The Sibylline Oracles are a group of writings that claim to give divine messages about the future. The collection originally contained 15 books, but only 12 have survived in late Greek manuscripts. The Sibylline Oracles are called pseudepigraphal because unknown authors wrote them using the name of an ancient prophetess called a sibyl. A sibyl was a woman in the ancient world believed to speak divine messages or prophecies from the gods. It warns about an upcoming disaster. Some Jews used this type of writing to help spread their beliefs among non-Jews.
The earliest Sibylline writings appeared during the Maccabean period (about 165 BC). Other authors added new sections over time. The collection likely continued to grow until just after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (around AD 76). Many scholars think the books were written in Alexandria, Egypt.
The writers emphasize that God is one and rules over everything. Pagan gods, they say, have no real power. One passage states:
“But God is one, most exalted of all, who has made the heaven, the sun, the stars and the moon. … He has constituted man as the Divinely appointed ruler of all. You men … be ashamed of making gods” (book 2). God controls the history of the nations.
The Sibylline authors believed that God controls the history of all nations.
The oracles tell the story of ten generations, from the Assyrian kingdom to the destruction of the second temple and a great earthquake (book 4.47 and following). The third book also contains a section on the devastation and troubles to be experienced before the great judgment. In this judgment, a Messiah (God’s chosen one) brings an age of peace and blessing:
“He will raise up his kingdom for all ages over men. For nothing but peace shall come upon the land of the good” (lines 767, 780).
Those who are faithful to God will live again:
“But all who are godly shall live again on earth, when God gives breath and life and grace to them the godly” (book 4.187–190).
But the ungodly will be punished:
The ungodly will be thrown into hell, “And all who have sinned with deeds of impiety a heap of earth shall cover again, and murky Tartarus and the black recesses of hell” (lines 183–186).
The authors of the Sibylline Oracles wanted to show that the Jewish faith was reasonable and true. They chose the form of the sibyl to present their message. This style was introduced by the Greeks and valued by the Romans. Their writings focus on the God of Israel and strongly oppose the worship of false gods. At the same time, they belong to the apocalyptic tradition, which reveals God’s hidden secrets about the past and the future. By using the voice of the sibyl as a divine oracle, the writers shared their message about God with the non-Jewish world.
See also Apocrypha.