VI. The Sacred Legends

VI. THE SACRED LEGENDS
The authors of the pseudepigraphic prophecies had chiefly in view the practical aim of imparting greater weight to the lessons and exhortations which they desired to address to their contemporaries by ascribing them to the sacred authorities whose names they bear. Not only however did they represent the holy men of God themselves as speaking to posterity but it was not uncommon at the same time to enrich the accounts we have regarding those personages with new material partly for the purpose of giving to the present generation a clearer view of the sacred narrative generally by the addition of copious details and partly by surrounding these saints of the olden time with a halo of glory to hold them up more and more unreservedly as shining models for Israel to imitate (comp. in general et seq.). Now there were two ways in which the things here in question viz. the amplifying and embellishing of the sacred story and adapting it to purposes of edification could be effected either by a continual modifying of the text of the Biblical narrative or by singling out certain personages in it and making them the heroes of fictitious legends. At first it was the former of these courses that was chiefly followed though afterwards the latter came more and more to be adopted as well. A classical example of each of those two modes of enriching the sacred story has come down to us from a comparatively early period from somewhere about the time of Christ. The so-called Book of Jubilees is an instance of the way in which the text was modified while in the Martyrdom of Isaiah we have a specimen of the fictitious legend. Other writings of this description are either known to us merely from quotations or have come down to us only in the shape of Christian versions of them. But a large amount of material of this sort is also to be found in writings the principal objects of which are different from those mentioned above. Legendary amplifications of the sacred narrative are also to be met with in almost all of the pseudepigraphic prophecies. This as appears from what has been already said is true above all of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs into which the biographical element enters so largely. And so for this reason it has also very many points of contact with the first of the two principal works which we will now proceed to consider.
1. The Book of Jubilees
Didymus Alexandrinus Epiphanius and Jerome quote an apocryphal book under the title τὰ Ἰωβηλαῖα or ἡ λεπτὴ Γένεσις from which they borrow various details connected with the history of the patriarchs. Then copious extracts from this same work are given by the Byzantine chroniclers Syncellus Cedrenus Zonoras Glycas from the beginning of the ninth down to the twelfth century. But at this latter point the book disappears and for a long time it was looked upon as lost till it turned up again in the present century in the Abyssinian Church where it was found in an Ethiopic version. It was published for the first time by Dillmann in a German translation (Ewald’s Jahrbücher ii.-iii. 1850-1851) and afterwards in the Ethiopic text (1859). Besides this Ethiopic version a large fragment of the work is likewise extant in an old Latin version which in like manner was not discovered till modern times the author of the discovery being Ceriani who found it in a manuscript in the Ambrosian Library at Milan and afterwards published it among the Monumenta sacra et profana (vol. i. fasc. 1 1861). This Latin fragment was also subsequently edited by Rönsch accompanied with a Latin rendering by Dillmann of the corresponding portion in the Ethiopic version as well as a commentary and several excursuses full of valuable matter (1874).
The contents of the book are substantially the same as those of our canonical Genesis for which reason it is also generally styled “the smaller Genesis” not because it is of smaller dimensions (on the contrary it is larger than the other) but because it is inferior in point of authority to the canonical book. It stands to this latter very much in the same relation as a Haggadean commentary to the text of the Bible. At the same time it is as far as possible from being an actual exposition of the text which in fact the Haggadean Midrash never pretends to be but simply a free reproduction of the early Biblical history from the creation of the world down to the institution of the Passover (Exodus 12) and that from the standpoint and in the spirit of later Judaism. The whole is made to assume the form of a revelation imparted to Moses on Mount Sinai by an “angel of the presence.” The object of the author in selecting this form was to secure at once for the new matters which he has to communicate the same authority as was already accorded to the text of the Bible. In his reproduction he has paid special attention to the matter of chronology the due fixing of this being without doubt one of the leading objects for which his book was written. He takes as the basis of reckoning the jubilee-period of 49 years which again resolves itself into seven year-weeks of seven years each and then in fixing the date of any event he determines the exact month of the exact year of the exact year-week of the exact jubilee-period in which it occurred. From this it is not difficult to see why the whole book was called τὰ Ἰωβηλαῖα “the Jubilees.” As the author was interested in chronology generally so he lays a peculiar stress upon the observance of the annual festivals and endeavours to prove with regard to each of the leading feasts that it had been instituted in the very earliest times; so for example with regard to Pentecost or the feast of Weeks (Ewald’s Jahrbb. ii. 245 iii. 8) the feast of Tabernacles (Ibid. iii. 11) the great Day of Atonement (iii. 46) and the feast of the Passover (iii. 68 sq.). This also serves to explain why it is that he happens to finish with the institution of the Passover (Exodus 12).
As the author seeks to reproduce the history of primitive times in the spirit of his own day he deals with the Biblical text in a very free fashion. Many things that did not happen to interest him or that he considered objectionable were either omitted or altered while others were still further amplified by the addition of numerous particulars of one kind or another. He is always by way of showing exactly where the founders of the primitive families or races got their wives from; he explains how far Genesis 2:17 had been literally fulfilled (comp. Justin Dial. c. Tryph. chap. lxxxi.) with whose help Noah brought the animals into the ark how the Hamitic family of the Canaanites and the Japhetic one of the Medes found their way within the sphere of the Semitic family why Rebecca had such a decided preference for Jacob[2410] and so on. He is acquainted with the names of the wives of the whole of the patriarchs from Adam down to the twelve sons of Jacob he knows the name of the particular peak of Mount Ararat on which Noah’s ark rested and many other things of a similar kind.[2411] All those embellishments and amplifications are entirely in the spirit of later Judaism. A peculiarly characteristic feature is the circumstance that the patriarchs are represented as paragons of moral excellence to even a greater extent than in the Biblical narrative itself and as being already in the habit of observing the whole of the Mosaic ritual of offering sacrifices and firstlings and of celebrating the annual festivals the new moons and the Sabbaths. It is further characteristic that everywhere the hierarchia coelestis is represented as forming the background of this world’s history. The angels good and evil alike are regularly interfering with the course of human affairs and inciting men to good and evil actions. We learn that the angels observed the law in heaven long before it was promulgated upon earth. For from the very beginning that law stood inscribed upon the heavenly tablets and it was only by degrees that it was copied from these and communicated to men. It appears moreover that the whole of the divine teachings had not been openly published to the people of Israel many of them having been communicated to the patriarchs only in secret books which were transmitted by them to later generations.
