Page:LostApocryphaOfTheOldTestamentMRJames.djvu/107

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THE OLD TESTAMENT
89

Though inexact, neither clause goes far away from what may be found in the Bible.

vii. 4: "What saith He in (by) the prophet? 'And let them eat of the goat that is offered at the fast for all the sins.' Give good heed. 'And let the priests alone all eat the intestine unwashed, with vinegar. . .'" 7: (after quoting Lev. xvi. 7 sq.: "Take two goats," etc.). But what are they to do with the other? "Cursed, saith he, is the other." See how the type of Jesus is manifested: "And spit, all of you, upon it, and pierce it, and put the scarlet wool about its head, and so let it be cast into the wilderness."

We can hardly be wrong in reckoning this as a Christian interpolation into Leviticus, comparable to, but more serious than, that in the Psalm, "The Lord reigneth from the Tree," which runs through all the early centuries.

xi. 9: "And again another prophet saith: And the land of Jacob was praised above all the earth. . . . 10. Then what saith He?" "And there was a river flowing from the right, and there came up out of it goodly trees, and whosoever eateth of them shall live for ever."

Apparently the two clauses are from a single source, which reminds one of Ezek. xlviii. 1–12, but is not the same.

xii. 1: "Likewise again he defineth concerning the Cross in another prophet who saith: 'And when shall these things be accomplished? The Lord saith :When a tree (or timber) and wood shall lie down and arise, and when blood shall drop from a tree (or wood).'"

It has been thought that this is from 4 Esdras iv. 53, but of late opinion has been against that view, and, I think, rightly. Discussions of it may be found in Rendel Harris's Rest of the Words of Baruch and in my Introduction to 4 Esdras.

xvii. 6: "For it is written: And it shall be, when the week is being accomplished, that the Temple of God shall be built gloriously in the name of the Lord."

This is like Dan. ix. 24 ff. Resch would attribute it to the apocryphal Ezekiel,