Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

83a

83

recent account Satan assumes the task ascribed to God in the pre-exilic narrative. The conception of Satan, which finds its source in the belief in supernatural beings, common to all peoples in their early stage of civilization, is more and more developed by the Apocalyptic and Apocryphal writers, until it reaches its final development in the New Testament where Satan is looked upon as the veritable Master of this world. As Master of this world he is antagonistic to God. Satan is "the God of this world" who "hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving." This view of Satan is foreshadowed in the Wisdom of Solomon," where Satan is possessed of power independent of God and dares to oppose God's plan-" through envy of the devil came death into the world." When Rome finally conquered Judæa (70 C. E.), and JHVH failed to interfere in behalf of those who looked upon Him as their special Protector and Friend, Satan's position became more exalted, hence

86

84

83 Deane states (Pseudepigrapha, Edinb., 1891, Introd.): "The degradation of Israel under its pagan oppressors, and the temporary triumph of the chosen people in the Maccabean period, gave rise to the Apocalyptic literature. An unswerving zeal for the Law, and a glowing hope of a happy future, formed the characteristics of this period." Cf. also Hibbert Lectures, 1892, p. 467.

83a Writings, partly in Hebrew and partly in Greek, having some pretension to the character of Scriptures, or received as such by certain sects, but excluded from the Canon. Cf. Art. " Apocrypha" in Jewish Encycl., vol. II; Karpeles: Gesch. d. jüd. Lit., Berl., 1886, vol. I, pp. 168 ff; Joel. Blicke i. d. Religionsgesch., vol. I, pp. 68 ff.

84 II Cor. 4:4.

55 Cf. Siegfried's transl. in Kautzsch's A. u. P., vol. I, p. 479.

[blocks in formation]

88

forth he is the Prince of Evil to whom God has assigned the rule of the present world until He Himself will intercede and bring about the Kingdom of God. In the New Testament his powers are fully recognized." Jesus, his disciples, and all the writers of the New Testament, had a profound and vigorous belief in the devil and in evil spirits. In the Book of Tobit (c. 100 B. C.) angels and demons, for the first time in Jewish literature, play an important part. Here the angels are possessed of power to save men from impending trouble, also from evil spirits. Raphael, the archangel, cures blindness and other ills human flesh is heir to; also Sara he gives for a wife to Tobias, and he has the power to bind evil spirits. The angels are on friendly footing with men." Tobias sends the angel to fetch some money, and together they attend a wedding."

89

87 Matt. 13:39; John 12:31.

88 Matt. 12:25-28; Luke 10:17-20. 89 3:17.

[ocr errors]

90 5:16.

21 Chpt. IX; cf. Spencer (Principles of Sociology, N. Y., 1901, vol. I, p. 242): 'In the earlier days the Hebrews employed some physical process, akin to the process we find among savages, such as making a dreadful stench by burning the heart and liver of a fish. Through such exorcism, taught by the angel Raphael, the demon Asmodeus was driven out and fled to Egypt when he had smelled the smoke. But later as in the exorcism of Christ, the physical process was replaced by the compulsion of superior supernatural agency." Cf. also Kohut: "D. B. Tobit" in Geiger's Ztschft., 1872, p. 50; Kohut: Angelology u. Demonology, p. 72, where Asmodeus is identified with Aeshman in Zend Avesta; Carus: The Hist. of the Devil and the idea of Evil, Chicago, 1900; Everett: "The Devil" in New World, March, 1895, and "Der Dämon Asmodeus i. B. Tobias" in Theol. Quartalschrift, 1856, pp. 422-445.

CHAPTER IV

VIEW OF LIFE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Everywhere in the Old Testament the joyous and harmonious notes of life are accentuated. Life is synonymous with good and blessing, death with evil. Therefore, in Genesis 3:19 (J1) death is spoken of as a curse and a punishment. The optimistic view of life came naturally to the ancient Hebrews. It stood at the foundation of their religious creed. Not, that the ancient Hebrews were ignorant of any discordant note in life's symphony, but they reasoned, that as God created the world, evil must be the work of man. Judaism, as soon as it made itself felt as a philosophy of life, was conquered by an ardent faith in Providence, and Optimism remained the dominant view through the ages. Schopenhauer, greatly struck by this fact, asserts, that the fundamental distinction between religions was not a matter of Monotheism or Polytheism, Pantheism or Atheism, but of Optimism and Pessimism. That makes, Schopenhauer continues, the fundamental distinction between the Old Testament and New Testament. The Old Testament was a religion of Optimism, the New Testament that of Pessimism. And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very

66

1 Günzig: Der Pessimismus im Judenthum, Krakau, 1899, p. 9.

"Griesbach ed., vol. II, p. 196. Cf. Löwenstein: Schopenhauer und d. Judentum in Dr. Gossel's "Populär-wissenschaftliche Vorträge, Frankfurt a/M, 1902.

[ocr errors]

good holds the entire philosophy of Optimism. Except in the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes, and in a few of the Psalms, it scarcely occurred to the Hebrew mind that there could be any other view of life than that which looked out upon it through the medium of satisfaction and hope. The predominant note of cheerfulness running through the Old Testament was, undoubtedly, the outcome of faith, a complete dependence upon a God who had ordered all things for a beneficent purpose. The course of human civilization conclusively indicates that all peoples start from a simple Optimism, but, that owing to the exigencies of life, Pessimism crowds out Optimism, as it were. Thus in India and Greece the pessimistic philosophy of life was developed into a system. In the Old Testament, on the other hand, the pessimistic tendency was successfully overcome by faith in a Creator and the goodness and wisdom of His work." The Proverb:

4

66

A merry heart causes good healing

But a broken spirit dries up the bones." "

expresses tersely the Old Testament view of life. In the midst of the joy and gladness of life the few pessimistic utterances are lost sight of in the Old Testament. If it depicts life as full of troubles, it portrays life as full of victory over troubles. If clouds that overhang men often seem black and sullen, in the very heart of

[ocr errors]

מי שברא יום ברא פרנסתו

Cf. Mechilta to Ex. 16:4: "He who created the day, prepared also the daily sustenance." Comp. Talm. Sota 48b.

Philippson: Weltbewegende Fragen, Lpzg., 1869, vol. I,

[merged small][ocr errors]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »