Decypher

In apocrypha dated to the later part of the first century, and second century, is there much mention of the destruction of Jerusalem?

Ben C Smith

Do you mean OT pseudepigrapha, NT apocrypha, or both?

From the OT pseudepigrapha, 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra are both dated to your time period. Both of these texts discuss the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians, but in ways that thinly veil the real matter at hand, to wit, the more recent destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans.

From the NT apostolic fathers, the epistle of Barnabas references the destruction of the temple quite clearly in chapter 16.

If 1 Clement is to be dated to your time period, then it (surprisingly?) treats the sacrificial system as still prevailing in chapter 41. OTOH, some have used this text as evidence that 1 Clement was actually written before 70!

Ben.

Decypher

Thank you for the reply. I was interested in NT apocrypha.

DCHindley

De,

I guess it would also help to know what you mean by "apocrypha"? Are you referring to the NT books themselves (as in "they are all a bunch of fakes")?

Through the end of the 2nd century (ca. 200 CE) Christian literature does not really have "apocrypha" so much as "pseudepigrapha" (works written in the names of famous figures, written mostly in the 3rd century CE, some possibly late 2nd century CE); and other works where we are not quite sure who wrote them or whether they are the same as the person tradition ascribes them to (1 Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp, etc); and the writings of Christian apologists (Apologies are works that attempt to explain the Christian faith to pagans, usually addressed to rulers or other important people) like Justin Martyr.

Ben has noted that clearly Jewish pseudepigrapha like 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra refer to the 1st century CE destruction of Jerusalem as if they were talking about the destruction by Babylon in the 6th century BCE. They also often have long passages discussing the moral and ethical dilemmas that the end of the sacrificial system brought to them. We can see in these discussions some of the issues that brought to birth Rabbinic Judaism by the late 2nd century CE.

Christian literature is different, in that it does not seem to discuss the issue extensively, although some do so more than others.

The NT is often defended, even by agnostic critics, as "Jewish" and thus most critics are disinclined to identify passages as anti-Semitic, but rather as radical reinterpretations of traditional Jewish expectations. Oh, there are definitely passages that seem to allude to the destruction of the temple or at least to the Jewish War of 66-73 CE or its aftermath. While some folks, including some critics, interpret these asides and allusions to indicate the authors of these statements were likely gentiles who possessed a kind of "replacement theology" and not Jews, most are happy to explain these passages away.

If you were to check a few libraries, especially university libraries, you might find S G F Brandon's The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church: A Study of the effects of the Jewish overthrow of A. D. 70 on Christianity (or via: amazon.co.uk) (S.P.C.K., 1951, reprinted 1957, 1968 & 1978, but currently out of print and considered "rare" on used book sites) a place to start. I have never been able to lay my hands on a copy, but I understand Brandon, an accredited academic, points out numerous places in Christian literature (including the NT) where the destruction of the temple plays a part, although it should be said that today he is generally considered to have been a little too loose with the evidence and thus gets downplayed.

Now if someone is not inclined to see some sort of replacement theology in the NT itself, it had clearly developed by the later literature. Of that kind where authors are clearly indicated, but doubt lingers as to whether these attributions are accurate or if they are really pseudepigraphic (written in someone else's name):

1 Clement 14:1-4 1 Therefore it is right and proper, brethren, that we should be obedient unto God, rather than follow those who in arrogance and unruliness have set themselves up as leaders in abominable jealousy [A reference to the internal strife between the rebelling Jewish parties]. 2 For we [like them] shall bring upon us no common harm, but rather great peril, if we surrender ourselves recklessly to the purposes of men who launch out into strife and seditions, so as to estrange us from that which is right. 3 Let us be good one towards another according to the compassion and sweetness of Him that made us. For it is written: 4 "The good shall be dwellers in the land, and the innocent shall be left on it but they that transgress [referring to the rebellious Jews] shall be destroyed utterly from it." (Psalms 37:35-37 [Lxx Psa 36:35-37])

