Chapter three addresses the texts of the Apocrypha related to Jewish wisdom. In ancient Israel wisdom was associated with Proverbs and the education of elite males, especially scribes. But there were important developments in wisdom, each phase expanding on the previous one without rendering it obsolete. The wisdom texts of the Apocrypha are analyzed both in terms of how they fit within the earlier history of wisdom genres, and how they reflect the changes of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Theological themes such as revelation are expanded within these texts, and social issues such as gender, class, and Jewish identity come into sharper focus. Wisdom is more present as a female figure and is at times a cosmic savior figure or involved in creation (similar to Isis). Wisdom is also identified with law (Ben Sira and Baruch), and is seen as a force in Israelite history (Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon). In these texts Wisdom is also personified as Woman Wisdom. Texts treated here are Ben Sira (or Sirach), Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, Letter (or Epistle) of Jeremiah, Fourth Maccabees, and Fourth Baruch (or Paralipomena of Jeremiah).
{"title":"Wisdom Texts","authors":"L. M. Wills","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.8","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter three addresses the texts of the Apocrypha related to Jewish wisdom. In ancient Israel wisdom was associated with Proverbs and the education of elite males, especially scribes. But there were important developments in wisdom, each phase expanding on the previous one without rendering it obsolete. The wisdom texts of the Apocrypha are analyzed both in terms of how they fit within the earlier history of wisdom genres, and how they reflect the changes of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Theological themes such as revelation are expanded within these texts, and social issues such as gender, class, and Jewish identity come into sharper focus. Wisdom is more present as a female figure and is at times a cosmic savior figure or involved in creation (similar to Isis). Wisdom is also identified with law (Ben Sira and Baruch), and is seen as a force in Israelite history (Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon). In these texts Wisdom is also personified as Woman Wisdom. Texts treated here are Ben Sira (or Sirach), Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, Letter (or Epistle) of Jeremiah, Fourth Maccabees, and Fourth Baruch (or Paralipomena of Jeremiah).","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115541223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chapter four addresses the apocalypses of the Apocrypha. The social conditions that gave rise to apocalypses are examined, as well as the elements that are typically found in these texts. The two axes of apocalypses are discussed, the historical/eschatological axis and the spatial/cosmic axis. The role of an angelic interpreter, the importance of the revelation of a transcendent reality through dreams or visions, and its transmission to the learned scribe through writing in books are also central to the apocalypses. The challenging recent discussions on the genre of apocalypse are also surveyed. The relation of apocalypses to wisdom texts is noted, as is the special role of the scribe from long ago, such as Enoch, Ezra, or Daniel, and the focus of apocalypses on the transmission of secret knowledge. The texts treated here are 1 Enoch—composed of what were likely separate texts: Book of the Luminaries, Book of the Watchers, Animal Apocalypse, Epistle of Enoch and the Apocalypse of Weeks, and Parables or Similitudes of Enoch—and also Jubilees, 2 Esdras (or 4 Ezra, 5 Ezra, and 6 Ezra), and 2 Baruch.
{"title":"Apocalypses and Visionary Literature","authors":"L. M. Wills","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.9","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter four addresses the apocalypses of the Apocrypha. The social conditions that gave rise to apocalypses are examined, as well as the elements that are typically found in these texts. The two axes of apocalypses are discussed, the historical/eschatological axis and the spatial/cosmic axis. The role of an angelic interpreter, the importance of the revelation of a transcendent reality through dreams or visions, and its transmission to the learned scribe through writing in books are also central to the apocalypses. The challenging recent discussions on the genre of apocalypse are also surveyed. The relation of apocalypses to wisdom texts is noted, as is the special role of the scribe from long ago, such as Enoch, Ezra, or Daniel, and the focus of apocalypses on the transmission of secret knowledge. The texts treated here are 1 Enoch—composed of what were likely separate texts: Book of the Luminaries, Book of the Watchers, Animal Apocalypse, Epistle of Enoch and the Apocalypse of Weeks, and Parables or Similitudes of Enoch—and also Jubilees, 2 Esdras (or 4 Ezra, 5 Ezra, and 6 Ezra), and 2 Baruch.","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128009435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-22DOI: 10.12987/9780300258769-014
{"title":"Index of Ancient Sources","authors":"","doi":"10.12987/9780300258769-014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300258769-014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128113355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-22DOI: 10.12987/9780300258769-013
{"title":"Index of Modern Authors","authors":"","doi":"10.12987/9780300258769-013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300258769-013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125509584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Index of Ancient Sources","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.16","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123914495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-22DOI: 10.12987/9780300258769-008
{"title":"FIVE Psalms, Prayers, and Odes","authors":"","doi":"10.12987/9780300258769-008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300258769-008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132574609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Index of Modern Authors","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.15","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128966239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chapter five is concerned with the psalms, prayers, and odes of the Apocrypha. A number of extra psalms were known in the ancient period, some of which found their way into the various versions of the Old Testament. Treated here are Psalms 151–155 and Psalms of Solomon, and also Prayer of Manasseh. Psalm 151 presents the words and thoughts of a young David. Psalms 152–155 include typical forms of the biblical psalms, such as lament and pleas for rescue. Prayer of Manasseh was an addition to 2 Chronicles. King Manasseh, the last king of Judah before the exile, was blamed for its fall, but in 2 Chronicles he was said to have been rehabilitated, and in some Greek Bibles his penitential prayer is included. Psalms of Solomon may never have been present as a text in an Old Testament, but was placed in an appendix to Codex Alexandrinus along with 1 and 2 Clement. As a result, it is included here. It presents the perspective of a smaller, more sectarian group within Judaism, the “congregations of the pious,” perhaps the Pharisees.
