Dr. Liicke observes that the drapery only of the apocalyptic element of this work is Jewish, the internal character being altogether Christian. But in both form and substance there is an evi dent imitation, if not of the Apocalypse of St. John, at least of the book of Daniel and of the Sibylline Oracles. The use of the canonical Apoc alypse Dicke (/. c. section 16) considers to be un deniable in viii. 45 (comp. Rev. xxii :8, 9; vii :21 23; Rev. xix :10).
(2) Sibylline Oracles. Of the ancient Greek poems called the Sibylline Oracles (written in hexameter verse), there was formerly a consid erable number in use, of which but few have de scended to our times. Servius, in the fifth century, mentions a hundred books (Semitones, logoi); and Suidas, who lived most probably in the elev enth, speaks of twenty-four books of the Chal dnan sibyls alone. But eight only were known to the moderns, until the recent discoveries of An gelo Alai, who has recovered and published an eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth hook from palimpsests in the Ambrosian and Vatican libraries (Script. Vet. Nov. Collect., vol. III, p. 3). The first eight books have been shown to be the compositions of various writers from the com mencement of the second century B. C. to A. D, 500. Of these, the earliest in point of date is sup posed to be the third book, containing a series of connected predictions written by an Alexandrian Jew in the time of the Maccabees, but containing heathen poems of a still earlier period.
(3) Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The book called the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is an ancient Apocryphal work (founded most probably on Gen. xlix :1, sq.), in which the twelve sons of Jacob are represented as delivering their dying predictions and precepts to their posterity. If we are to credit the authority of a manuscript in the Bodleian library, this work was originally written in Hebrew, and translated into Greek by St. Chrysostom. But Dr. Grabe, who first adduced this testimony, considers it very doubtful.
This work contains many beautiful passages, and, while its form is that of a pretended proph ecy, bears indirect testimony to the facts and books of the New Testament, the nativity, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and unblemished character of Jesus, ascribing to him such titles as evidently show that his divinity was fully recognized. The
author testifies also to the canonical authority of the Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul's Epistles, and seems especially to allude to the four Gospels. The age of this Apocryphal work is, therefore, of considerable importance in sacred criticism.
(4) The Fourth Book of Ezra. The first ac cording to the Ethiopic and Arabic (see EspRAs) is, from its Apocalyptic character, styled by Niceph orus (Can. 3. 4) the d4fiocalyfise of Ezra ('Arovi.
Xtnpts "Ecrapa). Its original language (according to Lucke) was Greek, although it is at present. extant only in a Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic trans lation, of which the Latin is the most ancient. The main body of the work, viz., chapters iii-xiv, con tains a connected revelation, which is partly an open imitation of Daniel, and partly resembles the New Testament Apocalypse. It contains a mix ture of Jewish and Christian elements. This work, as has been formerly observed, was known to Clemens Alexandrinus in the second century; and from the indication in the Introduction (chap ter iii. I), 'In the thirtieth year of the destruction of the city I was in Babylon,' Lucke conjectures that the author may have written in the thirtieth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, or A. D. too; and this date is further confirmed by the vision of the eagle (chapters xi-xii), which indi cates the time of Trajan. He conceives the author to have been evidently a Jew, who lived out of Palestine, probably in Egypt, but that the varia tion in the several ancient versions of the work prove it to have been interpolated by a Christian hand.
The author of the last two chapters (xv-xvi) seems to have lived in the third or fourth century, during the Decian or Diocletian persecutions (chapter xv :io). Rome, the Apocalyptic Babylon of the author, approaches her downfall (xv :43, sq.). Several passages of the New Testament are evidently alluded to (comp. 4 Ezra xvi :29, sq. with Matt. xxiv :4o, 41 ; xvi :42-45, with 1 Cor. vii: 29, 3o; xv :8, 9, with Rev. vi:io). The whole chapter seems, indeed, to be an imitation of Matt. xxiv; (comp. also 4 Ezra i :3o with Matt. xxiii: 37; with Luke xvi :9: and ii :12 with xxii:2; also ii :42 with Rev. xiv :1-3; and ii:t8 with Rev. xxii:r, 2).