Ascension of Isaiah
Ascension Of Isaiah
This is an apocryphon now extant in a complete form in the Ethiopic Version alone. It is composite in structure, and contains three separate parts of different authorship, one being of Jewish and two of Christian origin, but all alike apparently composed during the 1st cent. a.d. It is thus of considerable importance in the light which it throws upon the views held in certain circles of the Christian Church of the apostolic period with regard to the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Seven Heavens, the Antichrist, angels and demons. It adds, moreover, to our knowledge of the internal and external conditions of the Church, and of the stage which had been reached in the development of its organization. In phraseology and ideas it presents interesting parallels with the New Testament.
1. Composite character.-The title Ascension of Isaiah is strictly appropriate only to the latter part of the work, chs. 6-11, in which Isaiah is successively led through the firmament and six lower heavens to the seventh heaven, and receives disclosures regarding the descent, birth, works, crucifixion, and ascension of the Beloved. The first five chapters deal in the main with Manassehs wickedness and Isaiahs martyrdom, with a curious insertion (3:13b-4:18) which claims to be a vision foretelling the life of Christ and the fortunes of His Church, awkwardly introduced as explaining the wrath of Beliar which occasioned the martyrdom of Isaiah. A careful examination of the diction and subject-matter of each section leads to the clear discrimination of three distinct sources.
(a) The Martyrdom of Isaiah (1:1, 2a, 6b-13a; 2:1-3:12; 5:1b-14). This narrates how in the twenty-sixth year of his reign Hezekiah called Manasseh to receive accounts of visions which he had seen (1:1, 2). Isaiah, who is present, warns the king of Manassehs future wickedness, and foretells his own martyrdom (1:7-13). After Hezekiahs death, Manasseh, as foretold, forsakes the service of God and serves Satan, whereupon Isaiah withdraws first to Bethlehem and then to the desert with his companions (2:1-11). Meanwhile Belchira, a brother of the false prophet Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, accuses Isaiah and his fellow-prophets to the king, of prophesying evil against Jerusalem, and claiming to have seen God, and calling Jerusalem Sodom, and the princes the people of Gomorrah (2:12-3:10). Manasseh seizes Isaiah and has him sawn asunder with a wood-saw. Isaiah dies with wonderful firmness and constancy, communing with the Holy Spirit till the end. This narrative is mainly historical in form, and contains nothing specifically Christian. In its outlook it might well be Jewish, and this supposition is confirmed by the Patristic references (e.g. in Origen and Jerome) which attribute the account of the sawing asunder of Isaiah to Jewish traditions, and also by the fact that the Talmud contains a similar account of Isaiahs death. Further, the original was probably written in Hebrew. In 2:1 a play upon words appears when the passage is re-translated into Hebrew ( ). The name Malchira in 1:8 is a transliteration of , as S. A. Cook has observed. Above all, the curious term a wooden saw can hardly he explained except as a misrendering of , a wood-saw.
(b) The Vision of Isaiah (6-11). In the twentieth year of Hezekiah, Isaiah, in the presence of the king, when speaking in the Holy Spirit, is taken up in mind (cf. 2Co 12:2-4) through the firmament and each of the six lower heavens in turn, and finally arrives at the seventh heaven, to which he is admitted by special command of the Lord Christ. There he sees all the righteous from the time of Adam, including Abel, Seth, and Enoch, stript of the garments of the flesh, not sitting on their thrones nor as yet wearing their crowns of glory, until the Beloved has descended to earth (9:12, 13) and ascended again (9:18). He sees the Great Glory, and on His right the Lord (the Beloved) and on His left the Holy Spirit. He worships the three, and his Lord and the Holy Spirit worship the Great Glory. The Father commissions the Son to descend to earth, and tells of His ascension and final judgment. The Son descends through each heaven in turn, assuming in each the form of the angels who dwell in them, and finally passes through the firmament and then the air to the earth. There Isaiah beholds His wonderful birth, miracles, and crucifixion, resurrection, mission of the Twelve, ascension, and session on the right hand of the Great Glory. Isaiah returns to his body and binds Hezekiah to secrecy concerning the vision.
