In Matt. 27:9, 10, there is a quotation for substance of the words of Zechariah 11:13, but they are ascribed to "Jeremiah the prophet." Of this discrepancy various explanations have been proposed. Some have suspected an early error in the manuscript of Matthew's gospel; but of this there is no satisfactory proof. Others have thought that the part of our present book of Zechariah which contains the prophecy in question actually belongs to Jeremiah; but upon this hypothesis it remains a mystery how it should have been attached to the writings of Zechariah.Upon the ground of diversity of style and other alleged internal marks, it has been maintained by some biblical scholars that the whole of the last part of Zechariah belongs to an earlier age; but the validity of this conclusion is denied by others. To give even a summary of the opposing arguments would exceed the limits of the present work. The internal proofs being very nearly balanced against each other, the fact that these chapters have always been connected with the writings of Zechariah ought to be allowed a decisive influence in favor of their genuineness.
In Matt. 27:9, 10, there is a quotation for substance of the words of Zechariah 11:13, but they are ascribed to "Jeremiah the prophet." Of this discrepancy various explanations have been proposed. Some have suspected an early error in the manuscript of Matthew's gospel; but of this there is no satisfactory proof. Others have thought that the part of our present book of Zechariah which contains the prophecy in question actually belongs to Jeremiah; but upon this hypothesis it remains a mystery how it should have been attached to the writings of Zechariah.
Upon the ground of diversity of style and other alleged internal marks, it has been maintained by some biblical scholars that the whole of the last part of Zechariah belongs to an earlier age; but the validity of this conclusion is denied by others. To give even a summary of the opposing arguments would exceed the limits of the present work. The internal proofs being very nearly balanced against each other, the fact that these chapters have always been connected with the writings of Zechariah ought to be allowed a decisive influence in favor of their genuineness.
23. In Hebrew Malachi signifiesmy messenger, being the very word employed in chap. 3:1. Hence some have supposed that this is not the prophet's name, but a description of his office. Such a supposition, however, is contrary to scriptural usage, which in every other case prefixes to each of the prophetical books the author's proper name. Malachi has not given the date of his prophecies, but it can be determined with a good degree of certainty from their contents. The people had been reinstated in the land, the temple rebuilt, and its regular services reëstablished. Yet they were in a depressed condition, dispirited, and disposed to complain of the severity of God's dealings towards them. Their ardently cherished expectation of seeing the Theocracy restored to its former glory was not realized. Instead of driving their enemies before them sword in hand, as in the days of Joshua, or reigning triumphantly over them in peace, as in the days of Solomon, they found themselves a handful of weak colonists under the dominion of foreigners, and returning to the land of their fathers solely by their permission. All this was extremely humiliating to their worldly pride, and a bitter disappointment of their worldly hopes. Hence they had fallen into a desponding andcomplaining state of mind. While rendering to God a service that was not cheerful but grudging, complaining of its wearisomeness, withholding the tithes required by the law of Moses, and offering in sacrifice the lame and the blind, they yet complained that he did not notice and requite these heartless services, and talked as if he favored the proud and wicked. "Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and walked mournfully before him? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered" (3:14, 15). To these sins they had added that of putting away their Hebrew wives, that they might marry foreign women (2:10-16). All these circumstances point to the administration of Nehemiah, probably the latter part of it; for after his visit to Babylon in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes (Neh. 13:6), he found upon his return, and has described in the last chapter of his book precisely the same state of affairs. Malachi is thus the last of all the prophets.
24. He opens his prophecies by reminding the people of God's great and distinguishing love towards them and their fathers, which they were so slow to acknowledge. He then reproves them sharply for the sins above referred to, and forewarns them that the Lord, of whose delay they complain, will suddenly come to his temple to sit in judgment there—an advent which they will not be able to endure; for it will consume the wicked root and branch, while it brings salvation to the righteous (3:1-5; 4:1-3). In view of the fact that the revelations of the Old Testament are now closing, he admonishes the people to remember the law of Moses, and closes with a promise of the mission of "Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (4:5, 6). This promise, with that contained in chap. 3:1, is repeatedly referred to in the New Testament, and applied to the coming of John the Baptist as our Lord's forerunner. The opening words of the prophecy, chap. 1:2, are quoted by the apostle Paul (Rom. 9:13).
1. The Greek wordApocrypha,hidden, that is,hiddenorsecretbooks, was early applied by the fathers of the Christian church to anonymous or spurious books that falsely laid claim to be a part of the inspired word. By some, as Jerome, the term was extended to all the books incorporated by the Alexandrine Jews, in their Greek version, into the proper canon of the Old Testament, a few of which books, though not inspired, are undoubtedly genuine. Another designation of the books in question wasecclesiastical, books to be read in the churches for edification, but not as possessing authority in matters of faith. But at the era of the Reformation, when these books were separated by the Protestant churches from the true canon, and placed by themselves between the books of the Old and the New Testament, Jerome's old epithetApocrypha, or theApocryphal books, was applied to the entire collection.
How the termApocrypha,hidden, became associated with the idea ofspuriousoranonymousis doubtful. According to Augustine, it was because the origin of these books was not clear to the church fathers. A later conjecture, expressed by the translators of the English Bible, is "because they were wont to be read not openly and in common, but as it were in secret and apart." Still more probable is the opinion that they were so called from their close relation to thesecretbooks containing the mysteries—secret doctrines—of certain heretical sects.
