reward and punishment are described. The Apocalypses cannot therefore be attributed to the Sadducees.

5. Nor of the Pharisees

There is greater plausibility in attributing them to the Pharisees. So far as doctrines are concerned, there is no doubt that the agreement is relatively close. There are, however, difficulties in accepting this view of their origin. With the fall of the Jewish state, the Sadducees disappeared when there was no field for political activity, and when with the destruction of the temple there were no more sacrifices to require the services of Aaronic priests. Nearly contemporaneously the Essenes disappeared in Christianity. The Pharisees alone remained to carry on the traditions of Judaism. We have in the Talmud the result of Pharisaic literary activity. The Mishna is the only part of this miscellaneous conglomeration which is at all nearly contemporary with the works before us. It has none of the characteristics of the apocalyptic writings. The later Hagadi Midrash have more resemblance to some of these, noticeably to the Book of Jubilees. Still, the almost total want of any references to any of the Apocalypses in the recognized Pharisaic writings, and the fact that no Jewish version of any of these books has been preserved, seems conclusive against the idea that the Apocalypses owed their origin to the Pharisaic schools. The books that form the ordinary Apocrypha are in a different position. The majority, if not the whole of them, were received into the Jewish canon of Alexandria. Some of them are found in Hebrew or Aramaic, as Ecclesiasticus, Tobit and Judith. None of the Apocalypses have been so found. This leads necessarily to the conclusion that the Pharisees did not write these books.

6. Probably Written by the Essenes

By the method of exclusions we are led thus to adopt the conclusion of Hilgenfeld, that they are the work of the Essenes. We have, however, positive evidence. We know from Josephus that the Essenes had many secret sacred books. Those books before us would suit this description. Further, in one of these books (4 Esdras) we find a story which affords an explanation of the existence of these books. 2 (4) Esdras 14:40-48 tells how to Ezra there was given a cup of water as it were fire to drink, and then he dictated to five men. These men wrote in characters which they did not understand for forty days until they had written four score and fourteen books (Revised Version (British and American)). He is commanded, The first that thou hast written publish openly, and let the worthy and unworthy read it: but keep the seventy last that thou mayest deliver them to such as be wise among thy people. While the twenty-four books of the ordinary canon would be open to all, these other seventy books would only be known by the wise – presumably, the Essenes. This story proceeds on the assumption that all the biblical books had been lost during the Babylonian captivity, but that after he had his memory quickened, Ezra was able to dictate the whole of them; but of these only twenty-four were to be published to all; there were seventy which were to be kept by a society of wise men. This would explain how the Books of Enoch and Noah, and the account of the Assumption of Moses could appear upon the scene at proper times and yet not be known before. In the last-named book there is another device. Moses tells Joshua to embalm (hedriare) the writing which gives an account of what is coming upon Israel. Books so embalmed would be liable to be found when Divine providence saw the occasion ripe. These works are products of a school of associates which could guard sacred books and had prepared hypotheses to explain at once how they had remained unknown, and how at certain crises they became known. All this suits the Essenes, and especially that branch of them that dwelt as Coenobites beside the Dead Sea. We are thus driven to adopt Hilgenfeld’s hypothesis that the Essenes were the authors of these books. Those of them that formed the Community of Engedi by their very dreamy seclusion would be especially ready to see visions and dream dreams. To them it seem no impossible thing for one of the brotherhood to be so possessed by the spirit of Enoch or of Noah that what he wrote were really the words of the patriarch. It would not be inconceivable, or even improbable, that Moses or Joshua might in a dream open to them books written long before and quicken their memories so that what they had read in the night they could recite in the day-time. As all the Essenes were not dwellers by the shores of the Dead Sea, or associates with the palms of Engedi, some of the writings of this class as we might expect, betray a greater knowledge of the world, and show more the influence of events than those which proceeded from the Coenobites. As to some extent corroborative of this view, there is the slight importance given to sacrifice in most of these works.

Works Entitled Apocalyptic

Classes of Books

In the classification of plants and animals in natural science the various orders and genera present the observer with some classes that have all the features that characterize the general Mass prominent and easily observable, while in others these features are so far from prominent that to the casual observer they are invisible. This may be seen in the apocalyptic writings: there are some that present all the marks of Apocalypses, such as the Book of Enoch, the Assumption of Moses and the Apocalypse of Baruch. They all claim to be revelations of the future – a future which begins, however, from the days of some ancient saint – and then, passing over the time of is actual composition, ends with the coming of the Messiah, the setting up of the Messianic kingdom and the end of the world. There are others, like the Book of Jubilees, in which the revelation avowedly looks back, and which thus contain an amount of legendary matter. One of the books which are usually reckoned in this class, has, unlike most of the Apocalypses, which are in prose, taken the Book of Psalms as its model – the Psalter of Solomon. A very considerable number of the works before us take the form of farewell counsels on the part of this or that patriarch. The most famous of these is the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. Although the great masonry have been written in Hebrew or Aramaic by Jews resident in Palestine, the Sibylline books, composed to a great extent by Jews of Alexandria, present an exception to this.

We shall in the remainder of the art consider these sub-classes in the order now mentioned: (1) Typical Apocalypses; (2) Legendary Testaments; (3) Psalmic; (4) Testaments; (5) Sibylline Oracles.

I. Apocalypses Proper

As above indicated, all these take the Book of Daniel as their model, and imitate it more or less closely. One peculiarity in this connection must be referred to. While we have already said these later Apocalypses were practically unknown by the Jews of a couple of centuries after the Christian era, the Book of Daniel was universally regarded as authoritative alike by Jews and Christians. In considering these works, we shall restrict ourselves to those Apocalypses that, whether Jewish or Christian by religion, are the production of those who were Jews by nation.

1. Enoch Books

The most important of these is the Book, or rather, Books of Enoch. After having been quoted in Jude and noticed by several of the Fathers, this work disappeared from the knowledge of the Christian church.

(1) History of the Books

Fairly copious extracts from this collection of books had been made by George Syncellus, the 8th century chronographer. With the exception of those fragments, all the writings attributed to Enoch had disappeared from the ken of European scholars. In the last quarter of the 18th century. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveler, brought to Europe three copies of the Book of Enoch in Ethiopic, which had been regarded as canonical by the Abyssinian church, and had consequently been preserved by them. Of these three copies, one he retained in Kinnaird House, another he presented to the Bodleian Library In Oxford, the third he gave to the Royal Library in Paris. For more than a quarter of a century these manuscripts remained as unknown as if they had still been in Abyssinia. In the year 1800 Sylvestre de Sacy published an article on Enoch in which he gave a translation of the first sixteen chapters. This was drawn from the Parisian copy. Twenty-one years after Archbishop Laurence published a translation of the whole work from the manuscript in the Bodleian. Seventeen years after he published the text from the same MS. The expedition to Magdala under Lord Napier brought a number of fresh manuscripts to Europe; the German missionaries, for whose release the advance had been undertaken, brought a number to Germany, while a number came to the British Museum. Some other travelers had brought from the East manuscripts of this precious book. Flemming, the latest editor of the text, claims to have used 26 manuscripts. It needs but a cursory study of the Ethiopic text to see that it is a translation from a Greek original. The quotations in George Syncellus confirmed this, with the exception of a small fragment published by Mai. Until the last decade of last century. Syncellus’ fragments formed the only remains of the Greek text known. In 1892 M. Bouriant published from manuscripts found in Gizeh, Cairo, the Greek of the first 32 chapters. More of the Greek may be discovered in Egypt. Meantime, we have the Greek of Jud 1:1 – 32, and from the Vatican fragment a portion of chapter 89. A study of the Greek shows it also to have been a translation from a Hebrew original. Of this Hebrew original, however, no part has come down to us.

As we have it, it is very much a conglomeration of fragments of various authorship. It is impossible to say whether the Greek translator was the collector of these fragments or whether, when the mass of material came into his hands, the interpolations had already taken place. However, the probability, judging from the usual practice of translators, is that as he got the book, so he translated it.

(2) Summary

The first chapter gives an account of the purpose of the book, Enoch 2 through 5 an account of his survey of the heavens. With Enoch 6 begins the book proper. Jud 1:6-19 give an account of the fallen angels and Enoch’s relation to them. Jud 1:20 through 36 narrate Enoch’s wanderings through the universe, and give an account of the place of punishment, and the secrets of the West and of the center of the earth. This may be regarded as the First Book of Enoch, the Book of the Angels. With chapter 37 begins the Book of Similitudes. The first Similitude (chapters 37 through 44) represents the future kingdom of God, the dwelling of the righteous and of the angels; and finally all the secrets of the heavens. This last portion is interesting as revealing the succession of the parts of this conglomeration – the more elaborate the astronomy, the later; the simpler, the earlier. The second Similitude (chapters 46 through 57) brings in the Son of Man as a superhuman if not also superangelic being, who is to come to earth as the Messiah. The third Similitude occupies chapters 58 through 71, and gives an account of the glory of the Messiah and of the subjugation of the kings of the earth under Him. There is interpolated a long account of Leviathan and Behemoth. There are also Noachian fragments inserted. The Book of the Courses of the Luminaries occupies the next eleven chapters, and subjoined to these are two visions (chapters 83 through 90), in the latter of which is an account of the history of the world to the Maccabean Struggle. Fourteen chapters which follow may be called The Exhortations of Enoch. The exhortations are emphasized by an exposition of the history of the world in 10 successive weeks. It may be noted here that there is a dislocation. The passage Enoch 91:12 contains the 8, 9, and 10 weeks, while chapter 93 gives an account of the previous 7. After chapter 104 there are series of sections of varying origin which may be regarded as appendices. There are throughout these books many interpolations. The most observable of these are what are known as Noachian Fragments, portions in which Noah and not Enoch is the hero and spokesman. There are, besides, a number of universally acknowledged interpolations, and some that are held by some to be interpolated, are regarded by others as intimately related to the immediate context. The literary merit of the different portions is various: of none of them can it be called high. The Book of Similitudes, with its revelations of heaven and hell, is probably the finest.

(3) Language

We have the complete books only in Ethiopic. The Ethiopic, however, is not, as already observed, the original language of the writings. The numerous portions of it which still survive in Greek, prove that at all events our Ethiopic is a translation from the Greek. The question of how far it is the original is easily settled. The angels assemble on Mt. Hermon, we are told (En 6), and bind themselves by an oath or curse: and they called it Mount Hermon because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecation upon it. This has a meaning only in Hebrew or Aramaic, not in Greek. A very interesting piece of evidence of the original language is obtained from a blunder. In Enoch 90:38 we are told that they all became white bullocks, and the first was the Word (nagara). As for the appearance of this term, from its connection it is obvious that some sort of bullocks is intended. In Hebrew the wild ox is called re’em (Aramaic rma). The Greek translators, having no Greek equivalent available, transliterated as rem or rema. This the translators confused with Tema, a word. It is impossible to decide with anything like certainty which of the two languages, Hebrew or Aramaic, was the original, though from the sacred character ascribed to Enoch the probability is in favor of its being Hebrew.

(4) Date

The question of date is twofold. Since Enoch is really made up of a collection of books and fragments of books, the question of the temporal relation of these to each other is the primary one. The common view is that chapters 1 through 36 and 72 through 91 are by the same author, and form the nucleus of the whole. Although the weighty authority of Dr. Charles is against assigning these portions to one author, the resemblances are numerous and seem to us by no means so superficial as he would regard them. He, with most critics, would regard the Book of Similitudes as later. Nevertheless, we venture to differ from this view, for reasons which we shall assign.

