Companion to the Bible Part 22

7:25-27. But along with this true development of doctrine on the basis of the Old Testament he holds the unscriptural doctrine of the preexistence of souls (chap. 8:20), whether borrowed from the Platonists, or taken from some other source. Some have thought that he also holds matter to be eternal. But when he speaks of G.o.d's almighty hand as having "created the world out of formless matter" (chap. 11:17), he may have reference simply to the chaotic state described in Gen. 1:2.

Jerome left the Latin translation of this book unrevised. The text, therefore, of our Latin Bibles is that of the "Old Latin" version, as it existed before his day.

VI. ECCLESIASTICUS.

15. The Greek t.i.tle of this book is, _The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach_, or more briefly: _The Wisdom of Sirach_. The Latin t.i.tle, _Ecclesiasticus_, that is, _Ecclesiastical_ book, designates it as a book that was read for edification in the churches, though not included in the Hebrew canon. We give, mainly from Keil, the summary of its contents: This copious book is rich in its contents, embracing the whole domain of practical wisdom, and, what is inseparable from this, the fear of G.o.d. These virtues it describes, commends, and inculcates according to their origin and nature, their characteristics and results, and their realization in life, in a rich collection of proverbs, with rules and counsels for the regulation of life in all its manifold relations. The whole is after the manner of the Proverbs of Solomon, only with much greater particularity of details, extending to all the spheres of religious, civil, and domestic life, and giving rules of conduct for the regulation of the same. This collection of wise maxims, moral precepts, and rules of life const.i.tutes a united whole, in which the particular proverbs, counsels, and warnings are strung together in accordance with an a.s.sociation of ideas that is often quite loose. Interwoven with these are a number of connected discussions and prayers. The author closes his instructions with two extended discourses, in the former of which he celebrates the works of G.o.d in creation (chaps. 42:15-43:33); in the latter, the praises of the famous men of Scripture from Enoch to Simon the high priest, the son of Onias (chaps. 44-50). He then adds in the final chapter a thanksgiving and prayer (chap. 51). This book, like that of Wisdom, is of great value for the insight which it gives into the theology and ethics of the Jews at the time of its composition.

16. It is undoubtedly genuine, having been written in Hebrew by the man whose name it bears, and translated into Greek in Egypt by his grandson, as stated in the prologue. But the age of the translator, and consequently of the author, is a matter of dispute. The last of the worthies described by him is "Simon, the son of Onias, the high priest."

There were two high priests of this name, both sons of Onias, but the author's eulogy is applicable only to the former, who flourished about 310-290 B.C. It is a natural inference that Jesus, the son of Sirach, wrote not many years afterwards. The translator, again, speaks of himself as coming into Egypt "in the eight and thirtieth year, when Euergetes was king." Does he mean the eight and thirtieth year of his _own_ life, or of _Euergetes_' reign? If the latter, then of the two kings that bore the surname Euergetes the latter only (B.C. 170-117) can be understood, since the former reigned only twenty-five years. If the former, as is most probable, then we naturally understand Euergetes I., who reigned B.C. 217-222, during which period the translation must have been executed.

The Greek text, as exhibited in ma.n.u.scripts, is in a very corrupt and confused state, with many variations and transpositions. The Latin text is that of the "Old Latin," which Jerome left, as he did that of the book of Wisdom, without revision.

VII. BARUCH AND THE EPISTLE OF JEREMIAH.

17. This is the only apocryphal book which a.s.sumes the character of prophecy. It is formed after the model of Jeremiah, and ascribed to Baruch his friend. But its spuriousness is generally admitted. Besides historical inaccuracies, such as are not conceivable in the case of Baruch, the fact that its author employed the Septuagint translation of Jeremiah and Daniel mark it as of a later date. Keil a.s.signs it to about the middle of the second century B.C. The book professes to be a letter written by Baruch in the name of the captive Jews in Babylon to their brethren at Jerusalem, and consists of two well-marked divisions, the first of which, extending to chap. 3:8, is, in the opinion of some, a translation from an original Hebrew doc.u.ment. This part contains, after an introductory notice, a confession of sin with prayer for deliverance.

The second part begins with an address to the covenant people, in which they are rebuked for neglecting the teachings of divine wisdom, and encouraged with the hope of returning prosperity when they shall obey her voice. Chaps. 3:9-4:8. Zion is then introduced lamenting over the desolations which G.o.d has brought upon her and her children (chap.

