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   Title: Pseudepigrapha: An account of certain apocryphal sacred writings of
   the Jews and early Christians
   Creator(s): Deane, William John (1823-1895)
   Print Basis: Edinburgh: T & T Clark [n.d.]
   Rights: Public Domain
   CCEL Subjects: All; Early Church; History;
   LC Call no: BS1700
   LC Subjects:

   The Bible

   Old Testament

   Special parts of the Old Testament
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PSEUDEPIGRAPHA:

   AN ACCOUNT OF CERTAIN
   APOCRYPHAL SACRED WRITINGS OF THE JEWS
   AND EARLY CHRISTIANS.

   BY THE

Rev. WILLIAM J. DEANE, M.A.,

   RECTOR OF ASHEN, ESSEX;

   AUTHOR OF “THE BOOK OF WISDOM, WITH PROLEGOMENA AND COMMENTARY

   (OXFORD: CLARENDON PRESS), ETC. ETC.

EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
1891.

   Facsimile of Title Page

   PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB,
   FOR
   T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.

   LONDON, . . . . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND C0.

   DUBLIN, . . . . . . GEORGE HERBERT.

   NEW YORK, . . . . . . CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS.
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PREFACE.

   The present work consists chiefly of a reproduction of certain articles
   (with additions and corrections) contributed by me to various religious
   periodicals during the last few years. It treats of some curious
   Pseudepigraphal Jewish and Christian writings composed in the times
   immediately preceding or following the commencement of the Christian era,
   and aims at giving a succinct account of these productions for readers who
   are not familiar with the originals. The books comprised in our English
   Bibles under the name of “Apocrypha” are excluded, as they have been
   sufficiently examined of late years, and commentaries upon them are readily
   available. Some of the works treated in this volume are comparatively
   unknown to English readers, but those (like the Book of Enoch) which have
   obtained more currency among us could not be omitted from our survey,
   especially as they form an integral part of the literature of the period,
   and are often referred to and cited. The whole of the writings here examined
   have not hitherto been collected into one volume. The original text or
   versions of some of them have been printed in Fabricius’ Codex
   Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti; and in Fritzsche’s Libri Apocryphi Vet.
   Test.; the others have been published by various editors at various times,
   as noted in the following accounts.
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CONTENTS.

   Introduction,                                 1
   I.   Lyrical—                                
        The Psalter of Solomon,                  25
   II.  Apocalyptical and Prophetical—          
        The Book of Enoch,                       49
        The Assumption of Moses,                 95
        The Apocalypse of Baruch,                130
        The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 162
   III. Legendary—                              
        The Book of Jubilees,                    193
        The Ascension of Isaiah,                 236
   IV.  Mixed—                                  
        The Sibylline Oracles,                   276
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INTRODUCTION.

   In the times immediately preceding and succeeding the commencement of the
   Christian era there arose among the Jews a style of writing to which the
   name Pseudepigraphic has been given, because most of the works so composed
   appeared under the assumed name of some famous person. They must not be
   considered in the light of literary forgeries; they are not like Macpherson
   with his Ossian, or Chatterton with his Rowley, fraudulent attempts at
   imposture; but the authors, having something to say which they deemed worthy
   of the attention of contemporaries, put it forth under the ægis of a great
   name, not to deceive, but to conciliate favour. A writer who ventured to
   appropriate a celebrated title would take care to satisfy the expectations
   raised by his pseudonym, and readers would believe that no one would dare to
   challenge comparison with a great original who was not qualified to sustain
   the character assumed. The most familiar instance is, perhaps, the book
   known as the Wisdom of Solomon, wherein the writer assumes the person of the
   great Israelite king, certainly with no idea of deceiving his readers (for
   the language of the treatise, the date and place of its composition, alike
   forbid any notion of fraud), but with the view of supporting his opinions by
   the highest authority, and as embodying sentiments which are such as the son
   of David might have enunciated. A similar impersonation is familiar to us in
   the Book of Ecclesiastes, where Koheleth utters his varied experiences
   through the mouth of Solomon, “son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Such a use
   of fiction has been common in all ages; it is found in classical authors.
   Plato and Cicero introduced real characters as vehicles for supporting or
   opposing their views. The Apologies of Socrates, the speeches in Thucydides
   and Livy, are never deemed to be intentional deceptions; the animus
   decipiendi is lacking; and though they utter the words of the writers, and
   not those of the persons represented, no one sees in them fraud and
   chicanery, but every one regards them as legitimate examples of dramatic
   personation. The Old Testament authors do not prefix their names to their
   works, as they write, not for self-glorification, but to serve far higher
   purposes. The only exception to this rule is found in the case of the
   prophets, whose names and credentials were necessarily required, in order to
   give weight and credibility to their announcements. In accordance with this
   practice the uninspired apocalyptic writers publish their visions, and
   lucubrations under the appellation of some earlier worthy, whom with
   transparent impersonation they introduce into their compositions. They might
   also claim the authority of the titles of many books in the Old Testament
   which are presented under the names of authors who certainly did not write
   them. No one supposes that Ruth or Esther composed the books which bear
   their names, and very little of the two books of Samuel are the work of that
   great prophet. The Psalmists adopted the designations of David, or Asaph, or
   the sons of Korah, because they echoed the spirit or employed the forms
   found in their prototypes. Those who followed the footsteps of these great
   predecessors, without their claim to inspiration, thought themselves
   justified in winning attention to their utterances by adventitious means,
   and boldly personated the eminent characters in whose spirit they wrote. [1]

   At the cessation of prophecy among the Jews, when no longer the utterances
   of inspired seers denounced abuses, pointed the right way, proclaimed the
   will of God, great attention was paid by devout men to the study and
   interpretation of canonical Scripture. In contrast with the heathenism of
   surrounding nations, the Hebrew pored over his Heaven-sent law, and, by
   attention thereto, confirmed his abhorrence of idolatry and his adherence to
   his monotheistic faith. The degradation of Israel under its pagan
   oppressors, and the temporary triumph of the chosen people in the Maccabean
   period, gave rise to the apocalyptic literature of which we are speaking. An
   unswerving zeal for the Law, and a glowing hope of a happy future, formed
   the character istics of this period. From the storm and tumult and confusion
   of their own times good men looked forward to a reign of peace and
   happiness, and strove to impart their own hopes to their desponding
   countrymen. Taking their tone from, and founding their views upon, the
   ancient prophets, and more especially employing the imagery and developing
   the annunciations of Daniel, these writers, under various forms, and with
   very different success, gradually put forth their notions of the future, and
   anticipate the kingdom of Messiah. Often in their treatises they enter on
   the history of the past, putting their words into the mouth of an ancient
   prophet; but all such details are preparatory to the predictive portion, and
   lead up to this important element. The grand destiny which awaits Israel
   fills their minds; they dream of an universal judgment, followed by the
   supremacy of the chosen people; they are fired with an enthusiasm which is
   not fettered by probabilities, and they boldly announce events as certain
   which they have no real claim to foretell, and which nothing but an
   imaginative and ardent zeal could have induced them to publish.

   The value of these writings is considerable, and this for many reasons; but
   that which chiefly concerns us is the light which they throw upon Jewish
   belief at the most important era. Those which are plainly antecedent to
   Christian times have their own special utility; while the later productions,
   which belong to the first Christian centuries, show the influence of new
   ideas even on those who retained their affection for the old religion. And
   both series are necessary for every study of the religious history of the
   Jews. It is perhaps true that this apocalyptic literature was regarded with
   little favour by the Rabbinic schools, and no dogmatic authority was
   attributed to it; but it can be used as indicating current thought, just as
   we refer to any contemporary document to denote popular opinion, though it
   be not stamped with the authority of a teaching body. The number of these
   writings which are still extant, and the many more of which the titles only
   have remained to our times, prove the wide prevalence of the feelings which
   are embodied in them, and the profound impression which such thoughts had
   made on the hearts of the people. Omitting the works which either in whole
   or in part have been submitted to modern criticism, we have notices of the
   existence of many other apocalyptic and pseudepigraphic compositions, whose
   titles pretty fairly explain their contents. Of course, very many of the
   works enumerated in the catalogues of extra-canonical writings are of
   Christian origin; but even these are framed on the same lines as the
   earlier, and very often repeat the ideas and give expression to the hopes
   found in the others. In the Fourth Book of Esdras, which is called the
   Second in our English Bibles, the sacred books are counted as ninety-four,
   twenty-two of which would be the received items of the Jewish Canon, and
   seventy-two apocryphal. These last, which in round numbers are called
   seventy, were directed to be reserved for the wise among the people; “for in
   them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream
   of knowledge.” [2] Hilgenfeld [3] reckons the number of those whose titles
   have survived at thirty-six. Many of these, however, would scarcely come
   under our view as Jewish productions, being of gnostic or heretical origin,
   and are rather to be reckoned among New Testament pseudepigrapha. The term
   applied to the books with which we are concerned is used by Jerome in
   allusion to the Wisdom of Solomon, and has thence come to be employed for
   the whole class, though not strictly true of them all. In his preface to the
   Books of Solomon, Jerome says, “Fertur et Panæretos Jesu filii Sirach liber,
   et alius pseudepigraphus, qui sapientia Salomonis inscribitur.” Not that
   Jerome invented the word which so happily describes the leading
   characteristic of such productions. It is found in Greek authors long before
   his time. Thus Polybius (Hist. xxiv. 5. 5) calls the tricksy and unreliable
   Messenian, Deinocrates, pseudepugraphos kai rhōpikos. Spuriousness of
   authorship belongs to most of the series, and is a mark of the writings
   which were produced in such luxuriance towards the time of the commencement
   of the Christian era; and a term denoting this peculiarity may well be
   adopted as their designation.

   The documents fall naturally into three classes. The first, of which few
   representatives have reached us, may be called Lyrical. There is a spurious
   production of this nature assigned to David in the Apostolical
   Constitutions, [4] but it is no longer extant. The only important
   contribution to this class is the Psalter of Solomon, a collection of
   eighteen psalms, written probably originally in Hebrew, about half a century
   before the Christian era, but known to us only in a Greek version. They are
   conceived in the spirit of Old Testament prophecy, and are designed to
   console the Jews under national calamity by confirming their faith in future
   retribution and Messianic hopes.

   The second class may be called Prophetical, and may be divided into two
   sections, composed respectively of Apocalypses and Testaments. Apocalyptic
   writings are very numerous, the most celebrated being the Fourth Book of
   Esdras and the Book of Enoch. The former of these, as it forms a portion of
   the Apocrypha in the Authorised Version of our English Bible, has been
   copiously annotated of late years; the latter from its length and importance
   demands special study. There are many others which are most interesting, and
   claim notice at our hands. The Assumption of Moses is the document from
   which, according to Origen, St. Jude borrowed his allusion to Michael’s
   dispute with Satan about the body of Moses. It consists of an address of the
   great lawgiver to his successor Joshua, enunciating the future fate of
   Israel, partly historical down to the author’s time, and partly predictive.
   The Apocalypse of Baruch is a different work from the Book of Baruch and the
   Epistle of Jeremy in our English Apocrypha. Written originally in Greek, it
   has been preserved only in Syriac and Latin versions. It contains a series
   of post facto predictions supposed to be uttered by Baruch about the time of
   the first destruction of Jerusalem, and a revelation of the reign and
   judgment of Messiah. The Ascension and Vision of Isaiah describe the
   martyrdom of the prophet by his being sawn asunder, an allusion to which is
   supposed to be made in Heb. xi. 37, and contain an account of what he saw
   when rapt to heaven. The above are the works which have come to us in a more
   or less perfect shape. There are many others of which we know little more
   than the titles which indeed are often very similar to those of extant
   productions, but appertain to distinct works. There is a Prophecy and
   Revelation of the holy and beloved prophet Esdras, another of Baruch; then
   Elijah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Zechariah, have each their
   special Apocalypses; a spurious Daniel also is mentioned; and Adam, Lamech,
   Moses, and Abraham are not unrepresented, but contribute their revelations.
   Hermas Pastor [5] refers to a Prophecy of Eldad and Modat which was well
   known in the early Church; but this with many others has perished long ago;
   and the vague allusions to such works in the pages of the Fathers and in
   some ancient catalogues of Scripture do not allow us to judge of their
   contents and character. Among the productions which assume the testamentary
   form we have the titles only of some, e.g. the Diatheke of the Protoplast,
   of Jacob, Moses, Hezekiah, Adam, Noah, Solomon, Abraham; the Last Prayer and
   Blessing of Joseph, a work continually quoted by Origen as “a writing not to
   be despised,” and said by him to be in circulation among the Hebrews. But
   the work of this character that is still extant is called the Testaments of
   the Twelve Patriarchs. This is an account of the lives of the sons of Jacob,
   containing many legendary particulars not found in Scripture, revelations of
   the future, and Messianic predictions.

   The third class takes a historical or Haggadistic character. Its chief
   representative is the Book of Jubilees, or Micro-Genesis, an enlarged
   account of Biblical history down to the institution of the Passover, with
   the chronology reduced to Jubilee periods. Other works of which little is
   known are these: the History of Jannes and Jambres, the magicians who
   opposed Moses at the court of Pharaoh; the Conversion of Manasses, a
   different work from the Prayer of Manasses in our Apocrypha; the Life of
   Adam; the Revelation of Adam; the Repentance of Adam; the Daughters of Adam;
   the Gospel of Eve; the Story of Asenath, Joseph’s wife, and that of Noria,
   the wife of Noah.

