the effort of Hitzig and others to assign to the Maccabean
period by far the greater portion of the Psalms. Prophecy and
psalmody go hand in hand throughout the whole history of
Israel. When the former was entirely extinct, the latter could
not flourish. And, moreover, if it had flourished, the period
could not lie without the region of canonical history. The thing
itself was far from making any such pretensions. It had little
spirit; but it was conscious of this, and therefore leaned humbly
upon the more spiritual past. It is certain that the first book of
Maccabees is not without important mistakes, particularly in the
statements respecting foreign geography and history. Thus, for
example, the account of the Romans in chap. viii. is incorrect
almost throughout. In chap. i. 1, the author proceeds on the
false assumption that the Persians were driven from the pos-
session of Greece by Alexander the Great. In chap. i. 6-8
he states, contrary to all authentic history, that Alexander
during his lifetime divided his kingdom among his assembled
generals. But the most flagrant error occurs in chap. vi. 1,
where he changes the large territory of Elymais into a town in
Persia. These and other errors have been pointed out by
Wernsdorff in his acute and learned work, De fide historica
Librorum Maccabaicorum, 1747; which, however, is not entirely
free from polemic embarrassment: it may be compared with
the commentary of J. D. Michaelis On the First Book of Macca-
bees. The two supplement one another. For Michaelis goes
too far in an opposite direction. He often tries to vindicate
the author when he cannot possibly be justified. In Grimm's
Commentary on the First Book of Maccabees we recognise an
attempt to maintain the proper mean between the two extremes.
