Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

phon” has more recently been applied more loosely to those writings that

represent or contain traditions whose existence was unknown before they

were discovered in modern times. This is the case with a number of docu-

ments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, of which the more prominent examples

would beGenesis Apocryphon(1Q20),Apocryphon of Moses(1Q22, 1Q29,

2Q21, 4Q375, 4Q376, 4Q408),Apocryphal Prophecy(1Q25, 2Q23, 6Q12),

2QApocryphon of David (2Q22), 4QApocryphal Lamentations (4Q179,

4Q501), 4QApocryphal Daniel (4Q246), 4QApocryphal Pentateuch A

(4Q368), 4QApocryphon of Joshua (4Q378), 4QApocryphon of Jeremiah

(4Q383, 4Q385a, 4Q387, 4Q387a, 4Q388a, 4Q389-390), 4QApocryphon of

Elisha (4Q481a), 4QApocryphon of Malachi (5Q10), and 11QApocryphal

Psalms (11Q11). While the titles assigned to some of these works have var-

ied, here “apocryphon” has functioned as a designation for a previously

unknown tradition related to a biblical book or figure. As such, the term

could be a source of confusion, since it has been made to refer to neither

“apocrypha” in the senses it has acquired in Catholic and Protestant circles

nor to works which formally use “hiddenness” as a way of presenting

themselves.

Coherence of the “Old Testament Apocrypha”

If neither the technical nor ecclesiastical usage is properly descriptive, how

are the books called “apocrypha” in Protestant tradition to be character-

ized? First, we may recognize that the great codices from the fourth and

fifth centuries as well as the Protestant “Apocrypha” or Roman Catholic

“Deuterocanonicals” include very different kinds of literature: (a) Several

works were composed as supplementary materials to already existing bib-

lical books: Esther (expansions with further chapters in Greek); additions

to Daniel (Prayer of Azariah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susannah, and

Bel and the Dragon); and 1 Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. (b) Two of

the works are historiographical: 1 and 2 Maccabees. (c) Two may be classi-

fied as literary tales: Tobit and Judith. (d) Liturgical prayer is also included:

Prayer of Manasseh (see alsoPsalms of Solomon,Psalms and Odes, and

Psalm 151). (e) The sapiential or wisdom literature is represented by Ben

Sira and Wisdom of Solomon. Finally, (f )4 Ezrais an apocalyptic vision.

The only sense in which these diverse compositions are all “apocrypha” is

if one eschews any etymological meaning and simply regards them as a

modern (and somewhat fluid) collection of books.

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loren t. stuckenbruck

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:01 PM