Bible, states in its introduction that such is a “literary device.” Thus, while claiming Solomon as its author, the book cites passages from Bible books written centuries after Solomon’s death (997 B.C.E.) and does so from the Greek Septuagint Version, which began to be translated in 280 B.C.E. The writer is believed to have been a Jew in Alexandria, Egypt, who wrote about the middle of the first century B.C.E.

The writer manifests a strong reliance on Greek philosophy. He employs Platonic terminology in advancing the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul. (2:23; 3:2, 4) Other pagan concepts presented are the preexistence of human souls; and the view of the body as an impediment or hindrance to the soul. (8:19, 20; 9:15) The presentation of the historical events from Adam to Moses is embellished with many fanciful details, often at variance with the canonical record.

While some reference works endeavor to show certain correspondencies between passages from this apocryphal writing and the later works of the Christian Greek Scriptures, the similarity is often slight, and, even where somewhat stronger, would not indicate any drawing upon this apocryphal work by the Christian writers but, rather, their drawing upon the canonical Hebrew Scriptures, which the apocryphal writer also employed.

ECCLESIASTICUS (ALSO CALLED THE WISDOM OF JESUS, THE SON OF SIRACH)

This book has the distinction of being the longest of the apocryphal books and the only one whose author is known, Jesus ben-Sirach of Jerusalem. The writer expounds upon the nature of wisdom and its application for a successful life. Observance of the Law is strongly emphasized. Counsel on many areas of social conduct and daily life is given, including comments on table manners, dreams and travel. The concluding portion contains a review of important personages of Israel, ending with high priest Simon II (about 200 B.C.E.).

Contradicting Paul’s statement at Romans 5:12-19, which places the responsibility for sin upon Adam, Ecclesiasticus says: “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die.” (25:33, Dy) The writer also prefers “any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman.”—25:19, Dy.

The book was originally written in Hebrew in the early part of the third century B.C.E. Quotations from it are found in the Jewish Talmud.

BARUCH (INCLUDING THE EPISTLE OF JEREMIAS)

The first five chapters of the book are made to appear as written by Jeremiah’s friend and scribe, Baruch; the sixth chapter is presented as a letter written by Jeremiah (Jeremias) himself. The book relates the expressions of repentance and prayers for relief on the part of the captive Jews in Babylon, exhortations to follow wisdom, encouragement to hope in the promise of deliverance, and the denunciation of Babylonish idolatry.

Baruch is represented as being in Babylon (Baruch 1:1, 2), whereas the Bible record shows he went to Egypt, as did Jeremiah, and there is no evidence that Baruch was ever in Babylon. (Jer. 43:5-7) Contrary to Jeremiah’s prophecy that the desolation of Judah during the Babylonian exile would last seventy years (Jer. 25:11, 12; 29:10), Baruch 6:2 tells the Jews that they will be in Babylon for seven generations and then experience release.

Jerome, in his preface to the book of Jeremiah, states: “I have not thought it worth while to translate the book of Baruch.” The introduction to the book in The Jerusalem Bible (p. 1128) suggests that the composition was written as late as the first and second centuries B.C.E.; hence by an author (or authors) other than Baruch. The original language was probably Hebrew.

THE SONG OF THE THREE HOLY CHILDREN

This addition to Daniel is made to follow Daniel 3:23. It consists of sixty-seven verses presenting a prayer supposedly uttered by Azariah within the fiery furnace, followed by an account of an angel’s putting out the fiery blaze, and finally a song sung by the three Hebrews inside the furnace. The song is quite similar to Psalm 148. Its references to the temple, priests and cherubim, however, do not fit the time to which it alleges to conform. It may have been originally written in Hebrew and is considered to be of the first century B.C.E.

SUSANNA AND THE ELDERS

This short story relates an incident in the life of the beautiful wife of Joakim, a wealthy Jew in Babylon. While bathing, Susanna is approached by two Jewish elders who urge her to commit adultery with them and, upon her refusal, frame a false charge against her. At the trial she is sentenced to die, but youthful Daniel adroitly exposes the two elders, and Susanna is cleared of the charge. The original language is uncertain. It is considered to have been written during the first century B.C.E. In the Septuagint it was placed before the canonical book of Daniel and in the Vulgate it was placed after it. Some versions include it as a thirteenth chapter of Daniel.

