JUDEA
544
JUDEA
Jude. (c) Finally, it is more probable that St. Peter
has embodied in his work the text of Jude's Epistle
than that Jude should have included in his writing
onl.y a part of St. Peter's Epistle. If Jude wrote
later than Peter and found the same state of things,
why did he omit the remaining questions, e. g. the
doubts about the parousioe ? Or why should he, in
order to combat the same heretics, give only a sum-
mary of St. Peter's Epistle, omitting entirely the
strongest arguments?
(5) Vocahidary and Style. — The vocabulary of Jude proves that the author was a Jew, saturated with the Old Testament, using Hebraisms, yet acquainted with the KOifTi SmXeKTos — the "common dialect". Thirteen words found in Jude do not occur else- where in the New Testament. Some words of the new Christian dialect appear in Jude as well as in the Pauline Epistles, but literary affinity or direct quotation cannot be proved. The style, although sometimes poetical, always evinces the severe and authoritative tone of a man of Apostolic rank, held in high honour.
II. Analysis of the Epistle. — (a) Exordium: Address and good wishes (vv. 1-2); occasion and purpose of the Epistle (3^). (b) Part the first: He inveighs against the pseudo-doctors; describes their life and errors (5-16). They will be severely pun- ished, as is evident from the severe punishment of the unbelieving Israelites in the desert (5), of the wicked angels (6), and of the inhabitants of Sodom (7). He mentions their wicked teaching and life (8), and opposes the modesty of Michael the Arch- angel (9) to their pride (10). He foretells for the heretics the punishment of Cain, Balaam, and the sons of Core, for they have imitated their errors (11- 3). Enoch has already prophesied the judgment of God upon them (14-6). (c) Part the second: He exhorts the faithful (17-23). They must remember the teaching of the Apostles, by whom they had been warned of the coming of such heretics (17-19). They must maintain the Faith, keep themselves in the love of God, and wait for life everlasting (20-21). What their behaviour should be towards Christians that have in any way fallen away (22-23). (d) Epi- logue: a most beautiful doxology (24-25).
III. Occasion and Object. — Occasion. — The Epistle was occasioned by the spread of the dog- matico-moral errors amongst the Hebrew Christians; pseudo-doctors "are secretly entered in", who abuse Cliristian liberty to give themselves over to intem- perance; moreover "denying the only sovereign Ruler, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (4).
Object. — Jude's intention was to caution his read- ers, the Hebrew Christians, against such depraved teaching, and to exhort them to keep faithfully the teaching of the Apostles.
IV. "To Whom Addressed. — ^The dedicatory ad- dress runs as follows: tois if Gei? irarpl -qya-n-qiiivoii Kal "ItjctoC 'S.purTtf TCTijpjj^^wis kXtjtois (to them that are beloved in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called). Which are the k\i]toI, or "called", Ijecomes manifest from the context. They are not all the Christians of the whole Christian world, but those of a particular Church (vv. 3, 4, 17, 22). Several commentators think that St. Jude's Epistle was addressed to the same churches of Asia Minor to which St. Peter's Epistle was written. This opinion, according to these commentators, is to be held because in both Epistles the same errors are condemned, and also because Jude (v. 17) appears to have known II Peter, and shows that the prophecy of the Prince of the Apostles has been verified. But we have al- ready proved that the second argument is of no value (see above I, 4); as for the first, there are two objections: (a) the errors condemned in the Epistle of St. Jude and in II Peter may have spread in
countries outside Asia Minor; (b) we find in Jude
several reasons for believing that the Epistle was ad-
dressed, not to the Gentile Christians of Asia Minor,
but to the Hebrew Christians of Palestine or of a
neighbouring country.