2. The date of several of the apocryphal books is very uncertain; but none of them can well be placed as early as the beginning of the third century before Christ. Though some of them were originally written in Hebrew or Aramean, they have been preserved to us only in Greek or other versions. None of them were ever admitted into the Hebrew canon. The ground of their rejection is well stated by Josephus (Against Apion 1, 8), namely, that from the time of Artaxerxes, Xerxes' son (Artaxerxes Longimanus, under whom Ezra led forth his colony, Ezra 7:1, 8), "the exact succession of the prophets" was wanting. The Alexandrine Jews, however, who were very loose in their ideas of the canon, incorporated them into their version of the Hebrew Scriptures. How far the mass of the people distinguished between their authority and that of the books belonging to the Hebrew canon is a question not easily determined. ButJosephus, as we have seen, clearly recognized their true character. Philo also, as those who have examined the matter inform us, though acquainted with these books, never cites any one of them as of divine authority. The judgment of these two men doubtless represents that of all the better informed among the Alexandrine Jews, as it does that of the Saviour and his apostles, who never quote them as a part of the inspired word.
3. During the first three centuries of the Christian era very few of the church fathers had any knowledge of Hebrew. The churches received the Scriptures of the Old Testament through the medium of the Alexandrine Greek version, which contained the apocryphal books. It is not surprising, therefore, that the distinction between these and the canonical books was not clearly maintained, and that we find in the writings of the church fathers quotations from them even under the name of "divine scripture." But Jerome, who translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew, understood perfectly the distinction between the canonical and the apocryphal books. The canon which he has given agrees with that of the Palestine Jews. He says (Prologus Galeatus) of the apocryphal books Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Tobit, and Maccabees, that the church reads these "for the edification of the people, not for authority in establishing church doctrines." The same distinction is made by Rufinus, the contemporary and antagonist of Jerome. The language of Augustine was more wavering and uncertain. At the Council of Hippo, A.D. 393, at which he was present, the "ecclesiastical books," as the apocryphal books are called, were included in the catalogue of sacred books; and from that day to the time of the Reformation the extent of the Old Testament canon was regarded as an open question. But the Romish Council of Trent included the apocryphal books in the canon of the Old Testament, with the exception of Esdras and the prayer of Manasseh, pronouncing an anathema on all who should hold a contrary opinion. The Protestant churches, on the other hand, unanimously adhered to the Hebrew canon, separating from this the apocryphal books as useful for reading, but of no authority in matters of faith.
4. Although the Protestant churches rightly reject the apocryphal books as not belonging to the inspired word, the knowledge of their contents is nevertheless a matter of deep interest to the biblical scholar. The first book of Maccabees is in the main authentic, and it covers an important crisis of Jewish history. All of the apocryphal books, moreover, throw much light on the progress of Jewish thought, especially in the two directions of Grecian culture and a rigid adherence to the forms of the Mosaic law. Keil divides the apocryphal books intohistorical,didactic, andprophetic, but with the remark that this division cannot be rigidly carried out. In the following brief notice of the several books the arrangement of the English Bible is followed.
5. The first two in order of the apocryphal books in the English version bear the title ofEsdras, that is,Ezra. The Greek Bible has only the first, which stands sometimes before our canonical book of Ezra, and sometimes after Nehemiah. In the former case it is called thefirstbook of Esdras, that is, Ezra; in the latter thethird, Nehemiah being reckoned as the continuation of Ezra, and called thesecondbook of Ezra. It gives the history of the temple and its service from Josiah to Ezra—its restoration by Josiah, destruction by the Chaldees, rebuilding and reëstablishment through Zerubbabel and Ezra. Its original and central part is a legend from an unknown source respecting a trial of wisdom between Zerubbabel and two other young men, made in the presence of Darius, king of Persia, which resulted in Zerubbabel's favor, and so pleased the king that he issued letters for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and conferred many other favors on the Jews. Chaps. 3, 4. The preceding and following parts are made up of extracts from 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, in which the compiler has made a free use of his biblical sources, at one time abridging the narrative, at another making explanatory additions, and again transposing the order of events contrary to historical truth. Some, as Keil, think that the writer made use of the Alexandrine version; others, that he drew from the original Hebrew. His design was to exhibit the liberality of Cyrus and Darius towards the Jews as a pattern for the heathen rulers of Judea in his own day. (Keil.) Neither the author nor the date of the book is known, but it cannot be placed earlier than the second century before Christ.
6. Thesecondbook of Esdras (called also thefourth, when the first is reckoned as the third) is extant in a Latin, an Arabic, and an Ethiopic version. The Greek original has not thus far been found. The Arabic and Ethiopic are thought to represent the primitive text more correctly than the Latin: as they want the two introductory and closing chapters of the latter, which are generally admitted to be spurious additions by a later hand; and contain, on the contrary, a long passage after chap. 7:35, which is not found in the Latin, and is thought to be genuine.