   We have omitted mention of the Sibylline Oracles, not because they are of
   less importance than other works, but because they partake of the nature of
   all three classes, and cannot be assigned specially to any one of them. They
   are lyrical, being written in measured verse, and very often in a highly
   poetical strain; they are historical, detailing the events in the history of
   various peoples down to Christian times, with an admixture of truth and
   fiction which is hard to unravel; and they are apocalyptic, in that they
   foreshadow the future of Messiah’s kingdom and the destiny of the elect.
   While a large proportion of these poems is of post-Christian origin, there
   are considerable fragments of earlier date which are of important utility in
   determining prevalent Jewish views. Schürer happily calls them “Jewish
   Propaganda under a heathen mask,” and classes them with the so-called
   productions of Hystaspes, Hecatæus, Aristæus, and Phocylides.

   Without anticipating details which belong to the special account of each of
   these works, we may here gather up some general results of the doctrine
   enunciated in them. [6]

   First, as to the divisions of time, we find throughout the books that two
   great periods are specified—the present, and the future or coming age. This
   is in conformity with the view taken in the Book of Daniel. The former
   period is one of depression and misery, when Israel is for a time prostrate
   under the heel of Gentile enemies; the latter is an eternity of victory and
   bliss, when “the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and
   possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” [7] The temporary and
   the eternal periods are strongly contrasted, though there is no general
   consent as to the moment when the happy age shall dawn. But it shall be
   preceded by a judgment which is to take place in the last days, the end of
   the transition state, wherein the heathen shall receive their doom. This
   great day is known only to God; but it shall be revealed in due time, and
   meanwhile men need not disquiet themselves concerning its advent; as it is
   said in the Book of Enoch, “Let not your spirit be grieved on account of the
   times, for the Holy One hath prescribed days to all. And the righteous shall
   arise from sleep, and walk in the way of righteousness, and God will be
   gracious unto them, and give them everlasting dominion.” [8] In the Psalms
   of Solomon we read, [9] “Behold, O Lord, and raise up for them their king,
   the son of David, at the time which Thou, God, knowest.” In the Fourth Book
   of Esdras it is said, “The Most High hath made, not one age, but two;” and
   again, “He hath made this age for the sake of many, but the future for the
   sake of few.” [10] And, “This present age is not the end . . . but the day
   of judgment will be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortal
   age that is to come, wherein corruption hath passed away.” [11] Attempts are
   made to define the length of the first period more accurately, but the
   proposed solutions do not help much to satisfy inquiry. The Book of Enoch in
   one place allots seventy generations to the world’s history, in another
   divides it into ten weeks; in the Assumption of Moses the beginning of the
   second age is placed “two hundred and fifty times,” i.e. probably 250 weeks
   of years (= 4250), after the death of Moses, A.M. 2500. This is almost the
   same result as is obtained in the Book of Jubilees. In the Fourth Book of
   the Sibylline Oracles the time is divided into eleven generations, [12] in
   the last of which the judgment shall take place. In the Fourth Book of
   Esdras and in the Apocalypse of Baruch the age consists of twelve sections,
   at the end of which the new era shall commence.

   Failing to define accurately the duration of the first age of the world,
   speculation concerned itself with the signs which should herald the approach
   of the last times. Theorists endeavoured to answer that question which,
   quite in accordance with Jewish opinion, the apostles put to Christ, “Tell
   us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming,
   and of the consummation of the age?” [13] Thus the Sibyl affirms that there
   shall be seen swords in the heaven, and storms of dust, and an eclipse of
   the sun, and armed warriors contending in the sky. [14] The Book of Enoch
   foretells great changes in the course of nature — the alteration of seasons,
   the shortening of men’s lives, irregularity in the course of moon and stars,
   and a repetition of the wicked practices which occasioned the Flood of old.
   [15] To the same effect the Book of Jubilees looks forward to a season of
   abnormal iniquity as the precursor of the judgment day; there shall be
   unnatural crimes among men, and strange aberrations in the order of nature,
   children rising up against parents, general barrenness in earth, great
   destruction of the lower creatures in land and sea, perversion of all right,
   and universal strife. [16] The Fourth of Esdras takes up the same strain. As
   the world grows older it becomes weaker and more evil, men degenerate, truth
   flies away, leasing is hard at hand. Then shall occur earthquakes, unrest
   and uproar among nations, and various prodigies in heaven and earth; the sun
   shall shine at night, the moon in day; blood shall ooze from wood; sweet
   water shall be changed to salt; women shall bring forth monsters; infants of
   tender age shall speak. [17] Many of these portents are such as one reads of
   in classical authors; some recall our Lord’s predictions, or St. Paul’s
   warning that “in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. iii. 1).
   In the Apocalypse of Baruch the details of the wickedness and calamities
   that shall intervene are more distinctly specified, being divided into
   twelve parts, increasing to a climax of horror; and despair and destruction
   shall overtake all the world with the exception of the inhabitants of the
   holy land. [18] But throughout these books the advent of the second age is
   to be ushered in by extraordinary calamities consequent on excessive moral
   evil, and characterised by an universal degeneracy alike in animal and
   vegetable life.

   We have now to see what our books say about the Messiah. Many of them,
   indeed, seem to have no reference whatever to Him. The writer of the
   Assumption of Moses expects the appearance of some great saviour to prepare
   the way for the visible reign of Jehovah; but this deliverer is not the
   Messiah, and is, in fact, not regarded as superior to Moses in action or
   person. In the Book of Jubilees the idea of a personal Messiah is pointedly
   excluded; God, says the writer, has appointed no one to reign over Israel,
   being Himself their only Lord and Ruler, and purposing in due time to
   descend from heaven and dwell with His people. The writer seems purposely to
   have omitted the blessings which Jacob pronounced upon his sons, and
   especially all mention of the house of David, which would naturally have
   found place in the benediction on Judah. The Fourth Book of the Sibylline
   Oracles, which is marked by some eschatological passages, omits all
   reference to Messiah, while announcing the resurrection and the judgment.
   And we may remark in passing that the apocryphal works in our English Bible
   are singularly devoid of all Messianic references. Ecclesiasticus has no
   trace of the great hope; Wisdom is equally barren; the famous passage in ii.
   10–20 of that Book, about the treatment of the righteous man by the wicked,
   having regard to a class, and certainly not alluding to any particular
   individual. The Books of Maccabees look forward to the re-gathering of
   Israel and the appearance of a true prophet, but nothing more. In Tobit we
   find only hope of the conversion of the Gentiles and the restoration of
   Jerusalem; in Baruch and Judith, though the future judgment is intimated,
   absolute silence is maintained concerning the Messiah’s part in that
   transaction. It is plain that the later conception of the Messiah, with all
   the hopes that gathered round His person and achievements, was not generally
   admitted when most of our books were composed, and it was only very
   gradually that the ideas obtained which we have been accustomed to associate
   therewith. Though it is difficult to fix the date of most of these works,
   probably the earliest which contains definite Messianic statements is a
   section of the Third Book of the Sibylline Verses, written about a century
   and a half before the Christian era. The passage which is, probably
   correctly, assumed to bear this interpretation is the following: [19] “Then
   from the sun God shall send a King, who shall cause all the earth to cease
   from wicked war, killing indeed some; and making faithful treaties with
   others. Not by His own counsels shall He do all these things, but in
   obedience to the good decrees of the great God.” Then follows a description
   of the happy condition that is to ensue; but there is no further mention of
   this King, and the governing authority of the new kingdom established by God
   is not one great personage, but prophets, who are “judges of mortals and
   righteous kings.” The subordinate position assigned to Messiah is very
   remarkable; He, indeed, prepares the way for the great consummation, but He
   is not said to bear any part in the administration of the future age. In
   another passage, [20] which critics generally assign to some half-century
   B.C., the advent of the Messiah is immediately expected. Thus the Sibyl
   writes: “But when Rome shall rule over Egypt also, uniting it into one, then
   indeed the mighty kingdom of the immortal King shall appear among men; and
   there shall come a pure King to hold the sceptres of all the earth for all
   ages as time hastens onward.” Evidently, it is an earthly kingdom which this
   Monarch establishes, and this, it is further intimated, is to come to an end
   when the new era dawns.

   The Book of Enoch adumbrates the Messiah in symbolical language. In the
   vision of the seventy shepherds, and the sheep and wild animals, the Messiah
   appears under the figure of a white Bull. The wording of the passage is
   ambiguous, and the correct reading is disputed; hence it remains doubtful
   to, which age the Messiah belongs; though the analogy of other passages
   would place Him at the entrance of the new era. Enoch says: [21] “Then those
   three who were clothed in white raised me up and placed me in the midst of
   the sheep, before the judgment took place [22] . . . and I saw that a white
   Bullock was born, having great horns, and all the beasts of the field and
   all the birds of heaven feared him, and besought him continually. And I
   watched till all their tribes were changed and became white bullocks; and
   the first among them [was the Word, and the same Word] [23] was a great
   beast, and had great black horns upon his head; and the Lord of the sheep
   rejoiced over them and over all the bullocks.” The personality of this
   “Bullock” is not very definite, and there is no allusion to descent from the
   house of David; but the representation evidently embraces hopes of Messiah,
   and looks forward, though vaguely, to the time of His appearing. This time
   is fixed more accurately in the Fourth of Esdras (vii. 28 ff.), where it is
   announced that Messiah and the saints with Him shall rejoice four hundred
   [24] years, and that then he and all men are to die, and silence reign for
   seven days, at the end of which time “the earth that yet awaketh not shall
   be raised up, and that which is corrupt shall die.” So in other passages,
   both in Esdras and Baruch, the dominion of Messiah is announced as lasting
   till the final judgment, confined, as it would seem, to the first, the
   present age. The Messiah, according to Enoch, [25] is to be born at
   Jerusalem; meantime He is hidden till the hour of His revelation arrives. In
   the Ascension of Isaiah He passes through the seven heavens unrecognised,
   until He executes vengeance on the evil principalities and powers, and
   returns in glory to the throne of God. Esdras sees Him coming up from the
   midst of the sea, which denotes the mysterious and secret character of the
   unknown region wherein He sojourned, and in due time taking His stand upon
   Mount Zion. [26] “Here,” says Baruch, [27] “He shall judge the last leader
   of His enemies, and put him to death, and shall protect God’s people who are
   found in the place which He has chosen. And His dominion shall continue
   until the world of corruption is brought to an end, and the predicted times
   are fulfilled.” Of the Messiah’s descent from David and His high title, the
   Psalter of Solomon gives the clearest indications. “Behold, O Lord,” says
   the Psalmist, “and raise up for them their King, the Son of David, at the
   time which Thou knowest. . . . He is the righteous King over them, taught of
   God. There shall be no injustice in His days among them, for they all shall
   be holy, and their King shall be Christ the Lord.” [28] This last expression
   seems certainly to have been well known before Christian times. In Esdras
   [29] the name Christ is found twice at least, though in one place it has
   been changed by some Christian hand into “Jesus;” and “unctus,” the
   Anointed, also occurs, corrupted in the Latin into “ventus,” the “wind;” but
   in the other versions appearing with an addition, “the Anointed whom the
   Highest hath reserved to the end of the days, who shall arise out of the
   seed of David.” The title Messiah is constantly used in Baruch; thus we
   read, “It shall come to pass, when that which is to be shall have been
   accomplished there, that Messiah shall begin to be revealed.” [30] The Book
   of Enoch has suffered so much from glosses and interpolations that we cannot
   build much upon isolated expressions; but, as the text stands, the
   expression “Son of God,” or its equivalent, is met with in the most ancient
   section once. The Lord is represented as saying (cv. 2), “I and my Son will
   unite ourselves with them [the sons of earth] for ever and ever.” Nor can
   much reliance be placed upon the present text of the Second of Esdras;
   otherwise the terms Messiah and Son of God may be observed in a few
   passages. [31] But although we grant that the name and designation of the
   Messiah are found in these books, there is very far from being any general
   consent as to His nature and attributes. The Catholic doctrine concerning
   the Christ was as yet not received, and the speculations which were rife
   fell far short of the great truth. Whether many of these writers believed in
   the pre-existence of the Messiah before His appearance on earth is doubtful.
   The author of the Ascension of Isaiah certainly did; but as the portion of
   the work containing the assertion is probably the composition of a Christian
   Jew, it cannot be quoted as affording an instance of purely Jewish opinion.
   The expression in the Third Book of the Sibyllines already cited, which
   represents the future King as proceeding “from the sun,” might seem to imply
   at least a supernatural origin, denoting that, as the Creed says, “He came
   down from heaven;” but the words (ap ēelioio) may mean merely “from the
   rising sun,” i.e. from the East, which to a dweller in Egypt would be the
   land of mystery and of God’s revelations. In that part of the Book of Enoch
   which is termed the Similitudes or Parables, He who is here called “Son of
   man” is seen by the seer in company with the “Ancient of Days,” and is
   expressly stated to have existed before all worlds, and to live before God
   for ever; in Him all wisdom and righteousness dwell; but He is not God,
   though of godlike character. In another and more ancient division of the
   work, as we have seen above, He is figured under the representation of “a
   white Bull,” born in due time, and in no way supernaturally distinguished
   from the other animals who assume the same appearance, though His supremacy
   is recognised by them in that they fear and pray to Him. In the Psalter of
   Solomon the Messiah is lauded in the highest terms, as mighty in word and
   deed, a just and powerful Ruler, who, living in the fear of God, shall feed
   the Lord’s people in faith and righteousness; but He is not superhuman, He
   is only the ideal earthly king of David’s line. The Apocalypse of Baruch
   speaks of the “revelation of Messiah and of His kingdom,” [32] which seems
   to imply pre-existence; but, as Professor Drummond points out, this
   expression, and the analogous one “reserved” in Second Esdras (xii. 32,
   xiii. 36), may merely imply the belief that Messiah after His birth should
   be withdrawn into concealment, from whence He should emerge in due time; or
   such terms may be used to denote God’s predestination, and the mystery which
   attached to this heavenly messenger. In fact, none of these works contain
   any clear assertion of the Divinity of the Messiah; and the writers, while
   they look upon Him as abnormal and marvellous and supreme, do not attribute
   to Him a nature different from that of man in its highest ideal character.
   We may note that our Lord’s own disciples were very slow to realise His
   Divine nature, while they readily owned His Messiahship. Again and again
   Jesus had to reprove their dulness of apprehension and slowness of belief.
   Miracles often repeated failed to convey this truth fully to their minds;
   and it needed the Resurrection, with all its wondrous accompaniments, to
   enable them fully to realise that their Master was God Almighty. So
   difficult was it for them to rise superior to prejudice and popular opinion.