V. Date and Place op Composition. — Date. — It is difficult to state the exact time at which St. Jude wrote his Epistle. But the doctrines again.st which he inveighs, and the looseness of morals or the so- called antinomismus, seem to indicate the end of the Apostolic age. Jude seems on the other hand to have written before a. d. 70; otherwise in vv. 5-7 he would have spoken of the destruction of Jeru- salem. In those verses St. Jude mentions the differ- ent punishments of prevaricators, and therefore in this exhortation to Hebrew Christians he could not have passed over in silence so dire a calamity. More- over we have shown that the Epistle of St. Jude was written before II Peter, which latter was probably written a. d. 64 (65). 'Therefore St. Jude must have written shortly before 64 (65).
Place of Composition. — Here we can only guess, but we prefer the opinion that the Epistle was written in Palestine, and probably in Jerusalem.
Consult Introductions to the New Testament. It will suffice to indicate some recent commentaries and special studies in which the earlier bibliography is given. Catholic Works. — Ermoni, in ViGOUROux, Diet, de la Bible, s. v. Jude, Epitre de saint; Henkel, Der zweite Brief des .ipostelfursten Petrus, gepruft auf seine Echtheil (Freiburg im Br., 1904); Maieh, Der Judasbrief (Freiburg im Br., 1906) ; Calmes, Evltres catho- liques. Apocalypse (Paris, 1905); Jacquier, Hist, des livres du N. T., IV (Paris. 1908); Brassac, Manuel biblique, IV (Paris, 1909); Van Steenkiste, ed. Camerlynck, Commentarius in epistolas catholicas (5th ed., Bruges, 1909). Non-Catholic Works. — Spitta, Der zweite Brief Petri und der Brief des Jutlas (Halle, 1885); Kuehl, Die Briefe Petri und Judce (Gottingen, 1897); Sieffert in Hauck, Realencyk. fiir prot. Theol. (Leipzig, 1901). s. V. Judasbrief; Chase in Hastings, Did. of the Bible (Edinburgh, 1902), s. v. Jude, Epistle of; Plumptre, The General Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude (Cambridge, 1903); Bigg, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude (Edinburgh, 1903); Mayor. Epistle of St. Jude and Second Epistle of St. Peter (London, 1907).
A. Camerlynck.
Judea. — Like the adjective 'louSatos, the noun 'lovSala comes from the Aramaean lehildai (I Esd., iv, 12). It designates the part of Palestine adjacent to Jerusalem and inhabited by the Jewish community after their return from captivity. Its original limits may be assigned as follows: Bethsflr, on the south; Bethoron, on the north; Emails, on the west; the Jor- dan on the east. The Jews scattered in other parts of the country did not inhabit Judea properly so called. When, in 160 B. c, the Syrian general Bacchides wished to keep Judea in his possession, he built forts at Jericho, Bethoron, Bethel, Tibneh, and Tephon (not Bet-Nettif), and fortified Bethsur and G^zer (I Mach., ix, 50-52). Then, between Nehemias (cf. II Esd., iii) and the Hasmoneans, the boundaries of the Jew- ish country imderwent few modifications. But the Machabees, through their conquests, pushed the fron- tiers back; Apherema (Taybeh?), Lydda, Rama them, (Rentis) (I Mach., xi, 34), Jaffa (I Mach., xii, 33), Madaba, Samaria, Scythopolis (Josephus, "Antiq. Jud.", XIII, ix, 1; X, 2) were in succession annexed to the Jewish territory. The Machabean kingdom is sometimes called Judea by Josephus (Antiq. Jud., XIII, xi, 3). Elsewhere, however, the same historian restricts Judea proper to more correct limits. To the north it extended only as far as Anuath-Borkeos ('Ainah-Bergit), less than two miles north of Lubban; to the south as far as lardas, on the confines of Arabia, thus taking in what was called Idumea at the time of the Syrian domination. The Jordan was its boundary on the east, the Mediterranean on the west (Bell. Jud., Ill, iii, 5). The history of this Judea is often confounded with that of Jerusalem. At first a prov- ince (medinah) of the Persian Empire, it was adminis- tered by a governor who resided at Jerusalem and was as.sisted by a council of ciders. In 3:i2 b. c, Alexander