(5) Internal Chronology: The Book of Noah

The fragments of the Book of Noah above alluded to present an intrusive element in the Book of Enoch. These, though fairly numerous, are not so numerous as Dr. Charles would claim. Those that show clear traces not only of being interpolations, but also of being interpolations from this Book of Noah, are found only in those portions of the Book that appear to be written by the author of Enoch 37 through 71. In them and in the Noachian fragments there are astronomical portions, as there are also in the portion that seems to proceed from another hand, chapters 1 through 36; 72 through 91. When these are compared, the simplest account of the phenomena of the heavens is found in the non-Noachian portions, the first noted chapters 37 through 71; 92 through 107; the next in complexity is that found in the Noachian interpolations; the most complex is that contained in chapters 72 through 91. This would seem to indicate that the earliest written portion was chapters 37 through 71; 92 through 107. Our view of the date of this middle portion of En, the Book of Similitudes, is opposed by Dr. Stanton (Jewish and Christian Messiah, 60 through 63; 241 through 44), who maintains that it is post-Christian. For this decision he rests mainly on the use of the title Son of Man. This title, he says, as applied to the Messiah, is unknown in rabbinic literature. Rabbinic literature is all so late as to be of no value. The Mishna has few traces of Messianic belief, and was not committed to writing till the end of the 2nd century, when the difference between church and synagogue was accentuated. He further states that it was not understood by the Jews who heard our Lord, and brings as proof Joh 12:34, The Son of Man must be lifted up. Who is this – the Son of Man? Dr. Stanton (Jewish and Christian Messiah, 241) so translates the passage. To us, the last clause is a mistranslation. The Greek usage in regard to houtos ho would lead us to translate: Who is this peculiar kind of Son of Man? This is the meaning which suits the context. our Lord had not in all the preceding speech used the title Son of Man of Himself. This sentence really proves that the multitude regarded the title as equivalent to Messiah or Christ. It might be paraphrased, The Christ abideth ever; how sayest thou then, the Christ must be lifted up? Who is this Christ? In fact, our Lord’s adoption of the title is unintelligible unless it were understood by His audience as a claim to being Messiah. It had the advantage that it could not be reported to the Romans as treasonable. There are supplementary portions of Enoch which may be neglected. At first sight Rom 10:1-3 appear to declare themselves as Noacinan, but close inspection shows this to be a misapprehension. If we take the Greek text of Syncellus, Uriel the angel sent to Noah. The Ethiopic and Gizeh Greek are at this point clearly corrupt. Then the introduction of Raphael implies that the first portion of this chapter and this Raphael section are by the same author. But the Raphael section has to do with the binding of Azazel, a person intimately connected with the earlier history of the Jews. Should it be objected that according to the Massoretic reckoning, as according to that of the Septuagint, Noah and Enoch were not living together, it may be answered that according to the Samaritan they were for 180 years contemporaries. In chapter 68 Noah speaks of Enoch as his grandfather, and assumes him to be a contemporary of himself. Moreover, we must not expect precise accuracy from Apocalyptists.

(6) External Chronology

When the internal chronology of the book is fixed, the way is open for considering the relation of external chronology. Dr. Charles has proved that the Book of Jubilees implies the Noachian portion in the Enoch Books. There are notices of the existence of a Book of Noah (Jub Rom 10:13). There is reference also to a Book of Enoch (Jub 21:10). Dr Charles would date the Book of Jubilees between 135 and 105 bc. If, then, the Book of Noah was already known, and, as we have seen, the Book of Enoch was yet older, it would be impossible to date Enoch earlier than 160 bc. Personally we are not quite convinced of the correctness of Dr. Charles’ reasonings as to the date of the Book of Jubilees, as will be shown at more length later. There appears to us a reference in Enoch 66:5 to the campaign of Antiochus the Great against the Parthians and the Medes. Early in his reign (220 bc) he had made an expedition to the East against the revolted provinces of Media and Persia, which he subdued. This was followed (217 bc) by a campaign in Palestine, which at first successful, ended in the defeat of Raphia. In the year 212 bc he made a second expedition to the East, in which he invaded India, and subdued into alliance the formidable Parthian and Bactrian kingdoms. The expectation was natural that now, having gained such an access of power and reputation, Antiochus would desire to wipe out the dishonor of Raphia. It was to be anticipated that along with the nationalities from which ordinarily the Syriac armies were recruited, the Parthians would be found, and the earlier subdued Medes. The description of the treading down of the land of the Elect is too mild for a description of the desecration wrought by Epiphanes. If we are right, we may fix on 205 bc, as the probable date of the nucleus. The Book of the Lummaries of the Heavens which we feel inclined to attribute to the same hand as Enoch 1 through 36 contains a history of Israel that terminates with the Maccabean Struggle still proceeding. Dr. Charles would date this portion at 161 bc. Personally, we should be inclined to place it a few years earlier. He would place chapters 1 through 36 before the Maccabean Struggle. According to our thinking the genuine Noachian fragments fall between these. The Book of Noah seems to have existed as a separate book in the time when the Book of Jubilees was written. It is dependent on Enoch, and therefore after it. The use of portions taken from it to interpolate in the Enoch Books must have taken place before the Maccabean Struggle. There are other passages that have every appearance of being interpolations, the date of which it is impossible to fix with any definiteness.

(7) Slavonic Enoch

In the year 1892 the attention of Dr. Charles was directed to the fact that a Book of Enoch was extant in Slavonic. Perusal proved it not to be a version of the book before us, but another and later pseudepigraphic book, taking, as the earlier had done, the name of Enoch. It is totally independent of the Ethiopic Enoch Book, as is seen by the most cursory consideration. It begins by giving an account of Enoch’s instruction to his descendants how he had been taken up to the seventh heaven. Another manuscript adds other three heavens. In the third (?) heaven Enoch is shown the place of the punishment of the wicked. In the description of the fourth heaven there is an account of the physical conditions of the universe, in which the year is said to be 365 1/4 days; but the course of the sun is stated as a course of 227 days; which appears to be all that is accounted for. Here the independence of the Slavonic Enoch is clear, as the Ethiopic Enoch makes the year 364 days. There are many points of resemblance which show that the writer of the Slavonic Enoch had before him the book which has come down to us in Ethiopic, but the relationship is not by any means so close as to be called dependence. The definite numbering of the heavens into seven or ten is a proof of its later date. It is related to the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, and also to the Ascension of Isaiah. We cannot quite acknowledge the cogency of the proofs that any portion of this Book has been composed in Greek: hence, we cannot agree with Dr. Charles that it was composed in Alexandria. The resemblances to Philo are too few and slight to be convincing. That some of it was originally Hebrew Dr. Charles admits. The date Dr. Charles assigns to it – 1-50 ad – seems reasonable, with this qualification, that it seems nearer the later than the earlier of these dates. A double translation, with the certainty of some interpolations and the probability of many more, makes any decided Judgment as to date hazardous, so much has to depend on resemblances between books in cases where it is impossible to decide which is dependent on which. It is at once an interesting and a valuable addition to our knowledge of the mind of the age preceding the publication of the gospel.

(8) Secrets of Enoch

In imitation of this Book and in some sense in dependence on it was written a rabbinic Book of the Secrets of Enoch. It is attributed to Rabbi Ishmael, who was a prominent figure in the rebellion of Barcochba. Enoch is there noted as Metatron. It follows to some extent the course of the Slavonic Book of Enoch. It is this book that is referred to in the Talmud, not the more important book quoted by Jude.

2. Apocalypse of Baruch

Though not without its value in estimating the trend of pre-Christian speculation, the Apocalypse of Baruch did not influence thought in the way that the Books of Enoch have done. It is neither quoted nor referred to by any of the Christian Fathers. Irenaeus (V, 33) quotes a saying which he attributes to our Lord on the authority of Papias, who claims to have in this attribution the authority of John behind him. This saying we find in the Apocalypse before us, though considerably expanded. In regard to this, in the first place we have only the Latin version of Irenaeus, not the Greek original. In the next place, even though the Latin may be a faithful translation of the Greek, still it is only a quotation from a lost book, which itself records traditions. The fact that it is in the shortest form in the book before us would seem to indicate that it is the original. If that is so, we may regard it as having a certain vogue among the Essenian school and their sympathizers. In the Syriac Apocrypha published by Lagarde there is a small book entitled The Epistle of Baruch the Scribe. This occurs at the end of our Apocalypse of Baruch. In Cyprian’s Test. contra Jud., III, 29 we have a passage of considerable length attributed to Bar, a few words of which agree with a passage in this Apocalypse. Hippolytus quotes an oath used by certain Gnostics which he says is found in the Book of Baruch. There are features in the passage thus quoted which seem to be echoes of the book before us. This was all that was known of the Apocalypse of Baruch until the last half-century, when Ceriani discovered a Syriac version of it in the Arabroaian Library in Milan, nearly complete.

(1) Summary

It begins after the model of a prophecy: The word of the Lord came to Baruch, the son of Neriah, saying. In this he follows the phraseology of Jeremiah. He and Jeremiah are commanded to leave Jerusalem as God is about to pour forth His judgment upon it. Baruch entreats God for his city, and God shows him that the punishment will be temporary. Then the Chaldeans come to fulfill what God has threatened, but Baruch is shown the angel ministers of Divine vengeance saving the sacred vessels by calling upon the earth to swallow them up. Then the angels helped the Chaldeans to overthrow the walls of Jerusalem. Notwithstanding that in the canonical Book of Jeremiah (Jer 43:6, Jer 43:7) and in 2 Kings the prophet goes down to Egypt, Baruch declares that Jeremiah is sent to comfort the captives in Babylon, while he, Baruch, is to remain in Judea. He mourns over Jerusalem and denounces woes in Babylon (chapters 1 through 12). While he is standing upon Mt. Zion he is called into colloquy with God as to the method of Divine dealing with Judah, and a revelation is promised him (chapters 13 through 20). This revelation is introduced by a prayer of Baruch followed by a colloquy with the Almighty. Baruch asks, Will that tribulation continue a long time? He is answered that there will be twelve successive different forms of judgment which shall come. Then follows an enigmatic sentence, Two parts weeks of seven weeks are the measure and reckoning of the time which probably means that each of the parts is a jubilee or half a century. At the termination of this period the Messiah is to appear. Here a description is given of the glories of the Messianic kingdom in the course of which occurs the passage already referred to as quoted by Papias (chapters 21 through 30). The writer, forgetting what he has already said of the desolation of Jerusalem, makes Baruch assemble the Elders of Jerusalem and announce that he is going to retire into solitude. In his retirement he has a vision of a wooded hill, and at the foot of it is a vine growing and beside the vine a spring of water. This fountain swelled and became tempestuous, sweeping away all the forest on the hill but one great cedar. It, too, falls at length. The interpretation is given The forest is the fourth Empire of Daniel – the Roman – the many magistracies being symbolized by the numerous trees of the forest. The Messiah is the vine and the fountain. It is probable that Pompey is the leader referred to (Baruch 31 through 40). Then follows a colloquy of Baruch first with God, then with his son and the Elders of the people. A long prayer with God’s answer which includes a description of the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous – the latter is next given with greater fullness (Baruch 41 through 52). Mother vision is given to Baruch of twelve showers of rain alternately bright and dark and a final torrent blacker than anything else and closed by a bright light. The angel Runnel comes to Baruch to interpret the vision. It represents the history of Israel to the return to Judea under the decree of Cyrus. The last dark waters represent the Maccabean Struggle. It would seem as if the vision carried the conflict on to the fratricidal conflict between John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus (Baruch 53 through 77). Then follows the epistle to the nine and a half tribes (Baruch 78 through 87).