7. If we reject the first two and last two chapters of the Latin version, which do not belong to the original work, the remainder of the book has entire unity from beginning to end. It consists of a series of pretended visions vouchsafed to Ezra through the angel Uriel in the thirtieth year after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldees, while he mourned over the desolate and distressed condition of the covenant people with fasting and prayer. Of these visions, the first six, which are preparatory to the last, pertain mainly to the method of God's dealing with men, the end of the present age, the introduction of the coming age, and the glorificationof Zion, with the heavy judgments of God that shall accompany these events. Many of these revelations are made through the medium of symbols. In the seventh and last revelation, a voice addresses Ezra out of a bush, as it did Moses of old. Upon his complaining that the law has been burnt, he is directed to take five ready scribes, with a promise that the holy writings which are lost shall be restored to his people. The next day the voice calls to him again, commanding him to open his mouth and drink the cup which is offered to him, "full as it were with water, but the color of it was like fire." Upon this he is filled with the spirit of inspiration, and dictates to his five scribes in forty days 204 books (according to some 94). Of these the last 70 are secret, to be delivered only "to such as be wise among the people." The rest are to be published openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read them. The historic truth underlying this fabulous revelation seems to be the revision of the canon of the Old Testament by Ezra and his associates. Chap. 15, No. 17. It is agreed that this book is the production of a Jew, but the date of its composition is a disputed point. Some assign it to the first century after Christ; others to the century preceding our Lord's advent, but with interpolations that manifestly belong to the Christian era.
8. The book of Tobit contains a narrative of the piety, misfortunes, and final prosperity of Tobit, an Israelite of the tribe of Naphtali, who was among the captives brought to Assyria by Enemessar (Shalmaneser) king of Assyria. With Enemessar he was in favor, became his purveyor, and was able to deposit ten talents of silver with Gabael at Rages, a city of Media. But Sennacherib, the successor of Enemessar, persecuted him, especially for his pious care in burying the bodies of his Jewish brethren whom that king had slain, and he was obliged to flee with his wife Anna and his son Tobias, leaving all his goods as plunder to the Assyrian king. Under Sarchedonus (Esarhaddon) he returned again to his home, but soon a new misfortune overtook him. As he lay one night by the wall of his courtyard, being unclean from the burial of a Jew whom his son had found strangled in the market-place, "the sparrows muted warm dung" into his eyes, which deprived him of sight. Wishing now to send his son Tobias for the ten talents of silver deposited with Gabael at Rages in Media, he directs him to seek a guide for the way; when the angel Raphael offers himself under the name of Azarias the son of Ananias the great, one of Tobit's brethren. As the angel and Tobias journey together, they come one evening to the river Tigris. As the young man goes down to the river to bathe, a fish assaults him; but by the angel's direction he seizes him, drags him on shore, and takes for future use his heart, liver, and gall. On their way to Rages they come to Ecbatane, a city of Media, where residesRaguel, the cousin of Tobias, whose only daughter, Sara, has lost seven husbands on the night of their marriage, through the power of Asmodeus, an evil spirit. Tobias being her nearest surviving kinsman, marries her according to the law of Moses. By the angel's direction, upon entering the marriage-chamber, he lays the heart and liver of the fish upon embers. The evil spirit, at the smell of the smoke, flees away into the utmost parts of Egypt, where the angel binds him. The angel goes to Rages and brings the ten talents and Gabael himself to the wedding feast; the wedded pair return in safety to Tobit with the silver, and also the half of Raguel's goods, which Sara receives as her wedding portion. Finally Tobias, by the angel's direction, anoints his father's eyes with the gall of the fish; whereupon he recovers his sight, and lives in honor and prosperity to a good old age. Such is a brief outline of the story, which is told in an interesting and attractive style. How much historic truth lies at its foundation, it is impossible to determine. The introduction of the angelic guide may well be regarded as a mythical embellishment.
9. The book of Tobit is extant in various texts—Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Hebrew, the Hebrew forms being all translations from the Greek or Latin. These texts differ in minor details, but have all sprung directly or indirectly from one original, which was probably Hebrew or Aramaic, though some maintain that it was Greek. The book is thoroughly Jewish in its spirit. The date of its composition is uncertain. The common opinion of biblical scholars is that it was composed about 250-200 B.C. In its general scope the book has a resemblance to that of Job. A good man encounters suffering in the way of piety, but is finally delivered, lives in prosperity, and dies in a good old age. The portraiture which it gives of domestic piety is very pleasing, and affords an instructive insight into the spirit of the age in which it was written. It gives great prominence to deeds of charity; but the alms on which it insists so earnestly flow from inward faith and love. In this respect they are distinguished from the dead works of the late Scribes and Pharisees.
10. This book relates the exploit of Judith, a Jewish widow distinguished alike for beauty, courage, and devotion to her country. When Holofernes, one of Nebuchadnezzar's generals, was besieging Bethulia, a city of Judea, she went over to his camp with her maid in the character of a deserter, promised to guide him to Jerusalem, and by her flattery and artful representations so insinuated herself into his favor that he entertained her with high honor. At last, being left alone with him at night in his tent, she beheaded him with his own falchion as he lay asleep and intoxicated, and going forth gave his head to her maid, who put it in her bag, and they two passed the guards in safety under the pretext of goingout for prayer, as had been their nightly custom. The head of Holofernes was suspended from the wall of the city, and when the warriors within sallied forth, the besieging army fled in consternation. Judith receives as a reward all the stuff of Holofernes, lives at Bethulia as a widow in high honor, and dies at the age of one hundred and five.
