distinctly
described,
but
apparently
involves
only
earthly
relationships.
God's
judgment
on
wicked
men
and
demons
is,
however,
elaborately
pictured,
some-times
in
terms
hard
to
reconcile
with
the
less
transcen-dental
accounts
of
the
blessings
assured
to
the
Jewish
nation.
Each
of
the
patriarchs
is
represented
as
dealing
with
that
particular
virtue
or
vice
with
which
the
Biblical
account
associates
him,
and
also
as
fore-telling
appropriate
blessings
or
curses.
The
work
is
preserved
in
Greek
and
Armenian
translations.
6.
The
Ascension
of
Isaiah
is
a
composite
book
which
circulated
largely
among
the
Christian
heretics
of
the
3rd
century.
At
its
basis
lies
a
group
of
legends
of
uncertain
origin,
dealing
with
the
Antichrist
and
Beliar.
These
in
turn
are
identified
with
the
expecta-tion
that
Nero
would
return
after
death.
The
book,
therefore,
in
its
present
shape
is
probably
of
Christian
origin,
and
is
not
older
than
the
2nd
cent.,
or
possibly
the
latter
part
of
the
1st.
The
Isaiah
literature,
how-ever,
was
common
in
the
1st
cent.,
and
the
book
is
a
valuable
monument
of
the
eschatological
tendencies
and
beliefs
of
at
least
certain
groups
of
the
early
Christians.
Particularly
important
is
it
as
throwing
light
upon
the
development
of
the
Antichrist
doctrines.
It
exists
to-day
in
four
recensions
—
Greek,
Ethiopic,
Latin,
and
Slavonic.
7.
The
Apocalypse
of
Ezra
(Second
Esdras),
written
about
the
time
of
the
destruction
of
Jerusalem.
It
is
the
most
complete
expression
of
Pharisaic
pessimism.
Written
in
the
midst
of
national
misery,
it
is
not
able
to
see
any
relief
except
in
the
creation
of
a
new
world.
The
age
was
coming
to
an
end,
and
the
new
age
which
was
to
belong
to
Israel
would
presently
come.
The
udg-ment
of
Israel's
enemies
was
presently
to
be
established,
but
not
until
the
number
of
the
righteous
was
complete.
The
book
is
no
doubt
closely
related
to
the
Apocalypse
of
Baruch,
and
both
apparently
reproduce
the
same
originally
Jewish
material.
It
has
been
considerably
affected
by
Christian
hopes.
Both
for
this
reason
and
because
of
its
emphasis
on
generic
human
misery
and
sin,
with
the
consequent
need
of
something
more
than
a
merely
national
deliverance,
it
gives
a
prominent
position
to
the
Messiah,
who
is
represented
as
dying.
As
Second
Esdras
the
book
has
become
part
of
the
Apocrypha
of
the
OT,
and
has
had
considerable
in-fluence
in
the
formation
of
Christian
eschatology.
In
vll.
30-98
is
an
elaborate
account
of
the
general
Resurrection,
Judgment,
and
the
condition
of
souls
after
death;
and
it
is
this
material
quite
as
much
as
the
Messianic
prediction
of
chs.
xii-xiv
that
make
it
of
particular
interest
to
the
student.
It
is
possessed,
however,
of
no
complete
unity
in
point
of
view,
and
passes
repeatedly
from
the
national
to
the
ethical
(individual)
need
and
deliverance.
The
separation
of
these
two
views
is,
however,
more
than
a
critical
matter.
As
in
Mk
13,
the
two
illustrate
each
other.
8.
The
ApocalypseofBaruchisacompositework
which
embodies
in
itself
a
ground-work
which
is
distinctly
Jewish,
and
certain
sections
of
which
were
probably
written
before
the
destruction
of
Jerusalem.
Criticism,
however,
has
not
arrived
at
any
complete
consensus
of
opinion
as
regards
its
composition,
but
there
can
be
little
doubt
that
it
represents
the
same
apocalyptic
tendencies
and
much
of
the
material
which
are
to
be
seen
in
Second
Esdras.
Just
what
are
the
relations
between
the
two
writings,
however,
has
not
yet
been
clearly
shown.
The
probability
is
that
the
Apocalypse
of
Baruch,
as
it
now
stands,
was
written
in
the
second
half
of
the
1st
cent,
a.d.,
and
has
come
under
the
in-fluence
of
Christianity
(see
esp.
chs.
xlix-li).
Like
Second
Esdras,
it
is
marked
by
a
despair
of
the
existing
age,
and
looks
forward
to
a
transcendental
reign
of
the
Messiah,
in
which
the
Jews
are
to
be
supremely
fortunate.
It
exists
to-day
in
Greek
and
Syriac
versions,
with
a
strong
probability
that
both
are
derived
from
original
Hebrew
writing.
