fyxmll Wimvmii^ Jibai^g THE GIFT OF P-?>XJtjB1ix>-t>JSr>-OtCkSi ^ ^ ^ ^6^^ A-a-:5>gQij I rivrfof The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029277568 Y^- U4'5 Cornell University Library BS1140 .G29 Outlines o« introduction to the Hebre^^ B olln 3 1924 029 277 568 OUTLINES OF INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE OUTLINES OF INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE ALFRED S. GEDEN, M.A., D.D. TUTOR IN HEBREW~AND BIBLICAL LITERATURE AT THE WE5LEYAN COLLEGE, RICHMOND In publishing a notice of this book will the Editor kindly credit it as "IMPORTED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS." Edinburgh : T. & T. CLARK, 38 George Street 1909 ^. Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED. NEW YORK : CHARLES SCRIBNER's SONS. mj JFtlloto-^tuitEnts IKIjo tnitfr nte truring surrEsaitrc jeara IjaijE fouttii ttcligljt anJt inatrutiion > itt tljE stuitj of iilJjE ®Ur StEatantEjtt ^rripturea 8 itEitiratE tljia §onh PREFACE The following chapters have formed substantially the groundwork or basis of a series of lectures introductory to the study of the Old Testament, which for several years past have been delivered at the Wesleyan College, Eichmond. I have ventured to dedicate them accord- ingly to my fellow-students, past and present, to some of whom, I would fain trust, the memory of studies pursued in common may prove as pleasant as it has often been to me. It has been my aim throughout rather to stimulate and suggest, than ex cathedrd to instruct; and I have been led to publish in the hope that others also, students in a broader field, may find herein interest and aid. That the lectures make no pretension to exhaustiveness, on a theme amongst the most enravelled that the human mind can essay to resolve, will be patent to all. In every instance, however, I have sought to indicate lines of profitable or necessary research, and of set purpose have refrained from attempting to discuss details or to present and criticise the varying conclusions and results of many minds. In viii PREFACE a study at once so many-sided and so absorbing, that demands exceptionally well-balanced qualities of mind and heart, no help or guidance which those who have trodden the way beforehand may be able to place at the disposal of those who come after may justifiably be withheld. It is not every type of mind that finds attraction in the teaching and thought of the Old Testament ; while to some its form is difficult or even repellent. By others, again, the importance of the New Testament is so vividly realised, that the tendency to depreciate by comparison the Old is almost welcomed, and its present interest and significance is made of little account. If, however, half a century ago it was upon the New Testament that attention was concentrated, and upon its genuineness and authority attack was directed by those who desired the overthrow of Christian doctrine and influence, the position is altogether altered to-day. It is the dignity and authority, the credibility and claims of the Old Testament that are debated most keenly, and most confidently called in question. And it is vain for the Christian Church to suppose that she can surrender her heritage in the Old, and yet maintain unimpaired the validity of the doctrines, and the power of the truth which she finds in the New. Upon the former the latter is founded and established ; from the New to the Old there lies a constant appeal, as to its Master and authoritative source. And if the New is the crown and completion of the Old, the Old is no less the basis and underwork of the New. PREFACE ix The weakening or destruction of the one involves the ultimate downfall of the other. The two, indeed, are not two ; but indissolubly one. The New Testament will share in any discredit cast upon the Old, and will follow it to a fall ; while the strength of the Old will be a fresh bulwark and permanent support of the New. There are signs as I cannot but think that the return of the tide has already set in, and that the next quarter of a century will witness a significant rehabilitation of the rights and authority of the books of the Old Testament, as religious and historical records second to none. It will be seen that the writer holds a conservative position with regard to modern controversies on the authorship of the Pentateuch, and the books of the Old Testament in general. My aim, however, through- out has been to the best of my ability to state facts, not to formulate or discuss theories; and to furnish references to the best and most accessible literature where the various branches of a complex subject may be further studied under the most competent guidance. Only in the last chapter, as the necessities of the case seemed to demand, have I departed from this rule, and have endeavoured to set forth the hypothesis which appears to me best calculated to satisfy the conditions, as far as the limitations of our present knowledge allow. To maintain " Mosaic authorship " of the entire Pentateuch literatim et formatim is as impracticable, and betrays as much lack of appreciation of the true place and value of the Law, as to deny X PREFACE the presence of the spirit of Israel's great Lawgiver, and the majesty and permanent worth of his teaching and thought. On the other hand, the arguments for the late origin of many of its parts have, I believe, been overstated, and will be corrected by further study. In particular, sufficient consideration has not been given to the difference in character between literature handed down in the first instance at least by an oral and Eastern tradition, and what might be expected to be produced by a Western student or scholar sitting at his desk in the nineteenth or twentieth century. The spirit and methods of the two are incommensurable. And the failure of so much modern criticism has its origin, in part at least, in inability or unwillingness to dis- criminate, and to make allowance for a difference of standpoint as widely separated from our own as the era at which the author lived. The breath of the East is over the whole of the Old Testament; and sympathy and imagination are as indispensable for a right interpretation thereof as exact scholarship or a knowledge of the rules of grammar. I am indebted to the courtesy of W. L. Nash, Esq., E.S.A., for permission to reproduce the facsimile of the pre-Massoretic Hebrew papyrus, which was published originally in vol. xxv. (1903) of the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology ; and more especially to the generosity and kindness of the Officers and Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who have allowed me freely to avail myself of the rich stores of their Library. The greater number of the PREFACE xi illustrations are from the latter source ; for the photo- graphs of the Eabbinic Bible, Complutensian Polyglott, Copenhagen MS. (p. 90), and all thenceforward to the end of the book, I am under obligation to them. The originals of the Pentateuch EoU and the London Polyglott are in the possession of the Library of the Wesleyan College, Richmond. A. S. GEDEN. Richmond, January 1909. COJ^TEISfTS PAOK Preface vii CHAP. I. Language of the Old Testament — Origin and Meaning of the term " Hebrew " . . 4 Characteristics of the Language 8 Classification of Semitic Languages . . . .10 II. The Text of the Old Testament — 1. The Hebrew Character and Alphabet ; Inscriptions 29 2. Sources and History of the Text ; Manuscripts ; Editions 46 3. The Massorah and the Massoretes ; Form and Contents of the Massorah ; Qeri and Kethibh ; Clausula; 85 4. Vowel - Points and Accents ; Babylonian and Palestinian Systems 105 III. The Hebrew and Greek Canons of the Old Testa- ment ; Classification and Arrangement of THE Sacred Books 116 IV. Later Hebrew Literature ; Midrash, Mishna and Gemara, Talmud 138 xiii CONTENTS CHAP. V. The Versions — PASB 1. The Targums and Syriac Versions .... 153 2. The Septuagint and other Greek Versions ; Greek Manuscripts of the Old Testament ; Editions . 165 3. Latin Versions 217 4. Egyptian Versions .... . 235 5. Ethiopio Version .... . 243 6. Arabic Versions .... . 247 7. Armenian Version .... . 249 8. Georgian Version .... . 251 9. Gothic Version .... . 251 HE Pektateuch— Literary Criticism 254 Authorship 275 History of Criticism .... 279 " Documents " or Authors . 284 Analysis of Documentary Sources 289 Characteristics of Documents 303 External History of Critical Theories 309 Chronology of the Documents . 315 Analogies of Literary Growth . 343 Early Environment and Life of Israel 348 Summary and Conclusions . 350 ILLUSTRATIONS Hebrew Roll op the Pentateuch, Ex. xl. 18- Lev. III. 2 Facing p. 48 Pre-Massoeetic Hebrew Papyrus, Ex. xx. 2- 17, Deut. vl 4f „ „ 57 St. Petersburg Manuscript, with supbrlinear Vocalisation and Massorah, Hos. i. 2-ii. 5 „ „ 62 Rabbinic Bible (Basle), Ex. xx. 8-18 . . „ „ 73 Complutensian Polyglott, Deut. vi. 3-13 . „ „ 78 London Polyglott, Title-page . . . . „ „ 80 London Polyglott, Ex. ix. 9-19 . Between pp. 82 and 83 Hebrew Manuscript (Copenhagen), with Mas- sorah, 1 Kings viii. 3-11, Lev. i. 1, 2 . Facing p. 90 Chisian Daniel, Title-page . . ■ „ „ 193 Chisian Daniel, ch. xii. 7-13 Facing pp. 193 and 194 SixTiNE Septuagint, Title-page .... Facing p. 210 Sixtine Septuagint, Pss. xvii. (xviii.) 22-xix. 6 (XX. 5) „ „ 212 Holmes and Parson's Septuagint, Ex. xix. 19- XX. 4 „ „ 214 Illuminated Title-page op Armenian Gos- pels .... . . Between pp. 250 and 251 OUTLmES OF mTRODUCTIOJN^ TO THE HEBREW BIBLE CHAPTER I. LANGUAGE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES. rriHE Hebrew language, in which the books of the -■- Old Testament are written, is of great antiquity, and takes a place among the oldest known languages. It is true that the literary documents themselves are comparatively late in the history of its growth and progress ; but the form under which it there presents itself presupposes a long period of grammatical and linguistic development, which would carry back its origin, as separate from other branches of Semitic speech, to a remote past. Eelatively to these it occupies both in grammar and vocabulary a distinct and indi- vidual position ; and whilst it finds its nearest allies in North Arabia and on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, it is not derived directly from any one of these, but has pursued a parallel course of development, the ripe fruits of which lie before us in the writings of 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the Old Testament. There the Hebrew language pre- sents itself as adult, full-grown ; and is to be regarded not as a daughter, but as a sister tongue of the Assyrian and Arabic, and perhaps other forms of Semitic speech. It cannot therefore be controlled entirely or interpreted by the usage of any of these related languages. To a considerable extent it stands by itself, and during a long history has not improbably given as much to other languages as it has received from them. Some know- ledge, therefore, of these languages, and of their relation to the Hebrew, is essential to a right understanding of the latter. Their practice, however, while it is richly illustrative of the Hebrew, does not rule or determine its meaning. More perhaps than is the case in most other languages, Hebrew, owing to its peculiar and almost isolated position, claims to be interpreted and illustrated by itself ; and only where such interpretation fails may a casting vote be allowed to witnesses or expositions from other tongues. The student of Hebrew and Hebrew literature will do well to question in the first instance, though not exclusively, the Hebrew itself with regard to its own meaning and history. There exist, however, no literary documents, outside of the Old Testament Scriptures themselves, which would enable us to trace this history, and the course of the development of the language. These books are themselves the earliest literary examples of the language in which they are written. Their composition extends, roughly speaking, over a thousand years ; and even in the earliest of them the language reveals itself as having LANGUAGE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 3 attained, if not overpassed, what might be called its prime, as far at least as richness and diversity of grammatical form are concerned. Its past, therefore, is matter of inference from its present. And if sketched at all, can only be sketched on the basis of indications afforded by the existing structure of the language, and the known history and relations of the people who spoke it. Such a sketch belongs rather to the domain of the history of language and grammar than to that of Introduction. The fullest information available will be found in articles on Hebrew or on the Semitic lan- guages generally in the dictionaries, or in the introduc- tion to Gesenius' or other Hebrew Grammar} All the Old Testament books are written in Hebrew, with the exception of parts of Daniel and Ezra, namely, Dan. ii. 4-vii. 28; Ezra iv. 8-vi. 18, vii. 12-26, which are in Aramaic, a language closely alHed to the Hebrew and at least as old. There is also a single Aramaic verse in the Book of Jeremiah, where it appears suddenly and perplexingly in the midst of a Hebrew paragraph;^ and two Aramaic words in Gen. xxxi. 47 ' The latest edition of Gesenius only should be consulted : revised translation by Collins and Cowley from the 26th German edition, Oxford, 1898, with the literature there cited. ^ Jer. X. 11. The verse occupies a peculiar position, and there is no appareut reason for the introduction without any explanation or warn- ing of a few words in a language different from all the rest of the book. It interrupts the connection, and is perhaps best explained as a mar- ginal comment or gloss on the preceding verse or verses, written by an early Aramaic-speaking student of the Scriptures on his manuscript copy of the prophet, whence it found its way by an oversight into the text. The verse is present, however, iu the Greek version, though vv. 6, 7, 8, and 10 are there omitted, and ver. 9 is transposed to a place 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE on the occasion when Laban the Arameean gives to the pile of stones set up for a testimony between himself and Jacob the name of ^rmriE' "ir, which is merely the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew 1V?^, "heap of witness." Isolated words or forms also borrowed from the Aramaic are found elsewhere, e.g. I'DDri, Josh, xiv. 8 ; r]Sin^ Isa. xxx. 28 ; nran, Esth. ii. 18, etc.; cp. mtn in the Aram, of Dan. v. 20 ; and from other Ian- tt -: ' guages, as Persian, Egyptian, Greek, etc. Origin and Meaning of the teem " Hebeew." — The term " Hebrew," ''l^y,! has been variously explained, and both its derivation and original connotation are in dis- pute. As a patronymic it has been assumed to denote a descendant of Heber nay, the father of Peleg j^s, and Joktan pp\ and the son of Shelah n?f, and grandson of Arpakshad IB'SBnt?, Gen. x. 24 f., xi. 12-17. More probably it is to be explained from the root "i?^, to cross or pass over, and therefore originally signified one who came from across the river, "injn "i??!!?, i.e. the Euphrates, Josh. xxiv. 3, 15 Qeri; 2 Sam. x. 16 ; cp. Josh. xxii. 7. The word would therefore be applied to strangers who entered Syria or Palestine from the east, the land between or beyond the two rivers ; thus in Gen. xiv. 13 Abram the Hebrew, ''lajjn Diax, is in before ver. 5. The Syriac also preserves it, and the Coptic. The ex- pression, moreover, "from under these heavens," — so the Aram, text, — suggests perhaps a later and more contemplative style of thought than is characteristic of the rest of the book or of the times of the prophet. ^ The word occurs both with and without the article ; the former, e.g. , Gen. xiv. 13, xxxix. 17 ; Deut. xv. 12 ; Jer. xxxiv. 9, 14 ; the latter, e.g., Gen. xxxix. 14, xli. 12 ; Ex. ii. 11, xxi. 2 ; Jon. i. 9. The plural is usually D'"!?^, but once D-n?!?, Ex. iii. 18. ORIGIN OF THE TERM "HEBREW" 5 the Greek of the Seventy 'A. 6 Tre/oaTJ??, the man from the other side. The view that the river referred to should be the Jordan or the Nile appears to be quite untenable on geographical no less than on historical and chronological grounds. Others have supposed that the term naj) was originally used from the stand- point of a writer whose home lay east of the Euphrates, and that it therefore denoted a Syrian, or one living west of the river.^ An inscription of circa 1100 B.C. is quoted in which the Assyrian eUr ndri = ^3J; injn seems to refer to the land west of the Euphrates. Such an expression, however, proves no more than the same or a similar use in the Old Testament itself, when the writer employs the word 19^ of the west of the Jordan, he himself being on the east side, e.g. Deut. iii. 20, 25, xi. 30 ; Josh. v. 1. In all these passages the context, or a special word inserted, as ns^ Josh. I.e., determines the meaning. Such additions would seem rather to imply a consciousness that the true and original significance of the word pointed to the east. '13^, " Hebrew," was originally, therefore, an indivi- dual or national appellation, and was only later applied to the language which the Hebrew people employed. Parallel instances are numerous, for example that of Arabic from the Arabs, or of EngHsh itself from the Angles. Nor as long as the Hebrew was a living tongue does the name seem ever to have come into general use by the Jews themselves. This later linguistic sense of the term is never found in the Old ' See Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Tradition. 6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Testament ; and in its application to the people the use of the word is restricted to cases in which the speaker or narrator finds himself in contact with foreigners, or is brought in any way into contrast with these. Thus the term " Hebrew " is employed (1) when an Israelite speaks of himself to men of another race, e.g. Joseph to the butler and baker of Pharaoh in Gen. xl. 15, Moses to Pharaoh himself in Ex. X. 3, Jonah to the Phoenician sailors, Jonah i. 9 ; (2) when foreigners speak of them, e.g. the daughter of Pharaoh of the child Moses, Ex. ii. 6, cp. ih. i. 15 ; or (3) when Israehtes are distinguished from other nations, as for example from the Egyptians, Gen. xliii. 32, Ex. ii. 11, or the Philistines, 1 Sam. xiii. 3, xiv. 21. The national name which the Jews apply to them- selves is " Israel," ^^'^}if\ or " sons of Israel," '"' '33, a name which, by a play upon the sound, suggests to the historian in Gen. xxxii. 2 9 the thought of victorious contention or strife with God ; cp. Hos. xii. 4 where the same word-play is found.^ In neither instance is any etymological explanation or derivation in our sense of the term intended. If the word is really connected with the root rrw, it would perhaps be better, with Driver, al., to take the latter in the sense of the Arabic shariya, to persist, persevere; the word would therefore signify "may God persist," maintain 1 D'nV nx n-!7 uix?, R.V. "In his manhood he had power with God," with marginal variants "strength" and "strove." These last fairly represent in English the assonance which the writer's ear finds pleasing and expressive. MEANING OF "HEBREW" 7 His purpose or will, rather than "God contendeth," or " may God contend." Possibly it should rather be connected with the root w\ to be straight, upright. The meaning would then be " God is just, upright." The feminine form ni?Kn'^*_ occurs Lev. xxiv. 1 f . So also Palestine is the "land of Israel," i'^lf'. n?, 1 Sam. xiii. 19, al.; compare the phrases "tribes of Israel," '" ^ciatJ', Ex. xxiv. 4 al., "elders of Israel," '' 'i\>l Ex. iii. 16, etc. Words or phrases in the Old Testament which refer to the language spoken by the Israelite people are, in fact, rare. The ordinary expression seems to have been nnin^, Jewish, Isa. xxxvi. 11, 13, and the parallel passages 2 Kings xviii. 26, 28, 2 Chron. xxxii. 18, as distinguished from fTiDns, in Aramaic, or " Syrian language " as the E.V. translates, ll.cc. Else- where, however, the word in question is found only in Neh. xiii. 24, where it is used with reference to the children of intermarriages between the Jews and the people of Ashdod ; by some authorities, however, the reference here is supposed to be not to pure Hebrew, but to Ai-amaic, or a mixed dialect. Isa. xix. 18 presents the unique expression IJ??? riDB', the "lip of Canaan," E.V. language of Canaan, — "in that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking '3 nSB" " — apparently of Hebrew as distinguished from Egyptian, but by some understood to mean a Palestinian or Canaanitish form of speech ; so the Assyrian inscrip- tions speak of the " tongue of the West country." An alternative explanation supposes that the phrase is 8 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE employed in an ideal sense of a sacred or priestly language, as opposed to the common dialect ; compare the "pure lip" or language of Zeph. iii. 9. The Jewish Eabbis themselves made use of the expression tyipn ptJ'i', the holy tongue ; and it is only in the Greek writings of the later Jews, and in the early Christian Fathers that we find the term " Hebrew " applied to the language. The earliest instances are e^paiffTi in the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus, yKwacra T&v 'Epaitov in Josephus. The precise time, however, of the change cannot be indicated. Thus it was under Greek influences superseding the national Hebrew that the terms 'E/Sjoaio? in a linguistic sense and 'E^palffTi won their way to general acceptance. The usage of the New Testament writers in some respects stands by itself. There 'E^paio<; is distin- guished from 'EXkrjvicTTij<; in Acts vi. 1 as a Hebrew- or Aramaic-speaking Jew from one whose ordinary language was Greek. The adjective e^pa'K is there only found in the book of the Acts, and always in the dative with SiaXe/cTm, and apparently denotes pure Hebrew (Acts xxi. 40, xxii. 2, xxvi. 14 only). 'E^palari (John v. 2, xix. 13, 17, 20, xx. 16, Eev. ix. 11, xvi. 16 only) signifies at least in the Gospel Aramaic, the ordinary colloquial language of the country, not the classical Hebrew of the Old Testament. Chakacteristics of the Language.- — Since, then, the composition of the books of the Old Testament extended over so considerable a period of time, it would naturally be anticipated that differences in the CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE 9 structure and habit of the language would reveal themselves, due to internal growth or decay and the external influences brought to bear upon it. Such differences, however, are slight, and the difficulty of their detection is enhanced by the uncertainty of the precise date of so many of the documents. In its character the language is remarkably uniform, and free from archaisms and variations of dialect. The most important feature in this respect is a certain deterioration in the purity of the language in some of the later books, and an approximation to the usages and forms of the Aramaic. The last criterion, however, is of uncertain application ; it is impossible to determine at what period mutual influence and borrowing between the Aramaic and Hebrew first began to take place. The presence of so - called Aramaisms must not be taken as necessarily implying a late date. Within these broad limits, however, it is usual to distinguish a classical golden and a silver age of Hebrew literature. The first includes, generally speaking, all writings from the earliest times to the close of the Babylonian exile, and finds its best and purest exponents in Amos, Deuteronomy, and the book of Isaiah. The silver age begins with the Eeturn of the Jews to Palestine, and includes the latest documents which have found a place in the Old Testament Canon. The Hebrew language, moreover, did not cease to be used as a medium of literary composition with the destruction of the Jewish kingdom. It has pre- served its vitality in this respect to the present day. lo INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE As a spoken language, however, it was comparatively early superseded by Aramaic and then by Greek. At what period the former change at least took place does not admit of precise determination, but it was probably before the closing of the Canon. The over- throw of Jerusalem by the Eomans, and the final dispersal of the Jewish people, put an end to all historic growth and development in the Hebrew language ; ^ but it maintained its ground in the services for the synagogue, and for all purposes of inter-communication between Jews of different nation- alities ; and was cultivated with success in various countries for the expression of a scholarly and many- sided literary culture. Classification of Semitic Languages. — The name Semitic, or more properly Shemitic, has been given to a group of languages, ancient and modern, spoken originally in parts of Western Asia. The term was introduced by Dr. J. G. Eichhorn ; ^ and is derived ^ On the characteristics of the later Hebrew see S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the O.T.^ -p. 473 f. "The change" from the purest and best prose style "is visible in both vocabu- lary and syntax. In vocabulary many new words appear, often of Aramaic origin, occasionally Persian, and frequently such as con- tinued in use afterwards in the ' New Hebrew ' of the Mishnah (200 A.D.), etc. ; old words also are sometimes used with new meanings or applications. In syntax the ease and grace and fiuenoy of the earlier writers (down to at least Zech. xii.-xiv. ) has passed away; the style is often laboured and inelegant . , . new and uncouth constructions make their appearance." Compare also D. S. Margoliouth in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 31'' ff. ^ Bom at Dorenzimmern in 1752, and died in 1827 at Gottingen. He published books on the Old Testament of great learning and research, and was one of the pioneers of modern critical knowledge. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES ii from the fact that all or most of the nations who spoke these languages are descended, according to Gen. X. 21-31, from Shem, D??', the son of Noah. The classification of the languages adopted is founded upon resemblances both in vocabulary and syntax, which are much closer than in the corresponding Indo- European group ; and which distinguish a Semitic tongue very clearly from the Indo-European family of speech on the one hand, and the so-called Turanian on the other. These 'generic peculiarities are seen both in the forms of the words and the structure of the sentences. Linguistic relationship, moreover, in the case of the Semitic races, coincides more nearly with their geographical distribution, and in this respect the agreement is most marked in or about the latter half of the second millennium before Christ. The representation, therefore, of the book of Genesis of their descent from a common ancestor may be accepted, broadly speaking, as true ; and on all sides they stand in a more definite and precise inter-relation than any other group of peoples of equal importance and range. The original home and birthplace of the Semitic races is probably to be sought in Arabia, where to this day in the various Bedawy tribes the primitive stock seems to have preserved itself most pure from His most important works were Einleitung in das Alte Testa'ment, 3 vols., Leipz. 1780-83, of which a revised and enlarged edition appeared at Gottingen in 5 vols., in 1820-24 ; Die Hebraische Fropheten, 3 vols., Gottingen, 1816-20 ; and Allgcmciiu Bibliothek dfr Biblischen Literatur, 10 vols., Leipz. 1787-1801. To the New Testament also he wrote a valuable Einleitung in das N.T., 5 vols., Leipz. 1820-27. 12 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE foreign admixture. If this view is correct, it would follow that the Arabic language in its earliest form is the nearest representative of the original Semitic tongue. Others have regarded as the first home of the Semites the great tableland or plateau of Central Asia, whence they are supposed to have migrated westward, and settled in Mesopotamia and Syria, dis- possessing a non-Semitic aboriginal population, repre- sented perhaps by the Emim (D''P''Nn, Gen. xiv. 5), Nephilim (D'^^aan, ib. vi. 4), Anakim {^WJ^, Deut. i. 28), and others of the Bible, and establishing their own civilisation in its place. A source in Eastern Africa again has been suggested, whence the ancestors of the Semites of historical times moved first into Arabia, and then into the regions of South-Western and Western Asia, which they are found occupying at the earliest period concerning which historical records are available. This region of Semitic settle- ment and possession may be roughly described as a parallelogram of comparatively small extent, bounded on the north by the Taurus range and the mountains of Armenia, on the east by Kurdistan and the Persian Gulf, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the west by the Eed Sea and the Mediterranean. The precise relation of this Semitic group of languages to the Indo-uEropean is still uncertain. That they are not originally independent, but may be traced back to a commoD origin, appears indisputable ; the details, however, and lines of connection cannot be fixed. The main peculiarities of the former group, by which it is distinguished from the latter, may be summarised as follows ; details must be sought in the grammar. CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 13 (1) Every Semitic root, with few exceptions, is triliteral, that is, consists of three and only three letters, which are always consonants. This root is in itself, therefore, unpronounceable, and according to the vowels with which it is furnished, will take on different shades or relations of meaning. It is, in fact, of the nature of an ideogram, which may be variously rendered according to the thought of the speaker and the rules of the language. The Indo-European root, on the other hand, is un- restricted in the number or class of letters of which it consists, and is defined and complete in itself. It is probable that these triliteral roots are derived from original and primitive biliterals ; but the derivation does not admit of proof. (2) Verbs have only two tenses, which are primarily concerned not with time, but solely with relation or state. (3) Substantives follow a different mode of declension. A " construct state " is employed, under which the genitival relation is expressed by a modification of the governing noun, not by inflection of the governed, as in the Indo-European group. (4) Semitic languages do not allow of the formation of com- pound nouns or verbs. (5) Substantives have only two genders. (6) The oblique cases of the personal pronoun are invariably expressed, not by separate words, but by suffixes. These are fragmentary or abbreviated forms of the independent pronouns, and are added to the stem of the noun, or the inflected form of the verb. The following classification, therefore, is necessarily- geographical and linguistic, rather than historical or poUtieal. Very Uttle is really known of the early movements of the Semitic peoples. As far back as the records carry us, an active and effective intercourse seems to have been the rule, not the exception. In the valley of the Euphrates is found existing for many centuries a chief centre of wealth and civilisa- tion, the meeting-point of nations, a source and home of culture to which immigrants contributed many 14 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE elements of virile strength, of refinement, of religious observance and faith, and of the arts. Babylonian civilisation is also that with which we are best acquainted. An early and probably independent form of civilisation existed, however, in Arabia. In accord- ance, then, with this order of classification two great groups of languages are to be distinguished, a Northern and a Southern, each with sub-divisions.^ I. NOETHEEN. (a) Eastern. — These are the languages of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, the earliest of which we have definite historical knowledge from extant documents and inscriptions. (1) Babylonian, the language of lower Mesopotamia and the country around the junction of the two rivers. The inscriptions are on clay tablets in a cuneiform character supposed to have been derived from a non- Semitic race who were dispossessed by the ancestors of the Babylonians, who succeeded them in their home in Mesopotamia. The inscriptions date from the earliest period, about the middle of the fifth millennium B.C., to as late as the fourth century before Christ ; letters and cursive tablets carry on the history of the language to within about a century of our era. ' On the Semitic languages in general and their inter-relations, see art. " Semites," by J. F. McCurdy in SDB, vol. v. p. 83 ff. ; W. Wright, Comparative Gra/mmiour of the Semitic Languages, Cambridge, 1890 ; F. Max Miiller, Lectures on the Science of Language,^ Lect. viii., with genealogical table in Appendix. The classification adopted follows mainly Dr. Wright. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 15 A considerable number of the inscriptions refer to the time of the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned over Babylon and Northern Babylonia, according to the native chronologists, for more than half a century, 2356-2301 B.C., and who is identified with Amraphel, " king of Shinar," the contemporary of Abraham, Gen. xiv. 1, 9.^ (2) Assyrian, written in the same character and with the same materials as the Babylonian. Of all the Semitic languages, with the exception of Aramaic and Arabic, Assyrian is the most closely related to Hebrew, and throws most light on its vocabulary and interpretation. Assyrian literature is much less varied in scope and subject-matter than the Babylonian, and for the most part consists of historical records, and of ' On Hammurabi, the sixth monarch of the so-called first Dynasty of Babylon, see especially L. W. King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, London, 1900, pp. Ixixf., 229 flf., and passim; Records of the Past, New Series, vol. i. p. 10 ff. ; A. H. Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Monuments, London, 1894 ; F. Hommel in Recent Research in Biile Lands, Philadelphia, 1896, p. 136 f., who holds the view that the dynasty was derived originally from Arabia, and that Hammurabi coald not rightfully have been termed ' ' King of Shinar " {yjie = Sumer) until after the expulsion of the Elamites ; C. H. W. Johns, art. " Code of Hammurabi " in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, vol. v. p. 584 ff., and Expositor, 1903, p. 283 ff. The identification of H. with Amraphel is not undisputed ; Hommel, for example, with whom F. C. Boscawen agrees, regards the latter as reaUy the same as Sinnuballit, the father of Hammurabi, see Athen., Feb. 1904, p. 280. It has been generally recognised that the native date for this king was too early by at least a century or more. All previous researches and discussions, however, have been superseded by L. W. King, Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings, 2 vols., London, 1907, where it is shown on the basis of new historical texts that his reign cannot be placed earlier than the nineteenth century before Christ, and more probably in the latter than the former half of the century. i6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE translations from Babylonian documents. The latest example of Assyrian writing in the British Museum is dated in the year 80 B.C. Bdth the race and the language appear to have been preserved more pure from foreign elements than the Babylonian. (&) Cbnteal, ok Aeam^an. — The original meaning of the term "Aramsan" is uncertain. In the Old Testament Aram (t^'iN, Assyr. Aramu, Arumu, etc.) is the fifth son of Shem, brother of Elam, Asshur, and others, Gen. x. 22 f. ; 1 Chron. i. 17. In Gen. xxii. 21 the name appears as that of a grandson of ISTahor, and in 1 Chron. vii. 34 of a descendant of Asher, and apparently {ib. ii. 23) of a descendant of Manasseh. Elsewhere Aram is always used either collectively of the people or of the land which they occupied, cp. 'f? ann n^a, 2 Sam. x. 6 ; Pff[ '«, 2 Sam. viii. 5 ; a HS, Gen. XXV. 20, xxxi. 18, al., and especially t^l'Dni 'n, Gen. xxiv. 10 ; Deut. xxiii. 5 ; Judg. iii. 8, i.e. " Aram of the two rivers," or Mesopotamia, probably denoting the region of the upper Tigris and Euphrates as the original home of the Aramaean race.-^ The Jews adopted the term in the sense of "outsiders," " heathen " ; and in the Syriac New Testament it is used as the equivalent of "EWtjv, "EWrjve^, e.g. Acts xvi. 1, 3, XX. 21 ; 1 Cor. i. 22, 24. In its national or gentiUc meaning the old name was then replaced by "Assyrian," which came to be differentiated into Syrians, Svpcoc or ^vpoi for the Western, 'Aa-avpioc for the Eastern inhabitants of the ancient Assyrian ' See A. H. Sayce, art. "Aram" in HDB, vol. i. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 17 Empire. " Syrian," therefore, is a mere abbreviation of " Assyrian " ; and the term was finally accepted by the Aramaeans themselves, who, as Christians, called themselves "Syrians," 'j_._,ja£D.^ According to Hero- dotus (i. 72), the Cappadocians were termed "Syrians" by the Greeks. The commercial and enterprising spirit of the race seems in very early times to have carried their influence and language far and wide. Aramaic became the lingua franca of intercourse and trade in Western Asia. It was, however, broken up into many dialects, some of which were confined within narrow local boundaries and usage. (1) Syriac. — The most important of these dialects, almost the only one that attained to the dignity of a cultivated or written tongue, was Syriac, the language of the ancient city of Edessa and the surrounding district. The extensive Syriac literature is entirely BibUcal and Christian, and beginning with the version of the Scriptures covers a period of nearly twelve centuries, from the second to the thirteenth or fourteenth century. As a spoken language it yielded place gradually to Greek, and later to the ArabicTin the seventh century; but survived until recently, and perhaps still survives, in the secluded village of Ma'liila, among the hills about twenty-five miles N.N.E. of Damascus.^ ^ So Noldeke, cU, Sayce, however, thinks the " Syrian " may be derived directly from the Babylonian Suri, or Suru, a name found in the inscrip- tions for a part of ancient Mesopotamia ; see PSBA, vol. xviii. p. 171. = See P3BFQ, 1890, pp. 74fiF., 186. On the literature in general, "W. AVright, Syriac Literature, London, 1894 ; C. Brockelmann, DieSyrische Litteratur, Leipzig, 1907. The best grammar is that of Th. Nbldeke, i8 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE (2) Biblical Aramaic, the oldest extant literary documents of which are the Aramaic portions of the book of Ezra. The narrative in Isa. xxxvi. 1 1 certifies to the still earlier employment of Aramaic as a medium of international intercourse. The Aramaic of Daniel is a later form, approaching more nearly to the Targums. Closely akin to these in dialect is the Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch. The Palestinian Aramaic, represented in manuscripts of parts of the Old and New Testaments and of Lectionaries as late as the tenth and eleventh centuries, is of interest as representiag closely that form of the language spoken by Christ and His apostles. This Christian Aramaic differs considerably from the Jewish Aramaic of the Targums, etc. As a spoken language it is doubtful if it survived to any extent, at least on the west of the Jordan, the ravages and depopulation of the wars with the Eomans, and the destruction of Jerusalem. The earliest collection of the documents is in Land, Anecdota Syriaca, vol. iv., Lugd. Bat. 1875; fragments that have more recently come to light are edited by G. H. GwilHam and others in Anecdota Oxoniensia, Semitic Series, pts. v. and ix., Oxford, 1893 and 1896. A considerable number of subordinate or local varieties of the Aramaic are recognised, some of which are known in older forms than are represented in the Bible itself. The more ancient documents are derived from Egypt, whither the Aramaic tongue must have Compemlious Syriac Gh-ammar, trans, by J. A. Crichton, London, 1904. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 19 found its way in comparatively early times. The most important inscriptions are the so-called Carpentras stele, now at Carpentras in the south of France, the date of which is placed in the fourth century p.c. ; ^ and the stele of Sakhara, dated in the fourth year of Xerxes, 482 B.C., now at Berlin.^ Other dialects of the Aramaic are the Palmyrene, represented in inscriptions found at Palmyra, dating from the first three centuries of our era, in a style or idiom closely akin to that of the book of Daniel ; and the so-called Nabattean, the language of the country on the east of the Jordan, from the Hauran southwards to the district around Petra, and as far as the Sinaitic Peninsula. The niost complete collection of the inscriptions of the latter is by J. Euting, Ndbataische Inscriften aus Arabien, Berlin, 1885. He assigns to them dates from 9 B.C. to 75 a.d. By some the Nabatiean kingdom of Arabia Petrtea is supposed to be referred to under the name of Nodab (^lii, possibly a mistaken transposition for nai3, or D33, but the Seventy have NaBa^aiwv) in 1 Chron. v. 19.^ (3) In the northern parts of the plain of Mesopotamia and in the range of mountains from ' A facsimile and account of the inscription will be found in S. E. Driver, JVotes on Samuel, p. xviii ; compare G. A. Cooke, North Semitic Inscriptions, p. 205. ^ Driver, ib. p. xx. Recent discoveries in Egypt of Aram, documents on papyrus are well known ; see A. H. Sayce, Aramaic Papyri discovered at Assuan, London, 1906 ; E. Sachau, Drei Aramaische Urlcunden aus Elephantine, Berlin, 1908. ' See A. E. Suffrin, s.v. Nodab, in HDB, vol. iii. ; and on the Nabatsean, compare D. S. Margoliouth, ib. vol. i. p. 135. 20 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE which the rivers spring, a third division of the great Aramaean group of languages had its home. Of the hill dialects little or nothing is known. But in the lowlands a widely -extended form of speech, most nearly related to the idiom of the Babylonian Talmud, was the immediate ancestor of the MandaMic, the dialect of the Mandeans, a Gnostic sect whose descendants still exist and practise rites which are a strange combina- tion of star- worship and Christian ceremonies. They are otherwise known as Sabians, or St. John's Christians. The priests are said still to read the ancient language, but to understand little of it. There is a very com- plete grammar of the language by Th. Noldeke.^ A somewhat striking difference in the method of forming the 3rd pers. sing, imperf. distinguishes the eastern from the western dialects of Aramaic. In the latter, including the Palmyrene, the imperfect is formed with prefixed yodh {>), as in the Hebrew. In the former, of which the Syriac may be taken as the type, with nun (3). And in the Babylonian Talmud and in Mandaitic, which occupy a kind of central position, with niin (3) or lamedh (i?). Compare in the Old Testament Kl.n^, Dan. ii. 20 ; Ezra iv. 13 ; liji^, Dan. ii. 43; C)?.^, *• V. 17.2 • Compare also M. Lidzbaraki, Das Jolianneshiich der Mandaer, Giessen. " See H. L. Strack, Grammatik des Biblisclun Aramaisch,^ Leipzig, 1897, p. 33, who says that in the Jerusalem Targum the impf. of nin is sometimes formed with '7 when wish or purpo.se is expressed ; S. R. Driver, Hebrew Lexicon, s.v. Niq, niri, and the references there given. Interchange of 1 and n is, of course, found elsewhere in related languages, as, for instance, in Eastern and Western forms of Hindi ; see S. H. Kellogg, Grammar of the Hivdi Languages,^ London, 1893, p. 73. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 21 (c) Westekn Group. — (1) Canaanitic, the generic name, for the languages spoken in Palestine at the time of the Hebrew invasion; cp. the expression "lip of Canaan," |j)3D nsB', in Isa. xix. 18. The Canaanites were not the oldest inhabitants of the land, having been preceded by the Amorites, the " Amurru " of the Assyrian inscriptions. These last, however, were apparently not of Semitic race ; and when, being dispossessed by the invading Canaanites, they retreated to the hills, they held their own there in the more inaccessible districts, the richer plain country falling to the lot of the new-comers.^ The Canaanites themselves were divided into clans, with perhaps originally httle intercommunication, and admitting many varieties of dialect. These are repre- sented probably by the Hivites, Jebusites, etc., of the Old Testament, Gen. x. 16 ff., xv. 19 ff., Deut. vii. 1, ^ This appears to be the most probable acooimt of the facts ; see arts. " Amorite," " Canaanite," by A. H. Sayce mHDB, vol. i. Others, how- ever, regard the two terms as practically identical, each denoting in general the primitive population of Palestine. The difference of name would then be a question of usage, Amos and the Elohist employing the term "Amorite," while J writes of "Canaanite" ; so Wellhausen, W. R. Smith, al. ; see J. F. McOurdy, Bistory, Prophecy, and the Monuments, p. 159 ff., and note 4, p. 406 ; Sayce in PSBA, vol. xviii. p. 171 f. The origin and derivation of the name Canaan is uncertain. The ancient Phoenician writer Sanchuniathon, whose works were translated into Greek by Philon of Byblus, flor. c. 70-140 a.d., and quoted by Eusebius, Prceparatio Svangelica, i. vi. f., says that Xva (yj?) was the name of a god or heroic ancestor. In the Old Testament, Canaan, |yJ3, is the son of Ham (dij, Gen. ix. 18, 22, x. 6), and brother of Cush, Mizraim, and Put. The people gave to the country in which they settled their own name, first applied apparently to the coast districts and the valley of the Jordan (Num. xiii. 29), and later to the whole land of Palestine. 22 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE etc. ; the King of Jerusalem, however, is an Amorite in Josh. X. 5, cp. Ezek. xvi. 3. The only certainly non-Semitic peoples mentioned in these passages are the Hittites and the Philistines, the former from Western Asia Minor and the highlands of Armenia, the latter sea-rovers from " Caphtor " (IWS?, Deut. ii. 23, Amos ix. 7, cp. Gen. x. 14), i.e. probably Crete.i Of the Canaanite peoples the Phoenicians alone won a place and name in the wider world of the West. From their great cities of Tyre and Sidon and the surrounding district, they carried their commerce and language throughout Syria and the Mediterranean, with settlements on the north coast of Africa and in distant Spain and Gaul ; and in the East by way of the Eed Sea and the Persian Gulf maintained trade relations with South Arabia and India, probably also with the east coast of Africa. Their language is known from numerous inscriptions dating from the eighth or seventh centuries B.C. to the beginning of our era, and is closely allied to Hebrew. In the modified or corrupted form of " Punic," the Phoenician continued to be known and spoken in the West as late as the ^ On the Hittites, their monuments and language, see P. Jensen, Hittiter und Arinenier, Strassburg, 1898, and Explorations in Bible Lands in the 19th Century, Edin. 1903, pp. 763-93 ; W. Wright, Empire of the Hittites,^ London, 1895 ; A. H. Sayce, Races of the Old Testament, London, 1891, ch. vii., The Sittites,^ London, 1903, and arts, in PSBA, vols. xxv. ff. The Philistines (D'ti-.f'^9, Gen. x. 14, 1 Sam. iv. 1 ff . etc. ) gave their name to the country of Palestine, but nothing seems to be known of their language ; see HDB, vol. iii. s.v. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 23 seventh century a.d. ; and a Punic translation of the whole or parts of the Bible existed.^ (2) Hebrew, the language which the Israelite invaders brought with them into Palestine. Its literature extends from the earliest of the Old Testament documents to the date of the completion of the Mishna, towards the end of the second century a.d. The later form of the language is sometimes described as New Hebrew. It thus remained in use for literary pur- poses long after it had ceased to be generally spoken ; and throughout the Middle Ages, commentaries and other Biblical works, elegies and poems almost entirely of a religious character, continued to be composed in Hebrew.^ There are few traces of dialectic difference within the Hebrew itself. The Ephraimites seem to have been unable to pronounce the aspirated sibilant, — they said n^3D for nl'DE', Judg. xii. 6. An indication of variety in speech of later date is afforded by the passage Neh. xiii. 24, which refers to the children of the mixed marriages of Jews with the people of Ashdod. That in earlier times the Moabites, and probably also the Edomites, Ammonites, and other ' On the Canaanites and Phoenicians in general, see especially F. Jeremias in Ch. de la Saiissaye's Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte,^ Tubingen, 1905, i. p. 348 IF. ; G. Eawlinson, Phoenicia, in ' ' Story of the Nation" series; HDB, vol. iii., art. by G. W. Thatcher. The latest and most accessible edition of the inscriptions is in M. Lidzbarski, Epheimeris fur Semitische Epigraphik, Giessen, 1900 ff. ^ A convenient selection of the latter, confined, however, to a particular epoch, will be found in Brody and Albrecht, teti iv^s'. New Hebrew School of Poets, London, 1906, where references are given to the principal works on Jewish literature ; add D. S. Margoliouth on " Language of the Old Testament " in HDB, vol. iii. 24 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE neighbouring peoples, spoke dialects closely akin to the Hebrew, may be inferred from extant documents.^ II. Southern, ok Arabian. (a) Arabic. — The terms " Arab " ^ng and " Arabia " originally denoted the northern part of the peninsula alone, the district lying between Palestine on the west and the head of the Persian Gulf on the east. This is the usage of the Assyrian and local inscriptions, and of the Old Testament itself (Isa. xxi. 13, Jer. xxv. 24, 1 Kings X. 1 5 ; in the last passage E. V. strangely renders " all the things of the mingled people," Heb. ^^.yn ; Ezek. xxvii. 21, XXX. 5 "mingled people" ^n^n, ep. the doublet in Jer. I.e.). At some period before or about the beginning of the Christian era the term was extended to include what is now known as Arabia. It was not, however, until the rise and spread of Muhammadanism in the seventh and following centuries, that the language became of historical importance. The Arabic was thus placed under conditions exceptionally favourable to the pre- servation of its purity and historical continuity. Until the time of Muhammad it remained in comparative seclusion among the tribes of the peninsula, shut off from the influences of the wider world around. And when with the Muhammadan conquests it entered upon a world-wide career, and was carried within a century as far as India on the east and Spain on the west, it was at once determined and controlled as a literary medium by the Quran, which effected for 1 Infra, p. 38 f. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 25 Aiabic precisely what Shakespeare and the Authorised Version of the Bible did for the English tongue, and fixed for all time the standard of classical and correct speech. Thus not only is Arabic the richest and most flexible of all Semitic languages, but it also represents probably most nearly the primitive and original form from which these various Semitic languages have been derived. Arabic literature is of very great extent and variety. Except, however, in the two fields of theology and reHgion on the one hand and of geography and travel on the other, Arabic writers showed Uttle originality, and for the most part they were dependent upon Greek sources. In philosophy and science the best Greek authors were translated into Arabic, and became the guides of Arabic thought ; while native scholars and thinkers confined themselves almost entirely to expositions of the Quran, discussions of its principles and rules, and the collection and codifying of illustrative material from the lives and sayings of Muhammad himself and his immediate followers. The purest Arabic is still to be heard among the Bedawy tribes of the Arabian peninsula. The most debased and corrupt is said to be the confused and hybrid dialect of the inhabitants of Malta.^ (&) Sabcean. — The tribes of southern Arabia spoke ' The standard work on Arabic literature is C. Brookelmann's OeschicMe der Arabischen Literatur, 2 vols., Weimar, 1897-99. A briefer work by the same author with the same title was published at Leipzig in 1901, as part of the sixth volume of a series on the literatures of the East. A readily accessible handbook in English is C. Huart, History of Arabic Literature, London. The best grammar is that of the late Dr. W. Wright, 3rd ed., Cambridge, 1896-98. 26 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE dialects of one tongue, which has received the name Sabsean (C?'??, Isa. xlv. 14) from the greatest and most powerful kingdom of old times which held sway in that region. It corresponded roughly to the modern province of al- Yemen, the ancient capital being Marib, seventy or eighty miles east of Sana. " Seba," i<^0^ is son of Cush (B'13) in Gen. x. 7. On the south coast of Arabia eastwards lay the province of Hadramut, the Biblical niDisn, Gen. X. 26, probably included for a time at least in the Sabsean kingdom. The language is also known as Himyaritic, and is represented in numerous inscrip- tions almost exclusively from the south-west of the peninsula.^ The dates are uncertain, but a few of the inscriptions are placed as early as 700 B.C., the greater part belonging to the early centuries of our era. Still more ancient was the kingdom of the Mineeans on the west coast, north of al- Yemen, who spoke a language closely allied to the Sabaean, and whose inscriptions, cma 1400—700 B.C., are found as far north as the borders of Edom. Ma'an or Ma'ln, their capital, lay north-west of Marib, and an allusion has been traced to the people in the Meunim (o^ilVDn, 1 Chron. iv. 41, where Keth. D''VJ?D, 2 Chron. xxvi. 7, cp. xx. 1 marg. ; Sept. in all three passages Meivaloi,) of the Old Testament.^ ' Two only are known from Hadramut ; see Hommel, Mx^ylorations in Bible Lands, p. 729. ' See F. Hommel in Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th Century, Edin. 1903, p. 727 if. ; A. H. Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Monuments,'^ p. 122 ; J, F. McCurdy in HDB, vol. v. p. 85" ; D. S. Margoliouth, ib. vol. iv., art. "Sheba" ; W. Wright, Comparative Grammar, p. 28 f. CLASSIFICATION OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES 27 (c) u^thiopic, the language of ancient Abyssinia. The mountainous district of Africa lying immediately opposite the south-west corner of the African peninsula seems to have been colonised thence at a very early date. The capital of the African Idngdom was Aksum, and in the fourth and following centuries of our era the now Christian power of Abyssinia recrossed the strait, and established its authority over the neighbouring parts of Arabia, until driven out by the Arabs immediately before the time of Muhammad. The Ge'ez or ancient ^thiopic existed in three main dialects, of which the first-named represented most nearly the primitive tongue : — Tigrd, in the north ; Tigrina, in the centre ; and Amharic, the form of the language which has prevailed in modern Abyssinia, in the south. A few inscriptions are known, dating from the early centuries of our era ; and the ^thiopic version of the Bible, though not made altogether at one date, is ascribed to the period from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Later Ethiopic literature consists almost entirely of translations made from Arabic or Coptic works.^ The relation of Egyptian to the Semitic group of languages is uncertain and disputed. That it is not independent of them in its origin is clear, but the kinship is by no means so close or defined as that of 'R. H. Charles, art. "Ethiopic Versions" in HDB, vol. i. ; W. Wright, Comparative Grammar, p. 29 f. ; E. Littmann, Gesch. der athiop, Ziiteratur, Leipzig, 1907. The best grammar is that of A. Dillmann, translated from the second German edition by J. A. Crichton, London, 1907. 28 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Semitic languages in general inter se. Its alphabet is consonantal, many of its words are identical in sound and meaning with the Semitic, and there is a similarity often striking in the verbal and other forms, and especially in the pronouns, both separate and suffixed. On the other hand, roots are not triliteral. Probably the Egyptian should be regarded as a branch of the Semitic family, which parted from the parent stem at a period long antecedent to that at which the remain- ing languages of the group began their independent existence ; but which in the course of its long history has come under diverse foreign linguistic influences by which it has been profoundly modified. Of these external forces probably the most important and power- ful has been the Libyan or Berber from the west.^ ' German scholars, with whom the American authorities for the most part associate themselves, are the strongest supporters of the Semitic origin of the ancient Egyptian language. The modern Coptic is its lineal descendant. See A. Erman, Egyptian Grammar, translated by J. H. Breasted, London, 1894 ; J. Leiblein in PSBA xx. p. 202 ff. ; F. LI. Griffith, ib. xxi. p. 269 ff. ; and many other arts, in the volumes of the same Proceedings ; W. E. Crum in HDB, vol. i. p. 655 f. ; J. H. Breasted, History of Egypt, London, 1906, p. 25 f. CHAPTEE II. THE TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 1. The Hebrew Character and Alphabet; Inscriptions. rriHE origin of alphabetic writing in general is an -L obscure and difficult subject ; and Hebrew shares to the full the uncertainties which surround its early history. The field has been largely occupied by specu- lation. Brilliant generalisations have sometimes been based on insufficient and imperfectly assimilated data. On the other hand, older theories, apparently well founded, have been compelled to give place to newer and wider knowledge. In particular, the relationship and derivation of the various ancient and modern scripts in use among the nations of the world is a subject about which comparatively Uttle is certainly or precisely known. To trace on broad lines the growth and development of the alphabetic signs of a given language is not difficult, provided a sufficient number of documents are available of various periods, the dates of which may be assigned with a fair measure of certainty. To collate, however, the 30 INTRODUCTIQN TO THE HEBREW BIBLE alphabets of distinct languages that bear no close relation to one another, so as to construct a genea- logical table of descent of their written character, is a task of great intricacy, demanding minute accuracy and care as well as a capacity for broad survey, and is beset with many possibilities of error. Such a task, with its problems of the deepest interest, belongs to the specialist alone. Here it must suffice to indicate the broad lines on which the development of the Hebrew alphabet has proceeded, from the earhest forms of which we have any knowledge to the "square" character which the printed text of the Old Testament has made familiar at the present day. At how early a date the art of writing began to be practised it is impossible to determine. Men doubtless knew how to communicate their thoughts by word of mouth before they learnt to express them in written form on stone, wood, clay, or other con- venient material. But judging from what is known of primitive conditions of human life, the latter art, in imperfect inchoate shape at least, did not lag so very far behind the former as we have been ac- customed to think. Certainly the beginnings of writing go back to a very early period, long ante- cedent to that at which the familiar systems of chron- ology of half a century ago placed the creation of the world. The initial stages of the art, moreover, were not in the direction of the invention of more or less artificial alphabetic signs, consonants or vowels, upon ORIGIN OF WRITING 31 the basis of which names and words were then con- structed. Words come first, and only at a later period do the component parts or elements of which they are constituted appear. Thus the individual letters are themselves the products of a long evolution, which may have been and probably was carried on independ- ently in different countries and by different peoples, and extended over a very considerable period of time. In this progress or evolution three or four general stages may be distinguished without difficulty, and are found to be exemplified more or less fully in the most ancient known scripts. It is not to be supposed, of course, that all alphabets have been developed on these lines from the very beginning. The majority of alphabetic signs have been taken over, like our own and more or less modified from previously existing forms. (1) The earliest attempts in the graphic art were pictorial, hardly to be termed writing, but rather painting or portraiture ; when primitive man sought to make Hneal representation on the stone or bark or other substance of the natural objects with which he was familiar. Of such sort are the cave drawings of the early Bushmen of South Africa, and many others. With more or less skiU and accuracy he drew a picture, and that picture conveyed to others the conception of the material object which he had in his own mind. (2) The picture or drawing was then conven- tionalised, or in technical language became an " ideogram." Instead of being the free and inde- 32 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE pendent creation of each individual, executed at his own will and fancy, the picture took on a fixed and definite form. It was no longer drawn as it were de novo on each occasion, no two pictures therefore being necessarily aUke in scale or complexity, but a distinct and recognised type was developed, resembling with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes the object intended to be depicted ; and this was then regularly and always employed as the formal and accepted equivalent of the object, other delineations falling into disuse. (3) This type or ideogram, usually greatly simphfied with a view to ease and rapidity of construction by the hand of the writer, a mere group or aggregate of strokes often no longer recognisable as a picture of the object intended, came to stand for the uttered sound as distinct from the meaning ; and the name or word as pronounced was now associated with the sign, whether the latter were employed to indicate the object itself or not. The sign was indissolubly wedded to a sound and no longer to a thought. For example, the conventional sign which denoted the sea might be used in the sense of the verb to see, or in any other which the sound " see " should chance to express. (4) Lastly, the syllabic sound, now represented always by one and the same sign, was broken up into the elemental parts which we call letters, to one of which, usually but not of necessity always the first, the sign was appropriated. The latter, therefore, now ORIGIN OF THE ALPHABET 33 came to denote not a word or syllable, but a single letter, which might be associated to an indefinite extent with other letters, but which under ordinary circum- stances was an elemental sound, not a combination of sounds. To this principle of the adoption of the original sign for the syllable to express the letter with which the syllable commences has been given the name " acrophonic " ; and it represents, without doubt, the greatest forward step ever taken in the development of easy written speech. The separate and distinct letters are thus not the beginnings of writing, but as it were its end. They stand at the close of a prolonged period or progress of evolution, and themselves bear witness to historical maturity, and to a great and notable advance in civilisation and the arts. In this development, or perhaps rather at and after its close, it is not to be denied that conscious inven- tion played a part. It is hardly possible, however, that the part was ever leading or prominent, and there was no scope or opportunity for it at the beginning, when writing itself first began to be. With wider and more general practice of the art, and with the growth of conscious knowledge and skill, original invention of artificial and wholly arbitrary signs may well have assumed a more important place. Desiring to give expression, for instance, to sounds in their own tongue for which the symbols current and recognised made no provision, men may well have allowed free play to their fancy in new and original device, rather than borrow from extraneous sources, 3 34 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE The really inventive faculty, however, has never been common or wide-spread. And in most instances a preference for adaptation rather than creation seems to have ruled. This general course of development of the graphic art is most conveniently illustrated in the Egyptian, where the hieroglyphic inscriptions, followed by the hieratic and demotic, represent an early pictorial style passing over into later abbreviated and cursive forms. In the written language of Egypt, tnoreover, the use of ideograms received perhaps its widest extension, and already in the oldest known inscription true alphabetic signs are found by the side of the hieroglyphs them- selves. It is evident that the last-named fact implies a preceding history and use of the art of writing, which must have been of very considerable duration. This inscription, according to the generally accepted view the most ancient in existence if we except a few isolated words, royal titles, etc., found in the very earliest tombs, is a monument in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford dedicated to a priest who lived in the time of the second Egyptian dynasty, dated by various authorities to the second half of the fifth, or the middle or end of the fourth millennium B.C. Professor i'linders Petrie, for example, gives for the second Dynasty circa 4500-4200 B.C., Dr. Breasted for the first two Dynasties B.C. 3400-2980. Since in this inscription three true alphabetic signs or letters are already in use, even the lower date assumed for the monument would carry back the invention and employment of writing to a very early period. Mortuary tablets of King Menes of the first Dynetsty and other early monarchs have been discovered, which reveal the hieroglyphs themselves in archaic forms.i 1 Cp. J. H. Breasted, History of Egypt, London, 1906, pp. 35, 43, 45, "the hieroglyphs for the Northern Kingdom, for its king, and for its ORIGIN OF THE ALPHABET 35 The view that the primitive Semitic characters were derived from the ancient Egyptian by a more or less direct descent has been generally accepted since the researches of De Kougd in the middle of the nineteenth century. It cannot be said, however, that recent dis- coveries have placed the theory upon a firmer basis, or brought it nearer to certainty. Influential voices have been raised in favour of alternative schemes, which themselves involve much that is hypothetical and un- proven. Attempts to trace the Semitic alphabet to an origin in the Babylonian cuneiform, or to connect it with an ancient Cypriote syllabary or with Cretan pictographs, although the discovery especially of ancient systems of writing current in the Mediterranean basin has greatly widened the field of inquiry and possibihty, cannot be pronounced successful. WhUe the Egyptian origin appears on the whole to be most probable, final judgement must be suspended. It seems unlikely, how- ever, in any case that the derivation was made direct from the older hieroglyphic or pictorial symbols. The model for the Semitic letters is to be found rather in the hieratic character and the more cursive forms of a later period, especially in the papyri of the most flourishing era of Egyptian civilisation in the latter half of the second millennium B.C. The most important treasury, cannot have arisen at one stroke with the first king of the dynastic age ; but must have been in use long before the rise of the First Dynasty ; while the presence of a cursive linear hand at the beginning of the dynasties is conclusive evidence that the system was not then a recent innovation." See also Ad. Erman, Egyptian Grammar, Eng. trans., London, 1894, p. 12flf. ; E. Maunde Thompson, Gi-eel< and Latin Palmography, London, 1893, ch. i. 36 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of these models is the so-called Papyrus Prisse, from Thebes, " the most ancient book in the world," now in the National Library in Paris, containing the moral " Precepts of Ptah-Hotep," who lived during the fifth Dynasty of Egypt, circa 2600 B.C. The existing papyrus is, of course, of later date, being a copy of the original.