11. The historical and geographical contradictions of this book are too many and grave to allow the supposition that it contains an authentic narrative of facts. It was manifestly written after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity and the rebuilding of the city and temple (chaps. 4:3; 5:18, 19), when the nation was governed, not by a king, but by a high priest and Sanhedrim. Chap. 4:6, 8; 15:8. Yet it makes Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned in Babylon long before, king in Nineveh in the eighth year of his reign, whereas his father had destroyed Nineveh. The attempts that have been made to reconcile these and other inconsistencies with true history are forced and unnatural. Whatever historical truth may lie at the basis of the story, it is so interwoven with fiction that the two elements cannot be separated from each other. It was probably written by a Palestinian Jew in Hebrew or Aramaic somewhere about the second century before Christ. The design of the book is to excite the people to faith and courage in their severe conflicts with foreign persecutors; but its morality is of a very questionable character. Judith, its heroine, while she adheres with great punctiliousness to the Mosaic ritual, does not scruple to employ hypocrisy and falsehood that she may prepare the way for assassination, being evidently persuaded that in the service of the covenant people the end sanctifies the means.
12. These are printed by themselves in our English version, and entitled: "The rest of the chapters of the Book of Esther, which are found neither in the Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee;" but in the Septuagint and old Latin they are dispersed through the canonical book so as to form with it a consistent whole. They profess to supply deficiencies in the canonical Esther—a dream of Mordecai with its interpretation; an account of the conspiracy of the two eunuchs to destroy Ahasuerus; a pretended copy of the king's edict for the destruction of the Jews; the prayer of Mordecai and of Esther in view of this edict; various details of Esther's visit to the king; and the pretended edict of Artaxerxes (Ahasuerus) revoking the former edict, and giving the Jews liberty to destroy all who should assault them—into which the name of God, which nowhere appears in the genuine book of Esther, is abundantly introduced. The origin of these legends is unknown.
13. The author of this book personages Solomon, and speaks in his name, Solomon being to the ancient Jews the representative of all wisdom. Keil gives the summary of its contents in three divisions, as follows; (1.) "The book begins with a forcible exhortation to the rulers of the earth to strive after wisdom as the fountain of righteousness and the guide to immortality and happiness. With this it connects a warning against the folly of unbelieving men who rebel against the law, oppress the righteous, and thus bring upon themselves just punishment, distraction, and everlasting shame. Chaps. 1-6. (2.) After the example of King Solomon, who is introduced as speaking, the way to obtain wisdom is next pointed out, and she is described in her nature as the spirit that formed and sustains the world, and is the author of all that is good, true, and great. Chaps. 7-9. (3.) Then follows a long historical discourse (interrupted in chaps. 13-15 by a copious discussion concerning the origin and nature of idolatry), in which the blessed effects of wisdom and the fear of God, and the unhappy consequences that come from the folly of idolatry are illustrated by the opposite fortunes of the righteous and the wicked of past ages, especially of the people of God as contrasted with the idolatrous Canaanites and Egyptians." The different parts of the book constitute a well connected whole.
14. The book was originally composed in Greek by an Alexandrine Jew, who is generally placed by biblical scholars somewhere in the second century before Christ. Though possessing no canonical authority, it is very interesting and valuable for the view which it gives of the progress of Jewish thought in both religion and philosophy. This writer is the first who expressly identifies the serpent that deceived Eve with the devil: "Through envy of the devil came death into the world." Chap. 2:24. He teaches also the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of a future judgment. In a passage of great beauty he personifies Wisdom, after the example of the book of Proverbs, as the worker of all things, and the teacher and guide, of men. "She is the breath of the power of God, and a pure efflux from the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled can find entrance into her. For she is the effulgence of the everlasting light, and the unspotted mirror of the divine might, and the image of his goodness. And being but one she can do all things; and remaining in herself [unchanged] she makes all things new. From age to age entering into holy souls, she makes them friends of God and prophets." Chap. 7:25-27. But along with this true development of doctrine on the basis of the Old Testament he holds the unscriptural doctrine of the preëxistence of souls (chap. 8:20), whether borrowed from the Platonists, or taken from some other source. Some have thought that he also holds matter to be eternal.But when he speaks of God's almighty hand as having "created the world out of formless matter" (chap. 11:17), he may have reference simply to the chaotic state described in Gen. 1:2.
Jerome left the Latin translation of this book unrevised. The text, therefore, of our Latin Bibles is that of the "Old Latin" version, as it existed before his day.
