says Box,[331] “that the form of the apocalyptist’s conception is specifically Rabbinic. He bases his conclusions on the _Yetzer ha-ra‘_ [i.e. the “evil tendency”]; there is no suggestion that the introduction of evil into the world was due to external agents or forces. The older mythological view (found in Genesis and in the older apocalyptic literature) that the fall of man was brought about by demonic incitement is tacitly discarded. The corruption of the human race is regarded as due to a development of something inherent in man’s nature (the _Yetzer ha-ra‘_). Though this doctrine is sometimes combined, in the Rabbinical literature, with the popular view of Satan (Satan works his evil purpose by the instrumentality of the _Yetzer ha-ra‘_), it probably really represents a theological refinement which was intended to supersede the older crude popular ideas about demonic agency.... Where our apocalyptist differs, and differs fundamentally, from the orthodox doctrine of Judaism, expressed in the Rabbinical literature, is in the emphasis he lays on the ravages of the evil _Yetzer_ upon human nature generally. The enfeeblement of man’s nature is such that practically no one has been able successfully to withstand the _Yetzer_; the whole race has fallen into corruption. The Rabbis insisted, on the other hand, that human nature is not, by any means, in such a hopeless condition. Man can, by moral effort and assisted by the grace of God, successfully resist the suggestions of the evil impulse.” In this book, therefore, it is taught that Sin is universal among men: “For in truth there is none of the earth-born that has not dealt wickedly, and among those that exist that has not sinned” (viii. 35); and therefore the writer’s sense of sin is very pronounced: “For the evil heart has grown up in us, which has estranged us from God, and brought us into destruction; and has made known unto us the ways of death, and showed us the paths of perdition, and removed us far from life; and that not a few only, but well-nigh all that have been created!” Turning now to the Book of Wisdom, we may note first that the writer believed in an original state of good: Court not death in the error of your life; Neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands; Because God made not death, Neither delighteth He when the living perish. For He created all things that they might have being, And the products of the world are healthsome, And there is no poison of destruction in them ... (i. 12 ff.). Still more explicit are the words in viii. 19, 20: Now I was a child good by nature, and a good soul fell to my lot; Nay rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.