The date of this narrative is probably in the 1st cent. a.d. The vision is quoted not only by Jerome, Com. in Isaiam, 64:4 (Vallarsi, iv. 761), but also by the Actus Petri Vercellenses, ch. xxiv. (p. 72, ed. Lipsius), and by Hieracas the heretic, according to Epiphanius, Hr. lxvii. 3. There is also a remarkable parallel between Ignatius, Ep. ad. Ephes. xix. and Asc. Is. 11:16. There appears to be a reference to the sawing asunder in Heb 11:37. The author wrote in Greek, and was a Christian with a Docetic tendency and a crude conception of the Trinity.
The title Ascension of Isaiah properly belongs to this section of the work. Jerome so quotes it. Epiphanius refers to it as . The Ethiopic, Slavonic, and Latin texts of 6:1 imply the title Vision of Isaiah, and so does Montfaucons Canon.
(c) The Testament of Hezekiah, a Christian Apocalypse (3:13b-4:18). This title is given in Cedrenus i. 120-121 (ed. Bonn), and is appropriate only to the above section. As Charles observes: that such a work was incorporated in the Ascension might also be inferred from 1:2b-5a, which describe the contents of Hezekiahs vision. It describes, briefly stringing together various details in the manner of an epitome, the coming and death of the Beloved; the descent of the angel of the Christian Church; the ascension; the falling away of the Church, and the prevalence of error, impurity, strife, and covetousness; the coming of Beliar in the likeness of a lawless king, a matricide, who claims to be God, and demands Divine worship, and persecutes the saints for three years, seven months, and twenty-seven days. This persecution is ended by the second coming of the Lord, who drags Beliar into Gehenna, and gives rest to the godly, sets up a kingdom of the saints, who afterwards are transformed, and ascend, apparently, to heaven. The final judgment follows, and the godless are annihilated.
The date cannot be later than a.d. 100, for 4:13 presupposes that there were a few still alive who had seen the Lord in the flesh. The fusion of the three originally distinct conceptions of the Antichrist, of Beliar, and of Nero Redivivus cannot well be put earlier than a.d. 88 (see Charles, Asc. Is. pp. li-lxxiii). So the date of this section falls between a.d. 88 and 100.
2. Importance for New Testament study
(a) The Trinity.-i. The First Person is called the Great Glory (9:37; 10:16; 11:32), the Most High (6:8; 7:23; 10:6, 7); and Father (8:18; cf. 7:8; 10:6, 7 in Charles restored text).
ii. The Second Person is generally referred to as the Beloved (1:4, 5, 7, 13; 3:13, 17, 18; 4:3, 6, 9, 18, 21; 5:15, 7:17, 23; 8:18, 25; 9:12) or my Lord (8:13; 9:37; 10:7, 16, 17), and also once as Lord of all those heavens and these thrones (8:9). His name is as yet unknown. He is the Only-Begotten, whose name is not known to any flesh (7:37), the Elect One whose name has not been made known, and none of the heavens can learn His name (8:7). The title Christ, and the phrase who will be called Jesus (see 9:5 note in Charles ed.) are probably original to the work. The title Son of Man in the Latin and Slavonic versions of 11:1 is probably original, and was excluded by the editor of the present Greek version for doctrinal reasons (see Charles, Asc. Is. p. xxvi).