4:9-4:29), and afterwards comforting them with the hope of certain deliverance and enlargement (chaps. 4:30-5:9). It is generally agreed that the second part was originally written in Greek, and some think that the same is true of the first part also.

18. There is another Epistle of Baruch preserved to us in the Syriac, which is inserted in the London and Paris Polyglotts. It is addressed to the nine and a half tribes, and "made up of commonplaces of warning, encouragement, and exhortation." Smith's Bib. Dict., Art. Baruch.

19. There is a spurious _Epistle of Jeremiah_ which appears in the Vulgate and our English version as the sixth chapter of Baruch. It is ent.i.tled: "Copy of an epistle which Jeremiah sent to those who were to be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians to make announcement to them, as it was commanded him by G.o.d." It purports to be a warning to these captives against the idolatrous practices which they shall witness in Babylon, and is made up of a long discourse on the impotence of the idols which the heathen worship, written in a rhetorical style, in imitation of Jer. 10:1-16. Its author is supposed to have been a h.e.l.lenistic Jew who lived towards the end of the Maccabean period.

VIII. ADDITIONS TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

20. The Greek version of the book of Daniel, besides many departures from the Hebrew and Chaldee original, contains three large additions.

The first of these is: _The Prayer of Azarias, and the Song of the Three Children in the Fiery Furnace_, which is appended to the third chapter.

The second is: _The History of Susanna_, who is exhibited as a pattern of chast.i.ty, and was delivered from the machinations of her enemies through the wisdom of Daniel. This is placed sometimes before the first chapter of Daniel, and sometimes after chapter 12. The third addition is: _The Story of Bel and the Dragon_, which stands at the end of the book, and is falsely ascribed in the Septuagint to the prophet Habakkuk.

Its design is to show the folly of idolatry. According to Keil, these three pieces were composed in Egypt towards the end of the third, or the beginning of the second century before Christ.

IX. THE PRAYER OF MANa.s.sES.

21. A genuine prayer of Mana.s.seh, king of Judah, existed at the time when the books of Chronicles were composed. 2 Chron. 33:18, 19. But the existing prayer of the Apocrypha, though upon the whole beautiful and appropriate, cannot claim to be a true representative of that prayer.

"The author," says Keil, "was a pious Jew who lived at all events before Christ, though his age cannot be more accurately determined."

X. THE BOOKS OF THE MACCABEES.

22. These are five in number. The first two pa.s.sed from the Greek into the early Latin versions, and thence into the Vulgate and the English versions, and were received as canonical by the Council of Trent. Two others are found in some ma.n.u.scripts of the Septuagint. The fifth exists only in Arabic. "If the historic order were observed, the so-called _third_ book would come first, the fourth would be an appendix to the _second_, which would retain its place, and the _first_ would come last; but it will be more convenient to examine the books in the order in which they are found in the MSS., which was probably decided by some vague tradition of their relative antiquity." Smith's Bible Dict., Art.

Maccabees. The name _Maccabees_ is applied to the family and posterity of the ill.u.s.trious Jewish priest Mattathias, who maintained a long and successful struggle with the Syrian kings, and finally succeeded in establishing for a period the independence of the Jews. The origin of the term has been variously explained; but the most common account of it is, that it comes from a Hebrew word signifying _hammer_, so that the adjective _Maccabee_ (Greek [Greek: Makkabaios]) will denote _Hammerer_.

According to Josephus (Antiq. 12, 6, 1) Mattathias was descended from one _Asmonaeus_: Hence the family of the Maccabees are also called _Asmoneans_.

23. _The first book of the Maccabees._ This is one of the most important of all the apocryphal books. It contains a narrative of the long and b.l.o.o.d.y struggle of the Jews, under their Maccabean leaders, for the preservation of their religion, and the deliverance of the nation from the yoke of their Syrian oppressors. The history bears the internal marks of authenticity and credibility, being distinguished by simplicity and candor. It is only when speaking of foreign nations that the writer falls into some inaccuracies. These do not detract from his trustworthiness in relating the affairs of his own nation through a period of forty years of the most eventful character (B.C. 175-135). The book is pervaded throughout by the Jewish spirit, and must have been written by a Palestinian Jew. Its date is uncertain, but may probably be placed somewhere during the government of the high priest John Hyrca.n.u.s (B.C. 135-106). According to the testimony of Origen, the book was originally written in Hebrew. With this agrees its internal character; for the Greek version of it contains many Hebraisms, as well as difficulties which are readily accounted for upon the supposition of a Hebrew original.