^ Thus through the Semitic the ancient Egyptian became the parent of the Greek and Eoman alphabetic systems, whence in turn have been derived those of modern Europe.^ The precise geographical or ethnic limits within which this ancient Semitic character was employed cannot be laid down ; but it was in use over practically the whole of hither Asia, and in the service of trade and commerce was carried far and wide over Egypt and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean.* ' P. Virey, " Precepts of Ptah-Hotep " in Secords of the Past, New Series, toI. iii. p. Iff. ; Breasted, I.e. p. 107 f. ; W. M. Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, vol. i. p. 81. ^ The literature of the general subject is of very great extent. See especially Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, 2 vols., London, 1883 ; W. Wright, Comparative Grammar, ch. iii. ; and arts, in Encyclopaedias, esp. Th. Noldeke, "Semitic Languages" in Encyel. Brit.'' The Babylonian origin of Semitic writing is advocated by C. J. Ball in an article on the "Origin of the Phoenician Alphabet" in PSBA, vol. XV. p. 392 ff. A possible Hittite derivation was suggested in a paper read before the Oxford Philological Society by W. Scott in the spring of 1904 {Class. Bev. xviii. p. 415). De Rough's work, L'Origine Egyptienne de VAlphabet Phinieien, was published in 1874. ' The theory of the late Dr. Georg Biihler, who derives the Sanskrit Devanagari characters ultimately from an ancient alphabet of Northern Semitic type, is well known, and has been widely accepted. See Indian Studies, iii., 2nd ed., Strassburg, 1898; " Indisohe Palseographie " in Grundriss d. Indo-Arischen Philologie, Strassburg, 1896. If this view should be established, all the modern Indian scripts which are descended ORIGIN OF THE ALPHABET 37 It was the common original script of peoples of Aramaic birth, of Phoenicians, IsraeUtes, Moabites, and others, and the earlier documents of the Old Testament Canon must have been written down at first in this character. The letter sent by the Syrian king to Jehoram the king of Israel (2 Kings v. 5 ff.) would be thus written, and probably also the letter sent to Hezekiah from Sennacherib, king of Assyria (Isa. xxxvii. 14). At how early a date the people of Israel were acquainted with and used a script of this kind it is impossible to determine. With a written character, however, they must have been familiar by sight at least during their sojourn in the land of Egypt ; and there is no reason to doubt that their leaders and chief men would be competent to make practical use of the art. As far as written records, therefore, are concerned, the history seems to show that there would be no inherent impossibility in their composition and preservation at and after a date as early as the period of the Israelite residence in Egypt. The Hebrew verb 3n3 is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, and could hardly have found a place there so often had the art of writing itself been unknown, or confined to a few leaders or professional men. It occurs more than two hundred and twenty times. Inferences from the use of the word are con- from the Devanagari would owe tlieir origin to a Semitic source. Attempts have been made, on the other hand, to show that the ancient Indian alphabet in question is of indigenous origin. The most recent, as far as my knowledge goes, is by R. Shamasastry iu the hidian Antiquary, vol. xxxv. (1906) pp. 253 ff., 270 ff., 311 ff. 38 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE fessedly precarious, and must not be too closely pressed. The ancient book of Jashar, however Cf'jL' iSp, Josh. X. 13; 2 Sam. i. 18), and the book of the Wars of the Lord (njn'; nSmhip 'o, Kum. xxi. 14) were both written documents. The passage Judg. viii. 14 also, where the E.V. " described " is literally " wrote " (ana''), seems to show that facility with the pen was not confined to a professional or learned class ; compare Isa. X. 19, 1 Sam. x. 25, and the difficult expression Hos. viii. 12, K. v., "though I write for him my law in ten thousand precepts." ^ Whatever the precise meaning of the last quoted phrase may be, it at least contemplates the possibility of a written Torah. The root ana signified originally perhaps to " cut " or " engrave," and is apparently used with that meaning in the phrase bj> ana, as in Q^nx bv 'a, Deut. xxvii. 3 ; Y^. bv 'a, Ezek. xxxvii. 1 6 ; n^JD bv 'a, Jer. xxxvi. 2, 28 ; nmi" bv 'a, Ex. xxxiv. 1, and especially 13? bv 'a, Deut. xvii. 18, 1 Kings xiv. 19 al., a phrase that occurs more than fifty times, and which apparently refers to engraving with a style upon a tablet or other prepared surface. Writing with a pen in the ordinary sense is if?P? ^Ol, Josh. viii. 31, Jer. xxxii. 12 al. The lexicons also draw attention to the fact that the phrase with bv is not used with isd in the sense of " letter " ; nor is 'a ana followed by words like [ax, yv, etc.^ Insceiptions. — The oldest existing inscription of ^ 'n-iin 'ST iV 3B3I<, Keth. iai and atapN; cp. Sept. KaTaypdfu airifi irK^dos Kal ri. vd/MfiA /lov ds dWI>Tpi.a iXoyiaBriaav, i.e. 'ijn'ini ni or 'ni'wi. ^ See Brown and Driver, Oxf. Heb. Lex., s.v. DriD. INSCRIPTIONS 39 any length or importance written in this ancient character was discovered at Dibon (Dhiban) in the land of Moab, twenty-five miles east of the Dead Sea. The existence of the inscription first became known in the summer of the year 1868 to the Eev. F. A. Klein, a missionary of the Church of England, who reported his discovery both in Germany and to the authorities of the English Palestine Exploration Fund. Unfortunately, however, the jealousy of the Bedawin was aroused by the efforts made to obtain possession of the stone, which proved its value in the eyes of Europeans, and the stone was broken to pieces for the sake of its supposed magical efficacy. The fragments were eventually secured for the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris, and the monument, restored and completed as far as possible, was set up again, and may there be seen. It was fortunate that before the destruction of the stone copies of the inscription had been taken and squeezes made. The monument is known as the Moabite Stone ; it is of black basalt, and stands rather under four feet high by two feet in breadth. The inscription is in thirty-four lines, the last four of which are incomplete and partly unintelligible, and commemorates the victory of Mesha, the Moabite king, over his Israelite adversary; op. 2 Kings i. 1, iii. 4-27 ; the date is circa 850 B.c.^ ' See for a transcription of the inscription in ordinary Hebrew characters with translation and discussion, S. R. Driver, J'lotes on the Rebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, Oxford, 1890, p. Ixxxvff. ; also Records of the Past, New Series, vol. ii. p. 194 ff. ; M. Lidzbarski, Ephemeris fiir Semitische EpigrapMTc, i. 1, pp. 1-10, ii. 2, p. 150 ff. ; 40 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE To find an inscription in the ancient character comparable in interest to that of the Moabite Stone it is necessary to come down in time to the age of Hezekiah, king of Judah, 727-699 B.c.i In the Old Testament brief reference is made to a conduit or watercourse constructed by the king, apparently with the object of securing a permanent and regular supply of water within the city walls, which should not be liable to be cut off in a siege.^ Such a rock-cut tunnel runs southwards in a circuitous course from the so - called Virgin's Well, south of the Haram enclosure, the only natural spring and reliable water- supply in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem, to the Pool of Siloam ; and this tunnel, which is in part natural, has been supposed to have been enlarged or completed by Hezekiah for the purpose named. In the midsummer of 1880 a Hebrew inscription was accidentally found by a pupil of the late architect. Dr. Schick, on the wall of the tunnel, on the right- hand side, some 19 or 20 feet from the point where the conduit enters into the Siloam Pool. The dis- covery excited the greatest possible interest among scholars. The inscription was carefully copied, and G. A. Cooke, JVorth- Semitic Inscriptions, Oxford, 1903, pp. 1-14 ; W. H. Bennett in HDB, vol. iii. pp. 404-408. References to other literature and commentaries will be found in these works. An account of the original discovery is given in Walter Besant, Twenty-one Years' Work in the Holy Land, London, 1889, and often elsewhere. ' The date is that given by E. Kautzseh, Literature of the 0. T. , 1898, p. 187, and is practically the same as that of S. E. Driver, al. ; others place Hezekiah's reign earlier by a decade. ^ 2 Kings XX. 20 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 30, cp. ver. 4 ; Isa. viii. 6. INSCRIPTIONS 41 has been many times published, translated, and com- mented on. It is generally believed to refer to this work of Hezekiah, and to commemorate its successful completion. Hence its date wiU be the end of the eighth or the beginning of the seventh century B.C., a century and a half or more later than the Moabite Stone.^ The inscription itself, however, bears no internal evidence of date ; and the conclusion which ascribes it to the time of Hezekiah, though generally accepted, has not passed without question.^ The later history of the monument has been as unfortunate as that of its predecessor. Cut out from the rock and stolen in the latter part of the year 1890, it was with difficulty recovered in a broken condition, and is now preserved in the Museum at Constantinople.^ The same ancient character is found on coins as late as the Jewish revolt under Simon Bar-Kokhba, 132—35 A.D., long after its use had been abandoned ^ See Records offlie Past, New Series, vol. i. p. 168 ff. ; S. E. Driver, Notes on Samuel, p. xiv ff. ; A. H. Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments,^ 1890, p. 80 ff. ; M. Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 1, p. 63 f., 3, p. 310 f., ii. 2, p. 190 f. ; G. A. Cooke, North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 15 ff.; C. R. Conder, art. "Jerusalem" in HDB ii. p. 597 ; and tlie literature cited. A east of the inscription, and a facsimile in con- venient form, are published by the Palestine Exploration Fund. ^ E. J. Pilcher, for example, in an article in PSBA, vol. xix. (1897) p. 165 ff., maintains on palffiographioal grounds a post-exilic date, and places it in the reign of Herod the Great ; see also S. A. Cook in JQE xvi. p. 286 f. The ordinary view is strongly defended by Lidzbarski, I.e., who compares the writing to that on seals of early pre- exilic date, and emphasises the free and natural character of the script, which becomes more constrained in the later centuries. * See PEFQuSt., 1891, pp. 2, 88 f. 42 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE for literary purposes, and seems to have been associated in particular with revivals of the national spirit ; as in the Maccabsean age, when Judas and his successors, in the second half of the second century B.C., struck coins bearing legends in the old Hebrew script, and in the years 66—70 a.d. of the great revolt against the Eoman dominion.^ It was also employed for the stamps on seals, weights, etc., as on an ancient hsematite weight brought from Samaria, or an inscribed bead from Jerusalem,^ and on numerous jar-handles discovered during the course of the excavations at Tell Zakariya, Tell es-S^fi, and elsewhere in the south of Palestine.* The same alphabet is met with in the inscription on the Carpentras stele referred to above,* and in Aramaic papyri brought from Egypt.^ It was further retained by the Samaritans in their Biblical manuscripts of the Pentateuch. At a date which it is not possible to determine with precision, this ancient character or script was superseded by the so-called " square " or " Aramsean " type now in use. Transition forms of letters are recognisable on inscriptions of the fourth and later centuries B.C., and on many of the papyri. Jewish tradition ascribes the change to Ezra, who brought the new characters with him on his return to Palestine ' See A. R. S. Kennedy in SDB, art. " Money," vol. iii. p. 424 ff. 2 PEFQuSt., 1890, p. 267 f., 1893, p. 32 f. '75. 1899, 1900, passim. ■* Supra, p, 19 ; S. R. Driver, Notes on Samuel, p. xvii ff. ^ See now especially, Sayoe and Cowley, Aramaic Papyri discovered at Assua/ii, Loudon, 1906, with plates of facsimiles ; Driver, I.e. p. xxi f. "HEBREW" AND "SQUARE" CHARACTER 43 in the fifth century (b.c. 458). The square type of character, therefore, was said to be termed '"iw??. because of its derivation from Assyria. More probably, how- ever, the name was given on account of the shape of the letters, IB'SD, " squared " ; while the ancient form retained the older name 'I^V, "Hebrew." Direct evidence, however, of the time at which the alteration took place is wanting. It would certainly be made gradually, and for a time at least the two scripts were probably in use side by side, the niB'K or vs^o ana, "squared writing," by degrees supplanting its rival. It has been suggested that the completion of the change was hastened by the destruction of manu- scripts during the Maccabsean wars ; new codices, to replace those lost or destroyed, would be brought from Babylonia, and, being written in the square character, served to familiarise the people with the new forms. It is evident that the transition was complete before the beginning of our era. The reference to yodh as a small or the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet ' would have no significance in the older form, where yodh is by no means of diminutive size. The earlier documents at least of the Old Testament would originally therefore have been written in the nay character. At a later period this antecedent relation of the two types of character came to be forgotten, and the ^l^y was pronounced unholy or profane, and an interdict was laid on the writing of the Scriptures in " Hebrew " letters. The 1 Matt. V. 18. 44 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE direction of the Talmud, that the sacred writings should be communicated only in the ''"iiE'x, was perhaps not imconnected with the Samaritan retention of the more ancient script for their own Torah. The real origin of the niB'N being forgotten, an extreme antiquity was claimed for it, and, like other institutions and practices of the Jews, its invention was ascribed even to Moses himself.^ This later square character was little used apparently for inscriptions, perhaps owing to the form of the letters being less suitable for engraving. Such in- scriptions as are known are brief and unimportant, being mostly of the nature of epitaphs consisting of a few words. The earliest and most interesting are described and figured by Dr. Neubauer in the article referred to, by Dr. Driver in the Introduction to ^ The classical passage from the Babylonian Talmud is Sanhedrin 216 : — " The law was given to Israel at first in njy writing and in the holy tongue ; in the days of Ezra it was given to them again in Assyrian writing and in the Aramaic tongue. Israel then chose the Assyrian writing and the holy tongue, and left to the Idiotes the n^y writing and the Aramaic tongue. Who are the Idiotes ? Eabbi Chasda says, The Kuthim (nno, n!3, 2 Kings xvii. 24, 30, i.e. Samaritans). What is the '"inj; writing ? R. Chasda says, The LibCinah (nwn"'?, probably meaning suitable for engraving on stone or brick, op. nja^', Gen. xi. 3, Isa. ix. 9 ; but according to others from njb?, the modern Lubban, near Shiloh, Judg. xxi. 19, or nj?^, Libnah, in the south of Judah, Josh. x. 29 ff.). . . . Although the law was not given through him, the writing was changed by him, as it is said, 'The writing of the letter was written in the Syrian character (n'DiN, Aramaic), and set forth in the Syrian tongue' (Ezra iv. 7)." The same tradition is recorded by Origen and Jerome ; Orig. on Ps. ii. 2, ed. Lomm. xi. p. 396 f. ; Jerome, Prol. Oaleatus. See Ad. Neubauer, " Introduction of the Square Characters in Biblical MSS " in Shtdia Bililica et EccUsi- aslica, iii. p. 1 ff. ; Driver, I.e. p. ix S. INSCRIPTIONS 45 his Notes on Samuel, and reported in the Quarterly Statements of the Palestine Exploration Fund. A complete list to date with translations and comments will be found in the successive numbers of the Ephemeris fiir Semitiscke Epigraphik, edited by M. Lidzbarski, Giessen, 1900 £f. A few only need here be named. (1) A single word cut on a rock-surface at 'Araq-el- Emir, near Heshbon, read as n^^njf or possibly ^^^IV.. The date is supposed to be the third or late fourth century B.C., the form of the letters exhibiting a transi- tional character. Driver, p. xxii f. ; Neubauer, p. 1 6 f. (2) A brief inscription on the so-called porta triplex at Jerusalem, which is read, " Caleb the son of Joseph the son of Jochanan." " Of doubtful date, but certainly not earlier than the first century B.C.," Neubauer, I.e. (3) The epitaph of the children of Chazir (inn), at the entrance of the Tomb of St. James on the Mt. of Olives. The inscription is attributed to the beginning of the Christian era, and the forms of the letters approximate closely to the well-known square type. " This tomb and resting-place is for Eleazar, Channiah, . . . sons of Channiah of the children of Chazir." Driver, p. xxiii f. ; Neubauer, I.e. ; Cooke, North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 341. (4) The bilingual title or inscription on a royal sarcophagus found in the tombs of the Kings, ascribed to the first century A.D. The name and title are in Syriac and square Hebrew letters, nna^D my. Neubauer, I.e. 46 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE (5) An inscription in mosaic discovered in the year 1900 at Kefr Kenna, near Nazareth in Galilee. The mosaic is supposed to have formed part of a synagogue, or possibly of an early Christian church. The in- scription is dedicatory, apparently of the mosaic itself, or perhaps some part of the building in which it stood ; and the writing is ascribed to the early centuries of our era. PEFQuSt, 1901, pp. 251, 374 ff., 1902, p. 132 ff. ; Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. p. 3 1 3 ff. (6) At Fik, five miles east of the Sea of Galilee, a brief inscription of twelve or thirteen letters was discovered, engraved upon a small column of basalt. The inscription is of doubtful interpretation, but the forms of the letters seem to indicate a similar date to that of No. (3) above. PEFQuSt., 1902, p. 26, 1903, p. 185 f. (7) On the door of an old synagogue at Kefr Bir'im in Galilee. " Peace be upon this place and upon all the places of Israel. Yoseh the Levite, son of Levi, made this lintel. May blessing come upon his works." The date is probably the second or third century a.d. Cooke, NSI, p. 342. 2. SOUECES AND HiSTOEY OF THE TeXT ; MANU- SCRIPTS; Editions. For the critical restoration of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament the available materials are far less abundant, and their treatment involves more formidable difficulties than is the ease with the Greek of the New. SOURCES OF THE TEXT 47 In the discussion of the latter text, scholars avail themselves of three sources of information and evidence — Manuscripts, Versions, and Patristic quotations ; and each of these provides a wealth of material to aid in arriving at a knowledge of the true and exact words of the sacred writers. In regard to the Old Testament, however, the last-named of these sources of critical material is altogether wanting. There are no Hebrew " Fathers," whose works have been guarded and handed down, replete with quotation from the original text of the Old Testament. It is true that there exists a large and varied later Hebrew literature, much of it of the nature of exegesis and commentary; but for more reasons, perhaps, than one it is of httle or no value for the establishment of a critical text.^ Hebrew manuscripts moreover, instead of presenting the almost bewildering variety of readings which meets the critical student of the Greek New Testament, are all of one type or family, and vary from one another almost without exception in only the most insignificant and unimportant details of arrangement and punctuation. In regard to date also, the earliest extant manuscripts are comparatively late, later by five or six centuries than the great uncials of the New Testament ; and are all derived from a common archetype, which they faithfully and accurately reproduce. A fragment of papyrus from Egypt stands at present alone as the representative of a different and independent line of tradition ; ^ and its variations, slight as they are, provide additional » Infra, p. 138 flf. 2 j^j^^, p. 57 ff. 48 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE evidence that this archetype, itself removed by some centuries from the date of the authors of the documents concerned, did not and could not faultlessly reproduce the original words of the writers. It had itself been subject to accidents of transmission through a consider- able period of time, marked by distress, revolution, and exile. And the existing manuscripts do not provide the means of correcting its errors, or restoring the true and original text that lies behind it. The worth of the early versions, therefore, of the Old Testament in Greek, Latin, Syriac, etc., is proportion- ately great, and their importance for critital purposes can hardly be overestimated. They furnish us with our only witness to a text independent of and antecedent to that of the manuscripts. If it were possible to recover with absolute certainty the Hebrew original from which they were translated, there would lie before us a text widely divergent in many respects from the traditional type, not necessarily or probably superior to it on the whole, but with an indisput- able claim to consideration in determining the actual words which the sacred writers penned. In the Old Testament, even more than in the New, the importance and value of the testimony of the Versions has been increasingly recognised.^ Manusceipts. — Hebrew tradition has preserved the names of a number of ancient codices of the sacred text, which were regarded as models of faithfulness and accuracy, to whose standard later copies were required ' Cp. infra, p. 197 ff. -yi ru^ V" ^nj7 -I?™ Tw ff7 ■*7^ ■TT -tot: =T«ir^ rtV ~-7 i nKHKK«- KOI, I. OK TIIIC rHXTATErull. EX. XL. l.S-I.EV. III. L'. MANUSCRIPTS 49 inform. These are known to us for the moat part by report. Eeadings from some of them have preserved, or extant manuscripts possess a more ss well-founded claim to represent their text. The mgs of the Eabbis make frequent reference to these ;e8 and to their authors, whose decisions and ements they quote. he most celebrated of these manuscripts to whose lority appeal is most frequently made were the iwing : — L) Godex Hilleli ('b^T isd). This codex is believed lave been written about 600 a.d., and there were )d to its text Massoretic notes, as well as vowels accents. David Kimchi (1160-1235), the gram- ian, is authority for the statement that in his ) the manuscript was at Toledo, though it is doubtful ther he himself saw it there. A later writer, aham Zakuto (c. 1500), himself an exile from in, says that the codex was carried from Leon in in during a severe persecution at the end of the Ifth century ; and that he saw the parts of the luscript containing the earlier and later prophets in ica, whither they had been brought from Portugal. s not easy to reconcile the different accounts and rences. Possibly, however, the manuscript was ken up at the time of the persecution. The tateuch portion passed into the keeping of the rs of Toledo, and became known to Kimchi. The lainder of the codex found its way to Portugal, and Qce by purchase or otherwise to Africa at some time 4 so INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE before the beginning of the sixteenth century. Nothing more is known of its history, but readings from it are found recorded by Norzi and others, and in various manuscripts. The name ''^St is supposed to be that of the author or transcriber of the MS, possibly merely of an early owner. There were, however, two celebrated Eabbis of that name. The first or great Hillel flourished immediately before the beginning of the Christian era. Hillel II. lived in the fourth century. And to each the codex has been ascribed. Unless the usually accepted date above given is in error, neither form of the tradition can be accepted as true. Others, therefore, suppose the Hillel in question to be an otherwise unknown writer of the name who lived in the sixth century, or that it is a mere nom de plume. Elias Levita records that in some books he found the form ''Ssbn, and he inferred, therefore, that the name was derived from the town of Hilla or Hillah near Babylon. This last explanation is not perhaps very probable.^ (2) A second celebrated codex, of the history of which, however, nothing is known, is the so-called Codex Zanbuqi (''pDJr IBD). Its readings are frequently noted on the margins of the manuscripts. The name 'pliat is usually supposed to mark the place of origin of the codex in the Jewish community at Zanbuk on the Tigris. Others have conjectured that Zanbuqi is the ^ See Elias Levita, Massorefh-ha-Massoreth, translated by C. D. Ginsburg, London, 1867, p. 260; Neubauer, I.e. p. 23 f. ; H. L. Strack, Prolegomena Critica in Vetus Testamentum, Leipzig, 1867, pp. 15 ff., 112 ff. ; C. D. Ginsburg, lutroduetion to the Hebrew Bible, London, 1897, p. 431 f. MANUSCRIPTS 51 writer's name, or even an error for Zadduki, and equivalent to Sadducee.^ (3) Jericho Codex, or Jericho Pentateuch (inn* CDin). Apparently the manuscript contained no more than the five books of Moses, for it is always referred to as iniT Bl3in. It is only known from the quotations in the Massorah.^ (4) Jerusalem Codex {''uhmv "iSD). Beyond frequent citations by David Kimchi {supra, p. 49), who states that it was preserved at Saragossa (Zaragoza) on the Ebro, and in the Massorah, nothing is known of this manuscript. According to Dr. Ginsburg, the quotations show consider- able divergence in orthography from the Codex Hilleli.^ (5) Sinai Codex (i^D nso). That the codex took its name from Mount Sinai, being produced or copied in the district, seems most probable on the analogy of the Jericho and Jerusalem manuscripts. Others, however, have held the view that *j*d is the name of the author or scribe. Elias Levita believed the codex, which he had not personally examined, to be a copy of the Pentateuch alone. Dr. Ginsburg, however, from quotations in the Massorah, has proved that it con- tained at least the earlier and later prophets; and a further reference is given by Dr. Baer to a passage in the book of Job. In all probability, therefore, the codex was complete.* 'Strack, pp. 23, 117 f.; Neubauer, p. 24; Ginsburg, p. 432 f. ; S. Baer, Libri Josuce et Judicum, Leipzig, 1891, p. vi and note. ^Strack, pp. 23, 117 f. ; Ginsburg, p. 433. ' Ginsburg, Introduction, p. 433 ; Elias Levita, p. 260. * Strack, pp. 23 f., 118 ; Ginsburg, p. 433 ff. 52 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE (6) A famous Codex of the Law, from which readings have been preserved, is that which, according to Josephus, was carried to Eome by Titus with the rest of the spoils of the Temple and laid up in the royal palace. Later, at the beginning of the third century, it was transferred, apparently by Imperial gift, to a synagogue in the city, and finally perished at some unknown period in the troubles and overthrow of Eome herself.^ Eeferenees to other standard copies, the readings of which are quoted in the Massorah as authoritative, will be found in Dr. Ginsburg's Introduction and elsewhere. Their variations rarely extend beyond minute details of accentuation and vocalisation, and afford little or no help in the interpretation of the text. The most numerous and important differences were between the two schools of the East and the West, the former with its headquarters at Babylon, where for seven or eight centuries Jewish learning greatly flourished, the latter Palestinian, its chief centre and home after the destruction of Jerusalem being the city of Tiberias on the Lake of Galilee, long famous for its synagogues and its succession of learned Eabbis. The divergences between these schools in the two respects named were more extensive and fundamental, and a few instances are quoted in which their differences extend to questions concerning the consonantal text and the division of words. Both schools had their representa- tive masters and teachers, of whom the most famous ^ Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 5. 5 ff. ; Neubauer, pp. 19-22. MANUSCRIPTS 53 were Eabbi Moses ben Naphtali, or, as the name is sometimes given, Jacob b. Naphtali, and Aaron ben Asher respectively, who were almost contemporaries in the East and the West in the tenth century of our era. Each of these scholars produced a model codex, illustrating and embodying the principles which in his judgement should control the form of the text, and exemplifying the rules according to which a correct text should be written. These codices became and for long remained the standard copies of the rival schools. Unfortunately, neither of them, as far as is known, has been preserved.^ Lists, however, of the variations between Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali were compiled and are found in many manuscripts. The authority of the former is usually followed both in Hebrew manuscripts and in the printed editions. The prin- ciples of the latter are said, doubtfully, to be exemplified in manuscripts with the so-called Baby- lonian pointing.^ (7) Moses ben Naphtali was born in Babylonia about the year 900 a.d. Nothing, however, seems to be known of him, or of the codex which he wrote. Dr. Neubauer quotes the undoubtedly spurious colophon to a St. Petersburg MS, which ascribes the " arrangement " of the codex to him, and gives the date 922 a.d. Nor does any extant manuscript appear to embody throughout his charac- teristic or peculiar readings. The lists, therefore, of the differences between his text and that of Ben 1 See infra, No. 8. ^ j^fra, p. 109 ff. 54 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Asher form the only record of his practice ia textual matters.^ (8) The model Codex of Aaron ben Asher was long believed to be in existence, and to be preserved in the Jewish synagogue at Aleppo in Syria (ti^ff, Ezek. xxvii. 18); and by some authorities it is still maintained that the Aleppo manuscript, though not the autograph of the great Eabbi himself, is a faithful and practically contemporary transcript of his copy. It seems, however, to have been conclusively proved that this cannot be the case. As the result of a careful examination, Dr. Wickes ^ points out that the character of the writing indicates a later date than that of Ben Asher, and that " the punctuation is, in many instances, at variance with Ben Asher's knoivn practice and the rules laid down by the Palestinian Massoretes." This last fact is decisive, and it follows that the epilogue attached to the manuscript, on the strength of which it has been assigned to Ben Asher, ' Lists compiled from the Massorah will be found, for example, in the editions of the separate books of the Old Testament published by Dr. Baer, Leipzig, 1869-95. Select readings are given by Strack, Pro- legomena, pp. 24 ff., 118, or Gineburg, Introduction, p. 245 ff., and in the notes to his edition of the Hebrew Bible, London, 1894. Instances of the more important differences quoted are Jer. xxvii. 19, where Ben Naphtali is said to have read yj^s, in the land, for Tj;?, in the city, the reading of Ben Asher ; so in Cant. viii. 6 the former writes n;ti3n/e', R.V. marg. "a most vehement flame," as two words n;-n^n^B', R.V. text "a very fiame of the Lord," See also Neubauer, I.e. p. 24 ; Levita, p. 113 f. ^ Treatise on the Accentuation of the SProse Books of the Old Testament, Oxford, 1887, Pref. p. 7 if., where a facsimile of a page of the MS will be found. MANUSCRIPTS 55 cannot be regarded as trustworthy.^ Both this manu- script and a similar codex of the earlier and later prophets at Cairo, which bears the name of Moses ben Asher, the father of Aaron, and is dated 895 A.D., probably belong to the eleventh or twelfth century. The original Codex of Ben Asher is said to have passed after his death into the possession of the Qaraite Jews of Jerusalem, and thence at an early date to have been transferred to Cairo, where the celebrated Jewish scholar and writer Moses Maimonides (1135—1204 a.d.) saw and used it. Of the history of the Aleppo manu- script nothing' is really known.^ It follows, therefore, that with the exception of the fragment of papyrus noted and described below, no Hebrew manuscript of really early date is known to exist; and all extant copies reproduce with fidelity and accuracy one and the same type or recension of text. Nor is it at all likely that manuscripts differing ^ The same is apparently true of the celebrated codex in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg, numbered B. 19", which, according to the colophon, was copied from Ben Asher's original manuscript in the year 1009 a.d. The form and character of the writing point to a later date. Such evidence is not, of course, conclusive, if it stood alone ; and the editors of the Imperial Catalogue adopt a view favourable to the genuineness of the signature. Dr. Ginsburg also takes this for granted. Unfortunately the colophons to Hebrew MSS appear often, where not actually inserted for the purpose of giving an air of antiquity, to have been taken over verbally from an earlier exemplar. Dr. Ginsburg, in his discussion, seems to have made too little allowance for this tendency on the part of scribes. See Wickes, I.e. p. 9 and note 12 ; Ginsburg, Introduction, p. 243 ff. ^ See Strack, Prolegomena, p. 44 ff., and EDB iv. p. 728" ; El. Levita, p. 113 f. ; Ginsburg, p. 241 ff. ; Neubauer, p. 24 S. ; H. Griitz, History of the Jews, iii. p. 211 f. S6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE in character will ever come to light. Such manuscripts must have existed at one time in very considerable numbers. The colonies of Jews throughout the civilised world would be in possession of copies of their sacred Scriptures ; and every synagogue would have at least one EoU of the Law, and could hardly have been without manuscript texts of the Books of the Prophets and of the Writings. It is difficult to believe that the total destruction and disappearance of all these could be the result of mere accident. The misfortunes of the Jews as a nation, their revolts and wars, their wide dispersal and the persecutions to which they were subjected, would doubtless account for much in the way of loss -of manuscripts. In view, however, of the tenacity with which the Jews have always clung to and treasured their Scriptures, more weight should probably be attached to intentional removal or putting out of the way of old copies as they became worn out and unfit for service, from fear lest they should fall into profane hands. Such copies were buried, or consigned to the Genizah (''|''?|) of the synagogue, the storehouse or hiding-place, whence has been recovered in recent times so much that is valuable of Hebrew and Arabic literature. The same treatment also was doubtless meted out to codices that were in any way faulty, imperfect, or incorrect. It would seem, further, to be incontestable that at the time of the determination of the Massoretic or authorised text, orders were given that copies not in harmony with it should be destroyed. After all allowance, 3 uj^3 3#-''*r^!i4^-?^r'' 4 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 24 5 ly *'jy»T^-:'i(*^^'**^'^f ^* 11 ^3*^^|i»?**^f^^^^^; 20 ^iyit. ^^■^'3yv*>»^ 22 \ 23 F.C.B. del. PBE-MASSOKETIC IIEBKEW I'AI'VRCS, KX. XX. 2-17, DKUT. VI. J f. MANUSCRIPTS 57 however, has been made, it appears strange that no early Hebrew manuscripts of the books of the Old Testament should have survived. The sole representative of a pre-Massoretic Hebrew text that is known to exist consists of four small fragments of papyrus brought from Egypt a few years ago, and preserved in a private library. The date of the writing is believed to be not later than the second century of our era, and it would thus be the oldest Biblical manuscript of any kind in existence. The text is brief and fragmentary, consisting of no more than twenty-four lines of Hebrew writing ; the lines, moreover, are broken at the beginning and the end. Twenty-one lines, as will be seen from the facsimile, give the Decalogue in a form that differs from the text both of Exodus and of Deuteronomy; lines 22—24 with a few slight traces of a 25th, contain the Shema', Deut. vi. 4 ff. It is hardly probable that the fragments formed part of a complete papyrus text of the Old Testament, or even the Pentateuch ; they are more naturally regarded as derived from a Jewish prayer-book or lectionary. A full discussion of the text of the fragment from a palasographical point of view, and of its relations to the accepted Massoretic text and the readings of the Versions, will be found in a paper by Mr. S. A. Cook in FSB A xxv. p. 34 ff. In the judgement of the writer of the article the text of the Decalogue holds a midway position between the forms given in Exodus and Deuteronomy, but is nearer to the latter ; and with regard to the script " the writing 58 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE is an early form of the Hebrew in the transitional stage from the ancestral Aramaic to the settled ' square character.' . . . The closest Hebrew analogies are the Palestinian ossuaries and the Bene Hezir inscription. In view of the presence of the final letters, we can scarcely date the papyrus before the end of the first century, and on other grounds it can hardly be brought down later than the third. . . . The palaeography safely allows us to ascribe it to the second century of our era, and . . . the first quarter of that century would be the most probable date in view of the characteristic features of the text." The unique character of the fragment gives to it an especial interest. The text is as follows : — D pND yn . . . ■ ■itj'K T'ni'N nih pN3 -IB'KI ^J;DD DiD6^3 It^K Dni) ninnBTi a^h y\t6 nnno ifi nin'' npr sib ''3 xib*^ yn'p b nzvn Dv ns nist ti^^b no !Di''3i insK^o i33 rT'cyi iDj?n d liaxIsD b n3 n&vn ii)h ynha 3 ^31 I-IDHI Tliti' IDDNI 1135 '' nm CD'' ntj'B' "3 y\v^2 a ^3 riNi ^Dinnn pxn nxi n ns nw 113 p ^y •'ir'stj'n lij^i Ds nsi TI3X ns 133 VB'"ip''i ''V''3{}'n ' S. A. Cook reads dm nx, but the facsimile looks more like Dinnn. MANUSCRIPTS 59 nonsn hv T'D'' |13''-in'' ij;»M it) Sd^* nionn ki^ nic ny n^na n3(j))n ni^ 2: 'IB' nv"i n('')ii riK iiDnn ki ISJiii "it^K i'31 nnni ini lis HE'D ms nCS D'tDSB'Dm D'' DC D''nvD pND onssa nmea 8ii Kin nna nin' irn^K nin^ i? Between the Egyptian papyrus, thus fortunately preserved, and the earliest existing Hebrew manu- script the date of which may be regarded as certain, there is a long interval. That interval, moreover, was of decisive importance for the determination of the character and form of the text of the Old Testament. At some period during the early centuries of our era an authoritative recension of the Hebrew text was carried out, under circumstances the details of which are obscure or unknown ; and all extant manuscripts conform to this revised or established type. Variations of reading, therefore, as they present themselves in the text of the Greek Testament or of classical Greek and Latin authors, do not exist for the Hebrew. But, as has often been pointed out,^ previous to this settlement ' ' ' Since the seventh and eighth centuries, and probably for parts of the Old Testament, especially the Law, from a considerably earlier date, the Jews displayed a scrupulous fidelity in the preseryation and correct transmission of their sacred books ; but nothing is more certain than that the period during which this care was exercised was preceded by one of no small laxity, in the course of which coiTuptions of different kinds found their way into the text of the Old Testament." S. K. Driver, Notes on Samuel, p. xxxvii. 6o INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of the text the differences must have been considerable, and perhaps exceeded, as the witness of the ancient versions suggests, anything experienced in the New Testament. The extant Hebrew manuscripts belong to one or other of two classes, either rolls for synagogue use, which are invariably written without points, the material employed being leather or parchment, or codices in book form, on parchment or paper, carefully pointed throughout, and usually furnished with an apparatus of textual notes, the so-called Massorah.^ Most of the manuscripts of the latter class have a note or colophon at the close, which gives the date and name of the copyist. Unfortunately these dates appear to have been in many cases merely copied together with the text itself from earlier codices, and their unsupported testimony to the age of the manu- scripts in which they are found cannot be accepted. The dates are usually reckoned either by the common Seleucid era, or from the first Temple at Jerusalem.^ The most ancient known manuscript, if the recorded date were trustworthy, would be the Cairo Codex of the Prophets, referred to above.^ The colophon gives a date 827 years after the destruction of the second Temple, equivalent to 895 a.d. Internal evidence seems decisive against its genuineness, and the MS belongs more probably to the eleventh or twelfth century. The correctness of the earlier date is ' Infra, p. 85 ff. ^ See Neubauer, I.e. p. 34. ' Supra, p. 55. MANUSCRIPTS 6i assumed by ^ Dr. Ginsburg and Dr. Strack.i ^nd is maintained also by Dr. M. Gaster on the ground of the arrangement of the columns on the page.^ The last-named author attributes also to the same century a Codex of the Prophets from Karasubazar, and a folio codex in his own possession of parts of the Pentateuch, together with fragments of MSS of the Hagiographa. Concerning these and perhaps other Biblical manuscripts, more or less complete, it is hardly possible to do other than suspend judgement until more is known of the history and changes of ancient Hebrew writing. The same verdict of not proven must be passed with regard to the well-known Codex No. 1 2 in the University Library, Cambridge, the date of which is given in the colophon as 856 a.d. The style of the writing and the rules observed in the punctuation seem to render so early a period for the manuscript impossible. Dr. Ginsburg concurs with other authorities in ascribing it to the thirteenth century.^ The oldest Hebrew manuscript, therefore, with a date attached, which is known to exist, of which the date may be accepted with confidence, is the Codex of the later Prophets, known as the Codex, Babylonicus, now in the Koyal Library at St. Petersburg. The volume contains the text complete from Isaiah to the end of the twelve Minor Prophets, and has been published ' Introdvxtion, p. 241 f. ; Prolegomena, p. 46 f. ' See M. Gaster, Hebrew Illuminated Bibles of the 9th and 10th Centuries, London, 1901, p. 13 ff. ; PSBA xxii. p. 230. ^ See especially Dr. Neubauer's examination of the testimony of the MS in Studia Biblica, iii. p. 27 fl. 62 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE in facsimile by Dr. H. L. Strack at St. Petersburg in 1876 ; a separate edition of the books of Hosea and Joel in 1875 preceded the final publication. The text is furnished with the supralinear or Babylonian system of vowel-points and accents/ and is the oldest dated example of this method of punctuation. The text itself, however, does not follow the Babylonian rule, nor does it range itself distinctively with either the Eastern or Western School, but contains readings characteristic of each. Probably the manuscript is of Palestinian origin, and the mixed character of the text is to be explained by the fact that the two schools were not yet definitely separated at the time at which it was transcribed. Dr. Gaster is of opinion that the codex was written among the Jews of Yemen, in south-west Arabia, whence in his view are derived most of the manuscripts with a supralinear vocalisation ; the Jewish schools of that district being closely con- nected with Tiberias and not with Babylon, as hitherto believed.^ The earliest dated Hebrew manuscript in the Oriental Department of the British Museum is num- bered Or. 5550, and bears the date and place, Cairo, 980 A.D. An imperfect folio of the Pentateuch, with- out date. Or. 4445, in the same Museum, is ascribed 1 See infra, p. 109 ff. ' See Ginsburg, p. 475 f. ; Strack, p. 52 f. and references ; Gaster, Illummated Bibles, p, 18 f.; Wickes, p. 142 f. Other manuscripts will be found enumerated and described in Ginsburg's Introduction, ch. xii., in Strack, Prolegomena, sec. 7, p. 42 ff., and in the prefaces to the separate books of the Old Testament published by Baer and Delitzsch, at Leipzig, etc. 1T)i .%. ;.»-f .1, I .1 r iuui^.iu^i^i^^^;;^^^-v^'i:p ST. PETEKSBURG MAXU^CRIPT, WITH SUI'KRLIXEAK VOCAI.ISATIUX AND ^lASSOKAir. IIOS. I. '2-U. 5. MANUSCRIPTS 63 to the ninth century ; and similar fragments of the books of the Law, Or. 2540-42, and of Judges and Isaiah, Or. 2547, to the tenth.i The value and authority of the Samaritan text of the Pentateuch has been variously estimated. By De Eossi it was regarded as an independent witness to the original, and therefore of equal weight with the Hebrew ; others have estimated it even higher. These views are now generally abandoned, and it is conceded that for critical purposes no great value can be attached to the Samaritan form of the text. Until recently no copy of a Eoll of the Samaritan Pentateuch was known to exist in Europe or elsewhere than in the synagogue at Nablus. The text of the version printed in the Polyglots was derived entirely from codices, or manuscripts in book form. Since the year 1870, however, Samaritan rolls in a more or less imperfect condition have reached Europe, and are to be found in the Library of the British Museum and the Eoyal Library at St. Petersburg. The most important and valuable copy in the former Library was acquired a few years ago by the trustees from the high priest of the Samaritan community at Shechem during his stay in London. It bears the date 740 a.h., equivalent to 1339-40 A.D.2 In many of the early Hebrew manuscripts abbrevia- ' 6. Margoliouth, Hebrew and Samaritan MSS in the British Museum, London, 1893 ; Ginsburg, pp. 423, 469 ff. ; PSBA, vol. xxii. p. 238. ^ Gr. Margolimitli in JQR xt. p. 632 if. ; Hebrew and Samaritan MSS in the British Museum, p. 89 if. ; M. Gaster, I.e. y. 23 £F. 64 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLI tions were employed for the sake of economising space These, however, were not, as a rule, permitted in texti written after and according to the Massoretic recension A word abbreviated in the text for want of space wai completed on the margin, or repeated at the beginning of the next line. There can be little doubt, therefore that mistakes made in the course of writing out in ful manuscript abbreviations of words represented by ai initial letter or letters, as, for instance, "> for nin\ misreac as the pronominal suffix of the first person, or vie versa, 'ty' amplified into bai^ or '?»vo^j etc., an responsible for some, perhaps many erroneous reading in our present Hebrew text. In a Geniza at Cair( there was even found some years ago a manuscrip written entirely in abbreviations, each word beinj represented by the letter of the accented syllable whether initial or otherwise. Such a text could, o course, only have been prepared and used as an ai( to the memory in oral recitation.^ There are also two schools or styles of writing i: Hebrew manuscripts, of the history and developmen of which little is certainly ascertained. They ar known respectively as the Ashkenazic and Sephardic or German and Spanish schools.^ The former scrip 1 PSBA xxi. p. 261 f. ; for a full account of the abbreviations i Hebrew manuscripts, see Ginsburg, Introduction, ch. v. ^ ij??'>< in Gen. x. 3 is a grandson, or at least a descendant of na Japhetb. Elsewhere the name is found together with 'ip, Minn perhaps Minsans, as that of one of the kingdoms of trp,% Armenii Ti?p, Obad. 20 only in the Old Testament, is a district where the soi of Jerusalem are held in captivity, according to Dr. G. A. Smith c Obad. I.e., in south-west Media, but, as others believe, in Bithynia ( SCHOOLS OF WRITING 65 employs a more cursive or romided form of the letters {litteras rotundas), the latter a square, more angular shape (quadratas). The text of our printed editions usually follows the German or Ashkenazi readings. • The date at which the two schools began to be distinguished cannot be determined with any certainty from the available materials. Dr. Lowe places it as early as the beginning of the ninth century of our era, on the ground that sufficient time must be allowed for the development of the characteristic style of each, and that distinct local modifications are found in France and Italy before 1250 A.D.1 Whether, again, these distinctions of the schools correspond to earlier differences between East and West, between Babylonia and Palestine, differences which are said to become manifest as early as the third century of our era, or whether there exists any relation at all between them, must remain for the present at least an open question. In the judgement of Dr. A. Neubauer, Ashkenazic forms are derived probably from MSS written in Greek- speaking countries, the Sephardic or square characters from Syrian exemplars.^ An intermediate position between the two schools is held by manuscripts originating in Italy ; and minor subdivisions have been Galatia. The Jews themselves identified Sephardic with Spanish ; see Brown and Driver, ffeb. Lexicon, s.v., and the references there given. ' W. H. Lowe, Fragment of Talmud Babli Pesachim, Cambridge and London, 1879, p. xv, note 2 ; cp. also p. xiv and notes. ^ Studia Biblica et EccUsiastica, iii. p. 33, note 2 5 66 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBL formed or suggested, as Franco-Italian, Franco-Germa etc.i Editions. — The first printed editions of the O: Testament in the original were due to the initiatii and interest of the Jews themselves, and were usual' accompanied by a Hebrew commentary. The earlje of these was a copy of the Psalms issued in 1477 A. with the commentary of David Kimchi, of Narbonn in the form of a small folio of 153 leaves. Tt comments, printed in smaller Eabbinic type, are inte: spersed within the text itself, each verse or doub' verse being followed by the appropriate portion of tt commentary. The place of printing is not give: According to Dr. Ginsburg, however, it was in a probability from a Bologna press, since the type use for Kimchi's commentary "is the same"^ as the exhibited by the text of Eashi in the editio prince^ of the Pentateuch, which was printed there within few years of the Psalter. This first edition of the Pentateuch appeared a Bologna in 1482. It was printed with vowel-poinl and accents by the celebrated printer Abraham 1 Chayyim, together with the Targum of Onkelos and th commentary of Eashi. The edition is a folio of 21 leaves, with two columns to the page, and an averag of twenty lines of Hebrew text in each. The inne column is broader than the outer, and contains th 1 Ginsburg, p. 477 al., and the list of MSS, p. 1029 ; Neubauer, I.e. Strack, Prolegomena, p. 35 ff. 2 Elsewhere Dr. Ginsburg's verdict is less confident, the tyj " greatly resembles" (p. 797). EDITIONS 67 sacred text itself ; in the outer is printed the Targum of Onkelos in the smaller Eabbinic type ; Eashi's commen- tary occupies the upper and lower margins of the page. The text is divided into sections, and a brief Massoretic clausula is given at the end of each of the five books. The second part of the Hebrew Bible, the Prophets earlier and later, was first printed at Soncino in North Italy, between Cremona and Milan, in two volumes, 1485—86 A.D. The second volume, containing Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve Minor Prophets, is undated, but was apparently completed in the latter year. The folio volumes are of 168 and 290 pages respectively, and are printed in double columns without vowels or accents, the second column containing the commentary of Kimchi, a part of which is printed also on the lower margin of the page. The second volume is without the ornamental initial letters found in the first at the beginning of each book. The editio princeps of the Hagiographa appeared at Naples in three parts, in the years 1486—87, the first part containing the Psalter with Kimchi's commentary ; the second. Proverbs, with the commentary of Immanuel b. Solomon ; the third, the remainder of the books, all with Eashi's commentary, except Job and Lamentations, which have the commentaries of Levi b. Gershom and Joseph Karo respectively. The text is vocalised, but not accentuated; and the parts consist of 118, 103, and 150 pages respectively. The edition is said to be less carefully printed than the others, and to be characterised by several mistakes and omissions. 68 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBL The complete Bible in one volume was not printe until the year 1488. This editio prirweps was issue at Soncino from the same press as the editio princej of the Prophets, and is printed in double columns ( thirty lines each, containing the Hebrew text alor with vowels and accents, but without commentary c Massoretic note at the end of the books. The volum is a small foHo of 381 leaves. The five Megilloth ai printed immediately after the Pentateuch, as is th case in other early editions of the Hebrew Bible, i the usual order, namely — Canticles, Euth, Lamentation Ecclesiastes, Esther. A second edition of the entire Old Testament in small folio of 433 pages was issued, probably at Naple, about the year 1491. No date or place of printing : given, but it is inferred from the character of the typ that the work was done at the Soncino press. Th books of the Pentateuch only are provided with th Massoretic clausulce, and this is wanting in the boo of Numbers. The third complete Bible appeared £ Brescia in two volumes in 1494. Both volumes wei small octavos, the first containing the Pentateuch onl; being a reprint of an edition of the Pentateuch wit the Megilloth and Haphtaroth issued by the same pres two years earlier. The volumes consist of 217 an 385 leaves respectively, the Psalter alone being printe in double columns. This is the edition that Lutht used in translating the Old Testament into German and his copy is still preserved in the Koyal Library s Berlin. EDITIONS 69 The first manual edition of the Hebrew Bible was printed at Venice in the year 1517 A.D. at the press of Daniel Bomberg. . This quarto volume contains 530 leaves, and seems to have been issued with the direct design of providing a convenient and cheap edition for those to whom the price of the costly folios was prohibitive. The text is based ultimately upon the edifio princeps, the Soncino edition of 1488 ; and is provided with vowel-points and accents, the margins of the pages being occupied with textual notes and various readings. The Eabbinic commentaries also, which had formed so large a part of the folio editions, were necessarily omitted. A reprint of the Bomberg Bible, also in quarto, appeared in 1520 a.d., but under different editorship. The editor of the former edition, Felix Pratensis, by birth a Jew, had become a convert to Christianity, and won the patronage of the Pope. This was little likely to make his work as editor acceptable to the Jews themselves, and the reprint bears the names of "the brothers, the sons of Baruch Adelkind," who add, in order to commend themselves to their Jewish kinsmen, a prayer that they may be enabled to complete the printing of the Talmud, upon which they are engaged, and a part of which is already finished. In size and form the volume is like its predecessor, but the arrangement of the books follows the precedent of the earlier folios in placing the five MegiUoth immediately after the Pentateuch. A further interest attaches to this edition in that it was the first Hebrew Bible to 70 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE adopt the Greek or Alexandrian division of the foui books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah each into two parts, a practice which became genera in all subsequent editions of the Hebrew text, as wel as in the later versions. The Bomberg Bibles, therefore, marked a distinc step forward in the provision of a more convenient am less expensive text of the Hebrew Scriptures. Thi omission also of the traditional Eabbinical commentarie affected a large saving of space, and greatly simplifie( the printing of the various copies. These commentarie were of much value, as embodying the judgements c earlier teachers of the Law with regard to the correc reading, punctuation, and accentuation of the sacrei text. As presented in the folio editions, they consisted of reprints, more or less complete, of the works of earl; masters, with added comments, rubrics, or opinion gathered from various sources. The most importar and celebrated of these collections of critical an exegetical notes, bearing the names of famous Eabb: as their authors, were three in number. They hav been issued also in separate printed form. (1) The first is nnin^ J'';d nniDD -lao, scepes Legis, tl: author of which was Eabbi Meir ha-Levi, a scholar ( strong conservative views, who was born about the yes 1180 A.D., spent his life at Toledo in Spain, and die in 1244. To guard the Law with critical rules ar directions had engaged a large part of the time ar care of the Eabbis from a very early date. And Me did little more than codify the judgements and pr EDITIONS 71 scriptions of many of his predecessors. In the Pii-qe Aboth to " make a hedge to the Law " is one of the three sayings or commands of the men of the Great Synagogue ; ^ and the duty was well fulfilled by a succession of learned Eabbis. The mmb J'''D is a critical commentary on the text of the Pentateuch, the words of which it discusses in order. This work of E. Meir was printed first at Florence in 1750 in a small folio volume, and again in 1761 at BerUn. By the Jews themselves it was held in very high esteem.^ (2) n-iin -litc, " the Light of the Law," is a critical commentary and collection of various readings dealing with the five books of the Law, frequently quoted in later Jewish writings. Its author was Eabbi Menahem ben Jehudah, a native of Palestine, and an older con- temporary of Norzi (see below), with whom he is said to have been associated in literary work. The mm iix was first printed in a collected edition of six of the author's works at Venice in quarto iu 1618, under the title nil^ TiB'. Later editions were published at Amsterdam (1659), Berlin (1745), and elsewhere.* (3) The most important and celebrated work of this character, due to the learning and industry of early Jewish scholars, was the ic nnJD, Minchath Shai, of Yedidiah Salomo Minnorzi, isniJD n'ohv nnn^ who ' P. A. i. 1, op. Aboth B. Nathan i. " Adam was the first to make a hedge about his words." ^ Strack, Prolegomena, p. 2 f. ; Gratz, History of the Jews, iii. p. 541 f. ; de Rossi, Varix Lcctimies Vet. Test. i. p. xxxixf. ^ Strack, I.e. p. 3, and the references there given ; de Kossi, p. xl f. 72 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE is usually known as Norzi. His name is derived from Nursia, now Norcia, in Central Italy, about seventy miles north-east of Eome, whence his family came. He himself was born at Mantua about the year 1560, and devoted his life to critical and Massoretic studies. His commentary, unlike those of his predecessors, extended over the whole of the Old Testament, and he apparently planned its publication during his own lifetime. The intention, if formed, was never carried out, and his annotations and criticisms were first published in an edition of the Hebrew Bible, issued in two volumes quarto at Mantua in 1742 (or 1743, as F. Delitzsch in Baer's Ezehiel, Leipzig, 1884, p. vii) by Kaphael Chayyim Basila, who is said to have given to them the title 'CJ' nnJD, " gift of Yedidiah Salomo." A separate edition was printed at Vienna in 1813.^ Later editions of the Hebrew Bible made use of the critical investigations of these earlier scholars, and the results of their labours were embodied in the texts published with notes and critical apparatus. The most important of these were the so-called Eabbinic or " Great " Bibles, nibna niKnpp, in which the Hebrew text was accompanied by the Targums or Aramaic paraphrases, and furnished with elaborate comments by eminent Jewish Eabbis. They are as follows : — (1) The first Eabbinic Bible, the editio princeps. was printed at Venice, at the press of Daniel Bomberg; ^ Strack, p. 4 ; de Kossi, p. xli ff. ; Kitto, Oydo^ioodia of Biblicm Literature, Ediuburgli, 1870, art. "Norzi." :""!! 13 t<1t5?pK 3 nn* 'm .fell fh raijB i"S 0-3 130- ^■'^ 'f'' "" l-i-" ■"*; Uo^OT JPh ohsj™ JThlorh'i'rn'ji-jVj-. k5.-ptai733i> raro T37 Sj -=.-1 -3 " ir*-]; sr)' :5i=' ti= jm' * >r» rao) p,.jjP -f,, Ti Ih^o-j PT hi iVfi) r.'ni pel Dpi hpi McD^t m-7i" riW ■rf'pi r'3="' "3^ I 1. ^._^ Q,, fjj, -nn.- , rMOT Di- ret -ny jnycTi pj Kii: m of! ran? -5 D:i;.-3e vifnfi loi ipij!iS3D;? f'iM DJiJWlS if) ','; 3 3T0 ftorohs " 71 J as m rr.WPTpDD?-JtSyirtP23 "* ra73nnMTnBs:ri!jjj"»!jnBn j>» Tl>7')'rj)J?f TDTC 1X1 " B'D33tor3(jn or3in)i'!^T>'!>W pi'^rh^-r^f'-i'jij '-imDii^t iro> ^cfi 'PS fip Sr^s [iD!>?of ' 'rarPD i^ otd orlih iJ? mh-iwh^ it ij'Pfp ^l^n po- ";^',! . jxv ivh^ tjCPi o-DiPi -"(N'^ ' m''>' p"*" '!"">■ r-"^ ' r "'" ^ ^''f^ '"^''^ *'■•'' '"""*' 'u'l» fVi! 3 r^jnlll CDS "OVf f JT^Si " "J" OTtl V-XTi W b lij23 '" ",'".;l Crp ?r NPt 1VJ3 fTO'TT' Js'^''^.'^ ■'OT^ r'3!i'" TPsr^li ".h-> L'"l'-''i rroS ^0;T' hii Od;i 7^33 ^^ ,7;, fr- ^n VHT,-!) r37;3 j'j'Ef) ■;'jiu-'."' jp;»i 1TJ "iJ!' "p;" h'^7' j,'''"'^ij,'j' rstS ^no rii'' ?•? ihiu' '' oirrp rh i.Tin i» 0'h"3:? ilh up'fjv" ^^''^ ' 'J^"" ■'^' '^^ rjf V'J' b-p 7^303 Mhlm TO*? Va ,"','j,j! i;vh|''")F&*ii3P0i''>3 0";?' "^-'1' n:pi ' 733:? Don Dn3r> Njp3=n Kai''/n; TST'in "K^ -jrhtt :'"o'i;5 MiT3r nx^^O:? 13K Tfi lUK'n.' "ip; -ron.-i k';' ■ r^npr-r ' nnini nroNi n-13^ liiin ! T^3nS n S31 mani iXi Ss hoc rr "^ij r-i'r'ti i3>-n ib-p; s-fcrv "n« pin-rixi d'o^-'htin hit □T-nti nin* inn p'S; 'uorn -lonn nS d : ip^.' t; ^>n3 1 rip n^>i ndr|n-«S rip jrq ■Tui-pia-ni 7riR.Tp3i;iwcrip li-h '5r3ip3iFPf> ■)3;"ifr-"rfi-5ir7j h3h^ htsTip-':")^ n:'' :7b !n-73D0 !io'33 'v-jDrora rnop mirs 3'WP :jP3r:hr'D V-J'3! ■ :^'rp-> -pj fc=l ,.3 =-3 ) n--DTI CiS -DM ti^ b!)D ["3 107fl p-nS ■\3-n!^ ch ' ji" p3^h' jiih xS D » o,'5j p3>7fi' 733r "> •no p;[r jfii) =; rrMprcfinpth) rfi nfiji PO'fi ;:np ' ipora ^3! pom -p^ ircLSi -pjin it/ tcs3 rayap hycM • r.-m; v^ n-OT mx pfflS no -,-31^1 ora nn "0-;iir^'3pv~3BMi rrpin ^hc!^•2l'f^ '3;i7»'3-ios:rip«nriM 'Diflrm ;niammE'n3vinT!3rb 'nDmniCT ju^i' '""-^ -'■''■'-' :ij''>raS3PNTn-rr;ipmai3':ut'Tp atari 'oai^^TLi I'TToIiwrcj-eJoi'Tp't nn: ^ '^^f W •'37P :t^Tci'TaT?S3«NStnm'-^Bca'3]rfpT3SNpirv3TDQj(pun'!n'>oo'n f>l!i3'r>'n|iW3;U3 pwii jmn j;ii3 rj ph:?[>')'bj:fc?rhrV'3i'io ph 0?'isC5TiD')j7t)bpfiiM7nhStip»^]W77>!i7TT7r»'hrX'W3)'J3 irraSi^-itCh ffVD-i? lUiT nk; o-inDi 3-" ;irhi ylia \T>r-3a S^j :|*7r'3np'T>ria3"r[>'53737;i-)f>!ji)hr7p3);n> T37D )pn-:r h^i iT^PDrp 3"" Wh ^ro^^ f!i?Ci ynf" f TJl ^33' h!iD T73D3 ij? ^T -hsro PT S;; •.■r>;i?D -p?? Sy cinfi rort dtb ?Dhs -jiw -jwri -pw n)i' pjili ^DTP hi top b; ■'T3 T^rfi ih!> chi -T'hi •tlwlM ^f-BTJ n-h7l ffIT' rVsh^ ?33t pl->7? 3WDT> ITT -hij^ Pl iri pmuj ;,;3J ij^ p"?03 3roj p b O-ilMri C:'31 r3D3 toh!»> Tioy v:i 7K^r> P)fni3 o!)DP'3 HTO'i opipfTP )l'j' h) 113 "Joha r3&;« liOTiS Sfno* 3'"^ c^ J^nro dSdd' S? rrrrj cn'xo -s S:; nfi d-i'SP inh rat nisio frwijnhnpwlnswns&pp' p-sfi:!' bispsoh'r'u') 'fp!)h'''o''3oa^icDP?3iO'3!Dtr'pcr737rbi'n3'3 ^"3^1 733 ■jiHrhfj:) .'nr iip!»ofo5h3iP3) wnj>Aj'h!)r^D'i7W>'7i>tai'3r'3WPpbrljii7wt 'TWTihwtrnh j+wjmjOTDWSWTOTJO'jr' renhw t^jnip '3 pyp? lis p 3'>rt hii rjp hit;^ !3"S' CVJIH5P 's i'^-'T^ Sii ppti 3".ii t'!i['7' ih '.Ijfw ti'P'o "pnri ficr fil^jbTiu W»3 rwip VyiTjii^!! if) iTTurA ipci pis T>Ti ■piDi'3 ifi TTJ -pyjrt^ -^roa Diio!j'3'n3:'fe;i'5r'f)n!»J5P'mDjirOTfi3 p to 7Pn3pojrwDj!i bp <5fi'S1ifr3pfi'3 ioddO-ji -(^jnh!) iranifsTirfipSjfiSehDW^jpcf) ;tpo(" iWpdtoipoTO-jiiciljixj'hjTP'ffn.-^pTtJMnrarrriifi lofi yro tjiiu^ tnri >5dd -rofij idu'd phi D-h tdp nh efn-iafi 7J)/ia-rfirvj -^miicow ■:; iirin J^iJf)pht|h:i'7D/>Tf)'^!>ii7)33j fhrchoa M)i> 7i;nj pjjir -3 s^ipS )?S7 ?Db T'f' T^i" 7ob ti33i iwT^oo i-roh ilfo wi^ pira nTJu '3 'Scai if7 i!^ it>hi rah riJi' pw mh nfvi i-3h ph ')Sp' S*53b*3^-tih i-Hi:! piwijTp osiai *)fn pfij p^rM phr rh itom ir3Pi:)i w msniniriw 'inip^ iiiEr7!j3(?fili3"nfHwrip7Pohr'fi i\hTo trpTSviw o'B"7nf)',-3 trnfrnoa tnjf) oa rJ'hr 33im n>j'»B!iM loh' nMhni n^mjTi 33o» ^Sfp pWj hw "^fii ';u7 ri^rr' Sy rijrp '3 (iSj? T-JPTO ppo;7fri!:Jp:ih(ic|iSpiQ>pT;pbp5yhoP'73:;i WW?i5n!'n')rtPi»?Trpb3niJ»"&pjr"3 0'hrDhrbmr')rp^i )*> rT'" ef) 513 pt^" Jin hffio nn P3T)n tiWji ote!) ibti p" ft pfiD mr 3:>dp psw » "bf!" opj^j cof wiiji' fsin ''ti^ irt ri |n oh ^ nohS r-'hc") pwWipp3;jii!'[H' '3njnrt :p3r»'inbWDfiopSro tiwn'iP'J^^'^^f'/CiMP"? p->otS3 Sp-spW^bi''' phjpi ^^•pJ?D^P7^P33l>■ lf1 W3 ih p30f:J >?i»70 ]h r3t,3 ^,1,^ |,j j.;n3 j.j jrt'p3 nj^JM [iti!i iJ^ if) m"! 72) hintf p3 Vn^tprr pe: aiu W3 r-ii p h)?p 3ij d^i 7^33 riTj -roh hSi 7,70 tt wfti pVp pfir cmo -3^3 •posn P!37 a'.-.D ■ nii/i h!> : o-hu:^ irop 7oh3 irh si suj-d •» p!)i'3 h-P oj p^ji^i rfirjtf iroa j)'33 nwrVufc.-M )7,"cri t.\\ n-nM hS ^;c3 ?Sr? rht mort 7j>u 7u prh oh wiTf'!)jir3iS'h3-if0 7E&-j737?)t>i?-3p:>r*Pi."7"3V7,'*o I0f)3 )Wj?rSD 3T3D hip' n'7> (3 fn^j Tpt 7; s^i -p laK fill 7CTji h') 7DfoiS>Diri oSpJE-ai:©?' dmh in ttid" ir)3 r=3 fib> 1^13 xv Tpo *3 ^s ■)!) (7>f) PPin ri'i' ^fnJ'^ 7nn;h)?s pn to dSj pr- 737 isifi- Mc tnfi p'P' yh wsnti vbi Sr -ppr- 0-37 o'cifj - 7innp Wj : rrh^jrwii ot '*iijwPT'p7r+3'ffD'7r3Pti)3inrw!jfiipr-ttnF*3 ITT -SPOT jPD'DisisPmh ™n'h'>P3' h'?BTin M pb? !r^6aV3^33A'7iofi fn-orm f«jw ipA-j?^ '3^5. h-ro iriih P'hoBKpS^Jhrw p7^ i-h 7DP3n)'?!>p;D fiij D-pop mj *a»)!i r^'owhrr^ft •ps 1 + ' f'' , iiAiiiirxn; ujiile (isasle). ex. xx. 8-18. RABBINIC BIBLES 73 in the years 1516-17. It was edited in four volumes folio by Felix Pratensis, a Jewish convert to Chris- tianity, the volumes containing the Pentateuch, the Earlier and Later Prophets, and the Hagiographa re- spectively. The Targums and the commentaries of Eashi and other Jewish scholars were added, with the Massoretic clausulce at the end of the books. Samuel and Kings were divided each into two parts, with a note that the practice of thus dividing the text is due to " non-Jews." ^ (2) The second Kabbinic Bible was published at Venice from the same press in 1524—25, under the editorship of Jacob ben Chayyim, and its text, in great part owing to the zeal and renown for scholar- ship of its editor, became the accepted standard for future editions. The four folio volumes contained the Pentateuch, the Earlier and Later Prophets, and the Hagiographa, as in the edition of Felix Pratensis ; and in addition to the usual commentaries the Massorah Magna was here printed in full for the first time.