It is noteworthy that the title the Beloved is bestowed on Christ by the Bath Qol in Mar 1:11; Mar 9:7, and it is used by St. Paul in Eph 1:6. As Armitage Robinson (Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ii. 501) points out, it was probably a pre-Christian Messianic title. It is used in the OT of Israel, and so would naturally be transferred from the people to the Messiah, like the titles Servant and Elect. It was, moreover, a term interchangeable with the Messianic title the Elect, as Luke (9:35) substitutes ( B, etc.) for (Mat 17:5, Mar 9:7). In early Christian writings also the title is applied to Christ, e.g. Ep. Barn. iii. 6, iv. 3, 8; Clem. Rom. lix. 2f.; Ign. Smyrn. inscr.; Herm. Sim. ix. 12. 5. No doubt the writer thought the term most appropriate in a work claiming to be an ancient Jewish prophecy of Christ, but its vagueness also betrays the undeveloped Trinitarian conceptions of the period. The Son and the Holy Spirit receive worship (9:33-36), but they in turn worship the Great Glory (9:40). They stand, one on His right band and the other on His left (9:35). (We may compare the Hieracite doctrine in Epiph. Hr. lxvii. 3.) The command to descend to earth is given by the Father (10:8). The conception of the gradual descent from heaven to heaven, with corresponding transformation in form, suggests a Gnostic colouring, and possibly a Docetic tendency, as do also the statement that the Beloved escaped recognition at each stage, and the miraculous appearance of the born babe two months after the Virgins conception. The Protev. Jacobi and the Actus Petri have interesting parallels to the narrative here (11:3-14), while we can hardly doubt that it is the source of Ignatius words in ad. Ephes. xix. , . The concealment of the real nature of Christ is the entire theme of 10:8-11:19. He is, however, really crucified, and descends to the angel of Sheol (11:19, 20; cf. 10:8). In His ascension He has resumed His proper form, and all the angels of the firmament and the Satans see Him and worship Him (11:23; cf. 10:15). On arriving in the seventh heaven, He sits down (not stands, as in 9:35) on the right hand, and the Holy Spirit on the left (11:32, 33). His session with God, however, will not be realized by the angels of the world until the final judgment (10:12).
The significance of the crucifixion is nowhere noticed, but in 9:16 the plundering of the angel of death (cf. Ign. ad. Magn. ix.; Mat 27:52-53; Evang. Nicodemi, i. i, xi. 1 [ed. Tisch.]) is regarded as the result of the descensio in inferna (cf. 1Pe 3:19; 1Pe 4:6). In the Test. Hez. (i.e. 3:13b-4:18) His work includes the founding of the Church (the descent of the angel of the Christian Church, 3:15), and, after coming forth from the tomb on the shoulders of Gabriel and Michael, the sending out of the Twelve. Those who believe in His cross will be saved, and many who believe in Him will speak through the Holy Spirit. The Ascension, not the Resurrection, is the distinctive object of faith to the believer in 2:9; 3:18. At His second coming the Lord will Himself drag Beliar into Gehenna (4:14), and give rest to the godly still alive in the body (cf. 2Th 1:6-7, 1Th 4:17). The saints (i.e. the departed) will come with the Lord (1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:14) and descend and be present in this world (4:16), and the Lord will minister to those who have kept watch in this world (cf. Luk 12:37). Apparently an earthly Messianic Kingdom is implied (cf. Rev 20:1-6). It is followed by a spiritual translation to heaven, the body being left in the world (4:17). Then follows [a resurrection and] a judgment, and the godless are entirely destroyed by fire from before the Beloved (4:16).
iii. The Third Person is spoken of as an angel, the angel of the Spirit (4:21; 9:39, 40; 10:4; 11:4) or the angel of the Holy Spirit (3:16; 7:23; 9:36; 11:33). In communion with Him, Isaiah endures his martyrdom, and also is carried in spirit to the third heaven. The Holy Spirit stands (9:35), and after the Ascension sits (11:33) on the left hand of the Great Glory. The angel of the Holy Spirit in 3:16 must be regarded as Gabriel, and in 11:4 He performs the part of Gabriel in the Annunciation.
(b) The Resurrection is apparently a spiritual one. The garments, i.e. spiritual bodies, are reserved for the righteous, with the robes and crowns in the seventh heaven (4:16; 7:22; 8:14, 26). These garments are received at once after death (8:14; 9:11), the thrones and crowns not till after the Ascension of Christ (9:12, 13). The living whom the Lord finds on His return will be strengthened in the garments of the saints. There is a temporary Messianic Kingdom, and (?) a feast (4:16), followed by a spiritual consummation in heaven (cf. Php 3:21, 1Co 15:52-53). The righteous from Adam downwards are already in the seventh heaven, stript of the garments of the flesh, though not yet seated on their thrones and crowned (9:9). The Final Judgment is referred to in 4:18 and 10:12.
