WHILE stress is rightly laid upon the foundation which the Old Testament and its writers provided for the New Testament, all too little attention has been paid to the preparation which can be traced in Jewish religious books which do not form part of our Old Testament, but which nevertheless helped to make ready the thoughts of the people for the teachings of Christ Jesus. Especially is this true of the Judaic literature which appeared just prior to the New Testament period.
The relentless domination of the Greeks in Palestine under Alexander the Great and his successors, fostered in the hearts of the Jews a passionate desire to preserve their religious freedom at all costs — a desire which found practical expression in the revolt of the Maccabees, as recorded in the Apocrypha. The more foreign influences sought to destroy Judaism, the more the people resisted such influences, and centered their hopes with growing eagerness upon the advent of the great leader whom the prophets had long foretold, namely, the Messiah. This tense feeling of Messianic expectation helps to explain the reception accorded to the Master by so many of his countrymen. Thus, in a book known as "The Similitudes of Enoch," which dates from the first century B. C., there are passages foreshadowing the coming of the Messiah, who is described as "the Righteous One," "the Elect One," "the Son of Man." "the Anointed One," titles which were later borrowed by the New Testament writers and applied to Christ Jesus.
Written in the later years of the second century B. C., the book known as "The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs" also played its part in preparing for the teaching of the Master. Deuteronomy (6:5) had affirmed that men should love God, and Leviticus (19:18) that they should love their neighbors, but this book of "Testaments" is said to be "the first written Jewish authority" to combine both ideas in a single sentence, as did Christ Jesus in the Gospels. Thus, in the "Testament of Issachar" (v. 2) we read, "Love the Lord and your neighbour." In the "Testament of Gad" (vi. 3-7) we find a statement which approximates to the Christian ideal of forgiveness. It reads, in part, as follows: "If a man sin against thee, speak peaceably to him and in thy soul hold not guile; and if he repent and confess forgive him . . . but if he be shameless and persisteth in his wrongdoing, even so forgive him from the heart, and leave to God the avenging." Compare (Luke 17:3; Matthew 18:15, 35.) In the Apocrypha, the so-called "Wisdom of Solomon" not only denies the reality of death (chapters 1:13-15 and 3:1, 2), but contains still other statements which aided in preparing the people of Palestine for the reception of the gospel.
