Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

Occasionally, other biblical books inspired works written in Greek.

Demetrius’s work was actually entitledConcerning the Kings in Judea,and

the sixth fragment is a chronological summary of Israel’s history based on

material from 2 Kings. One of Eupolemus’s works is also known asCon-

cerning the Kings in Judea.Fragments 2 to 4, which refer to another book by

Eupolemus entitledConcerning the Prophecy of Elijah,rely on the Deuter-

onomistic History in general, especially 2 Samuel though 2 Kings, and per-

haps Jeremiah as well. Eupolemus (frg. 5) also attempted chronological cal-

culations, from Adam to the reign of Demetrius I Soter (162-150b.c.e.). He

seems to have been followed by Justus of Tiberias, who apparently wrote a

Chronicle of Jewish Kings(from Moses to Agrippa II), perhaps a compre-

hensive world chronicle, which was used by later Christian chroniclers but

has not survived. In hisJewish Antiquities,Josephus rewrites the history of

the Jewish people from Adam to the time of Nero and therefore uses a great

diversity of biblical books, including ones written in the Hellenistic period

like Daniel and Esther. He also uses Jewish books that were not included in

the rabbinic canon, such as theLetter of Aristeasand 1 Maccabees.

Among the Jewish authors quoted by the church fathers is a certain

Aristeas, often called “the Exegete” to distinguish him from the narrator of

theLetter of Aristeas.He wrote the bookOn the Jewsand summarized the

story of Job, probably at the end of his account of Genesis (since Job is pre-

sented as a son of Esau). The pseudepigraphicTestament of Jobrewrites

more extensively the story of this pious character, presenting him as a con-

vert who purifies a nearby temple from its idolatrous cult and as a conse-

quence is persecuted by Satan. Finally, two Jewish synagogal sermons orig-

inally written in Greek and wrongly attributed to Philo have been

transmitted to us in an Armenian translation. The first one is based on the

book of Jonah, the second on the story of Samson in the book of Judges.

Writings with Little or No Basis in Biblical Tradition

Before we turn to a different aspect of Jewish literature written in Greek, a

few words should be said about the works that do not evoke biblical char-

acters and topics in an explicit or significant way. To this category belong

several pseudepigrapha: the Pseudo-Orphic verses, Pseudo-Hecataeus, the

JewishSibylline Oracles,and Pseudo-Phocylides. To this group we may add

theLetter of Aristeas,which is not a pseudepigraphstricto sensu,since no

famous Greek writer named Aristeas is known to us, but which pretends to

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EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:05 PM