(c) Beliar.-The idea of demonic possession is very prominent in the Martyrdom of Isaiah. Beliar is regarded as served by Manasseh and ruling in his heart (1:8, 9, 11; 2:1, 4, 7; 3:11; 5:1, 15), and as aiding Belchira (5:3), The name Beliar is absent from the Vision, and in the Test. Hez. it has quite another meaning, the Beliar Antichrist appearing in the form of a man-Nero (4:2, 14, 16, 18). In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs Beliar appears in both meanings, at times as the source of immoral deeds, and at times as the Antichrist (see Charles, Asc. Is. 1:6n.). In the Sibylline Oracles, ii. 167 he is to come as the Antichrist, working signs; in iii. 63-73 to proceed from the Roman Emperors, deceive the elect, and finally be burnt up. He is also called Matanbuchus (2:4) and Mechembechus (5:3). His relation to Sammael is puzzling. In part the two seem identical; both dwell and rule in the firmament (7:9; 4:2), take possession of Manasseh (2:1; 1:9; 3:11; 5:1), are wroth with Isaiah for his visions (5:15; 3:13; 5:1), and cause Isaiah to be sawn asunder (11:41; 5:15). But in part Sammael seems to be subordinate. He exerts himself to win Manasseh as the subject of Beliar (1:8). Beliar has kings under him (4:16), and is the prince of this world (1:3; 4:2; cf. 4:18). He will finally be cast into Gehenna with his armies (4:14). In 2Co 6:15 St. Paul asks What concord hath Christ with Beliar? Hero either meaning of Beliar is possible. In 2Th 2:1-12 the two ideas appear to be fused with yet a third-that of a human sovereign with miraculous powers. The man of lawlessness is possibly a translation of Beliar (cf. Septuagint : in Deu 13:13 etc.). In Asc. Is. 2:4 Beliar is the angel of lawlessness, and makes Manasseh strong in apostatizing and lawlessness (cf. 2:7). The sins specified are witchcraft, magic, divination and auguration, fornication, and the persecution of the righteous. The falling away of 2Th 2:3 is referred to in Asc. Is. 3:21; on the eve of His approach, His disciples will forsake their faith and their love and their purity. Cf. few in those days will be left as His servants (4:13; cf. Luk 18:8),
(d) The Antichrist and Nero Redivivus.-In 4:2 we are told:
Beliar the great ruler, the king of this world [cf. Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:11] will descend, who hath ruled it since it came into being; yea he will descend from his firmament [cf. Eph 2:2; Eph 6:12] in the likeness of a man, a lawless king, the slayer of his mother [i.e. Nero; cf. Sib. Or. iv. 141, v. 145, 363, viii. 71] will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles have planted [i.e. the Church]. Of the Twelve, one [i.e. Peter] will he delivered into his hands. There will come with him all the powers of this world [cf. Rev 16:14; Rev 20:7-9]. At his word the sun will rise at night [cf. Rev 13:14; Rev 19:20, 2Th 2:9]. He will say I am God [cf. 2Th 2:4] and all the people in the world will believe in him, and they will sacrifice to him [cf. Rev 13:4; Rev 13:8; Rev 13:12]. And the greater number of those who shall have been associated together to receive the Beloved, he will turn aside after him [cf. Mat 24:24, Mar 13:22; contrast 2Th 2:10-12]. And he will set up his image in every city [cf. Rev 13:14].
The time of his sway will be 3 years, 7 months, and 27 days (4:12). This period points back to Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7 (cf. Rev 12:14); but in 4:14 the time is given as (one thousand) three hundred and thirty-two days. During this period the few believers left flee from desert to desert (4:13; cf. Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14). Beliar is finally destroyed, not by Michael but by the Lord Himself (4:14).