^ Three later editions appeared at Venice, reprints of the text of Chayyim in the years 1546-48, 1568, 1617-19, the last two under different editorship. (6) The sixth Eabbinic Bible was edited by Joh. Buxtorf, and printed at Basle, at the press of L. Konig, in 1618—19. It was therefore completed in the same year as the latest of the Venice editions. The text, ^ Ginsburg, Introduotion, p. 925 ff. ^ Ginsburg, ih., p. 956 ff., and Jacob b. Chayyim's Introduction to Oie Hclrew Bible, edited and translated by C. D. Ginsburg, London, 1865. 74 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE however, was subjected to a careful revision, and many errors of the press removed. J. Buxtorf the elder was professor of Hebrew at the University of Basle, and with his son did much to promote a knowledge of Hebrew among his contemporaries. (7) The Bihlia Magna Babhinica, the latest and in some respects the most important and convenient edition of the Eabbinic Bibles, was edited and printed at Amsterdam by Moses of Frankfort, himself a celebrated scholar. This work also, like its pre- decessors, is in four folio volumes, and bears the date 1724—27. It is furnished with the most complete apparatus of Massoretic notes, commentaries, and Targums. The name by which it is also known, nt^D nbnp, " the Assembly of Moses," is taken from the initial words of the Hebrew title of the book. Copies of this Great Eabbinic Bible are more gener- ally accessible than the earlier editions, and for practical purposes it furnishes the most convenient text. Moses of Frankfort was the author of com- mentaries also on the Old Testament books. The Eabbinic Bible, however, was his great work, to which he gave his life, and by which he is remem- bered. In more definitely critical editions of the Hebrew Scriptures the way was led by Dr. Benjamin Kenni- cott, 1718—83, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and Professor of Hebrew, who devoted a long and laborious life to the study of the text and subject-matter of the Old Testament. For his great edition of the Hebrew EDITIONS 75 text many manuscripts were collated, and also the chief printed editions. It was published by subscrip- tion at Oxford in two volumes foUo, the latter of which appeared after an interval of four years, with the title Vetus Testamentum Hehraicum cum Fariis Zectionibus, Oxonii, 1776, 1780. The various readings were recorded at the foot of the page ; and were in themselves of little account, owing to the care and fidelity with which the Massoretic recension had been preserved in all the mariuscripts consulted. The in- experience also of the collators whom Dr. Kennicott employed was responsible for a considerable number of errors. The chief and permanent value of the edition consisted in the rich store of materials gathered together from many sources. (2) Within a few years of the publication of Dr. Kennicott's Bible, an edition appeared on the Continent, projected and carried out on similar principles. This was the work of John Bernhard de Rossi, Professor of Oriental Languages in the Eoyal Academy at Parma, where it was published in four volumes quarto in the years 1784—88, with the title Varice Lectiones Veteris Testamenti ex immensa MSS editorumq. Godicum GoTigerie Iiaustce, et ad Samar. Textum, ad Vetusiiss. Versiones, ad accuratiores Sacrce Criticce Pontes ac Leges examinatm, Opere ac Studio Johannis Bern, de Bossi, S.T.D. The work is dedicated to Victor Amedeus, king of Sardinia. The first volimie contains Prolegomena, a description of the manuscripts and editions used, followed by critical notes and various 76 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE readings on the first three books of the Pentateuch ; the second, third, and fourth volumes contain respect- ively Numbers to Kings, Isaiah to Esther, the five Megilloth being thus placed in their usual order immediately after the twelve Minor Prophets, and Psalms to Chronicles with a PreUminary Dissertation, and an Appendix of additional notes and readings. To the second volume there is prefixed also a separate Preface. Some years later, in 1798, a Supplement was issued. Scholia Critica in V.T. Libros sen Supple- menta ad varias Sacri Textus Lectiones, which, as its title denotes, gives a number of additional readings drawn from collations of new manuscripts. There has been considerable discussion on the question of the respective merits of the works of Kennicott and de Rossi. The judgement of Dr. Strack is in favour of the latter, who he states used older and more carefully collated manuscripts, and was the superior of the Oxford professor in learning and knowledge of the Scriptures.^ It would be natural that the later editor should profit by the experience and example of the earlier. De Eossi did not print the Hebrew text. His work is, therefore, essentially a storehouse of critical materials, and as such is of great and permanent value. Two editions of the Pentateuch, undertaken and pubhshed by Jewish scholars at the close of the eighteenth century, deserve especial mention. (3) The earlier was a critical commentary on the first two ' Frolcgomena, p. 6. EDITIONS 77 books of the Law by Solomon Dubno, a Eussian Jew, who derived his name from his birthplace, Dubno, close to the Galician border. His commentary on Genesis and Exodus, nmm rT'B'Kna nSD h]> niSD, was printed in Mendelssohn's edition of the Pentateuch at Berlin in 1780—83; and later editions appeared at Vienna in 1791 aZ. A Massoretic treatise on the same two books, known under the title onaiD ppn nivv, brief textual^ and grammatical annotations or emenda- tions, was also composed by him, and published in a later edition of Mendelssohn's work. He died at Amsterdam in the summer of 1813 a.d.^ (4) The D'nbsn mm of Wolf ben Simson Heidenheim is a critical edition of the book of Genesis, accom- panied by the Targum of Onkelos, iB' nnjD, the com- mentary of Eashi, etc., of which a part only was published in a quarto volume at Offenbach, near Frankfort, in 1798. Heidenheim was a learned and able Jewish scholar and printer, whose more important works issued from his own press at Ebdelheim, in Germany, seven or eight miles west of the same town. The chief of these were two : — snpDn nsan, the " understanding of the Scripture," an edition of the text of the Pentateuch with his own and other comments in Hebrew in 5 vols., 1818—21 ; and during the same years a Massoretic commentary on the Pentateuch, critical and grammatical notes on the text, with extracts from earlier writers. Other works were composed by Heidenheim on the Hebrew accents, ' Strack, p. 6 ; Kitto, Encydopcedia, s.u. 78 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE and on philological subjects. His death took place at Eodelheim in the year 1832.^ The Hebrew text is also contained in all the great Polyglott editions of the Bible. (1) The Comjpluiensian Polyglott, edited by Cardinal Ximenez at Alcala, in six volumes folio, 1514—17 A.D., was the earliest edition of the Hebrew text issued under Christian auspices. As is well known, sanction for the publication of the work was withheld by the Pope, Leo x., until March of the year 1520. It did not therefore actually appear until this latter date, and only six hundred copies were printed, of which four are preserved in the British Museum. The first four volumes containing the text of the Old Testament were printed subsequently to the other two, the fifth with the New Testament texts bearing the date Jan. 10 th, 1514, and the sixth with a vocabulary, explanation of proper names, etc., the date of the following year. Vol. iv. is dated July 10th, 1517. In the first volume is printed the Pentateuch in Hebrew, Greek, and " Chaldee," each with a Latin translation. Vols, ii.— iv. contain the remaining books of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Greek with Latin translations. (2) The Antwerp Polyglott of 1569-73, referred to also as the Bihlia Eegia, or Flantiniana, the latter from the name of the printer, C. Plantin, was published in eight volumes at Antwerp at the cost of Philip ii. of Spaiu. The arrangement is similar to that of the Complutensian, the first four volumes containing the ' Strack, p. 6 f. ; Kitto, s.v. Heidenheim. -. . «-^«f ~"'}Cmi^'^i^O- irrafl3,6re.lit.cuintcrp.latina Oin^ 'J?ify^', •-' -.- '■•;-;,' ^.,„. •ifracrSoblcmrvt ia» nriW mtol??" fliail'l ^J^^jW: das'qaeprcccpitnbt n3:'3L2; ,-!J<2 V^7^ ^_T ' ;,„»^5= pU»s-fia.tfv • 1 » «t!ni1"1 • •T^D-' tJK>- i^-S.' nU.-A"diOW5aXXOOOK» 'n<«Ma«f««f6fSu'«Tt.S9a«suiro»lifracl"Sobrcru3'vt fa« dUtfacias: _^vt MfiioM: t ?erouliipU«mtni valde: ftdjt locwosj b(b wuo pa poUidtHSC U^ luo»«5smtfWtert4^toSrt laac -j iiicU . - ...„ A_... ! ^gj ^^^ ^Eoutra^ -yatAix X9U fit* -,-.nHV<-^nWnW n3^-^0»O !dominus''dcus'patm nfu^ m S-mM ^ K}-^ '■■ ■••,•',=. -„■ »i L» tiioriVtibi'tcrra" bctc k- ■! I?J ^ lulWicstidea t ^ iujicia ~""^'"" " '^ "^ '•^mdicmaiwntc.'' Au ^'• v» rx:.Tx-t» AiKumxra. >^ td. ti.^'i^xrx 21J- >(ywJ >»-.'■ -^-r-^ ^- ',l". L.v^i drtfracl.'Domius'dciw jdkp^papd moffts ^ fiWe tod in nf'dominus°vmis eft. '""''' inniAiim lA^uinf tok unit l«'«■«* |. (,' titiidinctu3.''Erutit(-j; a'^ »*? , «» "» « ;f» . «'•<« «» iwe. 'vaba*hcc'quc"'eo'00» "'^ »{«! tov »»y irisu i| oAkj •»!; Kttff /*? na icc' - - ••'^' »...».« aia ^ tua »« tots' foiMtwJine 4-vj(i*? trao HSU l| 'h»( ■»( f ot^'itif B *li3 bee ^cfc^ego pa i.d. t inj-'ins' oi-p ' f m^ ' 3pi'ni PP¥^^ * "T,'--* ? . •. : ■ »■ tanim''opimi*qiias"no , K*? "nilK" D"'31Hn'n'1il' rks'5'D- "extmxlftn 'dlkrnas 5»(4«T<«Tm,Taacr(!<6'jiitirsAAe» ^rfe ti». t fmontbia l31is*ilIItiticrC*K»SCX»00 *««i«<9aAaAH«-6t twafreHUKto Inmirtntei-'ociilosw^ mt*«:» tegit. tug*w^«ton_ OS "fcrifacIiT ci"in''limi |4M«65>«9"i'«»'r<«M"a+K«iwii5 t™f«i nc'Sofiifefttemnstuc. -B"?"; , n«« Abk "k-jI ftem^Stua^fX pC"3?t".S¥. ^ cHi c'a ui IwiMV «ffl(!»:'1« n° "domimis'dciis tiius'in 'terrain pro coxcow 000 "qa.l''i'uiaiiit''p3tilbus tiiis'abraam cccaxjoocxi 'jfa3c'& iacob:S' dedc«= rit"tifai'duitatcs 'cxiooxa 3i!mi3' \.¥ •r.,„o»„nn casccosoM w^0(^l)^.«!r5^ 8iK..smrAi.j«vWMTan«5''>*i.».« »« ^m' «?n?m,C?^&X^ top'™'"*-- "«""" ^»''"-"„. 'l"?* ?»?'•' yn fodifti. vincta Soliuc , f ,^^^, ,i„»ut At»«T.M«5»i)«,S«J«!s- ngai C bi:neoblioiftar(s oftl ^'*'«''" ^bilmiacbar. fntfrp.cbar. CranlTstCW. ^ . I "^11 " ', >l"'9''f''*«":v«l.'0Beftltibit«mnlnpl!c•>'■><"■' s>" 'Ota ftibrtantlatna.a 1.. »5'4«.?ff%l''i^MVf . ?f -l^t- ?1•»^ • -f^ - - ■ • , _^ , Dip , ■ S3? 233 'lla HH f--'''i''>'''i'i-'»bf ''Jrcitibima«na«t ,,„,„ „--_ -Li,s,„Vi •S-'O^ f i131 KfT V' K^ ■'«'"- l''''^ f^ X'tO frj TO qi'»norcpltuii)f:TciHcr(Uo«afta(ian5racidilli ^.^^..^l^,;, „_£,„_., .„. y.J'^rU.rt -h 'y'snt^ •X'^^wi'^TJ'P^ ^ ~ • " WKte^obHcM^iionpljiitslhitaTOicdtris-tfttu *"??i7;^^lXi1702f^" ^*?W «9 . T ^^^'T'?*' 'iT"-^! '^ ■>. . * •< naOJ.'ja'igK "Wffawis.-anenWnfobllulfcarintlmoilatsM^ .»»»»»»»», »»»»,,*»»»»)i. t,W« ly, » i MfinX' n-'-'^mtS COMPT.UTENSI AN POLYGl.OTT, DIOCT. \l. 3-13. EDITIONS 79 Old Testament in Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek, and Latin, Latin versions of the Chaldee and Greek being added. No Chaldee text is given of the books of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, or Chronicles. (3) The Faris edition, issued in nine large folio volumes bearing dates from 1629 to 1645, was the first of the great Polyglotts in which the Oriental texts appeared. The Old Testament is printed in Hebrew in vols, i.— iv. with the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint, and the Chaldee, the two last accompanied by Latin translations. Vol. vi. contains the Pentateuch in Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan, each with a Latin rendering ; vols, vii.— ix. the remaining books of the Old Testament in Syriac and Arabic, accompanied by the Latin. The New Testament was published as vol. v., divided into two parts, and contained the Greek text with the Vulgate, and the Syriac and Arabic versions with Latin translations. (4) The London or Walton's Polyglott, published in six vols, folio in 1657 by Brian Walton, Bishop of Chester from 1660 to his death in the following year, made a further advance in its use of the Oriental languages. In addition to the Syriac and Arabic, versions were printed in ^thiopic and Persian, in every case furnished with translations in Latin. Two sup- plementary volumes, sometimes published as one, con- tain a lexicon, notes, and various readings, indices, etc. The Hebrew text is in the first three volumes. Bishop Waltpn's is the most important of the Polyglotts, partly in consequence of the larger textual material 8o INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE which it affords, partly also because of its more accurate and scholarly editing. There are six copies of the work in the British Museum. Many smaller or manual editions of the Hebrew Old Testament have been published since the earliest of Bomberg in 1517.^ They reproduce with more or less fidelity and exactness the Massoretic text of Ben Chayyim. The most noteworthy, for which the scholarship and reputation of the editor, or their convenient form, have secured the widest currency, are those of JoH. BuxTOEF, Basle, 1611, whose text is based partly upon Chayyim's Eabbinical Bible and partly on the Complutensian Polyglott ; Joseph Athias, a Jewish Eabbi and printer at Amsterdam, which was issued in two volumes, 1659—61, with a preface stating that the text had been carefully revised in accordance with the best manuscripts, and the editions of Bomberg, Plantin, and others ; this was the first Hebrew Bible in which the numbering of the verses was given; J. Leusden, Amsterdam, 1661—67, who added a collation of several new manuscripts, with Latin and Hebrew titles and notes ; D. E. Jablonski, Berlin, 1699, dedicated to the Elector of Brandenburg, with a Latin introduction treating of manuscripts, various readings, accents, etc., Latin headings to the books and marginal summaries of the contents of chapters or paragraphs, tables of lessons for Sabbath and festival days, etc., at the end ; E. van dee Hooght, Amsterdam and Utrecht, 1705, a reprint of Athias, ' Supra, p. 69. I.OXI'UX I'(H.Vi;L()TT, TITI-E-l'AGI EDITIONS 8i which until recent years has been perhaps the most frequently reproduced and widely used Hebrew text ; and of J. H. Michaelis, Halle, 1720, who followed both in form and text the edition of Jablonski, but exercised a careful and independent judgement, collating new manuscripts and comparing the various printed editions, and adding a Latin introduction and marginal notes and summaries. Kecent years have seen a great advance in the preparation and editing of an exact and critical text of the Old Testament in convenient form. (1) Separate editions of all the books of the Hebrew Bible, with the exception of the last four books of the Pentateuch, namely, Exodus to Deuteronomy, were pub- lished at Leipzig between the years 1869 and 1895, under the editorship of Dr. S. Baer, with a revised Massoretic text, critical notes, and collations of manu- scripts. To the earlier volxmaes also Dr. Fr. DeUtzsch contributed a preface. The book of Genesis appeared in 1869; Isaiah, 1872; Job, 1875; Twelve Minor Prophets, 1878; Psalms, 1880; Proverbs, 1880; Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah, 1882; Ezekiel, 1884; the Five Eolls, Canticles to Esther, 1886; Chronicles, 1888; Jeremiah, 1890; Joshua and Judges, 1891; 1, 2 Samuel, 1892 ; 1, 2 Kings, 1895. Dr. Baer's death prevented the completion of the text of the remaining books for the press. The principles on which he worked were strongly contested by Dr. C. D. Ginsburg, who claimed that in some instances Dr. Baer had misinterpreted, and in others had ignored the testimony of the manuscripts 6 82 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE which he had himself consulted as witnesses to the exact form of the text. Minor errors of the kind referred to, even if established, do not essentially impair the very great value of the work which Dr. Baer accomplished. (2) Critical editions of many of the books of the Old Testament have also been issued at Leipzig under the general editorship of Dr. Paul Haupt, Professor of Hebrew in the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore. In these the text is printed without points, and colours are employed to indicate the various documents or strata which are supposed to have contributed to its present form. A considerable licence of conjecture and alteration has been permitted to the several editors ; and the Hebrew text of each book as printed is therefore the expression of the personal opinion or judgement of its editor, but carries of necessity no further weight. Critical and comparative notes are appended, and these constitute the most useful and permanently valuable feature of the edition. The book of Job was the first to appear, edited by C. Siegfried in 1893. There followed Leviticus by S. E. Driver and H. A. White, and Samuel by K. Budde, in 1894 ; Jeremiah by C. H. Cornill, Joshua by W. H. Bennett, Chronicltes by E. Kittel, and Psalms by J. Wellhausen, in 1895 ; Genesis by C. J. Ball, and Daniel by A. Kamphausen, 1896; Isaiah by T. K. Cheyne, and Ezekiel by 0. H. Toy, 1899; Numbers by J. A. Paterson, and Judges by G-. F. Moore, 1900; Ezra and Nehemiah by H. Guthe, and Proverbs by A. Miiller and E. Kautzsch, 1901 ; Kings by B. Stade, 1904. 82 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE which he had himself consulted as witnesses to the exact form of the text. Minor errors of the kind referred to, even if established, do not essentially impair the very great value of the work which Dr. Baer accomplished. (2) Critical editions of many of the books of the Old Testament have also been issued at Leipzig under the general editorship of Dr. Paul Haupt, Professor of Hebrew in the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore. In these the text is printed without points, and colours are employed to indicate the various documents or strata which are supposed to have contributed to its present form. A considerable licence of conjecture and alteration has been permitted to the several editors ; and the Hebrew text of each book as printed is therefore the expression of the personal opinion or judgement of its editor, but carries of necessity no further weight. Critical and comparative notes are appended, and these constitute the most useful and permanently valuable feature of the edition. The book of Job was the first to appear, edited by C. Siegfried in 1893. There followed Leviticus by S. E. Driver and H. A. White, and Samuel by K. Budde, in 1894 ; Jeremiah by C. H. Cornill, Joshua by W. H. Bennett, Chronictes by R. Kittel, and Psalms by J. Wellhausen, in 1895 ; Genesis by C. J. Ball, and Daniel by A. Kamphausen, 1896 ; Isaiah by T. K. Cheyne, and Ezekiel by C. H. Toy, 1899; Numbers by J. A. Paterson, and Judges by G. F. Moore, 1900; Ezra and Nehemiah by H. Guthe, and Proverbs by A. Mtiller and E. Kautzsch, 1901 ; Kings by B. Stade, 1904. '• ;:b^ noifn i'li:i3ri rrpTiM inp'\ ; D""im i;7S craenrD I'nan .T.T-'ai'TOin ;hd npo •^lb'? . j-iSn,D aV-HK r-i;,T plp'l. : Qn!(Q~^331 F. X D n s Vcrilo VULG. L A T. Jn (O^Luai ' Ncoaoc UiTrt eV- - 'j ■ ^ - -s—i-wi'^ homimlw.. ft: mmf™.,. Nr " ""^ " •■'^""" '' "'(-"i o«, J,„ Mcufc. prOfUri ulcn >1Lt fun, e; ui«i f'-.ff , I (u|.cr (mm n t-)puliimnHim N nun opsa ''s :UT]y;^ 'P?~nK nS^j □■'-lay.-i ■ f-w,! -'^ja "393 \y. '5 ynn nipjij vjciipi . T3^D a'rw : pn^~ia "fan: ^375 ^jeg ■" "^ i! nfJ3 H'liop ^4jn :=n^ .■n>D'? -g^'" fmi Vit,.^,,™.,•?;;5s^S'' .. *;■ =^";j:^„"i 1 df^uVorMi" ^- ^ in »ero.t- o.&u 1. .kiKfii., ^lOI^' nVi yz •lir, (.() C-. "^ lA -' air i> »J nJ fr '*'■"« 'Of. r3 Verilo Sr^lACA cum Wcrprmtione LATINJ.: ' ' *■■'-. , , r J,'- ' ,,,^ .^ ■", ,""-S' ftntnut (Mini Ptamot^ci( t^-,_£o •. |.^<^aj> |-U., a» . jociD . ti ^-0,..,.^^ .,. \-> 1 .Ji.s^ IjLq-Nj .^(?1-.-oq f'™ "*"" wl'"''*" fenn pLbbi ^ ' - ,^ *^ * • tiii^a^^ ctt'fkiii c^Ktonaj, minnv ,,k , ) ^ - .!. V . ■- ,■ , r . >■ ^ . ., , 5 ' "» . c prH..'ar prrtu 16 ^k^^io -.i^tOQ-J3( OCT licO^t^to/Ji^Q* -l^if _:» r^ll-^ -.JjLo.^tfLn -jq-^^Oy>-(j? "'"'*" " „i^i^c«,. .1^'^ pc^o t-^ii, i^a. ^ .^-j^ cL^f |oo,ji; ■■^>^";/sr,;5>2i_, ) , >• -> s - .' 5 v.-v . -. , ,. ^ , . oiro luJ rtirtBin feirrrthiifc'-m.* in IB mUJck ■^- ~ rol. A in pc-(4W rm LONDON roLV(;i,OTT, KX. IX. It-l!). J» ,iS. £ A- B H s. HE8K O-SAMABlTA^u-: i^j _V«r {f*^,„;X^ jthy? "in^^ "•■i^'i^ J....nm.. " _.J:if,T;l'""'*'°'""=""=''^'''=''^»=»-«,H ™,.v,i>j.,.,j, , ;.^^^':^j4.^ai: ^^uSiL'.u'u:; c5S^?:.ji^> ^itt...™,.„„.. LONDON- POLVGLOTT, EX. IX, 9-19. EDITIONS 83 (3) In the year 1894, Dr. Christian D. Ginsburg edited the Hebrew text of the Old Testament on the basis of his great edition of the Massorah, with critical notes and various readings derived from manuscripts, editions, and the Targums. The work was beautifully- printed in Vienna, and published in London by the Trinitarian Bible Society. A second edition, cheaper and altogether inferior, appeared in 1907.^ (4) The latest, and at present for the student most useful edition, is that published at Leipzig in two parts, in the years 1905 and 1906, under the general editorship of Dr. E. Kittel, with the co-operation of G. Dalman, S. E. Driver, W. Nowack, and other well-known scholars. The first part contains Genesis to 2 Kings, and the re- maining books appeared in the second part under date of the following year. The preparation for the press and editing of the several books was undertaken by the scholars named, and notes and a critical apparatus are provided at the foot of each page. Of this edition the new and most valuable feature is the citation of the read- ings of the Versions, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Coptic, while in addition to manuscript variations reference is made to the editions, including the most recent of S. Baer and C. D. Ginsburg. The Hebrew text printed is the traditional Massoretic text, carefully edited and revised ; ' Dr. Ginsburg is now (1908) engaged in canying through the press a new edition of the Hebrew text for the British and Foreign Bible Society, which will be eq^uipped with a yet more complete apparatus of notes and various readings. Genesis has already been issued separately, with a title-page in Hebrew, English, German, and French, London, 1908 ; and the Pentateuch is shortly to be published. 84 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE but the notes record suggestions and conjectures with regard to the true or probable reading, with which in each instance the editors express their more or less complete agreement. To the Jewish scholars and Eabbis for the anxious jand unremitting care with which they have watched over the accuracy and preservation of their sacred Scriptures a great debt of obligation is due. At what precise period they first began to devote their attention to this subject is uncertain. But from the early centuries of our era at least we may be confident that the text of the Old Testament has come down to us untampered with and unchanged. Eeferences to the careful preservation of copies of parts at least of the sacred books are found in the Bible itself ; cp. Deut. xvii. 18, xxxi. 9, 26 ; Josh. i. 8 ; 2 Kings xi. 12, xxii. 8 ; Ps. i. 2 ; 2 Chron. xvii. 9. Provision was made for the consecutive reading of the Law in the synagogues on the Sabbath day, and of select lessons from the Prophetical books (cp. Luke iv. 17; Acts xiii. 15, 27, XV. 21 ; 2 Cor. iii. 14). The several books were taught and discussed in the Eabbinical schools, and their texts committed to memory. While to a learned and leisured class, the C'lab or scribes, was entrusted the duty of watching over the preservation of the sacred rolls, of studying every detail of the sacred text that nothing might be lost, and of providing for the accurate copying and multiplication of manuscripts. Part of their duty also was to count and record the number of letters, verses, etc., in each book of the Old Testament, MASSORAH 85 and especially in the books of the Law.^ Proofs of their zealous and minute care abound in the Talmud, e.g. Menachoth, 296 ; cp. Josephus, c. Apion, i. 8 ; Euseb. Proep. Evang. viii. vi. 0. 3. The Massoeah and the Massoeetes; Foem AND Contents of the Massoeah ; Qeei and Kethibh; Glausuljs. By the term Massorah is meant the collection of notes and discussions, critical and explanatory, on the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, which the learning and diligent care of Jewish scholars accumulated during the centuries immediately before and the early centuries after the beginning of our era. Assuming at first the form of the briefest possible notes, written upon the margins of the manuscripts themselves, and calling atten- tion to peculiarities in the text, deviations from ordinary usage, readings which were demanded by established rule or custom although at variance with the written text, etc., these were later expanded into independent treatises dealing with points of orthography, textual criticism, and other matters affecting the correct reading of the Hebrew Scriptures. The task, therefore, which the authors of the Massorah proposed to themselves was to guard the text from degeneration, and by placing on record an exhaustive and minute account of all details concerning it, to ensure its accurate preservation in integrity for all time. They therefore compiled lists of variations, noted and tabulated all singularities, 1 Infra, p. 91 tf. 86 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE counted the letters and words in each book; thus forming a " fence," " hedge," ^''^D, as it was termed, about the Law. The name is derived from a late Hebrew and Aramaic root i?o, noD, signifying to " hand over " or " down," " communicate." The corresponding Syriac term is used in the Peschitta of Heb. xii. 2 to re- present the Greek almeni, aiid Literature, London, 1865 ; and I. Abrahams, Short History of Jewish Literature, London, 1906, p, 103 flf. ; Jeivish LJncydopcedia, s.v. MASSORAH 89 By the Jews themselves the beginning of the work is ascribed to Moses, from whom in unbroken succession the Law was handed down to Ezra and the men of the Great Synagogue; cp. Pirqe Aboth i. 1, "Moses received the Law from Sinai, and handed it on ('^'^9'?) to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the great synagogue (i^?i''?''!i '^9?|)-" According to tradition, the Great Synagogue was an assembly of wise men, said to have numbered one hundred and twenty, constituted by Ezra after the return from Babylon for the express purpose of maintaining the integrity of scriptural teach- ing and the preservation of the letter of the Law.^ There is, however, no direct evidence that such a Synagogue or assembly ever really existed ; and most scholars are disposed to regard the traditions con- cerning it as having little or no foundation in fact. The efforts of the Jews themselves for the preservation of their Scriptures cannot be traced directly back further than the date indicated above for the prosecu- tion of Massoretic studies. That various readings, which, however, with scarcely an exception, concerned the vowels and accents only, not the consonants of the Hebrew text, existed from an early date is proved by references in the Talmud. Form and Contents of the Massokah. — The Massorah, therefore, as it is found in the manuscripts is ' See Clias. Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, Cambridge, 1877, p. 124 ff. ; C. D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Eabbinic Bible, 1865, p. 1, note. go INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of very varied content, the rules and annotations being copied and re-copied from one transcript to another, with additional explanations and ampHfications. The earliest form was that of the so-called Massora Parva, consisting of the briefest possible notes, so condensed and abbreviated as often to be unintelligible apart from the key, written on the outer and inner margins of the page, and in the case of a diglot text in the narrow space between the Hebrew and the Targum or Aramaic paraphrase. One instance at least is known in which such Massoretic notes find a place even between the lines of the Hebrew text.^ Chrono- logically later, on the whole, comes the Massorah Magna, a more extensive commentary, dealing in general on a broader scale with the same critical subjects, written on the upper and lower margins, above and below the text, and often fancifully shaped into outlines of birds, beasts, plants, etc. The later origin of the Great Massorah is shown not only by its wider range and more complete and artificial form, but also by the fact that it occasionally quotes and elucidates the M. Parva. These two combined formed the Massorah Marginalis. The Massora Finalis was essentially the same in theme and treatment as the M. Magna. Its name and place at the end of the manuscripts were due merely to the impossibility of finding room on the margins of the pages for all the material which had accumulated, and the additions which the writer ' In a manuscript in the possession of M. Gastei', sec Illustrated Bibles, p. 12. -^3. HEBREW MANUSCRIl'T (COrEXIIACF.X), WITH JIASSORAH, 1 KIXUS VIII. 3-11, LEV. I. 1, 2. MASSORAH 91 or owner of the manuscript wished to make. Inde- pendent treatises also were composed on Massoretic lines. These also were written or copied on the blank pages at the end of the Biblical codex, and were then included under the same name of " final Massorah." The subject-matter with which the Massorah deals may be most simply arranged in six classes, as follows : — (1) The consonants of the Hebrew text. Of these, in particular, the authors of the Massorah noted and recorded every peculiarity or anomaly, in order, by drawing attention to them, to secure that the text, as it stood, should be preserved and perpetuated with minute and absolute accuracy. In no case did they sanction or propose any alteration of the consonantal text before them. For this purpose they make use of certain marks or symbols, as points, etc., the origin and significance of which, however, is generally obscure at the present day. In some instances these may have found their way into the text not designedly, but merely from accidents in the course of copying. (a) Some thirty letters are written larger, and the same number smaller than is usual ; e.g. the letter heth with which the Hebrew Bible begins is larger than the following letters, and has attached to it the Massoretic note Ti^l '3, " great beth," to ensure that the copyist shall note and reproduce the abnormal size with exactness. Not improbably the enlargement of the consonant here is intended to serve the same purpose as an ornamental initial letter. Elsewhere it has been 92 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE conjectured that a larger or smaller letter marked the middle point of a book, or division of the Jewish Scriptures. Aleph is written small in Lev. i. 1, with the note X'^''?' '*<, " small aleph." These so-called literce majuscules and minusculce are referred to, if not actually tabulated and described, in the Talmud.^ (6) In four instances a letter is " suspended," <^'^7F\, i.e. written above the line, — nun in Judg. xviii. 30, 'ayin in Ps. Ixxx. 14; Job xxxviii. 13, 15. (c) The letter nun is nine times " inverted " or "reversed," nniQn, Num. x. 35, 36 ; Ps. cvii. 23 ff., 40. Various conjectures have been made as to the signi- ficance of the " reversed niin." Some scholars have regarded them as equivalent to our brackets or paren- theses, or as indicating a dislocation or corruption of the text.^ No certainty seems to be attainable. (d) Mem is written in its final form in the middle of a word in Isa. ix. 6. (e) Vdv is "cut short," »V''^\>, in Num. xxv. 12. (/') The letters also of each book were counted, and the totals placed on record, with mnemonic words to facilitate the recollection of the numbers. The middle letter of each was found and noted, also of a marked division of the Scriptures, as of the Pentateuch and Psalter. To assist in maintaining the right division of ^ See Massoretic and other Notes contained in the Edition of the Sebrew Scriptures published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, trans- lated and explained, 2nd ed., London, 1906 ; H. L. Strack, Prolegoiimna, p. 92 ; F. Buhl, Oaiion and Text of the O.T., Edinburgh, 1892, p. 94 ff. - Strack, I.e. p. 92 ; Buhl, p. 105. MASSORAH 93 the words of the text, the number of times that each of the five final letters occurred in each of its forms was ascertained ; and so forth. Everything was done that could ensure accuracy and guard against error. These details were summarised and placed on record with regard to each book of the Old Testament in a clausula or final epitome, which is usually printed at the close of the book. Two of these may suffice as examples. They are given in the editions of Baer and Delitzsch and others ; and will be found translated and explained in Massoretic and other Notes, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. GENESIS. .nj)3-|Ni n'<\^m nisp roni f\b^ n''B''Nn3 ispT ^'piDa nop ■nt •l""' vni'K'-isi ^Tnn ^ann-^jJi vsm :ipip Y'b ~\"ik TT; 't* v:*'t — TT; 't« t; ■; O'lJ^aiNI. nttjVttJ nininan f'^x ; iD''p «^^i? ■^h vpn '« .': BE STEONG! The number of the verses of the book of Genesis is a thousand and five hundred and thirty and four. The sign is 1"'? n"K (k=1000, t=500, ^=30, T = 4). And its middle point is, And by thy sword shalt thou 94 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE live (xxvii. 40). And its parashahs are twelve 0=10, 3=2); the sign is, THIS is my name for ever (r = 7, n= 5 ; Ex. iii. 15). And its sections are forty-three; the sign is, YEA he shall be blessed (J = 3, d = 40 ; Gen. xxvii. 33). And its chapters are fifty; the sign is, Lord be gracious unto us, we have waited FOE THEE (i) = 30, 3 = 20 ; Isa. xxxiii. 2). The number of the open parashahs is ^forty-three, and of the closed forty-eight. The total is ninety-one parashahs; the sign is, GO thou and all the people that is after thee (V = 90, K = one ; Ex. xi. 8). ISAIAH. tynn •'•^a hmi ID''p p'p'n'' p t n n J T p t n : nwgn] D''mn\ n'risio? f\hix n'>vf\ hp D'-piDsn D«p •^i'p Si -i^r,x af-m '3 i'sm :iD''p Dsns n2")N nm nina T • V T T T - V V : T T : T T : And it shall come to pass that from one new moon (Isa. Ixvi. 23). The sign is ppn\ i.e. the initial letters of the four books in which the words of the last verse but one are repeated in order to avoid ending the book with a threatening or curse. •■ = ^IV^\, Isaiah ; n = -)B>jj nn, the twelve Minor Prophets; P=nirip, Lamentations ; P = ^^[}?, Ecclesiastes. MASSORAH 95 BE STEONG AND WE WILL BE STRONG ! The number of the verses of Isaiah is a thousand and two hundred and ninety and five ; the sign is, As a sweet savour WILL I ACCEPT you (^ = 1000, n = 200, s=90, n = 5; Ezek. xx. 41). And its middle point is, But there the Lord will be with us in majesty (Isa. xxxiii. 21). And its sections are twenty- six; the sign is, AND the Lord SHALL BE king over all the earth (l = 6, n = 5, ' = 10, n = 5 ; Zech. xiv. 9). (2) The vowel-points and accents were similarly treated, and the various conventional signs, such as daghesh and mappiq, which had to do with the right reading of the text. The vowel-points were never regarded with the same reverence, or placed on a footing of equal authority with the consonants. It is clear, however, that the Massoretes themselves were not the inventors of the signs for the Hebrew vowels and accents, since they accepted them and tabulated as already existing their laws and variations. (3) A large part of the Massorah is occupied with the words of the Hebrew text, the correct method of writing them, the number of times certain words are found at the beginning or end of a verse, etc. The so-called scriptio plena or defectiva in particular took account of the long vowels, of which a semi-consonant, 1 or 1, formed a part, and noted in each instance whether a word was to be written with the vowel " full," i.e. together with the consonant, or " defective," the 96 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE consonant being omitted ; e.g. '"' iDn^ yodh is wanting, Isa. iii. 8, 'l N'O, vav is written in full, Gen. xlviii. 20. Over ten words in the Pentateuch a series of dots is placed ; ^ four in the earlier and later Prophets are similarly indicated ; ^ and in the case of one word in Ps. xxvii. 13,^ the Massorah directs that points are to be placed both above and below. The Jewish Eabbis refer to these points, but do not explain their meaning. There is, perhaps, some probability in the view that they were designed to indicate an erroneous or corrupt reading, on the ground that similar signs are said to be used for that purpose in Samaritan manuscripts. The word also in Gen. xxxiii. 4 which bears these so-called puncta eostraordinaria is omitted from some manuscripts of the Septuagint ; and the Targum or Aramaic para- phrase passes over in silence the two words that are thus indicated in Ezekiel.* (4) The Massorah also records a considerable number of various readings, both the official and recognised Qeri and Kethtbh, and others known as !''"!"'??, " con- jectures," " opinions." Of the origin of these last nothing is known. They are perhaps, in some instances at least, merely individual views or guesses with regard • !i'j'3f, Gen. xvi. 5 ; I'^x, xviii. 9 ; anip?), xix. 33 ; ini3?''i, xxxiii. 4 ; rx, xxxvii. 12 ; pm\, Num. iii. 39 ; njjh-i, ix. 10 ; -\as, xxi. 30 ; \nsV], xxix. 15 ; ly "'J?^' "^, Deut. xxix. 28. 2 ST,, 2 Sam. xix. 20 ; nan, Isa. xliv. 9 ; Sj'rip, Ezek. xli. 20 ; myyipnp, xlvi. 22. ^ N^?)'?, the Massorah notes that the letters of the word are pointed both above and below, with the exception of the vav, whioh has no point above. ■' Strack, p. 88 ff. : Buhl, p. 104 f., and references. QERI AND KETHIBH 97 to a particular word or passage ; others may rest on a foundation of tradition.^ The number of the former, the Qeri and Kethibh variations, is differently stated. The total is given by Dr. Ginsburg, from a careful computation of the notes in Jacob ben Chayyim's Kabbmic Bible of 1524-25, as 1353.2 j^ ^^ g^^h instances the reader in the synagogue was directed to follow the Qeri and ignore the Kethibh, although the latter was never removed from the text ; and for his guidance or as a reminder, the vowels of the Qeri were written in the codices attached to the consonants of the Kethibh, while the consonants of the Qeri were noted in the margin. The result was the presentation in the text of a hybrid and meaningless form. In the Hebrew Bible as ordinarily printed the practice has been perpetuated, and has led to much confusion and difficulty. It would be simpler and more intelligible in every instance to follow the course adopted by Dr. Ginsburg in his edition of 1894, and leave the Kethibh text unvocalised, inserting both the alternative readings complete in the margin. A special case of these various readings, which is of ' On the meaning of the word pT3D see Buxtorf, Clavis Masorcc, oh. X. The readings in question are often interesting, but rarely of much importance, e.g. ■Tg'lin for n^a,! in Ex. xxt. 39, where the Syriac version concurs ; Da for nj, Hos. ix. 2, Sept. 6 olxos i^peiaaro airois, and similiarly the Syriac and Targum. Possibly, therefore, the [Tao represent readings derived from the versions. '^ I.e. pp. 10, 11, note ; cp. on the Qeri and Kethibh, ib. p. 6 ff. ; Strack, Prolegomena, pp. 80-86, 123 ; Buhl, Ccmon, pp. 99 ff., 237 ff. ; C. D. Ginsburg, Levita's Eayposition of the Massorah, London, 1867, pp. 106-19, where by Levita himself the total number is underestimated. 98 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE much interest, is found in the so-called Qert perpetuum. In a few instances, for one reason or another, it was inadmissible to pronounce a word as it was written in any passage in which it occurred. The Qeri was then taken for granted, and not marginally inserted or written, — it was to be read perpettoally, without ex- ception, wherever the word in question was found in the text. The vowels of the Qert, however, were still attached to the Kethtbh, although the consonants of the former did not appear. The best known example of these perpetual Qeris is that of the Divine name, the Tetragrammaton, mn\ This is uniformly vocalised nin'_, i.e. with the vowels of ''^i1>|, except when the word •■JilK itself immediately precedes or follows, when, in order to avoid the repetition of the word, nin'' receives the vowels of ^''•y^, and is written nin\ In the former case the Jews uniformly read and pronounced '"^i"'^, in the latter D^^^.^f. The true vocalisation of nin'' is probably nin*, Yahveh, or as sometimes written Jahveh. In the nature of the case, however, this can never be absolutely determined.^ Other examples of the QeH perpetuum are D^'fiTl, i.e. ^'f>f^'^\, for Kethlbh C^B^i*, ' See S. R. Driver, " Recent Theories on tlie Origin and Nature of the Tetragrammaton " in Studia Bihlica, vol. i., Oxford, 1885 ; A. B. Davidson in EDB, vol. ii. p. 199'' f. ; Oxford Hebrew Lexicon, s.v. m.i, p. 217 ff. ; G. Margoliouth, "On the Divine Name ni.T" in PSBA xvii. p. 57 ff. ; C. H. W. Johns in Expositor, 1903, p. 282 ff. The English pronunciation Jehovah therefore rests ultimately upon a mistake, the written form ni.i^ being understood to be a complete Hebrew word ; and is in itself neither Hebrew nor in any sense what- ever the name of Israel's God. Whether it would be wise in English to attempt to discard the title Jehovah, around which the reverence QERI AND KETHIBH 99 .g. Judg. i. 21, etc. ; but Dv" is found occasionally in the later books, 1, 2 Chron., and Esth. ii. 6, Jer. xxvi. 18. sin is read as S''"?, wherever in the Pentateuch sin is found for the feminine, a peculiarity which in Palestinian texts is confined to the five books of the Law, but which the Babylonians write elsewhere, Isa. xxx. 33, Ezek. i. 13, etc.;i -^^^^\, for -of,, Gen. xxx. 18, etc., Sept. 'laaaxdp ; IV.h in the Pentateuch, Gen. xxiv. 14 al., Kethibh iW, for Qeri n-ij(3 ; and to these must probably be added a'Pf, D^rif, for D^Jf, D^riB', the Qeri intended being ''P.f , 'fif .2 From whatever source these variations of reading were derived, they did not apparently owe their origin to differences between the manuscripts themselves. They were not, therefore, various readings in the technical sense. In their comments and interpretations, moreover, the Eabbis seem to adopt either the Qeri or Kethibh, as is most in accord with the subject in hand, or the purpose of the discussion. In late codices the Qeri is even found written in the text. (5) The eighteen DnaiD ^i^^tj, " corrections of the scribes," are emendations or restorations of passages, of centuries has gathered, for a novel and uncertain Yahveh or Jahveh, is altogether another question. In the judgement of the writer such an attempt is uncalled for, and would be justly regarded by very many as irreverent and pedantic. ^ S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, Oxford, 1890, p. xxxiii ; Buhl, I.e. p. 239 ff. Whatever the origin, therefore, of the textual Ni.i in relation to a feminine noun, it is evident that it is not an archaism. 2 See also Buhl, I.e. p. 102 ; OHL, ss.vv. ; Gesenius, Hebrew Orammar, 1898, p. 65. loo INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE in which it seems to have been believed that a reading, not original, had been introduced into "the text from motives of reverence, or to avoid anthropomorphic suggestions. They therefore registered the fact, or what was supposed to be the fact, of an alteration already made in the text ; but did not themselves invent or adopt any new reading which might be assumed to be preferable to the old. The eighteen " emendations " are enumerated in a note on Num. ad init., and are as follows : — (1) Gen. xviii. 22, njn^ \JBf> to)} i21iy Dnnas. This it is said originally read Di^^^s . . . nin^, "Jehovah was yet standing before Abraham," and was altered to avoid seeming to repre- sent Jehovah as waiting upon a man. (2) Num. xi. 15, 'Wf ns-iK ^si, originally injna altered because it might be understood to impute evil-doing {'^V']) to God. (3) Num. xii. 12, ^"lE'a . . . isss, an emendation for U'lK'a . . . WBN. (4) 1 Sam. iii. 13, Vaa cnii QJhpo 13, originally ''?; compare Sept. KaKoKojovvrei 6ebv viol avTov. (5) 2 Sam. xvi. 12, ^313(3 nin^ nxv 'biK, Qeri '^n, ' an emendation of the scribes for an original i3''V3, to escape the anthropomorphism of ascribing an eye to Jehovah. (6) 2 Sam, xx. 1, ^K^'f. viinsb ly^K, read Vn'bN^, which carried with it the implication of TIQQUNE SOPHERIM loi polytheism and idolatry ; so also (7) and (8), 1 Kings xii. 16 and 2 Chron. x. 16. (9) Jer. ii. 11, i1i33 I'B.n '«??!, originally 'lua, which seemed to suggest that man was able to dim or injure the Divine glory. (10) Ezek. viii. 17, DSr^x ""liW'"? ^'i?^, origin- ally 'BS ; cp. sup. No. 5. (11) Hos. iv. 7, "I'ps ii^ija D"ii33, "their glory I turn to shame," was read as " my glory they turn to shame," iT'Pi} . . . ""liai. (12) Hab. i. 12, mo3 i6, originally ™»n «5. (13) Zech. ii. 12, "'v. nana wb Doa vilri, for '^V; cp. Nos. 5 and 8. (14) Mai. i. 13, iniN DPinsn, origmally '•ni«. (15) Ps. cvi. 20, Q^iaa-ntJ =n^o>?, originally inias; cp. sii^. No. 7, and Sept. t^i* So^av aiiT&v; but k'^"' a al., avTov. (16) Job vii. 20, i^^ab ''^V n^^, read T^V; Sept. iirl ?l?, MaXa'^laN, 'Iwj8, Job. Dn^tS'ii i^B*, "AffiJM, Canticles, or Song of Solomon. ni-i, 'Povd, Kuth. na^N, or riivp, Oprjvoi, Lamenta- tions. ri?npj ^ EKKKija-iaffTrj';, Ecclesi- astes. "iriDK, 'Eo-%, Esther. /' 7K.'3'n, Aavirj\, Daniel. {V.-]% 'EaSpai 0, Ezra, [n^pnjj Neefiiav Kai irpotpyp-Qv /3t^\£a, Kai rb, rov AauefS, Kal ^TTiCToXots ^aaiXeojv irepl avadefi&Tuv, Nehemiah "formed a library, and gathered together the books concerning the kings and prophets, and the books of David, and the kings' letters concerning offerings." CANON 125 Samaritans, the latter would not have been likely to discriminate against Prophets or Writings if the authority of these collections were generally recognised at the time of the separation of the two peoples ; or to admit them subsequently, when the sympathy and close intercourse of a common life and worship had been replaced by estrangement. The earliest evidence for a collection of Prophetical writings, recognised and circulated among the Jews, is to be found in the Preface to the book of Ecclesi- asticus, translated from the Hebrew 132 B.C., but referring to the time of the writer's grandfather, the author of the book, and therefore some half century earlier.! The expression " the law itself and the prophecies and the rest of the books " certainly im- plies some kind of collections or volumes recognised and regarded as in some sort authoritative ; in which the vagueness of the last phrase, " the rest of the books," perhaps suggests that the limits of the third division were not so clearly defined or settled as those of the other two. But if the books of the Prophets were thus received by Jesus the son of Sirach (5'etpa;;^, NTD) early in the second century before our era, the latest date possible for their general acceptance and " canonisation " will be the close of the third century. ^ 6 TrdiTTTo? ^ov 'Ii;trous iiri irKeiov eavrhv dous ets re tt]v rod vhixov koX Tuiv TrpotpTp-wf kclI Twif dWiijv iraTpittjv ^i^Xltav &v6,yvta66yyos. In the passage in Micah it is un- certain what Hebrew original the Greek is intended to represent. St. Paul also uses it, 2 Cor. x. 13, 15 f.. Gal. vi. 16 ; not elsewhere in the New Testament. In the technical sense, however, of a rule or standard of the faith, and of the collection of recognised and inspired books which contain that standard, the word is not found until a much later date ; by the Greek Fathers also, Origen and others, derivatives of Kavmv are employed technically with reference to the Scriptures at an earlier period than the simple term itself ; and similarly eic(oSeiiJ," (i.e. D^lpa mh)- AevTepovo/Miov, " 'EXeaSBe^apeifj, " (i.e. D^'?3'nn npK), " ovTOi oi X6apeeX\eiiJ," (i.e. D^nn isp)" XoXofiwvTO'i Uapoi/j^Lai,, "MeXa>6" (i.e. ni?D)* "'EKKXtja-iacrTri'i, " Ky\ xliv. 18 to xlvii. 27; in''l, xlvii. 28 to 1. 26. In some manuscripts, however, the commence- ment of a section is indicated by a marginal 's, 'iQ, or 'tns, for riE'ns.i This sectional arrangement was not carried through beyond the Pentateuch into the remaining books of the Old Testament. A further and independent division of the books of the Law was made by the Palestinian Jews into 154 or 155 Lesser Sections, or Sedarim (D'"]"!?); but this arrangement was never adopted in Babylon. It has been generally supposed that the division was ' Ginsburg, Introduction, oh. v. ; Strack, p. 76 f. ; Buhl, p. 225. 134 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE intended for a triennial cycle of reading, that the Law might be gone through in three years instead of one. Of this, however, there seems to be no real proof beyond the unsupported statement of a grammarian ; and doubt has been thrown on its accuracy.^ The number of the Sedarim would perhaps be sufficient to suggest the idea, and an annual cycle appears more probable. Dr. Ginsburg also quotes a Massoretic treatise, which enumerates 167 Sedarim. Others have attempted to connect the division with the arrangement of the Psalter, that the sections or chapters of the Law might correspond with the number of the Psalms, as the five-fold division into books corresponded. The real purpose and design of the sections, however, is unknown. The arrangement was extended to the other books of the Old Testament, the entire Bible being divided into 446 Sedarim.^ Into the second and third parts of the Hebrew Bibles, the Prophets and the Writings, no system of continuous reading in the synagogues appears ever to have been introduced. Selected portions only from the Prophets were arranged to correspond with the greater Parashahs, for the Sabbath services and for festivals ; cp. Acts xiii. 15, 27, Luke iv. 16f. These were termed Haphtdrahs ("il?!, "i^f, to divide, 1 Kings vi. 18 al., Prov. xvii. 14), and in the printed editions are sometimes indicated by a or d, as the parashahs 1 M. Gaster, PSBA xxii. p. 249, and Illustrated BiUes, p. 32. ^ See E. G. King in JQR, vol. xvi. p. 579 ; and on the Sedarim in general an article by A. Biichler, ib. vol. v. p. 420 ff.; Ginsburg, Introduction, oh. iv. ; Buhl, p. 225 f. DIVISIONS OF THE TEXT 135 of the Pentateuch. No distinction, however, of open or closed was ever made in their case. Lists of the Haphtarahs are given in the Massorah and other Jewish writings. The existing selection or division is said not to be original, but to have superseded an earlier arrangement made at or about the beginning of our era. Both would probably be determined in large parb at least by earlier usage. In annotated editions of the Hebrew text the parashah, corresponding to a given haphtarah, is usually indicated in the margin at the commencement of the latter. The readings of the prophets corresponding to the twelve parashahs of Genesis were as follows : ^ — Parashah. Haphtarah. Gen. i. 1-vi. 8, rT'B'Sna. Isa. xlii. S-xliii. 10. vi. 9-xi. 32, nii- Isa. liv. 1-lv. 5. xii. 1-xvii. 27, •(? •(?. Isa. xl. 27-xli. 16. xviii. 1-xxii. 24, Kill. 2 Kings iv. 1-37. xxiii. 1-xxv. 18, mB' "n. 1 Kings i. 1-31. XXV. 19-xxviii. 9, ni^lD. Mai. i. 1-ii. 7. xxviii. 10-xxxii. 3, XS''!. Hos. xi. 7-xii. 12. xxxii. 4-xxxvi. 43, rb^'^). Hos. xii. 13-xiv. 10. xxxvii. 1-xl. 23, 3{yii. Amos ii. 6-iii. 8. xii. 1-xliv. 17, YPO- 1 Kings iii. 15-iv. 1. xliv. 18-xlvii. 27, CJ^I. Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28. xlvii. 28-1. 26, ''H'!. 1 Kings ii. 1-12. The above are the lessons as read by the German Jews ('MaB'N); the appointed portion of the Spanish rite (niDo) is sometimes different. ' A complete list will be found in Massoretic arid other Notes'^, p. 21 ff. ; Eitto's Biblical Encycl. s.v. Haphtarah ; and elsewhere. On the Haphtarahs in general, op. Strack, p. 77 f.; Kitto, I.e. 136 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE The arrangement of the Hebrew text in chapters is not the work of the Jews themselves, but was borrowed from the Christians for the purpose of convenience, and to facilitate reference. The chapter numbering was introduced into the Complutensian Polyglott (1514-17), and was added in the margins of the early Eabbinic Bibles. Dr. Ginsburg states that it is found on the margin of Hebrew manuscripts as early as 1330 A.r). From about the middle of the sixteenth century it is employed in aU printed texts.^ A verse numeration, on the contrary, existed from very early times in the Hebrew text ; but it differed from that which was later and generally adopted. There were variations also between the schools of Palestine and of Babylon ; and the totals arrived at for the separate books, and for each of the three parts of the Bible as a whole, were not always consistent with one another. Sometimes also the Eabbis discussed the question to which of two verses a given word should be assigned, B-g. ^^P in Gen. iv. 7. The divisions were termed Pesiiqim (Q^'p1DB), and the end of each Pasuq was indi- cated by the accent siUuq, a perpendicular stroke placed beneath the last accented syllable in the final word. The custom of indicating the close of the verse by two dots placed upright in the line of the text (; P^OQ fjiD, " end of the verse ") is of later introduction, and is not foimd in the rolls for use in the synagogues.^ ^ Ginsburg, Introduction, oh. iii. " Ibid., oil. vi., where numerical and other details will be found ; Strack, p. 78 ff.; op. supra, p. 113. DIVISIONS OF THE TEXT 137 Portions of the text were also written crTf)(r}pci)<;, in verse-form or stichometrically, in the times of the Talmudists. The parts so written were the three poetical books, Psalms Proverbs and Job (n'»K, supra, p. 121), together with the songs in Ex. xv., Deut. xxxii., Judg. v., 2 Sam. xxii. CHAPTER IV. LATER HEBREW LITERATURE; MIDRASH, MISHNA AND GEMARA, TALMUD. .T /^UTSIDE of the sacred books of Scripture, and the ^^ few Apocrypha originally composed in the sacred tongue, Hebrew literature does not begin to exist until the language itself has ceased to be employed as a medium of ordinary communication. There may be and probably are fragments of ancient traditional lore handed down, and embedded in later compositions. The old, however, hardly admits of being disentangled now from the new. Broadly speaking, it was in a dead language, used only in the public worship of the synagogues and in private intercourse amongst the Jews themselves, that the earliest Hebrew writings other than the Old Testament books were composed. These writings, moreover, were completely informed by the spirit, and devoted to the one theme of the Scripture itself. The Jewish scholars of the early centuries, in all their study and composition, were more entirely, perhaps, than is the case with any other single school of writers, men of one book. They neither 13S LATER HEBREW 139 composed, nor, as far as our knowledge extends, ever cared to compose, works on any other subject. To the elucidation, exposition, and jealous guardianship of the ipsissima, verba of the Old Testament, the inspired writings given to them by God, their whole energies and time were devoted; the sacred charge of the Scriptures entrusted to them demanded and obtained their single undivided care. Hence the marvellous amount of erudition, diligence, and patient research which they displayed was yet in a sense confined within one narrow groove ; and tended therefore to exaggerate the importance of trifles, to lay imdue stress upon minutiae, and to lose sight of the greater matters and of the proportions of the whole in their anxiety to secure full consideration for every, even the least detail, that nothing should be lost. In regard to the language also, as far as these works were composed in Hebrew, the Old Testament books were the model. The " New Hebrew," as it is called, of the Mishna and later Jewish writings, differs from the Hebrew of the more recent books of the Old Testament almost solely in a greatly enlarged vocabu- lary, including the use of old words in new or altered meanings, and in a wider freedom of grammatical con- struction, which moves with less constraint on the old lines, corresponding to the freer, more colloquial diction which the writers were wont to employ. The usage and idiom of the language varied little through all its long history ; and seemed as though it were modified only just as far as the absolute necessities I40 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of the case demanded. While flexible and capable of meeting every requirement, the language thus remained always conservative, and kept as close as was possible to its permanent standard of purity and correctness in the Scriptures.^ The history of Hebrew written composition begins, therefore, where the Canon closes. If the two periods overlap at all, it is in one or other of the Hebrew apocryphal works, as noted above ; practically the only one of these that enters into consideration is the Hebrew original of the book of Ecclesiasticus, brought to light within the last few years. Otherwise a gap of at least two or three centuries separates the latest canonical writing from the beginnings of new Hebrew literature, a gap bridged over by oral teaching and the preservation of traditional lore in the memories and on the lips of the Eabbis. How far such fragments of tradition, exposition, commentary, opinion, and so forth have been embodied in later written compositions, it is impossible to determine. Not improbably the retentiveness of trained Eastern minds has preserved for us more in this respect than we have sometimes been disposed to allow. Apparently the practice of commenting upon and explaining the meaning of the Scriptures took its rise in the synagogues, in the necessity for an ^ The parallel instances naturally suggest themselves of the classical English determined once and for all by the language and style of the Authorised Version and of Shakespeare ; and of the literary Arabic conformed to the "speech of the Quraish," with its authoritative model in the sacred tongue of the Qur'an. MIDRASH 141 exposition of the Law to a congregation many of whom did not or might not understand the sacred language in which it was read. Thus the Lesson for the day was recited in Hebrew ; but the reader himself, or another, accompanied it with a translation or running commentary in the vernacular Aramaic, for the benefit of those of his hearers who could not follow the text as read, or followed it only im- perfectly. These commentaries, at first oral and ex- tempore, tended to crystallise into a definite form ; gathered up into themselves the floating oral judge- ments and traditional sayings which had been handed down, attached to the names of weU-known teachers, or even anonymous ; were amplified, completed, and extended to the remaining books of the Scripture ; and, finally, were committed to writing, becoming them- selves in their turn the foundation for renewed and wider studies into the meaning of the sacred word. MiDKASH. — To these more or less formal expositions of Scripture, originating in extempore deliverances or explanations given in the synagogue, then assuming definite and written shape, was given the name of Midrash, B'I'jO, "investigation," "interpretation." In form the word is an Infinitive Peal of the Aramaic B'n'n, to seek or search out, explain .^ The corresponding Hebrew verb is common in the Old Testament, with a similar meaning and wider usage, e.g. Gen. xxv. 22, Isa. xxxiv. 16 ; and the noun ^T\}^ itself occurs twice, in the second book of Chronicles, where the Eevised ^ For examples, see Levy, s.v. ; ep. \VV., an expounder, preacher. 142 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Version translates " commentary." ^ From this fact some have drawn the inference that such Midrashim were recognised and extant before the time of the Chronicler. More probably the word itself had not yet gained its later technical meaning. More or less formal commentaries, however, of the nature of a Midrash would undoubtedly arise as soon as the need for them was felt. Such commentaries, the judgements and decisions of various teachers, transmitted from generation to generation and gaining authority with lapse of time, formed the Tro/jaSoo-t? rSiv Trpea^VTepcov, the "tradition of the elders," of the New Testament, wherewith the Pharisees and scribes overlaid and nullified the genuine word of God, Matt. xv. 2, 3, 6 ; Mark vii. 3, 5, 8, 9, IS.^ The Midrash in general consisted of two parts or divisions, which were described respectively as Halakhah (napn, from h>\}, go, proceed, thus signifying the further development, advance, or expansion of the Law) and Haggadah (p'']^^, from 1?3, to tell, declare, expand). The ' 2 Chron. xiii. 22, nv Nmn a-rra^ n'lina . . . n'3K '131 in<, "the rest of the acts of Abijah . . . are written in the Midrash of the prophet Iddo"; ib. xxiv. 27, D'sSdh nSD a-uD hy crninD om, "behold they are written in the Midrash of the book of kings." The word is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. The Septuagint has in the first passage jSi^Xfoc, and in the second the equally colourless rendering ivl T^v ypaip'^v. 2 Compare the plural in Gal. i. 14, the irarpiKal irapadSa-eis, for which Paul was "more exceedingly zealous" ; and the traditions delivered by him to his converts, with the charge to diligently keep them, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 2 Thess. ii. 15. These last two passages need not imply more than the histories and moral and spiritual teachings of the Old Testament. MIDRASH 143 former was confined to the Pentateuch, and consists of legal prescriptions and judgements, the purpose of which was to supplement the Torah, and to provide for cases which the written ordinances did not cover. Hence it was composed largely of current usage formulated into definite rule, and of the decisions of the Eabbis on controverted points, where Scripture gave no definite and final pronouncement. The Haggadah, on the contrary, extended over the whole of Scripture, and was of the nature of a free or paraphrastic interpretation, with comments, illustrations, etc., all controlled and guided by a didactic purpose. It was therefore essentially homiletic in character, but ranged over a very wide field, including theology, philosophy, history, folk-lore, parable, apologetics, and so forth ; and in the miscellany of Haggadic literature, together with much that appears strained and fanciful, there is much that is of great and abiding interest. Examples of Haggadic exegesis are given, e.g., by Dr. Ginsburg in Kitto's Sncyclopcedia of Biblical Literature ; ^ and ■ A remarkable instance is 2 Kings xx. 9, in which Haggadic inter- pretation is said to be responsible for the present reading of the Hebrew text. "The shadow (on the dial) has gone down (^^C) t^" degrees; shall it return (^it?; dk) ten degrees?" (The R.V. is im- possible as a representation of the original text.) The form of the Hebrew, however, and the answer of Hezekiah both suggest that an alternative was offered him between the advance and retreat of the shadow ; he chose the latter as more difScult, and a more decisive sign. In the parallel passage Isa. xxxviii. 8 the sign of the recovery in the return of the shadow ten degrees is given without any reference to Hezekiah's wish or choice ; and the comment of the Eabbis upon the latter passage is to the effect that ten degrees upon the dial plate had been lost at the time of the death of Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, in order that the day being shortened to two hours instead 144 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE there also will be found quoted the thirty-two rules by which, according to the scribes, the interpretation of the Scriptures was to be governed. Comparison, analogy, and deductive inference all contributed their share to the final result. The oldest of the extant Midrashim, or that which contains the most ancient material, for most of these works are of composite authorship and various date, is the so-called Midrash Rabhah (n|iT E'l'iD) or Great Midrash, a commentary on the Pentateuch and the five Megilloth. It is said to have been composed by the Eabbi Oshaja ben Nachmani, in the second half of the third century of our era, circa 275 a.d., but it betrays its real character by the changing nature of the style in which it is written. The oldest portion is the commentary on Genesis, na"i iT'B'Kna. A similar collection is the b'^jn 'd, the " Great Midrash," upon the same ten books. Commentaries upon the Penta- teuch alone are the Midrash Tanchuma (KOinm 'd), named after its reputed author, E. Tanchuma ben Abba, who lived in the middle of the fourth century ; it is of later date than many of the others, and contains quotations or extracts from them ; also the tracts entitled Mechilta (sni'nD), Sifrd (xnsD), Sifrc of twelve, the burial of the idolatrous king might be hasty and without due ceremonial; cp. 2 Kings xyi. lOfif., 2 Chron. xxviii. 22 if. These ten lost or omitted degrees were now to be restored. And it is this fact which the present text of Kings is made to record, by reading ^^ri, "went down," i.e. on the day of Ahaz' death, instead of the original T|!?:n, "shall it go down ... or return?" The latter is the reading of the Septuagint, 7ropei)(rera[ i) uKib. d^Ko. ^a^/iot5s, ed.v eTn(jTj>iij>ri SiKa ^aO/J-ois, and also of the Syriac and Vulgate. MIDRASH 145 (nsD) on the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers and Deuteronomy, respectively. The Midrash Pe&iktd (xnp'DB '»), ascribed to Kahana ben Tachlifa, who flourished in the latter half of the fourth century, comments on extracts or sections (ninpps), taken from the entire range of Scripture, the Haphtaroth for the various festivals. The Midrash YalMt (tsipT '») is a late compilation attributed to the eleventh century, which extends over the whole Old Testament. There are also extant separate Midrashim on the Psalms, Proverbs, etc.