1 Clement 41:2-3 2 Not in every place, brethren, are the continual daily sacrifices offered, or the freewill offerings, or the sin offerings and the trespass offerings, but in Jerusalem alone. And even there the offering is not made in every place, but before the sanctuary in the court of the altar; and this too through the high priest and the afore said ministers, after that the victim to be offered hath been inspected for blemishes. 3 They therefore who do any thing contrary to the seemly ordinance of His will receive death as the penalty. [A reference to the slaughter of Jews during the Jewish war, with God taking away the ability to sacrifice in Jerusalem, thus obviating their priesthood]

1 Clement 57:2,7 2 Learn to submit yourselves, laying aside the arrogant and proud stubbornness of your tongue. For it is better for you to be found little in the flock of Christ and to have your name on God's roll, than to be had in exceeding honor and yet be cast out from the hope of Him. ... 7 For because they wronged babes, they shall be slain, and inquisition shall destroy the ungodly [e.g., like he did to the Jews]. But he that heareth Me shall dwell safely trusting in hope, and shall be quiet from all fear of all evil. (Proverbs 1:32-33)

1 Clement 58:1 1 Let us therefore be obedient unto His most holy and glorious Name, thereby escaping the threatenings which were spoken of old by the mouth of Wisdom against them which disobey [that is, the Jews, who had revolted], that we may dwell safely, trusting in the most holy Name of His majesty.

Epistle of Barnabas 16:5-6 5 Again, it was revealed how the city and the temple and the people of Israel should be betrayed. For the scripture saith; And it shall be in the last days, that the Lord shall deliver up the sheep of the pasture and the fold and the tower thereof to destruction. (Source uncertain; cf. 1 Enoch 89:56-66) And it came to pass as the Lord spake. 6 But let us enquire whether there be any temple of God. There is; in the place where he himself undertakes to make and finish it. For it is written And it shall come to pass, when the week is being accomplished, the temple of God shall be built gloriously in the name of the Lord. (Source unknown; cf. Dan 9:24) [This clearly refers to the devastation of the Jewish lands, Jerusalem and destruction of the temple - the "tower" – and how the Christians will, in the last days, enjoy a rebuilt temple.]

Epistle of Barnabas 16:1-2 1 Moreover I will tell you likewise concerning the temple, how these wretched men [the rebellious Jews] being led astray set their hope on the building, and not on their God that made them, as being a house of God. 2 For like the Gentiles almost they consecrated Him in the temple. But what saith the Lord abolishing the temple?

Ignatius to the Philadelphians 7:2 keep your flesh as a temple of God; cherish union; shun divisions [It makes little sense to talk about treating the body as a temple, or of individuals as parts of a temple, if the reference to divisions is not meant to call to mind the lesson that the rebellious Jews suffered when they fought among themselves in the final period of the Roman assault on Jerusalem, who thusly did not properly respect the temple of their God]

All this was from Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers 2nd edition

2 Clement 9:3 We ought therefore to guard the flesh as a temple of God [This late homily probably refers to the above passage in Ignatius, or reflects a similar sentiment]

From the Ante-Nicene Fathers series by Donaldson, et al

And of those apologies, the earliest one by Justin Martyr tries to assert that Christians have received God's blessing in the place of the Jews (replacement theology), saying:

The Apology of Justin 1:32 or the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by you. [No comment required]

The Apology of Justin 1:47 That the land of the Jews, then, was to be laid waste, hear what was said by the Spirit of prophecy. And the words were spoken as if from the person of the people wondering at what had happened. They are these: "Sion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. The house of our sanctuary has become a curse, and the glory which our fathers blessed is burned up with fire, and all its glorious things are laid waste: and Thou refrainest Thyself at these things, and hast held Thy peace, and hast humbled us very sore." (Isaiah 64:10-12) And ye are convinced that Jerusalem has been laid waste, as was predicted.