[2410] Dillmann in Ewald’s Jahrbb. vol. iii. p. 78 sq.
[2411] Ibid. p. 80.
Notwithstanding its many salient features of a characteristic nature it is still difficult to say amid what circles the book had its origin. Jellinek regards it as an Essenian work of an anti-Pharisaic tendency. But although a good many things in it such as its highly developed angelology its secret books its doctrine of the continued existence of the soul without any resurrection of the body (iii. 24) seem to favour the hypothesis of an Essenian origin yet there are others that but the more decisively preclude such a hypothesis. It says nothing about those washings and purifications that formed so important a feature of Essenism. It is true the author strongly reprobates the eating of blood still he by no means expresses his disapproval of animal sacrifices as was so emphatically done by the Essenes. Still less are we to think of a Samaritan origin as Beer is disposed to do for this hypothesis again is precluded by the fact that the author speaks of the garden of Eden the mount of the east Mount Sinai and Mount Zion as being “the four places of God upon earth” (ii. 241 251) and thus excludes Gerizim from the number. Again Frankel’s view that the book was written by a Hellenistic Jew belonging to Egypt is no less untenable. For as will be seen immediately the language in which it was originally composed was not Greek but Hebrew. There cannot be a doubt that the greater number of the peculiarities by which this book is characterized are such as it has in common with the prevailing Pharisaism of the time. And one might refer it to this without further ado were it not that several difficulties stand in the way such as its opposition to the mode of reckoning adopted in the Pharisaic calendar (ii. 246) and its doctrine of a continued existence of the soul apart from any resurrection (ii. 24). But it would be absolutely erroneous again if in consequence of these facts and because of the decided prominence given to the tribe of Levi (iii. 39 sq.) we were to suppose that a Sadducee was the author of our work for its elaborate angelology and its doctrine of immortality are of themselves sufficient to render such a supposition impossible. The truth of the matter would rather seem to be this that the author while of course representing in all essential respects the standpoint of the dominant Pharisaism of his time gives expression to his own personal views only in connection with one or two particulars here and there (so also for example Dillmann Rönsch Drummond).
That the book had its origin in Palestine is already evidenced by the fact that it was written originally in Hebrew For although the Ethiopic and the Latin versions have been taken from the Greek this does not alter the fact that the original was composed in Hebrew as is evident from explicit statements to this effect made by Jerome. The date of the composition of our work may be determined if not within very narrow limits yet with an approximate degree of certainty. For we find on the one hand that our author undoubtedly makes use of nay that he actually quotes the Book of Enoch. Then it is extremely probable on the other that the author of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs had our book before him when he wrote. In addition to this there is the further circumstance that we nowhere find any reference whatever to the destruction of Jerusalem; on the contrary it is assumed throughout to be still standing as the central place of worship (comp. above all iii. 42 69). From all this we may venture with tolerable probability to refer the composition of our work to the first century of our era.
On the various titles of the book see Rönsch Das Buch der Jubiläen pp. 461-482. Besides those mentioned above we also find in Syncellus and Cedrenus the title ἀποκάλυψις Μωυσέως (Syncellus ed. Dindorf i. 5 and 49; Cedrenus ed. Bekker i. 9).
The Ethiopic and Latin versions are both based upon a Greek text on the former of which see Dillmann in Ewald’s Jahrbb. iii. 88 sq. and on the latter Rönsch Zeitschr. für wissenchaftl. Theol. 1871 pp. 86-89. Idem Das Buch der Jubiläen pp. 439-444. But according to Jerome we must assume that the original text was in Hebrew. It may be conjectured that the Greek version would be prepared only at a comparatively late date say in the third century A.D. which would serve to explain how it happened that the book did not come into use in the Christian Church till the fourth century A.D.
It is obvious that in our work a liberal use is made of the Book of Enoch nay in one passage (Ewald’s Jahrbb. ii. 240) it is said of Enoch that: “He wrote in a book the signs of heaven in the order of their months in order that the children of men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of the various months.… He saw in his dream the past and the future what was going to happen to the sons of the children of men in their generations one after another down to the day of judgment. All this he saw and knew and wrote it down as a testimony and left it on the earth as a testimony for all the sons of the children of men and for their generations.” This and all that is said elsewhere regarding Enoch agrees entirely with the contents of our Book of Enoch. See in general Dillmann in Ewald’s Jahrbb. iii. 90 sq. Rönsch Das Buch der Jubiläen pp. 403-412.
On the allusions to our book in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs see p. 122. The quotations found in the Fathers and the Byzantine writers are collected by Fabricius in his Codex pseudepigr. Vet. Test. i. 849-864 ii. 120 sq. Rönsch Zeitschr. für wissensch. Theol. 1871 p. 69 sq. Idem Das Buch der Jubiläen pp. 250-382.
