Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/37

5 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Salomonis," which in

may have

described his contest of later

wisdom with Hiram, a frequent theme

writers.

A Testament of Hezeldah is the passage quoted

is

Apocrypha

Moses (§ VII. 16). What now remains of this work, in an old Latin version, is prophetic in character, consisting of predictions delivered

cited

by Cedrenus

but found in the Ascension of

Isaiah.

when he had

installed

by Moses

to

Joshua

him

as his successor. Moses foretells in brief outline the history of the people to the end of the kingdom of Judah then, more fully, the succeeding times down to the successors of Herod

§ VIII. Relating' to Joseph., Isaiah, and Baruch. Other Apocrypha are the following 18. Story of Aseneth. romantic tale, narrating how Aseneth, the beautiful daughter of Potiphar, priest of On, became the wife of Joseph; how the king's son, who had desired her for himself, tried to destroy Joseph, and how he was foiled. The romance exists in various languages and recensions. The Greek text was published by Batiffol, Paris, 1889. Prayer of Joseph is named in the anonymous list of Apocrypha, and is quoted by Origen and Procopius. In these fragments Jacob is the speaker.

A

A

19. Ascension of Isaiah, or Vision of Isaiah. Origen speaks of a Jewish apocryphal work describing the death of Isaiah. Such a martyrium is preserved in the Ethiopic Ascension of Isaiah, the first part of which tells how Manasseh, at the instigation of a Samaritan, had Isaiah sawn asunder. The second part, the Ascension of Isaiah to heaven in the 20th year of Hezekiah, and what he saw and heard there, is Christian, though perhaps based on a Jewish vision. Extensive Christian interpolations occur in the first part also. A fragment of the Gi'eek text is reproduced in Grenfell and Hunt, "The Amherst Papyri," London, 1900. 20. The Rest of the Words of Baruch, or Paralipomena

of Jeremiah.

(Ceriani, "

Monumenta, "

v. 1,

9

et seq.;

Rendel Harris, "Rest of the Words of Baruch," 1889; Dillmann, " Chrestomathia j35thiopica, " pp.1 et seq. Greek and Ethiopic.) Narrates what befell Baruch and Abimelech (Ebed-melech) at the fall of Jerusalem. Sixty -six years after, they sent a letter by an eagle to Jeremiah in Babylon. He leads a company of Jews back from Babylonia only those who are willing to put away their Babylonian wives are allowed to cross the Jordan; the others eventually become the founders of Samaria. Jeremiah is spirited away. After three days, returning to the body, he prophesies the coming of Christ and is stoned to death by his countrymen. § IX. Lost Books. Other haggadic works named in the Gelasian Decree are the Book of Og, the Giant, "whom the heretics pretend to have fought with a dragon after the flood " perhaps the same as the Manichean TiyavTemg fUfHog (Photius, " Cod. " 85), or Xlpay/tardia rav Vtyavruv The Penitence of Jannes and J.











(See Iselin, in " Zeitschrift fur Wissensch. Theologie," 1894, pp. 321 et seq.) Both of these may well have been ultimately of Jewish origin. Baruch. Prophetical Apocrypha. 1. § X. Jambres.

Purporting to be written by Baruch, son of Neriah, the disciple of Jeremiah, after the deportation to Babylon. The book is not original, drawing its motives chiefly from Jeremiah and Isaiah xl. et seq.

affinity to the

Wisdom

literature is also

some passages, especially

in ch.

marked

in

iii.

The Epistle of Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon, to Baruch, and counts as the sixth chapter of that book, is a keen satire on idolatry. 2. Assumption of Moses. See above, Testament of

which is appended

and the Messianic age which ensues. It probable that the lost sequel contained the Assumption of Moses, in which occurred the conflict-

the Great, is

9—

referred to in Jude between Michael for the possession of Moses' body.

and Satan

Eldad and Medad.

Under this name an apocrymentioned in our lists, and quoted twice in the " Shepherd of Hernias " (ii. 34). It contained the prophecy of the two elders named in Num. xi. 26. 3.

phal book

is

Most of the prophetical § XI. Apocalypses. Apocrypha are apocalyptic in form. To this class belong: Enoch, The Secrets of Enoch, IVEsd., the Apocalypses of Baruch (Greek and Syriac), Apocalypse of Zephaniah, Apocalypse of Elijah, and others (see Apocalypse, and the special articles). Apocalyptic elements have been noted above in the Assumption of Moses, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and others.

§ XII.

Lyrical Apocrypha.

Psalm

1.

cli.,

in

the Greek Bible attributed to David, when he had fought in single combat with Goliath." 2. Psalms of Solomon. Eighteen in number included '"





in

some manuscripts of the Greek

Bible, but noted in

the catalogues as disputed or apocryphal. Though ascribed to Solomon in the titles, there is no internal evidence that the author, or authors, designed them to be so attributed. They were written in Hebrew though preserved only in Greek in Palestine about the middle of the first century B.C., and give most important testimony to the inner character of the religious belief of the time and to the vitality of the Messianic hope, as well as to the strength of party or sectarian animosity. The five Odes of Solomon in " Pistis Sophia " are of Christian (Gnostic) origin. 3. Five apocryphal psalms in Syriac, edited by Wright (" Proceedings of Society of Biblical Archeology," 1887, ix. 257-266). The first is Ps. cli. (supra, § I) it is followed by (2) a prayer of Hezekiah (3) a prayer when the people obtain leave from Cyrus to return and (4, 5) a prayer of David during his conflict with the lion and the wolf, and thanksgiving after his victory.

—





§ XIII. Didactic

Apocrypha.

1.

The Wisdom

of Jesus, the Son of Sirach (in the Latin Bible entitled

Proverbs and aphorisms for men's guidance in various stations and circumstances; a counterpart to the Proverbs of Solomon. The author was a native of Jerusalem, and wrote in Hebrew his work was translated into Greek by his grandson soon Ecclesiasticus).



after 132 B.C.

The Syriac

translation

was

also

made

from the Hebrew, and recently considerable parts of The the Hebrew text itself have been recovered. book is included in the Christian Bible— Greek, Latin, but was excluded from the Jewish Syriac, etc. Canon (Tosef., Yad. ii. 13 et seq.). Many quotations in Jewish literature prove, however, its continued

—

popularity.

Written in 2. Wisdom of Solomon, Soi^/a SoAo^wvof Greek, probably in Alexandria a representative of.