Summaries of Israel's History, Part 3
Summaries of Israel's History, Part 3
The Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
(avg. read time: 5–11 mins.)
As summaries in the Psalms, in particular, were crucial for reminding Israel of her history and identity, so summaries also became important in Second Temple Jewish literature for maintaining these things and for providing explanations in various contexts. For this entry, we will be looking at summaries from the OT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. Next time, we will consider Josephus and the NT.
The first example from these texts in Jdt 5:5–21 is also a peculiar one. It is unlike anything we have seen before and unlike anything we will see after this in terms of the perspective it is told from. Holofernes, general of the Assyrian army, had asked the Ammonite leader Achior about the Jewish people. Achior’s summary is a bit distorted from what is related in the Bible, but it still largely tracks with it. He does not mention by name any of the patriarchs, but he still basically charts their movements in his claims that the people are descended from the Chaldeans (Abram/Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldeans), they moved to Mesopotamia because they did not wish to follow the gods of the Chaldeans, then God commanded them to leave there and go to Canaan. They prospered there, but then they were driven to Egypt by a famine in the land. Then the events of the exodus are related once again, though it is said now that the Egyptians “drove them out.” Sinai and Kadesh-barnea are only briefly mentioned, as Achior is more focused on the fact that the Israelites came into the land east of the Jordan, conquered kings there, and continued to the do the same on the other side of the Jordan. They prospered as long as they did not sin against God, but when they went astray, they were defeated and exiled into captivity while the temple was razed and the towns were occupied. But now they have come back from where they were scattered to where their sanctuary is (though he does not mention the rebuilding). All of this history answers Holofernes’s questions, but it also builds up to his ultimate point in vv. 20–21: the history shows that the Jews can be defeated if they have sinned against their God and God hands them over to their enemies, but it also shows that if they are not a guilty nation, then Holofernes would be well advised to forget any campaign against them, for God will give his people the victory.
The next example comes from the second half of the Wisdom of Solomon. I have noted before how Wis 7–9 provides the most extensive exposition of Wisdom theology in Second Temple Judaism that resembles in many ways what the NT will say of Christ. This exposition paves the way for the second half of the book that looks at the role of Wisdom in biblical history, although the subject subtly shifts to referring to God more generally—rather than personified Wisdom per se—as it is clear that referring to Wisdom is ultimately a way of referring to God. What is interesting about this history, besides this framework of looking at Wisdom’s role in its formation and direction, is that it goes all the way back to creation. It is also peculiar in that it is broken up by a series of digressions in the middle, so that the summary proper belongs to 10:1–11:16 and chs. 16–19. Not many names are noted, in order to maintain generic categories, but the descriptions of characters and events make quite clear what stories the author is referring to, including Cain and Abel (10:3), the flood (10:4), the tower of Babel (10:5), Abraham (10:5), Lot (10:6–8), Jacob (10:9–12), Joseph (10:13–14), and Moses (10:15–21). The rest of the summary in its various parts concern the events in Egypt and the wilderness wandering, which we need not dwell on at length here. But it is interesting that appeal is once again made to the foundational events, rather than to a continued series that leads up to the present time. Creation, exodus, and the points in between are the focus of Wisdom of Solomon, especially because they are useful for the author’s extensive critique of idolatry.
Sirach, the other great wisdom book of the Apocrypha, provides us with another example of reviewing the history of God’s people that goes further back than the history that distinguishes Israel, just like Wisdom of Solomon. Specifically, Sir 44:1–50:24 lists the heroes among the ancestors who manifested God’s glory in various ways, such as in wisdom and valor. The list begins all the way back at Enoch and proceeds through the many highlighted individuals from Noah to the patriarchs to Moses and Aaron to Phinehas to Joshua and Caleb, and so on until Simon II, son of Onias, the high priest. But the last figure is mentioned after a sizeable gap in the record from the time of Nehemiah to the present, for after mentioning Nehemiah, Sirach switches back to referring to the earliest ancestors before ch. 50. Only at that point does he mention Simon as an outlier, since Simon is the one who brings the catalogue of heroes up to date. Notably, this is the only list thus far that gives such focus to individuals more so than events, as this list is structured precisely around individuals.
However, Sirach is not the only instance focusing primarily on individuals. Mattathias’s farewell address in 1 Macc 2:51–68 similarly draws attention to individuals as exemplars for his sons to consider. The examples of faithfulness, especially in the face of significant challenge (including two individuals described as “zealous” in Phinehas and Elijah), stretch from Abraham to Daniel. All of them show that those who put their trust in God will find the strength they need, so they too must be faithful to the commands of God if they want their rebellion to succeed. The summary only goes up to the time of Daniel, a few centuries before the Maccabean era, but with Mattathias’s final charges, the hope is that the names of his sons will be added to this record of renown.
