Volkmar, though apparently driven by his usual anxiety to prove the late origin of the Epistle of Jude, yet displays more than his usual skill in claiming a late date for the Assumption of Moses. He thinks it describes the persecution under Hadrian, and was written in the year 137, after the defeat and death of Bar-Cochba and the martyrdom of the Rabbi Akiba. The four hours become with him four Roman dynasties, the Julian, the three usurpers', the Flavian, and that of Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian. Taxo (Tago, 300, 1, 60, 70=431) is the Rabbi Akiba (apy man, 200, 2, 6, 50, 70, 100, 2, 1=431). Here a is wanting after the p; but it may have been intentionally left out, or the author may have written Tagio, τάξιο, and the translator have mistaken this for rağw.2 These subtleties are not very convincing. But the despairing tone of the writer, who expects no further help till God himself appears upon the scene, the relentless character of the persecution, especially the attempt to root out circun cision, and other minor circumstances which Volkmar carefully compares with the history of the times, are all in agreement with the violent measures by which Hadrian endeavoured finally to extinguish the Jewish polity.3

The strongest point in Volkmar's argument is found in the details of the persecution, which have no historical example except under Antiochus Epiphanes and Hadrian. But Schürer believes that Epiphanes is the monarch denoted by the expression king of the kings of the earth,' and that the final persecution is only indirectly described by a portrayal of the terrible events of that hated reign. This opinion is confirmed by a suggestion may be written thus, 1772, 200, 2, 200, 6, 60, 1=471! What may not be proved by the help of arbitrary conjectures? Our emendation at least retains a pronounceable word; Hilgenfeld's has not even this trifling merit. 2 Ibid., 59 89. 3 Ibid., 50 sq. G

1 Mose Pr., S. 37.

It

of the same writer that the story of Taxo and his seven sons is only a variation of that of the woman with seven sons who were barbarously put to death by Antiochus.1 Even if this interpretation be not accepted in its entirety, there can be no doubt that the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes might have been adopted as the type of the final calamities of the Jewish people long before his exterminating cruelty reappeared in the person of Hadrian. I doubt, therefore, whether Volkmar's arguments, which, though displaying great ingenuity, are quite open to question, are sufficient to set aside the plain inference from the historical notices in the book. is especially difficult to understand why a writer in the second century should select the expedition of Varus for such explicit mention, when in the long perspective its horrors must have seemed quite insignificant in comparison with more recent events. If we rely upon the broad and plain evidence rather than upon subtleties, we must decide that the work was written not very many years after the death of Herod the Great. The tone of the writer, so despairing of his country, so leading party, apparently the Pharisees, may in that case be explained by his position among the Zealots of his time.

hot against the

We must not, however, pass over a criticism which is equally relied upon by Hilgenfeld 2 and Volkmar. They believe that the expression in x. 28-adscendes supra cervices et alas aquila et implebuntur-must refer to the vision of the three-headed eagle in 4th Ezra. Hilgenfeld thinks the allusion proves the early origin of Ezra ; Volkmar, that it establishes the late origin of the As

1 See the account in 2 Mac. vii. See Schürer's view in Lehrb, d, n. Zeitg. S. 539.

2 Mess. Jud. 467.

4 See the next section, p. 95 sq.

3 Mose Pr., S. 67.

sumption of Moses. The former contends that the words et implebuntur, kaì пλnρwłńσovτa, are decisive; for what can they mean? As he does not himself tell us what they mean, I miss the force of the argument. To suit his purpose they ought to mean, the prophecies of Ezra shall be fulfilled;' but there is nothing whatever in the context to suggest such an explanation. The real meaning of the statement, the necks and wings of the eagle shall be filled (or fulfilled),' is certainly not very obvious; but if nothing has been omitted, it seems most natural to understand fulfilled' in the sense of having completed their course, come to an end. To speak of necks being fulfilled in the sense in which a prophecy is fulfilled, would be simply unintelligible. But Volkmar has another argument. Anyone might reach the idea of representing the plurality of Cæsars under the image of several wings or of several heads, but none but the author of 4th Ezra could possibly have combined the two.1 It is strange that an author who has nothing to do but alter the text when it is opposed to his theories is here so confident that the reading cannot be wrong. If for cervices we read cervicem, his whole argument would fall to the ground. We need not, however, change the text. The word 'necks' alone is sufficient to disprove the supposed reference; for 4th Ezra speaks always of heads,' and not of necks. The comparison of Rome to an eagle is one that might occur to any writer. Getting upon the necks of enemies is an Old Testament figure for utterly subduing them; and the writer, having a multitude of

1 That at least a second person existed whose genius was equal to such a conception is evident from the leopard in Daniel vii. 6, with its four heads and four wings, representing the third kingdom.