^ After the fall of Jerusalem the city of Jamnia on the Nahr Eubin, the modern village of Yebnah, some five miles from the sea, became the headquarters of the Sanhedrin and the centre of Jewish learning, until it was eclipsed by the rise of the schools of Tiberias. Here was carried on the preliminary work of codifying and committing to writing the legal prescriptions, rules, and usages embodied in the Halakhah, and certified by Eabbinical authority. The foundations had been laid at an earlier date, in the time of the great teachers Hillel i. and Shammai, about the beginning of our era ; and the name of the former especially was traditionally associated with the first attempt at the compilation of a written code of law supplementary to the Torah. The work, how- ever, was accomplished only gradually under the ' See Abrahams, Jewish Literature, ch. iv. ; Ginsburg, ubi cit., s.v. Midrash ; Schechter in SDB y. pp. 58% 63=" ; special articles on the Haggadio literature and sources will be found in the Jevnsh Quarterly Bemew, vols. iv. p. 406 if., v. p. 399 ff., vii. p. 581 S. 10 146 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE guidance of a succession of scholars, known in general as Tannditn (D''f*3Pi), " repeaters," " reciters," ^ of whom more than a hundred names are recorded within the first two centuries. Of these Hillel and Shammai, the founders of rival schools of learning and interpretation, are recognised as the first ; and to the school of the former belonged the great Gamaliel i. (Acts v. 34), a direct descendant, son or grandson, of Hillel himself, and Jochanan ben Zakkai (*3t p pnii), the founder of the College at Jamnia. The best-known name in the second generation of Tannaim (circa 100—130 a.d.) was that of Eabbi Akiba ben Joseph, who was followed by many disciples, and whose fame rests mainly upon two particulars, his ability as a codifier of tradition, and his quickness and insight in tracing the connection between the oral and the written Law. He is said to have pre- pared and committed to writing a legal code on the lines of the later Mishna. His intense patriotism and sympathy led him to take part in the rising of the Jews under Bar Kokhba, 131—35 a.d., and he was slain during the war. The work of Akiba was carried on in the third generation by his disciple Eabbi Meir and others, who brought a step nearer completion the work of determining and arranging the supplementary law. But the final codifier of the law, who gave to it its present form, was Eabbi Jehudah Hannasi (*E'3n ''), Judah the Prince, or, as he was also called, Eabbi ' Njfi, niy, to repeat, Job xxix. 22, Gen. xli. 32, al. MISHNA AND GEMARA 147 Jehudah the Holy (B^ilisn), 160-210 a.d. Judah Hannasi was by far the most renowned of the Tannaim, and during his presidency the centre of Jewish learning was transferred to Tiberias. He is said to have been a man of great wealth and influence, who commanded respect by the purity of his life as well as the width and profundity of his scholarship. To the directions and precepts of the oral law, as already in large part fixed and arranged, he gave the stamp of his master mind. MiSHNA AND Gemaea. — This great legal code of civil and ritual observance is known as the Mishna, from the root wn, Heb. njE', to repeat. It was, there- fore, in origin and intention an exhaustive supplement to the Torah or written law, in which were embodied all the traditional rules and obligations, civil and religious, of Jewish life, the binding character of which was recognised by its authors. It was, there- fore, essentially inferior in authority and weight to the original Law of Moses, but in course of time an equal or even superior dignity came to be attached to it ; and in cases of doubt or conflict the final appeal lay to the Mishna, not to the Pentateuch. Various traditions and usages which have been preserved from ancient times, but which found no place in the canonical collection of laws of Eabbi Judah, are termed baraitha (*<"""??. " external "), or tosephtd (sriBDin, "additional"). The former is only known from quotations in the writings of the Eabbis ; but of the latter a definite work exists which passes 148 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE under the name of TosepMci. It is similar in character to the Mishna, but borrows from it, and is therefore, in its present form at least, of later date. The Mishna is written in Hebrew, for the most part pure and practically identical with the Hebrew of the later books of the Old Testament. It consists of six Seddrim or Books (Dn'ip), subdivided into sixty- three Massikhtoth or Tractates (niPi3DD); and these are further divided into chapters, Perdqim (Q'p'^s). The nature of the subjects of which the Mishna treats will be manifest from the headings of the six books, which are entitled respectively, Seder Zeralm (CV^f, "seeds"). Seder Mo'ed pViD, "season" or "festival"), Seder NdsMni (CB'S, " women "), Seder Nezlqin (l''i?''M, "damages"), Seder Qodashlm (QT^i^, "holy things," "tabus"), Seder Toharoth ("ii?^, " purifications ").i The Peraqim, or Chapters, numbered in all five hundred and twenty-five. The school of Jewish thinkers and scholars who succeeded the Tannaim is known as the Amordim (D'^niDS, " speakers," " expounders "). They undertook the task of supplementing and expounding the Mishna, much in the same way as the Tannaim professed to " repeat " the written law. Their work, however, to which was given the name of Gemara, from the verb "loji, to supplement, complete,^ covered a much wider ' A complete list of the titles and subjects of all the tractates in order will be found in SDB y. p. 60 f. See also the literature there cited. ^ TDJ, Ezra Tii. 12, R.V. "perfect," the only passage in which the Aramaic verb occurs in the Old Testament ; Heb. "idj Ps. vii. 10, Ivii. 3, al. MISHNA AND GEMARA 149 range of subjects than the Mishna, and was composed, not in Hebrew, but in Aramaic. The Mishna consisted, or was supposed to consist, entirely of Halakhah, although much that is of the nature of Haggadah is found in it ; the Gemara is entirely Haggadic, and its authors allowed themselves the same freedom in the topics discussed as is implied in its Haggadic character. Following the Mishna step by step, taking it as a kind of text, the Gemara explains, interprets, and illustrates with historical, mythological, and other matter often most loosely connected with the original theme. The flourishing era of the Amoraim was during the third and two following centuries, but the foundations of their work were laid by three contemporary scholars and teachers: — Abba Arikha (175-247 a.d.), surnamed Eab, or the Master, and usually known by the latter name, the founder of the College of learning at Sura on the Euphrates; Samuel (180-257 a.d.), said to have been a great mathematician and astronomer, and to have set in order the Jewish Calendar; he was president of the Nehardea school ; and Jochanan (199-279), a liberal-minded scholar, the last of the great Palestinian teachers, who is recorded to have taken much pleasure in the study of Greek. All the later Amoraim belonged to the schools of Babylonia, and it was there that in the course of the fourth and fifth centuries the Gemara was finally completed and written down. At what precise period this final redaction took place is not known. In all probability the process of writing out and arranging ISO INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the contents in order was gradual, as in the case of the Mishna. And supplementary work to an incon- siderable extent is said to have been carried out by the leading scholars of the sixth century, the Sdhhordim (D^xniap), "thinkers" or "explainers." Though later in date, the Gemara contains some older material, which perhaps antedates the greater part of the Mishna. The Mishna and G-emara taken together are known as the Talmud (TiO^J?, "teaching" "doctrine"); but the latter term is sometimes applied to the Gemara alone, the written commentary as distinguished from the Mishna, the text upon which the comment is made. It is usually, however, and most conveniently, employed to include both. Talmud. — The existing Talmud is known in two forms or recensions, a Jerusalem or Palestinian Talmud (^ppOTT' 'n)^ the final redaction of which must have taken place before the closing of the Palestinian schools of learning in the fourth century ; and a Babylonian (733 'n), which for the most part had its origin in Babylonia not later than the sixth. Both Talmuds have the same Mishna, but differ in their Gemara, that of Babylon being greatly amplified. Neither Gemara, however, was complete in the sense that it commented upon the whole of the Mishna in order ; in each case certain tractates were omitted, although not the same in the two Gemaras.'- ' See S. Schechter in HDB, ubi cit., with the literature there cited ; Abrahams, Jewish Literature, oh. iii. ; H. L. Strack, Einleitung in den Thalmud^, Leipzig, 1894 ; Sohiirer, Jewish People in the Time of Christ, i. 1, pp. 119-130, 134-153, ii. 1, p. 330 £f. ; and the relevant articles in JE. TALMUD 151 The Gemara shared to the full the high esteem in which the oral or traditional law was held by the Jews. Neither there, however, nor in the Mishna itself has much been preserved that is of service for strictly literary or textual criticism. The authors frequently offer an interpretation of a passage or passages of Scripture which differs from that of later authorities ; but it does not seem as though the actual text that lay before them was in many instances at variance with the current form. Where, moreover, they quote the sacred text they quote freely, and in most instances from memory. Elsewhere, when the quotation is precise, it is found to be exact in the minutest details, either because the manuscript was referred to and the passage written out, or because a later copyist has corrected the quotation to bring it into harmony with the Massoretic form of text. No safe critical inference can be drawn in either case, unless it is warranted by the context or the clear purpose of the argument. There are, however, a few passages in which the authors of the Talmud appear to have preserved a reading distinct from that of our present Massoretic text. Whether it were a reading widely spread and accepted in their day, or merely a peculiarity of one or more manuscripts, it is impossible to determine. In two passages, both in the tractate SotSJi (^^^^) of the third book of the Mishna on Women, the comment of the writer implies a different vocalisation of the text: — Lev. xi. 33, "Every earthen vessel whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be 152 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE unclean" («»Q:), where the Piel H^^] is to be read, and interpreted in a transitive sense, of defilement communicated to other objects (Sotdh v. 2) ; and 2 Sam. XV. 6, " So Absalom stole {^p}'') the hearts of the men of Israel," read Qal 31351, with no alteration of the meaning, cp. Gen. xxxi. 20, 26 {Sotdh i. 8). Elsewhere and more often the Hebrew consonants are affected, e.g. Mai. iii. 23, rhv} ''33N nan, read n^B' •'Wn, (Uduyyoth viii. 7) ; perhaps an instance of quotation from memory. Or even a word is added, Amos ix. 14, " I wUl bring again the captivity of My people Israel," read " Israel and Judah " ( Yddayim iv. 4). The Gemara, as would naturally be expected, has a larger number of variations, and the explanations which the writers offer of their text are often fanciful enough, e.g. Ex. xii. 6, n^ ^nb, read litfS'in f^hb ('ArdJcMn IS''), an interpretative gloss; Judg. xv. 20, "Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years " ; Sotdh xvii. quotes a reading " forty " (d^Win) for " twenty " (D''nE'3;), and explains it to mean that the Philistines feared him for twenty years after his death as they had feared him for twenty years during his lifetime ; in Isa. xlii. 5, " Thus saith the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth" (Dn''[3i3'i), a reading DiT'tillJl is quoted, perhaps a mere accidental duplication of the consonant in writing, but most extraordinarily interpreted as nautas, " sailors." ^ ' See for further examples Straok, Prolegomena, p. 94 ff. Fourteen instances are given from the Mishua, 97 from the Gemara. CHAPTER V. THE VERSIONS. TARGUMS AND SYRIAC VER- SIONS; SEPTUAGINT AND OTHER GREEK VERSIONS; LATIN; EGYPTIAN; ETHIOPIC; ARABIC ; ARMENIAN ; GOTHIC. THE Targums, D''pwnri,i are Aramaic translations, often rather paraphrases of the Old Testament, into the vernacular language of Syria, which began to reassert itself throughout Palestine as the language of ' The origin and derivation of the name are uncertain. It is most usually connected with Assyr. ragdmu, to cry, call, rigmu, a cry. The Heb. on is to "stone," "kill hy stoning," Num. xiv. 10, Ezek. xvi. 40, al. ; and Wellhausen and others have therefore endeavoured to find in the word the idea of divination, the ascertain- ing of the divine will by means of the casting of stones, and then " interpretation," communication of the unknown in general. But the practice of stone-throwing seems usually to partake of the nature of an imprecation not an inquisition, expelling or keeping at a distance demoniac or evil influences ; compare the weU-known stone-throwing at Mecca by the Muhammadan pilgrims. The Arab, word raja/ma together with the Hebrew signification has the meaning to " denounce," "curse." Heb. Danri, Aram. Daig, to "interpret," "translate," are perhaps to be associated with the Arabic root in the sense of guess, conjecture. n'PlK d™? ™ Ezra iv. 7 is "translated into Aramaic," furnished with an Aram, rendering. See OflX, s.v. Dim ; Buhl, p. 171. 1S3 154 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE common intercourse and trade, as soon as a familiar knowledge of the sacred Hebrew tongue came to be lost. At how early a date this process was initiated, and the need for a translation of the Scriptures began to be felt, it is not possible to determine. There are indications that even before the Exile decay and disuse had set in. On the other hand, the incident described in Isa. xxxvi. 11 ff. and the parallel passage 2 Kings xviii. 26 ff. seem to show that at that time to the lower classes of the inhabitants of Jerusalem Aramaic was unknown. They understood only Hebrew, while men of position and education were bilingual, familiar with both tongues. The passage is not without its difficulties ; but as it stands a knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic alike (nnins n''DnK) is presumed on the part of the ambassadors of the king of Babylon no less than on the side of the Jewish envoys. The language existed with many slight dialectic diffe- rences, broadly distinguished as Eastern or Babylonian, and Western or Palestinian.^ In the latter form Aramaic was the ordinary vernacular speech of Palestine in the time of Christ, while Greek was the literary language, the language of the courts and schools ; and into this dialect parts if not the whole of the New Testament were early translated. Hence in its later somewhat modified form it is sometimes known as " Christian " Aramaic.^ In the gradual evolution and transmission of Aramaic renderings or paraphrases of the sacred books a more or ' Cp. supra, p. 20. ' Infra, p. 165. TARGUMS 155 less prolonged period of oral repetition would naturally precede the stereotyping and actual committal of them to writing. The precise date at which this last took place is unknown ; but it is evident that such transla- tions were long regarded with suspicion if not with actual hostility. A passage is quoted from the Tosephta Sabb. xvi. 128, where mention is made of a written Targum on the book of Job in the days of Gamaliel, in the first century ; he gave orders that it should be destroyed by being built into a wall. There seems no evidence, however, that such translations were forbidden, although they were disliked by the Kabbis. The trac- tate Yddaim iv. 5 makes reference to Aramaic transla- tions of the Old Testament; and in Megilloth iv. 2, rules are given for the guidance of the methurgemdn (IDjinwo), the interpreter, in the public reading of the synagogue ; three verses at a time may be recited from the Prophets, but only one from the Torah. The office, therefore, was recognised as a practical necessity ; but how early it came into existence is not known.^ It would seem, further, that although these Targums originated in Palestine, and were composed in a Pales- tinian dialect,^ in the land of their birth they were never regarded as authoritative, or available for syna- gogue use ; while in the synagogues of Babylonia, the reading of Aramaic translations of the Scriptures, ' Buhl, p. 170 f., where further illustrations will be found. ' The language of the Targums "agrees with the Old Palestinian forms as against the dialect of the Babylonian Talmud," i.e. the Gemarii, sup. p. 148 ff. T. Walker in SD£, vol. iv. p. 678. iS6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE ultimately derived from Palestine, was permitted and customary. Targums or Aramaic versions are extant in a more or less complete form on all the books of the Old Testament with the exception of Daniel and Ezra- Nehemiah, i.e. the two books portions of which are written in Aramaic. Whatever the reason may be, it can hardly be an accident that these alone should not be furnished with a vernacular paraphrase ; nor, as far as our knowledge goes, were they ever so furnished. None of the existing Targums dates farther back than the fourth or iif th century after Christ ; and for the most part they assumed their present form at a con- siderably later period. They contain, however, older material, often of a Midrashic character. (1) The oldest and most important Targum is an Aramaic version of the five books of the Law, known as the Targum of OnJcelos (Di^pJls), or the Babylonian Targum, because authorised and read in the synagogues of Babylonia. Neither the author nor the date, how- ever, of the translation can be determined with certainty. It is probably the work of more hands than one, and has undergone perhaps more than one revision, of which the aim was to bring the several parts into harmony with one another. Of the reputed author Onkelos nothing is known, nor is the Targum referred to under his name until as late as the ninth century. As a name DibpiiN is the same as ">''?V,> Aquila, the Greek trans- lator of the Old Testament ; ^ and by some writers the 1 /n/TO,!p. 187 ff. TARGUMS 157 identity of the two men has been assumed.^ For this there seems to be no real ground. It has been sug- gested also that the name of Aquila or Onkelos came to be attached to the Targum, because the translation was characterised by the same features of extreme and even pedantic literality as the Greek of Aquila. True, however, as this may be of some parts of the version, it is hardly applicable to it as a whole ; the translation is "good and faithful to the original," but does not follow the Hebrew so minutely and rigidly as to merit comparison with the style or qualities of Aquila's rendering. The problem of the origin of the name must remain, it would appear, unsolved. The version itself is Palestinian, and the dialect in which it is written belongs to the Western Aramaic; but it was never authorised in Palestine, and must have been carried at a comparatively early date to Babylonia, where it was adopted and submitted to a final revision. In the Babylonian Talmud it is known as " our Targum." The editio princeps appeared at Bologna in 1482 a.d., and it has since been several times reprinted.^ (2) A similar account as regards the country in which it was originally composed, and its final revision and circulation in Babylonia, must be given of the second great Targum, the so-called Targum of Jonathan, ' Abrahams, Jewish Literature, p. 6. = Buhl, p. 172 ff. ; T. Walker, HDB, vol. iv. p. 679 f. ; Schui'er, i. 1, pp. 154-63 ; Ad. Merx, Chrestomathia Targumica, Berlin, 1888 ; C. Cornill, Introdvction to the Canonical Soaks of the Old Testament, Eng. trans., London, 1907, p. 529 f. The most complete citation of the literature is in the article in HDB. 158 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE an Aramaic translation of the Prophets, which derives its name from Jonathan ben Uzziel, a follower and disciple of Hillel, who flourished towards the close of the first century B.C. The tradition which associates the translation with his name seems to have no founda- tion in fact ; and although older materials have been incorporated, in its present form the Targum is not earlier than the fifth century of our era. The Baby- lonian Talmud refers to a Targum on the Prophets under the name not of Jonathan, but of Joseph ben Chija, the President of the Rabbinical school of learning at Pumbeditha, who died in the year 333 a.d. That he took part, therefore, in the redaction or completion of the Targum as we possess it is sufficiently probable, but hardly admits of definite proof. The rendering of the later Prophets (D'iinN ':) is freer and more paraphrastic than that of the earlier (d'SB'NT 'i), as would be expected in view of their greater difficulty. Throughout the translation is less literal than that of Onkelos, and in various passages has been thought to betray his influence. The first printed edition of Jonathan's Targum appeared at Leiria in 1494 ; and it has since been reprinted in the Polyglotts, etc.^ (3) (4) Two Palestinian versions also of the Pentateuch in Aramaic are extant, known as the first and second Jerusalem Targums. The first is also referred to as the Targum of the Pseudo-Jonathan, because on the strength of an ascription in a late 1 Buhl, Mi sup., and Walker, p. 681 ; Lagarde, Frophetce Chaldaice, 1872. Extracts will be found also in Merx, Chrestomathia Targumiea. TARGUMS 159 manuscript the authorship of the translation has been credited to the same Jonathan b. Uzziel as the Babylonian Targum on the Prophets. The real author is unknown, and the tradition with regard to Jonathan appears not to be earlier than the fourteenth century ; before that time, at least occasionally, it is referred to as the Targum of the Land of Israel (^jkib''' px 'n)-^ The dialect is Palestinian, and the text is intermingled with much that is of the nature of haggadic comments and explanations. As a whole the work belongs to the latter part of the seventh century, or later. There is a unique manuscript of the Targum in the British Museum. The text was first printed at Vienna in 1591. The second Jerusalem Targum is ascribed to the same period in general as that of the Pseudo-Jonathan, i.e. the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century of our era, but in parts it would seem to be older than the latter. It is, however, incomplete, containing only about 850 verses, mainly historical, on the narrative portions of the Pentateuch ; and the translation is characterised more than the others by looseness and a free use of paraphrase. Two manu- scripts only of the Targum are known, of which the one that was used for the editio princeps in the Bomberg Bible at Venice in the year 1517, has since dis- appeared. The other is in the Vatican Library at Eome.2 ^ See J. Barnstein in JQE, vol. xi. p. 167 ff. ^ Buhl, p. 179 £f.; Walker, p. 680 f. i6o INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE No Palestinian Targum on the Prophets is known to exist. But fragmentary notices and extracts are to be found in later Eabbinical works, and in the form of marginal glosses to the Hebrew text in various manuscripts. The Targums on the Drains or Hagiographa are of much less importance and interest. Of some books, as Esther, more than one version in Aramaic is in exist- ence. Such translations were peculiar to Palestine, and seem never to have obtained currency in Babylonia. As stated above (p. 156), Targums are extant on all the Writings, with the exception of the two books of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah. The circumstances of their origin and the dates at which they were composed are uncertain. The version of the books of Chronicles printed in the Syriac Bible has all the characteristics of a Jewish Targum, and is usually regarded as such.^ There is also extant a Samaritan Targum on the Pentateuch, in the Samaritan dialect, which reproduces the peculiarities of the Samaritan form of text. Nothing is known of its origin. It has been printed more than once, in the ordinary Hebrew character by A. BruU, 1873-75 A.D.2 Syeiac Veksions. — A translation of the Sacred Scriptures, both Old and New, into the Syriac language was made at an early date for the use of the Syriac- 1 See BuU, I.e., and p. 191 ; T. Walker, p. 681 ff.; Cornill, pp. 261, 466, 532. 2 Buhl, p. 183 fif. ; Coruill, p. 512. SYRIAC VERSIONS i6i speaking peoples of Syria and Mesopotamia. With regard to the circumstances and details of the work, however, we have little information. Jewish tradition carries back its origin even beyond the age of Ezra to the time and court of king Solomon ; and the tradition of pre-Christian initiation and part accomplishment of the task of translation is so far founded on fact that in the case of some books at least the version in its final form appears to have adopted or largely incorpor- ated an earlier Jewish Targum. The greater part of the work, however, was due to Christian interest and effort, and was perhaps accomplished at the same time and under the same direction as the Syriac translation of the New Testament. It cannot, therefore, have been carried to a successful issue at an earlier date than the establishment of the Christian Church in Syria in the second century. Native Christian tradition connects with it the names of the apostle Addai and king Abgar of Edessa.^ All certain knowledge of the author or authors was, however, soon lost, for in the fourth century a Christian writer makes reference to the general ignorance in the matter of the origin of the Syriac version.^ It is, however, well established by the time of the Syrian bishop Aphraates in the middle of the fourth century, who quotes in his writings from ^ See the story of Addai and his mission in F. C. Burkitt, Early JEastem Christianity, pp. 11 ff., 34 f. ; Dr. Burkitt calls him a Jew from Palestine, belonging to the second century ; but tradition describes him as one of the seventy-(two) disciples (Luke x. 1, 17), or even the apostle Thaddseus himself. ^ Theodore of Mopsuestia in his commentary on Zeph. i. 6, cited in Wright, p. 4. II i62 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE all the canonical books with the exception of Esther.^ To have won so recognised a position the translation could hardly have been made much less than a century earlier. And this reduces the time of its composition within comparatively narrow limits. The version is known as the Peschitta, or " simple." The origin of the designation and the reason for its introduction have been much discussed. The word occurs, for instance, in the New Testament as a rendering for aTrXoO?, Matt. vi. 22, Luke xi. 34 ; and for aTrXoTi;?, Col. iii. 22 ; for uKaKoi, Eom. xvi. 18 ; and for ev0vT7]<;, Heb. i. 8. The most probable explanation seems to be that the version was termed Peshitta, " simple," air\d, in contradistinction from the Syro- Hexaplar,^ which was " impure," " mixed," being derived indu-ectly from the original through the Greek of Origen. Others have been of opinion that the title referred to the character and style of the trans- lation, a title well-deserved in the case of the version of the New Testament, but perhaps hardly equally applicable to the Old. In the latter the rendering of the several books is of unequal merit, and is clearly the work of different scholars, variously equipped for their task, and carried out in all probabihty at different periods. The Pentateuch is the best translated, and this and the book of Job keep fairly close to the original Hebrew. The Megilloth and the later Writings ' Buhl, p. 52 f. ; see also on Aphraates and his relation to the Syrian Canon, W. Wright, Syriac Literature, Loudon, 1894, p. 32 f.; Burkitt, p. 81 if. ^ Infra, T^. 164 f. SYRIAC VERSIONS 163 generally are to a large extent paraphrastic. The version of the Psalms and Prophets has been influenced by the Septuagint. The same is apparently true of other books of the Old Testament ; and the whole may not improbably have been revised or corrected to bring it into conformity with the Greek text. Of this Syriac version there existed two main recensions, belonging to the two schools of the Nestorians or East Syrians, and the Jacobites or West Syrians, respectively. The Canon of the Syriac text of both schools is deficient as compared with the Hebrew in the books of Chronicles and of Ezra- Nehemiah, and the Nestorian manuscripts lack also the book of Esther. Chronicles was supplied from a pre-existing Jewish Targum ; ^ and possibly the absence of the others from the existing manuscripts is a mere accident, for all three books are quoted by Aphraates. The earliest printed editions of the Peshitta Old Testament are in the great Polyglotts, Paris, 1629— 45 A.D., and London, 1657 a.d. The late Dr. S. Lee, Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, published in 1823 a manual edition for the British and Foreign Bible Society, which has long been out of print; and the American Mission Press at Urumiah reproduced the same text in an edition published in 1852. A Pales- tinian Syriac Lectionary, with lessons from the Penta- teuch, Job, Proverbs, and the Prophets, was edited in the Cambridge Studia Sinaitica, by Mrs. A. S. Lewis 1 Supra, p. 160. i64 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE in 1897. The Apocryphal books have been edited by P. de Lagarde, Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi Syriace, Leipzig, 1861. A convenient and critical edition of the Old Testament in Syriac is greatly needed.^ The Syro-Hexaplar text, referred to above, is a translation of the books of the Old Testament into Syriac made at Alexandria in the years 616—617 A.D. by Paul, bishop of Telia in Mesopotamia, from the Hexaplar Greek of Origen, as extracted and re-issued by Eusebius and Pamphilus (infra, p. 203). The value of the version for critical purposes, even though not derived immediately from the Hebrew, is enhanced by its extreme literality ; and in the use and preference of the Church it largely superseded the Peshitta. More- over the diacritical marks of Origen were preserved, with notes and variations from other Greek translations. No manuscript is known of the entire Old Testament in this version ; the most complete is preserved in the Ambrosian library at Milan, and contains the later Prophets together with the three poetical books, and Daniel, Canticles, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiasticus. The greater part of the historical books are to be found elsewhere in other manuscripts. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were published by M. Norberg in 1787 ; Jeremiah and the Poetical books by H. Middle- dorf in 1835 ; Judges and Euth by T. S. Eordam, 1859- 6 1 ; the extant portions of the historical books by P. de 1 Buhl, p. 185 ff. ; E. Nestle in SDJB, vol. iv. p. 650 ff., with the literature there cited ; ComiU, Introduction, p. 531 ff. ; Wright, Syriac Ziteratwre, p. 3 ff. ; Burkitt, ch. ii. ; W. E. Barnes, Peshitta Psalter according to the West Syrian Text, Cambridge, 1904. SYRIAC VERSIONS 165 Lagarde in a posthumous volume at Gottingen in 1892. No complete edition, however, of the version, as far as it is extant, has appeared.^ Parts also of the Septuagint were rendered into Syriac by Polycarp the chorepiscopus at the close of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century, at the instance of Philoxenus, the Monophysite bishop of Mabug. In the opening years also of the eighth century, Jacob of Edessa worked at a revision of the Syriac text. Some parts of both versions have been preserved and edited.^ Considerable fragments also are known of a Syriac translation of the Old Testament in a Palestinian dialect. Portions are extant from the five books of the Law except Leviticus, the three poetical books, Isaiah, a few verses of Jeremiah, and several of the Minor Prophets ; but there is no evidence to show whether the version was ever complete.^ 2. Septuagint and othee Greek Versions; Greek Manuscripts of the Old Testament; Editions. Of all ancient renderings of the Old Testament into other tongues, the Greek are pre-eminent in interest 1 Wright, p. 14 fF. ; E. Nestle, I.e., and ih. y. 446 f. ; H. B. Swete, Introduction to the Old Testainent in Greek, Cambridge, 1900, p. 112 f., where a complete list of editions will be found ; the literature in Nestle, n.ce. ' See Swete, i.e. ; Buhl, p. 145 f. ^ A complete list of the known fragments will be found in Swete, p. 115 ; see G. H. Gwilliam, Anacdota Oxoniensia, Semitic Series, vol. i. pt. v., Oxford, 1893 ; pt. ix., Oxford, 1896 ; A. S. Lewis, ut mpra. i66 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE and importance, both for the interpretation and criticism of the Hebrew text, and for the part they have played in the broad dissemination of a knowledge of the sacred Scriptures. As far as can be judged, had the books and teaching of the Old Testament remained locked up in a comparatively unknown Semitic speech, they could never have become linked with the New Testament in a world-wide propaganda, or formed the basis of a universal religion. Transla- tion into Greek meant that the treasures of their doctrine were thrown open to the Western civilised world, that the sacred literature of a numerically feeble and uninfluential race emerged from its obscurity into the full light of day, and equipped itself to compete for the regard and allegiance of all educated, thoughtful men. The teaching and knowledge which in Hebrew dress were necessarily restricted to a com- paratively few readers, in Greek form laid claim to the attention of the Western world, and of the nations far and wide, who, whether Greek or not by origin and race, spoke Greek as a lingua franca, and as the language of literature, science, commerce, and art. Even Latin, the only possible alternative, the language of jurisprudence, law, government, and military science, would have been at the beginning of the Christian era immeasurably inferior to Greek as a medium of far- reaching communication and instruction, and fell far behind it in flexibility and the power of expressing new religious thought and conveying the emotions and aspirations of a strange creed. In the largest GREEK VERSIONS 167 and best sense translation into Greek was "epoch- making" for the Old Testament writings themselves on the one hand, and on the other for the outside world. A few centuries earlier a similar, although never so considerable or effective a part, might have been played by an Aramaic version had the times been ripe for it, and had a version been available which for simplicity and adaptation to the current speech could compare with the Greek of later date. For a long period among the older nations Aramaic had been the inter- national speech in which the intercourse of trade and civilisation was carried on. And evidence has accumulated, especially in recent years, of its wide- spread use and influence, in one or other of its many forms and dialects, from the confines of Egypt on the south to the mountains of Armenia on the north, and from Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf on the east to Spain in the west, to the gates of the Mediterranean and even beyond. Aramaic, however, as a vehicle for profound religious thought was poor and inexpressive and halting compared with the rich- ness and variety of the Greek. Though capable, no doubt, of development, it did not develop, unless to a very slight extent. Greek had ready a wealth of religious and philosophic terminology, equal to the expression of the most exalted and far-reaching con- ceptions, and had already carried speculation to its furthest bounds. No other existing language could offer equal facilities to a doctrine that desired to be i68 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE known, and a literature that claimed to have a message for all mankind. Aramaic yielded place to Greek, and for the world at large, for just and liberal thought, the change was fraught with inestimable gain. With regard to the origin and date of the earliest rendering of the Old Testament Scriptures in whole or in part into Greek there is much need of further light. Prima facie the requirements of the Hellenistic or Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria and Egypt, and perhaps of the West generally, might be expected to give rise at a comparatively early date to a demand for a version of the Law at least into the familiar language of their daily life. Such a demand would be likely to arise at no long period after the founda- tion of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in the year 330 B.C., and the settlement in the city of numerous and prosperous colonies of Jews. The motive suggested is suiScient, and no real necessity exists to look for any further or more remote cause. The debt of Christendom to the Jews in this respect is very great, a debt inadequately recognised and never repaid. The traditional account of the matter, however, ascribes the first impulse in the direction of a Greek translation of the Hebrew sacred writings to a Greek king of Egypt, or rather to his official Librarian, who desired to enrich the Eoyal Library of the city with copies in Greek of learned and importfl,nt works from every accessible source. Ptolemy ii. of Egypt, so the story runs, surnamed Philadelphus, who reigned B.C. 285-247, at the instance LETTER OF ARISTEAS 169 of his librarian Demetrius Phalereus, who urged that a translation of the Jewish Law should be made to be placed in the Eoyal Library at Alexandria, sent ambassadors with gifts to Jerusalem to the high priest Eleazar with a request for the appointment of com- petent men to produce a version of the Law for him in the Greek tongue. Seventy-two men accordingly were deputed, some from every tribe, to proceed to Egypt, and there imdertake the translation for the king; and they bore with them a copy of the Law written in golden characters. On presenting them- selves before Ptolemy, difficult questions were proposed to them in philosophy, law, etc., in order to test their knowledge and capacity. These having all in turn been satisfactorily answered, the Jewish ambassadors were assigned a place and temporary home in the small island of Pharos,^ lying to the north off the coast of the Delta, and in seventy-two days accomplished their task, together producing a version of the Law in the Greek language. Their work was approved by the Jews of Alexandria, and even excited admiration. And the translators were sent back to Jerusalem laden with gifts. The story, thus narrated, is contained in the so-called Letter of Aristeas, the author of which professes himself a military officer of king Ptolemy, and a member of the embassy deputed to Jerusalem. He writes to his ' Now, and for many centuries, part of the mainland, being connected with it by a mole, seven stadia or about a mile in length, known as the Heptastadium, the building of which is ascribed to Alexander the Great. I70 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE brother Philokrates, detailing the circumstances of his mission, its success, the reception of the Jewish legates in Alexandria, and their translation of the Law. It is generally agreed, however, that the letter is really the work of a Jew, who adopted the character and name of a Greek officer, for what purpose is unknown. The author's date also is uncertain, and the opinions of scholars vary within wide limits. Dr. Schiirer and others ascribe his work to the beginning of the second century before Christ, or even somewhat earlier. Wend- land, the most recent editor of the Epistle, favours a date a century later. While others bring it down approximately to the middle of the first century a.d. If the last view were shown to be correct, the probability of an underlying basis of fact in the traditionary account would be considerably lessened. The better authorities, however, accept an earlier date, but the question cannot be regarded as certainly determined. The Epistle, as printed by H. St. J. Thackeray,^ from some twenty manuscripts, which fall into two main groups or families, is of con- siderablelength,occupyingfifty-five pages in the Cambridge edition. After a brief introduction, the writer refers to the efforts of Deme- trius to furnish the royal library with copies of all the books known to the civilised world, and details the steps taken to secure a copy of the Jewish Law from Jerusalem, together with an efficient body of translators. The king makes provision, in the first instance, for the ransom and liberation of all Jewish prisoners detained in his dominions ; and Demetrius then supplies an estimate of the cost of the journey, and recommends that a letter be written to the high priest at Jerusalem, requesting the appointment of experi- ■ As an Appendix to Swete's Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, Cambridge, 1900. LETTER OF ARISTEAS 171 enced and pious men, six from each tribe, for the purpose of a faithful translation. The letter is accordingly sent, and is pre- faced by a reference to the magnanimity of the king in setting free the Jewish prisoners. Its text is given, and also that of the reply of Eleazar, and the latter is followed by the list of the names of the Jewish delegates. The elaborate and costly gifts are then detailed, which are to be carried to Jerusalem. There follows the journey itself, and a lengthy description of the holy city and the temple, the splendid vestments of the high priest, which excite their admiration, and the beauty and fertility of the land of Palestine ; and the Jordan with its overflow in the days of harvest is compared to the Nile. The writer then passes to the immediate object of his journey, and the mission of the Jewish translators ; their qualifications and character are set forth, and the affectionate relations subsisting between them and Eleazar : the regulations and significance of the Law, especially with regard to forbidden foods and drinks, are explained at some length ; and Eleazar, after duly sacrificing, dismisses them with many gifts for the king. At Alexandria they are cordially wel- comed by Ptolemy, who insists on seeing the Jewish ambassadors at once ; and they enter his presence with their gifts and manu- scripts, the latter inscribed in gold, in " Jewish " letters, and are received and treated with all honour. For a whole week of seven days feasting is kept up, and questions are proposed by the king to the Jewish delegates successively, of which the following are examples : — How may the kingdom be maintained in perpetuity. What is the end and aim of courage. How may riches be pre- served. Can wisdom be taught. What is philosophy. Why do most men fail to practise virtue, and so forth. The close of the interrogation is marked by a loud outburst of applause and rejoicing ; the king congratulates the Jews, and commands presents to be distributed to them ; and the writer himself pauses in his narration to express his admiration for the readiness and wisdom of their answers, of which he says a complete record was kept. After three days they are taken to the island, to a house made ready for them, and provided with all that is necessary for their task. When the work was finished, Demetrius conducted a number of Alexandrian Jews to the place, who heard the transla- tion read, and certified to its fidelity and excellence. Ptolemy also, when he hears the Law, marvels at the wisdom of the Law- giver. Demetrius explains its divine character, which has been 172 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE shown by visitations of calamity upon some who have treated it with disrespect, and the king gives orders that the books shall be preserved with the utmost care and honour. Finally, the ambassadors are dismissed with gifts for themselves and for the high priest. Such is a brief outline of the much discussed Epistle of Aristeas. It is obvious that it lays itself open to criticism in many respects. The acquaintance of the author with Jewish usages and beliefs, in which he moves as one familiar and at home, betrays his nation- ahty. No cultivated Greek officer could have written of Judaism as it were from within and almost as an advocate, with the strong sympathy which is stamped upon every page of the Epistle. On the other hand, this very fact would appear to make it the more un- likely that the whole story should be pure invention, without any basis or foundation in fact. That a Jew or Jews should ascribe the earliest rendering of their sacred law into another language to the initiative of a heathen monarch, and should represent their fellow- countrymen as applauding his act, is altogether so improbable, so contrary to what is known of Jewish habit and sentiment, that it appears simpler and more natural to believe that there underlies the narrative of Aristeas some real basis of truth which, in detail perhaps distorted and misconceived, overlaid and supplemented by tradition and fancy, has preserved the memory of a great boon conferred by an Egyptian king on a class, and usually an unpopular class, of his subjects. To an intelligent and thoughtful Greek it would appear an altogether legitimate and praiseworthy aim, to secure LETTER OF ARISTEAS 173 the completeness of the library at Alexandria by placing on its shelves copies of the remarkable books of all peoples. If, however, the account given by Aristeas of the origin of the Greek Bible be entirely rejected, no further cause need be sought for the translation of the Law than the requirements of the Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria and the West. It is more probable that both causes co-operated to produce the desired result, and that an element of truth underlies the traditional story, although at this distance of time it cannot absolutely be determined in what form the demand for a Greek version first expressed itself, or under whose auspices the work was executed. The Greek Epistle of Aristeas was first printed at Basle in the year 1561, from an Italian manuscript, apparently unidentified ; a Latin version, however, by Matthew Palmer (Matthias Palmerius), had appeared earlier at Eome in 1471. The Basle text was re- printed in the Oxford work of Humphrey Hody, Be Bihliorum Textihus Originalihus (1705), and elsewhere. The two latest, and the only satisfactory and critical editions, were both pu^bHshed in the year 1900, M. Wendland, Aristece ad Philocratem Epistula, Leipzig, and H. St. J. Thackeray in Swete's Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, Cambridge, p. 500 ff. In the introduction to the latter edition will be found full information on the literary history of the Epistle, and the available manuscript evidence for the text.^ ^ See also SchUrer, Jewish People in the Time of Christ, ii. 3, pp. 306-312 ; Buhl, p. 110 ff. 174 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE A tradition of a still older rendering is preserved in a passage of the Talmud, the value of which, however, is not great. " Five elders wrote for King Ptolemy the Law in Greek, and this day was for the Israelites as dark as the day on which the golden calf was made," and there follows a reference to the version of the Seventy ; Massekhet Sopherim i. 2. A similar passage with a reference to a pre-Ptolemaic translation of the Law is quoted from the Mechilfa on Ex. xii. 40.^ Aristobulus, the Jewish philosopher, who flourished about the middle of the second century before Christ, reports a similar tradition.^ But the vagueness and uncertain character of all these references makes it impossible to draw from them any reliable inference. The later form of the story, as given by Aristeas, is reproduced by Philo and Josephus in the first century, and its correctness is generally assumed by the Christian Fathers of the following centuries, who add to it details some of which have passed into the current tradition of the Church. The translators, for example, instead of producing their translation in concert, are said to have been confined in separate cells, where each worked inde- pendently, and the several versions, when compared, were found to be in verbal and exact agreement. The year of Ptolemy's reign in which the translation was completed is given, and even the day of the month, and so forth. The'tradition thus preserved, whatever its precise value may be, has reference solely to a rendering into Greek 1 Buhl, p. 108 ff. - Eusebius, Prcep. Evang. xiii. 12, GREEK VERSIONS 175 of the five books of the Law. Independent evidence, however, of the existence of a Greek version or versions of parts of the Old Testament other than the Pentateuch, is to be found in the Prologue to the book of Ecclesias- ticus ; and it has been suggested that the language of the writer implies that the translation was made in the interests of Jewish propagandism.^ This statement makes it clear that the earlier and later Prophets and some of the Hagiographa as well as the Law were known by the middle of the second century B.C. in a Greek version practically identical with the present Septuagint. The rest of the books of the Hagiographa, those probably of later date and composition, may not have been trans- lated into Greek until nearly the beginning of the Christian era. No detailed evidence, however, with regard to particular books is forthcoming, and no more than the general limits of time above stated can with confidence be asserted. That the Greek Bible was complete by the date indicated, as far at least as the canonical' books trans- lated from the Hebrew were concerned, is made evident ' Ed. Nestle in HDB, vol. iv. p. 439''. The relevant words of the Prologue are as follows ; — u>s oi fidvov ai)roi>s tous dvayiviba-KovTas diov ifrrXv eiriaT'qiiova^ yev^v) ToXjufi where the Sept. lias the natural translation iv ipxv^ illus- trates Aquila's practice of preserving uniformly the equivalence between Hebrew and Greek roots; i?xn, "head," is in Greek Ke(j>aMi, so also Ke^aXafoK stands for n'B'si, and is used again similarly in 1 Sam. xv. 21, Job viii. 9, where the Sept. has to irpura. igo INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE translates by 6 Kvpto<:. This last fact was asserted by Origen and Jerome, but was unsupported by any direct evidence until the recent discovery of portions of the books of Kings in Aquila's version in the Geniza at Cairo. In these the Tetragrammaton is uniformly represented by ^=1^^, and the correctness of the state- ment of the two Fathers is therefore fully demon- strated. Compare F. C. Burkitt, Fragments of the Books of Kings accord- ing to the Translation of Aquila, Cambridge, 1897, with facsimiles. The manuscript is a palimpsest from the Geniza of the Old Synagogue at Cairo, the text being ascribed on the ground of the style of the writing to the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century of our era (Burkitt, p. 10). It contains 3 Ki. xxi. (1 Kings xx.) 7-17, 4 Ki. (2 Kings) xxiii. 11-27. There is, of course, no author's name attached, but the style and character of the translation leave no room for doubt. The upper writing of the palimpsest is a Hebrew liturgical work of the eleventh century {I.e. p. 3). It is not unimportant to notice that in transliteration Aquila makes no attempt to represent the Hebrew gutturals. The earlier known portions of Aquila's version are given in F. Field, Origenis Hexwplorum quce Supersunt, 2 vols., Oxford, 1875, cp. Prolegomena, pp. xvi-xxvii. See Buhl, p. 150 ff. ; Swete, p. 31 ff., and the references there given. Fragments of three of the Psalms, xxii., xc, and xci., have also been recovered from the same Geniza, and have been published by Dr. C. Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers ^, Cambridge, 1897. See also Schlirer, ii. 3, p. 168 ff. ; E. Nestle in HDB iv. IJ. 452 f. The rendering of Aquila which aroused most opposi- tion in Christian circles was apparently his substitution of veavK for the ■rcapOevo'; of the Septuagint in Isa. vii. 14. Hebrew scholars would, of course, agree now that the former is a more accurate representation than the latter of the Hebrew word ('""^^Vvi), and of the AQUILA 191 meaning of the prophet. The change, however, ap- peared to deprive Christian apologetics of one of its strongest arguments, and to weaken the Christian proof of the Messiahship of Jesus in controversy with the Jews. There is no reason, however, to suppose that the translator was actuated by any other motive than the desire to be absolutely faithful to his text, or that he worked with conscious or unconscious bias against Christianity.^ His version seems to have been welcomed by the Jews, who found in it what they required, a Greek Bible free from Christian associations, and conformed to the Hebrew Canon and style ; and it has been supposed to have been more or less formally authorised in Palestine, and to have remained in use there by Greek-speaking Jews until the time of the Muhammadan Conquest in the seventh century. Jerome states that there existed two recensions or editions of his work, the earlier of which was more free, the latter, " kut' aKpi^elav," more literal and closer to the Hebrew text ; and that it was this last which Origen adopted by preference in his great work. No other writer, however, makes mention of a two- fold edition of Aquila's text ; and it seems probable that all that is really implied is a correction or revision by the author himself, which may not have extended to more than a few of the books of the Old Testament.^ ■ neavts represents ns^y in the Septuagint text of Ex. ii. 8, Ps. Ixvii. (Ixviii.) 25, and elsewhere. The only passage other than that in Isaiah where the word is known in the extant text of Aquila is Deut. xxii. 28, where the Sept. has t^c irapBhov, Heb. .nSma. -Field, I.e. p. xxivff. 192 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Theodotion, it is generally agreed, was later than Aquila, probably a younger contemporary. Schiirer, however, regards him hesitatingly as not more recent, and " perhaps a predecessor." ^ Ireneeus (I.e.) makes of him also a Jewish proselyte, a native of Ephesus, and states that he was at one with Aquila in the rendering ■i] veavK in Isa. vii. 14. The same tradition that he became a proselyte to Judaism is recorded by Epiphanius {I.e. 17), according to whose statement he was a native of Pontus and an adherent of Marcion (flor. c. 1 5 A.D.), who lived in the reign of Commodus (" tow Sevripov KofifioSov," A.D. 180-92), apostatised to Judaism, and became a Hebrew scholar. Jerome's references to him are hardly consistent with one another. Where, how- ever, he is most precise, he reports, without endorsing it, the assertion of " some " (quidavi), that he was an Ebionite {Prcef. in Ban.). Elsewhere he makes the same statement without reserve, or terms him a Judaiz- ing heretic (Be Vir. lllustr. 54, Prcef. in Job; see the passages quoted in Schiirer, I.e., or Swete, p. 42 ff.). His Hebrew scholarship appears to have been hardly equal to that of Aquila, for he sometimes transliterates Hebrew words where the latter translates, apparently for no other reason than that he was in doubt or ignor- ance as to the meaning.^ As the basis of his work ' Schiirer, JPTO ii. p. 172 ff. " It seems hardly possible to reject this inference, or to suggest any otlier cause. It has been disputed, however, on the ground that some of the words thus transliterated are neither obscure nor uncommon. In some instances the context may conceivably have given rise to hesit-ation. See Swete, Introd. p. 46 ; Field, Hexapla, p. xl ff. v-.^ V', AANIHA KATA TOYS EBAOMHKONTA EK TnN TETPAPAnN riPITENOYS DANIEL SECVNDVM SEPT VAGINTA EX TETRAPLIS ORIGENIS NVNC PRIMVM EDITVS G SINGVLARI CMISIANO CODICE ANNORVM SVPKA IDCCC. CETERA ANTE PRAEfATIONEM INDICANIVR. R O M A E TYPIS PROPAGANDAE FIDEI Cl^ I3CC LXXlI R R^MISSy rR^jtE.Sl&fM- ■M^-'\ - ■ C'HltSIAN DANIKL, TITLK-I 'A( J L:. 74 DANIEL JUXTA LXX. x« temporisconfummatiomanuumdi- Kilext , 'i{ li AuVk ri As'^ii TouTX > <£ 9. Ktti HOT pi, >CTj'7f (;^4 A*raA mirtionis populi iindi ; & confum- mabuntur omnia haec. 8. Et ego audivi , & non inrel- lexi circa ipfum tempus , & dixi: Domine ; quainam folutio fermonis huius? & cujus parabola ite? 9. Et dixit mihi: Revertere Da- U ZtraimaAvi^Ai^, , •^ 'i^r'^ytf- niel, quia obtefta, & obfignata funt jjSju'a,^ -a^essaj^wTa. 'U i irop*- mandata, quoadufque tenteniur, & San i, ajiieSain toMoi'. fanftificentur raulti. 10. H^di ^yiafmtnv oi d/jifm- 10. Et peccent peccatores , & Asi , 19 sV« J-iouonSwrt Tmyii! nl i- non intelligant omnes peccatores, fJ^TffiAsijiio/'cfiaTOfi^JiinffonJiiriii. & intelligenies attendcnt. 1 1. 'Ai cftiAiii ■;« facrificium jugc, & paratum fberi't, ^AuyjMi r ifiifianwf , »^'f£«;y. ut detur abominatio defolationis , Ai<«4 Anxana; iimMtla,. dies miUe ducenti noniginta. 12. MttKoewc E^i^'af £ p-u- 12. Beatusquiexpeftat,&con- r1a Trtra. ginta quinque. n- K»i (m /3a,' emv iiMfoj. , t iUfi , I' 'T'.^'"^/ "^ a'vaWr,, completionem confummacionis / n,^^,^^.,Jh r ASo^ „ «V ....c. Requiefces autem, & refurges fupet gloriam tuam in conrummationti. dierum . wAflAy ii^Q^ . *Xami*>v ic <3k-ra e-rfol^u'i "TOVC o e>.H ^*»<'nrp»l(j)(,.f !i later Ebri; "Ip'ratam lite- fed ttmpit, in Polyglotiij Daniel juxta LXX- Descmptus est »b Ehmplam HABENH S"BSCR1pt,onem h'anc . D«CR,PTOS EST EX TsTRAPLIS CUM Q."'' ""SETIAMCOUATUS EST. liTV'^^"*^-' tt^Wa,nq i.2' .r Ap^ t'"-^".'^" ^'■'*-"' ^^'"'"': ^^oe.-s". S.":-.^' ™^-"-'su...r ^«.. i V-' 3. S.A'"- IIISIAN !)AXI]':i., CM. \l[. 7-13. THEODOTION 193 also he took the Septuagint text and Canon, not that of the Massoretes, as is evident from the presence in his version of Apocryphal additions not recognised by the Hebrew original. There can be little doubt, there- fore, that what Theodotion really undertook and accom- plished was a broad revision of the accepted Greek text in the Hght of the Hebrew. His work in no sense implied or resulted in a new translation, which went back, like that of Aquila, to the original. It is in harmony with this view also that his version was welcomed and largely adopted by the Christians, includ- ing so great a scholar and competent judge as Origen, while there is no trace of its use in Jewish circles. The New Testament quotations also give evidence of acquaintance with the readings of Theodotion, and in some instances prefer them to the true Septuagint. Whether his work of revision extended to the whole of the Old Testament we have no means of deciding. In the case of the book of Daniel the translation of Theodotion entirely superseded that of the Septuagint, and the latter version remained unknown imtil the second half of the eighteenth century, when its text was published from a unique manuscript in the Vatican Library at Eome.^ The two Versions are printed con- veniently side by side in the third volume of the Cambridge Septuagint. That portions, possibly the ' The so-called Chigi MS, Codex Chisianus, see Swete, Old Testament in Oreelc, vol. iii. p. xii f. The editio princeps bears the date, Rome, 1772, The manuscript itself is doubtfully assigned to the ninth century, and contains besides both versions of Daniel, the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and of Jeremiah, with Baruch, the Lamentations, and the Epistle. 13 194 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE whole of other books also which are usually printed as parts of the Septuagint were really derived from Theo- dotion, seems to have been conclusively established by recent investigations.^ That Stmmachus was the latest of the three rival interpreters and translators of the Hebrew Old Testa- ment into Greek who immediately succeeded the Seventy, is perhaps indicated by the fact that Irenseus makes no mention of him in his extant works. It does not, of course, follow necessarily that he was unknown to the Christian Father, or that his version did not appear till after the latter's death. The silence of Irenaus is only presumptive evidence ; which is, however, supported by the internal character of Symmachus' translation, as far as it is known. Dr. Swete's verdict is to the same effect : " So far as we can judge from the fragments of his version which survive in Hexaplaric MSS, he wrote with Aquila's version before him, and in his efforts to recast it made free use of both the LXX and Theodotion."^ Jerome in the passages referred to above classes him with Theodotion as an Ebionite and " Judaising heretic " ; and makes the same report concerning him as of Aquila, that his version was issued in a second revised edi- tion.^ Epiphanius,* on what grounds is unknown, calls him a Samaritan who lived under Severus {ev tok 1 The older literature is cited in Solmrer, I.e. ; see also Nestle, MDB, vol. iv. p. 453 ; J. Gwynn in DCB iv. s.v. Theodotion ; Buhl, p. 154 ff. ; Field, ProUgnmena, oh. iv. ; Swete, p, 42 if. ; M. Gaster, PSBA xvi. pp. 280-90, 312-17, xvii. 75-94. The last is an attempt to show that the additions to Daniel, both in Theodotion and the Septuagint, are derived from an Aramaic original. 2 Introd. p. 51. ^ Sti^a, p. 191. * De Mens, et Pond. 15, S, Ambrof.inPlilm.i C A -Tom. t.Lol.- B i„,Mgr c-TEptcuM*: o-«o^ i&oX(5in ni JUH^l " o«hi jU'J'pH'^ n ni C101 tyi lnt^o-«D^ ITl -i- Li intcltigrnlci fuLgthunl /uu! lux ^ & JpUndor if! JirmamtiiCO^ & i mullii jujl,- rum i^'tluc ftdera in Jiculum, & ullrj . 5 . Ad Oram Codicis . "O *of^i ^ iz^-.^iir^. Ltx & FropheCj . 6. -r- Ka^' <^3tteiT«P( — Twrwv .' In CoJ. Vat. vacat, vcluti in Hcbr. & Vulg. i led iiI-j Cod. Chif. Q adhuc fupcrcft. 7. H /ru^T^ktux x»«r' afimpleta fiierii d'fptrjiu manus p'jpuli fajiai . S. Irc- MU^ paricCT; earn firficiilur difftrfio I.4. %6. S- Cypcjanus turn fin diJtcrfm . Ejufmodi ak- i'"* lummo Budio coUegit, ac vcrmiculaio vc- luti opctc conicxuit Sabatcnui , <]ui MaitjTis utriuftiuc icftimonia hoc & vcrhculo 4. fupcrio- ri c.thibet. LXX to j^arojji mcmincrant v. J. 'Egypnus Uc. 0-.o^Aq«rc. mw ^Dii ntt, „^„ TtqaAiJH \^i PHI t -tt^j . 0,0^ A^tup«; jUtlM CHO-..- „t„ ^^„ ^^jj^, . _^^ .^ **a» n o-« CHO-. .- ^xn nzin// liuX n-^t o-.a,a h-^t 0-. X*oc Co™ ; r ''"""'••"n 'imparl, , ^/,i,m_. fl,A> ,■ '•'//"•V" m„vus populi Un- ' T XII. 7j S. hpipLui.AJv. Kj:r.l. i. 13. Tom. 5. ■A.-f;^ :iaiiNA. S. hnhrxni jn Qjiiimcnr. |_ia^^^^a U—a^ic "V..!., ^ — / *^ — io.i^, ^-^ SermoTJti c!auji^^gna{i,jue,:ilii p Q'^Jti'Dni £( inieUigentes irtielltgeiit. I ^. — in >& K. A. Har^; <-bclis ijomprc- htnU, III Hcbri'o , adfoqut: & Vulgara dclidc- rantuf . ExrjDC auttm in Mis- Vat., & Chif. ©■ cxccpui "'^i' ■ ■ '^ '"^^ > L]Lioriini primiini iru Varicano , urrumquc in Cln'lunn dccft . Arabs . *LL, ^L,J L.if ^ ^V -:. ^^i_lj ^l. ^J, 141^1 Jl dLll^xJ j.^-j ^ij^^y ■■• ^■^'^'' ^^*^-^ l(-Of.U,VI Tu aulem vadc & ^uicjle , hi en\m adhuc futit dies., & bor£ ad c'ljumrrutionem termini : quiefces autem ■, & rejurges ad he reditatem lujm infiiem ufque dierum. Arabs Alcxandrinus g-^ J, jJWli ■^i\ L.lJ '='-*' jr.^"j •e^^-^■:■l.»iJVIrL-; Jl'"- ^^-LYf l^lj -Tu autem uade , «^ quiejce y qucvtam adbuc dtes u/que ad confummattonem frxfimtam . Et quie/zet^ & rejurges inflate lua in fine dierum . ■s-afti»'3j) . Quanri (it ejufmodi nouiio, I'i Qo- runc , qui Codicura fidcni ^ftimrire folcnt, modo pofGnt . Facile auccm in[clligituc Escm- plaria eo magis iftimanda efle, quo propius ab Autograpbo ablunt . Quamobrcm Chillananu Codicem, qui uno tantum Excmplari ab ipio Tm-aplari tcmtc diflar , co majoris fecicnduJTi-' cfii: quivis farcbitur . Hinc Origcnis notx ipf*. baud Jioe mciidi? quidem , in eodcm Ccdicc fcrvarcE funt > qua a librariis pauLirira ncgleiis ■iJibi cvanuurUDt. Smgularis proptcrea eft babi- K 2 ""' ClirSIAN'.DAXltX. (.11. XIT. SYMMACHUS 195 Tov ^evrjpov ^ovok), 193—211 A.D., and being dissatis- fied with his position among his own people, became a proselyte to Judaism, and conceived his translation in a polemical spirit against the Samaritan form of text. " Severus " in this passage has been supposed to be an error for " Verus " (Oinjpo';), i.e. the time referred to would then be the joint rule of Marcus Aurelius and his brother Lucius Verus, 161—180 a.d. ; but the conjecture appears to be unnecessary. His work was known to Origen, and used by him together with that of his predecessors early in the third century. In scholarship, and in knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages, he would seem to have been at least the equal of any of those who had gone before him.^ Besides the Septuagint and the three versions of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, there were at least two others known to Origen, and a third of which Eusebius and Jerome make mention. They are all anonymous, and are usually referred to as Quinta, Sexta, and Septima, 5th, 6th, and 7th. For the existence of the last named Jerome is the sole but sufficient witness. There is no evidence to show whether all or any of them were ever complete. For two of them, Quinta and Sexta, Origen found a place in the additional columns of his Octapla ; ^ and Eusebius and Epiphanius give circumstan- tial accounts, which do not in all respects agree with one another, of their re-discovery, after they had remained lost and hidden for a considerable period. According 1 Swete, p. 49 ff. ; BuM, p. 156 ff. ; Field, Froleg. ch. iii. 2 Infra, p. 202. 196 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE to a comment of Jerome on Hab. iii. 1 3, the Sexta was of Christian origin and tendency. The known frag- ments of all three versions are collected and printed in the two volumes of Field's Hexapla} It is sufficiently probable that other scholars, more or less adequately equipped for the task, would essay to present a book or books of the Hebrew Old Testa- ment in a Greek form. An example of these appears to be furnished by a unique manuscript in the library of St. Mark's Church at Venice, the so-called Codex Venehis, the editio princeps of which was published at Strassburg in 1784 A.D. The manuscript itself is attributed to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and contains the Greek text of the Pentateuch, together with Proverbs, Daniel, and the five Megilloth excepting Esther. Its latest editor, 0. Gebhart (Leipzig, 1875), holds that the author was by birth a Jew, but a proselyte to Christi- anity, and that he translated direct from the Hebrew text with occasional reference to, and guidance from earlier Greek versions. In some respects his work recalls that of Aquila, in its literality and the attempt to render Hebrew terms by Greek words of similar origin and derivation. It is, however, entirely indepen- dent of the earlier version.^ An anonymous rendering of the third chapter of Habakkuk is found in a single manuscript, the " Codex Barberinus," together with the ordinary Septuagint text ; and is quoted by Field, in loc, under the title "AWo^. 1 Swete, p. 53 ff. ; Buhl, p. 158 f. ; Field, Proleg. ch. v. 2 Swete, p. 56 ff. SEPTUAGINT 197 The knowledge which the author shows of the Hebrew text is supposed to prove that he was a Jew, or at least of Jewish origin. His work, however, cannot apparently be identified with any of the known versions, and is therefore another instance of independent study and translation from the original. Field refers to two other cursives which agree in their renderings in this chapter with the Cod. Barber., and quotes a note from the latter to the effect that the translation given does not agree with Aquila, Symmachus, or Theodotion, but may be derived from Quinta or Sexta. It seems clear that it is not. Possibly it is extracted from the Septima, of which so little is known that its very existence has been doubted.^ The peculiar and indeed unique value of the Septuagint, therefore, consists in the fact that it is the earliest witness in our possession to the original text of the Old Testament. As an ancient text, and a translation, it has suffered from all the accidents inci- dental to a long period of transmission ; and to recover with certainty the original form of the Greek, and so to render it back into Hebrew as to be confident that we have ascertained the precise words which lay before the Greek translator, may frequently be a task beyond the power of the best and most patient scholarship. Nevertheless the Greek version which we owe to nameless translators in Egypt antedates, roughly speak- ' Field, Hexapla, on Hab. iii. ; M. L. Margolis in AJSL, 1907, p. 76 S. ; E. Kloatermann, Ancdecta zur Septuaginta, 1895, pp. 50-60. The last reference I owe to Margolis. 