   Our general view of the pseudepigraphical books would not be complete
   without a brief notice of their angelology and eschatology. The existence of
   good and evil angels is fully recognised. The former are divided into
   various orders and degrees; in Enoch the names of the archangels are given
   as Michael, Gabriel, Suriel, and Uriel; Suriel elsewhere appears as Raphael.
   These four have their special spheres and provinces; and beside them there
   are myriads of inferior angels who stand before the Lord of Spirits, ready
   to do His will. They are archangels who reveal God’s will to Enoch, and
   conduct him on his various journeys. It is the Angel of the Presence who is
   charged to transcribe the revelation in the Book of Jubilees. Angels,
   according to Baruch, execute God’s wrath in the destruction of Jerusalem,
   having first committed to the earth the veil, the mercy-seat, and other
   sacred things appertaining to the temple. It is, as we have seen, from the
   Assumption of Moses that the story of the dispute between Michael and Satan
   over the body of Moses is derived. Esdras receives his seven visions by the
   intervention of Uriel. The Book of Jubilees states that on the first day of
   creation God made the ministering spirits, the Angel of the Presence, the
   Angel of Praise, and the angels that preside over the elements, as we find
   in the Revelation of St. John mention made of angels which have power over
   fire and water. [33] The angels bring men’s sins before God, execute His
   vengeance on sinners, teach mortals useful arts and acceptable worship, and
   communicate God’s will by dreams or visions or open manifestations. In the
   Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs the heavenly hierarchy is still more
   systematically arranged, and the duties and offices of its various members
   are distinguished.

   The evil angels have their ranks and orders; they are a disciplined army
   under chieftains. At their head appears one who is variously named Satan,
   Sammael, Mastema, Azazel. Their fall, according to Enoch, was brought about
   by their connection with the daughters of men, from whence sprang a race of
   giants whose iniquity, fostered by their superhuman fathers, occasioned the
   Flood. These evil angels taught men war and bloodshed and every wicked work,
   and were punished by being confined in the depth of the earth till the great
   day of judgment, a certain portion of them only being allowed a limited
   liberty.

   Turning to the eschatological teaching of these books, we find that in the
   last days, on the appearance of Messiah, there will be a great mustering of
   enemies to oppose the establishment of the new kingdom. Here we have the
   curious myth of the return to life of Nero, who, under the name of Behar, is
   to lead the armies of Antichrist. [34] At other times this leader is not
   definitely named. In Baruch (chap. xl.) he is called merely “dux ultimus,”
   who, as we have seen above, is to be brought to Mount Zion and there put to
   death by the victorious Messiah. But it is not always the Messiah who
   conducts the war; God Himself interposes in the Sibyl’s account, [35] and
   Enoch predicts the great destruction of Israel’s enemies before the advent
   of Messiah, and exults in their cruel annihilation. [36] Whether by the
   action of Messiah, or by the immediate intervention of the Lord, it is
   universally agreed that the assembled foes of Israel shall meet with signal
   overthrow, and that, at this “consummation,” the kingdom of Messiah shall be
   established. This kingdom is to have its centre at Jerusalem, under the
   personal rule of Messiah, who is the vicegerent of God, [37] and is to
   extend over all nations, and to be characterised by righteousness, peace,
   and plenty. The material blessings of this reign are picturesquely
   delineated in the Sibylline Verses and elsewhere; [38] the earth shall be
   marvellously productive, men’s lives shall be prolonged to a thousand years
   without disease or infirmity. The duration of this kingdom is considered in
   most of our books to be unlimited; Esdras alone confines its length to four
   hundred years, and Baruch says vaguely that it shall be continued until the
   world of corruption be ended. Whether the Gentiles should be converted was a
   question not answered in a uniform manner; while the writers with
   Hellenistic leanings took a merciful view, the exaggerated prejudices of
   others led them to anticipate with satisfaction the total annihilation of
   the heathen. The Sibyl looks forward to a time when the sight of the
   happiness and prosperity of the God-fearing Israelites will move alien
   nations to repentance, [39] whilst the Psalmist brings the heathen under the
   yoke of the chosen race, and holds out to them no hope of salvation. [40] Of
   the resurrection and the final judgment we have varying accounts, there
   being also a dissidence in the opinion as to the epochs in which these
   events should take place; some writers allotting the judgment to the time of
   Messiah’s appearing, others looking for it at the close of that period, and
   as ushering in eternity. The latter view is that which most generally
   prevailed. The Book of Enoch gives copious details concerning the future
   life and the judgment. The Lord sits on a throne erected in the midst of
   Palestine, and passes judgment respectively on the fallen angels, the
   apostate Israelites, and the heathen powers. The souls of the dead have a
   place where they wait for their sentence, and are here divided into classes
   according to their earthly actions, accounts of which have been daily
   written down in the heavenly books; and now they shall receive their
   reward—unalterable punishment in the case of obstinate sinners, and eternal
   felicity in the case of the righteous. The resurrection of the body is
   nowhere expressly affirmed, though it is implied by the material nature of
   the penalties and the bliss accorded to the raised persons. There seems to
   have been no definite belief in a bodily resurrection, though a resurrection
   of some kind was universally expected, and blind gropings after the great
   Christian doctrine are occasionally found; but the general impression
   conveyed by these apocryphal books is that the immortality enunciated
   therein is incorporeal; and, as regards the righteous, the idea is that they
   shall be changed into angelic beings with the power of assuming any form
   they please. [41]

   The above are the chief points of interest in the Jewish Pseudepigraphic
   writings; more definite details and notices of incidental matters appertain
   more properly to the separate accounts of the various works which are
   classed under this designation.
     _________________________________________________________________

   [1] See Dr. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, i. 37 f.

   [2] 2 Esdr. xiv. 44–47. Some Latin MSS., instead of “ninety-four,” give
   “nine hundred and four;” the Vulgate has “two hundred and four;” other
   versions, “ninety-four,” which from what follows seems to be correct.

   [3] In Herzog’s Encyklop. xii. 341 ff. (ed. 1883).

   [4] Apost. Constit. vi. 16.

   [5] Vis. ii. 3. 4.

   [6] I have in this sketch gladly availed myself of Prof. Drummond’s The
   Jewish Messiah, and Mr. Stanton’s The Jewish and Christian Messiah, though
   most of the articles on special pseudepigraphal works were originally
   written before I had seen those books. Since then I have had the pleasure of
   perusing Schürer’s valuable treatise on The Jewish People in the time of
   Jesus Christ.

   [7] Dan. vii. 18.

   [8] Enoch xcii. 2 ff.

   [9] Ps. xvii. 23.

   [10] The former passage occurs in the fragment omitted in the old Latin
   editions and versions founded thereon, and will be found in Fritzsche’s book
   as vi. 25, and in Churton’s as vii. 50. In both passages the word rendered
   “age” is “sæculum,” which some, however, translate “world.”

   [11] vii. 42 f.

   [12] So all the MSS. Alexandre reads es dekatēn, asserting that throughout
   the books the last generation is always the tenth, and he refers in
   confirmation to vers. 47 and 86. But see Drummond, p. 206.

   [13] Matt. xxiv. 3.

   [14] Lib. iii. 795 ff.

   [15] Chaps. xci., xcix.

   [16] Book of Jub. chap. xxiii.

   [17] Prof. Drummond refers to 2 Esdr. v. 1–13, 54 f., vi. 7–28, viii 63–ix.
   6, xiv. 15-17.

   [18] Apoc. Bar. chaps, xxv.–xxvii., xlviii., lxx., lxxi.

   [19] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 652 ff.

   [20] Orac. Sibyll. iii, 36–92.

   [21] Enoch xc. 31 ff.

   [22] Prof. Drummond doubts the genuineness of this clause, and Dillmann does
   not hold it as indisputable. It is certainly inconsistent with other
   statements in the same passage.

   [23] The words in brackets are regarded as spurious.

   [24] The Syriac reads: “thirty.” Churton, in loc.

   [25] Enoch xc. 36 f.

   [26] 2 Esdr. xiii. 26, 35

   [27] Apoc. Bar. xl.

   [28] Ps. Solom. xvii. 23, 35, 36. The title is given in the MSS. without
   variation Christos Kurios. Professor Drummond would read Kuriou. But see
   xviii. 6, 8, and Lam. iv. 20. At the same time, as Ewald points out, the
   expression in the text may possibly be a mistranslation for “the Lord’s
   Christ,” as Luke ii. 26, and must not be taken as proving the seer’s belief
   in the Divinity of Messiah.

   [29] 2 Esdr. vii. 28, 29, xii. 32.

   [30] Apoc. Bar. xxix. See also xxx., xxxix., xl., lxx., lxxii.

   [31] See Drummond, pp. 285 ff.

   [32] Chap. xxix. 3, xxxix. 7; Drummond, p. 293.

   [33] Rev. xiv. 18, xvi. 5.

   [34] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 63 ff., iv. 137 ff.

   [35] Ibid. iii. 669 ff.

   [36] Enoch xc., xcviii., xcix.

   [37] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 652 ff.; Psalm. Sol. xvii.; Drummond, pp. 309 ff.

   [38] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 743 ff., 776 ff.; Enoch x. 17 ff., xi. 1.; Apoc.
   Bar. xxix.; Jubil. xxiii.

   [39] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 702 ff.; comp. Enoch x. 21, xc. 30 ff.

   [40] Psalm. Sol. xvii. 25 ff.; comp. Apoc. Bar. lxxii.

   [41] Apoc. Bar. li.
     _________________________________________________________________

I.

LYRICAL.
     _________________________________________________________________

  THE PSALTER OF SOLOMON.

   Among the apocryphal literature of the Old Testament which has been
   preserved to our time, the eighteen Psalms of Solomon, so called, are an
   interesting monument of later Judaism, giving glimpses of contemporary
   history and breathing Messianic hopes. Excluded from our English version of
   the Bible, they have been remarkably neglected in this country, and very few
   students have taken the trouble of mastering this important remnant of
   antiquity. Germany has dealt otherwise with them. For the last thirty years
   critics in that country have been investigating their origin, assigning
   their date, settling the text, examining the contents; so that we can enter
   upon the study of them with a critical and exegetical apparatus which a few
   years ago was unattainable. They were never included in the Canonical
   Scriptures of the Jews, though known to early authors, and occurring in
   several catalogues of Scripture. The Alexandrine Manuscript of the Greek
   Bible, indeed, inserted them at the end of the volume, a fact which probably
   proves that they were used in Divine worship in the Eastern Church; but
   where they are named, they are included among the Antilegomena, and are
   apparently debarred from the Canon by the Council of Laodicea. [42] In the
   Stichometria of Nicephorus, and in the Synopsis Athanasii, they are classed
   with the Books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Maccabees, and other Apocrypha; in
   other lists they come in the same category as Enoch, the Twelve Patriarchs,
   the Apocalypses of Moses, etc. Being thus thrust aside in early times, they
   seem to have met with little attention, and to have been seldom transcribed.
   Hence the manuscripts which exhibited them were very few, and modern
   investigation has not discovered many fresh sources of information about
   them. Most unfortunately the leaves of the Alexandrine Codex, now in the
   British Museum, which once contained them, have perished, so that we are
   forced to rely on a late and inferior document for the exposition and
   correction of the text. The Editio Princeps of De la Cerda was printed from
   a MS. brought from Constantinople in the year 1615, which was once in the
   Augsburg Library, but has now disappeared. Three other MSS. known to exist
   have not been used in editing the work. Indeed, the only manuscript made
   available is a cursive of the tenth century, Codex Vindobonensis, [43]
   called “V” in Fritzsche’s edition, and now in the Royal Library of Vienna.
   In this our Psalms are found between the Book of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus.
   The title prefixed to the once existing Augsburg MS. was PsALTĒRION
   SALOMŌNTOS, and at the end occurred the colophon Psalmoi Salomōntos iē.
   echousin epē ͵a; Telos sun Theō. But the author himself never claims to be
   the son of David, and the various headings, now found in the Psalter, which
   attribute the Psalms to Solomon, are without dispute the work of later
   hands. The writer speaks of himself sometimes, e.g. Ps. i. 3: “I reasoned in
   my heart that I was filled with righteousness, because I was prosperous and
   had become mighty in children;” Ps. ii. 35: “Raising me up unto glory.” But
   even if these and such-like passages assumed more plainly than they do
   Solomonic authorship, they would show merely that the poet, like the writer
   of the Book of Wisdom, appropriated the name of Solomon for literary
   purposes, with no idea of deceiving his readers or causing them to give
   credence to so transparent a fallacy. Or, very possibly, the name of Solomon
   did not occur in the original title; but, as the Psalter became well known
   and used, because it could not be ascribed to David, or included in the
   canonical Psalm-Book, it was honoured with the name of Solomon in later
   times, and reached the early Christian writers under that designation. The
   fact that in 1 Kings iv. 32 Solomon is said to have composed “a thousand and
   five songs” (ōdai pentakischiliai, Sept.), gave a colouring to the assumed
   authorship, and in uncritical times, when historical allusions were little
   investigated or weighed, the name gained an unquestioned currency.