(2) Structure

Preliminary to anything further is the discussion of the state of the book – how far it is one, how far it is composite or interpolated. That it contains different portions is obvious on the slightest careful study. The first portion that the reader marks off is the epistle to the nine tribes and a half. As has already been mentioned this portion appears independently and is preserved by Lagarde in his Libri Vet. Test. Apocryphi, in which collection it precedes the ordinary apocryphal Book of Baruch. The last section, which relates how this epistle was sent to the nine tribes and a half by an eagle, is omitted. The last section (chapter 79) has been added, and has been modified in order to introduce this epistle. It is not at all in the spirit of the rest of this Apocalypse that the tribes carried away captive by Salmanasser, king of Assyria have any share in the blessings revealed in the vision. The epistle itself merely narrates the capture of the city, and the help of the angels who hid the sacred vessels. It is to be noted that in the earlier portion of this Apocalypse it is the earth that opens her mouth and swallows down the sacred vessels. Another division reveals itself on further scrutiny. From the beginning to the end of chapter 30 the course of the narrative is fairly continuous. A revelation is promised, and in the end we have a picture of the glory and plenty of the times of the Messiah. The next section begins with an exhortation which has little bearing on what has preceded. Then follows the vision of the forest and the surviving tree. The colloquy and the prayers that follow, to chapter 52, are all connected, though not closely. But close connection is not to be expected from an oriental and an Apocalyptist. Then follow the sections connected with the vision of the twelve showers of rain, and its interpretation. There are thus five independent sections exclusive of interpolations which may be due to different writers.

(3) Language

In the first place it is clear that the Syriac in which the work has come down to us is itself a translation from Greek. The manuscript of Ceriani states this in its title. This is confirmed by Graecisms filtering through, as ho Manasseh in Baruch 65:1, where ho represents the Greek article. In some cases the readings that are unintelligible can be explained by translation back into Greek, as shown by Dr. Charles. The most convincing is the use made of this book by the writer of the Rest of the Words of Baruch, who wrote in Greek. Although not a few scholars have followed Langen in maintaining that Greek was the original tongue, careful investigation proves that behind the Greek was Hebrew. The strongest of these proofs is that the echoes of Scriptural texts are almost invariably from the Hebrew as against the Septuagint. Thus, in 6:8, Jeremiah three times addresses the earth and calls upon it to hear the word of the Lord. So it is in the Massoretic Text and in the Vulgate, but not in the Septuagint, where the word earth is only given twice. There are several other instances. Dr. Charles has carefully compared the idiomatic phrases and sees proof that usages of the Massoretic Text have been preserved in the Greek, and thence conveyed to the Syriac. The most interesting of these is the peculiar Hebrew idiom of infinitive with finite verb to emphasize the action narrated. This is rendered in Septuagint sometimes by cognate noun and verb, and sometimes by participle and verb. The examples chosen by Dr. Charles have the disadvantage that none of them show the effect on this idiom of passing through the two languages, Greek and Syriac. In Paulus Tellensis there are examples – e.g. 2Ki 18:33. He is scarcely accurate in saying that this idiom never occurs in the Peshitta unless it is in the Greek. See Luk 1:22; Joh 13:29, etc., as examples to the contrary. The proof seems conclusive that Hebrew was the original language of this Apocalypse, and that it was first translated into Greek, and from that into Syriac. From this it follows almost necessarily that its place of origin was Palestine. That it has had practically no effect on Jewish literature, and was potent enough among the Christians to lead a Christian about the middle of the 2nd Christian century to compose an addition to it, proves to our thinking its Essenian origin.

(4) Date

Although the writer assumes the destruction of Jerusalem by the army of the Chaldeans, he evidently has no conception of what such a catastrophe would really mean. He has no conception of the length of time occupied by a siege, the terrors of famine, or the desolation that follows the capture of a city. Josephus tells us (BJ, VII, i, 1) that save a portion of the west wall and three towers, the city was utterly razed to the ground – there was nothing left to make those who came there believe that ever it had been inhabited. Yet, when endeavoring to realize the similar destruction which had befallen the city under Nebuchadnezzar, he speaks of himself sitting before the gates of the temple (Baruch 10:5), when the gates had wholly disappeared. Again, he assembles the people and their elders after these things in the valley of the Kedron. The Apocalypse must be dated at all events considerably before 70 ad. On the other hand, it is subsequent to the first part of En; it assumes it as known (Baruch 56:10-13). But a closer discrimination may be reached. In the vision of the wood and the one tree that survives we have Pompey pointed out clearly. The multitude of trees points to the numerous magistracies of Rome. (Compare description of Senate of Rome in 1 Macc 8:15.) The seer in his vision sees all these swept away and one remaining. It could not be an emperor, as that title was regarded as equivalent to king, as Nero in the Ascension of Isaiah is called the matricide king. The only other besides Pompey likely to be pointed to would be Julius Caesar. But the fall of the great desecrator of the temple, which the seer foresaw, would not have failed to be noted as succeeded by that of Caesar who had conquered him. It is difficult for us to realize the position Pompey occupied in the eyes especially of the eastern world before the outbreak of the civil war. Cicero’s letters and his oration Pro lege Manilia show the way Pompey filled the horizon even in republican Rome, in a society most of the prominent members of which claimed a descent that would have enabled them to look down on Pompey. But in the East he had enjoyed dictatorial powers. His intervention in the contest between the brothers John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus could not fail to impress the Jews, and his desecration of the temple would mark him off for a very special destruction. The date is so far before the death of Pompey (48 bc) – though after the desecration of the temple – that the possibility of anyone entering into conflict with him is not dreamed of. When we turn to the twelve showers, we are led to the time of this struggle also as that which shall immediately precede the coming of the Messiah. Another note of time is to be found in Baruch 28 – The measure and reckoning of the time are two parts, weeks of seven weeks. This we regard as two jubilees – i.e. approximately a century. The point to be fixed is the time from which this century is to be reckoned. To our idea it must be from some event connected with the temple. Such an event was the dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in the 148th year of the Seleucid era – that is, 163 bc. A century brings us exactly to the year of Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem and desecration of the temple. Thus three different lines converge in pointing to 60 or 59 bc as the date at which this book was written.

(5) Relation to Other Books

The strange mingling of knowledge of Scripture and ignorance of it is a phenomenon to be observed. The very first clause contains a gross anachronism, whatever explanation may be given of the statement. Taken with what follows, the statement is that Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, in the 25th year of Jeconiah, king of Judah. This naturally ought to mean the 25th year of the reign of Jeconiah, but he only reigned three months. Whether the date is reckoned from his life or his captivity, it will not suit the date of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. Another strange blunder appears in the subjoined Epistle of Baruch; the number of northern tribes who rebelled against Rehoboam is confused, with that of the tribes settled on the west of Jordan, and that of the tribes following the House of David with that of those on the east of Jordan. Yet the general course of Biblical history is quite understood. The author seems fairly well acquainted with Jer and Ps, as there are frequent echoes of these books. Most marked is the connection between this Apocalypse and the other books of the same class. This connection is not so obvious in quotable sentences as in the general atmosphere. This is very marked in regard to the Enoch books, Ethiopic and Slavonic. In the case of the latter, of course, the resemblance is not imitation on the part of the writer of this Apocalypse. One marked distinction, one that precludes any thought of direct imitation, is the elaborate angelology of the Enoch books as compared with the one name which appears in the Apocalypse of Baruch. The book with which the present Apocalypse has closest relation is 2 (4) Esdras. Dr. Charles has given at the end of his translation of the work before us (Apoc of Baruch, 171) a long list of resemblances, not always of equal value. Sometimes the references are inaccurate. The main thing to be observed is that while 2 Esdras as we have it has on the one hand a markedly Christian coloring, which it seems impossible to attribute to interpolation, and on the other, to have seen the desolation of Jerusalem under the Romans, there is no Christian element in the genuine Baruch, and the desolation is more sentimental as proved by the inability to realize the conditions consequent on the capture of the city by victorious enemies.

(6) The Rest of the Words of Baruch

One of the evidences of the influence our Apocalypse had in the Christian community is the composition by a Christian of The Rest of the Words of Baruch (or Jer). This was found, like so many other treasures, by Ceriani in the Ambrosian Library, Milan. Jer is the principal spokesman in the book. It is revealed to him that Jerusalem is to be given into the hands of the Chaldeans, and he announces this to Baruch. He is desirous to save Abimelech (Ebedmelech), and prays God for him, and Abimelech is sent away out of the city while the angels are overturning it. He goes to the vineyard of Agrippa and falls asleep. His sleep continues sixty years. When, arising from sleep, he enters Jerusalem again he does not recognize it. An angel leads him to Baruch who had made his abode in a tank. Baruch writes to Jeremiah, who has departed to Babylon. His letter is conveyed by an eagle. Jeremiah on receipt of this epistle collects all the captives and leads them back to Jerusalem. Certain of them would not submit to the law in all its strictness, but, turning aside, founded Samaria. After some time Jeremiah dies, rises again on the third day and preaches Christ as the Son of God, and is stoned by the Jews. A noticeable thing is the relatively accurate account of the date of Christ’s appearance after the return from the captivity, 477 years, only it must be calculated from the reign of Artaxerxes and to the resurrection. This, however, would make Jeremiah nearly two hundred years old. Such a thing, however, is not a matter that would disturb a Jewish chronologer. The Rest of the Words of Baruch seems to have been written by a Christian Jew in Palestine before the rebellion of Barcochba.

3. The Assumption of Moses

In the Epistle of Jude is a reference to a conflict between the archangel Michael and Satan, when they disputed about the body of Moses Origen (de Princip, iii.2) attributes this to a book he calls Ascensio Mosis. Clement Alexandrinus gives an account of the burial of Moses quoted from the same book. There are several references to the book up to the 6th century, but thereafter it disappeared till Ceriani found the fragment of it which is published in the Acta Sacra et Profana (Vol I). This fragment is in Latin. It is full of blunders, some due to transcription, proving that the last scribe had but an imperfect knowledge of the tongue in which he wrote. Some of the blunders go farther back and seem to have been due to the scribe who translated it from Greek. Even such a common word as thlpsis (affliction) he did not know, but attempted, by no means with conspicuous success, to transliterate it as clipsis. So with allophuloi foreigners, the common Septuagint equivalent of Philistine, and yet commoner skene (a tent) and several others. It probably was dictated, as some of the blunders of the copyist may be better explained as mistakes in hearing, as fynicis for Phoenices, and venient for veniet. Some, however, are due to blunders of sight on the part of the translator, as monses for moyses. From this we may deduce that he read from a manuscript in cursive characters, in which and were alike. This Milan manuscript has been frequently edited. Dr Charles has suggested with great plausibility that there were two works, a Testament of Moses, and an Assumption, and that these have been combined; and, while Jud 1:9 is derived from the Assumption, as also the quotation in Clement of Alexandria, he thinks that Jud 1:16 is derived from separate clauses of the Testament. It may be observed that in the fragment which has been preserved to us, neither the passages in Clement nor that referred to in Jud 1:16 are to be found.