Didymus Alex. In epist. canonicas enarrationes ad 1 John iii. 12 (Gallandi Biblioth. patr. vi. 300): Nam et in libro qui leprogenesis [l. leptogenesis] appellatur ita legitur quia Cain lapide aut ligno percusserit Abel (to which quotation Langen has drawn attention in the Bonner Theol. Literaturbl. 1874 p. 270).
Epiphanius Haer. xxxix. 6: Ὡς δὲ ἐν τοῖς Ἰωβηλαίοις εὑρίσκεται τῇ καὶ λεπτῇ Γενέσει καλουμένῃ καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν γυναικῶν τοῦ τε Καΐν καὶ τοῦ Σὴθ ἡ βίβλος περιέχει κ.τ.λ.
Jerome Epist. 78 ad Fabiolam Mansio 18 (Vallarsi i. 488) speaking of the name of a place called Ressa (רִסָּה Numbers 33:21) observes: Hoc verbum quantum memoria suggerit nusquam alibi in scripturis sanctis apud Hebraeos invenisse me novi absque libro apocrypho qui a Graecis λεπτή id est parva Genesis appellatur; ibi in aedificatione turris pro stadio ponitur in quo exercentur pugiles et athletae et cursorum velocitas comprobatur. Ibid. Mansio 24 (Vallarsi i. 485) speaking again of the name of a place called Thare (תֶּרַח Numbers 33:27) observes: Hoc eodem vocabulo et iisdem literis scriptum invenio patrem Abraham qui in supradicto apocrypho Geneseos volumine abactis corvis qui hominum frumenta vastabant abactoris vel depulsoris sortitus est nomen.
In the Decretum Gelasii we find included among the Apocrypha a work entitled Liber de filiabus Adae Leptogenesis (see Credner Zur Gesch. des Kanons p. 218. Rönsch. pp. 270 sq. 477 sq.). It may be conjectured that here we have an erroneous combination of two titles belonging to two separate works. However we can see from this as well as from the circumstance of their being a Latin version of it that the book was also known in the West. On the indications of its having been made use of by occidental writers see Rönsch pp. 322-382 passim.
Syncellus ed. Dindorf i. 5: ὡς ἐν λεπτῇ φέρεται Γενέσει ἣν καὶ Μωϋσέως εἶναί φασί τινες ἀποκάλυψιν. i. 7: ἐκ τῆς λεπτῆς Γενέσεως. i. 13: ἐκ τῶν λεπτῶν Γενέσεως. i. 49: ἐν τῇ Μωϋσέως λεγομένῃ ἀποκαλύψει. i. 183: ἡ λεπτὴ Γένεσίς φησιν. i. 185: ὡς ἐν λεπτῇ κεῖται Γενέσει. i. 192: ὥς φησιν ἡ λεπτὴ Γένεσις. i. 203: ἐν λεπτῇ Γενέσει φέρεται.
Cedrenus ed. Bekker i. 6: καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς λεπτῆς Γενέσεως. i. 9: ὡς ἐν λεπτῇ φέρεται Γενέσει ἣν καὶ Μωσέως εἶναί φασί τινες ἀποκάλυψιν. i. 16: ὡς ἡ λεπτὴ Μωσέως Γένεσίς φησιν. i. 48: ὡς ἐπὶ τῇ λεπτῇ κεῖται Γενέσει. i. 53: ἐν τῇ λεπτῇ Γενέσει κεῖται. i. 85: ἐν τῇ λεπτῇ Γενέσει κεῖται.
Zonoras ed. Pinder (given in common with the two foregoing in the Boun edition of the Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae) vol. i. p. 18: ἐν τῇ λεπτῇ Γενέσει.
Glycas ed. Bekker (also given in the Bonn collection) p. 198: ἡ λεγομένη λεπτὴ Γένεσις. P. 206: ἡ δὲ λεπτὴ Γένεσις λέγει. P. 392: ἡ δὲ λεγομένη λεπτὴ Γένεσις οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅθεν συγγραφεῖσα καὶ ὅπως φησίν.
The literature of our book is enumerated and considered at some length by Rönsch in Das Buch der Jubiläen pp. 422-439.
Texts: Kufâlê sive Liber Jubilaeorum aethiopice ad duorum libror. manuscr. fidem primum ed. Dillmann Kiel 1859. Dillmann Das Buch der Jubiläen oder die kleine Genesis aus dem Aethiopischen übersetzt (Ewald’s Jahrbb. der bibl. Wissensch. vol. ii. 1850 pp. 230-256; vol. iii. 1851 pp. 1-96). Ceriani Monumenta sacra et profana vol. i. fasc. 1 (1861) pp. 15-54. Rönsch Das Buch der Jubiläen oder die kleine Genesis unter Beifügungen des revidirten Textes der in der Ambrosiana aufgefundenen lateinischen Fragmente etc. etc. erläutert untersucht und herausgegeben Leipzig 1874.
