(g) A subject of wider reach, though also of greater difficulty, is the endeavour to discover to what extent .Jesus was familiar with, and employed, the Jewish literature that lies outside the OT. It is only in comparatively recent times that much attention has been given to this subject ; but the more carefully it is investigated, the more clear does it become that if He does not actually quote from any of that literature. He was either Himself familiar with it at first hand, or its ideas and language had so influenced Himself and His con- temporaries that many of His ideas, and even forms of speech, are practically identical with what we find in that literature.
In the extra-canonical Wisdom literature we are familiar with many personifications of Wisdom, and traces of this are found in two passaares given in Jit Ili9 and Lk Tis. The ordinary text of the former passage reads, ' Wisdom is justified by her works'; but some M.SS read 'children' in place of 'works,' thus conforming it to the passage in Lk. where the verse stands, ' Wisdom is justified of all her children,' and a comparison may be made with Wis 722_8i and Sir li 20. Again, the passage at the close of Mt 11 has several reminiscences of the same litera- ture, e.g. Sir 24i9 reads, ' Come unto me, ye that are desirous of me, and be ye fiUed with my produce ' ; 51^3 ' Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and lodge in the house of instruction ' ; cf . also 172^. The whole tenor of the passage suggests the manner in which Wisdom speaks in the books referred to. .A.gain, the longer and more elaborate addresses in .Jn. have a suggestion of the speeches of Wisdom, and may well be modelled upon them. In some such way the marked difference between the addresses in the Fourth Gosi)el and the .Synoptics mav be accounted for. Wisdom is always represented as addressing her disciples, and 80 these words delivered in the hearing of the innermost circle of His chosen friends may have been modelled bv the Incarnate Wisdom on the lines of His great forerunners. In this con- nexion there is one very interesting reference also contained in
* Traces of the Book of Proverbs are to be discovered in several places m the teaching of .Jesus, e.g. the metaphors of the way and the light (cf. Pr 623 1412 4I8. :& wjth Mt 713, Jn Uio 123o), those of hid treasure and merchandise (cf. Pr 2* S'*. 15 with Mt 13**-*). The germs of certain parables are also to be found there : e.g. Pr 32s as that of the parable recorded in Lk lis-s ; Pr 91-*', cf. Lk I4I6, Mt 22io ; and even more clearly Pr 256- ', cf. Lk 1410 ; and Pr 24-'', cf. Lk 1428.
Lk. (ll'*^), 'Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets,' etc. No OT parallel can be discovered for these words, and we are driven to the conclusion either that they are quoted from some work now lost, or that our Lord here uses the term ' wisdom of God ' in the most general sense as indicative of the Spirit which moved in all the prophets. In Jn i'-'i there is a saying quoted, ' One soweth and another reapeth,' which may, of course, be a popular proverb, though words of somewhat similar character are found in Job 318, and they may have occurred in the exact form quoted in Jn. in some writing now lost.
The well-known name wherebj- our Lord most commonly speaks of Himself, namely, ' Son of Man,' though derivable from Daniel (713), is so common a title in the Apocalj-ptic literature that there can be little doubt that His use of it is influenced thereby. This is the more certain when we remember how in these writings the glorious manifestations of the Son of Man are paralleled bj- certain savings in the Gospels, e.g. His coming in the clouds of heaven, and in the glory of the angels. Such ideas also as those of the imminence of the Redemption, the sitting on the twelve thrones, the authority given to the Son of Man, and the definite doctrine of Gehenna, are all familiar in the Book of Enoch, 'the influence of which on the NT,' according to Professor Charles, 'has been greater than that of all the other Apocrj"phal and Pseudepigraphal books taken together.' To the same lx>ok are attributable developments in the doctrine of Hades and of the resurrection, — ideas which appear in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and in such sayings as ' sons of the resurrection,' and the answer to the Sadducees' question about marriage. In the same book also are found doctrines about demons, which throw light upon the conceptions of the NT ; e.g. that they are disembodied spirits (cf. Mt 12''3-i5) ; that their punishment is to be deferred till the Final Judgment, hence the surprise expressed by the Gadarene demoniac (Mt 829), who asks, 'Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?' The subjection of all the evil spirits to Satan or Beelzebub (cf. Mt 122*-27) is also a doctrine found in the Book of Enoch.
Another interesting group of writings is the ' Psalms of Solomon.' which at the latest were probably put into circulation about half a century before the birth of Jesus, and seem to have exerted a very powerful influence on His contemporaries. It may not be possible to point to any actual quotations from these writings in the NT, but they show the growth of certain important ideas which have sometimes been regarded as unique in our Lord's teaching ; e.g. the use of the word ' Christ ' as a title of the expected Deliverer ; the definite statement that He is to be a son of David (cf. Ps-Sol 1723 with Mt 2242-«). in the third of these Psalms we find a careful description of ' the righteous- ness of the scribes and Pharisees,' and the germ of the parable of the ' strong man ' (Mt 1229) is found in Ps-Sol o'*.