   The references to the Book in early writers are few and uncertain. In the
   Stichometria of Nicephorus it is named, as we have said, among the
   Antilegomena of the Old Testament: to the same category it is relegated in
   the Synopsis Sacræ Scripturæ appended to the works of St. Athanasius, the
   date of which is doubtful, and which may possibly be founded upon the
   Catalogue of Nicephorus. [44] Schürer thinks it was included under the
   category of Antilegornena simply owing to its absence from the Hebrew Canon,
   position in that list being the criterion which guided the formal reception
   of writings; while in the Christian Church it was regarded in some quarters
   with greater favour. Five Odes of Solomon are quoted in the curious Gnostic
   book of the third century A.D., Pistis Sophia; [45] and St. Jerome writing
   against Vigilantius (cap. vi.) may possibly refer to the Psalter when he
   says: “Nam in commentariolo tuo quasi pro te faciens de Salomone sumis
   testimonium, quod Salomon omnino non scripsit, ut, qui habes alterum Esdram,
   habeas et Salomonem alterum.” The “Second Esdras” means a passage in the
   Fourth Book of Esdras (vi. 81, ap. Fritz.) [46] implying the inexpediency of
   certain prayers for the dead; the “Second Solomon” may perhaps indicate the
   following words: “Therefore this is their inheritance, Hades, and darkness,
   and destruction; and they shall not be found in the day of the mercy of the
   righteous” (Ps. xiv. 6); “for their iniquities shall make the houses of
   sinners desolate, and sinners shall perish in the day of the Lord’s judgment
   for ever and ever” (xv. 13). Lactantius [47] more than once quotes passages
   from Solomon which do not occur in the Canonical Scriptures, and are
   supposed to have been once comprehended among these Psalms, though no longer
   extant in our copies.

   The Fourth Book of Esdras, which appears to have been written towards the
   end of the first Christian century, contains many passages which are
   possibly derived from the Psalter. Some of these have been collected by
   Hilgenfeld in his edition of our Book, and are sufficiently apposite. Ps.
   viii. 34: “Gather together the dispersion of Israel with mercy and
   kindness.” Ibid. xi. 3: “Stand on high, Jerusalem, and see thy children
   gathered once from the east and west by the Lord. They come from the north
   in the joy of their God; from the isles afar off God gathered them
   together.” 4 Esdr. i. 38: “See thy people coming from the east.” Ibid. xiii.
   39: “Thou hast seen Him gathering to Himself another multitude in
   peace.”—Ps. ix. 18: “Thou, O Lord, hast put Thy name upon us.” 4 Esdr. iv.
   25: “What wilt Thou do to Thy name which is invoked upon us?” Ibid. x. 22:
   “Thy name which is invoked upon us hath been profaned.”—Ps. xvii. 19: “They
   wandered in deserts to save their souls from evil.” 4 Esdr. xiii. 41 f.:
   “They determined to leave the multitude of nations, and to go to a distant
   region, there to observe their own laws.”—Ps. xvii. 36: “Their king shall be
   Christ the Lord.” 4 Esdr. vii. 28: “My son Jesus shall be revealed with
   those who are with him.”—Ps. xvii. 37: “He shall not trust in horse and
   rider and bow, nor shall he multiply to himself gold and silver for war, nor
   put his hopes in arms hoplois, Fr.) for the day of battle.” 4 Esdr. xiii. 9:
   “Lo, when he saw the onset of the host coming against him, he raised not his
   hand, nor held the shield, nor any weapon of war.”—Ps. xviii. 4: “Thy
   chastisement shall be upon us as a first-born only-begotten son.” 4 Esdr.
   vi. 58: “We Thy people, whom Thou hast called Thy first-born only-begotten
   son.”

   There is one passage of the Psalter (xvii. 5) which is found in the
   Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, that curious production of early Jewish
   Christianity. It occurs in the Testament of Judah, § 22: “For the Lord sware
   with an oath unto me that my crown shall not fail from my seed, all the
   days, for ever.” In the Psalter: “Thou swarest to him concerning his seed
   for ever, that his crown should not fail before thee.” [48] In the New
   Testament no certain intimation occurs that the work was known to the
   inspired writers. The only passage which bears a close likeness to a verse
   in the gospel is in Ps. v. 4: “One cannot take spoils from a strong man,”
   which is parallel to Mark xii. 29: “How can one enter into a strong man’s
   house, and spoil his goods?”

   On the other hand, founded as it is on the model of the Old Testament, the
   Psalter is replete with references to and citations from the Canonical
   Scriptures. To rehearse these would be to transcribe a large portion of the
   whole work. But it is noteworthy that what we call Apocryphal Books are not
   unknown to our author. And this is the more remarkable in the case of a work
   written, as is justly supposed, in Palestine and in the Hebrew language;
   since it shows how widely extended was the influence of that literature
   which grew up after the close of the Canon of the Old Testament. There are
   reminiscences of, if not quotations from, the Book of Wisdom in the Psalter.
   Thus in Ps. xvi. 8 the epithet “unprofitable” (anōphelous) applied to sin
   seems to recall the word in Wisd. i. 11: “Beware of unprofitable
   murmuring.” In Ps. viii. 11 and in Wisd. i. 16 the making a compact
   (sunethento sunthēkas) with sin and death is common to both. “The right hand
   of the Lord sheltered (eskepase) me . . . the arm of the Lord saved us,”
   says the Psalter (xiii. 1). “With His right hand shall He shelter (skepasei)
   them, and with His arm shall He protect them,” says Wisd. v. 16. “God is a
   righteous judge, and will not reverence persons (zaumasei prosōpon),” Ps.
   ii. 19. “The Lord of all will not cower before persons (huposteleitai
   prosōpon),” Wisd. vi. 8. The use of the very uncommon word eustatheia in Ps.
   iv. 11, vi. 7, is probably due to a reminiscence of Wisd. vi. 26. Wisd. v.
   23: “Iniquity shall lay waste (erēmōsei . . . anomia) the whole earth,” may
   be compared with Ps. xvii. 13: “The sinner wasted (hērēmōsen ho anomos [49]
   ) their land.” The phrase, “Man and his portion are with thee by weight (en
   stathmō),” is verbally like, though differing in intention from, the famous
   passage in Wisd. xi. 21: “Thou orderest all things by measure, number, and
   weight.” The touching appeal in Wisd. xv. 2: “For even if we sin, we are
   Thine,” finds its echo in Ps. ix. 16: “Behold, and pity us, God of Israel,
   for we are Thine;” and the idea, as well as the wording, of Ps. xii. 8: “He
   will admonish (nouthetēsei) the righteous man as the son of His love,” is
   closely parallel with those of Wisd. xi. 10: “These as a father admonishing
   (nouthetōn) Thou didst prove.” Between Ps. xi. and the fifth chapter of
   Baruch there are many close parallelisms; but the latter is probably the
   borrower.

   Whilst we can trace the language and conceptions of the Psalter in a great
   measure to preceding Scriptures, we can yet claim for the author an
   originality for the manner in which he has developed and built upon the
   hints therein given, and from the outline of the prophets has presented a
   fairly complete picture of the ideal son of David. A few words must first be
   said concerning the text and the date of the original work; and then some
   extracts will show the pseudo-Solomon’s views on various matters of the
   highest interest to all who desire to acquaint themselves with the progress
   of Jewish thought.

   The revived interest in this little Book arose from the importance
   attributed to it by Ewald in his history of the Jewish Church; and although,
   as we shall show, we think that his view of the date of its production is
   erroneous, the learned world is largely indebted to him for raising a
   discussion which has contributed greatly to our knowledge of the contents
   and bearing of the work. Among other points which have been established may
   be mentioned that of the unity of the Psalter. Of course German ingenuity
   has endeavoured to trace the hands of various authors in the work; but the
   identity of ideas, the similarity of language and phrases, the
   homogeneousness of the composition, show that the writer is one, though he
   may have uttered his songs at different periods and under varying
   circumstances. He is thoroughly imbued with the Hebraic spirit, and has
   framed his Psalms on the Biblical model, proving how this form of poetry
   endured to the latest times of the Jewish polity. Stichometrically written,
   the Psalter affords a fair specimen of Hebrew lyrics in their declining
   days; and, if we may judge by the occasional introduction of the musical
   term “Diapsalma” (xvii. 31, xviii. 10), the words were intended to be used
   in Divine service. The Psalter, as we have mentioned, was first published by
   La Cerda in his Adversaria Sacra (Lugd. 1626), from an Augsburg MS., which
   has since been lost. [50] The same text, with the addition of a few notes of
   no great value, was repeated by Fabricius in his Codex Pseudepigraphus V.
   Test. (Hamb. 1713). A careful revision of the text, aided by an additional
   MS., was made by Hilgenfeld, and printed in Zeitschrift für wissenschaft.
   Theol. 1868, and in Messias Judæorum libris corum illustratus (Lips. 1869).
   Another edition with a commentary by Geiger (Der Psalter Salomo’s), appeared
   in 1871; and the same year saw Fritzsche’s Libri Apocryphi Vet. Test., which
   contains a revised text with various readings. The only English editions
   which I have met with are a translation of the Psalms in the first volume of
   W. Whiston’s Authentick Records (London 1727), and one by Pick in the
   Presbyterian Review, October 1883.

   That the Greek text, which alone is extant, is not the original work, but a
   translation from the Hebrew or Aramaic, seems to be tolerably certain. The
   diction is thoroughly Hebraic, and the idioms of that language are too
   closely represented for it to have been the work of one writing Greek hymns
   of his own composition. And wherever the translator may have lived, the
   author seems to have been a native of Palestine.

   But if the language and locality of the original work may be regarded as
   ascertained, the date of the writer is a difficult question, and one that
   has been the subject of much controversy. Whiston boldly cuts the knot by
   asserting that the author is a certain Solomon who is mentioned in the
   Fourth Book of Esdras [51] as rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the true
   worship, after the Persian captivity, about the thirtieth year of Artaxerxes
   Mnemon, i.e. B.C. 375. This assertion has no support external or internal,
   and has been maintained by no scholar of eminence. The controversy really
   lies between those who refer the work to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and
   those who assign it to the days of Herod or of Pompey. The determination
   depends entirely upon internal evidence; and we all know how uncertain this
   is, and how prone are critics to read their own views into the words upon
   which they build their argument. This is very evident in the present case.
   Ewald and others, who adopt the Maccabæan period as the date, found their
   theory especially on the language of Ps. i. ii. and xvii . In these passages
   the poet utters his lamentation over the oppression of his people, complains
   urgently of the heathen who lord it over Israel, and expresses a hope that
   God would raise up from another race one to be their saviour. [52] From
   these same passages other critics argue for the era of Pompey; and indeed
   the expression suit either period. Some other criteria therefore must be
   found in order to settle the much disputed date.

   Without entering at length into the historical question, we will just note
   the aspect of affairs represented in the Psalter, and then compare it with
   the events in Jewish history to which it seems most closely to correspond.
   [53] The work opens with the bitter cry of the Hebrews oppressed by the
   sudden attack of an enemy (i. 1, 2); a generation to which no promise of
   David’s throne had been made had seized the royal. crown (xvii.), and
   triumphed in the subjection of the nation. But Israel had been guilty of
   grievous sin; king, judge, and people alike were involved in the offence;
   and they were justly punished by intestine war and other calamities. These
   troubles were repressed by inviting foreign aid; a man of another stock rose
   up against them (xvii.); and the infatuated people met the foreigner with
   joy (viii.), opened the gates and bade him enter in peace. And this stranger
   from the ends of the earth entered in friendly guise, as a father visits the
   house of his sons; but after he had secured himself, he broke down the walls
   with the battering-ram (ii. 1), seized on the towers, poured out the blood
   of the inhabitants like water. Jerusalem was trodden down by the Gentiles,
   the altar profaned, of the prominent men some were put to death, many were
   made captives and sent as slaves into the far west. But retribution
   followed. The Dragon who took Jerusalem was himself slain in Egypt, his body
   cast forth on the shore, dishonoured and unburied.