This
apocalypse,
both
from
its
probable
origin
and
general
characteristics,
is
of
particular
value
as
a
document
for
understanding
the
NT
literature.
In
both
the
Apocalypse
of
Baruch
and
Second
Esdras
we
have
the
most
systematized
eschatological
picture
that
has
come
down
to
us
from
Pharisaism.
9.
The
Sibylline
Oracles
are
the
most
important
illustration
of
the
extra-Palestinian-Hellenistic
apoca-lyptic
hope.
As
the
work
now
exists,
it
is
a
collection
of
various
writings
dealing
with
the
historical
and
future
conditions
of
the
Jewish
people.
The
most
important
apocalyptic
section
is
in
Book
iii.
97-828,
written
in
Maccabaean
times.
In
it
the
punishment
of
the
enemies
of
the
Jews
is
elaborately
foretold,
as
are
also
the
future
and
the
Messianic
Judgment.
This
third
book
was
probably
edited
in
the
middle
of
the
2nd
century
by
a
Christian.
In
general,
however,
this
Sibylline
literature,
although
of
great
extent,
gives
us
no
such
distinct
pictures
of
the
future
as
those
to
be
found
in
the
Ezra-Baruch
apocalypses.
Shaileb
Mathews.
APOCRYPHA.—
The
term
'Apocrypha'
is
applied
to
a
body
of
literature
that
has
come
down
to
us
in
close
connexion
with
the
canonical
books
of
the
Bible,
and
yet
is
not
of
them.
This
term
(Gr.
apokrypkos,
'
hidden')
seems
to
have
been
used
to
specify
certain
documents
or
writings
that
were
purposely
hidden
from
general
public
contact,
either
because
of
their
supposed
sacred-ness,
or
to
retain
within
the
precincts
of
a
certain
sect
their
secret
wisdom
and
knowledge.
The
name
was
given
either
by
those
who
hid
the
books
or
by
those
from
whom
they
were
hidden.
All
such
books
bore,
as
their
alleged
authors,
the
names
of
notable
men
in
Hebrew
history.
These
names
were
not
sufficient
of
themselves
to
carry
the
books
over
into
the
canonical
collection
of
the
Bible.
The
term
applied
to
them
as
'apocryphal,'
that
is,
withheld
from
public
gaze
and
use,
was
at
first
rather
complimentary
to
their
character.
But
their
rejection
by
the
Jewish
Palestinian
body
of
worshippers,
as
well
as
by
the
larger
proportion
of
the
early
Church,
gradually
stamped
the
name
'
apocryphal
'
as
a
term
of
reproach,
indicating
inferiority
in
content
and
a
spurious
authorship.
Hence-forth
such
books
lost
their
early
sacredness,
and
became
embodied
in
a
collection
that
remained
entirely
out-side
the
Hebrew
Bible,
though
in
general
found
in
the
Septuagint
and
the
Vulgate.
The
word
'Apocrypha,'
as
used
by
Protestant
Chris-tians,
signifies
the
books
found
in
the
Latin
Vulgate
as
over
and
above
those
of
the
Hebrew
OT.
Jerome
incorporated
in
his
revision
and
translation,
in
the
main
as
he
found
them
in
the
Old
Latin
Version,
certain
books
not
found
in
the
Hebrew
canonical
writings.
These
books
had
been
carried
over
into
the
Old
Latin
from
the
Septuagint.
The
real
external
differences,
then,
between
the
Prot-estant
and
Rom.
Cath.
Bibles
to-day
are
to
be
traced
to
the
different
ideas
of
the
Canon
on
the
part
of
the
Jews
of
Palestine,
where
the
Hebrew
Bible
was
on
its
native
soil,
and
on
the
part
of
the
Jews
of
Alexandria
who
translated
that
same
Hebrew
Bible
into
Greek.
With
this
translation,
and
other
books
later
called
the
Apoc-rypha,
they
constructed
a
Greek
Bible
now
called
the
Septuagint
(the
Seventy).
In
the
transfer
of
the
works
from
the
Septuagint
to
the
Old
Latin
and
to
the
Vulgate,
there
is
some
con-fusion
both
as
to
their
names
and
their
order.
These
so-called
Apocryphal
books
may
be
roughly
classified
as
follows:
—
1.
Historical:
Firat
and
Second
Maccabees,
and
First
Esdras
[Third
Esdras
in
Vulgate]
.
2.
Legendary:
Additions
to
Esther,
History
of
Susanna,
Songof
the
Three
Holy
Children,
Bel
and
the
Dragon,
Tobit,
Judith.
3.
Prophetical:
Baruch
(ch.
6
being
the
'Epistle
of
Jeremy'),
Prayer
of
Manasses.
