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We are forcibly reminded in this passage of Paul's words to the Athenians in
Acts 17: 30: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all
men everywhere to repent."
Again, compare "the earthly house of this tabernacle" in II Cor. 5: 1-4 with the
following passage in the Book of Wisdom:--
"For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighted
down the mind" (Wisdom 9: 15).
Many of us, if we were asked the question, would probably say that we read of the
translation of Enoch in the Book of Genesis. This is not strictly true, for the word does
not occur in the Hebrew. It does, however, occur in the LXX and in the Book of
Wisdom:--
"He pleased God, and was beloved of Him: so that living among sinners he was
translated" (Wisdom 4: 10).
Perhaps the most interesting of all comparisons connected with the Apocrypha are
three evident references to it made by the Lord Jesus Himself in Matt. 23: and 24::--
"Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some
of them ye shall kill and crucify . . . . . that upon you may come all the righteous
blood . . . . ." (Matt. 23: 34, 35).
"How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate" (Matt. 23: 37, 38).
"All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matt. 24: 8).
In the second book of Esdras we read these words:--
"Thus saith the Almighty Lord, Have I not prayed you as a father his sons, as a mother
her daughters, and a nurse her young babies, that ye would be My people, and I should be
your God; that ye would be My children, and I should be your Father? I gathered you
together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; but now, what shall I do unto
you? I will cast you out from My Face. When ye offer unto Me, I will turn My Face
from you: for your solemn feast days, your new moons, and your circumcisions, have I
forsaken. I sent unto you My servants the prophets, whom ye have taken and slain, and
torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require of your hands, saith the Lord. Thus
saith the Almighty Lord, Your house is desolate" (II Esdras 1: 28-33).
"The beginning of sorrows and great mournings: the beginning of famine and great
dearth, the beginning of wars and the powers shall stand in fear, the beginning of evils"
(II Esdras 16: 18).
From these quotations it is evident that our Saviour had read and referred to the
writings of Esdras, and if this is so, their interest to us is heightened.
Whether a careful collation of the writings of the Apocrypha with the N.T. has been
made, we do not know. If any reader knows of such a work we shall be glad to hear, as