(1) Summary

Moses, now in the plain of Moab, calls Joshua to him and gives him commands for the people. He had already blessed them tribe by tribe. Now he calls his successor to him and urges him to be of good courage. He tells him that the world has been created for Israel, and that he, Moses, had been ordained from before the foundation of the world to be the mediator of this covenant. These commands are to be written down and preserved in clay jars full of cedar oil. This sentence is added to explain the discovery and publication. A rapid summary of the history of Israel to the fall of the Northern Kingdom follows. The successive reigns are called years – eighteen years before the division of the kingdom, 15 Judges and Saul, David and Solomon, and nineteen after, the kings from Jeroboam to Hoshea. The Southern Kingdom has twenty years or reigns. The Southern Kingdom was to fall before Nebuchadnezzar, the king from the East who would cover the land with his cavalry. When they are in captivity one prays for them. Here follows a prayer modeled on Dan 9:4-19 – almost a version of it. In this connection it may be noted that of the ten tribes it is asserted they will multiply among the Gentiles. There is a sudden leap forward to the time of the Greek domination. Singularly, the period of the Maccabees does not appear in this sketch of history. The times of Judas Maccabeus are not mentioned, but the kings of his house, the descendants of Simon, are referred to as Kings ruling shall rise from them, who shall be called priests of the Most High God. To them follows Herod, rex petulans, who will not be of the race of the priests. He will execute judgment on the people like those of Egypt. Herod is to leave children who will reign after him for a short period. The Roman emperor is to put an end to their rule and to burn up Jerusalem. Then comes a mutilated chapter, which, while following in the narrative, may yet be only another aspect of the oppression. The Roman officials figure duly as the source of this, and the Sadducean high-priestly party as their instruments. The resemblance to the terms in which our Lord denounces the Pharisees leads one to think that they, too, are meant by the Essene authors. We have noted above that the Maccabean period is completely omitted. The persecution under Antiochus appears in Assumption of Moses 8 and 9. With Dr. Charles we are inclined to think they have been displaced. In chapter 9 occurs the reference to the mysterious Taxo with his seven sons. Dr. Charles is quite sure the reference is to the seven sons of the widow who suffered before Antiochus Epiphanes as related in 2 Macc 7 (4 Macc 8 through 17), but the mother is the prominent person in all the forms of the story, while in no form of it is their father mentioned. It is to be noted that if T of this mysterious name, represents taw () in the Hebrew (= 400), and represents the letter camek () (= 60) which occupies the same place in the Hebrew alphabet, and if the O represents waw () (= 6), adding those numbers together we have the number 466, which is the sum of the letters of Shimeon. But nothing in the history of the second son of Mattathias resembles the history of the mysterious Taxo. On this subject the reader is recommended to study Charles, Assumption of Moses, 32 through 34. Taxo recommends his sons, having fasted to retire into a cave, and rather to die than to transgress the commands of God. In this conduct there is a suggestion of the action of several of the pious in the beginning of the Antiochus persecutions. Taxo then breaks into a song of praise to God, in the course of which he describes the final discomfiture of the enemies of God and of His people. The establishment of the Messianic kingdom is to be 250 times after the Assumption of Moses. The interpretation of this is one of the difficulties in regard to this Apocalypse. Langen takes the times as equivalent to decades, and Dr. Charles as year-weeks. The latter seems a more probable meaning of time, as more in the line of Jewish thought. It should be noted that Dr. Charles thinks illius adventum refers not to the Messiah’s coming, but to the last judgment. In answer to the declaration of Moses as to his approaching death, Joshua rends his garments and breaks forth into lamentations, wondering who will lead on the people when his master has departed. There is one phrase that seems to imply a tincture of classical culture. Joshua says of Moses, All the world is thy Sepulchre, which seems to be a reminiscence of Pericles’ funeral oration (Thucyd. ii.4), The whole earth is the monument of men of renown. He then casts himself at the feet of Moses. His master encourages him and promises him success. At this point the fragment ends. It is to be expected that shortly after this would occur the passage quoted by Clement of Alexandria, and still later that quoted in Jude.

(2) Structure

It seems to have been united with one, if not two other books, a Testament of Moses and our Book of Jubilees. It would seem that in the present work we have mostly the Testament. The insertion of the word receptione after morte in Assumption of Moses 10:12 indicates that when this copy was made the two writings were united. As above remarked, there appears to have been a displacement of Jud 1:8 and Jud 1:9; they ought to have been placed between Jud 1:4 and Jud 1:5.

(3) Language

As already mentioned, the manuscript found by Ceriani in the Ambrosian Library is in Latin. No one, however, has maintained that this was the language in which it was originally written. It is evidently a translation from the Greek. A number of Greek words are transliterated, some of them common enough. So clearly does the Greek shine through, that Hilgenfeld has reproduced what he imagines the Greek text to have been. That having been settled, a further question rises, Is the Greek the original tongue, or was it, too, a translation from a Sere original? The first alternative is that adopted by Hilgenfeld. His arguments from the alleged impossibility of certain grammatical constructions being found in Hebrew are due to mistake. The presence of such words as Allofile and Deuteronomion simply prove that in translating a book which claimed to be written about Moses, the writer followed the diction used by the Septuagint, just as Archbishop Laurence in translating Enoch used the diction of the King James Version of the Bible These questions have been ably investigated by Dr. Charles in his edition of the Assumption of Moses (42 through 45). He shows a number of Semitic idioms which have persisted through the Greek – some cases in which the meaning can only be got by reconstructing the Hebrew text. Again, corruption can only be explained by means of a Semitic text. It might be suggested that a falsarius writing in Greek would naturally employ the diction of the Septuagint as has been done frequently in English; the diction of the King James Version is used to cover the imitation of a sacred book. The fact that style was so little regarded as a means of settling dates and authorship renders this unlikely. The more delicate question of which of the two Sere tongues – Aramaic or Hebrew – is employed, is more difficult to settle. There are, however, one or two cases in which we seem to see traces of the vav (waw) conversive – a construction peculiar to Hebrew – e.g. 8:2, Those who conceal (their circumcision) he will torture and has delivered up to be led to prison. The ignorance of the scribe may, however, be revoked to explain this. On the other hand the change of tense is so violent that even an ignorant scribe would not be likely to make it by mistake. Over and above, a narrative attributed to Joshua and asserted to be written down by him at the dictation of Moses, would necessarily be in Hebrew. From this we would deduce that Hebrew rather than Aramaic has been the Semitic original.

(4) Date

The identification of the rex petulans with Herod and the statement that he should be succeeded by his sons who should reign a short time, fix the date of the composition of the work before us within narrow limits. It must have been written after the death of Herod and also after the deposition of Archelaus, 6 ad, and before st was seen that Antipas and Philip were secure on their thrones. Thus we cannot date it later than 7 or 8 ad. The intense hatred of the Herodians was a characteristic of this time. Later they came to be admired by the patriotic party.

(5) Relation to Other Books

The most striking phrase is the name given to Moses – arbiter testamenti, the mediator of the covenant, which we find repeatedly used in the Epistle to the Hebrews: mestes is the Greek translation of mokhah in Job 9:33, but in translating the Epistle to the Hebrews into Hebrew Delitzsch uses sarsor, a purely rabbinic word. Another rendering is menaceah. There are several echoes in this book of passages in the Old Testament, as the address to Josh (Job 1:1) is parallel with Deu 31:7 f. The prayer in Assumption of Moses 4, as before observed, is modeled on Dan 9:4-19. There are traces of acquaintance with the Psalter of Solomon in Assumption of Moses 5 as compared with Psa 4:1-8. In these there appear to be echoes of the present work in our Lord’s description of the Pharisees, when we compare Mt 23 with Assumption of Moses 5.

There is a fragment published by Ceriani entitled History and Life (diegesis kai politea) of Adam, Which, Was Revealed by God to Moses, His Servant. It is an account of the life of our first parents after the death of Abel to their own death. It has been composed to all appearance in Greek, and really belongs not to Mosaic literature, but to that connected with Adam. It is to be noted that to Cain and Abel other names are given besides those so well known. They are called Adiaphotos and Amilabes, names of no assignable origin. There are no evidences of Christian influence; from this one would be led to regard it as a Jewish writing; as the middle of it has been lost, any decision is to be made with caution.

4. The Ascension of Isaiah

The Ascension of Isaiah was often referred to by name in the works of early Christian Fathers, especially by Origen. It is called by him The Apocryphon of Isaiah. Epiphanes gives it the title by which it is more commonly known. Now that we have the book, we find numerous echoes of it. Indeed, Origen claims that Heb 11:37 contains a reference to it in speaking of saints who were sawn asunder. Justin Martyr speaks of the death of Isaiah in terms that imply an acquaintance with this book. It had disappeared till Archbishop Laurence found a copy of it in Ethiopic on a London book-stall. The capture of Magdala brought home more manuscripts. A portion of it had been printed in Venice from a Latin version.

(1) Summary

In the 26th year of his reign Hezekiah calls Isaiah before him to deliver certain writings into his hand. Isaiah informs him that the devil Sammael Malkira would take possession of his son Manasseh, and that he, Isaiah, will be sawn asunder by his hand. On hearing this, Hezekiah would order his son to be killed, but Isaiah tells him that the Chosen One will render his counsel vain. On the death of his father, Manasseh turned his hand to serve Berial Matanbukes. Isaiah retired to Bethlehem, and thence, with certain prophets – Micah, Joel and Habakkuk – and also Hananiah and his own son Joab, he removed to a desert mountain. Balkira, a Samaritan, discovered their hiding-place. They are brought before Manasseh, and Isaiah is accused of impiety because he has said that he has seen God, yet God had declared to Moses, There shall no flesh see my face. He had also called Jerusalem, Sodom, and its rulers, those of Gomorrah. For Berial (Belial) had great wrath against Isaiah because he had revealed the coming of Christ and the mission of the apostles. At this point there appears to be a confusion between the first coming of Christ and His second. Lawless elders and shepherds are referred to as appearing, and it is assumed the elders of the church and the pastors are intended, though this is not necessarily so. There certainly was much contention in the churches, as we know, concerning the question of circumcision. The reference, however, may be to the rulers and elders of Israel who crucified our Lord. Then follows the account of the incarnation of Beliar in Nero, the matricide monarch, and the persecution of the twelve apostles, of whom one will be delivered into his hand – the reference here being probably to the martyrdom of Peter. If it is Paul, then It is a denial of Peter’s martyrdom at Rome altogether; if it is Peter, it means the denial of Paul’s apostleship. The reign of the Antichrist is to be Three years, seven months and twenty-seven days, that is, on the Roman reckoning, 1,335 days. This would seem to be calculated from Nero’s persecution of the Christians. He makes a singular statement: The greater number of those who have been associated together in order to receive the Beloved he will turn aside after him – a statement that implies a vastly greater apostasy under the stress of persecution than we have any record of from other sources. A good deal is to be said for the insertion of 1,000 in the number 332 in 4:14, so as to make it read 1,332. At the end of this period the Lord will come with His angels and will drag Beliar into Gehenna with his armies. Then follows a reference to the descent of the Beloved into Sheol. The following chapter gives an account of the martyrdom of Isaiah, how he was sawn in sunder with a wooden saw, and how Balkira mocked him, and strove to get Isaiah to recant. With Ascension of Isa 6:1-13 begins the Ascension proper. This chapter, however, is merely the introduction. It is in chapter 7 that the account is given of how the prophet is carried up through the firmament and then through heaven after heaven to the seventh. A great angel leads him upward. In the firmament he found the angels of the devil envying one another. Above this is the first heaven where he found a throne in the midst, and angels on the right and the left, the former of whom were the more excellent. So it was in the second, third, fourth and fifth heavens. Each heaven was more glorious than that beneath. In the sixth heaven there was no throne in the midst nor was there any distraction between angels on the right and left; all were equal. Be is then raised to the seventh heaven – the most glorious of all – where he sees not only God the Father, but also the Son and the Holy Spirit. As to the Son we are told that he should descend, and having assumed human form should be crucified through the influence of the Prince of this World. Baring descended into Sheol, he spoiled it, and ascended up on high. In chapter 10 there is a more detailed account of the descent of the Son through the successive heavens, how in each He assumed the aspect of the angels that dwelt therein, so that they did not know Him. In the Firmament, the quarreling and envying appeared at first to hinder Him. In chapter 11 we have a semi-docetic account of the miraculous birth With the declaration that it was on account of these revelations that he, Isaiah, was sawn in sunder, the Apocalypse ends.