198 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE ing by a thousand years, the earliest extant Hebrew manuscript, and by half that period at least the final and authoritative settlement of the Hebrew text at the hands of the Massoretic revisers. Upon the exact preservation of the Hebrew text infinitely more pains and labour have been bestowed than upon the Greek. The former was to the Jew inspired, immutable and sacred in the least minutise of its writing ; and he had learnt to regard its text with a deep reverence and love, not unmixed with superstitious awe. There can be no doubt, however, that previous to the work of the Massoretic scholars in recension and determination, the Hebrew text had passed through a period of compara- tive neglect, due largely if not entirely to the confusion and vicissitudes of Jewish history ; and had suffered much from the intrusion of errors, and from the manifold risks to which all early literature was exposed in the absence of the security afforded by the printing-press. The Greek text, however, has on the whole suffered much more, partly because as a trans- lation it never carried with it the authority or prestige of the original. From and after the age of the Massoretes the Hebrew text has been handed down unchanged and with absolute fidelity. No such exact and scrupulous care has accompanied the Greek. But when all allowance has been made for difficulties and uncertainties of transmission and reading, the value of the Septuagint version is inestimable. It is the only substitute we have to supply the lack of early Hebrew manuscripts. Without it and all that owes to it its SEPTUAGINT 199 origin and inspiration, it is not too much to say that textual criticism of the Old Testament in any fruitful sense of the term would be impracticable, or would be reduced to irresponsible conjecture. Moreover, in the elucidation and support of the text of the Old Testament Scriptures the Septuagint holds a similar place also to that which is occupied by Patristic Quotations in regard to the New. It is the best, as it is the most ancient commentary, needing the utmost caution in its use, and itself presenting problems of the most difficult and perplexing kind ; and as in authority, so in general probability and exactness entirely inferior to the Hebrew form of text. But it is and will ever remain an indispensable auxiliary, to which the student of the Old Testament will continually resort for suggestive guidance and interpretation, and will not often resort in vain. The first attempt to remedy the corruption which thus early began to find its way into the text of the Septuagint, and to supply a critical edition, was made by the Greek Father, Origen,i in the first half of the third century of our era. By a careful comparison of all existing versions with one another and with the original Hebrew, he sought to determine the true primitive form of the Greek, and by an elaborate system of obelisks and other artificial marks inserted in the text to guard it from the possibility of further ■ The date of Origen's birth is c. 185-86 a.d. ; and he died after a troubled life at Tyre in his sixty-ninth year, in the reign of Gallus, 251-54 A.D. The best account on the whole of Origen's life and work is contained in the article by the late Dr. Westcott in vol. iv. of the Diet, of Christian Biography. 200 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE corruption. Unfortunately this system, owing to its detailed and highly elaborate character, lent itself most easily to the cause of error. Copyists transposed Origen's asterisks, obelisks, etc., omitted them altogether, or inserted at wrong points, thus defeating the object which their author had in view, and introducing new variations and confusion. In this respect, and in this respect only, Origen's great work failed to achieve its purpose. His zeal and industry were unwearied, and His learning unrivalled in his own day, or for many centuries before and afterwards. He has been justly regarded as the first true critic of the text of the Old Testament, the first to apply correct principles which he himself formulated and laid down, to the determina- tion of the form of words in which the Greek translators had sought to convey the meaning of their original. In one respect only do his principles appear to have been at fault. He seems to have regarded conformity with the Hebrew as a test of the correctness of a given reading in the Greek ; and of two conflicting readings to have selected by preference that which adhered to the Massoretic text, rather than that which was at variance with it. Modern criticism would reverse Origen's judgement, no doubt in most instances rightly ; and, having in view the probability that the Greek text had been made to conform later to a perhaps recon- structed Hebrew, would pronounce in favour of the dissident reading as witnessing to a non-Massoretic and earlier, although not therefore necessarily more authentic form of the Hebrew itself. HEXAPLA 20I Origen's work is known by the name of the Hexapla {ra 'E^airXa, to ' E^aifKovv) " six-fold," because it com- prised six texts, or forms of text of the Old Testament. In parallel columns were arranged (1) the Hebrew text, (2) the same transliterated, i.e. written in Greek letters, (3) Aquila's version, (4) Symmachus, (5) the Septuagint itself in the revised and corrected form which was the fruit of Origen's own labours, (6) Theodotion. An open page, therefore, of the Hexapla would present three columns of text on either side, the fifth or Septuagint column bearing interspersed in the text those symbolic marks which Origen himself had devised or had borrowed from Aristarchus and the Alexandrian grammarians to indicate his judgement upon, or the authority for the Greek readings adopted. It seems to have been no part of his plan to revise in a similar manner the other Greek versions. These were adduced merely for the sake of comparison with the Septuagint, and as aids to its study and elucidation. Nor is it apparent for what reason the four Greek texts were placed in his edition in the above order. An obvious conjecture is that Aquila's version stood next to the Hebrew because of its close literaUty. Nothing, however, is really known on the subject. The mere manual labour- of writing out the Hexapla must have been very great, and it must have been necessary for Origen himself to exercise constant and close supervision over his copyists. It has been estimated that the work when complete would extend to at least fifty large folio volumes ; and its size and 202 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE elaborate character would forbid all attempts at reproduction. The original manuscript was preserved in the library at Csesarea, where it was seen and consulted by the Latin Father Jerome,^ and where it seems to have remained in safety until at least the sixth century. Afterwards it disappeared, perhaps destroyed wittingly or unwittingly in some one of the Muhammadan or Persian invasions that swept over Palestine. Christian scholarship and faith have suffered no greater loss than the destruction of Origen's splendid life-work, with the fruits of his unremitting devotion and zeal.^ In addition to the Hexapla, mention is made by the Greek authorities of two other forms or editions of Origen's work, an Octapla and a Tetrapla. Of these the first-named at least was not in any sense a new edition or different work, but the term seems to have been used of the Hexapla itself when it was supplemented by the collation of two moi'e Greek versions, the Quinta and Sexta. The Tetrapla " four-fold " was an edition of the four Greek columns, omitting the Hebrew and the Hebrew transcript. In the judgement of some scholars ' "'BJaTrXoOs Origenis in Caesariensi bibliotheca relegens"; "cum vetustuni Origenis exemplum Psalterium revolverem." Jerome on Pss. i. 4, iv. 8. ^ Tlie fragments of the Hexapla, as far as known, are collected in Field's two volumes, Origenis Sexaplorum quae Supersunt Fragmenta, Oxford, 1876. Little has come to light, or been ascertained since. See Swete, ch. iii., where references are given in full, and a page from a Milan palimpsest containing a few verses from the Hexapla is trans- cribed ; E. Nestle in HDB, vol. iv. p. 442 ff.; art. "Hexapla" in Diet. Christian Biography, vol. iii. , by Dr. Chas. Taylor ; Buhl, p. 125 ff. HEXAPLA 203 the Tetrapla was the earlier of the two works, the Hexapla being a revised and amplified edition, in which the Hebrew authority was cited for the first time. There seems, however, to be no real reason for departing from the ordinary view of the priority of the Hexapla. At a later date, towards the close of the third century, the Septuagint column, with its apparatus of critical marks, was copied out and issued in a separate form by Eusebius of Csesarea and Pamphilus his friend and the founder of the library at Csesarea where Origen's works were preserved. Subsequently to the time of Origen two attempts at least were made to produce corrected and revised editions of the Septuagint, one of which according to Jerome originated in Antioch, and was accepted there and by the Christian Churches as far west as Constan- tinople ; the authority of the second was recognised in Alexandria and Egypt ; while Palestine adhered to the Septuagint text as issued by Pamphilus and Eusebius.^ There were therefore three versions or recensions of the Old Testament in Greek, which in Jerome's day commanded the allegiance of the Christian world. Of these he writes that the Septua- gint was known as the kolvti, " common " or " vulgate " ; and expressly distinguishes it from the Hexaplar version ' Jerome, Prcef. in Paralipomena : ' ' Alexandria et ^gyptus in Septuaginta suis Hesyohium laudant auctorem, Constantinopolis uaque Antiochiam Luoiani martyris exemplaria probat, medis inter has provinoiae Palssstinfe codices legunt, quos ab Origene elaborates Eusebius et Pamphilus vulgaverunt ; totusque orbis hic inter se trifari4 varietate compugnat." 204 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of Origen, which was incorrupia et immaculata, and on which his own Latin translation was founded.^ Infor- mation to the same effect is conveyed elsewhere in his works. LuciAN, " ascetic and martyr," was a native of Samosata, studied at Edessa, and founded or gave strength and reputation to the school of Christian learning at Antioch, where he spent the greater part of his life. According to the account given in Pseudo- Athanasius^ he suffered martyrdom under Diokletian and Maximian, 311 A.D., and the autograph of his translation was found at Nicomedia in the time of Constantine. Jerome seems to identify his version with the Koivij, indicating, perhaps, that in his view Lucian's work was a revision of the vulgate text, not a direct rendering from the Hebrew. The first attempt at a restoration of Lucian's text from the manuscripts which were believed to contain it in a more or less corrupted and " mixed " condition, was made by P. Lagarde, who published in 1883 his Librorum Veteris Testamenti Greece Pars Prior, Gottingen, Pars i., con- taining the historical books Genesis to Esther. The second part, however, never appeared, owing to the death of the author ; and no successor has been found ^ Epist. 106, Ad. Sunniam et Fretelam, c. 403 a.d. Sunnia and Fretela were Gothic Christians, who sought from Jerome an expla- nation of certain dififerences between his Latin rendering and the Greek original to which they were accustomed. Jerome replied that their Greek text was the corrupt coinf, whereas he had used the Hexapla. - Synopsis Scn2)hinc Sacrw, 77 ; op. Euseb. HJS vii. 32,'ix. 6. HESYCHIUS 205 to carry on the work, at least on the lines laid down by Dr. Lagarde.^ With regard to Hesychius nothing certain seems to be known. The conjecture that the Eeviser of the Greek text of the Old Testament was identical with the Egyptian bishop of the same name who suffered martyrdom in the year 311 a.d., commends itself as probable, and has been generally accepted. A ready explanation would thus be afforded of the acceptance of Hesychius' revision in Alexandria and Egypt, to which Jerome refers ; ^ and of its relation, more or less close, to the Sahidic and Bohairic versions, especi- ally the latter, and the Biblical quotations found in Cyril of Alexandria.^ Thus there arose and circulated widely within the Christian Church three rival versions of the Old Testament in Greek, those, namely, of Origen, Lucian, and Hesychius. That the Hexaplaric edition of the first-named differed considerably from the original Septuagint, the Koivf) or Vulgate, seems clear. And the primary aim of Biblical criticism on this point is to isolate and reconstruct these several texts, in order by their means, by comparison with one another and with the Hebrew, to work back to an earlier and truer form of the Septuagint itself than is afforded by any of the extant manuscripts. This re-constitu- ^ Swete, Introd. p. 80 ff., and references; Buhl, p. 131 if. ; Nestle, HDB iv. p. 445 f. ; Field, Proleg. ch. ix. ; S. R. Driver, Notes rni the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, p. 1 fif. ^ Supra, p. 203. 3 Swete, p. 78 ff. ; Buhl, pp. 132, 138 f., 141. 2o6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE tion would be an easy task, if the manuscripts themselves presented a text that was pure, and free in any given instance from elements derived from foreign sources, and ultimately traceable to one or other of the competing versions. Unfortunately this is not the case. Into the text of every known manu- script, as it now exists, external readings have made their way; the text has become in course of time more or less corrupt, and possessed of a relatively " mixed " character. It is only by careful, patient criticism that the original form of each version can be disentangled from the largely confused and disguised mass of evidence which the manuscripts afford. In the accomplishment of this task versions derived from the Septuagint render assistance of the utmost value, and to a not less extent the writings of those Greek Fathers, as Cyril of Alexandria, who belonged to the countries in which the several versions took their rise or were accepted. Considerable progress has been made in the work of classifying the manuscript and other evidence ac- cording to the form or type of text which each of them predominantly exhibits. The version of Hesychius, for example, is recognised more or less definitely in the great Vatican manuscript B, believed to have originated in Egypt, in the quotations of the above- mentioned Father, and in the Coptic versions. A small group of MSS, one of which, perhaps the most im- portant, Cod. Vat. 330, was used by Cardinal Ximenes for the Complutensian Polyglott, has preserved the GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 207 Lucian recension ; and of the Versions the Gothic is supposed to be derived from the same form of text. The great majority of Greek manuscripts present the Hexaplar text, combined with elements and readings from the other versions and from the vulgate or primitive Septuagint, which underlies all three. Of this text, the re-establishment of which is the ultimate aim of criticism, Lucian is believed to be on the whole the nearest representative. Jerome's latest revision is based upon the Hexapla, which he regarded as more true to the original Hebrew. Geeek Manuscripts of the Old Testament. — Any description of the chief uncial or other manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament is unnecessary here, for a complete and accessible account with full details will be found in Dr. Swete's Introduction to the O.T. in Greek, ch. v., or in the Introductions prefixed to the several volumes of the same writer's edition of the Greek text printed at the Cambridge University Press. None of the great uncials in its present state contains the entire text of the Old Testament without diminution or loss. From all of them leaves have perished in greater or less number, and the text is marred by lacunae. The Alexandrian (5th cent.), Sinaitic (4th cent.), and Vatican (4th cent.) approach most nearly to a perfect condition. The majority of manuscripts, as would be expected, were never more than partial, containing portions only of the text, copies of a single book, or of a group of books such as the Pentateuch or the Prophets. These would be 2o8 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE both less unwieldy in size than copies of the entire Bible, and more easily multiplied and transmitted or carried from place to place. The most recent additions to the store of manuscript material for the text of the Old Testament have been derived from Egypt, whence have been obtained a few papyrus fragments of equal or greater age than any of the Greek uncials, and older by many centuries than the oldest Hebrew manuscript.' Their interest and importance, therefore, are exceptionally great. Nor is there any reason to doubt of the possibility, perhaps even the probability, that the sands of Egypt yet hold in store further treasures of the same or similar character. Most of the manuscripts hitherto recovered consist unfortunately of little more than a few verses. The following are the most noticeable and important : — (1) A few leaves of a papyrus codex are preserved at Strassburg, containing 2 Kings xv. 36— xvi. 3. The date of the manuscript is believed to be the fourth century. To the following century is ascribed a vellum fragment in the same collection, with the text of Gen. XXV. 19-22, xxvi. 3-4.2 (2) From the collection of papyrus manuscripts at Heidelberg, Dr. Deissmann published, in 1905, Bie Septuaginta-Papyri und andere altchristliche Texte, containing of the Greek Old- Testament Zech. iv. 6— Mai. iv. 5, in a form of text which the editor regards as Hesychian. Small fragments of vellum manuscripts ' Except the fragmentary Hebrew papyrus, supra, p. 57 ff. 2 Egypt. Arch. Eeport, 1902-3, p. 40. GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 209 are given in the same publication, with a few words from Ex. xv. and 1 Sam. ii.^ (3) A Greek papyrus codex at Berlin, ascribed to the fourth century, contains " about two-thirds of the book of Genesis," but the text is as yet (1908) un- published. "This, which must be the longest Greek Biblical papyrus known, should be of great value for textual purposes, on account of the almost total absence of this book from the Vatican and Sinaitic codices." ^ The former has lost the whole of Genesis as far as ch. xlvi. 28; the latter contains only chs. xxiii. 19— xxiv. 46, and is defective even in these. The British Museum manuscript also, the Codex Alexandrinus, is imperfect in its text of the same book. Portions also of the Greek text, consisting in most instances of a few words or verses merely, have been published within the last few years in the numerous volumes of papyri texts from Egypt. See, for example, for the Psalms, A. Eahlfs, Septuaginta-Studien, 2 Heft, Gottingen, 1907, p. 14ff. ; also G. A. Deissmann, art. " Papyri " in Encycl. Biblica, vol. iii. ; F. G. Kenyon, PalcBogra'phy of Greek Papyri, Oxford, 1899, p. 131 f.; and the annual Archceological Reports of the Egypt Ex- ploration Fund, which chronicle the literary discoveries and publications of the year. (4) A papyrus Psalter at Leipzig contains Pss. XXX.— Iv., defective at the beginning ; the manuscript is ^ £gypt. Arch. Report, 1904-6, p. 60 f., 1906-7, p. 67; A. S. Hunt in Seport of the Year's Work in Classical Studies, 1906, p. 120. " F. G. Kenyon in Hgypt. Arch. Report, 1906-7, p. 57. 14 2IO INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE assigned to the fourth century. A leaf of another papyrus roll with the text, fragmentary and mutilated, of Ps. cxviii. 17—63, in the same collection, is believed to date from the third century.^ (5) Un texte de la Genise, published in 1904 by Prof. Nicole, consists of a leaf of vellum of the fifth century with the text of Gen. xxxvii. 3 f., 9, and is of interest for the various readings which it has preserved, which are said to differ from the known texts of Aquila, Symmachus, and the LXX ; Theodotion's translation of these verses is not extant.^ (6) Portions of Gen. xiv.-xxvii. were published by Messrs. Grenfell & Hunt in Oxyrhynchus Papyri, vol. iv., London, 1904, from a papyrus codex, the text being assigned by the editors on palaeographical grounds to " the earlier rather than the later part of the (third) century." The verses preserved are chs. xiv. 21-23, XV. 5-9, xix. 32-xx. 11, xxiv. 28-47, xxvii. 32—33, 40, 41. The manuscript is thus very fragmentary, but possesses great value, not only on account of its age, but because of the deficient character of the extant witnesses to the text of Genesis. Cp. the Berlin papyrus, noted above, No. 3. Further, Old Testament manuscripts are reported as recovered from Akhmlm, which are as yet un- published, but they are attributed by their discoverer to the 4th-6th centuries. No details are yet (1908) available ; one manuscript, however, contains Deut. and Joshua, and a second the Psalter. " The MSS 1 Egypt. Arch. Eeyort, 1903-4, p. 64. ^ j^ ^ 72. H nAAAIA AIA0HKH KATA TOYS EBAOMHKONTA A I A Y E N T I A 2^ S Y 2 T o' Y B A K P O Y A P X I E> E -^i S VETVS TESTAMErrVM 1 V X T A S E P T V A G I N X \. r X Ave T o )v 1 1" A T ': S I X T I V. T O N T. M A X- E D I T V M »>"/. 1_R_0_M_A, E. J^ ExTjpogiaplualiaccilaZiuiflccu. ivl- D- LXXXV.tl. ' » fSivii.jK;io_c.s9jr,jo riaimuo r '■m SIXTIXE SEPTr.iC.INT, TITLE-PAGE. EDITIONS OF THE GREEK TEXT 21 1 are somewhat larger than the famous Alexandrine texts in the British Museum, but . . . collation . . . shows that many words and even passages wanting in the latter are still preserved in the new texts." ^ Editions of the Septuagint. — The Greek text of the Old Testament appeared first in a printed form in four great primary editions, two of which represented with varying fidelity the two chief uncial manuscripts then known, while two by a curious and wholly undesigned coincidence seem to reflect in general the text re- spectively of Lucian and Hesychius. In chronological order the editions are as follows : — (1) The Complutensian Polyglott, 6 vols, folio, printed under the direction of Cardinal Ximenes at the University of Alcala in Spain, and bearing dates 1514-1517. As is well known the work was not actually published until 1520, three years after the death of the Cardinal, owing to the delay in obtaining the necessary sanction of the Pope, Leo x. The first four volumes contain the text of the Old Testament printed in three columns, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek ; to the Latin is assigned the place of honour in the centre, and the other two texts are each provided with a Latin translation. Among the Greek manuscripts used by the Cardinal were two minuscules from the Vatican Library, which he obtained on loan, Nos. 330 ' Times, February 18th, 1908. The recently published volume of the Oxyrh. Papyri, pt. vi., 1908, contains the text, much broken and mutilated, of Pss. Ixviu. 30-37, Ixx. 3-8, and of Amos ii. 6-12 ; the former manuscript is ascribed by the editors to the late fourth or fifth century, the latter to the sixth. 212 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE and 346. The former of these presents a text which has been recognised as predominantly Lucianic in type ; and it was this which the Cardinal followed in the main in the Greek column of his Polyglott. The text of this edition was reprinted in the Antwerp Polyglott, and other later editions. Separate books of the Old Testament had been issued in G-reek before the date of the Complutensian. The earliest was a diglot Psalter, G-reek and Latin, printed at Milan in the autumn of 1481 a.d. ; and this was followed by other edition? of the Psalms at Venice, Genoa, and elsewhere. Editions also of Isaiah and Jeremiah appeared in separate form in the first half of the sixteenth century. But of the rest of the Old Testa- ment nothing apparently was printed in Greek anterior to the publication of Cardinal Ximenes' Polyglott.^ (2) The Aldine edition of the Old Testament in Greek, in one volume, folio, Venice, 1518, was the first complete edition published of the Greek text, although the actual printing of the Complutensian had been finished more than six months previously. There seems to be no clear indication of the manuscripts used by the editor, although three in St. Mark's Library at Venice are pointed out by Dr. Swete as containing traces of his text. (3) The third great edition of the Greek text is the Bovian or Sixtine of the year 1587 a.d., which was based upon the Vatican manuscript B, and claimed to reproduce its text. The volume bore upon its title- 1 See Swete, ch. vi. ; E. Nestle, UDB, vol. iii. p. 439 f. "P A A .OOTatSwVw, W/**^™'"'^/'^4a5(i!fl(ja'.3iJet fern . i(^ cy^i'f /^t -^MJCl/XfT, )(cijf-3lTZ t!u) £w'4 //Of eiiT^MfAar. ig^ i Jut/ W^sy ^AKy-tZ til< tifii't($ii f^oi cttiTTi' j/yt^ (ffff jLuavuzfTztf fit cJ^oAa ' ^fd^iTUf , OXfK^^HP y ^ eCn.lJjj (XjrjiQiif j^ffi^f P^y 7ikaTH(i>y MatcH auni^q . f^ pZcraj /u* a^ ai- c«J)jt«crf! [»^».>'<»Ti.]fic Tcrcu!lianus,!aa^ ficaberii.acS.C7pnaniJs.Ctimiufloidhfiabens. All) -veiolibri hibit,iiit(ir^. S. »e?f ^inorMi'sf oe^^Hf.Aliud •ipa*. ^ t««* •A*^»w.] (ic Crxci libri lubcnc S. tzmza M O 1 vt Hicronymus afTeuerjc, oroDCsIfitcrpreceJ trinftuJift, tt-a-f^r. B [j^ (?»T -raL'-^^tt'-]A. ^ Pii-ni t''4*'.^^'™V**^^=»« A"- S ["^-^^f-f^'-JVl-ciiitiO, \afc*ai:(nB,i v^Voi'TOfsj'^ ( ['Turn^iai f/x.^Ah) librinon hatcnc /»», c^iod tamen ab omoibui Interpret! bus podrum eOe CcribitS. Hierony- TK,]Affirm3tS,H(cronymui itii.Inccrprctcs noaiJfcri- EiV TD TiAa(,-v|ixA;i0n7tTtf t!w ■i'ia^Li/ aiitQ. oyOfA,sg7Q i£id^cc ^tpxli'OfV:^ x-a^'iof-, )i c*toAm k-j^iiu T»Kau^ ytz3ae(^//ej>£^ * ";i,Tt>(tMii;'(;.if TrtTTit^ TV(. ™. J9! i'. n*. fttl. ta O CVT Al. i, pint prma. M-ObioiV.. 1 A a.«l .» 9,;, FbOo ^«J.Auj &iv OflntOtDT- ftnn... riiq.-. Am-Ei •"-f'""! n FtiSa L c. pTsmnt! tfoinhm A I.m jTiqui. Am'- EJ- ■^"5 •"*■ "> '<>*■ • ^y. Al 1, ; XXIV, t.V. * oJ™ Kv'j-j * :t. .*'r^ .^nurn, Uofc, llquj-. Apt. r-.ii. A Jl C.rory,. >:>. i.in. ai^r. S=;. Vtl, X, ,4, ,-. 16, 18, ;>-, 19, 10, 5;, 5;. ijt <* ''■(■ ''■ '*> 7v '''■»*.';, ,.^.l**<.u.-« "/'. "S. !-,=. n-, iJ4. AM. /.'--I- t:.t, Nic « .■^., »c 0. iQ. aaJli. f«. Ami. I. ili«J«. Anii.Ei PaJ.{i] mir>:<, =-tfr.. jS. .Ant,:, ,.™.. ^^,„,._, „_ ,^rilUS.].-.«Ti:. Vll.aq, 74, K^,io6, i)|. ul V^iW.) ™iT'lL«^. J.1 «tI:,C™ JlLn. ALt.,u«f«iir*l,4. ,1;. 7!- . "i CXt. AJ. 1. portc fo-ui«li, , ■ 6. (flt m Vc fli » *,-W.r C-jt. sUt. Oitroj. .Aroi t. iLn«. Am. Ed. u ./- *"■] • Amxni CuJ»^ il-qul Ami, W. tu 'iVt,K-! . ul 19. r™>WCtK' CtDii, K.(wi'] .!;...(. ji, (fi, 1J8. CooipL L'lr. + « iJiX^ irtu loS. + ■,» aJ.Aflt. ffw i^. hVmi;!:;] u ALLt. ™ (■,!•, i' I .(mmt qmn fuem w ia r™o>, Ann.i. o. .if. 118. JrJ -U/lr,, AnU. ;. Ph^ImC-. aw^Jwi] pu^ •Ii«M. Ann-td II la.) Tilaa:?;, . »; 14, iS, J7, Jl, Wfwua!. i|'. P"X"**'" *'^'- "S" {i'^'^''^'^"'"' !?• r-.iee.i-.o. Ala Ci.ALJ.*. It(uw.] tt^k M. p, ™ j6, Cooipl. Cyi. AJ. I. c, trtrJawl aJ n/.flicJ.a ilnb. 1. :. ■i-f- "■'; i']™-"; "».^-. f#, lil-,; 1"— ml^ j'] afctMJm Copt. afinJiai Arab. j. t« &!«] Kj^n ii> 6- '^ "J. "* 5S. 7^ " a^'^"*l 'r '^■i^* 1^- i* :i' '"" Ann. I. ilili{ue. Axm. Ed. « d. naiE" X. fl lit in tEiw,falB XXV. JLiri«;i] . ;i Arm. I. »li;qi.c .Vin. FJ- ■»■'■'■ ,' ^ t" ''rT *^ ' ^^^ ■''™- '^''- A^. I- »■ « «"•- ""'-.'' '■' .■^"Dmi C<-ll™ J'rqil'. -^ «-.,iu.i.«.^,„„-,,fl, AM. 5t,». ...Tv.e- n 1«^ in imrTwm, .(.. , ,,a.ic4. .=im,fctlftp- mrt" ID OBJ. .!1. ^ ;^. Ki. M.J . ;j. -f^a}ii, ji. Kjf«; '] . ?.V Am. T. Ma,.J FT. a;. L r. iv; W. .. .r;if. ,^a,.M.]«.«, ■-—.». .,. ;=■;... ^-.f. =■] m-^^j.j.^71. sr"i™k,i.&.fcd^«,Vrt, ,4«i',.5B K.J.SC Ji . a.4; o.. I'j. I -f« " •r^ .^ -m„«;, 7^*'™^^' .y*-.-.] -.b. >jy^.l a J^,( (;™-,-. ., J,»( Ann. 1- "iH*- '^ "- ■.™-l,«::!.l +-:■•!"!■. II. .Wl,a™. AL,„. D„J,.I,..!. C.^.Uil-' ""i""^H,K..fcT^ ,6, ,,,,,. ""'■'•'■ !"">». "(^ fal Ub« plu. Inert aiibi. K^p.ul-Si- ? b'^;,■•■A,■.:i,,^,*,,,»^*, '"■."■ "■>'■"• "i^ :cT„ s,:^^,i ..-„,,„, „ ,.„;.F^-r; '•^„ ■t'-'l"-',.,. t.T, AL i, p„, r,™^ ,p, .,'.^^. vii.T«.«<» ■' •■i.' flo. a^ Arab. 1, ,rs« r— •' O" "'" ' ■'^ «- J ^ Copt *«(« w Ilin. r. Oliroj. fi=«Ori(.l, 7W, fcj ihbi ffav7.( In Codiiie. «^'"S """^^^ '^«»f'-> ?vo. «;) cri ^ i.->T. AL .V, 4-.:. W^'^^ «- ^ -Tl^-l '^' ■-' II ■■ ■■'"""'lip- W^.^ I --—.-.-14. ~Y- ' ■n.J.*-i .\nctnj CijA-f AXD TAR^^OX.'^' SErTrA(;iXT, KX. XIX. 10-xx. \. EDITIONS OF THE GREEK TEXT 215 scholar and editor, had turned his attention to the Old Testament; and had issued in 1820 an edition of the Old Testament in Greek, which together with a revised Sixtine text contained various readings derived from the three chief uncial manuscripts then known, the Alexandrian, Ephrsemi, and Prederico- Augustanus, or the part then accessible of the manu- script later known as the Codex Sinaiticus. Of Tischendorf's text seven editions in all were pubHshed, each of them furnished with additional critical apparatus, as materials became more accessible. The fifth edition appeared in 1875, after his death; the sixth and seventh in 1880 and 1887 under the editorship of Dr. E. Nestle, who contributed a supple- inentary and more exact collation of n and B, together with a comparison of select readings of A and C. These last two editions alone may be considered to retain their value and importance at the present time.'^ For ordinary convenience as well as for general critical purposes all these have been superseded by the Cambridge manual edition of Dr. H. B. Swete, of which the first volume appeared in 1887, the second in 1891, the third and last in 1894. All three have been reprinted. The full title is The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint, ed. by H. B. Swete, D.D. The text follows the Vatican manuscript, where this is extant. Its deficiencies and lacimce are supplied 1 Swete, p. 182 ff. ; Buhl, p. 134 ff. Complete Usts of the various editions of the Greek text will be found in the art. " Septuagint" in SDS. 2i6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE from one or another manuscript which is regarded as furnishing the best available text in the passage concerned. In every instance, however, the letter denoting the manuscript is placed in the margin to indicate the source from which the printed text is derived. A select list of readings from the chief uncial manuscripts is given at the foot of the page. The Cambridge University Press has also initiated the preparation of a larger edition of the Septuagint, which is to contain the readings of all known uncials, of the principal cursives, and of the chief Versions and Fathers. The first part was published in 1906, with the title, The Old Testament in Greek, according to the text of Codex Vaticanus, supplemented from other Uncial Manuscripts, with a Critical Apparatus containing the Variants of the chief Ancient Authorities for the Text of the Septuagint, ed. by A. E. Brooke and N. M'Lean, Cambridge, 1906; vol. i. the Octateuch; Part i. Genesis. The text, therefore, is the same as in the smaller edition. But the critical notes will bring together for comparison and study a mass of material such as has never before been accumulated. The remaining necessity for the study of the Septua- gint has been supplied by the Oxford University Press in the form of a complete Concordance to the Greek versions of the books of the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha. A large part of the material was gathered together by the late Dr. Edwin Hatch, and the work was carried to completion aftet his death by Dr. H. A. Eedpath, and finally published early in LATIN VERSIONS 217 1897. The title is, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the other Greek Versions of the Old Testament, including the Apocryphal Books, by the late E. Hatch, and H. A. Eedpath, Oxford, 1897. In the printing of texts, therefore, and the provision of the needful aids to the study of the Greek text, the last quarter of a century has made great advance. In hardly any department of Old Testament research and criticism are the materials more abundant and accessible. The problems involved, however, are of great difficulty and complexity, and stable conclusions will not be reached for many years to come. 3. Latin Versions. The origin and early history of the Latin version or versions of the Scriptures are involved in much obscurity. That a Latin translation of the New Testament, and of parts if not of the whole of the Old, was in existence before the middle of the third century, seems evident, and is hardly disputed. By whom, however, the work of rendering the Greek text into Latin was first undertaken, and in what part of the Christian world it was carried to completion, are subjects upon which a definite and final pronouncement is not yet possible. It is generally agreed that the BibUcal quotations in the Latin writings of Cyprian, the great African bishop (flor. 250 A. a), presuppose on the whole a definite text or version, and are not in general his own private or independent renderings of 2i8 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the Greek. This Latin text, therefore, was known and circulated in the Christian Church of North Africa at a date anterior to that of the oldest extant Greek manuscript. It cannot, of course, be inferred either that Africa was its original home, or that the text which it assumes is earlier than that represented in the Greek. The tradition of the great Greek uncials carries us back to a time long before the date at which they were actually written. And the text of the Latin manuscripts themselves, even the earliest, has become " mixed " with readings derived from the Vulgate or other late Latin forms, and has been revised in the light of the various Greek versions. In deter- mining the primitive form of the Latin text, therefore, the quotations of the Fathers are of paramount import- ance. Much has been already done in the direction of grouping and classifying the manuscripts, and determining their relation to one another and to the underlying Greek texts. The greater part of the work, however, has reference to the translation and text of the New Testament, and comparatively little progress has been made in the elucidation of the problems that concern the Old. It is usual to apply the term Old Latin to all Latin texts, from whatever source derived, which antedate the time and labours of the Church Father Jerome (346- 420 A.D.). His work upon the revision and retrans- lation of the Latin Bible was so comprehensive and all-important, that it constitutes a real dividing line, and a new character, which on the whole exerted a LATIN VERSIONS 219 unifying influence, was impressed upon the Latin versions. The readings of Jerome, moreover, being accepted and " authorised," found their way into all Old Latin manuscripts, and by their presence there have greatly complicated the task of classification and arrangement. In his Introdiiction to the New Testament in Qi'eeh, Cambridge and London, 1881, Dr. Hort investigated anew the mutual relations of the Old Latin authorities, and postulated three groups or families of manuscripts, to which he gave the names of African, European, and Italian respectively ; and this distribution has been generally accepted. It is not, however, implied that there existed three separate and independent versions, made at different times and under different auspices. The relation of the texts underlying the several families is a difficult and complicated question, still svh jtidice. It is hardly likely that in any circumstances there were more than two independent translations. And it is becoming increasingly probable that the view is correct which assumes the existence of only one, from which as a basis the others were derived with more or less extensive alterations and revisions. Whether this assumed original was produced at Eome, or within the circle of the influence of the North African Church, or at some other centre of early Christian life and activity, is altogether uncertain. The argument in favour of an African origin, drawn from supposed " Africanisms," by which term are in the Latin text understood words or forms believed to be characteristic 220 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of the idiom of North Africa, has been weakened if not altogether destroyed by the proof that many of these forms are met with also in other parts of the Latin- speaking world. The possibility, moreover, must not be overlooked of separate books or groups of books having been translated for the first time under different circumstances, and in different districts. This is more likely to have been true of the Old than of the New Testament. The rendering of the whole was not necessarily contemporaneous. The passages from the Church Fathers which have the most intimate bearing on the question of the origin of the Old Latin version or versions, and the variety of the texts, are the oft-quoted words of Jerome and Augustine. The former is apparently thinking rather of corruptions in the Latin manuscripts, than of distinct and separate translations; these variations he insists are most nuinerous, and can only be remedied by a return to the Greek original. Epist. ad Bamasum : " Me cogis . . . ut post exemplaria scripturarum toto orbe dispersa quasi quidam arbiter sedeam, et quia inter se variant quae sint ilia quae cum greeca consentiant veritate decernam. ... Si enim latinis exemplaribus fides est adhibenda re- spondeant quibus ; tot sunt enim psene quot codices. Sin autem Veritas est quserenda de pluribus, cur non ad GrEEcam originem revertentes ea quae . . . aut addita sunt aut mutata corrigimus ? " Free/, in Lib. Paralip. : " Cum pro varietate regionum diversa ferantur exemplaria, et germana ilia antiquaque translatio corrupta LATIN VERSIONS 221 sit atque violata, nostri arbitrii putas e pluribus judicare quid verum sit." He is referring, of course, more immediately to the New Testament ; but his words would hold good, mutatis mutandis, of the Old. His eosemplaria are not independent versions of the Greek, but Latin copies or manuscripts, greatly corrupted in different parts of the world. The language of Augustine is undoubtedly more definite, and is generally interpreted as expressing his own view of the position of the Scriptures in the Christian Churches of his day ; the view that there did in fact exist among them many Latin translations of independent origin and varying worth. It may be doubted, however, whether he really intended to pro- nounce any judgement on the origin or independence of the Latin texts, of the existence and variety of which he was aware.^ Be JDoct. Christ, ii. 11: " Qui Scripturas ex Hebrtea lingua in Grascam verterunt numerari possunt, Latini autem interpretes nullo modo. Ut euim cuiquam primis fidei temporibus in manus venit codex Grsecus, et aliquantulum facultatis sibi utriusque linguae habere videbatur, ausus est inter- pretari." In the same chapter he refers to the great variety of Latin interpreters, " Latinorum interpretum infinita varietas"; and ib. ii. 22: "In ipsis autem interpretationibus Itala ceteris prseferatur, nam est verborum tenacior cum perspicuitate sententise." The meaning and implication of the words of the last ' Cp. Th. Zahn, Gesch. d. NT. Kanons, i. p. 33, quoted in HDB vol. iii. p. 48''. 222 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE quotation have been widely discussed ; and doubt has been thrown, although without sufficient reason, on the reading Itala. Bentley, for example, proposed illa^ others tcsitata, etc. The expression suggested to Dr. Hort his " Italian " family or group of manuscripts ; but a distinct Italian school or version seems highly improbable. In an essay published in 1896,^ F. C. Burkitt, following a suggestion of E. Keuss,^ argues strongly that by " Itala " Augustine refers simply to the Vulgate text, or Jerome's translation made direct from the original Hebrew or Greek, of which at the time of the writing of the Be Doctrind Christiand (397 A.D.) there had been published besides the whole of the New Testament, the books of the Prophets Major and Minor, Samuel and Kings, Ezra and Nehemiah ; and that by " interpretations " here he intends to contrast Jerome's rendering with that of the earlier version made in the case of the Old Testament from the Septuagint text, and to express his preference for the former. It is pointed out that Augustine never in any other passage uses the expression " Itala," or suggests a separate Italian translation ; while he does elsewhere refer in terms of praise to Jerome's work, and employs the very word " interpretari " with respect to his rendering of " the Gospel." * The phrase was at ' BenUeii Crilica Sacra, ed. A. A. Ellis, Camb. 1862, p. 158 ; cp. the late Dr. Alexander iu Kitto's Gyclopcsdia of Biblical Literature, vol. ii. p. 785 f. ^ "Old Latin and the Itala " in Texts and Studies, vol. iv., Cambridge. 3 Gesch. d. Schr. d. NT., Eng. ti-ans., Edin. 1884, p. 469. * De Civ. Dei, xviii. 43 : " Non defuerit temporibus nostris presbyter LATIN VERSIONS 223 least so understood by Isidore, bishop of Seville at the beginning of the seventh century, who adapts and combines the very words of Augustine. Etym. vi. 4 : " Presbyter quoque Hieronymus trium linguarum peritus ex Hebrseo in Latinum eloquium Scripturas convertit eloquenterque confudit, cujus interpretatio merito ceteris antefertur ; nam est et verborum tenacior et perspi- cuitate sententiee clarior, atque utpote a Christiano interprete verior." ^ The determination of the precise meaning of Augus- tine's language is perhaps more important for the criticism of the New than of the Old Testament. It is clear that he regarded Jerome's translation from the Hebrew as preferable to the Old Latin renderings of the Septuagint; and, his words offer no real support to a theory of several original and independent versions. The whole subject needs and will receive further eluci- dation from more exact and comprehensive study.- Hieronymus, homo doctissimus, et omnium trium linguarum peritus, qui non ex Graeco aed ex Hebraeo in Latinum eloquium easdem Scriptm'as converterit." Epist. civ. 6 ad Hieronymuni : "Proinde non parvas Deo gratias agimus de opere tuo quod Evangelium ex Graico interpretatus es, quia psne in omnibus nulla ofiFensio sit." ' Cp. the passages quoted in the preceding note, and De Bod. Christ, ii. 22, suf. p. 221. ^ In an article on the origin of the Old Latin text in the Journal of Tfieological Studies, vol. vii. (1906), the Eev. E. S. Buchanan expressed the view that Augustine's language {supra, p. 221) referred merely to interpolation, on a large scale, of the original version : ' ' variations in the Old Latin MSS are due to the fact that the African text soon became more or less assimilated to the prevailing Greek text, especially in the case of those MSS which reached Italy," p. 250. In other words, the varieties of texts or groups of manuscripts do not represent original differences of rendering, but successive attempts at revision, designed to 224 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE This ancient Latin translation has been preserved only in part. The extant manuscripts and authorities are fairly numerous; nearly all, however, are incom- plete, consisting of a few chapters or portions of books. A complete list is given in the article in HDB, to which reference has already been made (vol. iii. pp. 49 ff., 5 8 ff.). Of the Hexateuch considerable fragments exist, in four chief manuscripts, which probably repre- sent recensions of one and the same original translation. Of the historical books, Euth and Esther have been preserved entire, the latter being a free representation and condensation of the canonical Esther, rather than a translation ; from Judges, Samuel, and Kings, only portions are known. The Psalter is complete in manu- scripts at Verona and Paris, and portions or extracts are found elsewhere. Of the other poetical books, Job and Proverbs, little more than a few verses have been preserved; and the same is true of Ecclesiastes and The Song of Solomon. Fragments exist of the Prophets, in all cases inconsiderable, the book of Obadiah alone, apparently, being unrepresented, though several others are extant only in the quotations of the Specuhim (c. 8 th cent.). It may be doubted whether complete transla- tions of all the prophetical books in the Old Latin were ever made. The Old Latin text of several ot the Apocryphal books also has been conserved entire. The Old Latin Bible was derived from the Septua- bring the current Latin text into closer conformity with the accepted model of the Greek. It is probable that, historically, this represents in general terms the course of development and differentiation of the Old Latin types. LATIN VERSIONS 225 gint, and represented the text and canon known to and accepted by the Greek-speaking world. The labours of Jerome, therefore (346—420 A.D.), who recalled to the Christian Church the true position and authority of the original Hebrew, were even more decisive and im- portant for the Old Testament than for the New. His earliest efforts, however, were confined to a simple revision of the existing Latin version, the aim of which was to restore the text to its original form, and to free it from the corruptions which had been introduced in the course of time. The work was undertaken at the request of Damasus, Pope of Eome, and the revised edition of the Psalter was issued afc Eome in 383 a.d. This Psalterium Bomanum or Roman Psalter was by the command of the Pope introduced into the Eoman liturgy ; and when it was superseded for ordinary use, in the sixteenth century, under Pius v., by the Vulgate text, it was retained in the Church of St. Peter's, where it is still read. Elsewhere also, in the Doge's Chapel at Venice, this first revision of Jerome is said to have maintained its ground until the beginning of the nine- teenth century ; and even to the present day it is used in the services of the cathedral church of Milan. Pope Damasus died towards the close of the following year, and in 385 Jerome left Eome, and after some years' wandering in Palestine and Egypt, settled at Bethlehem in the year 389. The Eoman Psalter was the first Old Xatin text to appear in print. This was in the edition of the Psalms pubUshed, in five parallel columns, by J. Faber in 1509, 15 226 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE three of the cohunns containing the three Hieronymian versions, the fourth a text of Augustine derived from his commentary on the Psalms, and the fifth the GalU- can text revised and corrected by Paber himself after the Hebrew. Fifty years later the Eoman text was printed in Milan, and was afterwards there edited or revised, and furnished with critical marks to indicate agreement or otherwise with the Greek original and the Gallican version. The text itself, however, was unaltered.^ During his stay at Osesarea Jerome had become acquainted with Origen's great work, the Hexapla, and had made use of it there to revise the Psalter in the light of the other Greek versions, and with the help of the diacritical marks in Origen's text. This revision work had become necessary in consequence of the corruptions that had found their way into the Eoman Psalter. The new edition became known as Psalterium Gallicanum owing to the popularity which it enjoyed in Gaul. The date of its completion was in or about the year 387. This GaUican Psalter became finally the accepted and authorised version of the Psalms for Eoman Catholic use, and was printed in all editions of the Vulgate Bible, to the exclusion on the one hand of the Eoman edition, and on the other of Jerome's later rendering from the Hebrew.^ Other books ' A. Rahlfs, Der Text des Septiiaginta-Psalters, Gbttingen, 1907, pp. 25 ff., 91 ff. ^ For the Gallioan Psalter see also especially A. Eahlfs, op. cit. pp. 33 f., lllff. Dr. Eahlfs' conclusion is that the Gallioan is not an absolutely faithful reproduction of Origen's Hexaplario text, the earlier LATIN VERSIONS 227 of the Old Testament were revised or retranslated from the Greek by Jerome about the same time ; but whether his work covered the whole of the Old Testament is un- certain. Besides the Psalter, only the book of Job is extant, and prefaces to the books of Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Canticles, from which it would seem that these four at least underwent revision. Expressions also which Jerome himself uses in his writings suggest that he completed all the canonical books of the Old Testa- ment.^ If so, the survey and correction can have been Uttle more than cursory and incomplete. With the year 390 a.d. Jerome's great life-work began with the translation of the entire Old Testament from the original Hebrew. Por such a task he was pre- eminently well equipped. At Bethlehem he had been perfecting his knowledge of Hebrew, the study of which he had commenced in Syria fifteen years before, under the instruction of a Jew who, it is said, used to come to him by night for fear of his own compatriots. The work was undertaken at the request of friends, as his earliest revision had been carried out for Pope Damasus. Samuel and Kings were the first books to be translated, and with them was issued a preface to the whole, the so-called Prologus Galeatus, the "helmeted" prologue, in which Jerome expounded and defended his method phraseology of the Roman Psalter having been sometimes allowed by Jerome to stand where no difference of meaning was involved, and changes having been introduced also from the Hebrew and the other columns of the Hexaplar edition: "variations from the Roman text may be more confidently regarded as hexaplaric than agreements." > See H. J. White in HDB iv. p. 875". 228 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE and aims. Within the next two or three years there followed Job, Psalms, and the Prophets ; then Esdras and Chronicles; in a.d. 398, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, and some years later the Pentateuch ; and the translation of the canonical books of the Old Testa- ment was completed, 404—5 a.d., with Joshua, Judges, Euth, and Esther. The apocryphal parts of Daniel and Esther, and the books of Tobit and Judith were issued at a later date.^ It was only gradually that the new version won its way to general acceptance. In the outlying and more remote parts of Christendom the older version long maintained its ground by the side of the new, and everywhere there was more or less intermingling of the texts, as the " mixed " condition of the manuscripts testifies. Moreover, Jerome's rendering would seem to have circulated at first to a great extent in separate books or groups of books ; and thus a church or district might find itself reading the new translation in a part of the Old or New Testament, while in another its text was the unrevised Old Latin, as indeed seems to have been the case in Africa in Augustine's day.^ Only in the reading of the famiUar Psalter were the forces of conservatism altogether too strong ; and the Gallican version never yielded place in the authorised Latin text of the Bible to the later rendering from the Hebrew. 1 For details and the relevant extracts from Jerome's Prefaces and Epistles, see the article of H. J. White referred to above. Jerome him- self wrote a letter to Augustine, which is extant, vindicating his own action. ' F. C. Burkitt, Old Latin, and Itala, p. 57 f. EDITIONS OF THE LATIN TEXT 229 With the exception named, the process of change or supersession was complete about the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century; and the Latin Bible of the Church came to be known, quite naturally, as Editio Vulgata, the " common " or " Vulgate " edition. The term itself was not new, but its connotation had become changed. In and before Jerome's time it had been employed to denote the Greek text of the Seventy, and this is the meaning which the name always conveys in his writings. The older usage lingered long, and did not finally die out in ecclesiastical literature until the Middle Ages. The extent to which the manuscript texts became corrupted varied greatly in different parts of the Christian world. Variation and corruption were at their worst apparently in Spain and the south-west of Europe ; while the British Church, in a compara- tively isolated and independent position, preserved a type of text more pure and faithful to its standard. Hence the Codex Amiatinus, of British origin, is justly regarded both in the Old and New Testaments as one of the best representatives of the primitive Vulgate text. The manuscript, now preserved in the Medicean Library at Florence, was copied in one of the monas- teries of Northumberland from an Italian examplar ; and was carried as a gift to the Pope at Rome by Ceolfric, abbot of Jarrow and Wearmouth, at the beginning of the eighth century. The original codex from which the Amiatinus was derived seems to have been one of those brought originally from Eome by 230 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Benedict, founder of the monasteries named, who died ia 684, and was succeeded by Ceolfric his disciple and companion on his journey ings. Thus the date of the manuscript is fixed within very narrow Hmits. Ceolfric himself died before he reached Italy on his last journey ; but his intentions with regard to the codex were carried out by his followers, who deposited it in the Church of St. Peter's at the capital.^ Many attempts were made, by expurgation and revision, to restore the Latin text to its original condition. The most important and influential was that undertaken in 797 a.d., under the authority of Charlemagne, by Alcuin (Ealhwine), a native of York, where he was born in 735 a.d. Alcuin had become tutor to the Emperor, and at this time was abbot of St. Martin at Tours. The aim of his work was by collation of the best Latin manuscripts to regain the earliest form of the text, and thus to remove the errors due to time and the process of transcription. The revision was completed in 801 a.d., and by the close of that year a copy of the Bible thus restored was placed in the hands of the Emperor. A similar, but private and unauthorised attempt at revision was made a few years subsequently by Theowulf, bishop of Orleans, but his efforts met with even less success than Alcuin's had done ; and the confusion of the texts was increased by the numerous Correctoria, collections ' See Tisohendorf, Godex Aimiatinus, Leipzig, 1854 ; and especially H. J. White, "The Codex Amiatinus and its Birthplace" in Studia BihUca, ii. p. 273 ff., and HDB iv. p. 878, with the references there given. EDITIONS OF THE LATIN TEXT 231 of errors and variations, which were compiled and circulated in different districts, and misapplied by uncritical writers and copyists. With the invention of printing a great impulse was given to the production of copies of the Latin Bible. The Vulgate was natm-ally one of the earliest books to which the new process was applied. Two Latin Psalters were issued at Mainz in 1457 and 1459, and the great Mazarin Bible of Gutenberg was com- pleted in 1456. Before the century closed more than a hundred editions of the Latin text had been published, and the need for a generally accepted type or standard became a matter of still greater urgency than before. As far as the Roman CathoUc Church was concerned this was suppUed by the decree of the Council of Trent (1546), which declared the vulgata editio to be the accepted and authorised text for the Church's use, and anathematised those who rejected even the apocryphal works contained therein.^ Among the Protestant communities, however, the decree naturally carried no weight ; and the action of the Council in seeking to impose a definite and obligatory form of ' " Hseo ipsa vetus et vulgata editio qua longo tot saeculorum usu in ipsa eoclesia probata est, in publiois lectionibus disputationibus pradicationibus et expositionibus pro authentica habeatur . . . posthac Scriptura Sacra potissimum vero hseo ipsa yetus et vulgata editio quam emendatissime imprimatur." Sess. iv. Can. 2. The Council seems, therefore, to have contemplated the preparation of an official and standard edition, to which the term "authentic" was to apply. No steps, however, appear ever to have been taken by the Council in its collective capacity to carry the implied intention into effect. The term "authentica" is explained to mean "accurate," as well as authorised or official. 232 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE text, intensified the opposition between the two divisions of the Christian Church.^ Official action was taken by Pope Sixtus v. (1585- 90), himself a man of considerable ability and learning, who summoned and appointed a number of scholars to prepare a revised Latin text by comparison of existing manuscripts and editions, corrected and guided by reference to the original languages. The result appeared in the so-called Sixtine edition, published at Eome early in the year 1590, and declared by an accompanying Papal BuU to be the true Vulgate text intended by the Council of Trent ; which, therefore, was to be received by the entire Christian Church, and regarded as the final and absolute standard of revealed truth, Divine and apostolic wrath being invoked upon those who ventured to make any alteration in it without the authority of the Pope himself. The Sixtine text was thus issued as the "authorised version" (apostolica nobis a Domino tradita auctoritate) of the Eoman Catholic world, " pro vera legitima authentica et indubitata, in omnibus publicis privatisque disputationibus lectioni- bus prsedicationibus et explanationibus." It was un- fortunately soon found to be defective and full of errors ; and two years only after the death of Sixtus, in 1592, Pope Clement viii. recalled the original Sixtine, and issued a new and revised edition, which is said to differ from its predecessor in more than three thousand passages. This, the first of several 1 See Buhl, Canon, pp. 64, 164 ; HDB iv. p. 880. EDITIONS OF THE LATIN TEXT 233 Clementine editions, retained the name of Sixtus on the title-page.^ A second edition was put forth in the following year, with corrections ; a third, with Hsts of errata, etc., indices correctorii, in 1598, and this last is said doubtfully to present the best and most reliable text. All three editions, however, differ from one another. In its final form the Clementine is the text received and used in the Eoman Catholic Church. A convenient critical edition was published in the year 1873 by Heyse and Tischendorf with a collation of the Codex Amiatinus.^ More recently the text has been edited by Dr. Hetzenauer, with the variant read- ings of the Sixtine and three Clementine editions.* The late Pope Leo xiii. appointed a " Commission for Biblical Studies " to consider the question of the need and possibility of issuing a revised edition of the Vulgate under the auspices of Eome itself. After his death in 1903 the appointment of the Commission was confirmed by his successor Pius x., and a formal decree has been issued, authorising the revision, and entrusting the work to chosen scholars and members of ' Biblia Sacra Vulgake Editionis Sixti Quinti . . . jiissu recognita atque edita. The name of Clement did not appear until twelve years later, in 1604 a.d. ^ Biblia Sacra Latina Veteris Testamenii Hieronymo Interprete ex antiquissima Auctoritate in Stichos Descripta, ed. Th. Heyse and Const, de Tischendorf, Leipzig, 1873. The most faithful reprint of the Clementine Vnlgate is the edition of C. VerceUone, Biblia Sacra Vulgates Editionis, Eome, 1861. See Buhl, p. 165 ff. , and the literature in HDB iv. p. 889 f. ' Biblia Sacra Vulgatce Editionis : ex ipsis Exemjplaribus Vaticanis inter se atque cum Indice Errorum con-igendorum collatis criticc edidit P. Micluicl HetzenaiKr . . . cum approbatione ecclesiaslica , . . Oenipoiite, \906. 234 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the Benedictine Order. This will be the first occasion since the time of Pope Clement viii. on which a revision of the standard text has been sanctioned and carried out by Eoman Catholic authority.^ The order of the books in the Latin Bible is in general the same as that of the Septuagint, but the manuscripts and lists vary considerably. The books of Samuel and Kings are four books of Kings (Eegum), not Kingdoms (Sept. Baa-iXeicov) ; in the Poetical Books, Job precedes Psalms, the Vulgate order departing in this respect both from the Greek and the Hebrew ; and in the Prophets, Jerome restored the order of the Jewish Canon, placing the Major Prophets first and inserting Daniel, followed by the twelve Minor in the order of the Hebrew. The position and succes- sion of the apocryphal books differ also from the Greek. Omitting these, the order of the Latin is the same as that adopted in our English Bibles. Full details and lists will be found in Berger, op. cit., App. I. p. 331 ff. A very large number of manuscripts of the Vulgate have been preserved in a more or less complete state, the text often interpolated and confused with elements derived from the Old Latin. The majority are naturally of the New Testament. A selected list, " mainly of the New Testament," with brief descriptions, is given by H. J. White in HDB iv. p. 886 ff.; more fully by S. Berger, op. cit., App. VI. p. 374 ff. ^ For the later history of the Vulgate text in the various countries of Europe, see especially S. Berger, Histoire de la Vulgate pendant Us premiers Siicles du moyen Age, Paris, 1893. EGYPTIAN VERSIONS 235 4. EGYPTIAif VeKSIONS. The importance of the Egyptian translations of the Bible has been increasingly recognised within recent years. Their age and independence give them a place among the foremost witnesses to the sacred text ; their value for critical and comparative purposes can hardly be exaggerated, and further knowledge is hkely to lead to results of the highest significance and interest. Un- fortunately, no complete edition of the parts of the Old Testament that are extant has been published, and the texts must be sought, scattered in various periodicals and monographs. It is greatly to be desired that some competent scholar would undertake the collection and publication of the texts of all the books and fragments of books that are known to exist in the various dialects. Much has been done in the New Testament, but comparatively little in the Old. The name Coptic, which has been given to the language in which these Biblical texts and other Christian literary documents of Egypt are written, is a corruption of the Greek AlyvTmo^, Egyptian, and was introduced to describe the form which the ancient demotic assumed when written in Greek characters and employed for Christian and ecclesiastical purposes. Coptic is therefore the lineal descendant, through the demotic, of the ancient hieratic and hieroglyphic language of Egypt. The supersession of the demotic alphabet in writing by the simpler and more adaptable Greek is usually and rightly associated with the 236 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE introduction of Christianity, and the desire to avoid the suggestion of idolatry and idolatrous worship which many of the old symbols conveyed. It seems probable that earlier attempts had in fact been made to secure the adoption of the Greek alphabetic type before the influence of Christianity had made itself felt. It was due to the latter, however, that the change was completely effected. Six or seven signs were borrowed or retained from the demotic, to express sounds for which the Greek alphabet provided no equivalent. With the Muhammadan conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, the Coptic began to decay and die out before the Arabic, the more flexible and expressive language of the conquerors ; and for many centuries it has been obsolete, heard only in the ritual and services of the Church. A brief but admirable history of Coptic literature has recently been published by Dr. J. Leipoldt.^ The translation of the Bible into Coptic seems certainly to have been completed by the middle of the fourth century, and the beginnings of the work must be carried back to a date earlier by at least fifty or sixty years. Manuscripts, or parts of manuscripts exist, which are ascribed on good grounds to this century. And the early existence of a Coptic national Church in Upper Egypt is certified by the numerous Egyptian names which are found in the rolls of the martyrs in the great persecutions of the third century ^ Geschichte der Koptischen LUteratur, von Privatdozent Dr. Johannes Leipoldt, Leipzig, 1907. EGYPTIAN VERSIONS 237 of our era. Of the origin and early history of the Church nothing is known. It would seem natural to suppose that it was established by missionaries from Alexandria. There is no evidence, however, that such was the case, and the history of the Biblical translations does not suggest any direct initial connection with Lower Egypt.^ The chief centre of literary interest and work in Egypt in the second half of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries of our era was at the monastery of the " White Cloister " on the border of the desert near Achmim, of which Shenoute, the greatest and most influential of Coptic ecclesiastical writers, was the second president. He is said to have lived to the age of over a hundred years, and to have died in or about 450 a.d. It was probably under his fostering care that the earliest version of the Bible in Egyptian received its final form.^ This version was in Sahidie " upper," the dialect of Upper Egypt, formerly termed "Thebaic," because spoken in the district of Thebes, which dialect for some reason, probably con- nected with its foundation and the native country of its first inmates, was used in the " White Cloister " near Achmim in the time of Shenoute. Here also within the next few years much extra-canonical literature was translated from the Greek, among the earliest being ' Cp. Forbes Robinson, "Egyptian Versions" in SDS i. p. 671. " On Shenoute compare the monograph of J. Leipoldt, Schenute und die Enstehung des tuUional dgyptiscJies Christeniums, Leipzig, 1903 ; W. E. Crum in Journ. Theol. Studies, 1904, p. 552 if. ; R, T. Smith, in Did. Chr. Biogr., s.v. Senuti. 238 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the Pistis Sophia, the translation of which is supposed to be contemporary with the later work upon the Bible itself.^ The Sahidic text, as might be expected, is closely related to the Greek of Hesychius,^ and frequently takes part with the Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts against a majority of the later written texts and versions. In the Psalms at least, in the judgement of A. Kahlfs, it presents a type of text which is earlier than Origen. In the Old Testament the version is throughout secondary, that is, it is derived from the Septuagint, not the original Hebrew ; and its value therefore consists especially in its witness to the former before the text of the Seventy had undergone revision at the hands of Origen. In the book of Job, for example, the text is presented in some Sahidic MSS in a briefer form, which is doubtfully supposed to represent the primitive Septuagint, before Origen supplemented it and brought it into conformity with the Hebrew by means of additions derived from the version of Theodotion. The earliest Sahidic manu- scripts are ascribed to the fourth century. No complete collection of the extant portions of the Sahidic Old Testament has been published. New fragments come to light from time to time in Egypt. The best collections as yet available are those of G. Maspero, in vol. vi. of Mimoires puhliies par le Membres de la Mission Archiologique Frangaise au ' Kenyon, towever (art. "Papyri" in RDB, vol. v. p. 357), claims an earlier date for the "two books of Jeu," and a second Gnostic work, in the Bruce papyrus at Oxford. 2 Supra, pp. 205, 213. EGYPTIAN VERSIONS 239 CaiH, Paris, 1892 ; A. Ciasca, 2 vols., Eome, 1885-89 ; and P. de Lagarde at Gottingen, in 1883; also by Ajn^Iineau, Erman, al. As far as the text of the Pentateuch is concerned this was supplemented with brief fragments deciphered from the Paris collection by A. E. Brooke, and published in Journ. Theol. Stitdies, 1907, p. 67 ff. In the year 1898, Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge published the Sahidic Psalms from a unique papyrus manuscript in the British Museum,^ which had been foimd concealed in the ground beneath the ruins of an ancient Coptic monastery in Upper Egypt. Its text was further examined by E. Brightman in Journ. Theol. Studies, 1901, p. 275, and shown to have features in common with the Old Latin and the Bohairic. Other fragments of the Psalms have been printed, or reprinted, at Vienna by Wessely ; parts also of the Prophets, the Wisdom Literature, Apocrypha, etc., in various publications. Compare F. Eobinson in HDB i. p. 669, and the annual "Eeports of the Eg. Explor. Pund," passim. A list of important Coptic papyri is given by P. G. Kenyon, I.e., the majority of which are in the Sahidic dialect. In central Egypt and in the oases on the west of the Nile the Egyptian language appears to have been spoken in numerous dialects, probably closely related to one another, which have sometimes been classed together under the title of "Middle Egyptian." The most important from the point of view of literary survivals were those of the district of Achmim, in ' The earliest Known Coptic Psalter, London, 1898. 