Ha'gia ("Ay/a or 'Ayio, Vulg. Aggia), given in the Ajjocryplia (1 Esd. v, 34) as the name of one of the '•servants of Solomon" whose "sons" returned to Jeru- salem after the exile; instead of Hattil (q. v.) of the Hil). text (Ezra ii, 57; Neh. vii,59),
Hagidgad. See Hou-ha-gidgad.
Hagiogr5pha,'Ayn;y.,rti/.rt (fl„/g U'ri/ingsX r term hr.-^t Idund ni E|)iplianius (/V'/«//7//w, p. 5H), wlio used ii.as well as yi,a(pH(i,U) denote tlio tiiird division of tlie Sirii.tures, called by the Jews C^^irs, or the HViV /////.«, consisting ofjii-e books [see Mkgii.lotii], viz. the three y/ow/w (n^X), Job, Proverbs, and the Psalms. and the two books of Chronicles.
These divisions are found in the Talmud (Jinbn Baih- ra, fi>l. 1, e.l. Amsterdam), where the sacred books are classil.cd under the Imn; the Prophets, and the Writ- ings {hetiibtw). The last are thus enumerated (/. r.): Kuth, the l)ook (spp/ier) of I'salms, Jol), i'roverbs, Ecclc- siastes (AW,./,7/,), the Song of Songs, Lamentations. iMniel. and the books (,,ugU/olh) of Esther, E/.ra, and < hronicles. The Jewish writers, however, do not uni- t.irmly follow this arrangement, as thev sometimes place the Psalms or the book of Job first among the hagio- grapha. Jerome gives the arrangement followed bv tlie Jews m his time. He obsen-cs that tliev divided the Scriptures into five books of .Moses, eight prophetical books ^viz. i..)„shtm; 2. Judges and Huth; 3. Samuel; A. Kings; 5. Isaiah; «. Jeremiah; 7. Ezekiel; 8. The twelve proi)hcts), and nine lI,igio,,rnpha, viz. 1. Job- 2. Uavid, five parts; 3. Solomon, three parts; 4. Kohe- leth; 0, Canticles J 6. Daniel, 7. Chronicles; 8. Esdras
two books [viz. Ezra and Nehemiah ] ; 9. Esther. " Some, however," he adds, " place Ruth and Lamentations among the Hagiographa rather than among the prophetical books." We find a different arrangement in Josephus, who reckons thirteen prophetical books, and four con- taining hvTuns and moral precepts {Apion, i, 8) ; from which it would appear that after the time of Josephus the Jews comprised many books among the prophets which had previously belonged to the Hagiographa. It has. however, lieen considered as more probable that Jo- sephus had no authority from manuscripts for his classi- fication.
The earliest notice which we find of these divisions is that contained in the prologue to the book of Eccle- siasticus, written B.C. cir. 140, the author of which re- fers to the Law, the Prophets, and the other books ; by which last were most probably meant the Hagiographa. Philo also speaks of the Laws, the Projihets, the Hymns, and the other books, but without classifying them. In the New Testament we find three corresponding divis- ions mentioned, viz. the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms; which last book has been supposed to have given its name to the third division, from the circum- stance of its then being the first in the catalogue (Luke xxiv, 44). Havernick, however {Ilanclbuck, p. 78), sup- poses that Luke calls the Hagiographa by the name of Psalms, rather on account of the poetical character of several of its parts. The " book of the Prophets" is re- ferred to in the New Testament as a distinct volume (Acts vii, 42, where the passage indicated is Amos v, 25, 2G). It is well known that the second class was divided by the Jews into the early Prophets, viz. Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings ; and the later Prophets, viz. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel (called the major prophets), and the book of the twelve (minor) prophets.
When this division of books was first introduced it is now impossible to ascertain. Probably it commenced after the return from the exile, with the first formation of the canon. Still more difficult is it to ascertain the principle on w-hich the classification was formed. The rabbinical wTiters maintain that the authors of the Ke- tiibim enjoyed only the lowest degree of inspiration, as they received no immediate communication from the deity, like that made to Closes, to whom God spoke face to face; and that they did not receive their kuo\vledge through the medium of visions and dreams, as was the case with the prophets or the writers of the second class; but still that they felt the Divine Spirit resting on them and inspiring them with suggestions. This is the view maintained by Abarbanel (Prcef. in Proph. pj-iores, fol. 20, 1), Kimchi (Prcef. in Psalm.), Maimonides (More Xebochim,n,4o,\xol7),iim\ Elias Le^ita (Tisbi) ; which last writer defines the word 2inD to mean a v-ork writ- ten bg (Urine inspiration. The placing of Ruth among the Hagiographa. and especially the separation of Lam- entations from Jeremiah, seems, however, to be irrecon- cilable with this hypothesis; nor is it easy to assign a satisfactory reason why the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings should be placed among the Propf/ets, and the book of Chronicles among the Hagio- (jrapha. The reasons generally assigned for this, as well as for placing in the third class the books of Psalms, Daniel, and Job, are so fanciful and unsatisfactory as to have led Christian writers to form other and more defi- nite classilications. It will suffice to mention the reason assigned by Raljbi Kimchi for excluding Daniel from the book of Proi)he(s, viz. that he has not equalled the other pro]ihets in his visions and cb-eams. Others as- sign the late date of the book of Daniel as the reason for the insertion of it, as well as of some historical books, in the Hagiographa, inasmuch as the collection of the prophets was closed at the date of the composition of tliis book (De Wette, § 255). Bertholdt, who is of this opinion {Kinleitung, i, 70 sq.), thinks that the word Ke- tubim means " books newly introduced into the canon" (p. 81). Hengstenberg {Authentie des Daniel, etc., p. 25 sq.) follows the aucient opinions of the Rabbins, and