CHAPTER X

Uncanonical Books (II). The Apocalyptic Literature

[LITERATURE.—See the headings to the various sections.]

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

Uncanonical books of a sacred character came to be divided by the Jewish religious authorities into two categories, though the exact dividing line varied according to the opinions of different teachers. These two categories consisted, on the one hand, of books which contained orthodox teaching, but which, for one reason or another, were not admitted into the Canon; roughly speaking, under this category were included the books of our Apocrypha. The other category consisted of what were regarded as heretical books. The former, though they did not “defile the hands,” were permitted to be read. The latter came to be regarded with horror, and the reading of them was strictly forbidden; they were called _Sepharim hachizônim_, “Outside Books,” to which reference has been made in the preceding chapter; when precisely this term came to be applied to them we cannot say, but it is evident that the feeling in regard to them expressed by the term was in existence before B.C. 100.

Now among the “Outside Books” were those which were called _Ha-Gilyônim_. There is some difference of opinion among scholars as to the meaning of this term and as to what kind of books it refers; Hölscher has, however, as it appears to us, shown conclusively that by it was meant “The Apocalypses,” and that it refers to what we now know as the Apocalyptic Literature.[275] There is no doubt that the whole of this literature was rejected, ultimately, by the Palestinian Jewish authorities, the Pharisees.[276] Strongly as the Pharisees had been influenced by some of the teaching contained in this literature, they had from their point of view sufficient reason to discountenance the books as a whole. The pronounced other-worldly character of them was in marked contrast to the strictly practical and narrow purview of scholastic Pharisaism. The scant insistence on the need of legal observance, in the Pharisaic sense, which to the Pharisees was the basis of all religion, was a natural cause of antagonism; and this antagonism inevitably widened as time went on, for there was a danger that the popularity of the apocalyptic books would relegate the older religious literature to the background; indeed, we have definite proof that in some circles the apocalyptic literature was held in higher esteem than the canonical twenty-four; thus in 2 (4) Ezra xiv. 45-47 it is said: “And it came to pass when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Most High spoke unto me saying, The twenty-four books that thou hast written publish, that the worthy and unworthy may read them; but the seventy last [i.e. the apocalyptic books] thou shalt keep, to deliver them to the wise among thy people. For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.” There was possibly a further cause of hostility to some of these books, viz. their _original_ authorship, which in some cases was Sadducæan; in such cases, although worked over by Pharisaic editorship the Sadducæan trail could not be altogether obliterated; hence their condemnation. Highly improbable as this sounds at first, it will be seen, when we come to consider these books in brief detail, that in some cases the contention is not altogether unjustified.

It is doubtless due to this Pharisaic hostility that almost all the Hebrew or Aramaic originals of these books have disappeared and that these writings are preserved only in translations. There can, moreover, be little doubt that this hostility was further nourished on account of the use of apocalyptic books in the early Christian Church.

Another preliminary remark about this literature is necessary. All the known books belonging to it have false names in their titles, for which reason they are called the _Pseudepigrapha_. How are we to account for this apparent fraud on the part of writers who were clearly devout and earnest men? This strange procedure, as it appears to us nowadays, may to a large extent be explained if we remember that “the apocalyptic writers almost certainly drew their material from popular tradition. Many of the ideas which receive various embodiment in this literature were derived doubtlessly from the common stock of the popular consciousness; their ascription to or association with the great heroic figures of antiquity, like Enoch, Abraham, Isaiah, or the twelve Patriarchs, may also be a feature from the popular consciousness. The men who reduced the various elements to writing, or utilized them for enforcing religious views or lessons may, on this view, be acquitted from any charge of fraud or dishonesty; they implicitly trusted the popular tradition so far as to believe that the ideas to which they were giving expression really did go back to the heroic figures of old. Their estimate, moreover, of the function and importance of authorship probably differed fundamentally from that of the moderns; it was far less self-conscious, and was the natural outcome of a literary modesty which was _naïve_.”[277]

It is likely enough that one way whereby the popular traditions came into being was owing to Haggadic homiletics, i.e. the explanation of Scripture teaching by narrative or parable; passages of Scripture would be explained and illustrated by means of imaginary narratives which were, of course, not intended to be other than explanatory; then, as these were repeated and handed on, they tended in process of time to be regarded as accounts of events which actually did happen, and which had been handed down by tradition. If this supposition be correct, it would in some sense be analogous to the somewhat similar process which happened in the domain of Halakah, i.e. that which is concerned with the legal and ritual elements in Scripture.

A brief examination of these apocalyptic books is demanded here inasmuch as in the early Church—and in all probability in the pre-Christian Jewish Church at one time—the distinct line of demarcation between them and those of the Apocrypha was not drawn in the way that it was in later times. It is also worth noting that such books as the Book of Enoch, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs have, as Charles has shown,[278] exercised more influence upon the writers of the New Testament than any of the books of the Apocrypha.

In giving now some short account of the more important books belonging to this body of literature, we shall take them, as far as possible, in chronological order; but, as is to be expected, one cannot always be certain as to the date of a book, so that we cannot claim to be sure that a strictly chronological order is being followed.

(_a_) THE BOOK OF ENOCH

[LITERATURE.—Schürer, II, iii. pp. 54-73; German ed., III, pp. 268-290; Swete, _The Old Testament in Greek_, III, pp. 789-809 (1899); Beer, in Kautzsch, II, pp. 217-310 (1900); Volz, _Jüdische Eschatologie_, pp. 12-21 (1903); Martin, _Le Livre d’Hénoch_ (1906); Charles, _The Book of Enoch_ (1912); Leszynsky, _Die Sadduzäer_, pp. 253-266 (1912); Charles, in _The Apocr. and Pseud. of the Old Testament_, II, pp. 163-281 (1913); Charles, _Eschatology; Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian_ (1913); Burkitt, _Jewish and Christian Apocalypses_ pp. 17-34 (1914). The articles on “Apocalyptic Literature” in Hastings’ _Dict. of the Bible_, the _Encycl. Bibl._, and the _Jewish Encycl._ It has not been thought necessary to enumerate the editions of the various published original texts as these are given in Schürer, Kautzsch, and Charles. This applies to all the apocalypses to which we shall refer.]

According to Charles the various elements of which the book in its present form is made up belong to different dates. The following table will show the dates of the different parts of the book; Charles believes that these are probably correct, without committing himself to the certainty of this in each case:

Chaps. xii.-xxxvi. } xciii. } } The oldest pre-Maccabæan xci. 12-17 } “The Apocalypse of Weeks” } portions.

vi.-xi. } } liv. 7-lv. 2 } } lx. } Fragments of the “Book } Pre-Maccabæan at the lxv.-lxix. 25 } of Noah”[279] } latest. cvi. cvii. } }

lxxxiii.-xc. “The Dream Visions,” B.C., 165-161. lxxii.-lxxxii. “The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries.” Before B.C. 110. xxxvii.-lxxi. “The Parables,” or “Similitudes” } B.C. 105-64. xci. 1-11, 18, 19-civ. } i.-v. The latest portion, but pre-Christian.