Special disquisitions: Treuenfels Die kleine Genesis (Fürst’s Literaturbl. des Orients 1846 Nos. 1-6; comp. vol. for 1851 No. 15) which was written before the Ethiopic text was discovered. Jellinek Ueber das Buch der Jubiläen und das Noach-Buch Leipzig 1855 (reprinted from part 3 of the Bet ha-Midrasch). Beer Das Buch der Jubiläen und sein Verhältniss zu den Midraschim Leipzig 1856. Idem Noch ein Wort über das Buch der Jubiläen Leipzig 1857. Frankel Monatsschr. für Gesch. und Wissensch. des Judenthums 1856 pp. 311-316 380-400. Dillmann Zeitschr. der deutschen morgenländ. Gesellsch. xi. 1857 pp. 161-163. Krüger “Die Chronologie im Buch der Jubiläen” (Zeitschr. der DMG. vol. xii. 1858 pp. 279-299). Langen Das Judenthum in Palästina (1866) pp. 84-102. Rubin Das Buch der Jubiläen oder die kleine Genesis in’s Hebräische übersetzt mit einer Einleitung und mit Noten versehen Wien Beck’s Univ.-Buchhandlung 1870. Ginsburg art. “Jubilees Book of” in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature. Rönsch Zeitschr. für wissensch. Theol. 1871 pp. 60-98. Idem Das Buch der Jubiläen Leipzig 1874. Hilgenfeld Zeitschr. für wissensch. Theol. 1874 pp. 435-441. Drummond The Jewish Messiah (1877) pp. 143-147. Reuss Gesch. der heil. Schriften A.T.’s § 571. Dillmann Beiträge aus dem Buch der Jubiläen zur Kritik des Pentateuch-Textes (Transactions of the Berlin Academy 1883 pp. 323-340). Idem in Herzog’s Real-Enc. 2nd ed. xii. 364 sq.
2. The Martyrdom of Isaiah
An apocryphal work containing an account of the martyrdom of Isaiah is repeatedly mentioned by Origen. He simply calls it an ἀπόκρυφον tells us nothing of its contents beyond the statement that Isaiah had been sawn asunder and plainly describes it as a Jewish production. Again in the Constitutiones apostol. reference is made merely in a general way to an Apocryphum Ἡσαΐου. On the other hand in the list of the canon edited by Montfaucon Pitra and others there is a more precise mention of a Ἡσαΐου ὅρασις (see p. 127). Epiphanius knows of an ἀναβατικὸν Ἡσαΐου which was in use among the Archontics and the Hieracites. Jerome speaks of an Ascensio Isaiae. It is extremely probable that these references are not all to one and the same work that on the contrary Origen had in view a purely Jewish production while the others referred to a Christian version of it or to some Christian work quite independent of it. For there exists a Christian Apocryphum on Isaiah which at all events is made up of a variety of elements though the oldest of them may be pretty clearly seen to be a Jewish history of the martyrdom of Isaiah. This Apocryphum like so many others has come down to us in its entirety only in an Ethiopic version and was published for the first time by Laurence (1819). The second half of it is likewise extant in an old Latin version which was printed at Venice in 1522 but had long disappeared until it was brought to light again by Gieseler (1832). This whole material accompanied with valuable disquisitions and elucidations has been embodied in Dillmann’s edition (Ascensio Isaiae Lips. 1877). Lastly Gebhardt published (1878) a Greek text which however does not profess to be the original book but an adaptation of it in the shape of a Christian legend of the saints.
The contents of the whole work as given in the Ethiopic text are as follows: First part: the martyrdom (chaps. 1-5). Isaiah intimates to Hezekiah the future impiety of his son Manasseh (chap. 1). After Hezekiah’s death Manasseh as had been foretold abandons himself entirely to the service of Satan in consequence of which Isaiah and those of his way of thinking retire into solitude (chap. 2). Thereupon a certain person called Balkirah complains to King Manasseh that Isaiah had been uttering prophecies against the king and the people (chap. 3:1-12). As for Balkirah he had been incited to this hostility to Isaiah by Satan (Berial) who was angry at the former because he had predicted the coming redemption by Christ. Here the writer takes occasion to recount the whole history of Jesus and His Church as it had been foretold by Isaiah and that from Christ’s incarnation down to the Neronic persecution (chap. 4:2) and the last judgment (3:13-4 fin.). In deference to the clamours for the punishment of the prophet Manasseh orders him to be sawn asunder a martyr death which he bears with singular firmness (chap. 5). Second part: the vision (chaps. 6-11). In the twentieth year of Hezekiah’s reign Isaiah sees the following vision which he communicates to King Hezekiah and to Josab his own (the prophet’s) son (chap. 6). An angel conducts the prophet first of all through the firmament and throughout the whole six lower heavens and shows him all that was to be seen in each of them (chaps. 7 and 8). At last they reach the seventh heaven where Isaiah sees all the righteous that have died from Adam downwards and then he sees God the Lord Himself (chap. 9). After having heard God the Father giving to his Son Jesus Christ His commission to descend into the world Isaiah comes back again to the firmament accompanied by the angel (chap. 10). Here there is revealed to him the future birth of Jesus Christ and the history of His life upon earth down to His crucifixion and resurrection whereupon the angel returns to the seventh heaven while Isaiah goes back to his earthly body (chap. 11).
