Читать книгу A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ - Emil Schürer - Страница 39

Besides the Talmud, Midrashim, and Targums, there are also the following treatises, which ought to be classed among the works belonging to the circle of rabbinical works, inasmuch as they stand related in one way or another to our history. Only the first named, however, can be regarded as of any particular historical value.

1. Megillath Taanith, properly the “Book of the Fasts,” a list of those days on which, owing to some association or another, any joyous event (especially during the period of the Maccabees) could not be celebrated. The observance of such days is already presupposed in Judith 8:6. Our list is quoted even in the Mishna, Taanith ii. 8, and seems to have been compiled in the first century after Christ. The text is Aramaic; the much later commentary is in Hebrew.—The little tract, which in earlier times was not very highly esteemed, has been found of great historical importance, and much use has been made of it, especially by Derenbourg and Grätz.

Edition with Latin translation: Meyer, Tractatus de temporibus sacris et festis diebus Hebraeorum, etc. Accedit מנלת volumen de jejunio, Amstelaedami 1724.—Derenbourg in his Histoire de la Palestine (1867), pp. 439–446, gives the Aramaic text with a French translation.—Compare generally: Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea, i. 68 f., 384 f., ii. 1325 ff., iii. 1195 ff.,iv. 1024.—Fürst, Bibliotheca Judaica, i. 9, under Abraham ha-Lewi.—Steinschneider, Catalogus libr. Hebr. in Biblioth. Bodlei. col. 582.—Zedner, Catalogue of the British Museum, p. 517.—Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, pp. 127, 128.—Ewald, History of Israel, vol. v. p. 381, vol. viii. p. 280 sq.—Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, iii. pp. 597–615 (n. 1), and 685 ff. (n. 1).—Wellhausen, Phar. u. Saduc. pp. 56–63.—Schmilg, Ueber Entstehung und historischen Werth des Siegeskalenders “Megillath Taanith,” Leipz. 1874.—Joel Müller, Der Text der Fastenrolle (Monatsschr. 1875, pp. 43–48, 139–144).—Brann, Entstehung und Werth der Megillat Taanit (Monatsschr. 1876, pp. 375 ff., 410 ff., 445 ff.).—Cassel, Kritisches Sendschreiben über die Probebibel; II. Messianische Stellen des Alten Testaments. Angehängt sind Anmerkungen über Megillath Taanith, Berlin 1885.—Hamburger, Real-Encyclopaedie für Bibel und Talmud, Supplementalband, pp. 104–107, art. “Megillath Taanith.”

2. Seder olam, also called Seder olam rabba, an exposition of the biblical history from Adam down to the time of Alexander the Great, with some notices also of later times.—It is quoted in the Talmud, and is ascribed to R. Jose ben Chalephta, who lived about the years 130–160 after Christ. This supposition, however, rests simply on the fact that R. Jose is quoted nine times as an authority.

Much more modern, composed at the earliest in the eighth century, is the Seder olam sutta, a genealogical work, which treats first of all of biblical times, and then seeks to give an unbroken list of the princes during the Babylonian exile.

An edition of both, with a Latin translation: Chronicon Hebraeorum majus et minus, latine vertit et commentar. perpet. illustravit J. Meyer. Accedit ejusdem dissertat. 3, Amstelaedami 1699.—Compare generally: Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea, i. 492–499, iv. 1029 sq.—Fürst, Bibliotheca Judaica, ii. 107 sq.—Steinschneider, Catalogus Bodlei. col. 1433–1437.—Zedner, Catalogue of the British Museum, p. 689 sq.—Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, pp. 85, 135–139.—Ewald, History of Israel, vol. i. pp. 200, 209, vol. viii. p. 49.—Fürst, Literaturblatt des Orients, 1846, pp. 547–552.—Grätz, Geschichte der Juden, iv. 200.—Hamburger, Real-Encyclopaedie für Bibel und Talmud, Supplement. p. 132 f.