THE DESTRUCTION OF BEL AND THE DRAGON

A third addition to Daniel, some versions placing it as a fourteenth chapter. In the account King Cyrus requires of Daniel that he worship an idol of the god Bell. That the food supposedly eaten by the idol is really consumed by the pagan priests and their families, Daniel proves by sprinkling ashes on the floor of the temple and thus detecting their footprints. The priests are killed and Daniel smashes the idol. Daniel is asked by the king to worship a living dragon. Daniel destroys the dragon but is thrown into the lions’ den by the enraged populace. During the seven days of his confinement, an angel picks up Habakkuk by his hair and carries him and a bowl of stew from Judea to Babylon to provide Daniel with food. Habakkuk is then returned to Judea, Daniel is released from the den and his opponents are thrown in and devoured. This addition is also considered to be from the first century B.C.E. These additions to Daniel are referred to in The New Bible Dictionary by Douglas as “pious legendary embroidery.”

FIRST MACCABEES

A historical account of the Jewish struggle for independence during the second century B.C.E., from the beginning of Antiochus Epiphanes’ reign (175 B.C.E.) to the death of Simon Maccabaeus (about 134 B.C.E.). It deals particularly with the exploits of priest Mattathias and his sons, Judas, Jonathan and Simon, in their battles with the Syrians.

This is the most valuable of the apocryphal works due the historical information it supplies for this period. However, as The Jewish Encyclopedia comments, in it “history is written from the human standpoint.” Like the other apocryphal works, it did not form part of the inspired Hebrew canon. It was evidently written in Hebrew about the latter part of the second century B.C.E.

SECOND MACCABEES

Though placed after First Maccabees, this account relates to part of the same time period (about 180 B.C.E. to 160 B.C.E.) and was written by a different author than First Maccabees. The writer presents the book as a summary of the previous works of a certain Jason of Cyrene. It describes the persecutions of the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes, the plundering of the temple, and its subsequent rededication.

The account represents Jeremiah, at the destruction of Jerusalem, as carrying the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant to a cave in the mountain from which Moses viewed the land of Canaan. (2 Maccabees 2:1-16) The tabernacle had, of course, been replaced by the temple some 420 years previously.

Various texts are employed in Catholic dogma as support for doctrines such as punishment after death (2 Maccabees 6:26); intercession by the saints (15:12-16); and the propriety of prayers for the dead (12:41-46).

In its introduction to the Maccabees, The Jerusalem Bible says concerning Second Maccabees: “The style is that of hellenistic writers, though not of the best: at times it is turgid, frequently pompous.” The writer of Second Maccabees makes no pretense of writing under divine inspiration and devotes part of the second chapter to justifying his choice of the particular method used in handling the subject material. (2 Maccabees 2:24-32) He concludes his work by saying: “Here, then, I will make an end of writing; if it has been done workmanly, and in historian’s fashion, none better pleased than I; if it is of little merit, I must be humoured none the less.”—2 Maccabees 15:38, 39, Msgr. Knox’ translation.

The book was evidently written in Greek sometime between 134 B.C.E. and the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

LATER APOCRYPHAL WORKS

Particularly from the second century C.E. forward there has developed an immense body of writings making claim to divine inspiration and canonicity and pretending to relate to the Christian faith. Frequently referred to as the “Apocryphal New Testament,” they represent efforts at imitating the Gospels, Acts, letters and the revelations contained in the canonical books of the Christian Greek Scriptures. A large number of these are known only through fragments extant or by quotations from them or allusions to them by other writers.

These writings manifest an attempt to provide information that the inspired writings deliberately omit, such as the activities and events relating to Jesus’ life from his early childhood on up to the time of his baptism, or an effort to manufacture support for doctrines or traditions that find no basis in the Bible or are in contradiction to it. Thus the so-called “Gospel of Thomas” and the “Protevangelium of James” are filled with fanciful accounts of miracles supposedly wrought by Jesus in his childhood. But the whole effect of the picture they draw of him is to cause Jesus to appear as a capricious and petulant child endowed with impressive powers. (Compare the genuine account at Luke 2:51, 52.) The apocryphal “Acts,” such as the “Acts of Paul” and the “Acts of Peter,” lay heavy stress on complete abstinence from sexual relations and even depict the apostles as urging women to separate from their husbands, thus contradicting Paul’s authentic counsel at 1 Corinthians 7.