(2) Structure

Dr. Charles has maintained that three works are incorporated – the Testament of Hezekiah, the Martyrdom of Isaiah and the Vision of Isaiah. The names have been taken from those given to this work in patristic literature, and are not strictly descriptive of the contents, at least of the first. The confused chronology of the work as we have it may to some extent be due to transcription and translation. From the opening paragraph, there appears to have been an Apocryphon attributed to Hezekiah. Manasseh is called into his father’s presence in order that here may be delivered into words, of righteousness which the king himself had seen of eternal judgment, the torments of Gehenna and the Prince of this World and his angels and of his principalities and powers – a phrase which implies a knowledge of the Epistle to the Ephesians on the part of the writer. The contents given thus summarily are not further detailed. The Vision of Isaiah does not give any account of the powers and principalities of Satan’s kingdom. It would seem better to regard the present work as composed of two – the Martyrdom of Isaiah and the Vision or Ascension proper. The references backward and forward seem to imply a similarity of authorship in both parts. This would seem to suggest that the editor and author were one and the same person. There is a knowledge of Roman affairs at the time of Nero’s fall so much beyond what anyone living in Palestine could attain that Rome would seem to be the place of composition.

(3) Language

The immediate original from which the translation, Ethiopic, Latin and Sclavonic were made appears to have been Greek. It is clear in regard to the Ethiopic where the proper names which end in Hebrew in h and in the Greek transcription end in s, as Bezekias, Isaias, the latter is followed, but Manasseh is Manassa. An interesting case is to be found in Ascension of Isa 2:12 : Mikayas is called son of Amida, where Amida stands for Imlah. In the Ethiopic transliteration ‘aleph is generally used for the initial yodh as a vowel, as it is in Israel (Ethiopic Asreal), hence Imida might as correctly represent the name. Then as delta, , (d) and lambda, , (l) are like each other the change is explained. Although certainly as said above, Greek has been the immediate original, it is possible if not even probable that behind the Greek there was Hebrew. The structure of the sentences suggests the same thing (see Isa 2:5 Gr). The mysterious name given to Berial, Mattanbkus – which, unfortunately, we have not in Greek – seems to be intelligible only in the idea that it has a Hebrew etymology, mattan bukah, the gift of emptiness, the latter word being equivalent to the void, the abyss. The title given to Sammael, Malkira, seems naturally to mean king of the watchers – rim, the angels who, as related in Enoch Isa 10:5, did not continue in their first estate, but defiled themselves with women. So Belkira is Lord of the fort – baal kr. There thus seems to be a probability that like so many others of this class, the Ascension was originally written in Hebrew.

(4) Date

No one reading the Ascension can fail to feel that he has to do with a Christian document, and one belonging to the very beginning of Christian history. There may have been an earlier Jewish Apocalypse behind, though to our thinking that does not seem necessary. It is made up of two documents, but the Christian element appears to be woven into the structure of both portions. That it is to be dated early in the history of the church may be seen from the expectation of Christ’s speedy reappearance in the world in His parousia. The conflict in the church between elders and shepherds gives a picture of the struggle between Judaizers and the Pauline Christians on the other side. The emphasis laid on the twelve, the omission of all reference to Paul, indicates that it was Judaizing. The docetic account of the birth of Jesus, its independence of the canonical Gospels, all speak of an early date The date, however, it seems to us, can be fixed with great certainty. The reign of Berial, who has come down upon Nero and incarnated himself in him is to be three years, seven months and twenty-seven days, in all 1,335 days (Asc Isa 4:1-6 :12), the number in the end of Daniel (Dan 12:12). This number, it may be noted, is reached by reckoning the years and months according to the Julian Calendar, proving this Apocalypse to have been written in Rome. But the number is singularly near the actual duration of Nero’s reign after the persecution had begun. From the burning of Rome (July 19, 64) to the death of Nero (June 9, 68) was 1, 421 days – that is, 86 days more. It was at least a month after the conflagration that the persecution began, and longer till the mad orgy of cruelty when Christians wrapt in pitch and set on fire illuminated Nero’s gardens. If a Christian in Rome saw the persecution, he might hope for the end of this reign of terror, and fix on the number he found in Daniel. It would seem that already the 1,290 days had been overpassed, so he hopes that the 1,335 days will see the end of the tyrant. There is a difficulty in the 332 days of Ascension of Isa 4:1-6 :14. The temptation is great to hold with Lcke, Dillmann and Charles that 1,000 has dropped out, and that the last figure ought to be 5; then we have the same number. In that case, this Apocalypse must have been written after the news of the rebellion of Vindex had reached Rome, but before the death of Nero. If we may adopt this – though the fact that the shorter number is found in all three Ethiopic manuscripts makes this method of adding a figure necessary to an explanation one to be avoided – this would point to the time immediately preceding Nero’s death. The difficulty is, where dad the author get the number? If it is correct, it is probably the arithmogram of some name of Satan. Berial gives 322 by gematria. It would seem that another mark of time is given in the martyrdom of Peter, which may be dated 64 ad. Another negative note is the absence of any reference to the fall of Jerusalem. Had it happened, Jew though the writer was, his love for his crucified Master would have led him to see the vengeance of heaven on the city which had put Him to death, and exult in it. It must have been written in the course of the year 68.

5. The Fourth Book of Esdras

Unlike the books we have been discussing hitherto, 4 Esdras has never disappeared from the knowledge of the church. It has, however, come down to us primarily in a Latin translation of a Greek original. Archbishop Laurence discovered an Ethiopic version of it. Later an Armenian version with Latin translation was published in Venice. An Arabic version is also in existence. It was received into the Apocrypha of the Anglican church, though excluded from that of Germany; by the Council of Trent, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras of our Apocrypha were excluded from the Roman Catholic canon, and placed after Revelation, along with Pr Man.

(1) Summary

The first two chapters contain a prophecy after the model of Isaiah. Not a few passages show the influence of the New Testament on it. Compare 2 (4) Esdras Isa 1:30 with Mat 23:37, and Mat 23:2 (4) Esdras 2:45 with Rev 7:13. With 2 (4) Esdras 3 there is a new beginning. This opens with a prayer which occupies the whole chapter. In answer, Uriel is sent from God and reveals to Ezra by various symbols the plan of God in regard to Israel. This goes on to the middle of 2 (4) Esdras 5, and forms the first vision. After fasting seven days, a new communication is made by Uriel to Ezra. It begins as the former did with a prayer. Then follows a series of questions intended to bring out the limited understanding of man. When these are finished, Uriel gives an account of the history of the world from the creation. This vision ends with 2 (4) Esdras 6:35. The third vision is very interesting, as a large section of 70 verses had been lost, and were recovered only comparatively recently. This vision contains an account of Creation as it is in Genesis, only rhetorical expansions occur, and a full description is given of Leviathan and Behemoth. Ezra is shown the heavenly Zion in vision as difficult of access. The portion recently discovered contains an account of the place of punishment, and there is mention of Paradise. The end of this is a prayer of Ezra, which seems an independent composition (2 (4) Esdras Ezr 8:20). The fourth vision begins with 4 Esdras 9:26. In it Ezra is shown a woman weeping, who is interpreted to be Zion. She is transformed into a city (2 (4) Esdras Ezr 10:27). The fifth vision is the most important. It begins with an eagle appearing, which has three heads and twelve wings. This is interpreted as referring to the Roman empire. It would seem that this had been added to, as in addition to the twelve wings, eight other wings are spoken of. A lion appears who rebukes and destroys the eagle with the twelve wings. This lion is the Messiah and his kingdom. The sixth vision begins with chapter 13 and contains an account of the coming of Christ. In the seventh we have an account of the re-writing of the books at the dictation of Ezra, and the retention of the seventy secret sacred books. In what has preceded we have followed the scheme of Fritzsche. The last chapter proceeds from the same pen as do the opening chapters, and is combined with them by Fritzsche and called the Fifth Book of Esdras.

(2) Structure

As has been indicated above, 4 Esdras is marked off into several distinct portions, preceded by Ezra fasting, and introduced by a prayer on the part of the prophet. Kabisch has a more elaborate scheme than Fritzsche. Like him, he recognizes seven visions, and like him he separates off the first chapter and the last 17, 15, 16, as by a different hand from the rest of the book. But in addition, he recognizes additions made by a R throughout the book. To us the scheme appears too elaborate.

(3) Language

As above mentioned, the immediate source of the Latin text appears to have been Greek. There is very little to enable us to settle the question whether Greek was the language in which this book was composed, or whether even the Greek is a translation from Hebrew or Aramaic. There are many echoes of the other Scriptures, but no direct quotations, so there is nothing to show whether the author used the Hebrew text or the Septuagint. The proper names do not supply any clue. Although there are so many versions of the Greek, they are all so paraphrastic that the Greek in most cases is not by any means certain. The few verses quoted in Greek by Clemens Alexandrinus do not afford space enough to discover through them if there is any other language behind. It possibly was written in Hebrew, as it seems to have been written in Palestine.

(4) Date

From the tone of the book there is no doubt that it was written after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus. Had it been due to the later cataclysm, when the rebellion of Barcochba was overthrown, a Christian Jew would not have manifested such sorrow. The break between the church and the synagogue was complete by that time. Further, had this book been written under Hadrian, the previous disaster would have been referred to. Over and above the distinctly and avowedly Christian passages, there are numerous echoes of the New Testament Scriptures. The fifth vision affords notes of time which would be more unambiguous if there had not been additions made. The eagle with the three heads and twelve wings is declared to be the fourth monarchy of Daniel, and by the context this is shown to be imperial Rome. The question that has exercised critics is the portion of the Roman history referred to. Lcke regarded the reference to be to rulers prominent in the time of Sulla, and the three heads to be the first triumvirate. This view implies a knowledge of Roman politics not possessed by any Jew of the pre-Christian period. Further, the echoes of New Testament language which occur (compare 2 (4) Esdras Dan 5:1 with Luk 18:8; 2 (4) Esdras Luk 6:5 with Rev 7:3, etc.) determine the decision against any idea that it was pre-Christian. The realization of the horrors of the overthrow of Jerusalem is too vivid to be the result merely of imagination. Another theory would see in the three heads the three Septimians, Severus and his sons Caracalla and Geta. This would find a place for the eight under-wings, as that is exactly the number of emperors between Domitian and Severus, if one neglects the short reign of Didius Julianus. The destruction of the two under wings that thought to have reigned (2 (4) Esdras 11:31) would be fulfilled in the defeat and death of pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. The fact that it is the right-hand head that devours the head to the left fits the murder of Geta the younger son, by Caracalla, the elder. Against this view is the fact that the book is quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus. Further, the eight under-wings are said to be kings whose times shall be small, and their years swift (2 (4) Esdras 12:20). Though might be said of Nerva, it could not be affirmed of Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Plus or Marcus Aurelius. We are thus restricted to the view which maintains that the three heads are the three Flavians. The twelve wings are the first emperors, beginning with Julius Caesar. The reign of Augustus is longer than any of the monarchs that succeeded him, and it is noted that the second wing was to have that distinction (2 (4) Esdras Rev 12:15). The date then may be placed between the death of Titus and that of Domitian – that is, from 81 to 96. The Lion who rebukes the Eagle for his unrighteousness is the Messiah – the Christ – in His second coming, when He shall come in the glory of His kingdom. The Christians had begun to doubt the speedy coming of the Master, hence He is spoken of as kept unto the end of days (2 Esdras 12:32). Such are the Apocalypses, strictly speaking.

II. Legendary Works

The Book of Jubilees

The Book of Jubilees is the only one which survives of this class of composition. The portion of Ascension of Isaiah which contains the account of his martyrdom has much of this character. It, however, has been conjoined to the Apocalyptic Ascension. It would seem that in some copies the Assumption of Moses was added to this work as a supplement. It is frequently cited as lepto Genesis – sometimes lepto-genesis, and again micro-genesis, the little Genesis. This title cannot be meant to refer to its actual size, for it is considerably longer than the canonical book. It may either mean that this book is to be less regarded than the canonical Genesis or that it is taken up with lepta – minutiae. Another, and possibly more plausible explanation is to be found in the Hebrew or Aramaic. There is a rabbinic book known as Bere’shth Rabba’, in which the whole of Genesis is expanded by Midrashic additions, amplifications and explanations, to many times the size of the work before us, which, in comparison, would be Bere’shth Zuta’ – the small Genesis. The main difficulty is that the Jewish work, B. Rabbah, cannot well be dated earlier than 300 ad. We owe the work before us mainly – in its complete form – like so many others, to its inclusion in the canon of the Ethiopic church. Portions of it in Latin and Syriac have been found in the second main source of apocalyptic literature in recent times, the Ambrosian Library of Milan. There have been several editions of the Ethiopic text.

