II. Hebrew Literature in General

1. The Old Testament a National Literature

Ethnically speaking, the term Hebrew literature not only connotes the books of the Old Testament, but includes the Apocrypha (q.v.), the laterpseudepigraphicbooks(see Pseudepigrapha), the writings of Josephus a National Literature. and Philo (qq.v.), the Talmud and the Targums (qq.v.; also see Bible Versions,a. V.). .This discussion is necessarily limited to the Hebrew literature of the Old Testament. Thus limited, the term Hebrew literature covers what may be called the classic books of a nation. This, in turn, involves other implicates, one of the most important and suggestive of which is that this body of writings is an evolution, the product of different ages, the work of many individuals, even of whole schools or tendencies, therefore expressing changing ideals under differences of environment and condition, and employing a wide range of literary form. It would be expected that, as in the case of other national literature, Hebrew writings would not remain wholly unaffected by the peoples which conditioned the national life of the Israelites, this influence coming out even in those portions which most closely expressed its ideals--a fact which recent study has confirmed. But one has not to go far in the investigation of this literature before discovering that the body of writings included within the Old Testament is not all of Hebrew writings existent and available in the period which the Old Testament covers. To phrase it differently, the Old Testament is a selected literature-not selected, however, in the sense that it was deliberately chosen to represent Hebrew thought and feeling, but rather selected by its own fitness, persisting by its own right to live becaxse of its appeal to the heart and conscience of the people to whom it came and because of its complete expression of their varying hopes, fears, and convictions. And this exclusive position was won not without a struggle. For nearly three centuries other books strove for admission to this circle of writings, were for a time admitted and used by the Jewish diaspora, but were finally rejected by what, outside of the Roman and Greek branches of the Christian Church, is regarded as the best judgment of the Hebrew race with its Palestinian traditions behind it. It is a remarkable fact that the one book of Hebrew production which bears any trace of the author's hope that it would be included among the canonical books did not succeed in forcing its entrance (cf. Ecclus., Prologue). And that other literature was once available becomes evident when one notes references to such writings as the book of Jasher (Josh. x. 13), the book of the wars of Yahweh (Num. xxi. 14), the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel (II Kings x. 34 and often), and numerous other works quoted as sources in various parts of the extant literature (cf. C. F. Kent, Student's Old Testament, ii. 10 sqq.; New York, 1905).