This outline of the contents of our book will suffice to show that here we have to do with two elements of a totally distinct and dissimilar nature. There is no connection whatever between the vision and the martyrdom. Not only so the vision is with singular awkwardness made to follow the martyrdom which in the order of time it should of course have preceded. Nor does the martyrdom again form one connected whole. Above all is the whole passage 3:13-5:1 which interrupts and disturbs the connection obviously to be regarded as a later interpolation as is also the kindred passage in the second part 11:2-22. And lastly the introduction again has only an apparent connection with what follows. On closer examination we find reason to suspect that in all probability that introduction was inserted at some subsequent period. On the strength of these facts Dillmann has propounded the following hypotheses regarding the origin of our book. In the first place we are to distinguish two elements that are independent of each other. (1) The account of the martyrdom of Isaiah chaps. 2:1-3:12 and 5:2-14 which is of Jewish origin; and (2) the vision of Isaiah chaps. 6-11 (exclusive of 11:2-22) which is of Christian origin. Then we are to regard these two elements (3) as having been amalgamated by a Christian who at the same time composed and inserted the introduction (chap. 1). Lastly when the work had assumed this shape another Christian would afterwards insert the two sections (chaps. 3:13-5:1 and 11:2-22). These conjectures may at least be regarded as extremely probable. They are borne out not only by the internal indications already referred to but by external testimony as well. In the free version of the whole book edited by Gebhardt no trace is to be met with of sections 3:13-5:1 and 11:2-22. Besides this latter section (11:2-22) does not occur in the Latin version which as has been previously observed embraces only chaps. 6-11. It is evident therefore that the sections in question must be later interpolations. But the circumstance that the vision and the vision alone is all that has come down to us in the Latin version goes to confirm the assumption that this vision of itself originally formed an independent whole. By the ὅρασις the ἀναβατικόν ascensio Isaiae mentioned by the Fathers we have therefore to understand merely that visionary journey of Isaiah through the seven heavens which had been composed by some Christian or another. In the case of Origen however it is the Jewish account of the martyrdom of Isaiah (chaps. 2:1-3:12 and 5:2-14) that is in view. This latter is simply a legendary story composed for the purpose of glorifying the prophet. It contains nothing of an apocalyptic character and consequently does not belong to the category of prophetic pseudepigraphs but to that of legendary works.
The story of the sawing asunder of Isaiah is mentioned by writers of so early a date as Justin Martyr Dial. c. Tryph. chap. cxx.; Tertullian De patientia chap. xiv.; Scorpiace chap. viii. (comp. ). It is probably this too that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has in view in chap. xi. 37. In so far as it is probable that the reference here is to our book so far have we at the same time a clue to the date of the composition of that Epistle.
Origen Epist. ad Africanum chap. ix. (de la Rue i. 19 sq.; Lommatzsch xvii. 51). With the view of proving that the Jewish authorities had suppressed everything that represented them in an unfavourable light some specimens of which have nevertheless come down to us in apocryphal writings (ὧν τινα σώζεται ἐν ἀποκρύφοις) Origen proceeds as follows: Καὶ τσύτου παράδειγμα δώσομεν τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν ἱστορούμενα καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῆς μαρτυρούμενα ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν φανερῶν βιβλίων γεγραμμένα (here follows the quotation Hebrews 11:37).… Σαφὲς δʼ ὅτι αἱ παραδόσεις λέγουσι πεπρίσθαι Ἡσαΐαν τὸν προφήτην· καὶ ἔν τινι ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦτο φέρεται· ὅπερ τάχα ἐπίτηδες ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων ῥεραδιούργηται λέξεις τινὰς τὰς μὴ πρεπούσας παρεμβεβληκτόων τῇ γραφῇ ἵνʼ ἡ ὅλη ἀπιστηθῇ.
Origen Ad Matth. xiii. 57 (de la Rue iii. 465; Lommatzsch iii. 49): Καὶ Ησαΐας δὲ πεπρίσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ ἱστόρηται· εἰ δέ τις οὐ προσίεται τὴν ἱστορίαν διὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀποκρύφῳ Ἡσαΐα αὐτὴν φέρεσθαι πιστευσάτω τοῖς ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους οὕτω γεγραμμένοις (Hebrews 11:37).
Origen Ad Matth. xxiii. 37 (de la Rue iii. 848; Lommatzsch iv. 237 sq.): Propterea videndum ne forte oporteat ex libris secretioribus qui apud Judaeos feruntur ostendere verbum Christi et non solum Christi sed etiam discipulorum ejus.… Fertur ergo in scripturis non manifestis serratum esse Jesaiam etc.
Origen In Jesaiam homil. i. 5 (de la Rue 108; Lommatzsch xiii. 245 sq.): Ajunt [Judaei] ideo Isaiam esse sectum a populo quasi legem praevaricantem et extra scripturas annuntiantem. Scriptura enim dicit: “nemo videbit faciem meam et vivet.” Iste vero ait: “vidi Dominum Sabaoth.” Moses ajunt non vidit et tu vidisti? Et propter hoc eum secuerunt et condemnaverunt eum ut impium. And this is precisely as the affair is represented in our book chap. iii. 8 sqq.
Epiphanius Haer. xl. 2 (speaking of the Archontics): λαμβάνουσι δὲ λάβας ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναβατικοῦ Ἡσαΐα ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν ἀποκρύφων. Idem Haer. lxvii. 3: βούλεται δὲ [scil. Hierakas] τὴν τελείαν αὐτοῦ σύστασιν ποιεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναβατικοῦ Ἡσαΐου δῆθεν ὡς ἐν τῷ ἀναβατικῷ λεγομένῳ ἔλεγεν ἐκεῖσε (here follows a quotation which substantially coincides with a passage in chap. ix. of our book).
Jerome Comm. in Isaiam chap. lxiv. 3 [al. lxiv. 4] (Vallarsi iv. 761): Ascensio enim Isaiae et apocalypsis Eliae hoc habent testimonium namely the passage 1 Corinthians 2:9. With regard to the Apocalypsis Eliae see p. 129. The passage actually occurs in the Latin text of the Ascensio Isaiae. It is wanting however in the Ethiopic and so is obviously an interpolation.
Jerome Comm. in Isaiam chap. lvii. fin. (Vallarsi iv. 666): Judaei … arbitrantur … Isaiam de sua prophetare morte quod serrandus sit a Manasse serra lignea quae apud eos certissima traditio est.
On the patristic quotations comp. also Fabricius Codex pseudepigr. Vet. Test. i. 1086-1100.