(1) Summary

It is difficult to give anything like a summary of the Book of Jubilees in the ordinary sense of the word. Roughly speaking, the canonical Book of Genesis is the summary. The writer has omitted many features and incidents, but these have been more than compensated for by additions and expansions. Most of these omissions have an apologetic aim. The acts of deception of which Abraham was guilty in Egypt and toward Abimelech in regard to Sarah, the similar act of Isaac, would involve matters difficult to palliate. The way Simeon and Levi entrapped the Shechemites into being circumcised and then took advantage of their condition to murder them, is omitted also. Jacob’s devices to increase his flocks at Laban’s expense are also passed over in silence. The most marked omission is the blessing of Jacob in Gen 49. This is to be explained by the way the writer has praised Simeon and Levi earlier which Jacob’s denunciation of them flatly contradicts. Many of the additions have a similar apologetic intention, as the statement that Dinah was twelve years old at the time of the rape, the presents Jacob gave to his parents four times a year, etc. When Jacob deceives his father, he does not say he is Esau, but only I am thy son. There are longer additions, chiefly ceremonial. Two incidents narrated at length are the warfare of the Amorites against Jacob (Gen 34:1-9), and the war of Esau (37 and 38).

(2) Structure

The most marked characteristic of the book is that from which it has its most common name, The Book of Jubilee, the dating of events by successive Jubilees. The whole history of the world is set in a framework of Jubilees and every event is dated by the Jubilee of the world’s history in which it had occurred, and the year-week of that Jubilee and the year of that week. The writer has carried his septenary principle into the year and made the days in it, as did the writer of one of the Enoch books, a multiple of seven, 364 = 7 x 52 days. It does not seem to have been interpolated.

(3) Language

Like so many more of the pseudepigrapha, the Ethiopic, from which our modern translations have been made, has been translated from a Greek original, which in turn has had a Semitic source. It is somewhat difficult to form a decision as to which of the two Semitic languages in use in Palestine was that in which it was composed. Certainly some, as Frankel, have maintained that it was written in Greek first of all. This is contrary to ancient evidence, as Jerome refers to the use of rissah, a stadium, as used in the Book of Jubilees. More can be said for an Aramaic original The use of Mastema for Satan, and the plurals in in, point in that direction. Dr. Charles’ arguments seem to us to settle the matter in favor of Hebrew. Compare the case of Jubilees Gen 47:9, in which bath, a daughter, is confused with bayith, a house. One of his arguments is not so conclusive: Gen 2:9 wahaba, gave, appears where appointed is the meaning – a confusion of meanings only possible from the double meaning of nathan, as the Aramaic yahabh has the same double force: See I have made thee (yehebhethakh) a God to Pharaoh (compare Peshitta Exo 7:1). These indications are few, but they seem sufficient.

(4) Date

The formidable authority of Dr. Charles and that of Littmann are in favor of an early date – before the quarrel of John Hyrcanus with the Pharisees. Our reading of the history is different from that of either of these scholars. The Hassidh party had been lukewarm to the Maccabeans from the latter portion of the pontificate of Judas Maccabeus; the insult offered to Hyrcanus at his own table was the enmity reaching its height. If with Dr. Charles we assume the author to be a Pharisee, then the date is impossible. The Pharisaid party were never enthusiastic supporters of the Maccabeans, except when Alexandra threw herself into their arms. Two characteristics of this book strike the reader – its apologetic tone, and its hatred of Edom. During the time of John Hyrcanus the nation did not assume an apologetic attitude. It had thrown off the Syrian-Greek domination and repelled the attempt to Helenize its religion. It would be only Greeks, or those under Greek influences, that would necessitate the apologetic attitude. We are driven to the Herodian period when Romans abounded in the court and Greeks and Graeculi were frequent, when those who, being Jews and knowing Hebrew, yet had imbibed Hellenic culture, and readily saw the points where assault might be made on their faith and its sacred literature. This date would explain the hatred of Edom. We therefore would place it about the death of Herod – from 5 bc to 6 ad.

Unlike the other books of this class, much of it has been found in the Talmud; hence, though we still think the author to have been an Essene, we think that he had much sympathy with the Pharisaic school in its latest development.

III. Psalmic Pseudepigrapha

1. The Psalter of Solomon

The Psalter of Solomon is the one of all the pseudepigrapha which seems to have hovered most nearly on the border of deutero-canonicity. Even 4 Esdras, since not being found in Greek, scarcely can be counted an exception, as it was never admitted into the canon of Alexandria. The famous Codex Alexandrinus, as its table of contents proves, originally contained the book before us. In several catalogues of books that were acknowledged, by some at least, to be authoritative, it is named – sometimes to be declared uncanonical. Like so many other books – Jewish and Christian – during the Middle Ages, sank into oblivion. A manuscript of it was first noticed by Hoeschel the librarian in the Library at Augsburg, in the beginning of the 17th century, and published by de la Cerda in 1626. This manuscript has since been lost. More recently, four other Greek manuscripts have been brought to light. From these, with the assistance of de la Cerda’s text, it has repeatedly been published. The name given to it, The Psalter of Solomon, seems purely gratuitous; the writer makes no claim, direct or indirect, to be the Son of David.

(1) Summary

The present collection consists of 18 psalms closely modeled as to line of thought and diction on the canonical Psalms. The first psalm announces the declaration of war, but is occupied with the denunciation of hypocrites. The second describes a siege of Jerusalem and acknowledges that the distresses of the siege have been deserved, but ends by the description of the death of the besieger on the coast of Egypt. The third psalm is one of thanksgiving on the part of the righteous. In the fourth we have the description and denunciation of a hypocrite in terms which suggest strongly our Lord’s words against the Pharisees. It is evidently directed against a prominent individual member of the Sanhedrin. On the generally received date, Antipater may be the person denounced. The fifth psalm is a prayer for mercy from God and an appeal to His loving-kindness. The sixth is occupied with a description of the blessedness of the righteous. The short psalm which follows is a prayer of Israel under chastisement, entreating God not to remove His tabernacle from their midst. The eighth psalm describes the siege of the temple and denounces the sins of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which had brought the Smiter from afar against them, and a prayer for restoration to favor. Israel, a captive, prays to God for forgiveness in the ninth psalm. In the tenth we have the blessedness of the man who submits to the chastening of the Lord. The theme of the eleventh is the return of the captives. The idea of the following psalm is not unlike the middle stanza of Psa 120:1-7 of the canonical Psalter. The next has as its theme the blessedness of the righteous and the evil estate of the wicked. The fourteenth has a similar subject. The next begins with the sentiment so frequent in the canonical Pss: When I was in trouble I called upon the Lord. The psalm which follows is experimental in the sense of the old Puritans. The seventeenth psalm is the most important, as it is Messianic, and exhibits the hopes prevalent among the Jews at the time when it was written. The eighteenth gives a description of the blessedness of the return of the Jews to Divine favor. Messrs. Ryle and James would divide this psalm into two, as there seems to be a conclusion at the tenth verse with the sign diapsalma. Moreover, a slightly different theme is introduced at this point, but there is a reference in the Pistis Sophia to the 19th ps, and this is not the one implied. There seems to be some probability that a Latin translation once existed from references, though few, in the Latin Fathers; but no manuscript of it has yet been discovered. A Syriac translation has been discovered by Dr. Rendel Harris, along with a number of other psalms also attributed to Solomon, which he has called Odes. Of these more will be said below.

(2) Language

That the Greek of these psalms is a translation from the Hebrew may be proved by what seem to have been errors in translation, as tou eipen, to say, where sense implies to destroy, from the double meaning of dabhar, to say, and later to destroy; heos enkese, till he conquered, where the meaning must be forever or continuously, equivalent to adh la-necah, which might be taken as in Aramaic, and translated as in the Greek. Further, the general character, the frequent occurrence of en in senses strained in Greek but suiting thoroughly the Hebrew preposition , b-, the omission of the substantive verb, the general simplicity in the structure of the sentences, serve to confirm this. For fuller elucidation the reader is directed to Ryle and James edition of this book (lxxviii-lxxxiv). Hilgenfeld has urged some arguments in favor of Greek being the original language. These really prove that the translator was very much influenced in making his translation by the Septuagint version of the canonical Psalter.

(3) Date

While Ewald would place it back in the time of Epiphanes, if not even earlier, and Movers and Delitzsch would place it about the time of Herod, the description of the siege does not suit any siege but that of Pompey. Still more the death of the proud oppressor who besieged the Temple suits down to the minutest detail the death of Pompey, and suits that of no other. This is the opinion of Langen, Hilgenfeld, Drummond, Stanton, Schurer, Ryle and James. The psalms, however, were written at various dates between 64 bc, the year preceding the Pompeian siege, and the death of Pompey 46 bc. The common critical idea is that it is the Psalter of the Pharisees. The singular thing is that though the writer reverences the Temple, he speaks nothing of the sacrifices, and shows no horror at the dishonor of the high priests – the attitude one would expect, not from a Pharisee, but from an Essene.

(4) Christology

The main interest of this pseudepigraphon is its Christology, which is principally to be seen in the 17th psalm. The Messiah is to be of the seed of David: He is to come on the downfall of the Asmoneans, to overthrow the Romans in turn. He is to gather the dispersed of Israel, and is to subject the Gentiles to Him rule. The character of this rule is to be spiritual, holy, wise and just. All these features indicate a preparation for the coming of Him who fulfilled the expectation of the Jews in a way which they had so little dreamed of.

2. The Odes of Solomon

The students of Gnosticism in perusing the Pistis Sophia, one of the few literary remains left us by those bizarre heresies, found repeated quotations from the Psalter of Solomon, not one of which was to be found in the received collection. There was one numbered reference, but it was to the 19th psalm, whereas only eighteen were known to exist. Lactantius has a quotation from the Psalter of Solomon which, like those in Pistis Sophia, has no place in the eighteen. It was obvious that there were more Solomonic writings that were called Psalms than those ordinarily known. In the beginning of 1909 the learned world was startled by the information that Dr. Rendel Harris had found on his shelves the missing Psalter of Solomon in a Syriac translation. The manuscript was defective both at the beginning and end, but there was, after all, little missing of the whole book. The title and the colophon were of course wanting. It begins with the new Psalms, or, to give them Dr. Harris’ title, Odes, which are followed by those till now known.

(1) Relation to Pistis Sophia and Summary

This cannot have been the order of the time when Pistis Sophia was published, as the first of these odes is quoted as the 19th. There are forty-two of them. They are the work of a Christian. The doctrine of the Trinity is present; very prominent is the miraculous birth of the Saviour; the descent upon Mary of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove; the crucifixion, and the descent into Hades; and, though less clearly, the resurrection. One striking thing is the resemblance of the account of the virgin birth to that we find in the Ascension of Isaiah.

(2) Date

Dr. Rendel Harris dates these Christian odes in the last quarter of the 1st century, and there seems every reason to agree with this. The relation the 19th psalm (Ode 37) bears to the Ascension of Isaiah is not discussed by him, but to our thinking, the Ascension of Isaiah seems the more primitive.