   Now, though isolated expressions in the Psalter suit events that happened at
   various dates of Jewish history, yet, taking the references as a whole, and
   especially regarding the mention of the chief oppressor’s fate, we cannot
   forego the conclusion that the poet has before his eyes the actions and
   death of Pompey. On the decease of Hyrcanus I., B.C. 106, his son
   Aristobulus seized the supreme power and assumed the title of king. He was
   succeeded by Alexander Jannæus, his brother, who, attaching himself strongly
   to the Sadducaic faction, would be considered by the Pharisees (to which
   sect the pseudo-Solomon evidently belongs) as an enemy and a sinner. Besides
   this, being an Asmonæan, and not of the family of David, he had usurped a
   throne to which he had no just claim. A civil war ensued, and great
   atrocities were committed. Jannæus died B.C. 79; and then arose a contest
   for the sovereignty between his two sons, Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus—the
   former a partisan of the Pharisees, the latter of the Sadducees. These
   intestine calamities might justly have been regarded as a punishment for the
   laxity which had been allowed and fostered of late. Gentile customs were
   introduced, mixed marriages permitted, and a general corruption of morals
   followed as a necessary consequence. In the midst of these domestic
   troubles, and when Hyrænus, having defeated Aristobulus with the aid of
   Aretas, king of Arabia, was besieging him in the temple at Jerusalem, news
   arrived that the victorious Roman general, Pompey, was advancing on the
   city. Both brothers sent ambassadors to secure his aid; but Pompey deferred
   his decision, and Aristobulus, presuming that it would be unfavourable to
   his interest, shut himself up in the temple fortress and prepared for a
   siege. Hyrcanus, on the other hand, received the Roman with every
   demonstration of joy-throwing open to him the gates of the city, and putting
   it entirely at his disposal. Pompey sent for his military engines from Tyre,
   and besieged the temple. At the end of three months his battering-rams
   destroyed one of the largest towers, and he made his way into the fortress.
   A cruel massacre ensued; the priests were cut down even while ministering at
   the altar, and Pompey himself entered the sacred courts, and penetrated into
   the Holy of Holies. On his return to Rome, after demolishing the walls of
   Jerusalem, he took with him a large number of Jewish prisoners to grace his
   triumph (eis empaugmon, “for mockery “), among whom were Aristobulus and his
   two sons and daughters. Thus was the independence of Judea overthrown. That
   the reference is not to Titus. and his conquest of Jerusalem is evident from
   many circumstances, more especially from the fact that the destruction of
   the city and temple is nowhere mentioned. The man from a strange land, who
   carried away captives to the far west, is the same whose end is so
   exultingly told in the Psalter. This allusion cannot be doubted. The manner
   of Pompey’s death is well known. After his defeat at Pharsalia, he sought
   refuge in Egypt, but was treacherously murdered as he was landing on the
   shore; his head was cut off, and his body was left naked and dishonoured:
   “when,” as pseudo-Solomon says (ii. 29 ff.), “the pride of the Dragon was
   disgraced, and he was stabbed in the mountains of Egypt, utterly despised by
   land and sea, and his body was left to rot on the shore, and there was no
   man to bury him.”

   It will be seen at once how close is the correspondence between the Psalter
   and this chapter of Jewish history. If we had space for further detail, that
   correspondence would appear still more striking; but enough has been said to
   show that some portion of the work, especially Ps. ii., was written after
   Pompey’s death,and probably very soon after, while the event was still
   uppermost in men’s minds. We may therefore fix the date of its composition
   at B.C. 48 at latest. Some of the Psalms are doubtless of earlier origin,
   dating probably from B.C. 63; and none exhibit any certain trace of
   Christian interpolations.

   Taking then as proved the ante-Christian origin of the Psalter, we are
   prepared to find therein valuable intimations of the belief of the Hebrews
   in the age just preceding the time of Our Lord. And we are not disappointed
   in our anticipations. It must be observed that the writer is a strict
   Pharisee, and that his notion of perfect religion is Pharasaic Judaism.
   Righteousness with him implies scrupulous performance of all legal and
   ceremonial enactments, and when he inveighs against transgressors, his
   ground for censure is that they have not observed the ordained
   prescriptions. The current opinions about the Messiah, the Resurrection, the
   Future Life, are plainly set forth. The way in which these subjects are
   introduced is briefly this:—The notion of the writer throughout is that God
   is a righteous judge, both of His own people and of the heathen. He punishes
   the former as a tender father chastises the son of his love; the heathen
   meet with the stern correction which their wilful sins deserve. These two
   aspects of corrective and vindictive discipline are shown by an appeal to
   history. The fate of the Maccabæan dynasty, the usurpation of the Asmonæans,
   the invasion and supremacy of the Romans, are regarded as the punishment of
   national sins; the fate of Pompey is a specimen of the destruction which
   awaits paganism. This leads the writer to look forward to a day when
   Israel’s supremacy shall be assured by the appearance of Messiah, and to
   express his belief in the resurrection and reward of the righteous and the
   future punishment of sinners. This premised, let the Psalmist here speak for
   himself. The following are some of his utterances concerning the Messiah and
   His kingdom:—

   Behold, O Lord, and raise up for them their King,

   The Son of David, at the time which Thou, our God, knowest,

   That Thy Servant (paida) should reign over Israel;

   And gird Him with power to beat down unrighteous rulers . . .

   And He shall gather together the holy people which He shall guide in
   righteousness,

   And shall judge the tribes of the people hallowed by the Lord His God.

   And He shall not suffer unrighteousness to dwell in the midst of them,

   And no wicked man at all shall abide with them;

   For He will know them that they are all the children of God,

   And He will distribute them in their tribes upon the land.

   And the stranger and the foreigner shall no more sojourn among them;

   He shall judge the peoples and nations in the wisdom of His righteousness.

   He shall have the peoples of the Gentiles to serve Him under His yoke,

   And he shall glorify the Lord by the submission of all the earth,

   And he shall cleanse Jerusalem with sanctification as from the beginning,

   That Gentiles may come from the ends of the earth to see his glory,

   Bringing as offerings her way-worn children, [54]

   Yea, to see the glory of the Lord wherewith God hath glorified her.

   And He is the righteous King over them, taught of God.

   There is no injustice in His days in their midst,

   For they shall all be holy, and their King shall be Christ the Lord. [55]

   He shall not trust in horse or rider or bow,

   Nor multiply to Himself gold and silver for war,

   Nor gather hope from arms in the day of battle;

   The Lord Himself is His King, the hope of the Mighty One is in the hope of
   God,

   And He will set [56] all the nations before Him in fear;

   For He will smite the earth with the word of His mouth for ever,

   And bless the people of the Lord in wisdom with gladness.

   He Himself is pure from sin that He may govern a great people,

   Rebuke princes, and remove sinners by the power of His word.

   And, trusting upon His God, He shall not be weak in His days

   Because God hath made Him mighty by His Holy Spirit, [57]

   And wise in the counsel of prudence, with power and righteousness.

   And the blessing of the Lord shall be with Him in power,

   And His hope in the Lord shall not be weak;

   And who shall prevail against Him?

   Mighty is He in His works, and strong in the fear of God.

   Tending the flock of the Lord in faith and righteousness,

   He will let none among them in their pasture to be weak.

   He shall lead them all in holiness,

   And there shall be among them no arrogance to oppress them. (xvii. 23 ff.)

   May God purify Israel against the day of mercy by His blessing,

   Against the day of their election in the presence [58] of His Christ.

   Blessed are they who live in those days,

   To see the good things of the Lord which He will do in the generation to
   come,

   Under the rod of the correction of Christ the Lord in the fear of His God,

   In the wisdom of the spirit and of righteousness and power.

   A good generation shall there be in the fear of God An the days of mercy.
   (xviii. 6–10.)

   From these passages we may gather the writer’s sentiments. He is deeply
   afflicted by the calamities of his people. The oppression of the heathen,
   the ruin of his city, the pollution of the temple, the reign of paganism,
   the supremacy of unrighteousness, have broken his patriotic heart; and while
   he owns that his countrymen are justly punished for past iniquities,
   iniquities shared by prince and priest and people, he all the more looks
   forward to the coming Messiah, who shall bring salvation unto Israel. From
   their lost independence, from their present weakness and insignificance, he
   turns his longing gaze to better times; he hopes for supernatural help; he
   glows with anticipations of the glories of Messianic victories. This hope is
   based on God’s promise to David of eternal dominion, which, though for a
   time diverted into another channel (the Asmonæan dynasty), should be
   restored in due time under David’s greater Son. The time is come for the
   revelation of God’s mercy to His chosen nation; Israel is at its lowest
   point of misery; this is the Lord’s opportunity. Let Him send Messiah to
   expel the unrighteous rulers, to cleanse the holy city from the heathen,
   yea, to drive them out of the holy land, and to gather together in one the
   dispersed of the people. But the large promises of God are not satisfied by
   Messiah’s reign over Israel alone. His kingdom is over all the earth. He
   unites all peoples under His rule, and magnifies the name of God by
   extending His dominion wherever man has his dwelling-place; and this, not
   for a time only, but for ever.

   Thus far the poet has exhibited only the earthly aspect of Messiah’s
   kingdom, His conquests and power, obtained without weapons of war, by the
   word of His mouth. But lest this idea of Christ should seem too worldly, he
   hastens to show the significance of this universal sway, and its moral and
   religious effects. Messiah is Himself sinless, and reigns in a sinless
   kingdom. All unrighteousness shall be abolished; there shall be no iniquity
   in the restored Israel. Peace shall reign, and holiness shall triumph.
   Violence and injustice shall be found no more; the pride of sinners shall be
   extirpated. So grand an idea of wisdom and purity shall be exhibited in
   Israel, that distant nations shall flock to Jerusalem to see her glory and
   to learn her ways.

   All this is to happen in God’s good time, which, in the author’s view, is
   not far distant, even as the apostles of the Lord thought that the end was
   near, and expected to see the great consummation in their own days.

   The Messiah, in this pseudo-Solomon’s conception, is not very and eternal
   God. It is indeed not always clear whether God or the Christ is the subject
   of some of his paragraphs; but, taking one passage with another, we conclude
   that he regarded Messiah as the agent and organ of God, but not God Himself.
   He is God’s deputy and executes His will; but Jehovah is the supreme King,
   and appoints Him as ruler and judge. Here we see the defective view of the
   nature and work of Messiah which meets us in the Jews of the New Testament.
   The faith is strong, the expectation is immediate, but the idea is
   erroneous, worldly, carnal, very far inferior indeed to that in the Book of
   Enoch, which is much more spiritual and nearer the truth.

   To turn to another point. The writer has a strong faith in the Resurrection
   of the righteous in the time of Messiah, though he does not give expressly
   his notion of the sequence of events at that period. That sinners shall rise
   again does not enter into his view; nor does he state what shall be the fate
   of the unbelieving portion of the Gentile world in the great future; though
   he probably held with his contemporaries that exclusion from the kingdom of
   Messiah was equivalent to eternal death or annihilation. But the righteous
   are to rise again in order to share the blessings of the Messianic reign,
   and to shine with an everlasting light, and, as another pseudo-Solomon says
   (Wisd. iii. 7), “to run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.” In the
   other world retribution is to fall upon the sinners; they shall be condemned
   in the day of judgment, and be destroyed as by fire. And sinners, in his
   view, are not merely those who are guilty of moral offences or vulgar
   wickedness; he calls by this name the hypocrites and men-pleasers
   (anthrōpareskoi) of his own nation. Against these he inveighs in the
   bitterest terms. They are profane, unclean as the very heathen whose vices
   they imitated; their heart is far from the Lord; they have provoked the God
   of Israel to anger, so that He has grievously afflicted His people for their
   sake. And he calls for vengeance upon them in this world as well as in the
   next. May their life, he prays, pass in poverty and distress; may their
   sleep be vexed with pain and their waking with misery; may the work of their
   hands never prosper; may their old age be childless; may their dead bodies
   be cast forth dishonoured, and may ravens pick out their eyes. “So may God
   destroy all those who work iniquity; for the Lord is a Judge, great and
   mighty in righteousness” (Ps. iv.).

   While thus uncompromising in his denunciation of iniquity and in his
   assurance of God’s inflexible justice, the writer is not insensible to the
   hope that exists for sinners when they repent. If a man is ashamed of his
   sins and confesses them, God will forgive him and cleanse his soul. But he
   must be patient under the rod, and take the chastisement as the merciful
   correction of his error: “He that prepareth his back for the scourge shall
   be justified from iniquity; for the Lord is good to those who endure
   discipline” (Ps. ix., x.).

   These are the Psalmist’s words concerning the resurrection:—


   They that fear the Lord shall rise again (anastēsontai) to life everlasting.

   And their life shall be in the light of the Lord, and shall fail no more.
   (iii. 16.)

   For the Lord will spare His holy ones,

   And will blot out their offences by chastisement;

   For the life of the righteous is for ever;

   But sinners shall be taken away for destruction,

   And their memorial shall no more be found;

   But the mercy of the Lord is upon the holy,

   And His mercy upon them that fear Him. (xiii. 9–11.)

   The holy of the Lord shall live in Him for ever;

   The Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are His holy ones.

   The holy of the Lord shall inherit life in gladness. (xiv. 2, 7.)

   Thus also he speaks concerning the retribution that awaits the
   unrighteous:—


   Not so are sinners and transgressors. . . .

   Who have not remembered God,

   That the ways of men are always known unto Him,

   And He understandeth the treasure-chambers (tamieia) of the heart before
   they are made.

   Therefore their inheritance is Hades, and darkness, and destruction;

   And they shall not be found in the day of the mercy of the righteous. (xiv.
   4–6.)

   He raises me up unto glory,

   But He lays the proud to sleep [59] unto eternal destruction in dishonour,

   Because they knew Him not. (ii. 35.)

   The mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, while He executes His
   judgment,

   To sever between the just and the sinner,

   To repay sinners for ever according to their works;

   And to have mercy on the righteous while the sinner is humbled,

   And to repay the sinner for what he did to the righteous. (ii. 37–39.)

   He fall; because evil was his fall and he shall not rise to life again;

   The destruction of the sinner is for everlasting,

   And God shall not remember him when He visits the righteous;

   This is the portion of sinners for everlasting. (iii. 13-15.)

   They who do iniquity shall not escape the judgment of the Lord,

   They shall be seized as by skilled enemies;

   For the mark of destruction shall be upon their foreheads,

   And the inheritance of sinners shall be destruction and darkness,

   And their iniquities shall pursue them onto Hades beneath;

   Their inheritance shall not be found for their children,

   For their iniquities shall make the horse of sinners desolate;

   And sinners shall perish in the day of the Lord’s judgment for ever,

   When God shall visit the earth in His judgment,

   To repay sinners for everlasting. (xv. 9 ff.)

