altogether 364 days. After the Flood, Mastema (Satan) led men to sin through the building of the Tower of Babel and the worship of graven images. Abraham did not fall into this sin. He tried to convert his father from idolatry, and failing to do so he burned the house of idols, in which his brother Haran perished, and then was called to leave his native land. When Abraham had estab- lished himself in the Land of Canaan, and Ishmael and Isaac were born, after Hagar and Ishmael had been sent away, Mastema appeared before God to move him to try Abraham by demanding tlie offering of his son Isaac. Nine other events in Abraham's life were trials, thus making the com- plete number ten. Before his death, Abraham addressed his son Isaac, advising and warning him against idolatry. When he was about to die, he called Jacob his grandson and, taking his fingers, closed his own eyes with them and stretched him- self on his bed. Jacob fell asleep with his fingers on his grandfather's eyes. When he awoke, he found that Abraham was cold and dead. The aflair of Jacob's obtaining Esau's blessing from liis father is narrated so as to eliminate direct falsehood. When Isaac asks, ' Who art thou ? ' Jacob answers simply, ' I am thy son.' The story of the massacre of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi is also softened, so as to justify the deed. The relations of Jacob and Esau are presented in a light entirely unfavourable to Esau, who is made to act the part of a cowardly and cunning traitor. In the story of Joseph, the' elements of envy and cruelty on the part of his Imdlir.-ii ai.- l.'ft out. The account of Jacob's death i- ijimii without his final addresses to his sons, ii i^ Miii|i!y -aid that he bles.sed his sons. The deatli of .h.'s.-ph gives occasion for the mention of a new king wlio ruled over Egypt after Memkeron, thus intimating the end of the Shepherd dynasty. In the account of Moses' early life, Hebrew maidens are repre- sented as serving Pharaoh's daughter. The last chapter is occupied altogether with the Sabbath law, which is given with great precision and rigidity.
Ut'i-ani qiifnti&ns. — The book is preserved as a whole in an i;Oii.>],i<- M iNi.:>n. A fragment, containing about one-third of it, is :ilsn tniin.l ill Latin, probably made from a Greek copy. In u.l.litinii In tliese, some smaller Syriac aii.l Greek fragments
language, but whether Hebrew 'n- \r : m ■ MKolutely
certain. Hebrew was more usual) \ lii ; , . uh apoca-
lyptic books. Jerome, moreover. ;ilhi(l i i:: i. Cenesis'
as a book in Hebrew. But neitli. i ni i!m - . iiM.lr rations is quite decisive. In using the term • llet.r.w, .lerume did not always keep in mind the distinction between that language and Aramaic. He followed the NT habit of calling Aramaic Hebrew (Jn 1913), In favour of an Aramaic original, the use of the form Mastema as the name of Satan may be adduced. Mastema is the Aphel form from Dnb' 'to accuse,' and DDt' is Aramaic for |aV'. Further, it is said that when Abraham left Mesopotamia he took with him the books of his father (122»), ' and they were written in Hebrew,' which would be uncalled for if the account itself was in Hebrew.
The date of the book is approximately fixed by its relation to Eth. Enoch on one side, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs on the other. The Ethiopic Enoch is undoubtedly known and used bv the author of .luliilec-s (cf. Jub 21 = Enoch ■.i; .Tub 7 - Kiio.-h 7: .I'll. 1" - Fnofli laJ '• ; .lab '_' = Enoch
1861 ; Charles, Anecdota
in Biblioth. Sacra, 1886-
iw, iKin, pp. 184-217 and
l.illi.iann (as above);
90 APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE
APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE
LirERATURE.— Jellinek, Ub. d. Bucli. d. Juh. u. das Xoah- Buck. ISSo; Beer, d. Buch. d. Jttb. v. sein yerhiillmss z. d. J/idrascAim, 1856; Frankel in .l/o>m*sSf/irtr'( f. Ge^cl,. u. Il'iss. (.'. Jiid. 185B ; HUgenfeld, ZWTh, 1S74, pp. 435-441.
11. The Ascension of Isaiah, — The ancients allude to non-canonieal literature associated with the name of Isaiah under four different titles. Origen speaks of the Martyrdom of Isaiah; Epi- phanius names an Anabatikon, and Jerome an Ascension ; in the list of canonical and kindred books published by Montfaucon (given by West- cott. Canon of the Neto Testament, App. 1), xvii), a Vision (Spaat^) of Isaiah is included. Of these, the Vision is again named by Euthymius Ziga- benus in the 11th cent., and a Testament of Hcze- kiah is spoken of by Georgiu.s Cedrenus in the 12th century. Whatever the facts may have been as to the identity of these \Mitiii,i:> m tlnir relations to one another, nothing was Uilinit.'ly known of them until 1819, when Archbishop I, aw iMice accidentally found an Ascension of Isaiah in a second-hand bookstore in London. It -was an Ethiopic text, and Lawrence published it with a translation and notes. Upon this, together with two otlier JLSS., later brought to light, Dillmann based his edition of the Ethiopic Ascension of Isaiah in 1877.
Contents. — The work consists of two parts.
Part I. (1-5). In the •26th year of Hezekiah, Isaiah predicts that jSIanasseh would be led by Satan to apostatize. Hezekiah wishes to slay his son, but is prevented by the prophet (1). After the death of Hezekiah, I^Ianasseli does give him- self up to the service of Satan and practises all manner of wickedness. Isaiah takes refuge in the desert (2). Balkira, a Samaritan, accuses the pro- phet of uttering threats against Jerusalem and raising himself above Moses in authority, where- upon Manasseh, possessed by Satan, causes tlie capture of Isaiah (3'-'-). The reason for this is the wrath of Satan, roused by Isaiah's disclosures regarding the coming of Christ from the seventh heaven, regarding His death. His resurrection. His ascension. His second coming, tlie seudiuLr of tlie twelve ai.eii.h-, the pei^eeutions of the'riumli, the aa^t■l,t ol A l.li. hii^t . a.ul hi. .l.-tiurUo,, (:i'-4-^i. Maiia-.'h eau.es l-aiah lo U- .auii asunder, and the lii-ophet eu.hues the luartyiaoin with steadfast calmness in spite of the derision uf Balkira and Satan (5).