(6) The Apocrypha in relation to the Hagio- grapha.— That the three divisions of the Jewish Canon (compare the list at the beginning of this article) represent three successive collections, widely separated in time, and that they stood originally, in the Jewish view, in a decreasiu'' order of authority and importance, are ascertained facts in the history of OT Canon. The Hagio- grapha is, then, a relatively late collection of books on the whole late in origin, and, according to the Jewish view, inferior in authority to Law and Prophets*. The order of books composing it is variously given, and the limits of the collection were open to dispute long after the Law and Prophets were closed. In regard to Ca, Ec, and Est, there were still diirerences of opinion up to the time of Akiba [c. 110-135 A.D.).
The I5k of Ps owes its place here to the fact that its use was in the temple, not in the synagogue. Apart from Ps and La, the Hagiographa consists of (1) history, in continuation of that told in Kings (Ezr-Neh) ; (2) history retold with a view to instruction (Ch)* ; (3) stories, based on history
• In the Midnushic treatment of history, Ch follows still older attempts (see 2 Ch 24^? 1323).
APOCRYPHA
APOCRYPHA
117
or tradition, told to illustrate religious truth (Ru, Est, Ca(?), Dn). In Job the transition is made from story to (4) ethical and philosophical books (Pr. Ec).
Under similar headings fall the contents of the A. (1) History proper is found in I Mac. (2) History and story are retold with edifying em- bellishinents. 1 Es is made up of extracts from 2 Ch (35. 36), Err, and Neh, with an additional story of the \s'isdom of Zorobabel (3-5"). This Midrash perhaps preceded the literal tr. of Ch, Ezr, Neh, into Greek. Such an Haggadic addition to history was Pr. Man (suggested by 2 Ch 33'-- "). Est appears in the LXX only in the form of a midrash, in which, among other things, are supplied the letter referred to in 3", prayers of Mordecai and Esther at 4", the decree mentioned in 8'-. Dn is similarly enlarged by a prayer and song at 3", and the new stories of Daniel's wisdom, Sus and Bel. Even the late Maccabrean history is treated in the Haggadic way in 2 Mac, an epitome of a larger work by Jason of Cyrene, which adorns the history with legendary elements to make of it a sermon on the Pharisaic religion. 3 and 4 Mac are found usually in the LXX, though not in the A. 3 Mac is a poor example of moralising under the form of history ; and 4 Mac makes an incident in the Maccabsean story the text for a philosophical treatise on the lordship of the religious reason over the passions. (3) Of new stories the A. contains two famous examples. To and Jth ; Tobit teaching the reward for the individual of a faithful life of Pharisaic righteousness ; Judith connecting a patriotism like Esther's with regard for a ceremonially correct life. (4) Direct moral and religious instmction ('ethical Haggada') is represented by Sir and Wis, the one a Pal. con- tinuation, the other a Hel. development of the earlier wisdom books. As in the Hagiographa one book, Dn, makes the transition from story to prophecy, so in the A., Bar and the Ep. of Jeremy are prophetic in character. It is not, however, with prophecy nor with law, but with history and story, that both Hagiographa and A. have chiefly to do (cf. the use made of Dn by Hellenists [LXX] and by later I'alestinians [Enoch, etc.]. The line between history and story is in both an uncertain one, as history, too, is told for religious, not for scientific purposes. With stories and with proverbial sayings the Jewish Kabbis long continued to occupy tliemselves. The value of these forms of religious instruction no one will question in view of the gospels. As to the relative worth of their use in the Hagiographa and the A., k fair judgment, apart from doctrinal considera- tions, will strongly justify the choice of the Pales- tinians, taking the two collections as wholes. A relation between them is, however, not to be denied, and is grounded in their history.
(c) I'altatinuin and Hellenistic Elements in the Apocryph/i. — The a*' Iwoks of the LXX were in part translations of Pal. (Heb.) books, in part original writings of Greek Jews ; but it is not possible to draw the line between the two with Becnrity. As the LXX was recognised as a tr., one would expect that translations would more readily find their way into it. Yet the Hel. scribes were busy writers, especially in the lines which the A. follows (history, story, wisdom). Sir contains its own testimony that it was written in Heb. and tr. by the writer's grandson into Greek. 1 Mac was unaoubtedly a Heb. book, and Jerome (if not Origen) knew it in the original. Jth and To, Jerome knew in ' Chaldee,' ana a Heb. original is almost cert-ain. The Ad. Est may be Heb., or at least similar additions may have arisen in Pal. in connexion with the yearly celebration of Puriiu. Pr. Man may have been Heb., and even 1 Es, if it
E receded the LXX 2 Es [Ezr-Neh], may have ad a Heb. precursor. Of the Ad. Dn, Sua turns on a Or. play on words. Wis and 2, 3, and 4 Mac were certainly Greek.