240 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE which the " White Cloister " lay, and of the Fayyum. The former was of equal antiquity, although not so wide-spread or influential as the Sahidic, and ultimately gave way before it. The extant literature in the Achmlmic dialect is entirely ecclesiastical, consisting, besides the BibUcal fragments of translations, of apocryphal Acts, Apokalypses, etc. Whether the version of the Bible in this dialect was ever complete is uncertain ; probably it was not. Fragments have been preserved of the Pentateuch, Isaiah, and the Minor Prophets, and have been published by G. Maspero, U. Bouriant, al. Of the New Testament only a few verses are known.^ A later form of the Middle Egyptian was that which had its centre in the Fayyum. Here, on the one hand, it lay more secluded from the influence of the dialects to the north and south, in the Delta and the valley of the Nile, and in some respects therefore seems to have preserved a purer type than they ; and, on the other, it was nearer to Alexandria, and exposed to a greater degree than the southern districts to the invasion of the Greek spirit and literature. Extant fragments of Lamenta- tions, Baruch, and the Ep. of Jeremiah, perhaps also parts of Isaiah, are usually ascribed to this dialect ; of non-canonical documents, an apocalypse of Moses, etc. Their date is supposed to be in the fifth or sixth cen- tury. By some scholars an attempt is made to dis- ' Forbes Robinson in HDB i. p. 669 f. In tlie list of papyri, it. vol. V. p. 356 f., only two are cited as containing an Achmimic text, one at St. Petersburg and the other divided between the Libraries of Paris and Berlin. Neither is Biblical. EGYPTIAN VERSIONS 241 tinguish a two-fold form of the Fayyumic, the so-called Fayyiimic proper and the Memphitic. But the dis- tinctions drawn are very uncertain, and the inferences precarious.-^ Later the dialect or dialects and speech of Fayyiim were superseded in their turn by the advance of the Sahidic. The latest in time of the Egyptian dialects was the Bohairic, the speech of the "Western Delta, especially of the city of Alexandria and the surrounding district. It was, perhaps, owing to the predominance of Alexandria during the Eoman and Byzantine periods that the Bohairic became the official language of the Christian Church, and finally took possession of the whole land, to the exclusion of earlier forms. At the present day it is in Bohairic that the lessons of the calendar are read in the churches. How far, however, it was ever a popular or spoken tongue throughout the country may be doubted. Its position in Alexandi-ia and the neighbourhood would render it peculiarly open to the rivalry of the Greek ; and by the time that it made its way south up the valley of the Nile, the Muslim invasion was nigh at hand, and with it the Arabic gradually superseded every other language. Modern Copts speak Arabic. Coptic proper, or Bohairic literature, consisted almost entirely of translations from the Greek, or was derived at second-hand from the Sahidic. The only exceptions that can lay any claim to originality are a small number of Christian hymns. The earliest monument of this dialect is the trans- ' F. Robinson, I.e. ; J. Leipoldt, p. 155 f. 16 242 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE lation of the Bible, which has been preserved practically entire, dating probably from the beginning or middle of the seventh century. The extant Bohairic manuscripts, however, are all comparatively late, none being earlier than the thirteenth century ; and papyrus texts written in this dialect are exceedingly rare, the only one re- corded in Kenyon's list being fragments of a Psalter of the tenth century, which are preserved partly in the British Museum and partly at Manchester in the John Eylands Library. No complete edition of the Old Testament in Bohairic has been published. The Pentateuch, Major and Minor Prophets, Psalms and Job have appeared, but of the other books only portions. The editio princeps of the Pentateuch was that of D. Wilkins in a small quarto volume, Quinqice Libri Moysis Prophetm, London, 1731 ; the text was re-edited by P. de Lagarde, with collation of a fourteenth century manuscript from the library of Henry Tattam, Ber Pentateuch Koptisch, Leipzig, 1867. The Prophets and Job were published, the former with Latin translations, by H. Tattam : Buodecim PropJietarum Minorum Libri, Oxford, 1836; Ancient Coptic Version of the Book of Joh the Just, translated into English, and edited, London, 1846; ProphetoB Majores, Oxford, 1852, vol. i. containing Isa. Jer. and Lament., vol. ii. Ezek. and Dan. Editions of the Psalms appeared at Eome in 1744, edited by E. Tuki, at Berlin in 1837, edited by J. L. Ideler, and later by M. G. Schwartze, Psalterium in Dialectum Copticce Lingum Memphiticam translatum, Leipzig, 1843, and by ETHIOPIC VERSION 243 Lagarde, Psalterii Versio Memphitica, Gottingen, 1875. The edition of Schwartze was based on that of his two predecessors, with collations of three manuscripts from the Eoyal Library at Berlin. An imperfect manuscript from the Turin collection has also been edited by Fr. Eossi (J)i Alcuni Manuscritti Copti, Turin, 1893). The Book of Proverbs was edited by A. Bsciai at Eome in 1886. 5. Ethiopic Veksion. The origin and derivation of the Ethiopic version of the Old Testament has been the subject of considerable discussion. Dating from the fifth or early sixth century of our era, it would be naturally expected to represent the Greek text of the Septuagint, not the Massoretic Hebrew. It contains, however, readings which agree with the latter against the LXX ; and in some, at least, of the manu- scripts there are found transliterations of Hebrew words which the Greek, on the other hand, renders in the usual way. These features have led some writers to postulate for the Ethiopic text in its earliest form an immediate origin from the Hebrew, later revisions being made to conform more precisely to the Greek. The balance of evidence, however, is in favour of translation from the latter text, the variations on the side of the Hebrew being due to the use of the Hexapla of Origen. This is the view adopted, after discussion, by Dr. E. H. Charles, who writes : ^ " The Ethiopic version of the Old Testament is generally a very- faithful and verbal translation of the Greek. It frequently repro- ' HDB, vol. i. p. 792. 244 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE duces the very order of the words. On the other hand, it is not possible to explain many of its readings by any extant Greek text, and over against the LXX it frequently attests a purer text." It is possible that further examination may lead to a modification of this verdict. The general conclusion, however, as to the primary dependence of the Ethiopia text upon a Greek original is not likely to be set aside. If the view is correct which finds the Lucianic form of the Greek text at the basis of the Ethiopic, it will be a confirmation of the belief that the evangelisation of Abyssinia was effected by Syrian monks, who then probably entered the country from the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. Hebrew or Aramaic influence is said to show itself in the version mainly in two directions, in the forms of proper names, and in the adoption of foreign loan-words to express theological con- ceptions, for which the native language was insufficient. The language in which the version is made, known as Ge'ez or Ethiopic, is the native tongue of an ancient Himyaritic colony settled in the central mountainous region of the modern Abyssinia. There were two main branches of settlement, a northern and a southern. The former is represented linguistically by the Ge'ez, the dialect of the province of Tigre, around the ancient capital Aksum, the modern descendant of which is known as Tigrina or Tigrai. Older than the latter is the nearly related Tigre dialect on the north, spoken in the Italian colony of Erythrsa. While the language of the great southern province of Amhara, known as Amdrind or Amharic, shows most unlikeness to the ETHIOPIC VERSION 245 original and primitive Ge'ez.^ There is a separate ver- sion of the Bible in Amharic or Abyssinian, of modern origin, an edition of which was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1840. The translation of the Bible is the oldest monument of Ethiopia litera- tnre, with the exception of a few inscriptions dating from the early centuries of our era. Of the numerous manuscripts, however, which are preserved in the British Museum and other public libraries, none are really ancient, and all seem to have undergone a pro- cess of revision and correction. The oldest known docu- ment in Ge'ez is a manuscript of the Octateuch, Gen. to Euth, dating from the end of the thirteenth century. That the translation itself, however, can hardly have been later than the fifth century, is attested by a re- ference in a homily of John Chrysostom (347—407 A.D.), which seems to imply a knowledge of an Ethiopia version ; ^ and more certainly by the facts of the establishment and spread of Christianity, which was introduced into Abyssinia as early as the time of Con- stantine. The version, moreover, was accepted and used by the Jewish Falashas, who are said by tradition to be descendants of immigrants in the time of King Solomon. Following on an attempted revision of the Ethiopic Gospels early in the fourteenth century, similar essays • See E. Littmann, CfcschicMe der Xthiopischen Litter aiur, Leipzig, 1907, p. 191 f. ; W. Wright, Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Lan- guages, Cambridge, 1890, p. 29. - Quoted by Charles, I.e. p. 792 note: Si/poi kixI AlyAimoi. Kal 'IvSol Kal n^pffat Kal AWliytre^ . . . e£s rijv aiirCiv fiera.^a\6vTe^ yXwrrav to. irapa. To&rov 567/AaTa ElaaxO^vra. 246 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE were made in the direction of a new text of parts, at least, of the Old Testament. Probably the work was carried out on the basis of Arabic versions, and especi- ally of Saadiah's translation made from the Massoretic Hebrew at the beginning of the eleventh century.^ Others have supposed that a Falasha Jew resident in Egypt or Palestine was the agent in the revision. The manuscript evidence seems to prove that the text was revised a second time, two or three centuries later, at a time, it is supposed, of religious revival in the Abys- sinian Church. The work was executed, however, with varying degrees of thoroughness in the different books.^ The Ethiopic Bible follows the order and canon of the Greek, but adds a number of apocryphal works, the books of Enoch, Jubilees, etc. The books of Maccabees alone are derived not from the original Greek, but at second-hand through a Latin translation. The total number of the books is forty-six, including those of apocryphal and pseudepigraphic origin, which vary in the different lists.* The Octateuch, Gen. to Euth in- clusive, was published by A. DiUmann in 1853, Samuel and Kings, Chron. Esdras and Esther, in two parts, 1861-71 ; a volume also of eight apocryphal books in 1894; and the text of Joel in Merx' edition. Die Pro- phetie des Joels, 1879. J. Ludolf edited the Psalms with a Latin translation and notes, critical and explanatory, at Frankfort in 1701 ; and J. Bachmann has published the text of Isaiah, Obad., Mai., and Lamentations. The ' Infra, p. 247 f. ^ See Littmann, ut suji. p. 223 ff. 3 Charles, p. 791. ARABIC VERSIONS 247 best editions of the books of Enoch and Jubilees are those of Dr. K. H. Charles, Oxford, 1 8 9 3 and 1 8 9 4. The Ethiopic text of the Old Testament is also printed in Bishop Brian Walton's Polyglott Bible, Loudon, 1657. 6. Akabic Versions. The Arabic versions are of comparatively little im- portance for the criticism of the text of the Old Testament, but they are remarkable for the variety of the sources from which they have been derived. The Greek, Syriac, and Coptic have all been laid under contribution, as well as the original Hebrew and the Samaritan text of the Pentateuch. Arabic Biblical manuscripts, in many cases, present, therefore, a curious mixture of texts, the original basis being supplemented or overlaid with materials borrowed from other and independent translations. The intermingling is perhaps greater in the case of the New Testament than of the Old. None of the renderings are of great age. Although Christianity was established in Arabia at an early date, and Christian communities existed both in the north and south as early as the third and fourth centuries, the Scriptures seem to have been read and all ecclesiastical offices performed in Syriac ; and the beginnings of a Christian Arabic literature are believed to be not earlier than the seventh century of our era. The Biblical texts are still in large part unpublished. The translation of the books of the Old Testament direct from the Hebrew was chiefly the work of Eabbi Saadiah (n^TjJD), an Egyptian Jew, born in the Fayyum 248 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE in 892 A.D. ; a scholar of great learning and repute, who became head of the rabbinical school at Sura in 928, and died there fourteen years later. His version of the Scriptures won the approval of the Jews them- selves, and was publicly read in the synagogues by the side of the Hebrew text, in place of the Aramaic Targum. The Pentateuch of Saadiah was published at Constantinople in 1546, and subsequently in the Paris and London Polyglotts ; editions of Isaiah (1790—91), Canticles (1882), Proverbs chs. i.-ix. (1888), and Job (1889) have also been printed. The text of Joshua in the Paris Polyglott is derived from the Hebrew, but is supposed not to be the work of Saadiah. Later renderings from the Hebrew exist in manuscript. Portions also of an Arabic translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch were published at Leyden in 1803. The complete text of the Arabic Bible was first issued in the great Paris Polyglott, 1628—45 a.d., vols. vi. to ix. of which contained an Arabic version of the whole Old Testament, exclusive of the Apocrypha, with a Latin translation. The text, which was repro- duced in the London Polyglott of 1657, was based upon an Egyptian manuscript ascribed to the sixteenth century, being ultimately derived from three distinct sources, the Hexateuch from the Massoretic Hebrew (see above), the prophetical books with Psalms and Proverbs from the LXX, Judges to Chronicles and Job from the Peshitta. The Polyglott text of Job and Proverbs was reprinted by P. de Lagarde in an edition of the three poetical books issued at Gbttingen in 1876, ARMENIAN VERSION 249 which also contained a version of Job from the Coptic, three versions of the Psalms from the Greek, and the so-called Psalterium QllzJiayyensis, a reprint of a Carshiini^ text of the Psalter, published originally at a Maronite convent in the Wady Quzhayya in 1610. Arabic translations made from the Coptic of other Old Testament books are known in manuscript.^ 7. Akmenian Version. The Armenian Version of the Old Testament also is derived from the Septuagint, and is attributed to Mesrop, who invented or introduced the Armenian alphabet of thirty-six characters at the close of the fourth century of our era. He is said to have translated the books of the Old Testament at Edessa into Armenian with the help of the Patriarch Sahak (Isaac) the Great and others, be- ginning with Proverbs in or about the year 397, and to have employed for the purpose manuscripts brought from Egypt and Constantinople as well as those of his native town. Although the basis of the translation is the Greek LXX, the text has been revised and supplemented in the light both of the Syriac Peschitta and of the original Hebrew ; and those who thus corrected the text and supplied omissions worked by preference, especially in the books of the Prophets, from the latter rather than the former.^ It is probable that the varia- ' i.e. Arabic written in the Syriac character. = See F. C. Biirkitt, art. "Arabic Versions" in HDB, vol. i. p. 136 ff. ^ F. C. Conybeare in HDB i. p. 152. 2SO INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE tions are to be explained by the use of the Hexapla of Origen. Instances also have been pointed out of the influence of renderings of Symmaehus and Theodotion. The Christian Church in Armenia was founded, according to tradition, by the Apostle Bartholomew on his way to India. Christianity was certainly introduced into the country at an early date, and was adopted as the official religion of the State, as a result of the life and preaching of the great Armenian missionary Gregory, surnamed the Illuminator, the first bishop of Armenia, in the second half of the third century. For a time, however, at least it is probable, that, as was the case in Arabia,^ Syriac continued to be in use as the ecclesiastical language, the more so as Gregory himself had spent his early years in Palestine. The movement, therefore, which Mesrop initiated was an attempt to give to his fellow-countrymen a more faithful rendering of the Scriptures in their native tongue, and to substitute a native education and culture for the Syriac. Scholars conversant with Armenian praise the translation for its faithfulness to the original, combined with a smoothness and idiomatic character that give it a high place in the list of competent and successful versions. The Canon of the Armenian Old Testament is the same as that of the LXX ; but the order in which the books appear in the manuscripts differs, the prophetical books usually coming last. Additional apocryphal works also are sometimes inserted, but these are not found 1 Supra, p. 247. i.iMixA'rKii ■rci-i,i:-)'A(n'-. <<]■■ akmunmax f;nsi'i-.i.s. ILLUMINATED TITLE-PAGE OF ARMENIAN UOSPELS. GEORGIAN AND GOTHIC VERSIONS 251 in the printed editions. The best text is that of Zohrab, Venice, 1805. Later Armenian literature is almost entirely theological, consisting in large part of translations from the Greek and Syriac, made chiefly in the fifth century, the golden age of activity and thought in the Armenian Church.^ 8. Georgian Version. Mesrop is also the reputed author of the Georgian Version, another secondary translation from the Greek. An edition of the text was pubHshed at Moscow in 1743, but it is said to be defective and uncritical. Three prin- cipal manuscripts of the Old Testament are known — (1) a papyrus Psalter in the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinaitic Peninsula, which is ascribed to the seventh or eighth century ; (2) a manuscript of the Bible with the date 974 a.d., complete with the exception of parts of the Pentateuch, in the Iberian monastery on Mt. Athos ; (3) a manuscript of the Major and Minor Prophets at Jerusalem, assigned to the eleventh century.^ 9. Gothic Version. The Gothic Version owes its origin to the zeal and scholarship of Bishop TJlfilas, the first missionary to the ' F. N". Finch, Oeschichte der Armenisdher Litteratur, Leipzig, 1907, p. 82 fF. ; F. C. Conybeare, I.e. The view stated above, that the Armenian rendering is primarily from the Greek, is that of Conybeare, supported by the evidence of quoted passages, and appears to be the most probable and satisfactory, though it is not universally accepted ; see his article, p. ISl* and note, and Finch, pp. 83 ad fin., 84. 2 EDB, vol. iv. p. 861. 252 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Goths, in the fourth century of our era. He is credited with the invention of the Gothic alphabet, superseding the ancient runes ; and is said to have translated all the books of the Old and New Testaments except Kings, in Moesia, whither he had been driven about the year 347 from his see of Constantinople by an outbreak of persecution. According to the tradition, the books of Kings were omitted from the version lest the history of Israelite wars should inflame the fierce passions of the Goths. Ulfilas died in 381, and his work thus forms the oldest literature extant in a Germanic language. A doubt has been expressed as to the correctness of the tradition which ascribes to Ulfilas himself a translation of the entire Old Testament, on the ground that the character and style of the parts preserved are so diverse that they cannot have proceeded from one and the same author. The extant fragments, however, are so small that no sure judgement is possible. The language also of Jerome's letter to the Gothic elders Sunnias and Fretela about the year 403 has been supposed to imply that they were engaged at that time in rendering the Psalms into Gothic. H. Eahlfs, however, has shown that the difficulty which they referred to Jerome, and upon which he wrote a reply, concerned discrepancies which they had found between the KOLvrj, the ordinary Greek text with which they were familiar, and Jerome's Galilean Psalter, which represented the Hexapla text of Origen ) and that the Koivri, or pre-Origenistic text thus referred to, was GOTHIC VERSION 253 practically identical with the recension later known as that of Lucian.' There was therefore no question of the preparation of a new translation ; but possibly, as has been suggested, of a revised or critical text of a version already existing, which they desired to bring into harmony with the best available standard. Of the Gothic version of the Old Testament very little has been preserved. A few verses from Gen. v. and Ps. lii. are contained in a manuscript of the ninth century at Vienna ; parts of Nehemiah chs. v.— vii.^ in a manuscript in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. A few quotations from the Old Testament are found in the parts of the New Testament that are ex bant, verses from the remaining books of the Pentateuch, from Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, etc. They are printed in order, e.g., in Massmann's edition. The text agrees with Lucian's recension, though not altogether con- sistently. Editions have been published by Stamm and Heyne, Ulfilas^ Paderborn, 1896; Bernhardt, Vulfila Oder der Gotische Bibel, Halle, 1875; H. F. Massmann, Ulfilas die Heiligen ScTiriften alien und neuen Bundes in GotMscher Sprache, Stuttgart, 1857.* 'See Rahlfs, Der Text des Septuagmta-Psalters, pp. 112, 170 f.; and cp. J. Miihlow, Zur Frage nach der Ootischen Psalmen- Uhersetsung, Kiel, 1904. ^ So apparently ; other accounts of the contents of the manuscript give Ezra ii. 8-42 for Neh. vii. 13-47 ; see LI. J. M. Bebb in HDB, vol. iv. p. 862 and note, quoting from Kaufmann. '' See also Dr. G. T. Stokes iu Did. Chr. Biogr., s.v. Ulfilas ; Bebb in HDB, vol. iv. p. 861 S. CHAPTER VI. THE PENTATEUCH, AND ITS LITERARY CRITICISM. rpHE problems that suggest themselves, and the -*- questions that arise in connection with a study of the form and contents of the books of the Old Testament, and especially of those which occupy the first place in the order of the Canon, are essentially literary and historical. That they present other aspects, and may be criticised from other points of view, is of course true. They are, none of them, without value for devotion, for education, for training of the mind and solace of the heart. Their worth in these respects may and does greatly vary, even as the moral teaching they convey, and the lessons of righteous- ness and fair deaUng which they inculcate are of widely different character, and may seem to imply an ethical standard that alternates between somewhat broad limits. Such could hardly fail to be the case with books of diverse authorship, composed under diverse conditions, and separated from one another by long intervals of time. The marvel is not that there should be variety whether of ethical or of doctrinal standpoint, but that 254 LITERARY CRITICISM 255 so large a measure of unity should have been impressed upon materials of so original and miscellaneous a char- acter, that the ordinary reader is seldom if ever conscious either of incongruity or of anachronism. That this im- pression is not the result of mere carelessness or inat- tention, further study amply confirms. The books of the Old Testament present each their peculiar difficulties, problems that tax the highest competence and judgement of the scholar. They are not, however, those of essential incongruity or opposition due to variety of doctrinal content, such ■ as would subsist, for instance, between a pantheistic and a deistic view of the universe. The literary and historical aspect, however, of these problems, whether of authorship, of reliability, or of permanent moral worth, underlies all, and presents itself first for consideration. The Old Testament is literature before it is sacred literature. It must there- fore be judged by literary canons, and subjected to tests which are based primarily upon literary dis- tinctions, and the rules which experience has proved to hold good of the literary output of human intelli- gence and thought. That it has also been the Bible of many generations of men, their solace in trouble, their reliance and guide in times of difficulty, does not exempt it from the processes of criticism, or place it above and beyond the control of reasonable question and test. If it is sacred, inspired, it has nothing to fear from such examination, but everything to gain. And the more penetrating and searching the examina- tion, provided it be well balanced and sober, the 256 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE greater the permanent advantage to the course of truth. Historical and literary criticism therefore takes precedence of all other ; and although criticism from other points of view need not wait to begin its work until history and the canons of literature have said their last word on the composition and nature of the Old Testament books, — else would it have long to wait, — yet these will always have to take account first of the other, to base their conclusions thereupon, and if they ignore it or set it aside they will be constantly liable to go astray. The fact must not be overlooked also that for so many centuries the writings of the Old Testament were subject to ordinary human conditions as regards trans- mission, reproduction, and the accurate preservation of the text. The minute and watchful care which the Jews of later ages lavished on their sacred books could not provide a remedy for the errors and losses of earlier times. No collection of books has been so anxiously and jealously guarded against corruption as the Old Testament from the period when the Jews, its custodians, awoke to a consciousness of the precious- ness of the written heritage with which they had been entrusted. But neither before nor after this time, whether in the calamities and persecutions and exiles of their early history or in the more tranquil later years, was a perpetual miracle wrought to secure the written word from error, misunderstanding, corruption, or the countless liabilities to mistake which beset all records handed down by word of mouth or the pen LITERARY CRITICISM 257 of the writer. The accuracy and security of the printing-press have rendered it less easy to realise the insecurity of all documents that depended for their safe transmission upon the fidelity of hiiman hand or eye. Engraved upon stone, or metal, or clay, they were comparatively secure. The Old Testament writings, it must be borne in mind, enjoyed none of these safeguards. To a certain extent, no doubt, the sacred character of the texts would lead those engaged in copying them to exercise greater diligence and care than would be felt to be necessary for documents of profane literature. The variety of readings in the manuscripts of the New Testament may perhaps be cited as evidence that such care did not go very far, or effect very much. The eye and hand of man, however, has never yet succeeded in transmitting any considerable text with absolute accuracy for any prolonged period of time ; the most heedful and anxious copyist sometimes fails ; and the Old Testament records, during the long time that elapsed before the art of printing came to their aid, formed no exception to the general rule. It is a curious and interesting fact, not without its bearing on the genuineness of the Old Testament records, that among early peoples, and especially in the East, oral transmission appears to have been much more certain in its action and trustworthy than written. The faculty of memory is so little cultivated and so imreliable among ourselves, and in Europe and the West generally, that its capabilities are hardly 17 258 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE realised, or credit given to its trained and disciplined powers. The Vedic Hymns, the most ancient literature of India, are a standing witness to its ability and faith- fulness in safeguarding a literary jtrust. The ancient poetry of Greece and Arabia, probably of China and the East generally, might be cited as testimony on the same side. And the folk-lore and traditions of most peoples owe their preservation to the fidelity and accuracy of the memoriter powers. Written documents may be lost, ruined by old age or neglect, or purposely destroyed ; but where for any reason, whether of necessity or choice, absolute reliance has been placed upon the memory for the security of a literary tradition, there it would seem that the human faculty has responded to the call made upon it, and has assured the safe preservation and transmission, by word of mouth, even for very extended periods, of that material in which it was interested. If the " schools of the prophets " in Israel were, as seems probable, like the ancient Vedic iakhds, schools for the conservation and study of the text of the sacred law, there is no a priori reason why this should not have been handed down in unimpaired integrity through a long succession of teachers and students of the ancient lore. Jewish tradition which asserts this of later times may well be true also to the facts of its earlier history. And in any case the claim thus advanced is not lightly to be set aside. When every consideration, however, has been taken into account, it must be recognised that the Hebrew PRESERVATION OF THE LITERATURE 259 literature preserved to us in the Old Testament is but a small fragment of that which must once have existed in oral or written form. Within the Old Testament itself references are found to chronicles, songs, collec- tions apparently of tradition and folk-lore, proverbs, and other utterances and records which must in them- selves have formed no inconsiderable body of more or less formal literature. It is not to be supposed that the few prophets, whose words have been preserved to our own day, were the only men who spoke to their fellow-countrymen in the name of the Lord. It is abundantly evident that there were Hebrew historians, promulgators also of law, codifiers of usage and rule and statute, whose work has to a large extent perished. The passage of time has been little if at all more kindly or generous with regard to Hebrew writings than to those of any other people who cultivated and valued their heritage of wisdom from their fathers. We read the fragmentary records that time and trouble have spared. Over how much more oblivion has spread her veil it is only possible dimly to conjecture. Title of the Books. — The name Pentateuch for the five books of Moses is, of course, Greek, and is properly an adjective, 17 irevTdTev)(p<;, scil. y3t/S\o?, the book of five parts or volumes. The word reO^j^o? denoted properly and originally the vessel or box within which the writing was preserved, and then came to be employed for the written document itself.^ When or by whom ' See E. M. Thompson, Greek and Latin Palaeography, 1893, p. 55 ; cp. sup, p. 117 ff. In Buddhist and other temples in the East a reOxos or 26o INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the name "Pentateuch" was first introduced is un- certain. Origen uses the word ; but whether it was his own coinage, or whether he merely adopted and gave currency to a popular usage, seems to be doubtful. The first six books of the Old Testament are often referred to also as the Mexatevxih, the work of six parts or volumes, the justification for the designation being found in the similarity of form and structure of the book of Joshua to the narrative portions contained in the preceding books. The term " Octateuch " has also come into use as a collective name for the first eight of the Old Testament books, and is employed, for instance, as the title of the first volume of the larger edition of the Septuagint now in course of publication at the Cambridge University Press. To the Jews themselves the books of Moses are always "the Law," nninn, or "the Book of the Law of Moses," HE-'D min nap ; and the same designation is applied to them by the writers in the New Testament. The chief passages are as follows : — John i. 17, the law was given (Sia Mava-^as) through Moses ; who in the Law wrote of Christ, ib. v. 45-47 ; Matt. viii. 4, the gift which Moses enjoined, referring to Lev. xiv. 2, |||| Mark i. 44, Luke v. 14 ; Mark vii. 10, Moses said. Honour thy father and thy mother, and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother let him utterly perish, Bavara TcXcurdTco, riDl' riD, Ex. xx. 12, xxi. 17, || Matt. xv. 4, 6 yap Geos elvev, v.l. evereiKaTo Aeymv, for God said, Or commanded saying ; Luke XX. 37, Moses testified eVi t^s ^drov, from Ex. iii. 6, II II Mark xii. 26, Did ye not read ev rfj /Si'^Xa Mtauo-fcBs, Matt. xxii. 31, Did ye not read to prjBcv i/uv vno tov Qeov, that which was spoken to you by God. Cp. Matt. xix. 7 f., and || || Mark x. 3 f ., Luke xx. 28, quoting re&xv are ordinarily employed for the keeping of the volumes of the Scriptures. ANCIENT ELEMENTS 261 Deut. xxiv. 1 ; Matt. xxii. 24, Mava-rjs flnev, Geu. xxxviii. 8, Deut. XXV. 5f., nil Mark xii. 19, Luke xx. 28; Luke xvi. 29, they have Moses and the prophets ; ib. xxiv. 27, beginning from Moses and all the prophets. References to the law of Moses, (6) vojjlos Mmucremf , are Luke ii. 22, xxiv. 44, John i. 46, vii. 19, 23, Acts xiii. 39, xv. 5, xxviii. 23, 1 Cor. ix. 9, Heb. x. 28. Cp. 2 Cor. iii. 15, fivUa av dvaytvaa-KTjTai Ma)v Dn'yDD^ Dn'x^fiD-riN nm 3h;'.i ; and the document, apart from the inevitable corruptions and misunder- standings to which place-names are subject in transmission, bears every evidence of first-hand acquaintance with the route ; Deut. xxxi. 9, " Moses wrote this law," ib. ver. 24, " when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book " ("isp'^'y, " upon " a tablet or book ; the preposition indicates the use of a style upon a prepared surface rather than a pen, as ordinarily understood, for cursive writing ; contrast ison, sup., Ex. xvii. 14), where the reference is usually understood to be to the central code or col- lection of legislative ordinances of Deuteronomy, chs. xii.-xxvi., but cannot, it is clear, in any case be supposed to refer compre- hensively to the five books. Cp. E. Kautzsch, Literature of the Old Testament, London, 1898, p. 6 f. ; R. Kittel, History/ of the Hebrews, London, 1895, i. p. 28 f. This detached form of narration is not, of course, absolutely inconsistent with Mosaic authorship. It is frequently and not unnaturally adopted by a writer who wishes to conceal his personality. But it conveys an air of strangeness and unreality, if the book is actu- ally as it stands due to the hand of Moses himself ; and AUTHORSHIP OF PENTATEUCH 277 is hardly in keeping with the directness and simplicity of the whole. The same anonymous character, more- over, is marked in the entire series of the historical books of the Old Testament ; the writer or writers efface themselves behind their work. It is only when the Later Prophets and the Writings are reached that the name of the author is found recorded in the text. No further reference to Moses as the author of the Torah or Law is met with in the Old Testament literature until we come to the history which was written or compiled last of all the books, or the last with only minor exceptions which contribute nothing to the subject in hand. The Books of Chronicles, D^D'n na'n, which are usually assigned to the end of the fourth, or the beginning of the third century B.C., contain two references to " the book of Moses" as the written authority for a commandment or religious usage : 2 Chron. xxv. 4, " according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses," quoting from Deut. xxiv. 16 ; ib. xxxv. 12, " as it is written in the book of Moses," where an actual verbal reference to the present Pentateuch seems hardly traceable. The last of the Prophets also bids his readers " remember the law of Moses my servant which I commanded him in Horeb " ('■nav HB^O niin ^nar, Mai. iii. 22, in the Eng., iv. 4). Nothing is here said of a written book. And the requirements of the three passages would be entirely satisfied by the supposition of a traditional kernel 278 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE even or summary of legislative enactments ascribed to Moses. The late date, moreover, of the two books warns us against reading too wide an implication or too great prescriptive authority into the incidental assertions they may contain. On the other hand, the uncertainty of details, and the scantiness of direct evidence, must not lead to an undervaluing of the weight of the general and universal tradition as to Moses himself. " No nation ever gratuitously invented the report that it had been ignominiously enslaved by another ; none ever forgot the days of its deliverance." ^ That the history of Israel's leader and lawgiver should be an invention, his figure an unsubstantial image projected on the past, is so utterly improbable as to verge upon the im- possible ; and that the general consensus that to him are to be ascribed also the earliest enactments which gave to Israel the status of a law-possessing and law- abiding people should be entirely baseless, is hardly less unlikely. As far as the literary form, however, is concerned, there is no direct proof that any part of the Pentateuch as it now exists was shaped by his hands. Much may be informed by his spirit ; legal enactments may owe their inspiration, and even substance and order to him ; historical detail may ultimately be derived from accounts received from his lips, or written down by his hands. All this may be practically certain, though the mathematical proof is wanting, and can never be supplied. But the form, the ' Kautzsoh, Literature of the 0. T. p. 8. HISTORY OF CRITICISM 279 outward shape, the litera scripta, cannot in the necessity of the case be vindicated to him as its author.^ HiSTOET OF Ckiticism. — ^As soon as the text of the Pentateuch was subjected to close and critical examina- tion, with a view to ascertaining what internal evidence, as distinct from tradition, had to say on the subject of authorship and date, certain well-defined character- istics of structure and arrangement made themselves manifest. These concerned not only the language of the books, but the order and contents of the narratives, their internal harmony, and above all the standpoint of the writer, his outlook upon the world, and the circumstances and environment of national and social life which his words appeared to presuppose. Such features, and especially the last-named, were felt to require explanation ; and various schemes were suggested which should combine the observed facts in a reasonable framework of theory. These facts appeared at first sight to those who dispassionately studied them to be inconsistent with Mosaic author- ship, or indeed with ascription of the whole to any single writer of whatever date. And in the reaction against the dominant tradition, extravagant theories were propounded and loosely-reasoned statements made, even the very existence of the Hebrew lawgiver and the good faith of the early histories in the Pentateuch being called in question. A more reasonable view of the jfacts and of the written narratives is taken at the present day. ' Cp. Kautzsoh, I.e. p. 8f. 28o INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE The first peculiarity or distinctive feature to attract attention was an apparent difference of usage i with regard to the Divine name. In certain more or less well-defined sections or portions of the work consistent use was made by the author of the Hebrew title or proper name nini ; elsewhere " Jehovah " was altogether or almost altogether absent, and the term ^''•y^, " God," was employed in its stead. Moreover, these portions did not overlap, or overlapped only to a slight and inappreciable extent, although they appeared at times to be somewhat closely interwoven. In other words, when the name nin^ was found, D^^^s< was usually absent, and vice versa. This any one with the Hebrew text in his hands could verify for himself. The problem was to give a reasonable account of the facts, and of so striking a variation in usage in so important a particular. Moreover, it was immediately noticed that this difference did not stand alone ; that in many instances two records, varying in detail from one another, were given of the same event or series of events, and that the distinction in the use of the Divine names coincided generally speaking with the distinction of the narratives. So that if each account were taken by itself and read separately, in the one would be found exclusively, or almost so, the sacred name n)n\ in the other D'^rhn. These were broad conclusions, the significance and reliability of which were not impaired by slight inconsistencies or difficulties which might make their appearance in details. Thus there are two parallel and independent accounts CRITICAL ANALYSIS 281 of the Creation, narrated from different points of view ; two histories of the Flood, which present minor dis- crepancies which it is not easy to reconcile, if they are supposed to emanate as they stand from one and the same author; but which, on the other hand, are an evidence of the good faith and scrupulous accuracy of the writer, if he derived them from some ancient authority, whose words he quoted or copied out. The double narrative of the Creation is contained in Gen. i. 1-ii. 4a, ii. 46-25 ; of the Flood in vi. 9-22, vii. 6, 11 ff. etc., vii. 1-5, viii. 66-12, etc. These passages presented themselves at the very beginning of the Pentateuch, and therefore the more immediately attracted attention, and the more urgently demanded explanation. But the same characteristics were found to exist to a greater or less extent throughout at least the first four books of the Law, Genesis to Numbers. The differences of style and language here, over and above the remarkable variation in the Divine name, are patent even in a translation; and hardly less so is the unlikeness of the standpoint occupied by the writer, his outlook upon Ufe, and his reading of the lessons of history. The most striking example, perhaps, of the former differences is the constant repetition of phrase, amounting almost to a catch-word or refrain, in chs. i.— ii. 4a : " there was evening and there was morning" (vv. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31); "God saw that it was good " (w. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25,31); "God said ... and it was so" (w. 6 f., 14 f., 24, 29 f.); "be fruitful and multiply and fill" (w. 22, 28; in 282 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the latter verse E.V. " replenish," but the Hebrew word is the same as in ver. 22, iN?pi). Nothing of a similar nature is found in ch. ii. 46-25.^ The former account, moreover, presents an orderly narrative of the stages of creation, beginning with the inanimate universe and advancing by a regular and rhythmic progress to man, the crown of the animate world; and he employs a word (" create," sia) to describe the Divine action, which, whether he conceived it to denote the actual bringing into existence de nihilo or not, at least ex- pressed to him the initial and primary work of God, before which " in the beginning God " and no one or nothing else was. The same word is not employed at all in the second narrative of the creation, ii. 45—25 ; but in its place a term (" made," r\\if)i) which implied the fashioning or shaping of the rough material, already in existence, and to hand. To the author of this record the supremely important object is man, his origin and position and destiny. He therefore stands in the fore- front of creation, its beginning not its end ; and around him everything else is grouped, not in orderly ascending progress from beneath upwards, but as dependent upon ^ The dividing point is not as in E.V. at the beginning of the fourth verse, but in the middle at the word "created," where the end of the paragraph and the full stop should be placed. The following words run on without pause or break into the fifth verse : "In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven, then no plant of the field," etc., the conjunctive i introducing the apodosis or consequent clause. The writer describes the condition of things, as he understood it to have been, when the Lord God began His work of fashioning, putting into shape the formless material world. So, e.g., E. I. Fripp, Oomposition of the Book of Genesis, London, 1892, p. 23. CRITICAL ANALYSIS 283 J him, and ministering to his needs. It is a picture in words wherein man forms the central and leading figure, not a chronicle of the events of succeeding days. In the two-fold narrative of the Flood, ch. vi. 9 ff., similar differences may be traced. In ch. vi. 1 9 f. two of every kind of living creature, both beasts and birds, are to be taken into the ark, cp. vii. 9, 15 ; in vii. 2 f. of clean beasts and birds, seven pairs are to be pre- served, but of unclean only one. The duration of the rain is forty days and forty nights in vii. 4, 12, but in vii. 24, viii. 3 a hundred and fifty days, after which " the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained," and at the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. The covenant made with Noah after the Flood is twice recorded, with variations, viii. 20—22, ix. 8—17, etc It would not be difficult to carry a similar analysis through the remaining chapters of Genesis and the other books of the Hexateuch. Minute and instruc- tive discussions will be found in the larger Introductions to the Old Testament ; cp. Driver,^ ch. i. ; J. E. Carpenter and G. Harford Battersby, The Hexateuch, London, 1900, vol. ii. p. 9 ff. ; Fripp, I.e. ; E. C. Bissell, The Pentateuch, its Origin and Structure, London, 1895 ; A. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Liehte des Alien Orient,^ Leipzig, 1906, p. 239 ff.; F. H. Woods, art. " Hexateuch " in HBB, vol. ii. etc. The literature of the subject is enormous. In BisseU, for example, the list of authors and their works on the Pentateuch and its criticism covers sixty-five closely printed octavo 284 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE pages; and a large number have been published since the date of his book. Documents or Authoes. — Hence, although the dif- ference of usage, as it concerned the Divine name, lay most prominently on the surface of the sacred history, and was the first to attract attention, it by no means stood alone ; and soon proved itself to be by no means the most significant of the contrasts in style and feel- ing between the various parts and duplicate, or appa- rently dupHcate narratives of the ancient history. It served, however, to provide a convenient title and nomenclature for the discussion of the facts thus elicited. On the assumption that the varieties of style, etc., corresponded to a real difference of author- ship, the writer who employed the name D'n^N, and to whom was due the account of the creation contained in the first chapter of Genesis, was termed the JElohist, while the name Jehovist or Jahvisf^ was adopted to denote the author of the varioils sections which made use of the title nin\ Thus the conclusion was drawn that within the limits of the books of the Law there were at least two histories, or original documentary records, intertwined, the unknown author or authors of which — for it by no means followed that each history was the work of one, and only one hand — were, by common consent, referred to as the Jehovist and the EloMst writers. A further step was taken when it was observed that precisely the same criteria and method, which had ' Supra, p. 98 f. CRITICAL ANALYSIS 285 served to distinguish between these two writers or documents, when applied with greater detail and minuteness, led to the recognition of differences of a similar nature within the limits of the Jehovistic work itself. That work was shown not to be homo- geneous ; but to be characterised internally by distinc- tions of manner and usage, precisely parallel to, and hardly less marked, than those which separated it from the first-named Elohist. It was at once inferred, therefore, that the portions of the Pentateuch, hitherto described under the comprehensive title of Jehovist, were in reality due to at least two writers or authors, the work of one of whom was found to be character- ised by the name nin% while the other employed wnba. His composition, however, was in no danger of being confused with that of the Elohist, already distinguished and marked out by special features of its own ; there was a total absence of the characteristic phrases and repetitions which were so prominent in the work of the author of Gen. i. Hence, for a time at least, this writer was known as the second Elohist. The title, however, might be thought to prejudge the question of date, which was by no means determined ; and to assume the priority in time, or even in importance, of the work of a first Elohist. For the latter, accord- ingly, a new name was adopted, and the possibly misleading epithet of " second " was abandoned. It proved, moreover, to 'be much more difficult to separate the work of this last-named writer from that of the Jehovist himself, than it had been to cari'y through 286 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the original distinctions between the documents em- ploying the names of Jehovah and Elohim respectively, from which the contrasted accounts of the Creation and the Flood were drawn. They were more closely intertwined ; and this was often the case to such an extent, that separation was attended with much un- certainty, or was even impossible. The individual characteristics of the " Elohist " make themselves apparent first in Gen. xv. xx., and may thenceforth be traced with more or less distinctness in various parts of the Pentateuch. Thus the successive stages in the process of the formation of the books, as they had thus far been followed up and outlined, were (1) the union of the Jehovist and Elohist into a single work, or, as it became usual to term it, " document," which was referred to as JE, in which the fusion was so close that the exact line of demarcation had often become obliterated ; and (2) the combination of the united work with the original Elohist, or " P " as the latter's chronicle is usually denoted in England. This final task of combination, it was further assumed, was carried out by one or more redactors or revisers, whose function it would be to supply connecting links, to harmonise, arrange, and in some sort to reduce the whole to order. This writer may be conveniently denoted by E. His work resulted in the Pentateuch as it exists at the present time and has existed for many centuries. "P" stands for "Priestly" or "Priests' Code," and has been adopted because the work of this author, as it lies before us in CRITICAL ANALYSIS 287 the Pentateuch, includes large parts of the books of Exodus and Numbers, which have to do with the ceremonial duties and ritual of the priests. Other letters or signs have been used, and by some scholars are still employed to denote the same document. Thus Ewald termed it the "Book of Origins," because it contains the various sections of the nnSin, the " genealogies " or " genealogical records," which form, as it were, the historical basis or frame- work of the Book of Genesis (cp. infra, p. 290). Wellhausen gave to it the name "Book of the Four Covenants," or briefly Q = quatuor : the four covenants referred to being those with Adam, Gen. i. 28-30 ; with Noah, ib. ix. 1-17 ; with Abraham, ih. xvii. ; and with Israel, Ex. vi. 2 ff. By others, again, the letter A has been employed, a notation, however, which is open to the same objection as has been raised against the terms " first " and " second Elohist," that it is liable to suggest an order of the documents not only in place but in time, and to claim priority of date for " A " over " B," etc. On the whole, it appears most convenient to adhere to the use of " P," a symbol which is at least as expres- sive as any other, and does not lend itself to misunderstanding. Continental scholars have sometimes made use of the full title "Prophetic Narrator" for the author or document described above as the Jehovist, J ; and B has been used for the work of the second Elohist, E. Concurrently with this investigation into the style and method of composition of the earlier books of the Pentateuch, an investigation which resulted in the belief that they were not the work of a single author, whether Moses or another, but a combination of several documents of diverse character and date, only gradu- ally and in course of time united into one whole, a similar examination was instituted into the text of the last of the five books, and led to an entirely dif- ferent conclusion. In Deuteronomy no trace was found of the various writers or records, whose peculi- arities of style had formed so marked a feature of 288 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the books from Genesis to Numbers inclusive, but on the other hand, it became apparent that here, broadly speaking, there was disclosed a complete and self-contained whole with an author whose standpoint and purpose were as clearly defined as those of any of the writers previously indicated, who thought and wrote independently of them, with a manner and style as distinct and individualistic as any which they displayed. Like the others, he composed his work on a definite .plan, and with a definite aim in view ; but it was neither the same aim nor the same plan as had been discovered before. It was convenient, therefore, to refer to this writer as the Deuteronomist, or D ; not intending thereby to assert that every word of the last book of the Pentateuch was derived, as it stood, from the hand of one and the same author, but that the whole was inspired by one spirit, and owed its impulse and direction to one master-mind. This, then, is the current and generally accepted theory with regard to the composition of the books of the Old Testament usually known as the Pentateuch or Hexateuch ; a theory which has not been introduced ready-made and fitted to the writings, but which is broadly based upon a careful literary and dispassionate investigation into the books themselves, and has been naturally developed as a consequence of the evidence which they offer as to their own origin and history. The facts are there, and can hardly be disputed or controverted ; the theory enunciated to account for the facts stands, of course, in an altogether different position. ANALYSIS OF "SOURCES" 289 It is conceivable that further knowledge might lead to the essential modification or even overthrow of the latter, the facts remaining unchallenged and unchallenge- able. Clearly also many other considerations and cir- cumstances must be allowed their full weight, before a final conclusion is reached. The two elements, how- ever, must be kept entirely distinct whether in thought or in discussion, the facts and the theory enunciated to co-ordinate and interpret the facts. On the facts them- selves there is no serious difference of opinion among scholars and students of the Old Testament. The theory is not unanimously accepted, though there is a strong, almost overwhelming balance of judgement in its favour. Analysis of Dogumentaey Sources. — It is con- venient to take a survey, necessarily brief, of the composi- tion and structure of the several books of the Pentateuch on the above outlined theory of various documentary " sources." Details wiU be found in Driver's Introduc- tion, Carpenter and Battersby's Hexateitch, or elsewhere. Broadly speaking, the analysis which has been carried through by different scholars who have devoted attention to this subject, has led to the same results as far as the separation and identification of the sources are concerned. Differences of judgement with regard to minor points of detail remain, and are likely to remain. On the main outline and scheme of division there is general agreement. The framework or skeleton of the book of Genesis, constructed on a definite plan, and arranged in accord- ance with a clearly-marked purpose, is due to P ; and the several sections of the history, the progressive stages 19 ago INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of the narrative, are indicated by the introduction of the word nnSn, " generations," or " genealogical records." The term is characteristic of the document or source denoted by P, and within the limits of the Hexateuch is not employed by any other writer ; outside of those limits it is found in the first book of Chronicles and in Euth iv. 18. With the exception of the first instance in which it occurs, ch. ii. 4, it is always used in con- nection with the name of a man, the records of whose family, the " birth-histories " of whose descendants follow. By a not unnatural extension of usage, the account which the writer furnishes of their creation is the " genealogical records " of the heavens and of the earth. The articulations of the book of Genesis, thus deter- mined, will be found to be ten in number, as follows : — ii. 4, generations of the heaven and of the earth (jnxni D)mr} nin^n) ; v. 1, generations of Adam (D'lS 'n) ; vi. 9, of Noah (ni 'n); x. 1, of the sons of Noah (TO ''3a 'n); xi. 10, of Shem (DB* 'n) ; xi. 27, of Terah (nin 'n); xxv. 12, of Ishmael {^»y.^f. 'n) ; xxv. 19, of Isaac (pny: 'n) ; xxxvi. 1, of Esau Qm 'n) ; xxxvii. 2, of Jacob (:iPT. 'n). Thus the writer gradually narrows down his atten- tion, and the attention of his readers, from the initial stages of the creation of the universe which he sketches in broad outline to the human race, its crown and completion, upon which he dwells; and in ever- diminishing circles, by a process of exclusion which leaves out of sight one and another branch of the human family, concentrates his narrative first on the ANALYSIS OF "SOURCES" 291 descendants of the " righteous " survivor of the Flood, then from among these selects Shem of whom the chosen people are to arise, and goes on to trace down- wards the line of the patriarchs and tribal divisions until he reaches Israel (Jacob, npjJ''), the father and eponymous head of the nation whose fortunes he desires to narrate. From a literary point of view, therefore, the first book of the Pentateuch is constructed on a skilfully designed plan, to relate briefly from the beginning in historical order the "genealogical" development through which the chosen people were gradually disengaged from the wider history of the universe and of mankind at large, and were fitted for the of&ce and work which it was intended they should fulfil. The narrative of JE which begins ch. ii. 46 is con- tinued through the two following chapters, and P resumes in ch. v. with the "book of the generations of Adam " ; where the characteristic features of repetition of phrase make their appearance again, which were so noticeable in the account of the Creation, i. 1— ii. 4a} In the first five chapters of Genesis, therefore, extracts from the respective histories or documents are simply placed side by side, without any further attempt ^ The regular formula is varied in tv. 286, 29. The close of Ter. 28 would have been expected to run ' ' and begat Noah. And Lamech lived, " etc. The substance and form of the verse, therefore, are usually believed to be derived from JE, and to have been inserted into the narrative of P. The mere fact, of course, of a variation of phrase would not be sufficient, if it stood alone, to justify this ascription. It must, however, be remem- bered that in this, and in many similar instances, the deviation from set or customary formula does not stand in isolation. It is the con- currence of the characteristic notes of the one "document" or the other, 292 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE at combination. It is otherwise with the succeeding narrative of the Flood. Chapters vi. to ix. inclusive form a sort of mosaic, in which briefer extracts, or verses, now from one author and now from another, are inter- mingled or woven together to form a continuous history. Unless all literary instinct is at fault, the joints are not so cunningly contrived, the parts are not so closely welded together that the lines of division should be indistinguishable. It is a testimony to the loyalty of the writer to the sources of information upon which he depended that it is so. There has been no attempt to conceal indebtedness, little or no attempt to gloss over discrepancies. The respective portions of the chapters are assigned in general as follows, minor variations which concern only two or three words being omitted : — JE : chs. vi. 1-8, vii. 1-5, 10, 12, 22 f., viii. 6-1^, 136, 20-22, ix. 18-27. P : clis. vi. 9-22, vii. 6-9, 11, 13-21, 24, viii. 1-5, 13a, 14-19, ix. 1-17, 28 f. Chapter x. introduces the fourth of the Toledoth, to which is appended in vv. 8-19 the history of Mmrod (inDJ) from JE ; and from the same source is derived the account of the tower of Babel, xi. 1—9. Inter- consistently present or absent as a whole, which enables a confident verdict to be pronounced. There will always be passages where the evidence is insufficient to enable any certain conclusion to be reached. Mistakes have been, and will be made. And no true scholar, "higher critic " or other, will hesitate to acknowledge in such cases his inability to decide. But although the inference drawn may concern, as in this case, a single verse in the midst of what is maintained to be an alien context, it rests upon broad grounds, and it is altogether unreasonable to reject it, unless those grounds are fairly met and controverted. ANALYSIS OF " SOURCES " 293 weaving of the two narratives or sources in a similar way is observable, generally speaking, throughout the whole of the first four books of the Pentateuch. The hand of E is first distiaguished in chs. xv., xx.-xxii., the greater part of which is understood to be taken from the source or document thus conventionally described ; the composite source JE, however, does not always admit of certain analysis into its constituent parts ; ^ frequently a determination in general terms is all that is possible. Considerable portions, however, of chs. xxvii.— xxxiii., xxxv., xxxvii., xl.— xUi., xlv., xlvui., 1., are ascribed to E. The language of the historical document in ch. xiv. bears the characteristic marks neither of P nor of JE, and seems to lie altogether outside of these writings. Nor can its origin be determined with any certainty. There must have been extant in Israel many accounts, both oral and written, more or less exact and detailed, of military and other events, the recollection of which had been preserved. This apparently is one of them, that has been rescued from the doom of oblivion that has passed over the rest. The greater part of chs. xii., xiii. belongs to JE, and the first foiu-teen verses of ch. xvi. ; the last two verses and the whole of ch. xvii. are P. The remainder of the book, excluding the parts to which reference has already been made, is assigned as follows : — JE : chs. xviii., xix., xxiv., xxv. 1-6, 21-34, xxvi., xxvii. 1-45, xxviii. 10-xxxv. 8, 16-22a, xxxvi. 31-39, xxxvii. 26- ' Cp. snpra, p. 285 f. 294 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE xlvi. 5a, 28-34, xlvii. l-5a, 12-26, 29-31, xlviii. If., 8-22, xlix. 1-27, 1. P : chs. xxiii., xxv. 7-20, xxvii. 46-xxviii. 9, xxxv. 9-15, 226-29, xxxvi. 1-30, 40-43, xxxvii. 1, 2a, xlvi. 56-27, xlvii. 56- 11, 27 f., xlviii. 3-7, xlix. 28-33. Of the three following books it is hardly necessary to trace the composition in similar detail. Their structure is essentially the same as that of Genesis, extracts from P and JE of greater or less length appearing side by side. The major part of the first five chapters of Exodus is from JE. The announcement of the name Jehovah (nin''), with the covenant promise and the commission to Pharaoh, chs. vi. 2— vii. 13, are P. The history of the plagues, and the events of Sinai and the wilderness, for the most part are due to JE. The details of the tabernacle and its furniture, chs. xxv. to xxxi., are supplied by P. The account of the idolatrous worship of the golden calf and its consequences are from JE, chs. xxxii. 1— xxxiv. 28. And the remainder of the book containing ordinances with regard to the tabernacle and offerings is due to P. The ancient Song after the deliverance at the Eed Sea, xv. 1—18, bears the marks of E; and the same is true of the Decalogue, ch. xx. 1—17. The latter passage presents unusual features of interest and difficulty because of the parallel representation of Deut. V. 6-21. Though ascribed to E, the " words " themselves must have been derived by him from an earlier source, which it can hardly be doubted was documentary, and either immediately or ultimately claimed the authority of the tables themselves as DECALOGUE 295 preserved in the ark. The writing on both the first and second tables is attributed to Jehovah Himself, chs. xxiv. 12, xxxi. 18, xxxii. 16, xxxiv. 1, etc.; but that the historian did not necessarily conceive of this as implying more than writing by the hand of Moses seems to be proved by the language of xxiv. 4, xxxiv. 27, etc. In neither passage is the " writing " explicitly confined to the Ten Commandments. Some have accordingly supposed the reference to be to a larger series of laws, or even the entire " Book of the Covenant."^ The differences between the two recen- sions or versions of the Decalogue are set forth in the following table, the variations being marked by italics. The first three commandments show no difference of language, and it is not necessary to exhibit them. The text quoted is that of the Eevised Version : — IV. Eemember the sabbath IV. Observe the sabbath day, day, to keep it holy. Six days to keep it holy, as the Lord thy shalt thou labour, and do all God commanded thee. Six days thy work : but the seventh day shalt thou labour, and do all is a sabbath unto the Lord thy thy work : but the seventh day God : in it thou shalt not do is a sabbath unto the Lord thy any work, thou, nor thy son, God : in it thou shalt not do nor thy daughter, thy man- any work, thou, nor thy son, servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy daughter, nor thy man- ner thy cattle, nor thy stranger servant, nor thy maidservant, that is within thy gates : for in nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor six days the Lord made heaven and any of thy cattle, nor thy earth, the sea, and all that in them stranger that is within thy is, and rested the seventh day: gates ; that thy manservant and wherefore the Lord blessed the thy maidservant may rest as well sabbath day, and hallowed it. as thou. And thou shalt remember ' Infra, p. 297. 296 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE V. Honour thy father and thy mother : that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. that tJiou wast a serva/nt in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God hroitght thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. V. Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God convmanded thee : that thy days may be long, a/nd that it may go well with thee, upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. VI. Thou shalt do no murder. VII. Neither shalt thou com- mit adultery. VIII. Neither shalt thou steal. IX. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neigh- bour. X. Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's wife ; neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's. VI. Thou shalt do no murder. VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery. VIII. Thou shalt not steal. IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nm- his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. If, therefore, it were necessary to conclude that one or other of these forms was primitive, it would be natural to decide in favour of the shorter and simpler, that in Exodus. It is, however, more probable that the original statement of each commandment was brief, couched in as few words as possible like the sixth, seventh and eighth, five commandments being engraved on each table. These were subsequently amplified and explained, and have been preserved in BOOK OF THE COVENANT 297 the two-fold shape in which they are now read. For the most part also the individual commandments recur elsewhere, in other connections and imder slightly- varying forms, e.g.. Lev. xxvi. If., 13 ; Ex. xxxiv. 7, 14 ; Lev. xix. 3, 11-13, 30 ; Ex. xxxi. 13 ff., etc. The chapters that immediately follow in Exodus, XX. 20-xxiii. 33, form a distinct and separate code of Laws, the so-called " Book of the Covenant," derived from the hand of J, which has been universally recognised as a series of legislative enactments, complete and independent, that bear the marks of great antiquity, and were intended to serve the purposes of a people at an early period of their national existence, before the rise of the complicated requirements of a settled and highly civilised life. As a witness to the religious history and development of Israel the " Book of the Covenant " is of the utmost importance.^ The most significant part of P from a legislative point of view is found in the book of Leviticus, which is entirely derived from this source. It was the detailed summary of laws and regulations here given, bearing on the ritual and the priestly office and duties, that suggested the name Priests' Code (P) for the document in which they were contained. The hand of ' Cp. on the Decalogue, Driver, I.e. p. 33 ff. ; Carpenter and Battersby, p. Ill f. ; A. Dillmann and V. Ryssel, Die Biichcr Exodus und Leviiicm,^ Leipzig, 1897, p. 219 ff.; A. Jeremias, I.e. p. 422 ff.; W. P. Pateraon in HDB, vol. i. s.v. ; E. Kautzsch, ib. vol. v. p. 633 f.; and the commentaries. For the Book of the Covenant, add especially Wellhausen in Ency. Brit., s.v. Pentateuch. 298 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the author or authors of JE is not apparent throughout the book. Within it, however, there is found a kernel or central body of legislation with special features of its own, differing from the rest of P, in which it is thus as it were embedded. This section is usually termed the "Law of Holiness," or more briefly H, because the interest of the writer lies withia the realm of ethics and ceremonial purity, rather than the forms of national or civil constitution. The "Law of Holiness" thus deals more closely perhaps than any other part of the first four books of the Pentateuch with morality and the moral nature of man. As it exists in Leviticus the Code is not absolutely continuous, being interrupted by paragraphs of greater or less length derived from P or a related source. With the exception, however, of a few verses, the whole of chs. xvii. to xxii. inclusive, with parts of xi., xxiii.— XXV., and the entire ch. xxvi., are ascribed to this author. If read continuously the special tone and character of these sections becomes markedly apparent ; and a not inconsiderable degree of similarity will be noted between the Law of Holiness on the one hand and the Book of the Covenant in Exodus on the other. A similar likeness and possible relationship has been traced in Deut. chs. xii. and xxviii., but the connection is uncertain. There can, however, be no doubt as to the close kinship between H and the prophet Ezekiel, a kinship that shows itself not only in the standpoint and sympathies of the two writers, but even in their LAW OF HOLINESS 299 language.^ Upon some commentators and scholars the impression made by the similarities of tone and style referred to has been so great that they have attributed the authorship of these portions of Leviticus to the prophet himself. This conclusion is hardly probable. In substance the Law of Holiness is older, probably considerably older than Ezekiel's time. But that the latter was familiar with the work of H can hardly be doubted, and he writes with a full knowledge of the principles and laws which his predecessor had laid down.^ The Code thus formed a complete and independent whole, a manual of the laws of moral and ceremonial purity, which the author or authors of P adopted, and incorporated into their own work. The brief passage Ex. xxxi. 13, 14a has been supposed by some to be not improbably an extract from H, and perhaps Num. X. 9, f., XV. 38-41. The book of Numbers is essentially similar in character and method of composition to the preceding parts of the Pentateuch. Extracts from the two main sources upon which the author relies, P and JE, are ' See Driver, Introduction,^ p. 47 ff. , and the literature there cited. On p. 49 f, will be found a list of phrases characteristic of H, many of which appear also in Ezekiel. Cp. the same writer's " Leviticus " in Haupt's Sacred Books of the Old Testament, Leipzig, 1894 ; Dillmann and Eyssel, ut sup. p. 582 ff. " For a further comparison between the language of H and Ezekiel, see Driver, I.e. p. 146 if.; Carpenter and Battersby, i. p. 143 ff.; J. C. Harford-Battersby, art. "Leviticus" in HDB, vol. iii. p. 102 ff.; A. B.Davidson, Ezekiel, Cambridge, 1892, p. liiiff.; and the comment- aries in general. 300 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE placed side by side, in different proportions, and at times recording the same event with varying details. Thus chs. i— X. 28 are from P; x. 29— xii. 16, JE; xiii. 1-16, xiv. 26-30, 34-38, with a few other verses, P, the remainder of the two chapters JE. Chs. xv., xvii.— XX. 13, xxv. 6— xxxi. 54, xxxiii.— xxxvi., are almost entirely P; xvi., xx. 14— xxv. 5, and xxxii., are, with the exception of a few verses, from JE. And the entire book is thus composite of sources or authorities which the writer employs according to a definite plan to produce a complete and detailed narrative of the events which he desires to record.^ In all these respects, however, in character and style and aim, Deuteronomy, the last of the five, is unlike the other four. The difference of tone is striking and at once apparent even in a translation. Apart from minor details and on a comparatively insignificant scale there is here no variety of language, suggestive of a diversity of authorship or " source." Homogeneous in a broad and general sense from beginning to end, the book presents well-marked features of intention and style which differentiate it from the other parts of the Pentateuch, and convey the impression of a single master-mind working with a definite purpose in view. This general conclusion does not, of course, preclude the insertion or addition of paragraphs of greater or less length, whether by the author himself, 'Add to the literature above cited, J. A. Paterson, "Numbers" in Haupt's SBOT, Leipzig, 1900 ; G. B. Gray, Numbers, Edinburgh, 1903 ; A. Dillniann, Numeri, Deuteroiiomium und Josua,^ Leipzig, 1886 ; G. Harford-Battersby in HDB, vol. iii. p. 567 if. DEUTERONOMY 301 or by a later hand. The impression, however, of a unity on the whole of spirit and composition is con- firmed by further and more attentive study. Like the rest of the Pentateuch, the work as it has come down to us is anonymous. The general theme or purport of the book, however, is perhaps intended to be described in ch. xvii 18, a (the) repetition or recapitulation of this law (nwn nninn njL"D) ; 1 and the greater part of the book thus consists of the farewell injunctions and discourses which Moses is represented as addressing to the children of Israel before his death. It was most natural that the great lawgiver should reiterate and reinforce his teaching before he handed over the rule to his successor, and himself was gathered to his fathers. Deuteronomy, therefore, is not a new or " second " law, but is based in the main on the legal directions contained in the earlier books, which it repeats, re- enforces, and supplements. There is not a little throughout the book that is really new, as far as our knowledge extends, and as regards its present position in the literature ; but consideration must always be had to the possibility, or even probability, that what appears as new may have existed previously in oral or written form, the record of which has been lost in course of time. The whole is set in a framework of narrative, which itself appears to presuppose and to reflect the historical records of Exodus and Numbers. While, finally, the legislative enactments of the book group themselves around a central Code or body of ^ Cp. sujira, p. 119 f. 302 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE laws, which constitutes a distinct and definite whole, and to which reference is habitually made within the book of Deuteronomy itself under the name of " this Law " or " this book of the Law," e.g. i. 5, iv. 8, xvii. 18, etc. Thus chs. i— iii. inclusive form the historical summary or preface ; and a brief return to history, introduced for the sake of warning and example, is found also in the succinct account of the events at Sinai in chs. ix. 7— X. 11. Ch. iv. is in the form of an introductory dis- course or exhortation,mingled with some further historical details. With the following chapter begins the main part of the work, which extends over chs. v.— xxvi., xxviii. inclusive ; nor does there seem any real reason for denying ch. xxvii. to the same authorship, though it is much broken up and interpolated, and in its present position seems to interrupt the connection. Within this book of laws the central portion or manual is formed by chs. xii — xxvi., and to bhis Code, complete in itself, some writers prefer to restrict the title of Deuteronomic legislation, regarding the remainder as amplification or repetition. The last six chapters of the book stand somewhat apart from the rest. Chs. xxix. (xxix. 2 in E.V.) xxx. are in form a new discourse attributed to Moses, which though animated by the same lofty spirit, suggests in style and arrangement a different and perhaps later origin ; ch. xxxi. is partly historical, and recounts the closing scenes and words of the great lawgiver's active life. The so-called Song of Moses in ch. xxxii., and the Blessing of Moses, ch. xxxiii., are poems otherwise CHARACTERISTICS OF "DOCUMENTS" 303 independent of the book in which they are incorporated, the date and authorship of which it is hardly possible to determine. The final chapter narrates the circum- stances of Moses' death and burial. Jewish tradition ascribes this record to Joshua, who succeeded to the office and authority of Moses. That the present form of the narrative is due to him is hardly probable. It may very well be the case, however, that he gave the earliest shape and direction to the tradition, which would linger long among the tribes of Israel, of the details of the end of their first and greatest leader.^ Chaeactbkistics of the " Documents."- — The broad characteristics of the style of these several writers or " sources " may without difficulty be described. It would probably be more correct, however, to refer to them as schools of thought rather than as individual authors or composers. Each particular school was animated by a distinctive tendency or spirit, which gave unity and colouring to all the compositions of the school, marking them off from the productions of others, and so far inspiring and harmonising the work of individual members that what they wrote or composed was in a less degree their own than that of the school to which they belonged ; from which they neither cared, nor perhaps were able to dissociate themselves. Hence the attempt made by some scholars to analyse the work of P or other author into the several con- ' See Driver, Introd.^ p. 69 ff., and Synopsis of Laws, p. 73 ff. ; and Critical and Exegetical Commentary on DeiUeronomy,^ Edin. 1896 ; Carpenter and Battersby, I.e. vol. ii. p. 246 tf. ; H. E. Eyle in EBB, vol. i. p. 596 ff. 304 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE tributions of P^, P^, P^ etc., iu a descending chronological order, though it may be justified in principle seems impossible of realisation. The criteria relied upon are elusive ; and the successive " strata " of composition are not regularly superimposed, but merged together into one consistent and uniform whole. Thus regarded, the standpoint or characteristics of a given " source " are not those of an individual merely, but rather of a company or succession of teachers who guarded and handed down a particular tradition or body of doctrines. This rather than a markedly individualistic style in the narrower sense is the character of P, JE, or other element that enters into the composition of the Pentateuch. The conspicuous feature of the style of P, which differentiates his work from the rest of the five books of Moses, is its love of repetition of phrase and form, and a certain methodical straightforwardness which seeks to convey a plain meaning without artificial aid of rhetoric or adornment. His writing is that of an annalist, whose interest lies in historical and chrono- logical detail ; and whose concern it is in the first instance to frame a history of the people of Israel, not on a broad and comprehensive scale, but only in so far as is necessary in order to give an account of their national institutions, civil and religious. His con- ception of history is that of the constitutional writer ; it is not external events or happenings that matter, but law and internal development. And the somewhat scanty narrative of the general external history of the nation which he supplies is to him little more than a CHARACTERISTICS OF "DOCUMENTS" 305 framework in which to set his systematic account of their religious and civil government and worship. To this end he eschews all picturesqueness or eloquence of treatment ; and devotes himself to a plain record of constitutional facts, in which especial prominence is given to genealogies, numbers, measurements, and details in general of arithmetic.^ JE, on the contrary, is i\\Q prophetic narrator, animated by the spirit of the prophets. It would be more correct to say that JE represents and is the graphic expression of the prophetic school, in which the prophetic tradition was cherished from generation to generation. His writing is characterised by vividness and picturesque- ness of description. From his pen come the stories of the patriarchs, with all their attractive grace and beauty. His manner is that of a poet, painting word-pictures that strike the imagination and haunt the memory ; and his interest lies neither in genealogies nor in institutions, but in men and women, their human needs, temptations, frailties, and achievements. Of not a few of his narratives it may be said that once read they can never be forgotten. Their tenderness and truth to nature leave an impression that is not easily erased. The writer, indeed, has been charged with anthro- pomorphism. In his representations Jehovah walks and talks, acts and deliberates like a man. But the representation is due to his intense human sympathy, 1 Driver, I.e. pp. 10 fF., 126 flF. ; Carpenter and Battersby, vol. i. oh. xiii. ; F. H. Woods in EDB, vol. ii. p. 369 ff. ; A. Dillmann, Oenem, and the commentaries. 3o6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE his desire to knit man and God together in a real fellowship, which shall enhance human dignity without degrading the Divine. To him, with his lofty conception of the greatness and beauty of life, thus to bring God near to human experience was an inevitable and neces- sary element in his plan, and was not a lowering of the Divine, but an exaltation of the mortal existence in which God had a part. The contrast between his standpoint and mind and that of P is well exhibited in the parallel narratives of the Creation. The iirst account is that of a prose, one might almost venture to say prosaic historian, setting forth in due chrono- logical order the events of each day ; on the first day this was created, on the second that, and so forth ; and the record of each is brought to its close with the refrain, varied only in a numerical sense, " And there came to be evening, and there came to be morning, day one," etc. (inx uv ipa ''nil any ^nii). The narrative of JE on the other part is that of a poet, with a poet's eye for artistic grouping and effect ; to whom the precise order in time is immaterial, and the supreme interest is The Man, the crown and end of Creation, to whom all points, and upon whom all depends. To exhibit and enforce this truth, that everything is for man, that he is the centre and noblest offspring of the Creation, the representative of Jehovah, is the writer's chief aim ; and all the details of the picture are subordinated to the general purpose and conception.^ ^Driver, p. 119 ff.; Carpenter and Battersby, vol. i. clis. xi., xii. ; HDB, vol. ii. p. 371 ff. CHARACTERISTICS OF "DOCUMENTS" 307 With the book of Deuteronomy we seem to find our- selves in a different atmosphere. The language and style also are changed ; on the one hand, the striking word- painting does not appear, and on the other, although there is a recurrence of phrase and expression which recalls the habit of P, the mannerisms of the chronicler are entirely absent, and the words and phrases that are repeated again and again are in no case like his characteristic refrains. The expressions so constantly repeated with which the writer of Deuteronomy enforces his teaching are in general ethical and didactic, and do not merely punctuate as it were his work, as often in P, but add to it a distinct moral and elevating tone. Many of them are rarely or not at all found elsewhere in the O.T. His style is simple, clear, and dignified, rising frequently to a sustained and lofty eloquence, which gives to his work an impressiveness hardly equalled elsewhere in the pages of the Old Testament. And while legal and ritual matters continually engage his attention, and he lays down rules for the right observance of external duties, it is clear that his highest interest is with the character and the life. He exhorts to right living, reiterates and enforces the obligations of purity, righteousness, and the fear of God, and with a strenuous and constant urgency seeks to bind his readers to a high and noble ideal of service to Jehovah, a ser^dce that shall be rooted and built up in love {yn'jti nin'' ns nans, Deut. vi. 5, xi. 1 ; nin' nx nanx, (l)D3'nbK, xi. 13, 22, xix. 9, xxx. 6, 16, 20 ; cp. vii. 9, X. 12, xiii. 4. See the list of characteristic phrases 3o8 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE in Driver, Introd.^ p. 9 9 ff., or Deuteronomy, p. Ixxviii ff.). If P may be termed the chronicler of the Pentateuch, and JE the prophet or poet, the Deuteronomist is the preaeher, high-souled and earnest, with a passionate love for God and for his people, and a longing to main- tain them in the way of a simple and whole-hearted devotion to Him. Finally, there was needed the reviser or redactor, who should select, combine, and harmonise as far as seemed necessary or desirable. His work will represent the last stage in the process of uniting the various docu- ments or sources to form a continuous and complete whole. It is a welcome testimony to the faithfulness with which he has discharged his task, that we are so readily able to distinguish the characters, and assign the limits of the various writers whose work he has utilised. If all had been reduced to a dull grey uni- formity, minor incongruities, repetitions, differences of standpoint or judgement being sedulously removed, his work would have lost in trustworthiness much more than it gained in consistency. He has been content to preserve, without too great anxiety to reduce to agree- ment. His share in the shaping and final settlement of the text as now printed and read, if less prominent and distinctive than that of the others, was hardly less important. To his loyalty and self-suppression in dealing with his authorities no inconsiderable debt of gratitude is owing from those who profit by his finished work. He also, like his precedessors, is content to be nameless ; and is usually referred to as E. In this HISTORY OF CRITICAL THEORIES 309 task of harmonising and revision more than one hand may, of course, have been engaged. History of Critical Theories. — The history and gradual development of these views with regard to the authorship and constitution of the Pentateuch is of great interest, and the subject has engaged the attention of a large number of scholars both on the Continent and in America, as well as in Great Britain. The earlier investigations were for the most part carried on by German writers, to whom is due in the main the elaboration of the theory of the composition of the books as it is now generally accepted. English and American scholars, generally speaking, joined later in the task ; but have taken more recently, and are still taking their full share in the elaboration and com- pletion of the historical theory, the broad lines of which had been already formulated. Only a few of the more prominent names can here receive mention. The initial impulse, however, as far as formal publication was concerned, came from France in an anonymous work published in the year 1753, entitled, Conjectures sur les Memoires Originaux dont il est permit de croire que Moise s'est servir pour composer le Zivre de la Genise. The author was Jean Astruc, teacher of medicine at Montpelier and Paris, and Court physician to Louis XIV., whose medical writings won him a consider- able reputation. Born in Languedoc in the year 1684, he spent the greater part of his hfe in Paris, and died there in 1766 in his eighty-third year. Scattered suggestions and hints pointing in the same direction 3IO INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE had already appeared in print ; but in the " Con- jectures " for the first time form and coherence were given to a doctrine of the elaboration of the book of Genesis out of a number of pre-existing documents, which were utilised and combined by Moses into the form in which the work has been preserved to the present day. These documents were mainly two, the familiar Jehovistic and Elohistic, but with these fragments of others had been interwoven ; and the whole, to which an orderly and systematic arrange- ment had been given by Moses, had later become confused by the mistakes and transpositions of the copyists. The theory became known as the "Frag- mentary Hypothesis " ; and the book won for its author a wide and enduring fame. The theory of Astruc was taken up with learning and enthusiasm and was introduced into Germany, where it has ever since found its most convinced supporters, by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, 1752- 1827, professor of Oriental languages and literature at the Universities of Jena and Gottingen successively. His voluminous works, characterised by wide and extensive learning but also by a certain detachment and want of sympathy, included elaborate " Introduc- tions" to the Old and New Testaments, Commentaries on the Hebrew Prophets, on the Apocrypha, the Eevelation of John, etc., a History of Literature planned on a large scale, and many others. He extended his investigations into the remaining parts of the Pentateuch, and pointed out that similar HISTORY OF CRITICAL THEORIES 311 variations of style and usage which his predecessor had found in Genesis were present there also, together with others which all lent support in general to his conclusions. Eichhom's work was hardly of a popular nature, nor his style attractive, hut his influence was strong and far-reaching upon students and those accustomed to estimate differences of style and the value of literary characteristics. A more notable and perhaps more permanently significant name was that of "Wiliielm Mabtin L. de Wette, who was born in 1780 at UUa, near "Weimar, in Germany. At the early age of twenty-seven he received the appointment of professor of theology at Jena ; thence two years later he was transferred to Heidelberg; and in 1810 to Berlin. This last position he held for nine years, when he was dismissed for having expressed sympathy with the assassination of Kotzebue, a literary and dramatic author of consider- able influence in his native town, who had made himself many enemies by his bitter political satire. Eetiring to Basle, he became professor of theology at the university in that city in 1822, and died there in the summer of 1849. His most important writings were Commentaries, an Introduction to the Books of the Old and New Testaments, and a Handbook of Jewish Archaeology, all of which passed through several editions. In two respects especially De Wette's work was significant, and marked a considerable advance on the views and position of his predecessors. He was the first to examine critically the narrative of the 312 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE discovery of the Book of the Law in the temple, 2 Kings xxii. f., and to indicate its relation to the book of Deuteronomy, calling attention also to the well- known passage, Jer. vii. 21—26, in its bearing on the question of authorship and date; and he rejected altogether the view that the Pentateuch in its existing form was of Mosaic origin, with the possible exception of the Decalogue. The so-called Books of Moses were in reality the productions of various writers, composed at different periods, the latest of whom was the author of Deuteronomy, who lived in the time of King Josiah ; and the laws contained therein, for which Mosaic authority was claimed, were as a matter of fact habitually disregarded, and treated as though non- existent by the Israelites of later times. Kules and observances which were in fact of altogether modern origin were attributed to Moses, partly through a real belief in their antiquity, and partly in the natural desire to enhance their credit and ascendancy by support- ing them with the authority of his name. De Wette's views and teaching exercised a great influence on younger students, and his name held and holds a deservedly high place in the history of Old Testament scholarship and research. The task of a literary criticism and analysis, thus initiated, was carried forward with zeal by many scholars, most of whom were under the influence of the prevaihng view as to the composition of the books. Of these in the first half and middle of the nineteenth century the writer and scholar whose work has been HISTORY OF CRITICAL THEORIES 313 most enduring was George Heinkich August von EWALD, professor of Philology at Gottingen and Tubingen Universities. He returned to Gottingen, his birthplace, in 1848, where his death took place in the year 1875 at the age of seventy-two. Ewald's strength lay rather on the grammatical and linguistic than on the constructive side ; and his best work was done in his numerous commentaries and in his Grammar and Syntax of the Hebrew Language. An admirer and disciple of De Wette, as far as theories of the Pentateuch were concerned, he occupied on the whole a conservative position, adopting and enforcing with linguistic arguments what is sometimes known as the Supplement Hypothesis ; according to which a primary document of great age (grundschrift), generally identical with the work of the writer whom others have termed P, underlies and is traceable throughout the entire Pentateuch ; later writings, Jehovistic and other, were added to or combined with the iirst, and a final editor revised and completed the whole. The theory as thus held did not greatly differ from the more recently accepted Documentary Hypothesis, by which it was superseded. The defects of the Supplementary theory seem to have been felt by Ewald himself, and were pointed out by succeeding scholars, Hupfeld, Schrader, Eeuss, A. Kuenen, and others, and especially by K. H. Geaf, 1801—69, professor of theology at Leipzig; who so far gave method and form to the currently accepted hypothesis that on the Continent it has frequently been 314 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE known by his name. It was shown, in particular, that the various writings or documents within the Pentateuch are independent of one another, and so far from bearing the marks of having been used to " supplement," to complete what was imperfect or supply deficiencies, are found not infrequently to be mutually inconsistent or even contradictory. Thus a doctrine of independent documents or sources was gradually elaborated, to which it was sought in the light of their several contents to assign dates, and thus to reconstruct not only the literary history of the five books of Moses, but even the religious and political history of the people of Israel themselves. This last development is inseparably connected with the name of Julius Wellhausen, who, working on the lines that Graf had laid down, but in a broader and more comprehensive sense, endeavoured to elaborate a complete scheme of Israelite history on the basis of the newly-established views on the chronology of the literary documents. Dr. Wellhausen became professor of Philology at Halle in 1885 at the age of forty, and later professor of Oriental languages at the University of Marburg. His chief works on this subject are a comprehensive history of Israel, Pro- legomena zur GeschicMe Israels, which first appeared in 1878, and has passed through several editions; and Die Komposition des Hexateuch, 1889. Of the former an English translation was published. The learning and ability of the work were at once recognised ; but the novelty and revolutionary cha- HISTORY OF CRITICAL THEORIES 315 racter of the theories propounded excited great opposition. The author of set purpose disregarded tradition, and sought to build up a complete historical account of the development of the institutions of Israel and their national progress upon the basis of the new reading of the documentary facts as he believed himself to find them in the Hebrew Old Testament. By the defenders of the traditional view the writer and his work were bitterly assailed. The real scholarship and worth of the book, however, had its reward. The opposition died away; and much of Dr. Wellhausen's work came to be appreciated at its true and enduring value. As a whole the book was never traversed or answered in detail. It was not difficult to show that some of its conclusions were built up on insufficient data, and failed to take due account of all the conditions. There has been a steady recession from the more extreme positions of the writer. But the work itself was the notable contribution of a thoughtful and able scholar to a problem of exceeding difficulty and complexity ; and all who have attempted to follow in his steps, or to discuss the early history of Israel and the literary and historical evolution of their sacred books, would gratefully acknowledge indebtedness to Dr. Wellhausen. Cheonology of the Documents. — The discussion and elucidation of Israelite history begins with the book of Deuteronomy. That work, it is assumed, or at least the central and essential part of it, chs. xii.— xxvi. inclusive, is identical with the Book of the Law, the 3i6 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE discovery of which in the Temple at Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah (e.g. 622 or 620) is recorded in 2 Kings xxii., xxiii. This conclu- sion rests in a broad and general sense upon two main arguments, which look, as it were, before and after. In the first place, the writings of the prophets who lived in the age preceding Josiah betray no knowledge of the laws and religious obligations which Deutero- nomy prescribes ; there is apparently no attempt to enforce them, and no consciousness in the general practice of the people that they are acting in defiance of moral and legal directions so repeatedly emphasised. Kings and people do, apparently without in the least realising that they are acting in contravention of the laws of Jehovah, things they ought not to have done, and on the other hand leave undone things they were under bounden obligation to do. This it is urged is inconceivable and impossible, if the book of Deutero- nomy, in any shape at all approximating to that in which it now exists, were known to the Israelite people; and recognised as sacred and authoritative. Nor is the force of the argument greatly weakened, if it be supposed that the laws and the book may them- selves, in reality, be older than Josiah's day, but had come to be in abeyance and forgotten ; while new difficulties of another order are raised by such a hypothesis. Upon the argument, as a whole, how- ever, the most obvious criticism is that, assuming the substantial accuracy of the view of the phenomena, literary and otherwise, upon which it is based, it is CHRONOLOGY OF DOCUMENTS 317 still, in large part, an argument a silentio, and that inferences so drawn are admittedly and notoriously precarious. In the second place, however, a much stronger posi- tion is taken up, and one that for the general identifi- cation of King Josiah's law-book with our Deuteronomy is practically irresistible, when it is pointed out that the writings and work of the prophets of the age immediately succeeding his time are deeply affected not only by the spirit and teaching, but even by the letter and language of Deuteronomy. With its teach- ing they identify themselves, to its laws and precepts they make constant reference ; they presuppose, in a word, the whole legislation and economy which is there set forth, and make it the basis of their own warnings and exhortations. To the earlier books of the Pentateuch, however, in so far as these differ in spirit or regulation from Deuteronomy, no similarly precise relation can be traced. Moreover, the history in 1 Kings passes on to describe in detail a religious reformation which the king instituted and carried through, moved thereto by the denunciations of wrong and the rules of ritual and conduct which he found written in the law-book from the Temple. This scheme of reformation, both in spirit and in letter, is in close harmony with the injunctions of Deutero- nomy, and does not present similar features of agree- ment with any other part of the Pentateuch. It would seem, therefore, unquestionably to have been inspired by Deuteronomistic teaching. And if the 3i8 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE volume discovered in the Temple were not in sub- stance, at least, our Deuteronomy, it would be neces- sary to postulate the existence of another book so entirely like that which we possess, as to be for all practical purposes for us indistinguishable from it. If further, and as the next step in the investigation, the attempt be made to relate to Deuteronomy as a fixed and definite starting-point the remaining legislation and " documents " of the Pentateuch, a detailed comparison seems to show without doubt that the precepts and regulations of Deuteronomy pre- suppose, and in many instances reassert the laws of JE. It would follow, therefore, that these last were certainly known, and their obligatory character recog- nised at the period of the composition of the former book. A not inconsiderable interval of time, moreover, must be allowed for these ordinances to have gained currency and authority to such an extent that upon them could be founded a series of fresh legislative enactments, which openly base their right to be heard and obeyed upon the fact that they are a repetition of a law or laws akeady promulgated and received (nwn minn n:m, Deut. xvii. 18i). Thus the work of JE antedates, probably by a considerable period, the work of the author of Deuteronomy. The contrary seems to be the case with the compiler or compilers of the Priests' Code. They depend upon, and in the succession of time succeed the work of the Deuteronomist. The latter is apparently unconscious ' Cp. supra, p. 119 f. CHRONOLOGY OF DOCUMENTS 319 of rules and prescriptions to which P attaches great importance, and ignores principles which in the eyes of the Priestly writers are fundamental to all national and religious life. These principles, moreover, are most naturally explained as a development in the order of time and progress of the doctrines laid down in D, which had their origin in the circumstances and conditions of the age in which Israel found itself. The Priestly narrator is acquainted with, and presup- poses Deuteronomy, not vice versd. These propositions are elaborated and supported by Wellhausen, and also in the larger Introductions to the Old Testament, with a wealth of detail carefully wrought out and set in order. It is evident that their acceptableness will depend upon the strength of the examples quoted and the general impression produced ; and that they will not be invalidated, should a few instances be produced to the contrary, if the character of the great majority of the records and laws points in one direction. Few, if any scholars who have studied the evidence will be found to dispute their truth. It is much more difficult to determine the absolute than the relative date of these documents, the legal and narrative constituents of the Pentateuch as it has been handed down to the present day. The starting-point again will be the book of Deuteronomy, and much or all will depend upon the date assigned to its composition.^ If the work were composed, according to the prevailing view, in the early years of ' See the question more fully discussed infra, p. 324 ff. 320 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE King Josiah, or during the long and disastrous reign of his grandfather Manasseh, and from a century to a century and a half were allowed between the promul- gations of the codes of law contained in JE and D, during which the former won its way to general recog- nition and acceptance, — an interval which errs on the side of brevity rather than of excessive length, — then the date of the compilation of JE will fall towards the end of the ninth or beginning of the eighth century B.C., or possibly as far back as the middle of the ninth. If this last were the case, then the work was contem- porary with the great age of Elijah and Elisha, and the ferment of religious thought and national life which the narrative of their experiences reveals. The Priests' Code will then be due to the period of the Exile, the end of the sixth century B.C. or later, and will itself be an expression on the legal side of the spirit of rigid externalism and priestly domination by which it was hoped to supply the lack of prophetic inspu-ation and freedom, and to keep the people true to an observance and faith in which they had hitherto so lamentably failed. Later still came the work of the editor or reviser, accomplished not at one time or in one stage, but probably extending over a considerable time ; and the whole thus blended together and har- monised was presented to the people, and acknowledged and accepted by them, under the influence and with the authority of Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor and delegate of the Persian king, as is re- corded in the book of Nehemiah, chs. viii., ix. CHRONOLOGY OF DOCUMENTS 321 It is evident also that this chronological scheme, with the provisional dates assigned, does not preclude the incorporation of even a large element of earlier work, documents and traditions derived from ancient times ; ^ nor, on the other hand, does it forbid later insertions of matter which by its authors might be deemed necessary to complete a narrative, or to explain or supplement a law. The relative dates of J and E are variously given, but by no authorities are they brought down to a lower period than the middle of the century indicated. On good grounds it has been concluded that E was written or produced in the Northern King- dom, J being usually assigned to the south. Dr. E. Kautzsch regards J as the earlier, circa 850 B.C., preceded within a century before the date named by what he terms " Ephraimite," " David," and "Saul" Stories, and by the "Book of the Covenant" in its original form. The " Blessing of Moses " in Deut. xxxiii. is some fifty years later, E being later still by another thirty to fifty years, down to about 740 B.C. And the blending of the two into the form JE, as it is found in the Pentateuch, was accomplished circa 640 B.C. Deuteronomy is 628 B.C., with possible " written sources " twenty years earlier ; and a " Deuteronomistic redaction " of the whole, JE with D, is placed in or about the middle of the sixth century, the " Song of Moses " in Deut. xxxii. (b.c. 561), and the nucleus of the Law of Holiness in Lev. xvii.-xxvi., originat- ing about the same time. The Priests' Code, P, was composed in Babylonia c. 500 B.C. ; and the whole, i.e. JE, D, P, were united, and the Pentateuch received its final form about a century later.^ Pursuing the exposition of the course of Israelite history, as based upon this detailed separation and analysis of documents. Dr. Wellhausen sought to show » Supra, p. 263 ff. ' E. Kautzsch, Literature of the Old Testament, London, 1898 ; see F. H. Woods in SDB, vol. ii. art. "Hexateuch" ; S. R. Driver, LOT,^ pp. 116-157 ; E. Kittel, History of tlie Hebrews, vol. i. pp. 48-134. 21 322 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE that corresponding to each of the three divisions of narrative and legislation found within the Pentateuch there were three well-marked periods, characterised by differences of religious practices, of ritual observance and belief, which have succeeded one another chrono- logically, and have followed a natural and easily recognisable line of development. During the first period, represented in JE, and answering to the experience and faith of the people before the time of King Josiah, there was no generally accepted or codified law. Formal and legal worship was not confined to a central sanctuary, but might be offered in many places ; and custom sanctioned the existence and maintenance of numerous altars, upon any of which sacrifice might be offered without offence, to the most high God. This worship, moreover, is in its essence " seasonal," centres around and expresses itself in the great religious festivals which mark the progress of the months and years. And, finally, the religious practice of this period makes no distinction as regards status or privilege between priest and Levite, and knows nothing of a select family, the sons of Aaron, with special rights beyond their brethren, and a more exalted sphere of duty. "With D is initiated the second period, a period of religious strife and attempted reformation, conducted on hierarchical lines, when a priestly aristocracy endeavoured to purify the national worship according to well-defined rules of observance, and to bring under their own control the ritual and religious life of the nation. The most RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT 323 important and striking feature of the reformation was the substitution for the many sanctuaries scattered through- out the land, where the rites of religion might easily tend to become irregular, contaminated by the unworthy and immoral practices of the surrounding heathen, of a single central sanctuary, where alone acceptable worship might be presented " at the place that the Lord your God shall choose " ; where, therefore, centralised and controlled, it would be practicable to secure a purity and continuity of Divine worship, which otherwise would be in constant danger of being lost. Powerfully aided in the first instance by Josiah, their reforming endeavours were crowned with success, and the people learned to look upon Jerusalem as the one centre of religious observance, and to the priests as their instructors and guides in all that the fulfilment of religious duty involved. In the days of the Exile and later, this movement of thought, which accentuated the difference between a learned and priestly caste and the ordinary people, reached its climax. The laws and regulations which expressed and perpetuated the new ideas were elaborated in the Priests' Code. The daily sacrifices and offerings at the one central sanctuary, enjoined as a perpetual obligation upon all Israelites, completely overshadowed and in importance set on one side the earlier festivals that celebrated the recurrence of the seasons. Law, detailed minute exacting, had finally superseded the comparative freedom of earUer days; and as it were to emphasize the real character and finality of the change that had taken place, to the 324 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Levites was assigned a position of distinct inferiority to the priests, in whose hands was concentrated all authority and dignity and right. This is the claim and attitude of P ; and with P, as far as the Old Testament is concerned, the religious evolution and development of Israel, at least on its legal and ritual side, comes to an end. It is evident, therefore, that it is upon the position and dating of the book of Deuteronomy that the broad general scheme of chronology as thus expounded depends. Assuming its identity in essential matters with the law-book of Hilkiah discovered in the Temple, and the relative priority or posteriority of the main parts or strata of the Pentateuch, as set forth above, according to which the order in time is first JE, then D, and finally P, with a certain interval, not incon- siderable, between each stage allowed for development and growth, the absolute dating of the whole in years B.C. will result from the date of composition which is assigned to Hilkiah's book. And the circumstances of its discovery, as narrated in 2 Kings xxii., xxiii., and the attitude of the king and people towards it, demand, therefore, careful consideration. And these two points to which reference has been made, the general relation of the parts of the Pentateuch to one another and the identity of the central and most significant portion of Deuteronomy, not necessarily or entirely in form but in substance, with the book discovered in the Temple B.C. 620, may be regarded as the most assured results of scholarly criticism as applied to the Pentateuch. DEUTERONOMIC LAW-BOOK 325 They are not seriously contested by any one who has studied the arguments and conditions involved. It is, however, by no means so clear that the law-book was really composed by some unknown author in or about the time at which it was discovered in the Temple, or within some few years at least previous to the begin- ning of the reign of King Josiah. The charge of bad faith or collusion brought against Hilkiah and those associated with him by a few modern writers has been practically abandoned now by all who claim to be seriously heard. The tone and simplicity of the narrative are entirely opposed to the idea that Hilkiah himself was the author of the book which he professed to have found, or that there was any contrivance or unreality in the actual discovery. Such a con- ception and the assumption of a " pious fraud " are admitted as possible bj' modern thought, but would be almost inconceivable to an ancient writer, and utterly repugnant to ancient sentiment. Nor would a deceit, however cunning and successful, suffice to explain under the circumstances the acknowledged effects upon the king and people. The essential points to be noted in the history are that the work is referred to as " the book," " this book " ; — "I have found the book of the law " ("iSD n-iinn, "the law-book"), ch. xxii. 8, cp. w. 13, 16, ch. xxiii. 2, 3. The king expresses great grief and fear, because the precepts of the book have not been obeyed in times past, " our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us " (i^vJ? 3iri3n) ; and the prophetess Huldah, to whom appeal is made, declares in the name of the Lord that it is the penalties denounced in the book which will come upon the people for their neglect. The king himself shall be 326 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE spared, and shall be gathered to his fathers in peace. In the assembly of all the people that was held there was then read " all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord" (iiaT ^3 mn'' n''32 sxoin nnan nao), eh. xxiii. 2 ; ^ and the people pledged themselves to abide by the covenant (nDjJ^l rC'\22 Djfn b^), ver. 3. The very terms in which the covenant is described recall the language of Deutero- nomy, ohs. xii. 1, xiii. 4, etc. The symbols of idolatry were then destroyed, its priests deposed, its sacred and ceremonial places defiled. The vessels employed in the worship of Baal, the Asherah, and the host of heaven were brought forth and destroyed, vv. 4, 6, 15, cp. Deut. xvi. 21 ; the false priests (onDS, elsewhere in Old Testament Hos. x. 5, Zeph. i. 4 only, but perhaps to be read in Hos. iv. 4) suppressed, vv. 5, 8; the houses of the sodomites (D''B'npn, cp. Deut. xxiii. 18 (17)) destroyed, ver. 8 ; the high places (ni03) and Topheth ("Bi^) defiled, vv. 8—10 ; and the chariots of the sun burned with fire, ver. 11. The altars also devoted to idolatrous worship were overthrown, vv. 12-15, 19, among which mention is made especially of those built by Manasseh, the high places consecrated by Solomon to the service of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, and the altar and high place at Bethel of Jeroboam the son of Nebat ; ' Apparently it was no very long document that was read. If the reference were to the so-called "original" Deuteronomy, chs. xii.- xxvi., xxviii. (supra, p. 302), the length would answer fairly well to the presuppositions of the narrative ; a larger portion is perhaps improbahle. It must be remembered that it was an Eastern, not a Western crowd that was listening. The difference is considerable. DEUTERONOMIC LAW-BOOK 327 and the altars were defiled by the burning upon them of human bones, ver. 20. Finally, the keeping of the passover was enjoined upon the people by the king, " as it is written in this book of the covenant " (nrn nnan isd bv ninaa, cp. Deut. xvi. 2-8), an observance which, the writer goes on to say, had been intermitted during all the days of the judges and of ,the kings of Israel and Judah (^on ntn HDSn nB'W i6 QitasETi, etc. ; by the latter expression is intended apparently the period of the divided Monarchy), ver. 22. All this was done in order to " confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that HUkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord " ; and the king is especially commended because he turned to the Lord with all his heart ..." according to all the law of Moses" (HE'D min ba), w. 24, 25. The emphatic recognition thus accorded to the book by King Josiah, and the deference and submission of priests and people to far-reaching religious changes founded upon its authority, imply at least a general consciousness of the existence of such laws, and an acknowledgement of their claim to unquestioning obedi- ence. Such a belief is entirely inexplicable if the laws themselves were a novelty, in the sense that they were of quite recent composition, and had never been promulgated or made known in Israel before the date of Hilkiah's discovery. That the laws were in practical abeyance, subject to an almost universal neglect, the result of wide-spread ignorance of their bearing and contents, may be conceded ; and that being so, it might 328 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE seem a matter of comparatively little moment whether and how long they had previously been in existence. The king, however, clearly accepts the find in the Temple as the genuine discovery of an ancient and authoritative code of Law, with the tradition of the existence of which he is acquainted, although he knows nothing of its contents. Unless the traditional belief were there, the action of the king and the immediate acquiescence of the people seem alike difficult if not impossible to explain. And the rise of the tradition itself would appear to be equally inexplicable, unless were not behind it a real collection of laws and regulations for ritual and worship, to which a position of acknowledged authority was assigned in the general estimation of the people. This ancient code, if it existed, can only, from the recorded facts of Josiah's reformation, have been practically identical with the Deuteronomy of the Old Testament. The reference, therefore, of the actual composition of the Law-Book to the age of Josiah, or to a date immediately preceding his reign by a few years only, as the long and troubled period under King Manasseh, seems altogether improbable. Such a reference fails to explain the immediate recognition accorded to the book by the king and his councillors, and the deference shown to its authority. Even if the interval between composition and discovery be extended to half a century (Manasseh, B.C. 699-643), and the writing of the book be placed in the early part of the reign of the king, the time allowed is still very far from sufficient for DEUTERONOMIC LAW-BOOK 329 the promulgation of the law, its general acceptance, the loss of aU knowledge of its tenor, and the rise of a tradition concerning a lost work in which it was contained. The difficulty is greatly accentuated if it is necessary to suppose that the book was consigned, intentionally or unintentionally, to oblivion almost as soon as it was written. The age of Manasseh, more- over, was not one of quiet religious progress and devotion, during which such a work as Deuteronomy would be likely to win a hearing, or carry conviction and assent to the minds of men. King and people were being swept along in the full tide of bloodshed and tumult and idolatry (2 Kings xxi. 1—18). It would seem almost inevitable that in such a case a work composed to denounce the prevalent sin and exhort to righteousness, especially if it were written by an obscure author, a priest or priests of the temple, should remain unnoticed and unknown ; and could not have attained to that position of acknowledged authority and wide-spread recognition which the facts of the later history seem to demand. All analogy, moreover, and the customs and traditions of other peoples with whom the Jews had close con- nections, is in favour of the view that the discovery in the Temple announced by Hilkiah was the real discovery of an ancient and long-lost code, to which was justly attached an importance and dignity to which no recent composition could lay claim. The most probable period for the deposit or concealment of a work of a religious character in or about a great building is at the time 330 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE of its foundation, when, if the edifice is raised under religious auspices or designed for sacred purposes, it would seem most natural in place of a dynastic record, with name and title of the king, to place a copy of a sacred document or inscription, which should witness to the piety of the builders. The evidence from Egypt referred to below is proof that under certain circum- stances this was actually done. And if King Solomon, when he built and consecrated the Temple, deposited within its foundation walls a copy of the most sacred document of his religious faith, the symbol and em- bodiment of the true worship which his Temple was to enshrine and perpetuate, he would apparently have been adopting a well-understood usage, and following a precedent with which the royal builders of temples and other edifices designed to last for ages were wont to comply. In the narrative of 2 Kings xxii. nothing is recorded of the place or immediate circumstances under which the law-book was found. The discovery, however, was made in connection with repairs effected in the fabric of the Temple. And this is entirely in harmony with the view that the book had remained concealed there since its foundation, and was now for the first time brought to light. This also may fairly be said to be the primd facie and simplest interpreta- tion of the terms of the narrative. If, then, the origin and composition of the work may be placed at some time during the prosperous period of David and the United Monarchy, the conditions of the case will most naturally be met. In the absence of more detailed DEUTERONOMIC LAW-BOOK 331 evidence a nearer determination or proof of date would appear to be impracticable. It is reasonable, however, to accept, at least as a working hypothesis, the theory which is most in harmony with the facts, as far as they are known and ascertainable. The early years of the reign of Solomon, therefore, or perhaps more probably the reign of his father, would appear to be the most probable period for the composition of the book which forms the groundwork of the later Deutero- nomy. The two most familiar instances of the finding of documents concealed beneath the foundations of ancient buildings, which illustrate the discovery of Hilkiah at Jerusalem, are those of the foundation-stone of Nar&m Sin at Sippara, and of early copies of chapters of the Book of the Dead in Egypt. The former record is purely historical and dynastic ; and the latter, therefore, where the texts brought to light are of a religious character, is more closely parallel to the event recorded in 2 Kings. Nabonidus (B.C. 555-539), the last king of Babylon, in the course of his restoration of the temple of Shamash, about thirty miles north of Babylon, at a great depth below the surface discovered the foundation-stone of NarSm-Sin, son of Sargon of Agade, who reigned according to his own calculation more than three millenniums before his own time. The temple had been re- paired by Nebuchadrezzar, but apparently the work had been carelessly and inefficiently accomplished, and renewed and com- plete restoration of the walls and buildings had been found necessary. The king records that " Eighteen cubits deep I dug into the ground, and the foundation-stone of Naram-Sin, the son of Sargon, which for 3200 years no king who had gone before me had seen, the Sun-god ... let me see, even me." NarSm-Sin therefore reigned, according to the scribes of Nabonidus, c. 3750 B.C. It is probable that they have overestimated the length of the period between Naram-Sin and their own day by treating dynasties as successive that were really in whole or in part contemporaneous. In any case, however, the record is of 332 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE great antiquity. ^ A similar discovery is recorded in another inscription of the same king, narrating further investigations and excavations : " The writing of the name of Khammurabi the old king, who 700 years before Burnaburyas had erected Bitsamas (i.e. the house or temple of the Sun-god), and the tower over the old foundation, for Samas, I beheld within it." " In some of the rubrics attached to chapters of the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" statements are made concerning original copies of the chapters, which prove that in some instances at least they were concealed in the ground in connection with sacred buildings as a sacred treasure or talisman, and only long subsequently brought to light. In a papyrus copy of ch. Ixiv. is the following note : " This chapter was found in the founda- tions of the shrine of Hennu by the chief mason during the reign of his majesty, the king of the north and of the south, Hesepti, triumphant, who carried it away as a mysterious object which had never (before) been seen or looked upon." The tomb of Hesepti was found by Flinders Petrie with those of other early rulers at Abydos, and is by him dated approximately to the middle of the third millennium before Christ. If the rubric may be trusted, the chapter was even then so old as to be mysterious or unintelligible. A similar note has been preserved from the time of king Menkaura, the fourth ruler of the fourth Dynasty, whose coffin was discovered in the third pyramid at Gizeh in a.d. 1837. His reign is dated in the early centuries of the third millennium before Christ, c. 2800 B.C., although by some authorities he is placed much earlier ; and he is credited in the annals with a long reign of about sixty years. " This chapter (i.e. 306) was found in the city of Khemennu (Hermopolis Magna) under the feet of (the statue of) this god. (It was inscribed) upon a slab of iron of the south, in the writing of the god himself, in the time of the majesty of the king of the north and of the south, Menkaura, triumphant, by the royal son HerutaUf, who dis- 1 The text of the cylinder containing the narrative of Nabonidus' researches and discoveries was published in WAI v. 64. See Records of the Past, 2nd Ser., i. p. 5f.; H. V. Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands, p. 272 f.; and on the dates, L. W. King, Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings, vol. i. pp. llf., 15 ff. ^ Two Inscriptions of Nabonidus in FSB A xi. p. 84 ff. DEUTERONOMIC LAW-BOOK 333 covered it whilst he was on his journey to make an inspection of the temples and of their estates." The same note, somewhat elaborated, appears in another manuscript in connection with ch. Ixiv. ; and there it is added that the inspector " brought it to the king as a wonderful object when he saw that it was a thing of great mystery, which had never (before) been seen or looked upon." The circumstances of the discovery are very similar to those in the Biblical narrative ; and the expressions used imply that it was regarded as of sufficient importance to be recorded in a special note or rubric.^ In estimating the probabilities of a wide and sufficient knowledge of such an early code among the people of Israel as a whole, the difficulties of its promulgation and circulation must not be overlooked. Written copies of the code would be exceedingly rare, and it might well be the case that only two or three, or even the original alone, were in existence. No facilities for the multiplication of copies were to hand ; and the art of writing, though widely known, was difficult in practice, and always limited by the scarcity of con- venient writing materials. If the analogy of other countries and somewhat later centuries may be trusted, little use was made of it at so early a date in the duplication and circulation of literary documents of considerable length such as the Deuteronomic code is understood to have been. Communication must have been almost entirely by word of mouth; and for the promulgation and enforcement of law the ruler could only trust to oral delivery and proclamation, and to the teaching of the recognised spiritual instructors of ' E. A. Wallis Budge, The Boole of the Dead, London, 1898, vol. iii. pp. 80, 118 f. ; op. also p. xlviif. 334 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE the people. While, if the code had not behind it the royal authority and patronage, its chances of becoming widely known and obeyed would seem to be greatly reduced. It is therefore less strange than might appear perhaps at first sight, if the provisions of the Deuteronomic code were largely inoperative, and its teaching ignored, during succeeding centuries. Among the many conceivable reasons for this want of recog- nition, a chief place must certainly be given to the difficulty of making its laws known under the circum- stances of the time, and of securing obedience to its precepts among the somewhat scattered settlements of Israel, in close touch always with the strong alien influence of the lower Canaanitic beliefs. It required the teaching of adversity, and the centralisation and strengthening of national feeling brought about by the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, to render possible the adoption of a high moral and spiritual rule of life, and the ultimate permeating of the hearts and lives of the people with a loftier tone and practice. In the writings of the prophets, if anywhere, a knowledge of the laws and teaching of Deuteronomy might not unnaturally be expected. An examination of the extant remains of those prophets who wrote and spoke before the time of Josiah does in fact indicate that they were at least not so ignorant of Deuteronomic teaching as has often been assumed. Actual quotation is, of course, not to be anticipated, and its presence would justly arouse suspicions of interpolation at a later date. Even in instances where the prophets DEUTERONOMIC LAW-BOOK 335 committed to writing their own discourses, it is highly improbable that a copy of the law would be accessible to them, or that they would stay to verify the verbal accuracy of a reference thereto by searching through its manuscript pages. The likeness and sympathy are in tone and temper, rather than in language. They may easily be felt ; but it is scarcely possible to transfer the evidence to paper, or to marshal convincing arguments in order. The passages quoted below are in some instances hardly even parallel, in the strictest sense of the term. Their cumulative effect, however, is very considerable. The books of prophecy referred to, carefully studied as a whole, convey the impression that the thoughts and leading principles of Deuteronomy were not unfamiliar to the authors. The Lord hath spoken : I Ye are the children of the have nourished and brought Lord your God. Deut. xiv. 1. up children. Isa. i. 2. In the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Ros. i. 10. They judge not the fatherless, Thou shalt not wrest the neither doth the cause of the judgement of . . . the father- widow come unto them. Isa. less ; nor take the widow's rai- i. 23. ment to pledge. Deut. xxiv. 17. Woe to them that . . . turn Thou shalt not wrest judge- aside the needy from judgement, ment ; thou shalt not respect and take away the right of the persons. Deut. xvL 19, cp. poor of my people. Isa. x. 1 f. xxiv. 17. The Hebrew word translated " turn aside " is the same (Piel of nai) as " wrest " in the two passages from Deuteronomy. 336 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Their land also is full of silver Only he shall not multiply and gold, neither is there any horses to himself . . . neither end of their treasures ; their shall he greatly multiply to land also is full of horses, himself silver and gold. Deut. neither is there any end of their xvii. 16 f. chariots. Isa. ii. 7. Say ye of the righteous, that Thou shalt not eat of it ; that it shall be well with him ; for it may go well with thee. Deut. they shall eat the fruit of their xii. 25. doings. Isa. iii. 10. I and the children whom the They shall be upon thee for a Lord hath given me are for signs sign and for a wonder, and upon and for wonders in Israel from thy seed for ever. Deut. xxviii. the Lord of Hosts. Isa. viii. 18. 46. On all their heads is baldness, Ye shall not cut yourself, nor every beard is cut oflf. Isa. xv. 2. make any baldness between your In that day did the Lord . . . eyes for the dead. Deut. xiv. 1. call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth. Isa. xxii. 12. I will bring up . . . baldness upon every head. Amos viii. 10. The Hebrew word for " baldness " {pn-\p) is the same in all four passages ; and is not used elsewhere in Deuteronomy. Neither shall there be for The Lord shall make thee the Egypt any work, which head or head, and not the tail. Deut. tail, palm-branch or rush, may xxviii. 13. do. Isa. xix. 15, cp. ix. 14 f. They shall come that were A Syrian (mg.,Heb.Aram8ean) ready to perish in the land of ready to perish was my father, Assyria, and they that were out- and he went down into Egypt, casta in the land of Egypt. Isa. and sojourned there. Deut. xxvi. xxvii. 13. 5, DEUTERONOMY AND THE PROPHETS 337 Jacob fled into the field of Aram. Hos. xii. 12. The Hebrew (dik, 'dik) is alliterative with "ready to perish" (12H). Thou shalt not see the fierce The Lord shall bring a nation people, a people of a deep speech against thee from far ... a na- that thou canst not perceive ; of tion whose tongue thou shalt not a strange tongue that thou canst understand ; a nation of fierce not understand. Isa. xxxiii. 19. countenance. De%it. xxviii. 49 f. Compare also the following passages : — Isa. i. 7 with Dewt. xxviii. 51 f.; Isa. ii. 20, De^U. xiv. 18; Isa. iii. 11, Deut. xxviii. 15 S. ; Isa. v. 26-30, Deut. xxviii. 49 ; Isa. ix. 20, Deut. xxviii. 53-57 ; Isa. xxi. 4, Deut. xxviii. 