IV. Testaments

Although, strictly speaking, Jewish law had no place for testamentary dispositions by those about to die – the portion of goods that fell to each being prescribed – yet the dying exhortations of Jacob addressed to his sons, the farewell song of Moses, David’s deathbed counsels to Solomon, were of the nature of spiritual legacies. Under Greek and Roman law testaments were the regularly understood means of arranging heritages; with the thing the name was transferred, as in the Mishna, Babha’ Bathra’ 15 26 f, , dayytike, so also in Syriac. The idea of these pseudepigrapha is clearly not drawn from the Last Will and Testament, but the dying exhortations above referred to.

1. Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

Gen 49 in which Jacob addresses his sons gathered round ins dying bed furnished the model for a number of pseudepigraphic writings. Of these the longest known is Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. In it the writer imagines each of the sons of Jacob following his father’s example and assembling his descendants in order that he might give his dying charge. While Jacob addressed each of his sons separately, the sons of none of his sons, save those of Joseph, became at all prominent; so in the case of the sons of Jacob they each address their descendants as a whole. These Testaments are occupied with moral advices mainly. The sin most warned against is incontinence.

(1) Summary

(A) Reuben

The first Patriarch whose Testament is given is Reuben. While he bewails the sin that deprived him of his birthright, he gives an account of the various propensities that tend to sin, and accommodates each of these with an evil spirit – spirits of deceit. He gives details of his sin, which, resembling those given in the Book of Jubilees, differs in an apologetic direction. This apologetic effort is carried farther in the Targum of the pseudo-Jonathan. In it Reuben is declared to have disordered the bed of Bilhah because it was put beside his mother’s, and he was accused of impurity with her; but the Spirit revealed to Jacob that he was not guilty.

(B) Simeon

The next Testament is that of Simeon. The crime that seems to have most affected Jacob, if we may judge by Gen 49:5-7, was the murder of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi. That, however, is not touched upon in the Testament; his envy of Joseph is what he most repents of. A stanza, however, is inserted, warning against fornication (Gen 49:3).

(C) Levi

The Testament of Levi follows. It is mainly apocalyptic. The murder of the Shechemites is regarded as a wholly estimable action, and is commended by God. The treachery of the circumcision is not mentioned at all. He tells how he was admitted in dream to the third heaven. In another vision he is clothed with the garments of the priesthood. After a piece of autobiography followed by general admonitions Levi tells what he had learned from the writing of Enoch. He tells how his descendants will fall away and become corrupt. It is to be noted that fornication becomes very prominent in the picture of the future. The destruction of Jerusalem is foretold, and the captivity of Judah among all nations. This cannot refer to the setting up of the Abomination of Desolation by Epiphanes. The Temple was not laid waste, although it was desecrated; and there did not follow on the desecration by Epiphanes the scattering of the Jews unto all nations. It seems necessary to understand by this wasting the capture of Jerusalem by Titus. Consequently, the new priest of XII P 18 seems to us the priest after the order of Melchizedek according to the New Testament interpretation.

(D) Judah

Judah is the next whose Testament is given. He first declares his own great personal prowess, slaying a lion, a bear, a boar, a leopard and a wild bull. When the Canaanite kings assailed Jacob as related in the Book of Jubilee, he showed his courage. Several warlike exploits, of which we only learn here, he relates. The assault made by the descendants of Esau upon the sons of Jacob and Jacob’s victory is related in the manner and nearly in the terms of the account in the Book of Jubilees. He mentions with a number of explanatory and excusatory details his sin in the matter of Tamar. He denounces covetousness, drunkenness and fornication. Then he commands his descendants to look to Levi and reverence him. Then follows a Messianic passage which seems most naturally to bear a Christian interpretation.

(E) Issachar

The Testament of Issachar is much shorter than either of the two preceding ones. After telling the story of the mandrakes, he dwells on husbandry. As is noted by Dr. Charles, this is at variance with the rabbinic representation of the characteristics of the tribe. He, too, denounces impurity and drunkenness.

(F) Zebulun

Zebulun’s Testament is little longer than that of Issachar. This Testament is greatly occupied with tho history of the sale of Joseph in which Zebulun protests he took only the smallest share and got none of the price.

(G) Dan

The Testament of Dan also is short. He confesses his rage against Joseph, and so warns against anger. Here also are warnings against whoredom. The Messiah is to spring from Judah and Levi. Dr. Charles thinks the first of these was not in the original, because it would naturally have been tribes, not tribe, as it is. This somewhat hasty, as in 1Ki 12:23 (Septuagint) we have the precisely similar construction pros panta okon Iouda ka Beniamn, a sentence which represents the construction of the Hebrew. In this there is a Messianic passage which describes the Messiah as delivering the captives of Beliar.

(H) Naphtali

The Testament that follows, that of Naphtali, has apocalyptic elements in it. It opens with the genealogy of Bilhah, his mother, whose father is said to be Rotheus. His vision represents Levi seizing the sun and Judah the moon. The young man with the twelve palm branches seems to be a reference to the Apostles. Joseph seizes a bull and rides on it. He has a further dream in which he sees a storm at sea and the brethren being separated. Again there is a reference to the recurrent theme of sexual relation (XII P 8). _

(I) Gad

The subject of the Testament of Gad is hatred. Gad is associated with Simeon as being most filled with wrath against Joseph.

(J) Asher

Asher urges whole-hearted obedience to righteousness, as the apostle James does in his epistle.

(K) Joseph

One of the most important of these Testaments is that of Joseph. The opening is occupied with a prolonged description of the temptation of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife. There is in that connection the unhealthy dwelling on sexual matters which is found in monkish writers. There are not a few resemblances to the language of the Gospels (compare XII P Jam 1:6 and Mat 25:36). There is a more important passage (XII P 19:8): And I saw that from Judah was born a virgin wearing a linen garment, and from her was born a lamb, and on his left hand there was, as it were, a lion: and all the beasts rushed against him, and the lamb overcame them, and destroyed them, and trod them under foot. This to us is clearly Christian. Dr. Charles, without apocalyptic credence to support him, would amend it and change the reading.

(L) Benjamin

The Testament of Benjamin is very much an appendix to that of Joseph. It opens with the account Joseph gave Benjamin of how he was sold to the Ishmaelites. He exhorts his descendants against deceit, but, as all his brethren, he warns them against fornication. There is a long Christian passage which certainly seems an interpolation, as it is not found in some of the texts, though others have all verses. The text concerning Paul (XII P 11:1, 2) appears in varying forms in all versions.

(2) Structure

That these Testaments have been interpolated is proved by the variations in the different texts. Dr. Charles has, however, gone much farther, and wherever there is a Christian clause has declared it an obvious interpolation. For our part, we would admit as a rule those passages to be genuine that are present in all the forms of the text. The Greek text was first in, so to say, recent times edited by Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, in the 13th century. Since then other manuscripts have been found, and a Slavonic and an Aramaic version. We are thus able to check the interpolations. In essence the Christian passage in T Josephus is found in all versions.

(3) Language

Dr. Charles makes a very strong case for Hebrew being the original language. His numerous arguments are not all of equal value. While some of the alleged Hebraistic constructions may be actually so, not a few may be explained by imitation of the language of the Septuagint. As an example of the first, compare T Jud (XII P 7): ochlos barus = hel kabhedh, a numerous host. On the other hand T Reub XII P Jam 3:8 : understanding in the Law, is a turn of expression that might quite well be common among Greek-speaking Jews. Of passages that are only explicable by retranslation, as in T Josephus 11:7, God … increased him in gold and silver and in work, this last turn is evidently due to the translator’s rendering abhuddah, servant, as if it were abhodhah, work. On the whole, we are prepared to amend the decision elsewhere, and admit that the probability is that this book, like so many more of the same class, has been translated from Hebrew.

(4) Date and Authorship

Dr. Charles declares the author to have been a Pharisee who wrote in the early part of the reign of John Hyrcanus I. The initial difficulty with this, as with the other pseudepigrapha in attributing a Pharisaic authorship, is the preservation of the book among the Christian communities, and the ignorance or the ignoring of it among the Jews. The only sect of the Jews that survived the destruction of Jerusalem was that of the Pharisees. The Sadducees, who were more a political than a religious party, disappeared with the cessation of the Jewish state. When Judaism became merely a religion – a church – not a nation, their function was gone. The third sect, the Essenes, disappeared, but did so into the Christian church. If the writer had been an Essene, as we suppose he was, the preservation of this writing by the Christians is easily explicable. If it were the work of a Pharisee, its disappearance from the literature of the synagogue is as inexplicable as its preservation by the Christians. The constant harping on the sin of fornication – in T Naph XII P Joh 8:8 even marital intercourse is looked at askance – indicates a state of mind suitable to the tenets of the Essenes. The date preferred by Dr. Charles, if the author is a Pharisee, appears to us impossible. The Pharisees had, long before the final break, been out of sympathy with the Maccabeans. The Chasidim deserted Judas Maccabeus at Elasa, not improbably in consequence of the alliance he had made with the heathen Romans, and perhaps also his assumption of the high-priesthood. Further, the temple is laid waste and the people driven into captivity unto all nations (T Levi Rom 15:1). This does not suit the desecration of the temple under Epiphanes. During that time the temple was not laid waste. The orgies of the worship of Bacchus and of Jupiter Olympius dishonored it, but that is a different thing from its being laid waste. The scattering unto all nations did not take place then. Some were taken captive and enslaved, but this was not general. The description would only apply to destruction of the temple by Titus and the enslaving and captivity of the mass of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The New Priest cannot refer to the Maccabeans, for they were Aaronites as much as Alcimus or Onias, though not of the high-priestly family. This change of the priesthood only has point if it refers to the priesthood of Christ as in Heb 7:12. If Dr. Charles is right in maintaining that 2 Macc in its account of Menelaus is to be preferred to Josephus, the change of the priesthood was not unprecedented, for Menelaus was a Benjamite, not a Levite. Yet 1 Macc takes no notice of this enormity. Further, there are the numerous passages that are directly and indirectly Christian. Dr. Charles certainly marks them all as interpolations, but he gives no reason in most of the cases for doing so. That the omission of such passages does not dislocate the narrative arises from the simpler construction of Semitic narrative, and is therefore not to be regarded as conclusive evidence of interpolation. The reference to Paul in T Ben XII P 11, occurring in all the sources, although with variations, also points to a post-Christian origin. For these reasons, we would venture to differ from Dr. Charles and regard the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs as post-Christian, and to be dated in the first quarter of the 2nd century ad.

(5) Relation to Other Books

From the decision we have reached in regard to the date of these Testaments, it follows that all the many resemblances which have been noted between them and the books of the New Testament are due to imitation on the part of the Testaments, not the reverse. A case in point is T Josephus XII P Heb 1:6 where the resemblance to Mat 25:31-36 is close; only, whereas in the Gospel the judge approves of the righteous on account of their visiting the sick and the imprisoned, and condemns the wicked because they did not do so, in T Josephus God ministers to His servants. The Testament is really an imitation of the passage in the Gospel. The direct visiting of the afflicted, whatever the form of the affliction, was a thing of everyday occurrence. To think of the Almighty doing so is the result of a bold metaphor. One familiar with the Gospel narrative might not unnaturally think of God’s dealings with the saints in terms drawn from our Lord’s description of the Last Judgment. In T Naph XII P Mat 2:2 the figure of the potter and the clay is, as in Rom 9:21, applied to God’s power over His creatures. The passage in the T Naph is expanded, and has not the close intimate connection with the argument that the Pauline passage has. While none of the other resemblances give one any ground to decide, these instances really carry the others with them. We may thus regard the resemblances to the New Testament in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs as due to the latter’s copying of the former.

2. Testament of Adam

The Testament of Adam survives merely in a group of fragments published first by Renan in the Journal Asiatique (1853). A Greek fragment was published by M. R. James. A portion of it is apocalyptic, and gives an account of the adoration offered by all the different classes of God’s creatures. More strictly of the nature of a Testament is a Syriac fragment entitled More of Adam Our Father. It contains a prophecy of the incarnation, and appears to be of late date. It was used by the Sethires.

