[Greek: [kai palin heteros prophaetaes legei] Kai aen hae gae
Iakob epainoumenae para pasan taen gaen.]
Zeph. iii. 19.
[Greek: kai thaesomai autous eis kauchaema kai onomastous en pasae tae gae.]
Barnabas c. xv.
[Greek: [autous de moi marturei legon] Idou saemeron haemera estai hos chilia etae.]
Ps. xc. 4
[Greek: hoti chilia etae en ophthalmois sou hos hae haemera hae echthes haetis diaelthe.]
A very curious instance of freedom is the long narrative of Jacob blessing the two sons of Joseph in c. xiii (compare Gen. xlviii. 11-19). We note here (and elsewhere) a kind of dramatic tendency, a fondness for throwing statements into the form of dialogue rather than narrative. As a narrative this passage may be compared with the history of Rahab and the spies in Clement.
And yet, in spite of all this licence in quotation, there are some rather marked instances of exactness; e.g. Is. i. 11-14 in c. ii, the combined passages from Ps. xxii. 17, cxvii. 12, xxii. 19 in c. vi, and Ps. i. 3-6 in c. xi. It should also be remembered that in one case, Deut. ix. 12 in cc. iv and xiv, the same variation is repeated and is also found in Justin.
It tallies with what we should expect, supposing the writings attributed to Ignatius (the seven Epistles) to be genuine, that the quotations from the Old as well as from the New Testament in them are few and brief. A prisoner, travelling in custody to the place of execution, would naturally not fill his letters with long and elaborate references. The quotations from the Old Testament are as follows:—