s older than any which now exists. At many points, especially in
the historical prophetic books it makes possible the restoration of the
original reading where the Hebrew has become corrupt in the long process
of transmission.

V. Apologetic Jewish Writings. During the centuries immediately
preceding the Christian era the Jews of the dispersion, and especially of
Egypt, were the object of constant attack. Manetho, an Egyptian priest,
wrote a history purporting to give the origin and the early experiences of
the Jews. Portions of this have been preserved and reveal the bitter and
unjust spirit with which this race was regarded by the Greek and Egyptian
scholars of the day. To defend themselves from these attacks the Jews not
only translated their scriptures, but employed many different types of
writing. A certain Jew by the name of Demetrius about 215 B.C. wrote a
commendatory history of the Jewish kings. Aristobulus, the teacher of
Ptolemy Philometor, wrote an "Explanation of the Mosaic Laws," in which he
anticipated, in many ways, the modern interpretation of the early
traditions found in the opening books of the Old Testament. Like all
Alexandrian scholars, however, he overshot the mark under the influence of
the allegorical or symbolic type of interpretation. Other Jewish
writers appealed to the older Greek historians and poets. Adopting the
unprincipled methods of their persecutors, they expanded the original
writings of such historians as Hecataeus, who had spoken in a commendatory
way of the Jews. They even went so far as to insert long passages into the
writings of the famous Greek poets, such as Orpheus, Hesiod, Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Menander, so as to transform them into ardent champions of
the persecuted race. The culmination of this illegitimate form of defence
was to insert in the famous Sibylline Books (III) a long passage
describing the glories of the Jewish race and voicing the hopes with which
they regarded the future. It was in this atmosphere and under the
influence of these methods that the anti-Semitic spirit was born in
ancient Alexandria. Thence it was transmitted, as a malign heritage, to
the Christian church.

VI. The Wisdom of Solomon. The noblest literary product of the Jews of
the dispersion was the apocryphal book known as the Wisdom of Solomon. It
was so called because the author assumed the point of view of Solomon. In
so doing he did not intend to deceive his contemporaries, but rather