RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Apocrypha
reasons declares it to be later. But a decision is difficult, since Jerome actually leans more upon the Old Latin. Since the uniform adoption of the third person is evidently secondary, the originality of the Aramaic as against the Greek is out of the question. It is probable that in the Aramaic text also the first person in chap, i, 1-iii, 6 was originally preserved; for it is still used in the so-called Hebraus Munsteri, which, according to other indications, was made from the Aramaic. But even with this supposition there is no reason to assume an Aramaic text as the original of the Greek (so Fuller in Wace's Apocrypha, i, 152-155, 164-171). The style of the Greek text makes its originality rather probable. Of the Greek text there are three recensions: (a) the common text contained also in the Vatican and Alexandrian manuscripts and followed by the Syriac version to vii, 9; (b) that preserved in the Sinaitic codex upon which the Old Latin leans for the most part; (c) the text of codices 44, 106, 107, which are the basis of the Syriac from vii, 10. The manuscripts named represent in the beginning the common recension, so that this text is preserved only for vi, 9-xiii, 8. In his edition of the Apocrypha, Fritzsche gives all three texts. Swete gives the text of the Vatican and Sinaitic.
8. Judith: The contents of this book are briefly as follows: Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyria (sic), overcomes Arphaxad, king of Media, and sends his general, Holof ernes, against the Western nations which did not take the field with him against Arphaxad. They are subdued, and their places of worship destroyed (i-iii). Holof ernes now attacks the Jewish people, who had recently returned from the captivity and rededicated their temple. In the face of the imminent danger of having their sanctuary profaned, the whole people are bent upon resistance to the utmost, and the high priest Joiakim makes the necessary arrangements. Holofernes directs his main attack upon the fortress Bethulia, which he hopes to conquer by famine (iv-vii). The distress having become very great, a beautiful widow, Judith by name, offers to become the savior of her people. Having been admitted to the hostile camp, she contrives to gain the confidence of Holofernes. While Holofernes lies in a drunken stupor, Judith kills him and then hastens back into the city. The Jews make a sally, Put the enemy to flight, and all Israel is saved (viii-xiv). Judith is praised as the savior of the people, and at her death at the advanced age of 105 years is greatly lamented by all the nation (xv-xvi).
As is the case in the Book of Tobit, so here there can be no doubt that the contents is not history but a didactic narrative. The historical details are so incredibly confused, and the parenetic object is so manifest, that only by wilfully closing the eyes can one fail to see that the book is fiction . What the parenetic object is, is plain enough: The Jewish People was to be encouraged to fight with the word boldly and resolutely, for the continuance ot its faith and worship, even against a superior enemy. This points clearly to Maccabean times. « may be admitted that the presupposed historical
background would fit well the time of Artaxerxes Ochus, for this king in one of his campaigns against Phenicia and Egypt (c. 350 B.C.) made prisoners among the Jews; and Holofernes of Cappadocia and the eunuch Bagoes were the most prominent generals in these campaigns. Since, in the history of Judith, both Holofernes and the eunuch Bagoes play parts (xii, 11 sqq., xiii, 1 sqq., xiv, 14), it seems easy to locate the Judith story in the time of Ochus.
But the author mentions also Nebuchadnezzar. All that can be said is that in his literary license the author took a part of his material from events in the time of Ochus (T. Noldeke, Die alttestamentliche Litteratur, Leipsic, 1868, p. 96; and Aufsatze zur. persischen Geschichte, Leipsic, 1887, p. 78). But he certainly wrote later. And, since the story deals with a time of religious oppression, Maccabean times are indicated as the date of composition (cf. Fritzsche, Ewald, Hilgenfeld, and Noldeke). Volkmar, Hitzig, and Graetz date it in the time of Trajan. Volkmar especially has vainly expended much learning and fancy to prove that the history of the campaigns of Nebuchadnezzar and Holofernes is merely a disguised representation of the campaigns of Trajan and his generals against the Parthians and the Jews. The fact that Clement of Rome (lv) mentions Judith forbids this late dating. It is generally agreed that the Greek text is a translation of a Hebrew original, as is evident from the entire coloring of the language and from mistakes in the translation (i, 8; ii, 2; hi, 1, 9, 10; cf. Fritzsche, Exegetisches Handbuch, ii, 115 sqq.). The Aramaic recension which Jerome perused is not to be regarded as the original, since neither Origen nor his Jewish advisers knew of a Hebrew (or Aramaic) text (Epist. ad Africanum, xiii, quoted above). It appears that the original was lost before Origen's time, and that the Aramaic translation used by Jerome originated after that time. The extant paraphrastic Hebrew recensions are still later products (cf . Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vortrdge der Juden, Berlin, 1832, pp. 124 sqq.; Lipsius, in ZWT, 1867, pp. 337-366; Ball, in Wace's Apocrypha, i, 252-257; Gaster, in PSBA, xvi, 1894, pp. 156-163). Of the Greek text three recensions are extant: (a) the common and original one; (b) that of the codices 19, 108; (c) that of 58, which was followed by the Syriac and the Old Latin.
9. I Maccabees: The name Maccabeus was originally only the surname of Judas, the son of Mattathias (I Mace, ii, 4: " Judas who was called Maccabeus"). By it Judas was at all events to be characterized as a valiant hero. The assured meaning of the name is yet to be found. From Judas the name was afterward applied to the whole family, even to the whole party of which Judas became leader. So, generally, the Maccabeans were the believing Israelites, who, in defense of the faith of their fathers, undertook the struggle against the Syrian overlords. I Maccabees tells the story of these struggles and the history of the independent Jewish community which was the fruit of these struggles up to the time of the death of the high priest Simon (135 B.C.). It commences with the beginning of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (175 B.C.), narrates how his efforts at a forcible
Apocrypha