(e) Angels.-While there is no reference to the functions of good angels as mediators or intercessors, spiritual powers are conceived of as the true cause of all action. Manasseh and Belchira are only agents of Beliar and Sammael and Satan. Nero Redivivus is only an embodiment of Beliar (4:2). Angels, authorities, and powers rule in this world under Beliar their prince (1:3; cf. Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12, Col 1:16; Col 2:10; Col 2:15, 1Pe 3:22). The angel of the Christian Church (cf. Rev 2:1; Rev 2:8; Rev 2:12 etc.) descends from heaven after our Lords passion. The Holy Spirit and the angel of the Holy Spirit (see under Trinity) are identical, except perhaps in 3:16 and 11:4 There is an angel of death (9:16; 10:14), and an angel of Sheol (11:19). Each heaven has its angels, with the superior ones to the right of the throne. The sun and the moon also have each an angel (cf. Rev 19:17). The judgment of the angels is referred to in 1:5; 4:18; 10:12.
(f) The Seven Heavens.-The conception of the seven heavens which we find e.g. in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and in Slavonic Enoch is not to be found in the Asc. Is. Evil is found only in the firmament and the air; It is entirely absent from all the heavens. Nor is these any reference to natural phenomena or heavenly bodies in them. Each heaven is merely a duplicate of the one above, with no distinction, except of glory, until the sixth and seventh are reached (8:1, 7). The sixth is not under any subordinate angel or throne, but is ruled by the Great Glory in the seventh. There is an angel over the praise-giving of the sixth heaven, however, who challenges Isaiah when proceeding to the seventh (9:1, 4). In the seventh are the Patriarchs, the righteous, the crowns and thrones and garments of the righteous, the Great Glory, the Beloved, and the angel of the Holy Spirit.
(g) The Christian Church and its circumstances.-The angel of the Christian Church which is in the heavens will be summoned by God in the last days (3:15). The Church is the plant planted by the Twelve Apostles (4:3). It consists of those who are associated together to receive the Beloved at His Second Coming (4:9). A great persecution is regarded as imminent, in which the few faithful remaining will flee from desert to desert, awaiting the coming of the Beloved. For the expectation of the Coming, cf. 1Th 1:10, 1Co 1:7, Php 3:20, Heb 9:28. The Neronic Antichrist is regarded ad destroying one of the Twelve Apostles (4:3), and deceiving many of the faithful (4:9). In 3:21-31 we have a contemporary picture of the Christian Church regarded as guilty of serious declension from its high calling. Church organization is not yet developed. We have mention of pastors and elders (3:24, 29). There is a general disbelief in the Second Coming and in prophecy generally (3:26, 27, 31), but prophecy is still existent, though there are not many prophets save one here and there in divers places. The faith (3:21) is spoken of objectively, as in the Pastoral Epistles (e.g. 1Ti 1:19). Faith, love, and purity are the distinctive Christian virtues (as in 1Ti 4:12). There are lawless elders (3:24), and much hatred exists among the Church leaders (3:29). Covetousness and slander are common vices (cf. 2Ti 3:1-2), The spirit of error (3:28) is at work among Christians (cf. 1Jn 4:6, 1Ti 4:1). Caesar-worship is already a difficulty (4:7-11).
(h) Apocryphal work.-The only reference to another apocryphon occurs in 4:22, where the book Words of Joseph the Just is probably to be identified with the (Fabricius, Cod. Pseud. V.T. i. 761-769; see Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ii. 778).
3. The text
(a) In its complete form the Asc. Is. is found only in the Ethiopic Version, and even this needs to be corrected and at times supplemented by other authorities. Of this Version there are three Manuscripts , one at the Bodleian, and two inferior ones in the British Museum.
(b) There are two Latin Versions.-(i.) The fuller of the two was printed. at Venice in 1522 from a manuscript now unknown, and reprinted by Gieseler in 1832.-(ii.) The other version occurs in two fragments discovered by Mai in 1828 in the Codex Rescriptus of the Acts of Chalcedon, Vat. 5750, of the 5th or 6th century.
