already seen in the book of Enoch.' The author of the 'Wisdom of Solomon' ventures on an attempt to apprehend from a historical point of view the origin of the worship of idols; yet this, remarkable as it is, is not the noblest and most enduring portion of his work. The fourth book of Maccabees seeks to prove that the laws relating to food contained in the Pentateuch must correspond to the essential nature of man, inasmuch as they were given by the Creator himself.3 In this he is quite consistent, since it appears to him that the whole history of the martyrs' agonies issued from the question of eating swine's flesh!

There was, then, but one branch of knowledge which could flourish in this age, having been rendered more and more indispensable by the history of the nationality of Israel itself, viz. that of the sacred writings. Amid all the vicissitudes of the time this continued to be actively pursued on the firm basis established by Ezra, and it evidently contributed much to keep alive and to sharpen the perception of the great truths of the writings which were then committed in quite a special manner to its intelligence and zeal. A certain amount of historical knowledge and research as well as of enquiry into the subjects within its own sphere, and of thoughtful arrangement and defence of its materials, was necessarily among the requisites of the Biblical science of the time; its teachers, therefore, were called in Greek not merely Scribes, but also Sophists. Unfortunately the whole of the learned culture of the nation, and particularly of that portion of it still settled in Palestine, received so severe a blow through the destruction of Jerusalem and its great schools, that it is now almost impossible for us to make any definite statements about the special form which it assumed. The following general remarks may, however, be regarded as well founded.

The Biblical science of the age was always specially directed to the determination of the correct application of the laws contained in the Pentateuch. The scribe continued to be also pre-eminently a teacher of the law, although in contrast to the general designation of scribe this name gradually assumed a meaning of greater precision and distinction. The fundamental

1 P. 345 sqq.

2 We refer here to the sol'tary examples of such an explanation given in the Wisdom of Sol. xiv. 15 sqq.; the general truth set forth in the previous verses, xiv. 12-14, will approve itself.

$ 4 Macc. v. 24 sq.

5

• See Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, 2 sqq.

The names vоμodidáσкaños, Luke v. 17; Acts v. 34; 1 Tim. i. 7, and enуNTÈS vouwv, Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, 2 sqq., also came gradually into use for the first time by the side of ypaμμateús, D; the voμikol, who are obviously identical with νομοδιδάσκα

rules of all exposition and application were not carried much deeper; and where, therefore, there was no other expedient, allegory in a more or less elaborate form remained the last resort. The enthusiastic preference for the lofty past of Israel was now, it is true, busily occupied with the scenes and events of the ancient history; the ardent longing for the ultimate fulfilment of the Messianic hope now led to the most scrupulous and industrious computation of all the vicissitudes and ages that were gone;' and the impulse to investigate the history of the past even produced a number of new but purely learned views and modes of speech:3 but by none of these means was a historical science to be attained. The prevailing philosophy of the Pharisees, however, was soon divided afresh into very different schools, which I have discussed elsewhere."

Another main branch of the labours of the scribes was necessarily concerned to an increasing extent with the proper division and preservation of the scriptures. That the book of the law was not to be exclusively regarded as holy, in contrast to the view of the Samaritans, was the just feeling which, in spite of the sceptical opposition of the Sadducees, continued to prevail at Jerusalem; but what books were to be placed by the side of the law as worthy of similar honour and regard was a matter of detail often requiring long investigation and experience. About the principal books there could not, indeed, be any great discussion. But there were several of which the internal value and the external authority were doubtful questions. Into this region a powerful stream of new works was continually pouring, and the best of them were composed under the great names of the past. Between these, therefore, the scriptural science had to learn to distinguish; but this process of separation was so far from being brought during this

Av, occur most frequently in Luke, elsewhere in the Gospels only in Matt. xxii. 35. Cf. the instance of a teacher of the law in Rome given by Josephus, Ant. xviii. 3, 5; and also xx. 11, 2.