The Ethiopic text was published by Laurence accompanied with a Latin and English version (Ascensio Isaiae vatis opusculum pseudepigraphum cum versione Latina Anglicanaque publici juris factum Oxoniae 1819). Mai (Scriptorum veterum nova collectio vol. iii. 2 1828 p. 238 sq.) published two fragments of an old Latin version viz. chaps. ii. 14-iii. 13 and vii. 1-19 without being aware that they formed part of our Apocryphum. After Niebuhr had discovered the source from which they came they were fully discussed by Nitzsch (Stud. u. Krit. 1830 p. 209 sqq.). The old Latin version of the Visio (chaps. vi.-xi. of the Ethiopic text) which had been printed at Venice in 1522 and had then disappeared for a long time was found again and reprinted by Gieseler in a Göttingen program (Vetus translatio latina visionis Jesaiae etc. Götting. 1832). The Latin version of Laurence accompanied with the old Latin texts was also reprinted by Gfrörer Prophetae veteres pseudepigraphi Stuttg. 1840. A German version of those texts was published by Jolowicz (Die Himmelfahrt und Vision des Propheten Jesaja aus dem Aethopischen [or as it should rather have been? aus Laurence lateinischer Uebersetzung] und Lateinischen in’s Deutsche übersetzt Leipzig 1854). A critical edition of the Ethiopic text along with an amended translation and containing also the old Latin versions was issued by Dillmann (Ascensio Isaiae Aethiopice et Latine cum prolegomenis adnotationibus criticis et exegeticis additis versionum Latinarum reliquiis edita Lips. 1877). Gebhardt published a Greek text in which we have a free version of the whole book framed in the style of the later Christian legends of the saints (Zeitschr. für wissenschaftl. Theologie 1878 pp. 330-353).
Special disquisitions: Gesenius Commentar über den Jesaja vol. i. 1821 p. 45 sqq. Nitzsch Stud. u. Krit. 1830 pp. 209-246. Gieseler Göttinger Progr. 1832 (see above). Gfrörer Das Jahrhundert des Heils 1838 i. p. 65 sqq. A. G. Hoffmann art. “Jesajas” in Ersch and Gruber’s Allg. Encycl. sec. ii. vol. xv. (1838) pp. 387-390. Lücke Einleitung in die Offenbarung des Johannes 2nd ed. 1852 pp. 274-302. Bleek Stud. u. Krit. 1854 pp. 994-998. Reuss Gesch. der heil. Schriften Neuen Testaments sec. 274. Ewald Gesch. des Volkes Israel vii. 369-373. Langen Das Judenthum in Palästina (1866) pp. 157-167. Dillmann in his edition (1877). Idem in Herzog’s Real-Enc. 2nd ed. vol. xii. 359 sq. Renan L’église chrétienne 1879) p. 528 sq.
3. The Lost Legendary Works
In a manner similar to that which we have just seen exemplified in the case of Isaiah pretty nearly the whole of the prominent personages belonging to the hallowed days of old were laid hold of by the legendary spirit for the purpose of throwing around them a halo of glory. The plain narratives of Holy Scripture were far too simple and unadorned to satisfy the tastes and the needs of later times. A desire was manifested to know more about those men above all to know something regarding them of a more piquant and edifying character than was furnished by the canonical records. Accordingly we find that it is the lives of the three great heroes Adam the progenitor of the human race Abraham the father of Israel and Moses the great lawgiver that have been most elaborately embellished by fictitious legends. And there are many other men of God besides whose lives have been subjected to a similar treatment (comp. in general et seq.). Then Christians have laid hold of the existing Jewish legends and elaborated them with equal nay if possible with greater zeal. Consequently as in the case of the Apocalypses so also here we often find it impossible to distinguish with any certainty between what is Jewish and what is Christian. The foundations of the legends themselves are in most cases undoubtedly Jewish. But it is not improbable that the earliest writings of this class are also to be ascribed to Jewish authors. This holds true above all of the three great founders of new epochs Adam Abraham and Moses to whom therefore we will here confine ourselves.
1. Books of Adam. A variety of tolerably voluminous Christian works on the life of Adam have come down to us an Ethiopic one a Syriac one another in Syriac and Arabic one in Greek and another in Latin. Although the whole of these are unquestionably of Christian origin and although there is not one of them that can be regarded as based upon a Jewish original still it is probable that they have drawn upon Jewish material. A Jewish Book of Adam is mentioned in the Talmud. The Constitutiones apostol. vi. 16 mention an apocryphal Ἀδάμ along with the Apocrypha bearing the names of Moses Enoch and Isaiah. Again in the list of the Apocrypha published by Montfaucon Pitra and others Ἀδάμ finds a place among the rest of the Jewish Apocrypha (see p. 126). Indeed at an early period there already existed Gnostic ἀποκαλύψεις τοῦ Ἀδάμ (Epiphanius Haer. xxvi. 8). In the Decretum Gelasii there occurs a Liber qui appellatur Poenitentia Adae (Credner Zur Gesch. des Kanons p. 219).