(c) The Greek Versions are likewise twofold; (i.) a lost Greek text on which the Greek Legend was based; (ii.) the Greek text from which the Slavonic and the fuller Latin Versions wore derived. Of this text 2:4-4:4 have been recovered in the Amherst Papyri by Grenfell and Hunt.
The Greek Legend was found by O. von Gebhardt in a Greek manuscript of the 12th cent. (no. 1534, Bibliothque Nationale, Paris). This work is really a lection for Church use, and so takes liberties in the way of rearranging and abbreviating the text. The Martyrdom is brought to the end, and other details are added. It is, however, very valuable for correcting and restoring the text.
(d) The Slavonic Version is extant in a manuscript in the Library of the Uspenschen Cathedral in Moscow. It belongs to c. [Note: . circa, about.] a.d. 1200.
In all these authorities two recensions may be traced. The Greek Papyri, the Ethiopic, the Slavonic, and the fuller Latin Version follow the second recension of the Greek; the Greek Legend and the Latin fragments support the first Greek recension. Charles in his edition of the Asc. Is. (1900) has produced a critical text founded on all these authorities. To this work the present writer would express his deep indebtedness.
Literature.-I. Critical Inquiries.-R. Laurence, Ascensio Isaiae Vatis, Oxford, 1819, pp. 141-180; K. I. Nitzsch, SK [Note: K Studien und Kritiken.] , 1830, pp. 209-246; G. C. F. Lcke, Einleit. in die Offenbarung des Johannes2, Bonn, 1852, pp. 274-302; A. Dillmann, Ascensio Isaiae, Lelpzig, 1877, pp. v-xviii; G. T. Stokes, article Isaiah, Ascension of, in DCB [Note: CB Dict. of Christian Biography.] iii. [1882] 298-301; W. J. Deane, Pseudepigrapha, Edinburgh, 1891, pp. 236-275: A. Harnack, Gesch. der altchristl. Litteratur, Leipzig, 1893ff., i. 854-856, ii. 573-579, 714; C. Clemen, Die Himmelfahrt des Jesaja, Zeitschrift fr wissenschaftliche Theologie , 1896, pp. 388-415, also 1897, pp. 455-465; J. A. Robinson, article Isaiah, Ascension of, in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , ii. 499-501; G. Beer, in Kautzschs Apok. und Pseudepig., Tbingen, 1900, ii. 119-123; R. H. Charles, Ascension of Isaiah translated from the Ethiopic Version, which, together with the New Greek Fragment, the Latin Versions, and the Latin Translation of the Slavonic, is here published in full, London, 1900, also Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Oxford, 1913, ii. 155-158; E. Littmann, Jewish Encyclopedia vi. [1904] 642f.
II. Editions.-(a) Ethiopic Version.-R. Laurence, A. Dillmann, and R. H. Charles, opp. cit. supra. (b) Latin Versions.-(i.) J. K. L. Gieseler, in a Gttingen programme, 1832; (ii.) A. Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, Rome, 1825-38, iii. 238f.; both are given in the editions of Dillmann and Charles as above. (c) Greek Versions.-(i.) The Greek Legend-a free recension: O. v. Gebhardt, in Hilgenfelds Zeitschrift fr wissenschaftliche Theologie , 1878, p. 330ff.; R. H. Charles, Asc. of Isaiah, pp. xviii-xxxiii, 141-148; (ii.) Papyrus fragment: Grenfell and Hunt, Ascension of Isaiah, London, 1901; R. H. Charles, Asc. of Isaiah, pp. xxviii-xxxi, 84-95. (d) Slavonic Version.-R. H. Charles, Asc. of Isaiah, pp. xxiv-xxvii, 98-139.
A. Ll. Davies.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Ascension Of Isaiah
SEE ISAIAH.
Ascent (some form of , alah’, to go up, as elsewhere often rendered), 2Sa 15:30; 1Ki 10:5; 2Ch 9:4. SEE AKRABBIM; SEE CAUSEWAY.