15. The Greek title of this book is,The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or more briefly:The Wisdom of Sirach. The Latin title,Ecclesiasticus, that is,Ecclesiasticalbook, designates it as a book that was read for edification in the churches, though not included in the Hebrew canon. We give, mainly from Keil, the summary of its contents: This copious book is rich in its contents, embracing the whole domain of practical wisdom, and, what is inseparable from this, the fear of God. These virtues it describes, commends, and inculcates according to their origin and nature, their characteristics and results, and their realization in life, in a rich collection of proverbs, with rules and counsels for the regulation of life in all its manifold relations. The whole is after the manner of the Proverbs of Solomon, only with much greater particularity of details, extending to all the spheres of religious, civil, and domestic life, and giving rules of conduct for the regulation of the same. This collection of wise maxims, moral precepts, and rules of life constitutes a united whole, in which the particular proverbs, counsels, and warnings are strung together in accordance with an association of ideas that is often quite loose. Interwoven with these are a number of connected discussions and prayers. The author closes his instructions with two extended discourses, in the former of which he celebrates the works of God in creation (chaps. 42:15-43:33); in the latter, the praises of the famous men of Scripture from Enoch to Simon the high priest, the son of Onias (chaps. 44-50). He then adds in the final chapter a thanksgiving and prayer (chap. 51). This book, like that of Wisdom, is of great value for the insight which it gives into the theology and ethics of the Jews at the time of its composition.
16. It is undoubtedly genuine, having been written in Hebrew by the man whose name it bears, and translated into Greek in Egypt by his grandson, as stated in the prologue. But the age of the translator, and consequently of the author, is a matter of dispute. The last of the worthies described by him is "Simon, the son of Onias, the high priest." There were two high priests of this name, both sons of Onias, but the author's eulogy is applicable only to the former, who flourished about 310-290 B.C. It is a natural inference that Jesus, the son of Sirach, wrote not many years afterwards. The translator, again, speaks of himself as coming into Egypt "in the eight and thirtieth year, when Euergeteswas king." Does he mean the eight and thirtieth year of hisownlife, or ofEuergetes' reign? If the latter, then of the two kings that bore the surname Euergetes the latter only (B.C. 170-117) can be understood, since the former reigned only twenty-five years. If the former, as is most probable, then we naturally understand Euergetes I., who reigned B.C. 217-222, during which period the translation must have been executed.
The Greek text, as exhibited in manuscripts, is in a very corrupt and confused state, with many variations and transpositions. The Latin text is that of the "Old Latin," which Jerome left, as he did that of the book of Wisdom, without revision.
17. This is the only apocryphal book which assumes the character of prophecy. It is formed after the model of Jeremiah, and ascribed to Baruch his friend. But its spuriousness is generally admitted. Besides historical inaccuracies, such as are not conceivable in the case of Baruch, the fact that its author employed the Septuagint translation of Jeremiah and Daniel mark it as of a later date. Keil assigns it to about the middle of the second century B.C. The book professes to be a letter written by Baruch in the name of the captive Jews in Babylon to their brethren at Jerusalem, and consists of two well-marked divisions, the first of which, extending to chap. 3:8, is, in the opinion of some, a translation from an original Hebrew document. This part contains, after an introductory notice, a confession of sin with prayer for deliverance. The second part begins with an address to the covenant people, in which they are rebuked for neglecting the teachings of divine wisdom, and encouraged with the hope of returning prosperity when they shall obey her voice. Chaps. 3:9-4:8. Zion is then introduced lamenting over the desolations which God has brought upon her and her children (chap. 4:9-4:29), and afterwards comforting them with the hope of certain deliverance and enlargement (chaps. 4:30-5:9). It is generally agreed that the second part was originally written in Greek, and some think that the same is true of the first part also.
18. There is another Epistle of Baruch preserved to us in the Syriac, which is inserted in the London and Paris Polyglotts. It is addressed to the nine and a half tribes, and "made up of commonplaces of warning, encouragement, and exhortation." Smith's Bib. Dict., Art. Baruch.
19. There is a spuriousEpistle of Jeremiahwhich appears in the Vulgate and our English version as the sixth chapter of Baruch. It is entitled: "Copy of an epistle which Jeremiah sent to those who were to be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians to make announcement to them, as it was commanded him by God." It purports to be awarning to these captives against the idolatrous practices which they shall witness in Babylon, and is made up of a long discourse on the impotence of the idols which the heathen worship, written in a rhetorical style, in imitation of Jer. 10:1-16. Its author is supposed to have been a Hellenistic Jew who lived towards the end of the Maccabean period.
20. The Greek version of the book of Daniel, besides many departures from the Hebrew and Chaldee original, contains three large additions. The first of these is:The Prayer of Azarias, and the Song of the Three Children in the Fiery Furnace, which is appended to the third chapter. The second is:The History of Susanna, who is exhibited as a pattern of chastity, and was delivered from the machinations of her enemies through the wisdom of Daniel. This is placed sometimes before the first chapter of Daniel, and sometimes after chapter 12. The third addition is:The Story of Bel and the Dragon, which stands at the end of the book, and is falsely ascribed in the Septuagint to the prophet Habakkuk. Its design is to show the folly of idolatry. According to Keil, these three pieces were composed in Egypt towards the end of the third, or the beginning of the second century before Christ.
21. A genuine prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah, existed at the time when the books of Chronicles were composed. 2 Chron. 33:18, 19. But the existing prayer of the Apocrypha, though upon the whole beautiful and appropriate, cannot claim to be a true representative of that prayer. "The author," says Keil, "was a pious Jew who lived at all events before Christ, though his age cannot be more accurately determined."
