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HAGIOGRAPHA

The Greek word (“sacred writings”) given by the church fathers to the books in the third division of the Hebrew Bible (Heb. kĕṯûḇîm, “Writings”). The Hagiographa include the “poetical” or wisdom books (Psalms, Proverbs, and Job), the “Five Scrolls” or Megilloth (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther), the apocalyptic book of Daniel, and the historiographic books of Ezra-Nehemiah and 1–2 Chronicles. The canonical order of the Hagiographa was not set until the late medieval period. A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts differ in their placement of Chronicles, the order of Job and Proverbs, and the arrangement of the Five Scrolls, although the Five Scrolls are found together from about the 11th century c.e. The Leningrad Codex, e.g., places Chronicles at the beginning of the Writings, puts Job before Proverbs, and arranges the Five Scrolls in the order Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Esther. The Megilloth, read during Jewish feasts and fasts, are arranged in the modern canon to follow the liturgical order in which they are used: the Song of Songs on the eighth day of Passover; Ruth on the second day of Weeks, or Pentecost; Lamentations on the ninth day of Ab, which mourns the destruction of the temple; Ecclesiastes on the third day of Tabernacles; and Esther on Purim.

Bibliography. D. F. Morgan, Between Text and Community: The “Writings” in Canonical Interpretation (Minneapolis, 1990); J. A. Sanders, Torah and Canon (Philadelphia, 1972).

Marilyn J. Lundberg

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HAGIOGRAPHA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)