   It will be seen that the destiny of a man is made to depend entirely upon
   his doings during life. He has the power of deciding upon his own course.
   “O God,” it is said (Ps. viii.), “our works are at our choice, and we have
   power over our soul to do righteousness or iniquity with the works of our
   hands.”

   The Psalter ends with a hymn of praise to God as the Creator, Preserver, and
   Ruler of all things, who, as the writer has already said, from present
   confusion and calamity evolves harmony and peace.


   Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest,

   who hath ordained lights in the path of heaven to divide the time from day
   to day,

   And they have never strayed from the way which Thou commandedst them.

   In the fear of God hath been their way every day,

   From the day in which God created them, and shall be for evermore;

   And they have wandered not from the day in which God created them,

   From the generations of old they have never forsaken their way,

   Save when God bade them at the command of His servants. [60] (xviii. 11-14.)
     _________________________________________________________________

   [42] Syn. of Laodicea, Can. 59: hoti ou dei idiōtikous psalmous legesthai en
   tē ekklēsia. Zonaras and Balsamon explain the term idiōt. psalm. thus: ektos
   tōn rnʹ psalmōn tou Dabid heuriskontai kai tines heteroi legomenoi tou
   Solomōntos einai kai allōn tinōn, ohus kai idiōtikous hōnomasan oi pateres
   kai mē legesthai en tē ekklēsia dietaxanto. They are mentioned among the
   Apocrypha or Antilegomena in the Catalogue of “The Sixty Books” (ap.
   Westcott, Can. of N. T., Append. D. xvii.).

   [43] Codex Gr. Theol. 7. It is described by Hilgenfeld (Zeitschr. 1868, p.
   136), who considers it superior in correctness to the Augsburg MS.

   [44] In both of these lists we find the title psalmoi kai ōdē Solomōntos;
   the latter adding stichoi ͵brʹ = 2100. The Synopsis is in vol. ii. p.154 of
   the Bened. edition of Athanasius. The Catalogue of Nicephorus is given in
   App. xix. of Canon Westcott’s work on The Canon of the New Testament.

   [45] Ed. Schwartze et Peterman, Berlin 1851.

   [46] vii. 105, p. 98, in Canon Churton’s very useful work, lately published,
   The Uncanonical and Apocryphal Scriptures, London 1884. It is called the
   Second Book of Esdras in the Anglican Version. The Latin runs: “Tunc non
   poterit quis ut deprecetur pro aliquo in illo die.” Another allusion to the
   same passage is made by Jerome, Adv. Vigilant. c. 10: “Tu vigilans dormis et
   dormiens scribis et propinas mihi librum apocryphum, qui sub nomine Esdræ a
   te et similibus tui legitur, ubi scriptum est, quod post mortem nullus pro
   aliis gaudeat deprecari; quem ego librum nunquam legi.”

   [47] Divin. Instit. lib. iv. 18: “Solomon, filius ejus qui Hierosolymam
   condidit, eam ipsam perituram esse in ultionem sanctæ crucis prophetavit:
   ‘Quod si avertimini a me, dicit Dominus, et non custodieritis veritatem
   meam, rejiciam Israel a terra quam dedi illis; et domum hanc, quam ædificavi
   illis in nomine meo, projiciam illam ex omnibus; et erit Israel in
   perditionem et in improperium populo; et domus hæc erit deserta; et omnis
   qui transibit per illam admirabitur et dicet: Propter quam rem fecit Dominus
   terræ huic et huic domui hæc mala? Et dicent: Quia reliquerunt Dominum Deum
   suum, et persecuti sunt regem suum dilectissimum Deo, et cruciaverunt illum
   in humilitate magna, propter hoc importavit illis Deus mala hæc.’”—On the
   last part of this passage the commentator (ap. Migne, vi. p. 509) remarks:
   “Hæc nescio ex qua traditione adjecit, quorum nulla 1 Reg. ix, aut 2,
   Paralip. vii. vestigia apparent.”

   [48] Ps. xvii.5: kai su ōmosas autō peri tou spermatos autou eis ton aiōna,
   tou mē ekleipein apenanti sou basileion autou. Test. XII. Patr. v. 22: orkō
   gar ōmose moi kurios mē ekleipsein to basileion mou ek tou spermatos mou
   pasas tas hēmeras heōs aiōnos.

   [49] The MSS. give anemos; but anomos is an almost certain emendation of
   Ewald.

   [50] This manuscript came originally from Constantinople. How it was lost
   cannot now be ascertained. It is not even mentioned in the existing
   Catalogue of the Augsburg MSS., Hilgenf. p. 135.

   [51] 4 Esdr. x. 46.

   [52] Ps. xvii. 9: anthrōpon allotrion genou; hēmōn (hēritōn, A). For the
   unmeaning hēritōn Ewald would read hērōōn and explain “the race of heroes”
   to be that of Alexander.

   [53] I here gladly acknowledge my obligations to M‘Clintock and Strong’s
   Cyclopædia, art. “Psalter of Solomon,” to Hilgenfeld’s edition of the
   Psalter in his Zeitschrift, 1868, pp. 133 ff., and to that of Geiger (Augsb.
   1871); also to Langen’s Das Judenthum in Paläst. (Freiburg, 1866), and to
   Wittichen’s Die Idee des Reiches Gottes (Göttingen 1872), pp. 155 ff.

   [54] Referring probably to such passages as Isa. xlix. 22, lxvi. 20; Zeph.
   iii. 10.

   [55] Christos; churios, as Lam. iv. 20. In Isa. xlv. 1, some of the Fathers
   read tō christō mou kuriō instead of Kurō. See Barnab. Ep, xii. 11; Tertull.
   Adv. Jud. vii.; Cypr. Testim. i. 21; cf. St. Luke ii. 11.

   [56] The MS, has eleēsei, which seems plainly wrong. Fr. and Hilg, read
   stēsei. Whiston: “will grind:’ I would suggest aloēsei “will thresh.” Geiger
   retains eleēsei, and translates: “has mercy’ on all people who fear before
   Him.” But this is inappropriate.

   [57] En pneumari agiō. Cf. Isa. lxiii. 10, 11.

   [58] En anaxei Christou autou. The word anaxis seems to be wholly unknown.
   Ecclesiastical Greek recognises sunaxis—communion. Geiger translates: “in
   the kingdom of His anointed.” It may mean “exaltation.” In a fragment of
   Æschylus anaxia occurs in the sense of “kingdom.”

   [59] Koimizōn, which Fritzsche alters into komizōn unnecessarily, for the
   Psalmist has the authority of Euripides for this use of the word:

           . . . geneōn
   tau [eus amphipurō
   koimizei phlogmō Kronidas Hec. 472 ff.
   Cf. too in the Hebrew, 1 Kings iii. 20; 2 Kings iv. 21.

   [60] The tautology in my version is a close rendering of the Greek, which,
   we must remember, is not the original
     _________________________________________________________________
     _________________________________________________________________

II.

APOCALYPTICAL AND PROPHETICAL.
     _________________________________________________________________

  THE BOOK OF ENOCH [61]

   In the Epistle of St. Jude the following passage occurs (vers. 14, 15): “And
   to these also, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the
   Lord came with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all,
   and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they
   have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have
   spoken against Him.” The question immediately arises, Is the apostle quoting
   from some writing extant in his day, or citing merely a prophecy preserved
   by tradition? The language does not help to a solution of the inquiry. Jude
   writes: “Enoch proephēteuse . . . legōn.” This might be said equally of an
   actual quotation or of a traditional report. But when it was discovered that
   the Fathers and other early writers often referred to a writing of Enoch and
   quoted sentences therefrom, it was obvious that they were acquainted with
   some document which bore the patriarch’s name, and which was extensively
   known in early Christian centuries. [62] Thus, in the Epistle of Barnabas
   (as it is called), a work composed at the end of the first Christian
   century, we read (iv. 3): “The final stumbling-block hath approached,
   concerning which it is written, as Enoch [63] says, For to this end the Lord
   hath shortened the times and the days, that His beloved may hasten and come
   into the inheritance.” In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and in the
   Book of Jubilees, the words of Enoch are frequently cited, and the
   resemblances to passages in our work are numerous. In the former, at least,
   nine passages contain distinct references to Enoch’s prophetical writings;
   and in the latter not only is the book often used without acknowledgment,
   but it is also expressly mentioned. Justin Martyr does not quote it by name,
   but his views concerning the angels and their connection with man are
   plainly identical with and derived from this book. [64] That Irenæus made
   use of it is evident. Thus he says: [65] “Enoch also, pleasing God without
   circumcision, man though he was, discharged the office of legate towards the
   angels,” a fact nowhere mentioned but in our work; “and was translated, and
   is preserved still as witness of the just judgment of God” (chaps. xiv.,
   xv.). Tertullian seems to have regarded it as inspired. “These things,” he
   writes, [66] “the Holy Ghost, foreseeing from the beginning the future
   entrance of superstitions, foretold by the mouth of the ancient seer
   Enoch.” He adopts Enoch’s story of the fall of the angels (which, indeed, is
   common to other of the Pseudepigrapha), and their introduction of mechanical
   arts, sorcery, and astrology; and while acknowledging that it was not
   received into the Jewish Canon (armarium Judaicum), he endeavours to show
   how it could have been preserved in the Deluge and handed down to Christian
   times, and that it was rejected by the Jews because it too plainly testified
   of Christ. Origen took a lower view of its authority, but he refers to it
   more than once, [67] using its language and adopting the ideas, as emanating
   from one of the greatest of prophets. Clement of Alexandria [68] regards it
   with a certain respect while denying its inspiration. “I must confess,” says
   St. Augustine, [69] “that some things of Divine character were written by
   Enoch, the seventh from Adam, since this is testified by the Apostle Jude in
   his canonical Epistle; but they are deservedly excluded from the Jewish
   Scriptures, because they lack authority and cannot be proved genuine.” In
   the Apostolic Constitutions the book, is reckoned among Apocrypha, and it is
   placed in the same category in the Synopsis Athanasii and the Catalogue of
   Nicephorus. By the fifth century the book seems to have sunk out of sight,
   and little or nothing more was heard of it till Scaliger (1540–1609)
   discovered some fragments of it in an unpublished MS. of the Chronographia
   of Georgius Syncellus (A.D. 792), and printed them. The extracts are given
   by Fabricius, by Laurence and Dillmann, and of them all but one are found in
   our present text of Enoch. The exception is a short passage about the doom
   pronounced on the mountain where the angels made their impious conspiracy,
   and on the sons of men involved in their crime. The extracts in Syncellus’
   work tend to show that the Book of Enoch was extant in the Eastern Church
   for some time after it had practically disappeared from the Western. That
   the book was also in the hands of the Jews of medieval times has been proved
   by references in the Zohar, a kind of philosophical commentary upon the law,
   which contains the most ancient remains of the Cabala. [70] Thus we read:
   “The Holy and the Blessed One raised him (Enoch) from the world to serve
   Him, as it is written, ’For God took him.’ From that time a book was
   delivered down which was called the Book of Enoch. In the hour that God took
   him, He showed him all the repositories above; He showed him the tree of
   life in the midst of the garden, its leaves and its branches. We see all in
   his book.” And again, “We find in the Book of Enoch, that after the Holy and
   Blessed One had caused him to ascend, and showed him all the repositories of
   the superior and inferior kingdom, He showed him the tree of life, and the
   tree respecting which Adam had received a command; and He showed him the
   habitation of Adam in the Garden of Eden:” Further traces of the book have
   been discovered in other Rabbinical writings, but we need not linger on
   these.

   From the above and similar allusions it was clear to all scholars that a
   book extant under the name of Enoch had been well known in earlier days; but
   for some centuries nothing more certain came to light; the appetite of
   critics had nothing more definite to feed upon. It remained for the great
   traveller Bruce to satisfy the long-unappeased desire for further
   information. In the year 1773, Bruce astonished the learned world by
   claiming to have secured in Abyssinia, and brought safely home, three copies
   of an Ethiopian version of the Book of Enoch. An idea, indeed, had long
   prevailed (whence originating it is hard to say) that such a version did
   exist; and it was thought at one time that a certain tract, transmitted from
   Egypt, and purchased by Peiresc for the Royal Library at Paris, was the
   identical work. This was found not to be the case; and warned by former
   disappointment, scholars awaited the examination of Bruce’s MSS. with some
   anxiety. Of the three copies brought to Europe, one, a most magnificent
   quarto, was presented by the finder to the Library at Paris, and another to
   the Bodleian at Oxford; the third, kept in his own possession, was included
   in a MS. of the Scriptures, where it is placed immediately before the Book
   of Job; assuming an unquestioned position among the canonical books. On
   hearing that Paris possessed this treasure, Dr. Woide, librarian of the
   British Museum, immediately set out for France, armed with letters to the
   ambassador desiring him to procure the learned scholar access to the work.
   This was done, and Dr. Woide transcribed the whole book, and brought the
   transcript with him to England. His knowledge of Ethiopic was not sufficient
   to enable him to attempt a translation. He might have spared himself much
   trouble had he been aware that Oxford possessed a copy of the work; but the
   University itself received the present very quietly, and let it rest
   undisturbed on its shelves for many years. The Parisian MS. was noticed in
   the Magasin Encyclopédique by the Orientalist, De Sacy, who published
   therein a translation of certain passages. But it was not till the year 1821
   that the book was fully brought before the world. In that year Dr. Laurence,
   then Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and afterwards Archbishop of Cashel,
   published a translation of the whole, with preliminary dissertation and
   notes. This has been more than once reprinted, and was supplemented in 1838
   by the publication of the Ethiopic text. The discovery of five different
   codices enabled Dillmann to put forth a more correct text; and his edition,
   with its German translation, introduction, and commentary, is now the
   standard work on the subject. There is another German version by Hoffmann,
   for the latter part of which he had the benefit of a MS. in the library of
   Frankfort-on-the-Maine, lately, brought from Abyssinia; and there is also an
   English translation by Professor Schodde, of America, printed at Andover in
   1882; but nothing seems likely to supersede Dillmann’s edition, unless,
   indeed, the discovery is some day made of the original text from which the
   Ethiopic version was rendered. There was indeed at one time a hope of some
   additional light from Mai’s discovery of a small fragment in Greek among the
   manuscripts of the Vatican Library. But further investigation led to the
   mortifying fact that no more was to be found; and as the portion extended
   only from ver. 42 to ver. 49 of chap. lxxxix., it was of little practical
   utility.