Ascension Of Isaiah
The earliest notice of an apocryphal work attributed to Isaiah is found in Justin Martyr’s Dial. cum Tryph. c. 120, where Isaiah is mentioned as . The quotation is not, indeed, a direct one, but its peculiar wording points to the first part of the Ascension as its source, as the Jewish traditions concerning the death of Isaiah do not say that he was sawn asunder with a wooden saw, but that, when Isaiah was pressed by his enemies, a cedar-tree “opened and swallowed him,” and that this tree was sawn through, and Isaiah perished in this manner. The tradition, according to the treatise Yebamoth (Talm. Bab.), fol. 49, Colossians 2, runs thus: ” It is related that rabbi Simeonhben-Azai found in Jerusalem a genealogy wherein it was written that Manasseh had killed Isaiah. Manasseh said to Isaiah, Moses, thy master, said, There shall no man see God and live (Exo 33:20). But thou hast said, I saw the Lord seated upon his throne (Isa 6:1). Moses said, What other nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them (Deu 4:7)? But thou hast said, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found (Isa 4:6). Isaiah thought, If I excuse myself, I shall only increase his guilt and not save myself;’ so he answered not a word, but pronounced the incommunicable name, and a cedar-tree opened and he disappeared within it. Then Manasseh’ ordered, and they took the cedar and sawed it lengthways; and when the saw reached his mouth he died.” In ‘Tertullian (De Patientia, c. 14) we read: “His patientise viribus secatur Esaias et de Domino non tacet” – evidently referring to v, 14 of the Ascension. The Apostolic Constitutions mention an v. The existence of this work is made certain by the two citations in Origen, Comm. in Mat 13:57, and Epist. ad African. c. 9. In the latter place he says, v … Epiphanius, when speaking of the , says their heresy was partly taken from the v. Until the 5th century the work was known, then it disappeared. In 1819 Richard Laurence, of Oxford, discovered an Ethiopic MS. in the Bodleian Library, which he published, with translations into Latin and English, under the title Ergata Isaijas Nabi. Laurence’s book has of late been superseded by the excellent work of Dillmann, Ascensio Isaice Ethiopice et Latine. Cum Prolegomenis, Adnotationibus Criticis et Exegeticis, Additis Versionum Latinarum Reliquiis edita (Lipsiam, 1877).
The work as it now exists was, according to Dillmann, originally two works-one, the Ascension proper, was written by a Christian; the other, by a Jew, excepting what was added by a later editor. Dillmann analyzes the books as follows: (1) 2:1 to 3:12 and 5:2-14 are Jewish, not showing the least trace of Christian influence; (2) 6:1 and 11:1, 23-40, the proper Ascension, is the work of a Christian. That this once circulated as a separate book is probable from the fact that the old Latin translation, published by Angelo Mai (in Scriptorum Veterium Nova Collectio [Rome, 1824], ii, 238 sq.), contains’ this part only. (3) These two parts were united by a Christian editor, who added ch. i (except ver. 3, 4a) and 11:42, 43. (4) This was again revised by another Christian hand, which added iii, 13-v, 1 and 11:2-22, together with 1:3, 4a,: 5:15, 16; 11:41. That the whole work as such was also extant in the Western Church is seen from the second Latin translation, found by Gieseler (Vetus Translatio Lat. Visionis Isaice [Gottingen, 1832]), where different parts of the whole work are quoted.
As to the time of the composition of the Ascension no certain date can be given, although there is no doubt that it existed in the 3d century, and we may presume that it was composed towards the end of the 2d century. For the literature and other information, see Dillmann’s Prolegomena; also Baring – Gould, Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 373 sq.; Langen, Das Judenthum in Palestina zur Zeit Christi, p. 157 sq.; Bissel, The Apocrypha (N. Y. 1880), p. 669 sq.; Schodde, in the Lutheran Quarterly (Gettysburg, Oct. 1878), where an English translation of the Ascensio is given’; Harnack’s review of Dillmann’s edition in Schilrer’s Theolog. Literaturzeitung, 1878, col. 75 sq. (B. P.)
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Ascension Of Isaiah
ASCENSION OF ISAIAH. See Apoc. [Note: Apocalypse, Apocalyptic.] Lit., p. 41a.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Ascension of Isaiah
See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.