the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Hagiography
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or This word is not used in the Bible, but, nevertheless, as it hath been used by the Jews in a way of distinction concerning certain parts of the word of God in the Old Testament Scripture, it may not be improper to notice it in a work of this kind. The word Hagiography, which means holy writings, is generally applied, by the Jews to all the books of the Old Testament, excepting the Law and the Prophets. For though, as Maimonides saith, it is the general consent of their nation, that several of the sacred writings, such as Daniel; and the Book of the Psalms, were written by the influence of the Holy Spirit, yet they say, not by prophecy; thus making a distinction between the works of the Spirit, than which nothing can be more absurd. The reason of denying that those writings were prophetical is easily seen, because they are so pointed to the person of the Lord Jesus, that when fulfilled in him, as they evidently were, and in such a way as they never could be fulfilled in any other, must have left the Jews without the least excuse, if they confessed them to have been prophetical. And yet what a poor and flimsy covering they find in denying the Spirit of prophecy to be in them, and yet allowing them, to have been written by the influence of the Spirit. The prophecy of Daniel in particular, was so exact in pointing to the time of the Messiah's coming and the object of his sufferings, that one of the Rabbins who lived about fifty years before the coming of Christ, asserted, that the time of the Messiah, as signified by Daniel, could not be deferred longer than those fifty years. Maimonides himself owns, that Daniel, and the other writers of the Hagiography, may be called prophets. Aben Ezra saith much to the same amount. And Josephus doth not scruple to say that Daniel was one of the greatest prophets. But enough hath been said on this subject. The reader will, I hope, clearly understand what is meant by Hagiography in the Scripture, and wherefore the Jews so distinguished them from the five books of Moses and the prophets.
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Hagiography'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/h/hagiography.html. London. 1828.