2 Gen. xlix. 8; Josh. x. 24; Psalm xviii. 40. See also Baruch iv. 25, κατεδίωξε σε ὁ ἐχθρός, καὶ ὄψει αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀπώλειαν ἐν τάχει, καὶ ἐπὶ τραχήλους

enemies in his mind, naturally uses the plural, without considering its appropriateness to the figure of an eagle. The wings are an emblem of exaltation. The glorified Israel shall not only mount up with wings as eagles,' but shall be exalted to the stars, far above the highest range of the Roman eagle's flight.

The three opinions noticed above may suffice to represent the prevailing diversity of view, and it is not necessary for us to discuss the modifications of them which have found favour with different critics. It is sufficient to mention and dismiss the unsupported assertion of Philippi that the book is of Christian origin, and dates from the end of the first third of the second century.1

SECTION VI.-Fourth Ezra.

EZRA or Esdras the Prophet, also called the Apocalypse of Ezra, and generally cited as Fourth Ezra (though appearing as II. Esdras in the Apocrypha of the English Bible), is a book of the highest interest, and although there is the same diversity of opinion respecting its date as in the case of the Book of Enoch, some writers regarding it as pre-Christian and others as post-Christian, the researches of criticism have happily placed its Jewish character beyond question.

The original work, which was most probably written in Greck,2 has long been lost; but we are so fortunate

avтôν Éπißhơn. Also Enoch xcviii. 12.-'They [the righteous] will cut off your [the sinners'] necks.'

1 Das Buch Henoch, S. 105-6.

2 See the evidence in Lücke, Einl. in d. Off. i. S. 152-4; Volkmar, Handbuch der Einleitung in die Apokryphen; zweite Abtheilung; Das vierte Buch Esra, 1863, S. 325 sq.; and Hilgenfeld, Mess. Jud. pp. xxxviii. 8q. On the other hand Bretschneider (in an article entitled 'Das Messiasreich nach dem 4 Buch Esdra, &c.,' in Henke's Museum für Religionswissenschaft, Bd. iii.,

as to possess no fewer than five different versions. Of these the oldest is the Latin. This was certainly made as early as the time of Ambrose, as is proved by his numerous citations, and perhaps was not unknown to Cyprian and Tertullian. Although the work was not included in the list of canonical books by the Council of Trent, it is printed in copies of the Vulgate. The editions of Fabricius and Sabatier 3 in the last century deserve particular mention; and in our own day critical texts have been published by Volkmar, Hilgenfeld, and Fritzsche. The work, as it appears in the printed Latin Bible, consists of sixteen chapters; but in the great majority of the manuscripts it is divided into three distinct books, consisting respectively of chapters i.-ii., iii.—xiv., and xv.-xvi. Of these the second is evidently an independent work; and as the first and third are not found in any of the other versions, there is no doubt whatever that they do not belong to the original Apocalypse of Ezra. It is generally admitted that they are both of Christian origin; but Ewald believes that the third book is a purely Jewish work, written about 116 A.D.? It does not concern us to pause upon this question, and it may be sufficient to state that according to Volkmar the first two chapters

1806; S. 478 sq.) and Ewald (Gesch. d. V. I. original language was Hebrew.

vii., S. 69-70) think the

xxii. 8q.

1 See the references in Hilg. Mes. Jud. p. 2 Cod. Pseud. V. T. ii. 193 sq. This edition gives readings from the Arabic taken from Ockley's translation, and from the same source a Latin translation of the missing passage after vii. 35.

3 Bibliorum sacrorum Latina Versiones antiquæ seu Vetus Itala, tom. iii. P. ii. Remis, 1743, p. 1069 sq. Fourth Ezra is placed at the end, after the New Testament. Readings are given from the Codex Sangermanensis.

4 In the Handbuch referred to in note 2, p. 84.

5

In his Mess. Jud. This is very complete in its apparatus, and has the great advantage of giving a separate Latin translation of each of the versions. It also attempts a restoration of the Greek text.

Libri apoc. V. T. This I have been unable to see.

7 Gesch. d. V. I. vii. S. 82 sq.