PREFACE. It THE OBJECT of the present work is twofold. endeavours to exhibit, in a properly classified form, the doctrine concerning the Messiah, as it was held among the Jews in the centuries during which Christianity appeared; and, as subsidiary to this main purpose, it seeks to introduce the English reader, more fully than has hitherto been done, to the Apocalyptic and kindred literature. In accepting this literature as in any way a trustworthy expression of Jewish belief, we run counter to the judgment of so high an authority as Jost, who pronounces it to be destitute of value in the history of Jewish religion.1 It cannot, I think, be denied that Christian scholars have been inclined to attach too much importance to works of this kind. Such writings do not possess even the authority of distinguished names, for the real authors are unknown; and, when we except the Book of 1'Jedenfalls sind alle diese Erscheinungen ohne Bedeutung für die jüdische Religionsgeschichte.' Gesch. des Judenth. und seiner Sekten, ii. S. 218, Anm. |