{"title":"Psalms, Prayers, and Odes","authors":"L. M. Wills","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pdrqtj.10","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter five is concerned with the psalms, prayers, and odes of the Apocrypha. A number of extra psalms were known in the ancient period, some of which found their way into the various versions of the Old Testament. Treated here are Psalms 151–155 and Psalms of Solomon, and also Prayer of Manasseh. Psalm 151 presents the words and thoughts of a young David. Psalms 152–155 include typical forms of the biblical psalms, such as lament and pleas for rescue. Prayer of Manasseh was an addition to 2 Chronicles. King Manasseh, the last king of Judah before the exile, was blamed for its fall, but in 2 Chronicles he was said to have been rehabilitated, and in some Greek Bibles his penitential prayer is included. Psalms of Solomon may never have been present as a text in an Old Testament, but was placed in an appendix to Codex Alexandrinus along with 1 and 2 Clement. As a result, it is included here. It presents the perspective of a smaller, more sectarian group within Judaism, the “congregations of the pious,” perhaps the Pharisees.","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"154 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121518909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-22DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300248791.003.0007
L. M. Wills
The conclusion presents some common themes of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha mainly reflect genres found in the Hebrew Bible, albeit in developed forms; these texts assume biblical precedents and play upon the forms of biblical literature. The fact that they were composed within a few hundred years means that similar themes are encountered: Deuteronomic theology, penitential theology, a focus on Jewish identity and competition with the nations roundabout, the personified role of Woman Wisdom, prayer, resurrection and immortality, and the reverence of Jewish heroes and heroines. The Apocrypha differ most markedly from each other in respect to whether they are Deuteronomic in their outlook and simply counsel the audience to strengthen their commitment to God’s law (Ben Sira, 1 and 2 Maccabees), or look to God for a solution (Jubilees, 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch). In addition, the word that has come to be translated as Jew, Yehudi in Hebrew and Ioudaios in Greek, is used in some of these texts as a means of asserting a now-threatened Jewish identity. The term Apocrypha and the texts that are included often reflect a boundary situation. They are texts that command our attention today.
{"title":"Conclusion","authors":"L. M. Wills","doi":"10.12987/yale/9780300248791.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300248791.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"The conclusion presents some common themes of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha mainly reflect genres found in the Hebrew Bible, albeit in developed forms; these texts assume biblical precedents and play upon the forms of biblical literature. The fact that they were composed within a few hundred years means that similar themes are encountered: Deuteronomic theology, penitential theology, a focus on Jewish identity and competition with the nations roundabout, the personified role of Woman Wisdom, prayer, resurrection and immortality, and the reverence of Jewish heroes and heroines. The Apocrypha differ most markedly from each other in respect to whether they are Deuteronomic in their outlook and simply counsel the audience to strengthen their commitment to God’s law (Ben Sira, 1 and 2 Maccabees), or look to God for a solution (Jubilees, 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch). In addition, the word that has come to be translated as Jew, Yehudi in Hebrew and Ioudaios in Greek, is used in some of these texts as a means of asserting a now-threatened Jewish identity. The term Apocrypha and the texts that are included often reflect a boundary situation. They are texts that command our attention today.","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130809118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-22DOI: 10.12987/9780300258769-005
{"title":"TWO Historical Texts","authors":"","doi":"10.12987/9780300258769-005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300258769-005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":187209,"journal":{"name":"Introduction to the Apocrypha","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131047498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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