21. _The second book of Maccabees._ This book opens with two letters purporting to have been written by the Jews of Palestine to their brethren in Egypt, in which the former invite the latter to join with them in the celebration of "the feast of tabernacles in the month Caslen," that is, the feast of dedication established to commemorate the purification of the temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes.

To the latter of these is appended an epitome of the five books of Jason of Cyrene, containing the history of the Maccabean struggle, beginning with Heliodorus' attempt to plunder the temple, about B.C. 180, and ending with the victory of Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor, B.C. 161. Both of the letters are regarded as spurious. The second of them abounds in marvellous legends--how, upon the destruction of the first temple, the sacred fire of the altar was hid in a hollow pit without water; how, at the close of the captivity, it was found in the form of thick water, which being by the command of Nehemiah sprinkled on the wood of the altar and the sacrifices, there was kindled, when the sun shone upon it, a great fire, so that all men marvelled; how Jeremiah, at G.o.d's command, carried the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense to the mountain "which Moses ascended and saw the heritage of G.o.d," that is, mount Nebo (Deut. 34:1), and hid them there in a hollow cave, where they are to remain until the time that G.o.d shall gather his people together again, and be gracious to them.

The epitome of Jason's history begins some five years earlier than the history contained in the first book, and covers a period of about nineteen years; so that it is partly anterior to that history, partly supplementary, and partly parallel. Alexander's Kitto, Art. Maccabees.

The two books are entirely independent in their sources of information; and although the second cannot lay claim to the same degree of trustworthiness as the first, yet the general judgment of biblical scholars is that it is, in its main facts, authentic. But these are set forth with embellishments and exaggerations, in which the author manifests his love for the marvellous. Where the history of the two books is parallel, it agrees in its general outlines, but the details are almost always different, and sometimes they present irreconcilable discrepancies. In its religious aspect this book is very interesting. In the account of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons for their refusal to eat swine's flesh (chap. 7) the doctrine of the resurrection is plainly announced: "It is a thing to be desired," says the fourth son to the king Antiochus, "that one being put to death by men should wait for the hope of G.o.d that he shall be again raised up by him; but for thee there is no resurrection unto life" (v. 14). Where Jason composed his work cannot be determined. He cannot have lived long after the events which he describes, else he would have taken notice of the important events that followed. The author of the epitome contained in this book is believed to have been a h.e.l.lenistic Jew living in Palestine, who probably wrote in the first century before Christ.

25. _The third book of Maccabees._ This book does not belong to the Maccabean age, but to the earlier time of Ptolemy Philopator (B.C.

221-204). Its t.i.tle seems to have come simply from the similarity of its contents. It relates in a pompous and oratorical style how Ptolemy Philopator, being enraged at his failure to enter the sanctuary at Jerusalem, determined to wreak his vengeance on the Jews in Egypt, and a.s.sembled them for this purpose in the circus, that they might be trampled under foot by drunken elephants, but was hindered by the miraculous interposition of G.o.d; whereupon the king liberated the Jews, prepared for them a sumptuous feast, and gave them permission to take vengeance on their apostate countrymen. The narrative probably has a groundwork of truth with legendary embellishments, after the manner of the later Jews. Its author is believed to have been an Alexandrine Jew, but his age cannot be determined. It was never admitted into the Romish canon.

26. _The fourth book of Maccabees_ opens with a philosophical discussion respecting the supremacy of devout reason over the pa.s.sions, which is then ill.u.s.trated by the history of the martyrdom of Eleazar and the mother with her seven sons, an account of which we have in 2 Macc., chaps. 6 and 7. The author of this book was a Jew imbued with the spirit of the stoical philosophy. It has been falsely ascribed to Josephus.

27. _The fifth book of Maccabees_ exists only in Arabic. We draw our notice of it from Alexander's Kitto, according to which "it contains the history of the Jews from Heliodorus' attempt to plunder the treasury at Jerusalem till the time when Herod revelled in the n.o.blest blood of the Jews;" that is, from 184-86 B.C., thus embracing a period of 98 years.

The book is a compilation made in Hebrew, by a Jew who lived after the destruction of Jerusalem, from ancient Hebrew memoirs or chronicles, which were written shortly after the events transpired. In the absence of the original Hebrew, the Arabic versions of it, printed in the Paris and London Polyglotts, give the text upon which we must rely.

PART III.

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.

FIRST DIVISION, GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER XXIV.

LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

1. In the _character of the original languages of the Bible_, as in every thing else pertaining to the plan of redemption, G.o.d's hand is to be reverently acknowledged. It was not by chance, but through the provident care of Him who sees the end from the beginning, that the writers of the Old Testament found the Hebrew, and those of the New Testament the Greek language ready at hand, each of them so singularly adapted to the high office a.s.signed to it. The stately majesty, the n.o.ble simplicity, and the graphic vividness of the Hebrew fitted it admirably for the _historical_ portions of the Old Testament, in which, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the direct intuition of G.o.d's purposes and of the deep springs of human action superseded the necessity of philosophical argument and deduction. The historians of the Old Testament did not pause to argue concerning their statements of men's motives and G.o.d's designs. They saw both with wonderful clearness of vision; and they found in the simplicity and directness of the Hebrew syntax, so far removed from all that is involved and complex, a suitable vehicle for their simple and direct statements of truth. How congenial the Hebrew language is to _poetic_ composition, as well in its rugged and sublime forms as in its tender and pathetic strains, every reader of the Old Testament in the original understands. The soul is not more at home in the body than is sacred poetry in the language of the covenant people. As the living spirit of the cherubim animated and directed the wheels of the chariot in Ezekiel's vision, so does the spirit of inspired poesy animate and direct the words and sentences of the Hebrew language: "When the cherubim went, the wheels went by them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creatures was in them." Ezek. 10:16, 17. The same characteristics fitted the Hebrew language most perfectly for _prophetic_ vision, in which the poetic element so largely prevails.

2. Turning now from the Hebrew of the Old Testament to the Greek of the New, we have a language very different in its structure; elaborate in its inflections and syntax, delicate and subtle in its distinctions, rich in its vocabulary, highly cultivated in every department of writing, and flexible in an eminent degree; being thus equally adapted to every variety of style--plain unadorned narrative, impa.s.sioned oratory, poetry of every form, philosophical discussion, and severe logical reasoning: in a word, a language every way fitted to the wants of the gospel, which is given not for the infancy of the world but for its mature age, and which deals not so much with the details of particulars as with great principles, which require for their full comprehension the capacity of abstraction and generalization. In the historical records of the Old Testament, and in its poetic and prophetic parts, the Hebrew language was altogether at home. But for such compositions as the epistle to the Romans the Greek offered a more perfect medium; and here, as everywhere else G.o.d's providence took care that the founders of the Christian church should be furnished in the most complete manner.

3. We find, accordingly, that centuries before our Lord's advent, preparation began to be made in the providence of G.o.d for this change in the language of the inspired writings. One result of the Babylonish captivity was that Hebrew ceased to be the vernacular of the ma.s.ses of the people, and a form of Aramaean took its place. Chap. 14, No. 4.

After the return of the Jews from this same captivity and their reestablishment in their own land, the spirit of prophecy was also withdrawn, and the canon of the Old Testament brought to a close. Thus the cessation of Hebrew as the spoken language of the people, and the withdrawal of the spirit of prophecy were contemporaneous events. The canon was locked up in the sacred language, and the _interpreter_ took the place of the _prophet_. "The providential change of language suggested a general limit within which the voice of inspiration might be heard, as the fearful chastis.e.m.e.nts of the captivity turned men's minds to the old Scriptures with a devotion unknown before." Westcott's Introduc. to the Study of the Gospels, chap. 1.

4. But the conquests of Alexander the Great (B.C. 334-323) brought the Greek language and the Greek civilization into Asia and Egypt, as a sure leaven destined to leaven the whole ma.s.s. To this influence the Jews could not remain insensible. It reached even Palestine, where they naturally clung most tenaciously to the Aramaean language and to the customs of their fathers. But out of Palestine, where the Jews were dispersed in immense numbers, it operated more immediately; especially in Egypt, whose metropolis Alexandria was, after the age of Alexander its founder, one of the chief seats of Grecian learning. To the Jews of Alexandria the Greek language was vernacular. By them was executed, as we have seen, under the patronage of the Egyptian king, the first version ever made of the Hebrew Scriptures, namely, that called the Septuagint (Chap. 16, Nos. 1-7), which was begun, if not completed, in the latter part of the third century before Christ. Though this version encountered bitter opposition on the part of the unbelieving Jews _after_ the establishment of the Christian church, in consequence of the effective use made of it against them by Christian writers, it was received from its first appearance and onward with general favor. The h.e.l.lenistic Jews--those using the Greek language and conforming themselves to Grecian civilization--made constant use of it, and the knowledge of it was very widely diffused beyond the boundaries of Egypt.