3. Testament of Abraham

The Testament of Abraham is a late document. It opens with representing Abraham at his tent door. One recension declares his age then to be 995 years. Michael comes to him. The purpose for which Michael has been sent is to reveal to Abraham that he must die. He hesitates to do this. When, however, the fatal message is revealed, Abraham will not yield up his spirit at first. He is after a while persuaded, and as reward, before his death he has a revelation: there is given to him a vision of the whole world in the widest sense – the world of spirits as well. Seeing a soul, which, weighed in the balance, is nearly being found wanting, by his intercession the soul is admitted to Paradise. There are several traces of Christian influence; many of the thoughts and phrases are similar to those to be found in the Gospels. At the same time, although to one who had read John’s Gospel the statement of our Lord that Abraham had seen His day and was glad (Joh 8:55, Joh 8:56) would inevitably have led a Christian writer to have exhibited Abraham as seeing in vision the day of Christ. The writer’s failure to do so seems to show that he was not a Christian. The echoes of the Gospel in the language and the want of that distinctive Christian mark is to be explained if we regard the translator as a Christian, while the original Midrash was the work of a Jew. The language was probably Aramaic. There are two Greek recensions, one longer than the other. There is an Arabic version which appears to be a translation direct from Aramaic. As there is no reference to the coming of Christ, this Testament is probably pre-Christian. The translation may be dated early in the 2nd century, as Origen knew it.

In Arabic there is a manuscript of the Testaments of Isaac and Jacob. They are late and Christian. The latter is founded on the last chapter of Genesis.

4. Testament of Job

More interesting is the Testament of Job published in Anecdota Apocrypha by M. R. James in 1897. It purports to be an account of his sufferings related by Job himself. It appears to be the work of a Jew, translated by a Christian. The position of Satan in the Midrash is not so subordinate as in the drama. Elihu, when not confused with Eliphaz, is regarded as inspired by Satan.

(1) Summary

It begins with Job, who is called Jobab, summoning his seven sons and three daughters. The list of the sons forms a singular assemblage of names, most probably of Semitic origin. Most of them are certainly Greek words, though not Greek proper names – Choros and Nke, dance and victory, Huon, of pigs, Phoros, tribute. The other names are Tersi, Phiphi, Phrouon. He tells his descendants how he had been called in the night and had had it revealed to him that the sacrifices that had been offered previously in the great temple near him were not offered to God, but to Satan. He was ordered to destroy the temple thus devoted to false worship. He did so, but knew that Satan would seek him, to take his revenge. Satan came disguised as a beggar, and Job, recognizing him, ordered his porteress to give him a burned cake of bread, all ashes. Satan reveals himself and threatens Job. With XII P 9 begins an account of Job’s wealth and lordly beneficence founded on the canonical book. It continues to XII P 16. This portion is an expansion of the canonical Job. In some portions there are marked variations. Job is a king, and since this is so, the power of Persia is invoked to overthrow him. After twenty years his friends come to condole with him. They also are kings. Sitis his wife is bemoaning her children. Job declares he sees them crowned with heavenly beauty. On learning this, Sitis dies, and so rejoins her children. The speeches of the friends are much condensed, and scarcely of the same character as those in the canonical book. Lyric passages are introduced. The most singular difference from the canonical book is the rle assigned to Elihu. Job says, Elihu inspired by Satan addressed to me rash words (XII P 42). God then speaks to Job in the whirlwind and blames Elihu. Job sacrifices for the three friends, and Eliphaz in a lyric piece congratulates himself and his friends, and declares that the lamp and glory of Elihu will be quenched (XII P 43). By a second wife we are told Job had the seven sons and three daughters who are summoned to his bedside. Closing his narrative (XII P 44) Job exhorts kindness to the poor. In the end of the book his successive daughters speak. He had divided his property, now double what it had originally been, among his seven sons and had left the daughters unprovided for. He, however, bestows upon them other gifts. Three golden vessels are brought him and given them, three cords besides, and each one has a several endowment. The first daughter, called, as in the Septuagint, Hemera, (Jemima in the canonical Job), had another heart given her, and she spoke in the tongue of the angels. Casia (Keziah), the second daughter, also had a changed heart, and it was given to her to speak in the dialect of the principalities (archon). Then the third daughter girded herself, and with the changed heart it was given her to speak in the language of the Cherubim. This daughter is called Amaltheas Keras, the rather strange translation of Keren Haphukh adopted by the Septuagint. All the names are transferred from that source. A brother of Job named Nereus (or Nereias) is introduced, who records further gifts to these daughters – a lyre to the first, a censer to the second and a drum to the third. This brother is a relative of whose existence we have no hint elsewhere. He is introduced to supply the conclusion to the narrative.

(2) Structure

It would appear that from XII P 1 to 45 is the original Testament in which Job is the speaker. In XII P 46 through 51 a new state of matters comes into prominence, in which Nereus is the speaker. The last two chapters seem decidedly to be additions: the new gifts to the daughters seem unexplained. Of course, oriental authors do not look so strictly to the unity of parts as do Occidentals.

(3) Language

The dependence on the Septuagint would suggest that Greek was the original tongue. One or two phenomena point to a Semitic tongue being behind the Greek. The names of Job’s daughters are taken from the Septuagint; those of the seven sons have been invented. As we have seen, they are not Greek names, but are probably really Hellenized versions of some Semitic appellations. At the same time, they do not seem to be Hebrew, but rather Aramaic. It would seem to have been translated by one familiar with the New Testament.

(4) Date and Authorship

It has no direct references to Christian doctrines or the facts of Christian history. This seems conclusive against its having a Christian origin. The reason that would lead a Christian to compose such a document would be to give a further prophetic evidence for the mission of his Master. He would have no object in making Job out to be a connection of Israel, unless he were so himself. Dr. James thinks the writer to have been a Jewish Christian of the 2nd century resident in Egypt. By the 2nd century few Jews passed from Judaism to the faith of Jesus: the break between church and synagogue had become complete. That Job is made king of all Egypt (XII P 28) may indicate some relationship to that country, as if the writer had identified Job with Psammeticus, the Egyptian king overthrown by Cambyses. This, however, may have been due to the translator. If the original language were Semitic – Aramaic or Hebrew – the probability is that the author wrote in Palestine. There are no direct signs to indicate the date. There is no appearance of knowledge of Rome. The fire of the opposition to the Seleucids had died down. It may have been written in the reign of Alexander.

V. Sibylline Oracles

The burning of the Capitol (83 bc) and the destruction of the famous Sibylline books led Sulla to search in Italy and Greece for any Oracles that might replace the contents of the volumes which had been burnt. About half a century later Augustus revived the search for Oracles. Such a demand would naturally produce a supply. It would seem that certain Jews of Alexandria, eager to propagate the faith of their fathers, invented verses in the shape in which these Oracles had been preserved, as we learn from Herodotus – i.e. in hexameter lines and in the epic dialect in which Homer and Hesiod had written. Those in Herodotus are mainly from the Oracle of Delphi. From Pausanias, who quotes several of them, we learn that the Oracles attributed to the various Sibyls were delivered in a similar style. Hence these Jewish forgeries were written in epic hexameters. Later, this industry was pursued with even greater zeal by Christians. These have been collected into several books – some 15 are named – of which some have been lost. The books are made up of fragments of different ages. The first book begins with the creation, and narrates the history of the race to the flood and the going out of Noah from the ark. Then the history of our Lord is given succinctly, the miracle of the loaves, the crucifixion, and the destruction of Jerusalem. In it Hades is derived from Adam. Reference is made to the sin of the watchers, as in En, and an arithmograph is given which seems to be fulfilled in Theos Soter. The second book is modeled largely on our Lord’s eschatological discourses, many passages bearing a distinct echo of it. It may be noted that the four archangels of the Book of Enoch – Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel – are introduced. The third is by much the longest, but it is a confused mass of fragments. There is early reference to the conquest of Egypt by Rome; the building of the tower of Babel, the siege of Troy, the conquest of Alexander and many other events appear. The fourth book is Christian throughout. After praise to the Christians, there is a sketch of the history of the great empires, beginning with the Assyrians and ending with Alexander; then an account of Nero appearing from the East and doing evil fills the end of all things. The fifth book begins with an account of the successive emperors from Julius Caesar to the Antonines. Then a new song begins with Egypt, and wanders off indefinitely, referring to Xerxes crossing the Hellespont, the impurities of Rome, and ending with Egypt and the burning up of all things. The sixth is short – 28 lines in praise of the Cross; and the seventh is fragmentary. In the eighth is the arithmogram and acrostic: , Iesous christos theou huios soter stauros. The remaining books have similar characteristics. The place of composition is evidently Egypt, as, whatever the immediate context may be, the writer gravitates to Egypt; and the authors are Jews or Jewish Christians. The dates of the various fragments of which this collection is composed fall between the first triumvirate and the age of Diocletian.

VI. Conclusion

There are many points in which theology of the Apocalyptic prepared the way for that of Christianity. These, however, are more naturally taken up under their special headings. Angelology is much more developed in certain apocalyptic writings than it is in Christianity, if we except the writings published under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. Most of them are occupied with the coming Messiah. The Christology of these writings is decidedly in advance of that of the Old Testament. That question, however, is discussed under its appropriate heading. Closely connected with this is the doctrine of God, or theology proper. In this, too, there is an approximation to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. With these writers the doctrine of the Last Things is always brought into close relationship to that of the Messiah. His coming is the signal for the end of the world, the last judgment, the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous. What we have just said applies mainly to the strictly Jewish and pre-Christian Apocalypses. In the Christian Jewish Apocalypses the place the incarnation and the miraculous birth hold is worthy of special note. The representation in regard to the latter of these subjects is independent of the gospel narrative. Connected with this independence of the written Scriptures are the variations these writings introduce into history. Many of these are due to apologetic reasons, not a few to the desire to enhance the national glory. The reverence for the letter of Scripture, so markedly characteristic of the rabbinic teachings found in the Talmud, is not found in the apocalyptic writings. Apocalyptic thus presents a stage in the doctrine of Scripture.

Literature

On Apocalyptic generally: Deane, Pseudepigrapha; Derembourg, Histoire de la Palestine; Drummond. Jewish Messiah; Ewald, History of Israel, translation V; Gratz, Geschichte der Juden, III; Hilgenfeld, Messias Judeorum; Jdische Apocalyptik; Kautzsch, Die Apocryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Allen Testaments; Langen, Palastina zur Zeit Christi; Renan, Histoire du Peuple d’Israel; Schrer, Jewish People, translation V; Stanton, Jewish and Christian Messiah; Thomson, Books Which Influenced our Lord. On special books: Enoch (Text, Ethiopic): Laurence, Dillmann, Flemming; (English): Laurence, Schodde, Charles. Slavonic Book of Enoch: Morfill. Baruch (Text, Syriac): Ceriani; (English): Charles, The Assumption of Moses (Text, Latin): Ceriani; (English): Charles, The Ascension of Isaiah (Text, Ethiopic): Laurence, Dillmann; (English): Charles, Fourth Book of Esdras (Text, Latin): Vulgate; (English): Apocrypha the Revised Version (British and American) Book of Jubilees (Text, Ethiopic): Dillmann, Charles; (English): Schodde, Charles, Psalter of Solomon (Text, Greek): Pick, Ryle and James; (English): Whiston, Pick, Ryle and James, Rendel Harris (from Syriac). Odes of Solomon (English): Rendel Harris, Testaments of the XII Patriarchs (Text, Greek): Sinker, Charles; (English): Sinker, Charles, Testaments of Abraham and Job; Texts and Studies; Sibylline Oracles (Text): Alexandre, Rzach.

Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia