The Bible Student's Library. 1.-FOURTH EDITION. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE BIBLE: Studies in Old Testament Criticism. By Canon GIRDLESTONE, M.A. 2.-SECOND EDITION. THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. By the Rev. STANLEY LEATHES, D.D. 3. PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM. By the Rev. J. J. LIAS, M.A., Chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral. 4.-511 pages. SANCTUARY AND SACRIFICE: A Reply to Wellhausen. By the Rev. W. L. Baxter, M.A., D.D. 5. HEZEKIAH AND HIS AGE. By the Rev. R. SINKER, D.D., Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge. 6. ABRAHAM AND HIS AGE. By the Rev. H. G. TOMKINS. With Illustrations. 7. THE BOOK OF DANIEL. By the Rev. JOHN KENNEDY, M.A., D.D. With Illustrations. 8. THE AGE OF THE MACCABEES. By the Rev. A. W. STREANE, D.D., Fellow, and formerly Theological Lecturer, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. For particulars of the above see advertisement at the end of the Volume. Other Volumes in preparation. THE AGE OF THE MACCABEES. WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO The Religious Literature of the period. BY A. W. STREANE, D.D., Fellow, and formerly Theological Lecturer, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LONDON-GREAT NEW STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1898. All rights reserved. PREFACE. THE HE aim of this volume of the Bible Student's Library is to give the average educated reader as clear a view as is attainable of the main features which are characteristic of Jewish literature during the period dealt with. That period, though it may briefly be called the Age of the Maccabees, embraces, in fact, as will at once be seen, a much larger space. We have thought it well, therefore, to commence by giving a sketch of the history of the period from the Return of the Jews in accordance with the decree of Cyrus, till the accession of Herod the Great (37 B.C.). We seek, in the next place, to estimate the social, political, and religious condition of the Jewish people during the period dealt with; and the rest of the book is mainly occupied with an examination of the literature of the time, as closely bound up with the aspirations and various modes of thought which are exhibited in the life of the nation, mainly, though we cannot say exclusively, in Palestine and Egypt. |