In our Saviour's day it was in very general use, as the abundant quotations from it in the New Testament show; and it must have contributed largely to the spread of the knowledge of the Greek language among the Jewish people in and out of Palestine. Though the Roman empire succeeded to that of the Greeks, the Roman could not supplant the more polished Greek tongue, with its immense and varied literature. On the contrary, the Greek language penetrated into Italy, and especially into Rome, the metropolis of the civilized world, where, in our Saviour's day, Greek literature was in high repute, and the Greek language was very generally understood. Thus, in the good providence of G.o.d, the writers of the New Testament, also, found ready at hand a language singularly adapted to their service.

Biblical scholars have noticed the significant fact that of the long list of names in the sixteenth chapter of Romans, the greater number belongs to the Greek language, not to the Latin.

"The flexibility of the Greek language gained for it in ancient time a general currency similar to that which French enjoys in modern Europe; but with this important difference, that Greek was not only the language of educated men, but also the language of the ma.s.ses in the great centres of commerce." Westcott in Smith's Bible Dict., Art. h.e.l.lenist.

5. Respecting the _character_ of the New Testament Greek there was in former times much controversy, often accompanied with unnecessary heat and bitterness. One cla.s.s of writers seemed to think that the honor of the New Testament was involved in their ability to show the cla.s.sic purity and elegance of its style; as if, forsooth, the Spirit of inspiration could only address men through the medium of language conformed to the cla.s.sic standard of propriety. Another cla.s.s went to the opposite extreme, speaking in exaggerated terms of the Hebraisms and solecisms of the New Testament writers. The truth lies between these extremes. The style of the New Testament is neither cla.s.sical nor barbarous. Its characteristics are strictly conformable to the history of its origin. (1.) Its basis is not the Greek of Plato and Xenophon, but the so-called h.e.l.lenic or common dialect which arose in the age of Alexander the Great, when "the previously distinct dialects, spoken by the various sections of the h.e.l.lenic nation, were blended into a popular spoken language." Winer, Gram, of the New Test., sec. 2. The Alexandrine Jews doubtless learned it not so much from books as from the daily intercourse of life, and it probably had its provincial peculiarities in Alexandria and the adjacent region. (2.) In Jewish usage this common Greek dialect received an Hebraic coloring from the constant use of the Septuagint version, which is a literal rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, of course with the retention of many Hebrew idioms. Only such thorough Greek scholars as Josephus and Philo could rise above this influence. The New Testament writers manifest its power in different degrees; for, as it respects Hebraisms, they do not by any means stand on a common level. (3.) As the Aramaic--the so-called Syro-Chaldaic--was the language of the ma.s.s of the people, the style of the New Testament writers received a tinge from this also. (4.) More than all, the style of the New Testament receives a peculiar impress from the fact that the authors were Jews writing under the full influence of a Jewish education and a Jewish faith, with the superadded element of Christianity. It is the phenomenon of the spirit and thoughts of Jewish Christians embodied in the language of Greece; and this at once separates the writings of the New Testament by a wide interval from all purely cla.s.sic compositions. The apostolic writers imposed on the Greek language an arduous task, that of expressing ideas foreign to the conceptions of the most cultivated among the pagan authors; ideas partly common to the old Jewish and the Christian religions, partly peculiar to Christianity. This could only be done by giving to existing terms a new and higher meaning, whereby they a.s.sumed a technical character wholly unknown to the cla.s.sic writers.

"Compare particularly the words: _works_ (_to work_, Rom. 4:4), _faith_, _to believe in Christ_, or _to believe_ absolutely, _confession_, _righteousness_, _to be justified_, _to be chosen_, _the called_, _the chosen_, _the saints_ (for Christians), _edification_ and _to edify_ in a figurative sense, _apostle_, _to publish the good tidings_ and to _publish_ absolutely for Christian preaching, the adoption of _baptisma_, _baptism_, for _Christian baptism_, perhaps _to break bread_ for the _holy repast_ (the _Agape_ with the communion), _the world_, _the flesh_, _fleshly_, in the known theological sense," etc.

Winer's Gram, of the New Test., sec. 3.

6. From all the abovenamed causes the language of the New Testament received a form differing widely from the cla.s.sic style, but admirably adapted to the high office a.s.signed to it. To those who study the New Testament in the original, the peculiarities of its language offer a wide and interesting field of inquiry. But for the common reader the above hints will be sufficient.