The Apology of Justin 1:52 And what the people of the Jews shall say and do, when they see Him coming in glory, has been thus predicted by Zechariah (sic.) the prophet: "I will command the four winds to gather the scattered children; I will command the north wind to bring them, and the south wind, that it keep not back. And then in Jerusalem there shall be great lamentation, not the lamentation of mouths or of lips, but the lamentation of the heart; and they shall rend not their garments, but their hearts. Tribe by tribe they shall mourn, and then they shall look on Him whom they have pierced; and they shall say, Why, O Lord, hast Thou made us to err from Thy way? The glory which our fathers blessed, has for us been turned into shame." (Daniel 7:13)

In a later apologetical work cast as a dialogue with a Jew, Justin develops this further:

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 22:1 ... For indeed the temple, which is called the temple in Jerusalem, He admitted to be His house or court, not as though He needed it, but in order that you, in this view of it, giving yourselves to Him, might not worship idols. And that this is so, Isaiah says: `What house have ye built Me? saith the Lord. Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.' (Isaiah 66:1)

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 24:1 Jesus Christ circumcises all who will - as was declared above - with knives of stone; that they may be a righteous nation, a people keeping faith, holding to the truth, and maintaining peace. Come then with me, all who fear God, who wish to see the good of Jerusalem. Come, let us go to the light of the Lord; for He has liberated His people, the house of Jacob. Come, all nations; let us gather ourselves together at Jerusalem, no longer plagued by war for the sins of her people.

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 40:1 God does not permit the lamb of the passover to be sacrificed in any other place than where His name was named; knowing that the days will come, after the suffering of Christ, when even the place in Jerusalem shall be given over to your enemies, and all the offerings, in short, shall cease; and that lamb which was commanded to be wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would undergo. For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb. And the two goats which were ordered to be offered during the fast, of which one was sent away as the scape [goat], and the other sacrificed, were similarly declarative of the two appearances of Christ: the first, in which the elders of your people, and the priests, having laid hands on Him and put Him to death, sent Him away as the scape [goat]; and His second appearance, because in the same place in Jerusalem you shall recognise Him whom you have dishonoured, and who was an offering for all sinners willing to repent

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 80:1 And Trypho to this replied, "I remarked to you sir, that you are very anxious to be safe in all respects, since you cling to the Scriptures. But tell me, do you really admit that this place, Jerusalem, shall be rebuilt; and do you expect your people to be gathered together, and made joyful with Christ and the patriarchs, and the prophets, both the men of our nation, and other proselytes who joined them before your Christ came?

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 80:2 But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 92:1 [God will be slandered] unless you show, as I have already said, that God who foreknew was aware that your nation would deserve expulsion from Jerusalem, and that none would be permitted to enter into it.

Dialogue of Justin with Trypho a Jew 138:1 But the whole earth, as the Scripture says, was inundated, and the water rose in height fifteen cubits above all the mountains: so that it is evident this was not spoken to the land, but to the people who obeyed Him: for whom also He had before prepared a resting-place in Jerusalem, as was previously demonstrated by all the symbols of the deluge

All the above was also from the Ante-Nicene Fathers series

This is probably more than you asked for, and for that I apologize, but there are no simple answers.

DCH

Clivedurdle

How big was the first temple?

DCHindley

To any concerned ...

I managed to get ahold of a copy of S. G. F. Brandon's The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church mentioned above (2nd edition, by the author, 1957).

Interesting book, with a very detailed 2 page Table of Contents of its approximately 297 pages of material, including a 7 page Synopsis of Chapters. Of course, the manuscript was completed in 1947 and was updated a bit before it was sent to press in 1950, so the scholarship drawn upon represents a portion of the "cutting edge" of that day.The bibliography includes critics like Robert Eisler and others whose works have been overturned or superceded by better works on the subjects at hand. Even the list of Ancient Literary Sources is way out of date with regard to understanding of the original texts and modernized translations.

People can and will take issue with this or that particular point, but a lot to digest. I wonder why it has not been reprinted since 1978? Most all of Brandon's other works have been ...

DCH

Toto

The 1-star review on Amazon may be of interest