HEBREWS, LITERATURE OF THE.
1. Its 23eginning. The Hebrews have held a place in the history of nations since about moo B. C. Prior to David's time the conditions of life with which the people struggled were such as to preclude any real unity of action or thinking and any self-developed activity outside of the arts of war, agriculture or government. The most im portant steps toward a real literature were taken when the tribes were welded into a united n2tion under David, and the prophetic and priestly orders became definite and important factors in its de velopment. These organized bodies became in Palestine, as they were in Babylonia and else where, a class with the motive impulses and ideals and with the leisure essential to the develop ment of a national literature. Materials for lit groupings. Nevertheless it seems clear that these productions were only preparatory. The distinct. lye literary development of the Hebrew nation was in the interest of ideas which did not get hold of the national mind much earlier than the eighth and ninth century B. C., the age of the great his torians and of the notable quartet of prophets, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah. Under the stimu lus of these brilliant thinkers, the accumulated records and memories of the past were utilized to illustrate to the nation the significance of its his tory.
2. External Influences. The Hebrews were so situated as to make a literary development natural. They belonged to the Semitic family of nations, each one of which under the proper con ditions has developed a literature. They spoke a language closely related to that of the Bahy Ionians and Assyrians. Right across the center of their territory passed the stream of interna tional traffic between the two great centers of culture and commerce in that day, the Tigris-Eu Orates basin and the valley of the Nile. Thus the more active minds among the Hebrews were kept in close touch with the problems and achieve ments of the western Asiatic world. The Tel-el Amarna Tablets give evidence that the culture of Babylonia was paramount in Syria—Palestine in the fifteenth century B. C. and earlier. Dnring
the centuries that followed this influence was less direct, but still appreciable. About 600 B. C., dur ing the Great Captivity, when the Hebrews were compelled to make their homes in Babylonia for half a century, a second great impulse to literary productiveness was received.
3. Classification. To separate Hebrew liter ature into periods of development is unsatisfac tory. A less usual but more practical classifica tion will be by three artificial groupings, the liter ature preserved in the Hebrew or English Old Testament, the extra-canonical literature and the Rabbinic literature.
The Old Testament fairly represents the choic est productions of the Hebrew mind down to about the second century B. C. The Great Cap tivity (B.C. 586-538) made an alteration in the cir cumstances of the nation for the next four hun dren years, which marked the literature. In He brew literature, however, form is so fully subor dinated to idea that the unity of Biblical literature is far more marked than its diversity. We can only treat the Old Testament as a literary whole.
The activity of the Hebrew mind did not cease with the completion of the Canon. Numberless writings were put forth between the second cen tury B. C. and the corresponding date of our era. Many of these are worthy of mention.
A peculiar development of Judaism is repre sented by the Targums, the Mishna and the Tal mud, which will require brief attention.
4. Biblical Literature. The literature pre served in the Old Testament constitutes the most representative section of Hebrew literature. It is the choicest portion of a literary output of con siderable extent through many centuries. Its col lections of psalms and proverbs are anthologies which include specimens, centuries apart in time of origin. Its histories have grown out of earlier histories. Its wisdom writings are masterpieces in their class. Owing to this gradual selection of the fittest, the literature of the Bible is remarkable for its permanent and satisfying character. It re wards examination from the purely literary point of view.