   As to the language of the original work, there is no reason to doubt that it
   was Hebrew or Aramæan. It is true that the fragments of Syncellus and those
   found by Mai in the Vatican Library are all in Greek, and it was from Greek
   exemplars that the quotations in the Fathers were made; but a critical
   examination of these extracts and of the Abyssinian version leads to the
   conclusion that they are derived from a Hebrew source. To favour this
   verdict, critics are induced by such evidence as the following: there are in
   the version a great number of Hebrew idioms and expressions equally foreign
   to Greek and Ethiopic, and all capable of being easily rendered back into
   Hebrew; the writer or writers were thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures
   in the original, and did not employ the Septuagint version; the names of the
   angels and archangels are of Hebrew etymology, viz. Uriel, Raphael, Raguel,
   Michael, Sarakael, Gabriel; the appellations of the winds can only be
   explained by a reference to the Hebrew, the east wind being so called
   because it is the first, according to Hebrew etymology, and the south,
   because the Most High there descends, the Hebrew term being capable of this
   interpretation. The names of the sun, Oryares and Tomas, are Semitic; so are
   those of the conductors of the months, Melkeel, Helemmelek, Meleyal, Narel,
   etc.; and, as Dr. Gloag observes, Ophanim, mentioned in connection with the
   cherubim and seraphim, is the Hebrew word for the “wheels” in Ezekiel. We
   are, then, tolerably secure in assuming the hypothesis of a Hebrew original.
   We have no criteria, to enable us to judge when it was translated into
   Greek. The Ethiopic version was made directly from the Hebrew, subsequently
   to the translation of the Old Testament into Ethiopic; but the date is
   undetermined. If it keeps as close to the original as the rendering of Holy
   Scripture does, it may be regarded as a faithful and accurate representation
   of the text.

   In the Ethiopic MSS. the work is divided into twenty sections; but the
   chapters are not uniformly arranged. Dillmann has retained the twenty
   sections, and subdivided them into 108 chapters, marking the verses of each
   chapter for greater distinctness of reference. This distribution is now
   generally followed.

   We will first give a sketch of the contents of the work before discussing
   its date and authorship, and gathering the lessons which it teaches.

   The book may be said roughly to consist of five parts, with an introduction
   and a conclusion. The general introduction, which is contained in the first
   five chapters, commences thus: “The words of blessing of Enoch, wherewith he
   blessed the elect and the righteous who shall exist in the time of trouble,
   when the wicked and ungodly shall be removed. Enoch, a righteous man, whose
   eyes God had opened, so that he saw a holy vision in the heavens, which the
   angels showed me, answered and spake.” The account proceeds in the first
   person; but throughout there is no consistency shown in this matter, changes
   from the first to the third person being frequent, and marking the hand of
   an editor or interpolator. The vision was for future generations, and in it
   he learned that God would come down on Mount Sinai with all His hosts to
   execute judgment, punishing the wicked, rewarding the righteous. Then occurs
   the original of the passage quoted by St. Jude: “Behold, He comes with
   myriads of saints to sit in judgment on them, and will destroy the ungodly,
   and contend with all flesh for everything which the sinful and ungodly have
   done and committed against Him.” Enoch observed the regular order of
   everything in heaven and earth, which obeyed fixed laws and never varied,
   and he contrasts the fate of the good and the evil; the latter shall find no
   peace and curse their day, while the former shall have light, joy, and peace
   for the whole of their existence. The above prelude affords a glimpse of the
   nature of the Book, with its allusions to natural phenomena and its
   eschatological views.

   The first division is contained in chaps. vi.–xxxvi., and is subdivided into
   three sections. [71] Section i. (chaps. vi.–xi.) narrates the fall of the
   angels and its immediate consequences. Seeing the beauty of the daughters of
   men, two hundred angels under the leadership of Semyaza bound themselves by
   an oath to take wives from among mortal women. For this purpose they
   descended on Mount Hermon, and in due time became parents of giants of
   fabulous height and size. These monsters devoured all the substance of men,
   and then proceeded to devour men themselves; they also taught mankind all
   kind of destructive arts, and vice flourished under their instruction. And
   men cried aloud to heaven, and the four archangels heard them, and appealed
   to God in their behalf. And God sent Uriel to Noah, the son of Lamech, to
   warn him of the flood, and ordered Raphael to bind Azazel, and lay him in a
   dark cleft in the wilderness, there to remain till the fire received him at
   the day of judgment. Gabriel had to set the giants one against the other
   that they might perish by mutual slaughter; to Michael fell the duty of
   punishing the evil angels; they were to witness the destruction of their
   offspring, and then be buried under the earth for seventy generations till
   the judgment day, when they should be cast into eternal fire. Then when all
   sin and impurity shall be purged away “at the end of all generations,” the
   plant of righteousness shall appear, and a new order of things; the saints
   shall live till they have forgotten a thousand children, and shall die in
   peace; the earth shall be fruitful, and be planted with all manner of trees;
   no corruption, or crime, or suffering shall be found therein; “in those
   days,” with God, “I will open the store-chambers of blessing which are in
   heaven, that they may descend upon the earth, and on the work and labour of
   men. Peace and righteousness shall join together, in all the days of the
   world and through all the families of the earth.”

   Section ii. (chaps. xii.–xvi.). After it has been said that Enoch was hidden
   from men’s sight, being wholly engaged with the holy ones, he himself tells
   how the good angels sent him to the fallen angels, whose intercourse with
   heaven was entirely cut off, to announce their doom. Terrified, they entreat
   him to write for them a petition to God for forgiveness; he complies with
   their request, leaves their unholy neighbourhood, and, retreating to the
   region of Dan, falls asleep, and has a vision of judgment, which he
   afterwards is commissioned to unfold to the disobedient angels. Their
   petition is refused now and for ever. And the dread answer was given to him,
   as he relates, in a vision, wherein he was rapt to the palace of heaven and
   the presence of the Almighty, of which he gives a very noble description.

   Section iii. (chaps. xvii.–xxxvi.) gives an account of Enoch’s journeys
   through heaven and earth under the guidance of angels, in the course of
   which he is made acquainted with the wonders of nature hidden from man, with
   places, powers, and beings which have relation to revealed religion,
   Messianic hopes, and the last days. He is taken to the place where the
   storm-winds dwell, and the sun obtains its fire, and the oceans and the
   rivers of the nether world flow; he saw seven luminous mountains in the
   south-east, formed of precious stories, and the place where the disobedient
   stars were suffering punishment, [72] and that which, though now untenanted,
   shall be the penal-prison of the rebel angels after the final judgment when
   they are released from their present chains. On inquiring for what crime the
   stars (regarded as living beings) were thus sentenced, he is informed by
   Uriel that they had transgressed the commandment of God and came not forth
   in their proper season. He next passes to the west, where is Hades, the
   region where the souls of the dead are kept till the judgment; it is divided
   into four places, unto one of which all souls are assigned. In the course of
   his journeys he comes again to the seven fiery mountains, and in a beautiful
   valley finds the tree of life, whose fruit shall be given to the elect. Then
   going to the centre of the earth, he sees the holy land and the city
   Jerusalem, described as “a blessed and fruitful place, where there were
   branches continually sprouting from the trees planted therein.” Here, too,
   he was shown the accursed valley (Gehenna), where the wicked shall suffer
   their eternal penalty in the sight of the righteous, who shall reign in
   Zion, and praise the Lord for His just vengeance on the evil-doers. He
   proceeds from Jerusalem eastward to the earthly Paradise, planted with
   odorous and fruit-bearing trees, lying at the very ends of the earth, and
   containing the tree of knowledge, of which Adam and Eve ate. Here, where the
   vault of heaven rests on the earth, he beholds the gates whence come forth
   the stars and the winds, and, instructed by the angel, writes their names
   and order and seasons. And, arriving at the north, he sees the three gates
   of the north-wind, and, going westward and southward, the three gates of
   these winds. Conducted again to the east, he praises the Lord who created
   all these wondrous things for His glory.

   The second division, contained in chaps. xxxvii.–lxxi., is called “The
   second Vision of Wisdom,” and consists of three parables, allegories, or
   similitudes, through the medium of which Enoch relates the revelations which
   he received concerning the ideal future and the secrets of the spiritual
   world. Many of the matters which he mentions we should treat as physical
   phenomena; in his view they assume a higher relation, and are therefore
   differentiated from the objects described in the preceding division which
   concerned only this earth and the lower heavens. The first similitude or
   figurative address (chaps. xxxviii.–xliv.) speaks first of the time when the
   separation between the righteous and sinners shall be made, and the angels
   shall dwell in communion with holy men. Then Enoch relates how he was
   carried to the extremity of heaven, and saw the celestial abodes prepared
   for the righteous, where they bless and magnify the Lord for ever and ever,
   and the special seat ordained for himself. He beholds the innumerable hosts
   of angels and sleepless spirits who surround the throne of God, and
   particularly the four archangels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel, to
   whom are assigned special duties. He is shown the secrets of heaven, the
   weighing of men’s actions in the balance, the rejection of sinners from the
   abodes of the just, the mysteries of thunder and lightning, winds, clouds,
   dew, hail, mist, sun, and moon. Of these heavenly bodies the regular course
   and motion are their praise of God for creation and preservation, and this
   ceaseless praise is their rest. He finds the habitation of Wisdom in heaven,
   as man on earth would not receive her, but welcomed only iniquity. And
   lastly, he observes how the stars are called by name, and their courses
   weighed and examined, and recognises in their regularity and obedience a
   picture of the life of the righteous on earth.

   The second similitude (chaps. xlv.–lvii.) describes the coming of “the
   Chosen One,” the Messiah, and the operations of His judgment on the good and
   the evil. Sinners shall be taken from the earth and sent down to hell to
   await punishment; the righteous shall dwell with Messiah in peace and
   happiness. Enoch proceeds to give further description of the person and
   office of Him whom he calls “Son of man.” To this important delineation we
   shall have to refer in detail hereafter; suffice it here to give a mere
   outline of the representation. He sees this Personification of righteousness
   in company with the Ancient of Days, and he is taught that He alone shall
   reveal all mysteries; He shall overthrow all worldly powers, among which are
   included sinners who scorned and refused to praise the Lord, and shall put
   an end to all unrighteousness. The glorification of the elect after the
   final judgment is further revealed, how they shall drink of the fountain of
   wisdom and righteousness; and hold full communion with the saints and
   angels. The Son of man existed before the world was created, and shall be in
   the presence of God for ever, and shall bring light and healing to the
   people. In Him all wisdom and righteousness dwell, and at His presence
   iniquity passes away like a shadow. In Messiah’s days shall be made the
   great change in the condition of the good and evil, and even then it will
   not be too late for the evil to repent, for great is the mercy of the Lord
   of spirits. At this time, too, shall occur the resurrection of the dead, the
   righteous rising with their bodies to enjoy Messiah’s kingdom, the souls of
   the wicked being consigned to the place of punishment. There shall then be
   no use for metals; gold, silver, copper are needed no longer; no earthly
   riches can save one from judgment. A further vision shows the place and
   instruments of punishment. In the midst of this account is inserted an
   interpolation concerning the Noachic Deluge, which is of later date than the
   visions, and is derived from a different source. Then follows a prophetical
   view of the last battle of the worldly powers against the Theocracy, and
   their overthrow before Jerusalem; and the final vision displays the
   Israelites returning to their own land from all countries whither they have
   been dispersed, and falling down before the Lord of spirits.

   The third address (chaps. lviii.–lxix.) contains a further description of
   the blessedness of the righteous contrasted with the misery of sinners in
   Messiah’s kingdom. In it are inserted many particulars concerning the
   Deluge, of which Noah, not Enoch, is the narrator. Probably these portions
   have been introduced by a later editor desirous of showing how the earlier
   judgment was a figure and an anticipation of that in Messiah’s days.
   Likewise, there is in this address a recapitulation, with some differences,
   of those physical details which have been previously noticed. The
   blessedness of the saints is comprised in light, joy, righteousness, and
   everlasting life. Amid the intimations of the future thus given, Enoch also
   obtains some curious lore concerning thunder and lightning, the manner and
   object of their operation. Here follows the interpolation concerning the
   Flood, which introduces Noah receiving the vision “in the five hundredth
   year, on the fourteenth day of the seventh month, of the life of Enoch.”
   This is evidently out of place and disconnected with the immediate subject.
   While showing to Noah the course of the coming judgment, the angel unfolds
   various meteorological secrets, attributing all the forces of nature to the
   agency of spirits. Then the narrative returns to the Messianic revelation,
   and the seer is shown the new Jerusalem, the abode of the elect; he sees the
   judgment of the saints, he hears their praise and worship of Almighty God in
   union with all the host of heaven; he hears the sentence passed on the
   mighty of this world, who shall in vain supplicate the mercy of the Son of
   man. Five chapters now succeed, containing a further account of revelations
   made to Noah concerning the Flood, and his deliverance therefrom, and
   concerning the fall of the angels and their punishment, and the warning
   thence derived for the mighty of later times. The names of these angels are
   given, and the special evil which each effected. One of these is called
   Penemue, and his sin was that he taught men “the art of writing with ink and
   paper, whereby many have gone astray from that time to the present.”

