. The eastern nations and Greece. lingwith a marked devotionand loyalty to the faithof their fathers. 86. Hebrew Litera-ture. The literature ofthe Hebrews is a reli-gious one; for litera-ture with them was inthe main merely ameans of inculcating re-ligious truth or awaken-ing devotional feeling. This unique litera-ture is contained insacred books knownas the Old or HebrewTestament. In these ancient writings patriarchal traditions, histories, dramas, poems, proph-ecies, and personal narratives blend in a wonderful mosaic, whichpictures with vivid and grand effect the migrations, the deliverance
. The eastern nations and Greece. lingwith a marked devotionand loyalty to the faithof their fathers. 86. Hebrew Litera-ture. The literature ofthe Hebrews is a reli-gious one; for litera-ture with them was inthe main merely ameans of inculcating re-ligious truth or awaken-ing devotional feeling. This unique litera-ture is contained insacred books knownas the Old or HebrewTestament. In these ancient writings patriarchal traditions, histories, dramas, poems, proph-ecies, and personal narratives blend in a wonderful mosaic, whichpictures with vivid and grand effect the migrations, the deliverances,the calamities — all the events and religious experiences making upthe checkered life of the people of Israel, Out of the Old Testament arose the New^ which we should thinkof as a part of Hebrew literature; for although written in the Greeklanguage and long after the close of the political life of the Jewishnation, still it is essentially Hebrew in thought and doctrine, and isthe supplement and crown of the Hebrew Fig. 56. The Place of Wailing A well-preserved portion of the substruction walls of the Temple at Jerusalem, where Jews assemble each Friday to bewail the desolation of Zion 84 THE HEBREWS [§87 Besides the Sacred Scriptures, called collectively, by way of pre-eminence, the Bible (the Book), it remains to mention especially theApocrypha, which embraces a number of books composed after thedecline of the prophetic spirit and showing traces of the influenceof Persian and of Greek thought. Whether these books possessdivine inspiration is among Protestants still a disputed question,but by the Roman Catholic Church they are in the main regardedas possessing equal authority with the other books of the Bible. Neither must we fail to mention the Taltmid, a collection ofHebrew customs and traditions with the comments thereupon of therabbis, a work held by most Jews next in sacredness to the HolyBook; the writings of Philo, an illustrious Alexandrian philosopher
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