22. These are five in number. The first two passed from the Greek into the early Latin versions, and thence into the Vulgate and the English versions, and were received as canonical by the Council of Trent. Two others are found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint. The fifth exists only in Arabic. "If the historic order were observed, the so-calledthirdbook would come first, the fourth would be an appendix to thesecond, which would retain its place, and thefirstwould come last; but it will be more convenient to examine the books in the order in which they are found in the MSS., which was probably decided by some vague tradition of their relative antiquity." Smith's Bible Dict., Art. Maccabees. The nameMaccabeesis applied to the family and posterity of the illustrious Jewish priest Mattathias, who maintained a long and successful strugglewith the Syrian kings, and finally succeeded in establishing for a period the independence of the Jews. The origin of the term has been variously explained; but the most common account of it is, that it comes from a Hebrew word signifyinghammer, so that the adjectiveMaccabee(Greek [Greek: Makkabaios]) will denoteHammerer. According to Josephus (Antiq. 12, 6, 1) Mattathias was descended from oneAsmonaeus: Hence the family of the Maccabees are also calledAsmoneans.
23.The first book of the Maccabees.This is one of the most important of all the apocryphal books. It contains a narrative of the long and bloody struggle of the Jews, under their Maccabean leaders, for the preservation of their religion, and the deliverance of the nation from the yoke of their Syrian oppressors. The history bears the internal marks of authenticity and credibility, being distinguished by simplicity and candor. It is only when speaking of foreign nations that the writer falls into some inaccuracies. These do not detract from his trustworthiness in relating the affairs of his own nation through a period of forty years of the most eventful character (B.C. 175-135). The book is pervaded throughout by the Jewish spirit, and must have been written by a Palestinian Jew. Its date is uncertain, but may probably be placed somewhere during the government of the high priest John Hyrcanus (B.C. 135-106). According to the testimony of Origen, the book was originally written in Hebrew. With this agrees its internal character; for the Greek version of it contains many Hebraisms, as well as difficulties which are readily accounted for upon the supposition of a Hebrew original.
21.The second book of Maccabees.This book opens with two letters purporting to have been written by the Jews of Palestine to their brethren in Egypt, in which the former invite the latter to join with them in the celebration of "the feast of tabernacles in the month Caslen," that is, the feast of dedication established to commemorate the purification of the temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes. To the latter of these is appended an epitome of the five books of Jason of Cyrene, containing the history of the Maccabean struggle, beginning with Heliodorus' attempt to plunder the temple, about B.C. 180, and ending with the victory of Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor, B.C. 161. Both of the letters are regarded as spurious. The second of them abounds in marvellous legends—how, upon the destruction of the first temple, the sacred fire of the altar was hid in a hollow pit without water; how, at the close of the captivity, it was found in the form of thick water, which being by the command of Nehemiah sprinkled on the wood of the altar and the sacrifices, there was kindled, when the sun shone upon it, a great fire, so that all men marvelled; how Jeremiah, at God's command, carried the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense to the mountain "which Moses ascended and saw the heritage of God," that is, mount Nebo (Deut. 34:1), and hid them there in ahollow cave, where they are to remain until the time that God shall gather his people together again, and be gracious to them.
The epitome of Jason's history begins some five years earlier than the history contained in the first book, and covers a period of about nineteen years; so that it is partly anterior to that history, partly supplementary, and partly parallel. Alexander's Kitto, Art. Maccabees. The two books are entirely independent in their sources of information; and although the second cannot lay claim to the same degree of trustworthiness as the first, yet the general judgment of biblical scholars is that it is, in its main facts, authentic. But these are set forth with embellishments and exaggerations, in which the author manifests his love for the marvellous. Where the history of the two books is parallel, it agrees in its general outlines, but the details are almost always different, and sometimes they present irreconcilable discrepancies. In its religious aspect this book is very interesting. In the account of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons for their refusal to eat swine's flesh (chap. 7) the doctrine of the resurrection is plainly announced: "It is a thing to be desired," says the fourth son to the king Antiochus, "that one being put to death by men should wait for the hope of God that he shall be again raised up by him; but for thee there is no resurrection unto life" (v. 14). Where Jason composed his work cannot be determined. He cannot have lived long after the events which he describes, else he would have taken notice of the important events that followed. The author of the epitome contained in this book is believed to have been a Hellenistic Jew living in Palestine, who probably wrote in the first century before Christ.
25.The third book of Maccabees.This book does not belong to the Maccabean age, but to the earlier time of Ptolemy Philopator (B.C. 221-204). Its title seems to have come simply from the similarity of its contents. It relates in a pompous and oratorical style how Ptolemy Philopator, being enraged at his failure to enter the sanctuary at Jerusalem, determined to wreak his vengeance on the Jews in Egypt, and assembled them for this purpose in the circus, that they might be trampled under foot by drunken elephants, but was hindered by the miraculous interposition of God; whereupon the king liberated the Jews, prepared for them a sumptuous feast, and gave them permission to take vengeance on their apostate countrymen. The narrative probably has a groundwork of truth with legendary embellishments, after the manner of the later Jews. Its author is believed to have been an Alexandrine Jew, but his age cannot be determined. It was never admitted into the Romish canon.
26.The fourth book of Maccabeesopens with a philosophical discussion respecting the supremacy of devout reason over the passions, which is then illustrated by the history of the martyrdom of Eleazar and the mother with her seven sons, an account of which we have in 2 Macc., chaps. 6 and 7.The author of this book was a Jew imbued with the spirit of the stoical philosophy. It has been falsely ascribed to Josephus.
27.The fifth book of Maccabeesexists only in Arabic. We draw our notice of it from Alexander's Kitto, according to which "it contains the history of the Jews from Heliodorus' attempt to plunder the treasury at Jerusalem till the time when Herod revelled in the noblest blood of the Jews;" that is, from 184-86 B.C., thus embracing a period of 98 years. The book is a compilation made in Hebrew, by a Jew who lived after the destruction of Jerusalem, from ancient Hebrew memoirs or chronicles, which were written shortly after the events transpired. In the absence of the original Hebrew, the Arabic versions of it, printed in the Paris and London Polyglotts, give the text upon which we must rely.
1. In thecharacter of the original languages of the Bible, as in every thing else pertaining to the plan of redemption, God's hand is to be reverently acknowledged. It was not by chance, but through the provident care of Him who sees the end from the beginning, that the writers of the Old Testament found the Hebrew, and those of the New Testament the Greek language ready at hand, each of them so singularly adapted to the high office assigned to it. The stately majesty, the noble simplicity, and the graphic vividness of the Hebrew fitted it admirably for thehistoricalportions of the Old Testament, in which, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the direct intuition of God's purposes and of the deep springs of human action superseded the necessity of philosophical argument and deduction. The historians of the Old Testament did not pause to argue concerning their statements of men's motives and God's designs. They saw both with wonderful clearness of vision; and they found in the simplicity and directness of the Hebrew syntax,so far removed from all that is involved and complex, a suitable vehicle for their simple and direct statements of truth. How congenial the Hebrew language is topoeticcomposition, as well in its rugged and sublime forms as in its tender and pathetic strains, every reader of the Old Testament in the original understands. The soul is not more at home in the body than is sacred poetry in the language of the covenant people. As the living spirit of the cherubim animated and directed the wheels of the chariot in Ezekiel's vision, so does the spirit of inspired poesy animate and direct the words and sentences of the Hebrew language: "When the cherubim went, the wheels went by them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creatures was in them." Ezek. 10:16, 17. The same characteristics fitted the Hebrew language most perfectly forpropheticvision, in which the poetic element so largely prevails.
2. Turning now from the Hebrew of the Old Testament to the Greek of the New, we have a language very different in its structure; elaborate in its inflections and syntax, delicate and subtle in its distinctions, rich in its vocabulary, highly cultivated in every department of writing, and flexible in an eminent degree; being thus equally adapted to every variety of style—plain unadorned narrative, impassioned oratory, poetry of every form, philosophical discussion, and severe logical reasoning: in a word, a language every way fitted to the wants of the gospel, which is given not for the infancy of the world but for its mature age, and which deals not so much with the details of particulars as with great principles, which require for their full comprehension the capacity of abstraction and generalization. In the historical records of the Old Testament, and in its poetic and prophetic parts, the Hebrew language was altogether at home. But for such compositions as the epistle to the Romans the Greek offered a more perfect medium; and here, as everywhere else God's providence took care that the founders of theChristian church should be furnished in the most complete manner.
3. We find, accordingly, that centuries before our Lord's advent, preparation began to be made in the providence of God for this change in the language of the inspired writings. One result of the Babylonish captivity was that Hebrew ceased to be the vernacular of the masses of the people, and a form of Aramaean took its place. Chap. 14, No. 4. After the return of the Jews from this same captivity and their reëstablishment in their own land, the spirit of prophecy was also withdrawn, and the canon of the Old Testament brought to a close. Thus the cessation of Hebrew as the spoken language of the people, and the withdrawal of the spirit of prophecy were contemporaneous events. The canon was locked up in the sacred language, and theinterpretertook the place of theprophet. "The providential change of language suggested a general limit within which the voice of inspiration might be heard, as the fearful chastisements of the captivity turned men's minds to the old Scriptures with a devotion unknown before." Westcott's Introduc. to the Study of the Gospels, chap. 1.
4. But the conquests of Alexander the Great (B.C. 334-323) brought the Greek language and the Greek civilization into Asia and Egypt, as a sure leaven destined to leaven the whole mass. To this influence the Jews could not remain insensible. It reached even Palestine, where they naturally clung most tenaciously to the Aramaean language and to the customs of their fathers. But out of Palestine, where the Jews were dispersed in immense numbers, it operated more immediately; especially in Egypt, whose metropolis Alexandria was, after the age of Alexander its founder, one of the chief seats of Grecian learning. To the Jews of Alexandria the Greek language was vernacular. By them was executed, as we have seen, under the patronage of the Egyptian king, the first version ever made of the Hebrew Scriptures, namely, that called the Septuagint (Chap. 16, Nos. 1-7), which was begun, if not completed, in the latter part of the third century before Christ. Thoughthis version encountered bitter opposition on the part of the unbelieving Jewsafterthe establishment of the Christian church, in consequence of the effective use made of it against them by Christian writers, it was received from its first appearance and onward with general favor. The Hellenistic Jews—those using the Greek language and conforming themselves to Grecian civilization—made constant use of it, and the knowledge of it was very widely diffused beyond the boundaries of Egypt. In our Saviour's day it was in very general use, as the abundant quotations from it in the New Testament show; and it must have contributed largely to the spread of the knowledge of the Greek language among the Jewish people in and out of Palestine. Though the Roman empire succeeded to that of the Greeks, the Roman could not supplant the more polished Greek tongue, with its immense and varied literature. On the contrary, the Greek language penetrated into Italy, and especially into Rome, the metropolis of the civilized world, where, in our Saviour's day, Greek literature was in high repute, and the Greek language was very generally understood. Thus, in the good providence of God, the writers of the New Testament, also, found ready at hand a language singularly adapted to their service.