Editions of the Christian books of Adam: (1) Dillmann published a German translation of an Ethiopic Book of Adam (Ewald’s Jabrbb. der bibl. Wissensch. vol. v. 1853 pp. 1-144). The Ethiopic text was published by Trumpp (Transactions of the Akademie der Wissensch. of Münich philosopho-philol. department vol. xv. 1879-1881) and an English version by Malan (Book of Adam and Eve also called the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan translated from the Ethiopic London 1882). (2) Akin to the above and if we are to believe Dillmann possessing a greater claim to originality is a Syriac work entitled “the treasure hole” (i.e. the hole in which the treasures of Paradise were kept) which as yet is known only through a German version published by Bezold (Die Schatzhöhle aus dem syr. Texte dreier unedirter Handschriften in’s Deutsche übersetzt Leipzig 1883). (3) Another Syriac and Arabic work entitled “The Testament of Adam” has been published by Renan in the Syriac text accompanied with a French translation (Journal asiatique fifth series vol. ii. 1853 pp. 427-71). (4) Tischendorf published a Greek Book of Adam under the title Apocalypsis Mosis (Apocalypses apocryphae Lips. 1866) and which was also published by Ceriani (Monum. sacra et prof. v. 1). On this comp. p. 81. (5) Nearly allied to this Greek work in fact to some extent identical with it is the Latin Vita Adae et Evae published by Wilh. Meyer (Transactions of the Münich Academy philos.-philol. department vol. xiv. 1878).
Comp. in general Fabricius Codex pseudepigr. Vet. Test. i. 1-94 ii. 1-43. Zunz Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden 1832 p. 128 sq. (the Rabbinical quotations here). Dukes in Fürst’s Literaturbl. des Orients 1849 coll. 76-78. Comp. also ibid. 1850 pp. 705 sqq. 732 sqq. Lücke Einl. in die Offenbarung des Johannes 2nd ed. p. 232. Hort art. “Adam Books of” in Smith and Wace’s Dictionary of Christian Biography vol. i. 1877 pp. 34-39. Renan L’église chrétienne (1879) p. 529 sq. Dillmann in Herzog’s Real-Enc. 2nd ed. xii. 366 sq.
2. Abraham. A short apocryphal book of Ἀβραάμ (consisting of 300 verses) occurs in the Stichometry of Nicephorus and the Synopsis Athanasii (see p. 125). And as in these lists it is found in the very heart of the Jewish Apocrypha it is of course a different book from that of the ἀποκάλυψις Ἀβραάμ which was in use among the Sethites (Epiphanius Haer. xxxix. 5). On the other hand it is no doubt the former of these that Origen has in view in the case of those statements regarding Abraham which he borrows from a certain apocryphal work.
Origen In Lucam homil. xxxv. init. (de la Rue iii. 973; Lommatzsch v. 217): Legimus si tamen cui placet hujuscemodi scripturam recipere justitiae et iniquitatis angelos super Abrahami salute et interitu disceptantes dum utraeque turmae suo eum volunt coetui vendicare.
Comp. also Lücke Einl. in die Offenb. Joh. p. 232; and for the Abrahamic legend generally see ; and Fabricius Cod. pseudepigr. i. pp. 341-428 ii. p. 81 sq. B. Beer Leben Abrahams nach Auffassung der jüdischen Sage Leipzig 1859.
3. Moses and his time. The apocryphal literature regarding Moses himself has been already considered at p. 80. But among the books referring both to himself and his time there is still another work to be mentioned the theme of which was a single episode in the lawgiver’s life we mean the Book of Jannes and Jambres the two Egyptian magicians who according to Exodus 7:8 sqq. wrought miracles before Pharaoh equal to those of Moses and Aaron but were nevertheless beaten in the end. The names are not mentioned in the Old Testament but they occur at a comparatively early date in the legends and they were known not only in Jewish but in Gentile and Christian circles as well as the names of the two famous Egyptian magicians in question. The orthography fluctuates exceedingly. In the Greek texts the prevailing spelling is Ἰαννῆς καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς as in the Targum of Jonathan it is יניס וימבריס. In the Talmud on the other hand we find יוחני וממרא (Jochane and Mamre) while in the Latin texts the names are almost uniformly spelt Jannes (or Jamnes) et Mambres. What the original spelling was it is difficult to determine. In any case the names appear to be of Semitic origin (see Steiner in Schenkel’s Bibellex. iii. 189; Riehm’s Wörterb. p. 665 sq.; Orelli in Herzog’s Real-Enc. vi. 478 sq.). The book written about the magicians in question is mentioned by Origen and in the Decretum Gelasii. As the name of Jannes was known even to so early a writer as Pliny and as it is probable that those anonymous personages owed their name and individuality first of all to the apocryphal book itself we may perhaps venture to refer the date of the composition of this work to pre-Christian times.
For the Rabbinical passages referring to Jannes and Jambres see Buxtorf’s Lex. Chald. col. 945-947. Schoettgen Horae hebr. note on 2 Timothy 3:8. Wetstein Nov. Test. note on same passage. Levy Chald. Wörterb. i. 337. Idem Neuhebr. Wörterb. ii. 226. The form יוחני וממרא is found in Menachoth lxxxv.a; יניס וימבריס in the Targum of Jonathan on Exodus 1:15; Exodus 7:11; Numbers 22:22; and also יונוס ויומברוס (Jonos and Jombros) in the Tanachuma and Sohar.
