100
APOCRYPHA
APOCRYPHA
with interest in the Law (39') tends to limit this grace itself and confine it to Israel.
When we turn to the Alexandrian teaching of the Book of AVisdom we expect a wider outlook. Here also the national privileges of Israel are accentuated. God gave oaths and covenants of good promises to the nation's ancestors (12-' 18*). Moreover, ' the righteous ' are to judge the nations and have rule over the people (3*). But since the domain of wisdom is world-wide and ' the spirit of God filleth tlie world' (1'), it might be suppo.sed that the world at large would benefit by that gracious presence. Princes of peoples are invited to honour wisdom that they may reign for ever (6°'), an invitation necessarily applying to the Gentile world. It is stated in a general way that ' the ways of them which are on the, earth ' [more than Israel] were corrected by wisdom (9"). There is a magnificent universalism in the great saying that God loves all things that are, and abhors none of tlie things that He has made (11=^). God's in- corruptible spirit is in all things (12') ; there is no other God that careth for all (v.'^) ; His sove- reignty over all leads Him to forbear all (v.'«). But further than this the book does not go. It contains no explicit promise of redemption or of the blessings of the future for the world outside Israel, though it would be no illegitimate inference from these laj-ge ideas concerning the presence and activity and gi'aciousness of God the whole world over to conclude that such good things were not to be confined to Israel. On the other hand, not only were the Canaanites a helplessly evil race, but the more recent oppressors of Israel, whose gross idolatry is scornfully portrayed at large, after the manner of Deutero-Isaiah, are described as ' prisoners of darkness . . . exiled from the eternal providence' (17-). For other heathen people allowance is made on account of their ignorance. ' For these men there is but small blame : for they too, peradventure, do but go astray' (13«).
5. Eesurrc.ction and Immortal it tj. — With regard to no other subject is advance from the OT stand- jK)int towards that of the NT more apparent in tlie Apocrypha. The distinction between Palestinian and Alexandrian conceptions is here very marked, the Palestinian writings promising resuiTection, the Alexandrian making no reference to a resunection, but adopting the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul. The more conservative books of the former school, Tobit, Sirach, and 1 IMac, contain no reference to the resurrection or the future life in any form, retaining only the old gloomy Hebrew notion of Sheol, whicli, on the other hand, in these writings is not Gehenna, not a pla/;e of punisliment. ' There are no chastisements in Sheol ' (Sir 41^ Heb. mar., and LXX).* According to I'obit, Sheol is an ' eternal place ' (3') where life is extinct. ' All the rewards of faithfulness enumerated by the dying Mattathias (I Mac 2'-'") are limited to this life' (Charles, Eschat. p. 219). In Judith eternal punish- ment is threatened to the enemies of Israel (16") ; but nothing is said about a future life for God's people. 2 Mac, an epitome of the five books of Jason of Cyrene &'^), contains a clear doctrine of resurrection to eternal life (V), which is denied to the non-Israelite (v.") j this is a bodily resur- rection (7"- ^■- ^), and it will be enjoyed in'the fel- lowship of brethren similarly privileged (v.™). In 2 Esdras we have ' the day of judgment ' ( 12**). A first resurrection may be suggested by the refer- ence to ' those that will be with him ' in tlie day of God's Son (13*-). The end will come when the
* Dr. Charles points out that the reference to Gehenna in Sir 717 18 undoubtedly corrupt, since it is contrary to the whole out- look of the writer as to thf future, and is not supported by the Heb., Sir., and best JISS of the Ethiopic {EschatiHugy, p. 104).
number of those like Ezra is complete (4**). Till then the spirits of the wicked shall wander about in torment while God's servants will be at rest (7"). These spirits of the wicked will be tor- mented in seven ways (vv.*'-S7), and after the final judgment even more grievously (v.**). On the otlier hand, those who have kept the ways of the Most High shall have joy in seven ways, accord- ing to their seven orders, during the intermediate period, and after the judgment receive glory (v.^*), when ' their face shall shine as the sun,' and ' they shall be made like unto the light of the stars, being henceforth incorruptible ' (v.*').
In Wisdom there is no idea of resurrection. Tlie body is the temporary eartlily burden (9'*) of a jire-existent soul (8*). Immortality is for the soul, but not by nature or necessity. It is attained through wisdom (8'^- "). Still it was God's design tliat man should enjoy it, for He ' created man for incorruption ' (2-"). ' "The souls of the right- eous are in the hand of God ' (3'), at peace, with a hope full of immortality. ' The righteous live for ever ' (v.'=). The wicked have no hope in their death. They will be dashed speechless to the ground ; and yet their fate does not seem to be annihilation, for ' they shall lie utterly waste, and they shall be in anguish ' (4"). But there is no definite statement of eternal punisliment.