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not conscious of anything of the nature of the predominating priestly tendency of the chroniclers. The writer's purpose in neglecting or scantily epitomizing wide fields of Biblical material, in rewriting lives and speeches, and in concentrating attention on persons and events hardly known in the Bible can only be guessed at. His long lists of names and imaginary numbers are a strange evidence of what pleased the Jews of that time. Dr. James supposes that he desired to fill out the existing narratives and " to infuse a more religious tone into certain episodes of the history, particularly into the period of the Judges, and to emphasize certain great truths, foremost among which should be placed the indestructibility of Israel, and the duty of faithfulness to the One God."

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This book is thus similar in scope to the Book of Jubilees; it is an attempt to rewrite the early part of the Old Testament. But (i) Jubilees is chiefly concerned with the Patriarchs, whereas "Philo gives most space to the Judges and Saul. (ii) Jubilees is definitely anxious to exalt the ceremonial Law and the Temple system, while "Philo" shows no sense of this side of Pharisaism. (iii) Jubilees works up ancient legends and comments, whereas "Philo" seems to be largely using his own imagination, in the creation, for instance, of the heroic Kenaz, whom one can hardly suppose the readers were intended to regard as a historical personage.

With regard to the writer the general impression of him is admirably summarized by Dr. James 1:

"We cannot regard him as a man of very lofty mind or of great literary talent. He has some imagination, and is sensible of the majesty of the Old Testament literature, but he has not the insight, the power, or the earnestness of the author of 4 Esdras, nor again the ethical perception of him who wrote the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs."

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1 p. 65.

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The writer has several expressions similar to those in the New Testament, showing the use of a common language among religious writers. St. Paul's Rock1 that followed the Israelites in the wilderness is usefully illustrated (x. 7): "He brought them quails from the sea, and a well of water following them brought he forth for them. And xi. 15: And there did he command many things and showed him the tree of life, whereof he cut and took and put it into Mara, and the Water of Mara was made sweet and followed them in the desert forty years, and went up into the hills with them, and came down into the plain." In cxlviii. we find an interesting identification of Phinehas with Elijah, illustrating the hint in St. Mark ix. 13 ("As it is written of him ") that the Jewish tradition was that Elijah, when he came again, should suffer death.

The

The book teaches that there will be a judgement according to works at the end of the world, and a new heaven and a new earth, in which the righteous shall dwell with Moses, lighted by the precious stones of their ancient temple, and mutually recognizing one another. The wicked will pine in hell till the end of the world and will then be destroyed. stress on retribution is very marked; sooner or later the punishment for sin comes. The idea of Israel's privilege is very majestic: Israel alone exists to glorify God, she can never be utterly destroyed, her Law is the everlasting canon by which the world will be judged. Her chief danger is to mingle in marriage with the Gentiles. With regard to the spirit-world, there is an allusion to guardian-angels, to angels as intercessors for men, and to angels, whose names are given (Ingethal, Zeruch, Nathaniel), set over the hidden things, strength, and fire. Evil spirits are not very prominent, but we have the touch in Samuel's Vision, that Eli wonders if an unclean spirit has spoken; for if one hears two calls at night the speaker is an evil spirit, if three, God. The conception of God is very 1 I Cor. xi. 4, and Targum of Onkelos on Numbers.

interesting, as showing what popular ideas Christianity actually displaced. He is certainly "All Light" to Moses, and "Life," and "One who looks on the heart," and He knows the minds of all generations before they are born-but He punishes Jephtha by the loss of his daughter, because his vow angered Him: "If a dog were the first to meet him, should a dog be offered to Me? It shall fall upon his only child." He is deceitful and spiteful; e.g. he will not allow Eli's sons to repent, because aforetime they had said: When we grow old we will repent."

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Dr. James does not find any anticipation of a Messiah in the text. God works and will complete His work, according to the writer, without an intermediary. The sixty-five chapters of the book are filled as follows

I.-II. Adam to Lamech.

III.-V. Noah and his descendants.

VI.-VIII. Abraham to the death of Joseph.
IX.-XIX. Moses.

XX.-XXIV. Joshua.

XXV.-XLIII. The Judges.

XLIV.-XLVIII. Events of the last chapters of

Judges.

XLIX.-LV. Life of Samuel to the return of the Ark. LVI.-LVIII. Saul's career.

LIX.-LXV. Saul and David to Saul's death.

The large amount of space devoted to the Judges is striking, and the fact that a third of it has to do with Kenaz" still more so. He immediately succeeds Joshua, emulates him in discovering hidden sinners, and in martial deeds. The account of his combat with the Amorites is interesting, but scarcely a fair example of the writer's style:

XXVII. 10: "And it came to pass when Cerez heard their words he was clothed with the spirit of might and changed into another man, and went down into the camp of the Amorites and began to smite them. And the Lord sent before his face the angel Ingethal, who is set over the hidden things, and worketh unseen,

(and another) angel of might helping with him; and Ingethal smote the Amorites with blindness, so that every man that saw his neighbour counted them his adversaries, and they slew one another. And the angel Zeruch, who is set over strength, bare up the arms of Cerez lest they should perceive him; and Cerez smote of the Amorites forty and five thousand men, and they themselves smote one another; And fell forty and five thousand men. II. And when Cerez had smitten a great multitude, he would have loosened his hand from his sword, for the handle of the sword clave, that it could not be loosed, and his right hand had taken into it the strength of the sword.

Note.-S.P.C.K. edition, by James (1917).

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