Biblical scholars have noticed the significant fact that of the long list of names in the sixteenth chapter of Romans, the greater number belongs to the Greek language, not to the Latin. "The flexibility of the Greek language gained for it in ancient time a general currency similar to that which French enjoys in modern Europe; but with this important difference, that Greek was not only the language of educated men, but also the language of the masses in the great centres of commerce." Westcott in Smith's Bible Dict., Art. Hellenist.
Biblical scholars have noticed the significant fact that of the long list of names in the sixteenth chapter of Romans, the greater number belongs to the Greek language, not to the Latin. "The flexibility of the Greek language gained for it in ancient time a general currency similar to that which French enjoys in modern Europe; but with this important difference, that Greek was not only the language of educated men, but also the language of the masses in the great centres of commerce." Westcott in Smith's Bible Dict., Art. Hellenist.
5. Respecting thecharacterof the New Testament Greek there was in former times much controversy, often accompanied with unnecessary heat and bitterness. One class of writers seemed to think that the honor of the New Testament was involved in their ability to show the classic purity and elegance of its style; as if, forsooth, the Spirit of inspiration could onlyaddress men through the medium of language conformed to the classic standard of propriety. Another class went to the opposite extreme, speaking in exaggerated terms of the Hebraisms and solecisms of the New Testament writers. The truth lies between these extremes. The style of the New Testament is neither classical nor barbarous. Its characteristics are strictly conformable to the history of its origin. (1.) Its basis is not the Greek of Plato and Xenophon, but the so-called Hellenic or common dialect which arose in the age of Alexander the Great, when "the previously distinct dialects, spoken by the various sections of the Hellenic nation, were blended into a popular spoken language." Winer, Gram, of the New Test., sec. 2. The Alexandrine Jews doubtless learned it not so much from books as from the daily intercourse of life, and it probably had its provincial peculiarities in Alexandria and the adjacent region. (2.) In Jewish usage this common Greek dialect received an Hebraic coloring from the constant use of the Septuagint version, which is a literal rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, of course with the retention of many Hebrew idioms. Only such thorough Greek scholars as Josephus and Philo could rise above this influence. The New Testament writers manifest its power in different degrees; for, as it respects Hebraisms, they do not by any means stand on a common level. (3.) As the Aramaic—the so-called Syro-Chaldaic—was the language of the mass of the people, the style of the New Testament writers received a tinge from this also. (4.) More than all, the style of the New Testament receives a peculiar impress from the fact that the authors were Jews writing under the full influence of a Jewish education and a Jewish faith, with the superadded element of Christianity. It is the phenomenon of the spirit and thoughts of Jewish Christians embodied in the language of Greece; and this at once separates the writings of the New Testament by a wide interval from all purely classic compositions. The apostolic writers imposed on the Greek language an arduous task, that of expressing ideas foreign to the conceptions of the most cultivatedamong the pagan authors; ideas partly common to the old Jewish and the Christian religions, partly peculiar to Christianity. This could only be done by giving to existing terms a new and higher meaning, whereby they assumed a technical character wholly unknown to the classic writers.
"Compare particularly the words:works(to work, Rom. 4:4),faith,to believe in Christ, orto believeabsolutely,confession,righteousness,to be justified,to be chosen,the called,the chosen,the saints(for Christians),edificationandto edifyin a figurative sense,apostle,to publish the good tidingsand topublishabsolutely for Christian preaching, the adoption ofbaptisma,baptism, forChristian baptism, perhapsto break breadfor theholy repast(theAgapewith the communion),the world,the flesh,fleshly, in the known theological sense," etc. Winer's Gram, of the New Test., sec. 3.
"Compare particularly the words:works(to work, Rom. 4:4),faith,to believe in Christ, orto believeabsolutely,confession,righteousness,to be justified,to be chosen,the called,the chosen,the saints(for Christians),edificationandto edifyin a figurative sense,apostle,to publish the good tidingsand topublishabsolutely for Christian preaching, the adoption ofbaptisma,baptism, forChristian baptism, perhapsto break breadfor theholy repast(theAgapewith the communion),the world,the flesh,fleshly, in the known theological sense," etc. Winer's Gram, of the New Test., sec. 3.
6. From all the abovenamed causes the language of the New Testament received a form differing widely from the classic style, but admirably adapted to the high office assigned to it. To those who study the New Testament in the original, the peculiarities of its language offer a wide and interesting field of inquiry. But for the common reader the above hints will be sufficient.