3. Megillath Antiochus, a short legendary history of the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes and the conquests of the Asmoneans. It belongs to the post-Talmudic age, and is historically worthless. The original Aramaic text was first printed in the present century. Numerous older editions give a Hebrew translation, which in its manuscript form is still extant.

On the manuscripts of the Aramaic and Hebrew texts, see especially: Curtiss, The Name Maccabee, Leipzig 1876, p. 36 sqq. In addition, consult: Merx, Chrestomathia targumica 1888, p. xvi., which calls attention to two manuscripts of the British Museum (Oriental Manuscripts, 2377, 2212) as giving the Aramaic text with the Babylonian pointing.—Bartolocci in his Bibliotheca rabbinica, i. 388 sqq., gives the Hebrew text with a Latin translation. The Latin translation alone is copied by Fabricius in his Codex pseudepigr. Vet. Test. i. 1165 sqq.—A modern edition of the Hebrew text: Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrasch, i. (1853) pp. 142–146.—The Aramaic text was first edited by Filipowski in 1851: The Choice of Pearls … to which is added the Book of Antiochus, published for the first time in Aramaic, Hebrew, and English, by H. Filipowski, London 1851. Also more recently by Jellinek in Bet ha-Midrash, vi. (1877) pp. 4–8.

Compare generally: Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea, i. 204 sq., iii. 130.—Fürst, Bibliotheca Judaica, ii. 317.—Steinschneider, Catalogus libr. hebr. Bodlei. col. 206 sq.—Zedner, Catalogue of British Museum, p. 51.—Zunz, p. 134.—Ewald, History of Israel, vol. v. p. 287 sq.

4. Josippon or Joseph ben Gorion. Under this name there exists, written in Hebrew, a history of the Jewish people from Adam down to the destruction of the temple by Titus. The author wishes to pass himself off for the ancient Josephus, but calls himself erroneously Joseph son of Gorion, and not infrequently departs so widely from the rôle which he had assumed as even expressly to quote from the true Josephus (Zunz, p. 150). The latter is, indeed, abundantly made use of, but in a very free and eclectic manner, while much purely legendary material is introduced from other sources. It would seem that this author had before him, not the Greek text, but a Latin translation of Josephus, and for the Bellum Judaicum, indeed, only the paraphrastic and loose rendering of the so-called Hegesippus. According to Zunz, pp 150–152, the work originated in Italy during the first half of the tenth century after Christ.

Among the numerous editions, the following deserve to be mentioned: Josephus Gorionides s. Josephus Hebraicus juxta venetam edit. latine versus et cum exemplari Constantinop. collatus atque notis illustratus a J. F. Breithaupto, Gothae 1707, in Hebrew and Latin. The same with a new title, Gothae et Lips. 1710.—A Hebrew-Latin edition had been already issued at a much earlier date by Sebastian Münster, Josephus Hebraicus diu desideratissimus opera Seb. Münsteri, Basil 1541; but it was disfigured by many arbitrary abbreviations.—A Latin translation of the whole text was given by Gagnier, Josippon sive Josephi ben Gorionis historiae Judaicae libri sex, ex hebraeo latine vertit, etc., Oxon. 1706.

Compare generally on the work and its editions: Oudin, De script. eccles. ii. col. 1032–1062.—Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea, i. 508–523, iii. 387–389.—Meusel, Bibliotheca histor. i. 2 (1784), pp. 236–239.—Fabricius, Bibliotheca graec., ed. Harles, v. 56–59.—Fürst, Bibliotheca Judaica, ii. 111–114.—Steinschneider, Catalogus libr. hebr. Biblioth. Bodlei. col. 1547–1552.—Zedner, Catalogue of the British Museum, p. 344 sq.—Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vörtrage der Juden, pp. 146–154.—Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Poesie, Leipsic 1836, pp. 37–40.—Külb, art. “Josephus Gorionides” in Ersch und Gruber’s Allgem. Encyclop. Sec. ii. Bd. 23 (1844), p. 184.