   The Book of Similitudes concludes with some personal details about Enoch
   himself. An interpolated paragraph relates that he was taken up to Paradise;
   but the genuine text describes how in an ecstasy he was raised to heaven,
   and God promised to give him a seat among the saints in the future Messianic
   kingdom.

   The third division of the book, comprised in chapters lxxii.–lxxxii., is
   entitled “The Book of the Revolutions of the Lights of Heaven,” and is
   occupied greatly with astronomical details, which do not give a high idea of
   the scientific attainments of the writer. The attempt to bring into a system
   the notions concerning such phenomena scattered throughout the Old
   Testament, in the popular ignorance of science, could not fail to produce
   much error and confusion, and has little interest for the theologian, unless
   we conceive that they have been introduced in order to oppose current
   heathen ideas, in which case they would have a certain historical use. This
   portion of the work falls conveniently into three sections. Section 1 treats
   of the courses of the sun, moon, and stars. The regular revolutions of the
   sun are explained, and the varying duration of day and night at different
   seasons; the waxing and waning of the moon are described and accounted for;
   it is shown how four intercalary days are rendered necessary, and how the
   luminaries go forth from the twelve gates of heaven. In section 2 the abodes
   and operations of the winds are noticed. Three of them proceed from each
   quarter, and occasion various effects, healthful or pernicious. At the end
   is an allusion to seven mountains, rivers, and islands, which cannot be
   identified. The third section reverts to the subject of the sun and moon,
   and gives the names by which they are known and further particulars
   respecting their connection with one another. All these matters, which Uriel
   showed to Enoch, the seer divulges to his son Methuselah. The angel likewise
   revealed to him the changes in the order of nature which shall occur in the
   days of sinners, in punishment of whom all seeming irregularities are sent.
   Before his spirit returned to earth, Enoch is bidden to read the heavenly
   tablets wherein all the future was written, even “all the deeds of men, and
   all the children of flesh upon earth, unto the remotest generations.” On
   perusing this record; Enoch breaks forth in praise of God; he is then
   conducted by “three holy ones” (i.e. probably the three archangels inferior
   to Michael) to his own home, and informed that he should be left there for
   one year, during which he should teach what he had learned to his children;
   and the section concludes with his address to Methuselah, directing him to
   preserve with all care the writings committed to him, and to note the
   importance of correctness in matters connected with the reckoning of the
   year, and the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, and the changes of the
   seasons.

   The fourth division of the book (chaps. lxxxiii.–xci.) recounts two visions
   which Enoch saw before he was married, while sleeping in the house of his
   grandfather Malalel (Mahalaleel). The first vision relates to the Flood; he
   sees the earth sinking into a great abyss, and prays that God will not
   wholly destroy the whole race of man, satisfying His just wrath by punishing
   only the evil. The second vision is more comprehensive and important; it
   embraces the history of the world from Adam until the establishment of the
   kingdom of Messiah. The account is derived almost entirely from the
   canonical Scripture, a transparent symbolism being used throughout. Men are
   represented under the image of animals, the patriarchs and chosen people
   being denoted by domesticated animals, as cows and sheep, while heathen and
   oppressive enemies are designated as wild beasts and birds of prey. The
   fallen angels are called stars; and the colours of the animals are
   symbolical—white for purity and righteousness, black for wickedness and
   disobedience. Thus concerning primitive man we read, a white bullock (Adam)
   sprang forth from the earth, and then a white cow (Eve), and afterwards
   there came a black bullock (Cain) and a red (Abel). The black bullock slew
   the red which vanished from the earth. And this black bullock begat many
   black cattle. And the white cow gave birth to a white bullock (Seth), which
   in turn begat much white cattle. In this way the history is allegorised. The
   offspring of the intercourse of the angels with the daughters of men is
   adumbrated as elephants, camels, and asses. The archangels’ defeat of these
   sinful spirits Enoch beholds from a high place where he remains till the day
   of judgment. Thence he sees the advance of the Flood, and Noah’s
   preservation in the vessel; his three sons are respectively white, red, and
   black, and the severance of the Shemites from the others is distinctly
   noticed. The history of the Israelites is traced from Abraham to Moses, then
   to the settlement in the Holy Land; then we have the time of the Judges, and
   the annals are continued on through the Kings to the Exile. The restoration
   is duly chronicled, and oppressions under the Greeks and Syrians are darkly
   foreshadowed. In chap. lxxxix. the Lord delivers the sheep into the power of
   lions, tigers, and other beasts of prey, which began to tear them in pieces.
   He Himself forsook their house and tower, which, however, were not now
   destroyed. The seer’s words in the following paragraph have proved a crux to
   all interpreters. The Lord commits the punishment of the chosen people,
   represented as sheep, to seventy shepherds, who rule successively in four
   series, in the proportion of twelve, twenty-three, twenty-three, twelve. “I
   saw until three and twenty shepherds overlooked the herd, and they completed
   in their time fifty-eight times. Then were little lambs born of those white
   sheep, and they began to open their eyes and to see and to cry out to the
   sheep. And the sheep hearkened not unto them. And the ravens flew upon the
   lambs, and took one of them, and tore and devoured the sheep. And I saw
   horns grow upon those lambs, and the ravens threw down the horns, until one
   great horn grew, one from those sheep, and then their eyes were opened. It
   looked upon them, and cried unto them, and the youths (the lambs) saw it and
   ran unto it.” Then comes an account of a terrible conflict between the birds
   of prey and the lambs; but the former could not prevail against the horn.
   “He (the horn) struggled with them, and cried out for help. And there came
   the man who wrote the names of the shepherds and laid them before the Lord
   of the sheep, and he came to the assistance of the youth; and the Lord
   Himself came in wrath, and all who saw Him fled away before His face; while
   the birds assembled together, and brought with them all the sheep of the
   field to break the horn of the youth.” But their efforts are vain, and in
   the end they are themselves destroyed by the Lord. This defeat introduces
   the Messianic epoch, when Israel shall rise superior to the heathen, and
   Messiah shall judge all sinners, whether angels or men, and shall establish
   the new Jerusalem, which shall be filled with a holy people gathered from
   all quarters.

   This portion of the work closes with an address of Enoch to his children,
   exhorting them to lead a holy life, founding his lecture on the certainty of
   the future which the preceding visions have delineated.

   The fifth division of the book (chaps. xcii.–cv.) is called “An Instruction
   of Wisdom,” and contains the practical application of the four preceding
   portions, addressed by Enoch primarily to his own family, and then to all
   the inhabitants of the earth. He opens the subject by predicting the
   resurrection of the righteous and the destruction of sinners. “The
   righteous,” he says, “shall arise from sleep and advance in the way of
   righteousness, and his whole walk shall be in eternal goodness and grace.
   Mercy shall be shown him; he shall receive dominion, and walk in everlasting
   light; but sin shall perish in darkness for ever, and shall no more be seen
   from this day forward.” Before he begins his exhortation, he recounts in
   brief what he had seen in visions and had read in the heavenly tablets
   concerning the ten weeks of the world, of which seven belong to the
   historical past, three to the apocalyptical future. The first week is
   concerned with Enoch, the second with Noah, the third with Abraham, the
   fourth with Moses, the fifth with the building of the temple, the sixth with
   its destruction, the seventh with the introduction of an apostate
   generation. He intimates that he himself lived at the end of the first week.
   This would be in due accordance with the personification. The eighth week is
   the commencement of the Messianic era, when the sword of the righteous shall
   overcome the oppressors, and the new Jerusalem shall be established. In the
   ninth week the knowledge of Jehovah shall be spread over the world, and all
   men shall be forced to acknowledge His power and equity. The tenth and last
   week ushers in the final judgment on angels and men: the old world shall
   pass away, and a new heaven shall appear, and earthly life shall be merged
   in the heavenly. After this preliminary apocalyptical address, the hortatory
   portion follows, the admonitions to the righteous and to sinners being
   intermixed. The former are exhorted to continue stedfast in their integrity,
   and woe is denounced on various classes of the latter. The seer weeps to
   think of the oppression of the good at the hands of the evil, but is
   comforted by the knowledge of the final victory of the saints at the coming
   of Messiah, and the punishment of the unrighteous. Then he sternly
   reproaches sinners, detailing their folly in many instances, and showing
   what judgment shall be awarded them. Finally he turns again to the
   righteous, comforts them in their tribulations, exhorts them to hope and
   patience by exhibiting their future happy lot and blessedness. They can die
   in peace, because for them death is the entrance to a better life. And to
   enforce his words he solemnly adds: “I swear to you, ye righteous, by His
   mighty power and glory, by His kingdom and majesty, I comprehend this
   mystery, and have read the heavenly tablets, and have seen the book of the
   holy ones, and have found written therein that all goodness, joy, and honour
   are prepared for the spirits of those who have died in righteousness, and
   that with much good shall ye be recompensed for your troubles, and your lot
   shall be better than that of the living.” [73] And these books of his shall
   be handed down to posterity and translated into different languages, and
   shall be to the good a source of joy, righteousness, and wisdom, and all who
   believe in them and have learned the lessons there taught shall receive the
   reward. The section ends with the Lord’s own words: “I and my Son will unite
   Ourselves with them for ever, because they have walked in the paths of
   uprightness. And peace shall be upon you; rejoice, ye children of
   righteousness, in truth.”

   The book might naturally terminate here, but, apparently by another hand,
   two sections are added, one concerning the supernatural circumstances
   attending the birth of Noah and the prediction of the Flood (cvi.–cvii.);
   and the other consisting of a writing of Enoch respecting the reward of the
   righteous and the punishment of the wicked, composed, as he says, “for his
   son Methuselah, and for those who should come after him, and observe the law
   in the last days” (cviii.). Here he mentions how in his journeyings he has
   seen the place of torment, which he describes as a waste outside the earth,
   and a bottomless sea of fire. The work thus concludes with God’s promise to
   the righteous: “I will bring into brilliant light those who love my holy
   name, and set them each on his throne of glory; and they shall shine for
   endless ages; for righteous is the judgment of God, and to the true will He
   give truth in the habitation of uprightness. And they shall see how those
   who were born in darkness shall into darkness be cast, while the righteous
   shine. And sinners shall cry out, and shall see how these glow with light,
   and shall continue in their punishment all the times prescribed for them.”

   The uncritical receptivity of primitive Christianity regarded the name
   attached to this book as a sufficient attestation of its genuineness. Thus,
   as we have seen, Tertullian, while acknowledging that some in his day
   declined to accept the work, because it was not included in the “Armarium
   Judaicum,” the Hebrew canon, himself opined that it was written by Enoch,
   and either preserved in the time of the Flood, or restored by Noah under
   Divine inspiration. Nor have there been wanting some good people in our own
   times, with more credulity than critical ability, who have freely accepted
   the antediluvian authorship and endeavoured to prove that the writer was
   inspired to predict events down to modern times. I have seen some passages
   in our book distorted even to enunciate the claims and operations of the
   British and Foreign Bible Society and the sinister actions of Russian
   politics. But leaving these dreams, let us come to something more practical.
   No one nowadays believes that the patriarch Enoch had any hand in the
   composition of the book which bears his name. This appellation is only
   another example of the pseudepigraphic idea which dominated so many writers
   in the period immediately preceding and succeeding the commencement of the
   Christian era. The sanctity and remarkable destiny of Enoch, the hoar
   antiquity with which he was associated, designated him as a fit personage to
   be the mouthpiece of revelations designed for a special purpose and needing
   the authorisation of a great name. One who himself had been admitted to
   immediate intercourse with the Most High was peculiarly fitted to reveal
   Divine mysteries. That no allusion to the production is made in the Old
   Testament is obvious; that some portion of it was extant in the first
   Christian century is certified by the quotation in St. Jude’s Epistle. But
   this certainty will carry us but a little way, as no one can read the work
   without concluding that it is not the composition of one author or one age,
   but exhibits difference of origin and date; and if the section from which
   Jude took his extract presupposes a Jewish and pre-Christian source, other
   parts may be of quite another character and have no pretension to any such
   claim. It is a difficult matter (even when we have distributed the work into
   its several sections) to determine the relation of these parts to each
   other, and to assign to them their proper position in the treatise. There is
   no external testimony to appeal to, and we must be guided in our conclusions
   entirely by internal considerations.

   Now in all these writings occurs this marked characteristic. There is past
   history given in the form of revelation, combined with hopes and predictions
   of the future. In the former case events are pretty accurately represented,
   either actually or symbolically; in the latter the seer allows himself free
   latitude for the display of imagination and the possible development of
   previous prophetic hints. The difficulty consists in exactly defining the
   point where history terminates and prediction commences. Usually no hint is
   given of any such interchange; one phase passes into the other with nothing
   to mark the passage. If in any particular instance we could say with
   certainty, here the author writes of contemporary events, and here he
   crosses from the actual to the ideal, we should at once possess a criterion
   for determining the date of the composition. Some such opportunity is
   supposed to be found in chap. xc., where at ver. 16 the emblematical account
   of past history merges into the expectations of the future. The vision to
   which we refer (chaps. lxxxv.–xc.) traces the annals of Israel from Adam to
   the great consummation of mundane affairs. If our readers will refer to the
   previous account of the contents of the book, they will see that in this
   Apocalypse the chosen people are represented under the image of domesticated
   animals, while heathens and enemies are denoted by wild beasts and birds of
   prey. The allusions are fairly intelligible unto t