1 P. 257 sqq.

2 P. 348 sq. Cf. the view referred to on p. 245 note 2, and the manner in which the ancient name of Hebrews comes once more into general use and high honour, so that it is substituted for Israel, and is at least readily employed in many passages, where the style of the ancient sacred language is adopted. We find it thus used first of all in Judith, x. 12; xii. 11; xiv. 18; next in 2 Macc. vii. 31; xv. 37; 4 Macc. iv. 11; v. 3; viii. 2; ix. 6, 18;

xvii. 9; and sometimes in Philo and the New Testament. Philo pushes this learned notion still further, for his favourite designation of the sacred language is Chaldee. His reason for this obviously was that he liked to connect the glory of the ancient Chaldee wisdom with Abraham, and represented Abraham as sprung from Babylon, which was in its glory in his day (cf. above, p. 475, and vol. i. p. 384 note 6). Josephus, on the other hand, does not adopt this usage, and shows at any rate on this point a little more sense of historical truth.

Cf. the essay über Hillel und seine Rabbinenschule in the Jahrbb, der Bibl. Wiss. x. p. 56 sqq.

period to a definite conclusion that the subject cannot be fully discussed till the age which followed the destruction of Jerusalem.

But the preservation of the sacred books lay so close to the heart of the whole people and was the object of so much earnestness and persistence that the scribes could scarcely devote greater attention to it. Still more than in its constitution and its separate usages was the life of the nation wrapped up in the imperishable hopes and the ever-shining truths included in these witnesses of its own once great past. This was the feeling, more or less vigorous, in every member of the nation whose life had not wholly withered; and it afforded the firmest support for the zeal for the preservation of these books. This ardour was certainly not very acute until after it had been roused for the first time by the heathen in the Maccabean persecutions; but from that period every believer would sooner have lost his life than these books, although their union into a single whole was by no means definitely established, and the highest sanctity was still attached exclusively to the book of the law. In truth, however, with the ascription of inviolable sanctity to these books, a large portion of the whole history of Israel for all succeeding ages attains its consummation. Whatever might be the destinies of the nation from this time forth at the hand of God, in these books it would live on earth an everlasting life; and the eternal elements of its being were now to a great extent separated from all the perishable objects of the world.

CONCLUSION.

The third and last section of this period of the history of Israel carries us through the age of the direct supremacy of the Romans down to the second destruction of Jerusalem, and, indeed, as far as the last Judeo-Roman struggles under Trajan and Hadrian, when Israel as a nation finally perished. But within the events which resulted in the total fall of Israel is intertwined inseparably the rise of Christianity, which is absolutely ineradicable upon ground where the ancient stock out of which alone it could spring withered away for ever.

1 See above, pp. 298, 310.

2 Jos. Contr. Ap. i. 8; cf. Ant. xvii. 6, 2; Philo, ii. pp. 574, 577; and the fragment in Euseb. Præp. Ev. viii. 6, 10 (ii. p. 628, ed. Mang.), according to which he

even supposed that the Judeans had not changed a single letter in the law of Moses for two thousand years, but would sooner die first.

With this a fresh element enters into the course of this history, which was now after two thousand years hastening to its close. This, however, was so novel, and, as was in fact expected, so completely transcended all expectation, that it can only be described with proper brevity and correctness in a history of the origin of Christianity. The present volume, therefore, which was intended simply to carry down the history to the time of Christ, but not to treat of Christianity, has now attained its destined goal.

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

OF THE LAST PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL AS FAR AS A.D. 6.1

536 Permission for the re-
turn of Israel. Zerub-
babel. Joshua High-
Priest

535 The New Jerusalem.
Repulse of the Samari-

521 Haggai Zechariah
516 Completion of the
Temple

499 Jehoiakim High-Priest

463 Eliashib High-Priest 465 Artaxerxes (Artashasht) Longi

459 Ezra

445 Nehemiah

419 Jehoiada High-Priest.
Manasseh withdraws to
Samaria

383 Johanan High-Priest

351 Jaddua High-Priest. 359 Artaxerxes II. Ochus
Samaritan Temple
Gerîzîm