Of heathen writers Pliny and Apuleius are acquainted with Jannes while the neo-Platonist Numenius knows both Jannes and Jambres. (1) Pliny Hist. Nat. xxx. 1. 11: Est et alia magices factio a Mose et Janne et Lotape ac Judaeis pendens sed multis milibus annorum post Zoroastren. (2) Apuleius Apolog. (or De magia) chap. xc. ed. Hildebrand: Ego ille sim Carinondas vel Damigeron vel is Moses vel Jannes vel Apollonius vel ipse Dardanus vel quicumque alius post Zoroastren et Hostanen inter magos celebratus est. (3) Numenius in Eusebius Praep. evang. ix. 8: Τὰ δʼ ἑξῆς Ἰαννῆς καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς Αἰγύπτιοι ἱερογραμματεῖς ἄνδρες οὐδένος ἥττους μαγεῦσαι κριθέντες εἶναι ἐπὶ Ἰουδαίων ἐξελαυνομένων ἐξ Αἰγύπτου. Μουσαίῳ γοῦν τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἐξηγησαμένῳ ἀνδρὶ γενομένῳ θεῷ εὔξασθαι δυνατωτάτῳ οί παραστῆναι ἀξιωθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τοῦ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων οὗτοι ἦσαν τῶν τε συμφορῶν ἃς ὁ Μουσαῖος ἐπῆγε τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ τὰς νεανικωτάτας αὐτῶν ἐπιλύεσθαι ὤφθησαν δυνατοί. In view of this passage Origen Contra Celsum iv. 51 says with regard to Numenius that: Ἐκτίθεται καὶ τὴν περὶ Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἰαννοῦ καὶ Ἰαμβροῦ ἱστορίαν. Owing to the circumstance that the term Μουσαῖος which is here used for Moses is precisely the same as that employed by the Hellenist Artapan Freudenthal (Alexander Polyhistor. 1875 p. 173) is disposed to think that the story is borrowed from Artapan and that he is the author of the legend. But this argument however cannot be regarded as conclusive. Then the names of the magicians which in all probability are Semitic seem rather to point to a Palestinian origin.
Then passing within the pale of Christianity the passage that first claims attention is 2 Timothy 3:8 : ὃν τρόπον δὲ Ἰαννῆς καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς ἀντέστησαν Μωϋσεῖ. Further among Greek authors we may mention Evang. Nicodemi (= Acta Pilati) chap. v.; Constitut. apostol. viii. 1 and subsequent Fathers; but above all the hagiologist Palladius who relates in his Historia Lausiaca (written about 420 A.D. see Fabricius-Hartes Bibl. graec. x. 98 sqq.) that Macarius visited the κηποτάφιον which Jannes and Jambres had erected for themselves and that he had an interview with the demons that had their abode there (see the passage in Fabricius Cod. pseudepigr. ii. 106-111). Latin writers: The Latin text of the Evang. Nicodemi (= Gesta Pilati) chap. v.; Abdiae hist. apostol. vi. 15 (in Fabricius Cod. apocr. Nov. Test. i. 622). Cyprian De unitate ecclesiae chap. xvi. The Latin translator of Origen in the passages to be quoted below. The Decretum Gelasii (in Credner Zur Gesch. des Kanon’s p. 220) and subsequent Fathers. The Latin writers as well as the Western authorities for the text of 2 Timothy 3:8 (Cod. FG and the text of the Itala) read Jannes (or Jamnes) et Mambres almost uniformly. See the various readings in connection with 2 Timothy 3:8 in the critical editions of the New Testament; also Thilo Cod. apocr. Nov. Test. p. 553 and the earlier literature given there. As the Talmud adopts the spelling ממרא Westcott and Hort are warranted in observing as they do in the note on 2 Timothy 3:8 in their edition of the New Testament that “the Western text probably derived Μαμβρῆς from a Palestinian source.”
The Book of Jannes and Jambres (or Mambres) is mentioned: (1) By Origen Ad Matth. xxvii. 9 (de la Rue iii. 916; Lommatzsch v. 29): Quod ait “sicut Jannes et Mambres restiterunt Mosi” non invenitur in publicis scripturis sed in libro secreto qui suprascribitur: Jannes et Mambres liber. (2) Again Origen Ad Matth. xxiii. 37 (de la Rue iii. 848; Lommatzsch iv. 239) quotes 2 Timothy 3:8 : “sicut Jannes et Mambres restiterunt Mosi sic et isti resistunt veritati” as evidence that apocryphal writings are sometimes referred to in the New Testament. Nec enim scimus in libris canonizatis historiam de Janne et Mambre resistentibus Mosi. (3) It is also mentioned in the Decretum Gelasii (in Credner Zur Gesch. des Kanon’s p. 220): Liber qui appellatur Poenitentia Jamnis et Mambre apocryphus.
Comp. in general: Fabricius Codex pseudepigr. Vet. Test. i. 813-825 ii. 105-111. Suicer Thesaurus under Ἰαννῆς. Wolf Curae philol. in Nov. Test. note on 2 Timothy 3:8; and the commentaries generally on this passage. J. G. Michaelis De Janne et Jambre famosis Aegyptiorum magis Hal. 1747 The lexicons to the New Testament and the Bible Dictionaries of Winer Schenkel and Riehm. Rud. Hofmann Das Leben Jesu nach den Apokryphen (1851) p. 352 sq. Orelli in Herzog’s Real-Enc. 2nd ed. vi. 478 sq. Dillmann ibid. xii. 365. Holtzmann Die Pastoralbriefe (1880) p. 140 sq. Heath in Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement 1881 pp. 311-317.
Whatever other works based on Biblical legends were in use in the early Church are either entirely unknown to us (such for example as the Book of Λάμεχ quoted in the list of the Apocrypha edited by Montfaucon and Pitra see p. 126) or they may without hesitation be regarded as Christian productions as for instance the history of Noria the wife of Noah (Epiph. Haer. xxvi. 1) or the ἀναβαθμοὶ Ἰακώβου (Epiph. Haer. xxx. 16) or the history of Asenath the wife of Joseph (according to Genesis 41:45) which are still extant in various texts. What the Jewish substratum may have been in those instances it is impossible to make out with any degree of certainty although there can scarcely be a doubt that Jewish Books of Noah for example were once to be met with. For further information regarding this whole literature consult Fabricius Cod. pseudepigr. and Dillmann art. “Pseudepigraphen” in Herzog’s Real-Enc.