Commenting on such post-apostolic apocryphal writings, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. I, p. 166) states: “Many of them are trivial, some are highly theatrical, some are disgusting, even loathsome.” Funk and Wagnalls’ New Standard Bible Dictionary (p. 56) comments: “They have been the fruitful source of sacred legends and ecclesiastical traditions. It is to these books that we must look for the origin of some of the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Just as the earlier apocryphal writings were excluded from among the accepted pre-Christian Hebrew Scriptures, so also these later apocryphal writings were not accepted as inspired nor included as canonical in the earliest collections or catalogues of the Christian Greek Scriptures.—See CANON.

APOLLONIA

(Ap·ol·loʹni·a) [pertaining to Apollo, place of Apollo].

A city of Macedonia, named after the Greek sun-god Apollo, as were a number of other cities in the Mediterranean area. It was situated in the district of Mygdonia about thirty miles (48 kilometers) from Amphipolis and thirty-eight miles (61 kilometers) from Thessalonica, or about one day’s travel from each. It lay on the great Roman highway Via Egnatia, S of Lake Bolbe, but does not receive prominence in history. Paul and Silas passed through it on Paul’s second missionary tour, most likely in the spring or early summer of the year 50 C.E.—Acts 17:1.

APOLLOS

(A·polʹlos) [abbreviation of Apollonius; a destroyer].

A Jew of Alexandria, Egypt, possessed of notable eloquence in speaking and a sound knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. He seems to have been witnessed to by disciples of John the Baptist or else by Christian witnesses prior to Pentecost, since he was “acquainted with only the baptism of John.” (Acts 18:24, 25) Yet he was fired with conviction and, on arriving in Ephesus about 52 C.E., he began witnessing in the local synagogue. This brought him in contact with Aquila and Priscilla, who filled in some of the gaps in his understanding of Christian teaching. From Ephesus he went over to Achaia, supplied with a letter of introduction, and there he seems to have centered his activity in Corinth, where Paul had preceded him. His intensity and his powerful Scriptural confutations of the arguments of the unbelieving Jews proved of great aid to the brothers there. He thus ‘watered what Paul had planted.’—Acts 18:26-28; 19:1; 1 Cor. 3:6.

Unfortunately, by the time Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians (about 55 C.E.), factions had developed in the Corinth congregation, with some viewing the eloquent Apollos as their leader, while others favored Paul or Peter or held only to Christ. (1 Cor. 1:10-12) Paul’s letter corrected their wrong thinking, showing the vital need for unity and the relative unimportance of individuals as only ministers serving under God and Christ. (1 Cor. 3:4-9, 21-23; 4:6, 7) It appears that Apollos must then have been in or near Ephesus, where Paul evidently wrote First Corinthians, for Paul tells of his urging Apollos to visit the Corinth congregation. (1 Cor. 16:12) Apollos’ reluctance to go may have been due to the improper attitudes existing in Corinth or simply due to having a field of activity that he felt required his continued attention a while longer. At any rate, Paul’s brief statement shows that these two active missionaries had not allowed matters to produce a breach in their own unity. The final mention of Apollos is at Titus 3:13, where Paul asks Titus, then in Crete, to supply Apollos’ needs for a certain trip.

APOLLYON

(A·polʹly·on).

The Greek name used by the apostle John to translate the Hebrew “Abaddon” at Revelation 9:11. Apollyon means “Destroyer,” and is given as the name of the “angel of the abyss.” Though most reference works apply this name to some evil personage or force, the whole setting of the apocalyptic vision is to the contrary, as it consistently portrays angels being used by God to bring woes upon His enemies.

The use of the related verb a·polʹly·mi illustrates this, as at James 4:12, which says of God: “One there is that is lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” (Compare Matthew 10:28.) The unclean spirit cast out of a man by Jesus in a synagogue at Capernaum acknowledged Jesus as God’s agent and said: “What have we to do with you, Jesus you Nazarene? Did you come to destroy us?” (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34) Jesus warned unrepentant opposers among his listeners of the danger of being destroyed. (Luke 13:3-5; 20:16) These and other texts point to the glorified Christ Jesus as the one most likely referred to by this title.—Compare Revelation 19:11-16; Luke 8:31; see ABADDON.

APOSTASY

(Gr., a·po·sta·siʹa).

This term in Greek comes from the verb a·phiʹste·mi and means, literally, “a standing away from” but has the sense of “desertion, abandonment or rebellion.” In classical Greek it was used to refer to political defection, and