The next case from 3 Maccabees features the Simon referenced by Sirach, as it is his prayer that contains the summary of history in 2:2–20 (the proper summary is in vv. 4–10). The prayer acknowledges God as Lord, Creator, Ruler, and Judge of all before reciting his deeds. The deeds in the summary are mostly deeds of judgment, so the first one noted is the flood. The next one is the judgment on Sodom. Only then are the events of the exodus brought up. That is the last series of events recounted, except for the reference made to God choosing Jerusalem and sanctifying it for his name. The cutoff point is not one of bringing that history up to the present, but focuses rather on the foundational events whereby God clearly designated Israel as his people (cf. 2 Esdr 1:12–23). In light of this history, Simon then petitions God to continue to be faithful and true to the house of Israel he made covenant with and rescue them from their oppressors now as he had done before. It is at once a prayer for the oppressed faithful and a prayer for judgment to be executed against the oppressor, hence why the prayer is immediately followed in v. 21 with the note that Ptolemy is punished.
The prayer of Eleazar in ch. 6 has much the same function, so I will not say too much about it. But it is notable that the scope of summary is different. Here, the emphasis is on specifically Israelite history, so the summary begins in v. 4 with the exodus and the judgment executed against Pharaoh. It then continues with reference to judgment against Sennacherib, in favor of the three companions in Dan 3, in favor of Daniel himself, and in favor of Jonah (vv. 5–8). These are the identifying actions of the God to whom Eleazar is appealing for miraculous deliverance in a situation that otherwise seems impossible.
Another prayer that features a summary of history is 4 Ezra 3:4–27. The prayer attributed to Ezra provides a more complete summary of history from Adam to the patriarchs to the exodus to David to the exile. That brings the history up to the date of the speaker. This is a review of history that accounts for both God’s mercy and judgment in light of human sinfulness. But the point of the review is shown in the subsequent text of vv. 28–36. It is a ground for questioning, as Ezra wonders why Israel should thus be singled out for punishment when other nations are also unfaithful to God’s will, and even more so since they do not have a covenant with God. This questioning sets the stage for the rest of the apocalypse, as Ezra tries to grapple with what God has done and with the revelations God gives him.
The apocalyptic review of history in 2 Bar 56–74 is akin to the Book of Visions that is not part of my scope here, but it is set apart by the fact that most of its history is prior to the time of the speaker, Baruch. Here, history is divided into fourteen periods: 1) Adam and the primeval history; 2) Abraham and the patriarchs; 3) Israel’s time in Egypt; 4) the time of Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, and Caleb; 5) the judges and the mingling of Israel with the sins of the Amorites; 6) David and Solomon; 7) the division of Israel and Judah to the Assyrian exile; 8) Hezekiah; 9) Manasseh; 10) Josiah; 11) the disaster of exile (the present); 12) the initial and incomplete return from exile; 13) the time of ultimate distress; 14) the time of ultimate salvation and judgment. As with other apocalyptic reviews of history, whether as complete as this one or more future-oriented (e.g., Daniel), the point demonstrated is God’s sovereignty over history. Here, it comes in the form of alternating periods of evil and good, dark waters followed by bright waters, until the climactic time of ultimate salvation when God’s will shall be fully accomplished.
Although I said at the start of this series that I will not be reviewing Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities as a whole, there are two exceptions to note. First, LAB 23:4–13 presents a rewritten version of Joshua’s speech from Josh 24 that was noted in Part 1. It provides considerably more detail, including direct quotes from the various stories invoked. It is also remarkable for the eschatological conclusion it has. For after the recap that brings them up to the time of Joshua and the conquest of the promised land thus far, and after the exhortation to continue in faithfulness to the Lord, the Lord via Joshua says that there is a yet greater inheritance coming of resurrection life (v. 13), as the resurrection is the fulfillment of this history both in terms of vindicating the faithful lives of God’s people by enabling those lives to continue forever, and in terms of exhibiting God’s inexorable, faithful love as the one who keeps promises even through death. Indeed, God’s faithful love is shown to be such that, even beyond all that he has demonstrated in the summary of history to this point, he will not only keep promises to the descendants of the ones he made covenant with, but will also resurrect those he promised in order to fulfill the promises to them personally.
Second, the Song of Deborah from Judg 5 is rewritten so as to provide a summary of Israel’s history in 32:1–12. As with the previous text, it begins with Abraham and concludes in Barak and Deborah’s time with reference to Jael. As with the previous summary, the point this summary makes is that whatever God says, he will do, that he is ever faithful to his promises. And as this text in particular accentuates, he has not only been faithful in the renowned past, but he has also been faithful recently.
The final text of interest among these collections is the sixth of the Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers, specifically Hel. Syn. Pr. 6:4–12. This sequence lists the righteous who offered gifts of prayer and praise to God and specifies instances when they did so. This list is mostly in order, but Jephthah, Barak, and Deborah are at least out of narrative order with Judges, Daniel and the three companions are placed after Ezra and Jonah respectively, and Hannah and Jael seem to be referenced where they are apropos of nothing. Otherwise, the chronological boundaries are set with Abel on one end and Mattathias on the other. As such, this is an attempt at a more or less comprehensive catalogue of faithful praying individuals that leads up somewhere near to the present time of the author.