67 ; Isa. xxx. 17, Deut. xxviii. 20, 25 ; Isa. xxxi. 1 with Deut. xvii. 16, xx. 1. The children of Israel shall Neither shalt thou set thee abide many days without ... up a pillar, which the Lord thy pillar. Hos. iii. 4, cp. x. 1 f. God hateth. Deut. xvi. 22. They sacrifice upon the tops Ye shall surely destroy all the of the mountains, and burn places, wherein the nations that incense upon the hills, under ye shall possess served their gods, oaks and poplars and terebinths, upon the high mountains and because the shadow thereof is upon the hills and under every good. Hos. iv. 13. green tree. Deut. xii. 2. The princes of Judah are like Thou shalt not remove thy them that remove the landmark, neighbour's landmark. Deut, Hos. v. 10. xix. 14. Ephraim is oppressed, he is Thou shalt be only oppressed crushed in judgement. Hos. v. and crushed alway. Deut. xxviii. 11. 33. They are as men that have Man or woman that doeth that transgressed a covenant (R.V. which is evil in the sight of the mg.). Hos. vi. 7. Lord thy God, in transgressing Because they have transgressed his covenant. Deut. xvii. 2, cp. my covenant, and trespassed xxviii. 49. against my law. lb. viii. 1. 22 338 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Now will lie remember their The Lord shall bring thee into iniquity, and visit their sins ; they shall return to Egypt. Ros. viii. 13. Ephraim shall return to Egypt. Ih. ix. 3. He shall not return into the land of Egypt. lb. xi. 5, cp. swp. viii. 13, ix. 3. Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again. Dent, xxviii. 68. Only he shall not . . . cause the people to return to Egypt . . . forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall hence- forth return no more that way. Deut. xvii. 16. Their sacrifices shall be unto I have not eaten thereof in them as the bread of mourners ; my mourning. Deut. xxvi. 14. all that eat thereof shall be polluted. Hos. ix. 4. By a prophet the Lord brought The Lord thy God will raise Israel up out of Egypt, and by a up unto thee a prophet from the prophet was he preserved. Hos. midst of thee, of thy brethren, xii. 13. like unto me ; vinto him shall ye hearken, Deut. xviii. 15. Compare further Hos. iv. 4 with Deut. xvii. 12 ; iv. 14, Devi, xxiii. 17; vii. 12, Deut. xxviii. 15 ff.; ix. 17, Deut. xxviii. 64 f. ; x. 11 with Deut. xxv. 4. Bring your sacrifices every At the end of every three morning, and your tithes every years thou shalt bring forth all three days. Amos iv. 4. the tithe of thine increase in the same year. Deut. xiv. 28, cp. xxvi. 12. Ye have built houses of hewn Thou shalt build an house, stone, but ye shall not dwell in and thou shalt not dwell there- them ; ye have planted pleasant in ; thou shalt plant a vineyard, vineyards, but ye shall not drink and shalt not use the fruit there- the wine thereof. Amos. v. 11. of. Deut. xxviii. 30, cp. vv. 38- Thou shalt sow, but shalt not 40. DEUTERONOMY AND THE PROPHETS 339 reap ; thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil ; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine. Mic. vi. 15. They shall buUd houses, but shall not inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof. Zeph. i. 13. Making the ephah small and Thou shalt not have in thy the shekel great, and dealing bag divers weights, a great and falsely with balances of deceit, a small. Thou shalt not have Amos viii. 5, cp. Hos. xii. 7. in thine house divers measures. Shall I be pure with wicked a great and a small. Deut. xxv. balances, and with a bag of 13, 14. deceitful weights. Mic. vi. 11. Compare Amos iv. 6 with Deut. xxviii. 57 ; Amos iv. 9, Deut. xxviii. 22 ; Amos iv. 10, Deut. xxviii. 27, 60 ; Amos v. 12, Deut. xvi. 19 ; Amos ix. 3, 4 with Deut. xxviii. 65. Arise ye, and depart ; for this Ye are not as yet come to is not your rest. Mic. ii. 10. the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Deut. xii. 9. I will cut off witchcrafts out There shall not be found with of thine hand ; and thou shalt thee . . . one that useth divina- have no more soothsayers : and tion, one that practiseth augury, I will cut ofif thy graven images or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, and thy pillars out of the midst or a charmer, or a consulter with of thee ; and thou shalt no more a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or worship the work of thine hands, a necromancer. Deat. xviii. 10, And I will pluck up thine Ashe- 11. rim out of the midst of thee. Thou shalt not plant thee an Mic. V. 12 if., cp. Isa. xvii. 8. Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar ; which the 340 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE Lord thy God hateth. Deut. xvi. 21, 22. Trust ye not in a friend, put If . . . the wife of thy bosom, ye not confidence in a guide ; or thy friend, who is as thine keep the doors of thy mouth own soul, entice thee secretly from her that lieth in thy bosom. . . . thou shalt not consent Mic. vii. 5. unto him, nor hearken unto him. Devi. xiii. 6 flf. There is one gone forth out Certain base fellows (mg., of thee, that imagineth evil Heh. sons of worthleasness) are against the Lord, that counselleth gone out from the midst of thee, wickedness (mg., or worthless- Dent. xiii. 13. Heh. W^i 'la d'b'jk. ness, Heh. Belial). Nah. i. 11. Heh. 'jy'ja fy\ The Lord thy God . . . will It shall come to pass, that as rejoice over thee with joy, he the Lord rejoiced over you to will rest in his love, he will joy do you good, and to multiply over thee with singing. Zeph. you ; so the Lord will rejoice iii. 17. over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you. Dewt. xxviii. 63. Compare further Zepli. i. 4 with Deut. xii. 13 ; i. 17 with De%t. xxviii. 29. Perhaps the passages and combinations of passages most worthy of attention are : Isa. i. 2 Hos. i. 10 ; Isa. i. 23 X. 1 f. ; iii. 10 ; viii. 18 ; Isa. xxvii. 13 Hos. xii. 12 ; Isa. xxxiii. 1 9 ; Isa. xv. 2 xxii. 1 2 Amos viii. 1 ; Hos. iv. 13 ; V. 10, 11 ; Hos. vi. 7 viii. 1 ; ix. 4 ; xii. 13 ; Hos. xii. 7 Amos viii. 5 Mic. vi. 1 1 ; Amos iv. 4 ; Amos v. 1 1 Mic. vi. 15 Zeph. i. 13 ; Mic. ii. 10 ; v. 12 ff.; vii. 5 ; Zeph. iii. 1 7 ; with the corresponding passages of Deuteronomy. The phrase in Hos. viii. 12 may also be cited, 'n"jiri iai (Q. 'a^) i^ ainas (Q. anas), B.V., CHRONOLOGY OF DOCUMENTS 341 though I write for him my law in ten thousand pre- cepts, Tnarg. I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law. The latter rendering is hardly admissible for the Hebrew text as it stands. Whatever the precise implication or reference of the words, they nevertheless do seem to imply a knowledge on the part of the author of a written law. It is noticeable also, that in the immediate context (ver. 11) Hosea declares the multiplication of altars to be evidence of Ephraim's guilt ; by which he appears to show his sympathy with the Deuteronomic spirit.^ The relative order of the documents or strata of which the Pentateuch is composed is unaffected by the question as to the actual date of Deuteronomy. It is evident, however, that if the composition of the last-named book, or at least of the central and import- ant part to which additions were subsequently made, is to be assigned to the age of Solomon, or of David, in the first half of the tenth century B.C. ; and if, further, the Deuteronomic code presupposes the writing of JE, and assumes familiarity with its regulations on the part of the people addressed; provision must be made in any chronological scheme of sufficient interval between the dates of the two documents to allow for the growth of this familiarity, and for the spread and general adoption of practices which JE tacitly, at least, condones, but which the author of Deuteronomy expressly con- demns. The period need not be assumed to have been of very long duration. But the era of the Judges, ' Cp. supra, p. 322 f. 342 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE with its scattered, apparently more or less isolated settlements, was not one favourable to literary com- position, or the promulgation and acceptance of a code or codes of law amongst the community as a whole. Different rules and usages, locally recognised and in part contemporary, might be expected to arise. Possibly it is in this sense that the original variations between J and E should be interpreted. A national code, however, generally accepted and obeyed, would seem to be more naturally assigned to a date antecedent to the disunion and unrest of the times of the Judges. The longer, moreover, the interval between the two documents, the nearer is the earlier brought to the Mosaic age, and the greater the probability of the inference that in JE, or in one or other of the writings combined under that name, have been preserved genuine records of the work of Moses, narratives or legal directions written or dictated by the great Hebrew Lawgiver himself. Beyond this tentative conclusion it is hardly possible with our present sources of infor- mation to go. It is certainly that which appears best to reconcile the literary facts with the primd facie contrary pronouncements of tradition. There are passages, of course, in the Pentateuch which claim for themselves direct Mosaic authorship.^ The greater part is, as we have seen, anonymous. His spirit, however, it can hardly be denied, informs the whole, with the ex- ception perhaps of the clearly later elements, which the necessities and circumstances of the Exile forced upon > Supra, p. 275 ff. ANALOGIES OF LITERARY GROWTH 343 the people. But to what extent the earlier elements, and JE in particular, are due to his direct initiative, and are to be ascribed in form, as well as in substance, to him as their author, must remain for the present at least, undetermined. Future and more exact in- vestigation will perhaps succeed in assigning more precisely the limits of the debt which the Hebrew Law owes to the hand of Moses. In any case, it was more considerable than has often been allowed. Analogies of Liteeaey Geowth. — It should further be noted that a doctrine of composition of the Penta- teuch, which regards it as of gradual formation, the work of several even of many hands, whose varied influence may be traced through the course of the centuries, who have harmonised, supplemented, and in many ways built upon the foundations of their pre- decessors, places the early literature of the Hebrews entirely in line with the early religious literature of the more or less cultured peoples of other lands. No religious or legal document of equal antiquity, unless engraved upon unchanging stone, as the code of Khammurabi, has, or apart from a perpetual and un- precedented miracle could have been preserved through the ages, the sohtary work of a solitary author, unap- propriated and unaltered. So far as we know, ancient authors did not thus work. The composition of the seer, the law-maker, the poet, was not sent forth, unless in the case of royal proclamations, grants, etc., ticketed with his own name, a private possession with which no other hand or brain might intermeddle. Eather it was 344 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE flung forth anonymously, for the enjoyment and advan- tage of all ; or at the most it was guarded, as in many instances was the case, within the family, the house, or the clan, an heirloom with which outsiders had nothing to do. Private ownership, in the sense of a prohibition of all modification or change introduced by others than the original author, or the jealous warning off of trespassers, was unknown. A law of copyright is a comparatively late invention. And especially where reliance was placed mainly upon oral or memoriter repetition for the preservation and com- munication of literary works, alteration and revision were by that very circumstance facilitated and even invited. If the reciter, by omitting, combining, or adding to the material of his recitation, could effect improvement, he was in every way at liberty so to do. Nor is there any reason to believe, but rather every reason not to believe, that Divine inspiration, in whatever sense the phrase is interpreted, did in any way modify the methods of literary production, or put a writer out of touch with the spirit and mind of the age to which he belonged. The real grandeur and unique- ness of the Books of Moses does not lie in the manner in which they were composed, but in the spirit which they breathe and the teaching which they convey. The records of any country or people that possesses an early religious literature, using the word in its broadest sense, will fiirnish parallels to the manner of the growth and history of the primitive Hebrew texts. Thus the sacred books of ancient India which contain ANALOGIES OF LITERARY GROWTH 345 the philosophical and religious speculations in and through which the sages groped their way to the Great Unknown, are in no instance, unless it be the very shortest, of single or definite authorship. They place on record with the greatest care the names of the thinkers, and the genealogical descent through which their teaching has reached a later age. But it was a matter of comparative indifference by whom these con- victions and views were embodied in literary and per- manent form. Many intellects and hands shared in the work of ordering and completing, and no one thought of claiming exclusive credit for himself. None of the ancient Sanskrit Upanishads, in which this philosophical and religious teaching finds expression, can be ascribed to one only thinker or composer. Each in its present shape enshrines the thoughts of many minds, and perhaps of many ages ; and the dim beginnings of the speculation, which found fuller expres- sion in the language of the existing texts, can hardly be much if at all later than the age to which, as we have seen to be probable, the initial stages of the Pentateuch belong. " All the principal Upanishads contain earlier and later elements side by side." " The funda- mental thought . . . attained an ever completer develop- ment by means of the reflection of individual thinkers. . . . The oldest Upanishads preserved to us are to be re- garded as the final result of this mental process." ^ Dr. Deussen's knowledge of the ancient religious literature of ' P. Deussen, Philosophy of (lie. Upanishads, Eng. ti-ans., Edin. 1906, p. 22 f. 346 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE India is probably unrivalled ; and his judgement is thus emphatic with regard to the composite nature of the texts. The simple and brief Vedic hymns in praise of the gods are, of course, in a somewhat different posi- tion, and the names of their authors are, as is natural, recorded in tradition. But in the longer even of these the influence of more than one hand may with certainty be traced. That the " Homer " which we read in our own day is the final result of a similar process of growth, carried on probably through many centuries, is recog- nised on every side. The early Greek poets or rhapso- dists combined their ancient lays, omitted or inserted episodes, illustrations, or interludes, disposed their material according to the best of their judgement, and added new compositions of their own. The objection that such a piecemeal and prolonged process could never issue in a magnificent poem is refuted by the Hiad and Odyssey, — solvitur ambulando. The joints are there, for any one who will to feel and test. And the irresistible proofs of differences of date and origin are drawn from anthropology and archaeology, as well as from linguistics. The parallel between the ancient Greek and Hebrew literatures, in their history and manner of composition, is closer than has perhaps always been realised ; and on the Greek side has been recently well illustrated and reinforced by Prof. Gilbert Murray in his Bise of the Greek Epic} Bearing in 1 Oxford, 1907, pp. 101-115. With Dr. Murray the parallel is only incidental to an argument of the gi'eatest interest and rich in illustra- ANALOGIES OF LITERARY GROWTH 347 mind the difference of theme and purpose " Moses " need not fear comparison even with " Homer " in ease and dignity and eloquence ; and far surpasses him in moral elevation and grandeur. And the Pentateuch, no less than the Greek Epic, is the expression of the national genius, working naturally and harmoniously through many generations, and attaining its final fruition by contributions from many sources adapted and controlled by more than one master mind. Many other comparisons of interest might be sug- gested, all pointing in the same direction of the usually composite character of early literary products, and that this gradual process of development and growth does not detract in any way from the value and excellence of the finished work. Further illustration may readily be drawn from English literature. The theory that the early poem which passes under the name of " Piers the Plowman" is in fact the work of several writers, harmonised, combined, and " edited," has been recently maintained with great ability by Prof. J. M. Manly in the Cambridge Hist, of Eng. Literature, vol. ii. ch. i. It is altogether a natural and probable theory. And the doctrine of joint or successive authorship, as it might be called, in primitive literary effort, is thus of wide application, and with increasing and more exact research will be more generally demonstrated and acknowledged. The Books of Moses do not stand isolated and alone, in that they owe much to later tive detaO. But he justly expresses his wonder that "the comparison has not been more widely used by Greek scholars." 348 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE hands than those of their first author and contributor. Eather they are in method and structure akin to the best early literature of other lands. Moses laid as it were the foundations of a great temple of wisdom, into the building of which generations of successors wrought much ; and the work was finished, and the topstone laid in its place, by those who laboured long after he was dead. Early Environment and Life of Israel. — It is certain also that a rich and flourishing civilisation existed in Arabia, the Sinaitic Peninsula, and the so-called Desert of the Wanderings, many centuries before the time of Moses and the Exodus. If the culture and life of the inhabitants were in large part of the rough and nomadic type, it was not so altogether or universally. There were great and wealthy cities and kingdoms, whose influence extended far and wide. And even if the Israehtes with their tribal organisation and life may be conceived to have passed through the land comparatively unaffected by a settled and civilised environment, they can hardly have been unaware of it. Little, it is true, is known even yet of the real condition of northern Arabia and the neighbouring countries at the period of the Exodus. Sufficient, however, has been certainly ascertained from actual exploration and inscriptions to lead us to pause before assigning much weight to an argument that denies the possibility for Israel of legislation implying an orderly and settled town life at so early a period. " This region " (i.e. northern Arabia), writes Dr. EARLY ENVIRONMENT OF ISRAEL 349 McCurdy, " is thus shown to have been then occupied by a people the very reverse of uncultured. Hence the broad inference has been drawn that the Israelites, not only in Egypt, but also during their life in the desert, had an environment which in any case must have lifted them above barbarism, even if their ancestors had not themselves been a cultured people according to the standards of the East." ^ It is chiefly in this direction, perhaps, that archaeology has not yet said its last word in modi- fying the conclusions of a purely literary criticism of the text. Clearly there are degrees also within a nomad life itself, differing in standard of wealth and comfort, and in the extent to which the wandering habit exhibits itself in incessant movement, or is imposed upon a people by the hard conditions under which they live. There is no trace in the history of Israel of their having ever adopted by choice or having been reduced to the lowest stratum or type of a nomadic life, as it might be called, where a moveable tent and a few camels form the sum of worldly wealth. In such an environment the very nadir of nomadism is reached, a state never far removed from actual starva- tion. Eaised far above this is the existence of the pastoral tribes, who possess regular summer and winter ' J. F. MeCurdy in Becent Sesearch in Bible Lands, Philadelphia, 1896, p. 15; cp. A. H. Sayce, ib. p. 116 f., and Arehaology of the Cv/neiform Inscriptions, London, 1907, passim ; F. Hommel in Ex- plorations in Bible Lands, Edinburgh, 1903, p. 741 ff. "Arabia and the Old Testament." 350 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE grazing grounds, and shift their habitations regularly twice a year. But except in the obscure period of the Desert Wanderings, where evidence fails us, the entire course of Israelite life before the final Settlement in Canaan reveals itself as of a higher standard even than this. The nomad habit is as it were occasional, and is interrupted by long periods of settled residence. The chieftains, patriarchs or " sheikhs," are men of abundant resources and wealth ; and it is a mistake to suppose that under such circumstances a people is necessarily lacking either in refinement or literary culture, although the manifestations of both may and probably will be of a nature altogether unlike those seen under the different conditions of a permanent residential or town life. Summary and Conclusions. — Upon many of the questions which are raised by a consideration of the literary relations of the Books of Moses the time for a final judgement has not yet come; and the fmrm, which a well-considered theory of authorship will ultimately take may be regarded as still open to modification to perhaps a not inconsiderable extent. That discrepancies and anachronisms exist within the compass of the books themselves, no attentive reader can deny. It is the exaggeration of these, the minute dissection of the text which has claimed to be able to assign every verse or even portion of a verse to its particular author and date, as though the modern critic were looking over the shoulder of the ancient writers in turn, that has provoked reaction and dissent. No SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 351 composition, early or late, but could be proved coru- posite and inconsistent on similar principles, and by the application of similar extreme and often fanciful criteria. Such claims, with the deductions founded upon them, will have to be abandoned. On the other hand, the broad and striking distinctions of style, manner, diction, are there for all to see ; the main lines of separation between the different " documents " in the first five books of the Bible seem to be made out beyond the possibility of serious dispute, and to be obvious to any careful student of the text, ac- customed to appreciate literary beauty, eloquence, or power. To deny them is simply to refuse to the Old Testament a place in the treasure-house of the world's literary masterpieces, to which it is so amply entitled ; and to place it on a pedestal of its own, cold and isolated, judged by a different standard, and out of touch with the common cares and needs, no less than with the artistic sense of humanity. It must be remembered also that by the symbols P, JE, etc., are denoted primarily schools of thought, not individual writers. Of course, all authorship is eventually and in the final analysis the work of a single mind. But in the case of the Pentateuch, as of practically all ancient literature, we are unable to go behind the combination of minds, which expresses the tendency of a group or school. J, P, etc., are not labels for individuals, shadowy personages, for whom the critics might equally well have employed the symbol x. But they denote well-marked types or 352 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE schools of thought, associations, more or less per- manent, of thinkers or writers, who are dominated by one leading idea, and share common aims and sympathies. Such were the schools of the prophets in Israel. Similar institutions flourished in ancient India and in China ; prospered greatly, and were richly productive in the early days of Muhammadanism ; and have probably never been wanting where men have been drawn together under common institutions, and have experienced the compelling power of common beliefs, longings, and hopes. If it were proposed to equate the symbolic letters referred to with earlier or later forms of the " schools of the prophets," probably no injustice would be done to the latter, or to the facts which we dimly discern behind the convenient, if arbitrary sign of the accepted documentary theory. We must further bear in mind that the Hebrew sacred books were written in Eastern lands, and bear the impress of Eastern thought. They do not submit themselves to the habits and ideals of a Western or European mind, and are erroneously judged if measured by a purely European standard. It is hardly too much to say that no one who is not to a certain extent familiar with Oriental modes of thinking and ex- pression, and in full sympathy with Oriental ideals, is adequately equipped to pass judgement on the contents or form of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is true, of course, in a certain sense, that for centuries the lands around the Eastern Mediterranean have been the meeting-place, often for shock and conflict SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 353 rather than for peaceable intercourse, between Orient and Occident. But in Syria and Egypt at least the East has always predominated. And of the Penta- teuch as much as of the Prophets, the tone and spirit, the outlook and conception, are of the dreamy, ideal- loving, timeless East, rather than of the practical and stern business-hke West. It is, however, in large part because the Jewish and Christian Scriptures had their origin under conditions such as these, at the meeting-place of the great tides of human thought, the centuries-long interchange of experiences and ideas, that they are cosmopolitan in a sense and to a degree in which neither the Veda nor the Qur'an, the Confucian Classics or the Zarathustrian Avesta ever can be. It remains true, nevertheless, that the books of the Penta- teuch and of the Old Testament generally, both as to form and substance, must be interpreted in the light of the East, and must not be compelled to the Pro- crustean forms of Western preconceptions or logic. It is clear, therefore, that on many of the questions raised in the course of an examination and discussion of the early documents of the Bible the time has not yet arrived, and the knowledge has not yet been gained, for a iinal and authoritative pronouncement. Mutatis mutandis the same is true of the whole of the Old Testament. The decision cannot be given, and if given would not and ought not to be accepted, on purely literary grounds. Neither ethnology nor archeeology, to mention only two of the contributory sciences, have said their last word. Much has been gained, solid 23 354 INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE and permanent results have been achieved, and many misunderstandings dispersed by the earnest and scholarly work of the past years. But a wealth of illustration remains to be garnered, and the bearing of many facts will have to be appreciated and their due weight and place assigned, before a final conclusion is reached. It will only be by the contributions of many minds, estimating and controlling evidence of the greatest variety and extent, that a final answer can be given to many questions whose interest is not historical only, but also of the highest ethical and religious import. INDEX I. SUBJECTS. Where two or more references are given, the more important are indicated by larger type. Aakon ben Ashbe, 53 ff. ; model Codex, 54 f. abbreviations in Heb. MSS, 63 f. "abstractions of the scribes," 102. Abyssinia, 27, 244 f. accents, accentuation, 95, 105 if., lllff. Achmim, 210, 237, 239 ; Achmimic version and dialect, 239 f. aorophonic, 33. Jlthiopic, 27, 79; Mth. version, 243 ff. Africa, 218ff., 228. Africanisms, 219. Akiba ben Joseph, 146, 188. Alcuin, 230. Aldine Septuagint, 212. Aleppo, 54. Alexandria, 117, 168 ST., 184,203, 237, 240 f. allegory in the O.T., 103 f. alphabet, Indian, 36 n. ; Semitic, 29 ff. altars, idolatrous, 326 f. Amharic, 27, 244 f. Amoraim, 148 f. Amorite, 21 f. Amraphel, 15. Amsterdam, 74, 77, 80. anthropomorphism in JE, 305 f. Antioch, 203 f. Antwerp Polyglott, 78 f., 212. Aphraates, 161, 163. Apocrypha, 127 f., 138, 248; Greek, 179 ff. ; Latin, 224 ; Coptic, 239. AquHa, 157, 187 ff., 210, 267. Arabia, 11, 14, 27, 62, 247, 260, 348 f. Arabic, 2, 12, 24 f., 79, 111, 236 ; Arabic Versions, 246 ff. Aramaean, 16 f. , 42. Aramaic, 7 ff., 17 ff., 58, 149, 153 ff., 160, 167, 183, 244, 248 ; in Daniel and Ezra, 3, 18 ; in Genesis, 3 ; in Jeremiah, 3. Aramaic Papyri from Egypt, 42. Aramaisms, 9. 'Araq-el-Emir inscription, 45. Aristeas, Letter of, 169 ff. Armenia, 12, 22, 250 f. Armenian Version, 249 ff. Ashdod, 7, 23. Ashkenazic school of writing, 64 f. "Assembly" of Moses, 74. Assyrian, 2, 15 ff. Astruc, J., 309 f. Athanasius, 128. Athias, J., 80. Augustine, 220 ff., 225. Babylon, 15, 331. Babylonia, 43, 53, 65, 149 f., 155 f. Babylonian accentuation, 62, 115 ; 356 INDEX I language, 14 ; Talmud, 20 ; text, 99, 110 f. Bachmann, J., 246. Baer, S., 72, 81 f. Balaam, Oracles of, 272 ff. baraitha, 147. Bartholomew, 250. Basle, 73f., 80, 108, 173, 311. Benedictions in Genesis, 274 f. Berber, 28. Berger, S., 234. Berlin, 71, 77, 80, 209, 243, 311. Betbel, 326. Bethlehem, 227. Bible, Hebrew, ed. prima, 68 ; first manual ed., 69. Biblia Magna Eabbinioa, 74 ; Regia or Plantiniana, 78. Biblical Aramaic, 18. Bissell, E. C, 283 f. Blessing of Moses, 302 f., 321. Bodleian, 110, 115. Bohairic, 205, 241 f. Bologna, 66, 157. Bomberg Bibles, 69 f., 159. Bomberg, D., 69, 72, 80. Breasted, J. H., 34. Brescia, 68. British and Foreign Bible Society, X, 93, 245. British Church, 229. British Museum, 62 f., 78, 80, 242, 245. Brooke, A. E., 216, 239. Buchanan, E. S., 223 n. Budge, E. A. Wallis, 239, 333 n. Burkitt, F. C, 190, 222. Buxtorf, J., 73 f., 80, 97 n., 104, 108. Csesarea, 203, 226. Cairo, 55, 62, 64, 190. Cambridge, 216. Canaan, "lip of," 7, 21. Canaanite, 21. Canon of the O.T., 37, 116 if., 128 ff., 191; closing of the Canon, 10 ; Armenian, 250 ; Ethiopic, 246; Greek, 180 ff., 185 ; Latin, 225 ; Syriac, 163. cantillation, 115. Caphtor, 22. Cappel, L., 108. Carpentras stele, 19, 42. Oarahuni, 249. Ceolfric, 229 f. Charles, R. H., 243 ff., 247. Chayyim, Abraham ben, 66 ; Jacob ben, 73, 80, 97, 102. Chazir, children of, inscription, 45. Chisian Codex, 193. Chrysostom, J., 245. olausulse, Massoretic, 67, 73, 93 ff. Clement viil., 232, 234. Clementine Vulgate, 232 ff. Codex Alexandrinus, 209, 211, 213; Amiatinus, 229 f., 233; of ben Asher, 54 f. ; Babylonicus, 61 f. ; Barberinus, 196 f. ; Cairo, 55, 60 ; Cambridge, 61 ; HlUeli, 49 f. ; Jericho, 51 ; Jerusalem, 51 ; at Rome, 52 ; Sinai, 51 ; Sinaiticus, 209 ; Vaticanus, 209, 212 f. ; Zanbuqi, 50 f. colophon, Hebrew, 60. Oommodus, 192. Complutensian Polyglott, 78, 80, 136 ; Greek text of, 206, 211 ff. concordance to the O.T., 216 f. conjunctive accents, 1 13 f. Constantinople, 41. Cook, S. A., 57, 58 n. Coptic, 27, 235 f., 241, 247, 249 ; C. Versions, 206, 236 ff. "corrections" of the scribes, 99 ff. CoiTeotoria, 230, 233. Covenant, Book of the, 295, 297 f., 321, 327. Covenants, Book of the Four, 287. Creation, narratives of, 280 ff., 290 f., 306. Cretan pictographs, 35. cuneiform, 35. cursive form of writing, 65. Cyprian, 217. Cypriote syllabary, 35. Cyril of Alexandria, 205 f. Damascus, 17. Damasus, Pope, 225, 227. Dead, Book of the, 331 f. Deborah and Barak, Song of, 269. Decalogue, 57 f., 294 ff., 312. Deissmann, G. A., 208 f. INDEX I 357 Delitzsoh, F., 72, 81. Demetrius Phalereus, 169 ff. demotic, 235. Deutevonomist, 288, 308. Deuteronomy, authorship, 287 f., 312 ; character and style, 300 ff., 307 f.; date, 315 ff., 3S2ff., 341; Deut. and the Prophets, 334 fif. Deussen, P., 345. Dillmann, A., 246. disjunctive accents, 113 f. Divine Name in Pentateuch, 280 fif. Documentary Hypothesis, 313. Eastern School, 52, 62, 65. Ecolesiasticus, 125, 140, 175 ; rela- tion to the Canon, lS7f., 179. Edessa, 17, 161, 165, 204, 249. editions of Hebrew text, 66 ff. ; of Greek, 211 tf. ; of Latin, 225 ff. ; of Coptic, 238 fif. ; of Ethiopic, 246 f.; of Arabic, 248 f. ; of Armenian, 250 f. ; of Georgian, 251 ; of Gothic, 253. Egypt, 7, 18, 168 f., 203, 205 f., 208 f., 235 ff., 246, 331, 349, 353. Egyptian, 27 f., 34ff. ; Egyptian Versions, 235 ff. Eichhorn, J. G., 10, 310 f. EUas Levita, 51, 109, 122. Elohist, 284 fif., 310. Ephraimites, 23. Epiphanius, 117, 187, 192, 194 f. Erythriea, 244. Ethiopic Version, 243 ff. Euphrates, 13f. Eusebius, 21 n., 85, 164, 195, 203. Euting, J., 19. Ewald, G. H. A., 287, 313. Ezra, 42, 89, 161, 320 ; supposed in- vention of vowel-points, 108; re- lation to the Canon, 122 ff., 126. Faber, F., 225. Falashas, 245 f. Fayyum, 240 f., 247. Felix Pratensis, 69, 73. Field, F., 190, 197. Fik, inscription, 46. Flood, narrative of, 281, 283, 292. Florence, 71, 229. foundation deposit, 330 ff. Fragmentary Hypothesis, 310. Gallioan Psalter, 226 ff., 252. - Gaster, M., 61 f., 110. Gebhardt, 0., 196. Ge'ez, 27, 244 f. Gemara, 147 ff. Geniza, 56, 64, 190. Georgian Version, 251. German Jews, 135 ; Germ, school, 64 f. Ginsburg, C. L., 51 f., 61, 66 .and note 2, 81, 97, 104 f., 134, 136 ; edition of Hebrew text, 83. Gothic, 207, 252 ; Gothic Vei-sion, 251 tf. Goths, 252. Gottingen, 248. Grabe, J. E., 313 f. Graf, H. K., 313 f. Greek, 17, 36, 149, 154; Greek division of the four double books, 70 ; spirit and literature, 240 f. , 346 f. ; MSS of the O.T., 207 ff. ; Greek text, 197 f., 201 tf., 243, 247, 249, 251 ; known as the "Vulgate," 203 ff., 229, 252 ; of Aquila, 188 f. ; Greek Versions, 165 tf. Gregory the Illuminator, 250. Hadramut, 26. Hadrian, 187. haggadah, 142 ff., 149. Hagiographa, editio princeps, 67 ; Targums on, 160 ; in the Greek Canon, 175 f. halakhah, 142 f., 145, 149. Hammurabi. See Khammurabi. haphtarah, 134 f. Hatch, E., 216 f. Haupt, P., 82. Hebrew, meaning of term, 4 ff. ; language. Iff., 8 ff., 23 f.; manuscripts, 47 ff. ; pre-Mas- soretio papyrus text, 57 ff. ; earliest dated MS in British Museum, 62 ; ancient Hebrew script, 42 f., 45. Heidenheim, Wolf ben Simson, 77. Herodotus, 17. 358 INDEX I Heshbon, 45. Hesyohius, 205, 211, 213. Hexapla, 201 ff., 207, 213; used by Jerome, 202 ff., 226 ; in the Ethiopio and Armenian Versions, 243, 250. Hexateiich, 224, 260, 283, 288, 290. Hezekiah, 40 f. hieroglyphic, 34, 235. Hilkiah, 324 f., 327, 329 ff. Hillel, 50, 145 f., 158. Hilleli codex, 49 f. Himyaritio, 26. Hittite, 22. Hlvite, 21. Hody, H., 173. Holiness, Law of, 298 f., 321. Holmes and Parsons, 214. Homer, 346 f. Hooght, E. van der, 80. Howarth, H. H., 182 n. Huldah, 325. Ideogram, 31 f., 34. Indo-European languages, 11 f. Inscriptions, ancient Semitic, 38 ff. ; Hebrew, 45 f. ; oldest Egyptian, ,34. Irenaeus, 192, 194. Isidore of Seville, 223. Israel, national name, 6 ff. Itala, 222. Italian, 219, 222. Italy, 65. Jablonski, D. E., 80. Jacobites, 163. Jamnia, 145. jar-handles from Palestine, 42. Jashar, 38, 245 ff. Jebusites, 21. Jehovist, Jahvist, 284 ff., 310. Jehudah Hannasi, 146 f. Jeremias, A., 283. Jericho codex, 51. Jeroboam, son of Nebat, 326. Jerome, 126, 128, 188, 190 ff.,194f., 218 ff., 234, 252; use of the Hexapla of Origen, 202 ff., 207, 226 ; revision and translation, 225 ff. Jerusalem, 40, 169, 251 316; Jerusalem codex, 51 ; Targums, 158 f. Jochanan, 149. John Rylands Library, 242. Jonathan, Targum of, 157 ff. Josephus, 52, 116 and note, 131,174. Josiah, 316 ff., 322,^328 f. Jotham, fable of, 271. Judges, era of, 341 f. Kautzsch, E., 321. Kefr Bir'im inscription, 46. Kefr Kenna inscription, 46. Keunioott, B., 74 ff. Kenyon, F. C, 209, 239. Kethibh, 96 ff. Kethubhim, 116, 121 f., 127, 134. Khammurabi, 15, 332, 343. Kimchi, D., 49, 66 ff. King, L. W., 332 n. Klein, F. A., 39. Kuenen, A., 313. Lagarde, P. de, 164 f. ; edition of Luoiau's text, 204 f. ; of Sahidic portions, 239, 242 f. ; of Arabic text of Job and Proverbs, 248. Lamech, Song of, 269 f. Latin, 166 ; Latin Versions, 217 ff. Leipoldt, J., 236 f. Leipzig, 209, 313. Leo XIII., 233. Levite, 322. Leusden, J., 80. Libyan, 28. Lidzbarski, M., 45. "Light of the Law," 71. literary criticism of the Pentateuch, 254 ff. London Polyglott, 79 f. Louvre, 39. Lowe, W. H. 65. Lucian, 204 f., 211, 213, 253. Lurlolf, J., 246. lyric element in O.T., 262 ff. McCurdy, J. F., 349. Mainz., 231. Malta, 25. Manasseh, 330, 326, 328 f. Mandaitic, 20. INDEX I 359 Manly, J. M., 347. Mantua, 72. Marib, 26. Maspero, G., 238, 240. Maasikhtoth, 148. Massmann, H. F., 253. Massorah, 60, 83, 85 S., 135; M. marginalis, 90 ; M. magna, 73, 90 ; M. parva, 90 ; subject- matter, 91 If. Massoretes, 54, 88, 102, 107, 122, 198. Massoretic revision, 198 ; text, 56 f., 75, 83, 151, 243,248. matres lectionis, 106. Mazarin Bible, 231. Mecbilta, 144, 174. Mediterranean, 12, 35 f., 352. Megilloth, 68 f, 119, 121, 131, 162, 176. Meir ba-Levi, 70 f. Melito of Sardis, 128. Mempbitic, 241. Menahem b. Judah, 71. Menes, 34. Mesha, 39. Mesopotamia, 12, 16, 19, 272. Mesrop, 249 ff. methurgeman, 155. Miobaelis, J. H., 81. Middle Egyptian, 239 f. Midrash, 101, 141 S. ; M. Pesikta, 145 ; M. Rabbah, 144 ; M. Tan- ohuma, 144 ; M. Yalkut, 145. Milan, 164, 225 f., 253. Minohath Shai, 71 f. Minfean, 26. Miriam, Triumphal Ode, 271. Mishna, 10 n., 127, 132, 139, 147 flf. Moab, 39 ; Moabites, 37. Moabite Stone, 39 f., 107. Morinus, J. M., 109. Moses b. Naphtali, 53 ; M. of Frankfort, 74. Moses, Blessing and Song of, 302 f. , 321. Muhammad, 24 f. Murray, G., 346 f. Nabatsean, 19. Nablus, 63. Nabonidus, 331 f. Naples, 67 f. Naram Sin, 331. Nazareth, 46. Nehardea, 149. Nebemiah, Persian governor, 320. Nestle, E., 215. Nestorians, 163. Neubauer, Ad., 53, 61 n. New Hebrew, 11 n., 23, 139. New Testament, 131, 176, 235, 247 ; Achmtmic, 240 ; Gothic, 253; in Latin, 217 ff., 221 ff. ; Latin manuscripts, 234 ; read- ings of Theodotion in N.T., 193. Nimrod, 292. Noldeke, Th., 20. nomad life, 348 ff. Norberg, N., 164. Norzi, 50, 72. Octapla, 195, 202. Ootateuch, 260, 266. Offenbach, 77. Old Latin, 218 ff., 223, 234; manuscripts and texts, 224 ff., 228. Onkelos, Targum of, 66 f., 77, 156 f. oral transmission, 2,"i7 f. Oriental texts, 79. Origen, 128,164, 190 f, 195,205, 213, 226, 238, 243, 250, 252; critical edition of the Greek text, 199 ff. Oxford, 74 f., 213 f. Oxyrhynohus Papyri, 210, 211 n. Palestine, 203, 246, 250. Palestinian Aramaic, 18 ; Pal. school, 52, 150, 185; Pal. Tar- gums, 158 ff. ; Pal. text, 99, 110 f, 157, 191; Syriac texts, 163, 165. Palmyra, Palmyrene, 19 f. Pamphilus, 203. papyrus, 208 f., 239, 242, 251; Pap., ancient Egyptian, 57 ff. ; Pap. Prisse, 36. parashah, 132 ff. Paris Polyglott, 79. Parma, 75. 360 INDEX I Pentateuch, 254 ff. ; first edit, of Hebrew, 66 f. ; of Mendelssohn, 77. peraqim, 148. perioopse, 132. Pesohitta, 86, 162ff.,248f. Petra 19. Petrie, W. M. Fl., 34, 332. Pharos, 169. Philistines, 22. Philo, 131, 174, 176. Philoxenus, 165. Phoenicians, 22, 37. pictorial writing, 31. Piers the Plowman, 347. Pirqe Aboth, 71, 89. Pistis Sophia, 238. Pius X., 233. Polycarp, 165. Polyglotts, 78ff., 163, 248. porta triplex inscription, 45. Precepts of Ptah-Hotep, 36. Pre-Massoretic text, 57. Priestly Narrator, 319. Priests' Code, 286 f., 297, 320 f., 323. Prophetic Narrator, 305 f. Prophets, first edition of Hebrew, 67; Major and Minor, earlier and later, 116, 120, 122, 179, 222 ; Georgian manuscript, 251 ; Pro- phetic Canon, 125 f, 130 f., 234; in the Syriac, 163 ; Targums of the Prophets, 158, 160. Prologus Galeatus, 227. Psalma, first edition of Hebrew, 66. Psalter, 66, 68. Pseudo- Jonathan, 158 f. Ptolemy Philadelphus, 168 ff. Pumbeditha, 158. puncta extraordinaria, 96. punctuation, 112 flf. Punic, 22 f. Qabbalah, 87. Qaraite Jews, 65, 108 f. Qeri, 96 ff. ; Q. Perpetuum, 98. Qur'an, 24 f., 140. Rab, 149. Rabbinic Bibles, 72 ff., 136 ; Rabb. type, 66 f. Rahlfs, A., 209, 238, 252. Rashi, 66 f., 77. Redpath, H. A., 178, 216 f. reviser, 308 f. Rodelheim, 77 f. Roman Psalter, 225 f. ; Rom. Septuagint, 212. Rossi, de, 63, 75 f. Saadiah, 246 ff. Sabsean, 25 f. Sabhoraim, 150. Sabians, 20. saepes legis, 70 f. Sahidic, 205, 237 f. Sakhara, stele of, 19. Samaritan Pentateuch, 63, 195 ; used for Arabic versions, 247 f. ; Sam. Targum, 18, 160. Samaritans, 124 f. Samson, riddle of, 271. Sanchuniathou, 21 n. Schick, C, 40.; schools of the prophets, 124, 258, 352; of thought, in the Pen- tateuch, 351 f. Schtirer, E., 128, 170, 190, 192. Schwartze, M. G., 242 f. Scribes, 84, 107. scriptio plena, defectiva, 95, 107. Seba, 26. sedarim, 133 f., 148. Semitic character, 35 f. ; grammar, 13 ; languages, classification of, 10 ff. ; peoples, 11 ff. ; race, 21 ; speech, 166. Sennacherib, 37. Sephardic school, 64 f. Septuagint, 119, 163, 165 ff., 238, 243, 248, 250, 267 ; editions of, 211 ff. ; relation to Jerome's text, 222 f. Severus, 194 f. Shammai, 145 f, Shechem, 63. Shem, 11. Shema, 57. Shenoute, 237. Sifra, sifre, 144. Siloam inscription, 40 f. , 107. Simon bar Kokhba, 41. Sinai, Sinaitic Peninsula, 19, 294, 348 ; Sinai Codex, 51. INDEX I 361 Sixtine Septiiagint, 212 f., 214 f. ; Sixt. Vulgate, 232 f. Sixtus v., 232 f. Solomon, 326, 330 f., 3il. Solomon Dubno, 77. Soncino, 67 ff. Spanish school, 64 ; vito, 135. "square" character, 30, 42ff. ; form of writing, 65. Stations in the Wilderness, 276. stichometry, 137. Strack, H. L., 61 f., 76, 104, 110, 128, 150 n., 152 n. Strassburg, 208. Studia Sinaitica, 163. sublinear punctuation, 110. Supplement Hypothesis, 313. auperlinear accentuation, 62, 115 ; vocalisation, 109 f. Sura, 149, 248. Swete, H. B., 173, 183 n., 194, 207 ; edition of the Greek text, 215 f. Symmaohus, 194 f., 250, 267. Synagogue, the Great, 89, 122. Syria, 12, 161, 227, 353. Syi-iac, 17 f., 20, 107, 183, 250 f. ; Syr. versions, 16, 97 n., 160 ff. ; used for Arabic versions, 247. Syrian, 16 f. ; type of writing, 65. Syro-Hexaplar, 162, 164 f. Talmud, 44 and note, 85, 101, 126, 150 ff., 174. Tannaim, 146, 148. Targum, 18 ; of Jonathan, 157 f. ; of Onkelos, 66 f., 77, 156 f.; Samaritan, 160. Targuras, 153 ff. ; of Jerusalem, 158 f. ; on the Hagiographa, 160. Tattam, H., 242. Taylor, C, 190. Tetragrammaton, 98, 190. Tetrapla, 202 f. Thackeray, H. St. J., 170, 173, 179. Thebaic, 237. Theodotion, 186 f., 192 f., 238, 250; in quotations in N.T., 193 ; influenced Armenian ver- sion, 250 ; text of Daniel, 177, 182, 193 f. Theowulf, 230. Tiberias, 52, 147. Tigi-e, Tigrina, 244. Tigris, 14, 16. Tisohendorf, A. F. Const., 214 f., 233. Toledo, 49, 70. Toledoth, genealogical records, 290 ff. tombs of the Kings, inscription, 45. Topheth, 326. tosephta, 147 f., 155. tradition of the elders, 142. Trent, Council of, 231 f. Turanian, 11. Ulfilas, 251 f. Upanishads, 345. Urumiah, 163. Vatican Library, 193, 211; manu- script, 212 f., 215, 238. Veuice, 71, 73, 159, 195, 212, 225, 251. vcrsss 136* Versions of the O.T., 48, 153 ff. Vienna, 72, 77, 159, 239, 253. Virgin's Well, 40. vowel points, 95, 105 ff. Vulgate, 222, 225, 229; earliest editions, 231 ; Greek text known as "Vulgate," 203 ff., 229. Walton, Brian, 79, 247. Walton's Polyglott, 79 f., 247. Wars of the Lord, Book of, 38, 267 f. Well, Song of the, 269. Wellhausen, J., 287, 314 f., 319, 321. Wendiand, M,, 173. Western school, 52 f., 62, 65. Wette, W. W., 311f. Wickes, W., 54, 111 f., 115 n. WUkins, D., 242. Women, Song of the, 275. writing, art of, 37 f. Ximenez, Cardinal, 78. Yedidiah Sal. Minnorzi, 71. York, 230. INDEX II. TEXTS ILLUSTEATED OR EXPLAINED. Genesis. i. 1 i. 28-30 i., ii. . ii. 4 . iv. 7 . iv. 23 f. V. 1 . vi. 9 . vi., vii. ix. 1-17 ix. 25-27 X. 1 . X. 3 . X. 7, 26 X. 8-19 X. 14 . X. 22 f.. xi. 1-9 . xi. 10, 27 xiv. 1, 9 xiv. 13 . xvii. xviii. 5. xviii. 22 xxii. 21 xxii. 55 xxiv. 10 XXV. 12, 19 XXV. 22 xxvii. 27-29 xxvii. 33, 40 xxvii. 39 f. , zxviii. 20 PAGE 189 n. . 287 281 f., 291 . 290 . 136 264, 269 f. . 290 . 290 281, 283 287 264," 269 f. . 290 . 64 n. . 26 . 292 . 22 . 16 . 292 . 290 . 15 4 , 287 . 102 . 100 . 16 . 102 . 16 . 290 . 141 264, 269 f. . 94 264, 269 f. Genesis — continued. xxxi. 47 xxxii. 29 xxxiii. 4 xxxvi. 1 xxxvii. 2 xxxviii. 8 xl. 15 . xliii. 32 xlix. 2-27 96 290 290 261 6 264, 269 f. EXODTTS. i. 15 . ii. 6, 11 ii. 8 . iii. 6 . iii. 15 . vi. 2ff. X. 3 . xi. 8 . xii. 40 . XV. 1 . XV. 1-18, 21 xvii. 14 XX. 2-17 XX. 12 . XX. 20-xxiii. xxi. 17 . xxiii. 13 xxiv. 4 xxxi. 13 f. xxxiii. 19 xxxiv. 1 6 191 n. . 260 . 94 . 287 6 . 94 . 174 . 261 264, 271, 294 . 276 264, 294 ff. . 260 . 297 . 260 . 102 . 276 . 299 . 261 362 INDEX II 363 Leviticus. i. 1 . xi. 33 . xiv. 2 . xvii.-xxii., xxvi. xxiv. 10 f. PAOE . 92 . 151 . 260 298, 321 7 Numbers. X. 9 f. . X. 36 f. xi. 15 . xii. 12 . xiv. 10. xiv. 1 4 . XV. 38-41 xxi. 14 xxi. 14f. xxi. 17 f. xxi. 27-30 xxiii. 7-10 xxiii. 18-24 xxiv. 3-9, 15 XV. 12 . xxxi. 5, 16 xxxiii. 2-49 -24 . 299 92, 264, 270 . 100 . 100 153 n. . 102 . 299 38 264,' 267 f. 264, 269 . 264 264, 272 if. 264 264 92 86 276 Dbutekonomt. ii. 23 . V. 6-21 vi. 1 . vi. 4ff. ix. 19 . xi. 13, 22 xii. -xxvi. xii. 1 . xii. 2 . xii. 9 . xii. 13 . xii. 25 . xiii. 4 . xiii. 6fif., 13 xiv. 1 . xiv. 28 . xvi. 19 . xvi. 21 . xvi. 21 f. xvi. 22 . xvii. 2 . xvii. 16 . 22 261, 294 flf. . 307 57 . 261 . 307 302, 313 . 326 . 337 . 339 . 340 . 336 . 326 . 340 335 f. . 338 . 335 . 326 . 340 . 337 . 337 . 338 Deutbrono m y — continued. FAOB . 336 I, 84, 119, 301 . 339 . 338 . 337 191 n. . 326 . 261 . 277 . 335 . 261 xvii. 16f. xvii. 18 xviii. 10 f. xviii. 15 xix. 14. xxii. 28 xxiii. 18 xxiv. 1 . xxiv. 16 xxiv. 17 XXV. 5 f . XXV. 13 f. xxvi. 5 xxvi. 14 xxvii. 3 xxvii. 15-26 xxviii. 13 xxviii. 29 xxviii. 30 xxviii. 33, 49 xxviii. 46 xxviii. 49 f. xxviii. 63 xxviii. 68 xxxi. 9, 24 xxxii. 1-43 xxxii. 15 xxxiii. 2-29 xxxiii. 5, 26 . 337 . 338 . 38 . 265 . 337 . 340 . 338 . 337 . 336 . 337 . 340 . 338 . 276 265, 302, 321 . 266 265, 302, 321 . 266 Joshua. i. 8 V. 1 . viii. 31. X. 5 . X. 12 f. . X. 13 . xiv. 8 . xxiv. 3, 15 i. 21 . iii. 8 . V. viii. 14 . ix. 8-15 xii. 6 . xiv. 14, 18 Judges. 84 5 38 22 265 ff. 38 4 4 99 , 16 265, 269 38 265, 271 23 265, 271 364 INDEX II Judges — continued. Isaiah — continued. XV. 16 . . PAGE . 265 iii. 10 . PAas . 336 XV. 20 . xviii. 30 . 152 . 92 vii. 14 . viii. 18 . . 187, 190, 192 336 xxi. 19. . 44 n. ix. 6 . X. 1 f. . .' 92 . 335 1 Samuel. XV. 2 . . 336 xix. 15 . . 336 ii. 1-10 . 265 xix. 18 . . 7, 21 iii. 13 . 100 xxi. 12. • 4 , ^i 24 iv. 1 flf. . . 22 n. xxii. 12 . 336 xiii. 3 . 6 xxvii. 13 . 336 xiv. 21 . 6 XXX. 28 4 XV. 21 . 189 u. XXX. 33 99 xviii. 7 265 xxxiii. 2 94 xxi. 11 . 265 xxxiii. 19 . 337 xxxiii. 21 . 95 ' Sasiuel. xxxiv. 16 xxxvi. 11 123, 141 18 i. 18 . i. 19-27 3 8, 266 265 xxxvi. 11 ff. xxxvi. 11, IC . 154 7 ii. 8 ff. . 101 xxxvii. 14 37 iii. 331. 265 xxxviii. 8 143 n. viii. 5 . 16 xlii. 5 . . 152 x. 6 16 xliv. 2 . . 266 XV. 6 . 152 xlv. 14 . 26 xvi. 12. 100 Ixvi. 23 94 XX. 1 . 100 xxii. 265 xxiii. 1-7 265 Jeremiah. 1 Kings. ii. 11 . . 101 vi. 18 . 134 X. 13 . . 3n. viii. 53 266 vii. 21-26 . 312 X. 15 . 24 XXV. 24 xxxvi. 2, 28 . 24 . 38 2 Kings. i. 1 . V. 5 ff. . 39 37 EZEKIBL. xvii. 24, 30 . 44 n. i. 13 . 99 XX. 9 . , 143n. viii. 17 . . 101 xxii., xxiii. . 312, 316, 324 ff. xvi. 40 153 n. xxiii. 15 . 189 n. XX. 37 . . 86 XX. 41 . . 95 Isaiah. xvii. 18 xvii. 21 . 54 . 24 i. 2, 23 335 XXX. 5 . . 24 ii. 7 . 336 xxxiv. 1 . 38 iii. 8 . • ■ 96 xxxvii. 16 . . 38 INDEX II 365 HOSEA. i. 10 iii. 4 iv. 4 iv. 7 iv. 13 V. 10 f. vi. 7 viii. 1 viii. 12 viii. 13 ix. 3f. X. 5 xi. 5 xii. 4 xii. 12 xii. 13 iv. 4 V. 11 . viii. 5 . viii. 10 ix. 7 . ix. 14 . 20 i. 9 Amos. Obadiah. Jonah. MiCAH. PAGE 335 337 326 101 337 337 337 337 338 326 338 6 337 338 338 338 339 336 22 152 ii. 10 . . 339 I'EOVEKBS. v. 12 ff. . 339 xvii. 14 vi. 11 . . 339 vi. 15 . . 339 vii. 4 . . 128 Job. vii. 5 . Nahum. . 340 vii. 20 . viii. 9 . xxxviii. 5 • i. 11 . HABAKKtTK. . 340 xxxviii. 13, 15 . Canticles i. 12 . 101 Zephaniah. i. 4 i. 4, 17. i. 6 . i. 13 . iii. 9 . iii. 17 . Zbchaeiah. ii. 12 xiv. 9 i. 13 iii. 22 iii. 23 Malachi. Psalms. PAGE . 326 . 340 161 n. . 339 8 . 340 101 95 101 277 152 i. 2 . 84 vii. 10 . 148 n. xviii. . . 265 xviii. (xix.) 5 . 128 xxvii. 13 . 96 xxxvi. 7 . 102 liii. 3 . 148 n. Ixviii. . . 270 Ixviii. 26 . 102 Ixxx. 14 . 92 cvi. 20 . . 101 cvii. 23ff., 40 . 92 cxxxii. 8 . 270 viii. G . 134 . 101 189 n. . 128 . 92 . 54n. 366 INDEX II Lamentations. iii. 20 ii. 6 . ii. 18 . ii. 20, 43 V. 17 . V. 20 . iv. 4 iv. 7 iv. 13 vii. 12 viii. 1 S. xiii. 24 ESTHEK. Daniel. EZBA. Nehemiah. 1 Cheonicles. ii. 23 . iv. 41 . V. 19 . vii. 34 . viii. 13 . 2 Oheoniclbs. xiii. 22 xxiv. 20 f. xxiv. 27 XXV. 4 . XXXV. 12 2 Maccabees. PAGE 101 ii. 13 20 20 4 153 n. . 44 n. . 20 148 n. 123 7, 23 16 26 19 16 101 142 121 142 277 277 124 NEW TESTAMENT. Matthew. V. 18 . vi. 22 . viii. 4 . XV. 2, 3, 6 XV. 4 . xxii. 24 xxii. 31 xxiii. 35 Makk. vii. 3, 5, 8f., 13 vii. 10 . Luke. iv. 16f. iv. 17 . X. 1, 17 xi. 51 . xvi. 29 . XX. 37 . xxiv. 27 xxiv. 44 i. 17 . i. 45 . V. 45-47 John. Acts. Romans. iii. 21 , ix. 15 . xvi. 18 , PAGE 43 162 260 142 260 261 260 121 142 260 . 134 . 84 161 n. . 121 . 261 . 261 131, 261 . 131 260 131 260 vi. 1 . 8 xiii. 14f. . 133 xiii. 15, 27 . . 84, 134 XV. 21 . . 133 xvi. 1, 3 . 16 xviii. 2 . 187 131 261 162 INDEX II 367 1 COMNTHIANS. xi. 2 . 2 COEINTHIANS. PAGE . 142 Adv. Hser. iii. 21 . Adv. Hser. viii. 6 . De Mens, et Ponder. 4 . PAGE 187 n. 117n. 117 n. iii. 14 . iii. 15 . X. 13, 15 f. . . 84 . 261 . 128 Isidore. Etym. vi. 4 . . 223 Galatians. i. 14 . . 142 Jerome. vi. 16 . OOLOSSIANS. iii. 22 . . 128 . 162 Comm. on Ps. i. 4, iv. 8 Epist. 106 . Epist. ad Dam. Praef. in Paralip. . 202 n. 204 n. . 220 203 n., 220 2 Thessalonians. JOSBPHUS. ii. 15 . . 142 Ant. i. prffif. 3, xii. 2. ] Cent. Apion. i. 8 . -15 . 176 116n. Hebrews. i. 8 . vii. 14 . xii. 2 . . . . xii. 21 . . 162 . 261 . 86 . 261 Justin. Dial. c. Tryph. 68 Dial. 0. Tryph. 71 186 n. 187 n. Ebvelation. XV. 3 . . 261 . 71 n. MiSHKA. 'Arakhin, 13& 'Eduyyoth, viii. 7 . Megilla, iv. 2 Sotah, i. 8, v. 2, xvii. Yadayim, iii. 5 Yadayim, iv. 4 Yadayim, iv. 5 . 152 . 152 . 155 . 152 Aboth E. Nathan, i. 127 n. . 152 . 155 Augustine. De Civitate Dei, xviii. 43 De Doctr. Christ, ii. 11, 23 Epist. civ. 6 . 222 n. . 221 223 n. Origen. Canon, in Euseb. H.E. vi. 25 128 ff. Chktsostom. PiKQE Aboth, i. 1 . 89 Horn, in Joh. viii. 10 . 245 n. TaTiMUD. Eoclesiastious. Prsefatio . . . 125, 175 Massekh. Sopherim, Menachoth, 296 . 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The following Volumes Baddha and Buddhism. By Arthur LiLLIE. Lnther and the German Reformation. By Principal T. M. Lindsay, D.D. Wesley and Methodism. By F. J. Snell, M.A. Cranmer and the English Reforma- tion. By A. D. Innes, M.A. William Herschel and his Work. By Jambs Sime, M.A. Francis and Dominic. By Professor J. Hebkless, D.D. Savonarola. By G. M'Hardt, D.D. Anselm and his Work. By Rev. A. C. Welch, B.D. Origen and Greek Patristic Theology. By Rev. W. Fairweather, M.A. Muhammad and his Power. By F. Db Lacy Johnstone, M.A. (Oxon. ). The Medici and the Italian Renais- sance. By Oliphant Smeaton, M.A., Edinburgh. Plato. By Professor D. G. Ritchie, M.A., LL.D., University of St. Andrews. haue now been issued: — Pascal and the Port Royalists. By Professor W. Clark, LL.D., D.C.L., Trinity College, Toronto. Euclid. By Emeritus Professor Thomas Smith, D.D., LL.D. Hegel and Hegelianism. By Pro- fessor R. Mackintosh, D.D., Lanca- shire Independent College, Man- chester. Hume and his Influence on Philo- sophy and Theology. By Professor J. Ore, D.D., Glasgow. Rousseau and Naturalism in Life and Thought. By Professor W. H. Hudson, M.A. Descartes, Spinoza, and the Nenr Philosophy. By Principal J. I vebach, D.D. , Aberdeen. Socrates. By Rev. M.A., Glasgow. J. T. Forbes, The following haue also been arranged for :- Marcus Anrelius and the Later Stoics. By F. W. Bussell, D.D., Vice- Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford. [In the Press. Augustine and Latin Patristic Theo- logy. By Professor B. B. Wakfibld, D.D., Princeton. Scotus Erigena and his Epoch. By Professor R. Latta, Ph.D., D.Sc, University of Aberdeen. Wyclif and the Lollards. J. C. Cakkiok, B.D. By Rev. The Two Bacons and Experimental Science. By Rev. W.J. Coupeb, M. A. Lessing and the New Humanism. By Rev. A. P. Davidson, M.A. Kant and his Philosophical Revolu- tion. By Professor R. M. Wenley, D.Sc, Ph.D., University of Michi- gan. Schleiermacher and the Rejuven- escence of Theology. By Professor A. Martin, D.D., New College, Edinburgh. Newman and his Influence. By C. Sarolba, Ph.D., Litt. Doc, Uni- versity of Edinburgh . 10 T. & T. Clark's Publications. The Note-Line in the Hebrew Scriptures. Commonly called PasEq or PbsIq. By James Kennedy, D.D., New College, Edinburgh. Post 8vo. Nett $1.75 This treatise is the result of a speciai inquiry, subsidiary to more extensiue research into the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, Careful examination led to the conclusion that the line must haue been purposely placed beside remarkable readings in the Hebrew Bible. A survey has been made of the entire Scriptures, and the conclusions are now placed before students of the Old Testament as a contribution towards a better understanding of certain phenomena presented in the Massoretic texts. ' Dr. Kennedy, with a delightful avoidance of pedantry, has given an example of the patient, careful, unohtrusive work of which so much must be done before the text of the Old Testament can be satisfactorily restored. If, as seems probable, the "Note-line" does frequently indicate error, it will be a valuable guide to the textual critic' — Chwrch Qitarterly Review. The Gospel according to St. John : An Inquiry into its Genesis and Historical Value. By Professor H. H. Wendt, D.D., Author of ' The Teaching of Jesus.' Demy 8vo. Nett $2.50 ' A searching and discriminative criticism.' — Speaker. 'An important contribution to the study of the problems of the Fourth Gospel.' — Critical Review. A Short History of the Westminster Assembly. By the Rev. W. Bevebidge, M.A., of New Deer. Crown 8vo. Nett $1.00 The Author has worked up this History from original documents, and has had it in preparation for several years. In view of the present crisis of the Churches in Scotland, the boob will be found of speciai interest, as the Author, more particularly in the chapters on the Westminster 'Con- fession, ' has had before him the decision of the House of Lords in the Free Church Appeal Case. Mr. Beueridge is well Itnown as an authority upon the subject of his book. 'A volume full of valuable information and casting much light on the far-reaching questions at present occupying the mind of the Scottish people.' — Critical Review. Apostolic Order and Unity. By Bobbrt Bbuce, M.A., D.D., Hon. Canon, Durham. Crown 8vo. Nett $1.00 ' As Christian in tone as it is scholarly in its treatment of the subject.' — Examiner. The Testament of Our Lord. Translated into English from the Syriac, with Introduction and Notes, by James Cooper, D.D. Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Glasgow University; and the Eight Eev. A. J. Maclean, D.D., Bishop of Moray and Ross. 8vo. Nett $3.00 ' Excellently conceived and well executed, and the information given is unique in its way.' — Living Church. ' In making the work known, the Editor has done considerable service to the study both of ecclesiastical history and of liturgy. It is a real service, which deserves the gratitude of scholars.' — Guardian. The Testament possesses the special interest of being the production of the very period when the great transition in the Church's fortunes, from Imperial persecution to Imperial favour, was leading to the inevitable transformation of her buildings and her services to suit her altered circumstances. . . . The Testament reflects this state of things as a mirror. It vibrates, moreover, with the pulsation of the great controversies through which the Church was passing. The volume is thus far more than a mere antiquarian curiosity. It had a message to its own time ; it has a message to all time, and very distinctly to the time now present. The Testament is also a veritable mine at once of devotional expression and liturgical lore. T. & T. Clark's Publications. ii The Pentateuch in the Light of To-day. Being a simple Introduction to the Pentateuch on the Lines of the Higher Criti- cism. By Alfred Holborn, M.A. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. Nett 75 cents ' Eminently serviceable for a reoonatruotion of traditional views upon the only ground now tenable for faith in a divine revelation to ancient Israel.' — Outlook, The Words of Jesus. Considered in the Light of Post-Biblical Jewish Writings and the Aramaic Language. By Professor G. Dalman, Leipzig. Authorised English Translation by Professor D. M. Kay, St. Andrews. Post 8vo. Nett $2.50 ' A very exhaustive study, and deserves attention as an example of searching method and cautious scholarship.' — Hiring Church. 'The most oriiical and scientific examination of the leading conceptions of the Gospels that has yet appeared.' — Prof. W. Sandat, LL.D. * He who does not know that Dalman is necessary, does not know much yet about the study of the New Testament in Greek.' — Expo^tory Times. 'Absolutely indispensable to the understanding of the New Testament.' — British Weekly. Selections from the Literature of Theism. Some Principal Types of Eeligious Thought. With Introductory and Explanatory Notes. By Prof. Alfred Caldbcott, M.A, D.D., King's College, London, and Prof. H. R. Mackintosh, M.A., D.Phil., Edinburgh. Post 8vo. Nett $2.50 This volume has been prepared with the aim of bringing^ together within a small compass some of the leading positions in the philosophy of religion. It Is agreed on all hands, in our day, that no one, except here and there an original genius, can expect to be in tine with twentieth-century thought who dispenses himself from reference to the positions held by great minds. It is by training his mind in their high thoughts that he can expect to win power and Insight for himself. ' Will meet a very wide felt want by bringing within the reach of ordinary book- buyers full summaries of the treatises of the great leaders of thought who have written upon Theism.'— Biiliotheca Sacra. 'Who would ever have expected so beautiful and delightful a book with such an unpretending and commonplace title ? . . . Those are the passages which make Descartes, Spinoza, Martineau, Janet live ; and those passages, interpreted as they are interpreted here, make the study of the doctrine of God, even in its philosophical side, alive and practical for all men.' — Expository Times. St. Paul and the Roman La'w, and other Studies on the Origin of the Form of Doctrine. By W. E. Ball, LL.D. Post 8vo. Nett $1.50 ' Reverent and acute. . . . We have said perhaps enough to show how varied and vital are the subjects of interest touched on in Dr. Ball's ess&ys.' —Churchman. ' Dr. Ball has two rare gifts. He is a discoverer and a writer. . . . Every discovery is made known by the same unconscious skill — the touch of nature. ' — Expository Times. The Religious Controversies of Scotland. By Bev. Henry F. Henderson, M.A., Dundee. Post 8vo. Nett $1.75 Contents : — Prof. Simson's Affair — The Marrow Men — Hume's Essay on Miracles — The Playhouse Battle — An Ayrshire Nejo Light — The Apocrypha Controversy — Edward Irving — The Row Heresy — The Rise of Morisonianism — The Scotch Sermons — Robertson Smith and the Higher Criticism — The Dods-Bruce Case. This volume forms the first of a Series entitled 'Religion in Literature and Life.' ' We can remember no book devoted to the topic which Mr. Henderson handles with such ease and power. It has been read by us with genuine enjoyment and appreciation.' —Principal Patrick, D.D. 12 T. & T. Clark's Publications. New Testament Theology; or, Historical Account of the Teaching of Jesus and of Primitive Christianity according to the New Testament Sources. By Professor Willibald Bbtschlag, Halle. Authorised Translation. Two Vols. 8vo. Nett $6.00 ' Dr. Beysohlag has achieved so large a measure of success as to have furnished one of the best guides to an understanding of the New Testament. . . . These pages teem with suggestions. ' — Methodist Recorder. The Teaching of Jesus. By Professor Hans Hinrich "Wkndt, D.D., Jena. Authorised Translation. Two Vols. 8vo. Nett $5.00 ' An admirable translation of the greatest systematic study of the teachings of Jesus thus far produced in Germany.' — Biblical World (Chicago). ' No greater contribution to the study of biblical theology has been made in our time. A brilliant and satisfactory exposition of the teaching of Jesus.' — Prof. J. Iveeaoh, D.D., in the Expositor. Dr. R. P. HoRTON refers to Beyschlag's ' New Testament Theology ' and Wendt's * Teaching of Jesus ' as * two invaluable books.' Old Testament Theology. The Eeligion of Eevelation in its Pre-Christian Stage of Development. 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History of the Jewish People in the Time of Our liOrd. By Prof. Emil Schurbr, D.D., Gottingen. Complete in Five Vols., with exhaustive Index. 8vo. Nett $8.00 ' This monumental work by Sohiirer has made all other histories almost superfluous. In no other account of the period is there to be found such wealth of learning and such admirable arrangement of material.' — Biblical World (Chicago). ' Recognised as the standard authority on the subject.' — Critical Review. ' Every English commentary has for some years contained references to "Sohurer" as the great authority upon such matters. . . . There is no guide to these intricate and difficult times which even approaches him.' — Record. The Ethics of the Old Testament. By W. S. Bruce, D.D. Crown 8vo. Nett $1.25 ' An excellent work. ... I have found it most interesting and instructive. I hope that the book may have the success which it well deserves.' — Prof. R. Flint, D.D., LL.D. 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The publishers have earned, and will certainly receive, the thanks of every Semitic student for thus coming forward to remove what had almost become a scandal to international scholarship, the lack of a student's dictionary of a language so important to the philologist, the historian, and the theologian.' — A. R. S. Kennedy, D.D. (Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Edinburgh) in the Expository Times. A Concordance to the Greek Testament. Edited by W. F. MouLTON, D.D. (Editor of the Enghsh Edition of Winer's Oramniar), and Prof. A. S. Geden, M.A. In crown 4to (pp. 1040). Nett $7.00 It is generally allowed that such a work is much needed in the interests of sacred scholarship. There exists no concordance whatever to the text of the Greek Testament as exhibited in modern critical editions. . . . The present work is a full and complete concordance to the text of the Greek Testament as it is set forth in the editions of Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf (8th), and the English Revisers. ' A Concordance which must displace all others, and which will remain for many a year the trusted companion of the student of the New Testament. ' — Critical Review. ' I have no hesitation in saying that this work is one of the most important contribu- tions to New Testament study that has heen made during the present century. The need of such a work has long been felt by critical students. . . . The typographical execution of the work is beautiful. It will be a boon to all New Testament students, and must supersede all similar works. ' — Marvin R. Vincent, D. D. , Professor of Biblical Literature, Union Theological Seminary, N.Y. Biblico - Theological Lexicon of Nemr Testament Greek. By Prof. Hermann Cremeb, D. D. , Greif s wald. Authorised Translation. Demy 4:to. Fourth Edition. Nett $8-00 This Lexicon deals with words whose meaning in the Classics is modified or changed in Scripture, words which have become the bases and watchwords of Christian theology, tracing their history in their transference from the Classics into the LXX., and from the LXX. into the New Testament, and the gradual deepening and eleuation of their meaning till they reach the fulness of New Testament thought. ' Dr. Cremer's work is highly and deservedly esteemed in Germany. It gives with care and thoroughness a complete history, as far as it goes, of each word and phrase that it deals with. . . . Dr. Cremer's explanations are most lucidly set out.' — Guardian. ' It is hardly possible to exaggerate the value of this work to the student of the Greek Testament. . . . The translation is acciirate and idiomatic, and the additions to the later edition are considerable and important.' — Church Belts. LOTZE'S MICROCOSMUS. Miorooosmus: Concerning Man and His Eelation to the World. By Hermann Lotze. Translated from the German. In one large Vol. 8vo (1450 pp.). Nett $5.00 ' The English public have now before them the greatest philosophic work produced In Germany by the generation just past. The translation comes at an opportune time, for the circumstances of English thought, just at the present moment, are peculiarly those with which Lotze attempted to deal when he wrote his " Miorocosmus " a quarter of a century ago. . . . Few philosophic books of the century are so attractive both in style and matter.' — Athenceum. ' These are indeed two masterly volumes, vigorous in intellectual power, and trans- lated with rare ability. . . . This work will doubtless find a place on the shelves of all the foremost thinkers and students of modern times.' — Evangelical Magazine. Pseudepigrapha : An Account of certain Apocryphal Sacred Writings of the Jews and Early Christians. By Eev. W. J. Deane, M.A. Post 8vo. 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Nett $2.50 ' The whole is, it is needless to say, the work of a master ; but it is the work of a master who does not shoot over the learners' heads, one who by long experience knows exactly where help is most needed, and how to give it in the simplest and clearest fashion.' — Methodist Recorder, Old Testament Prophecy. Edited by Prof. J. A. Pateeson, D.D. One large 8vo Volume. Nett $3.50 'This must long remain the standard work on Old Testament prophecy.' — Professor Maecus Dods. The Called of God. With Biographical Introduction by A. Tatloe Innbs, Esq., Advocate, and Portraits. Post 8vo. Nett $2.00 'The biographical introduction is admirable. . . . The sermons have thoughts that startle with their depth, they have passages that thrill us with their suppressed emotion. ' — Aberdeen Free Press. Waiting upon God. Post 8vo. Nett $2.00 'All through the book we meet with flashes of true insight and almost startling examples of that deep experimental knowledge of the human heart at its worst and its best, which is so characteristic of Davidson's preaching. ... A striking boolc' — Glasgow Herald. The Epistle to the Hebrews. {Handbook Series.) Crown 8vo. 75 cents ' For its size and price one of the very best theological handbooks with which I am acquainted — a close grappling with the thought of the Epistle by a singularly strong and candid mind.' — Professor Sanday in the Academy. The Exile and the Restoration. With Map and Plan. (Bible Glass Primer Series.) Nett 20 cents 'A remarkable instance of Professor Davidson's gift of compressed lucid statement. ... It may be safely said that nowhere within anything like the same narrow limits will one get so vivid a view of that period of Old Testament history.' — Mxpository Times. T. & T. Clark's Publications. is The Christian Doctrine of Immortality. By Bev. S. D. 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Svo. Nett $3.50 ' We are not acquainted with any other book that has so clearly shown the vital unity between religion and morality. ... A strong book by a strong man.' — Methodist Times. ' It is the work of a master of psychological analysis.' — Rcco^'d. The Hope of Israel : A Review of the Argument from Prophecy. By Rev. F. H. Woods, B.D., Oxford. Crown Svo. Nett $1,25 * It is obvious that the argument from Prophecy must require modification from time to time, as fresh light is continually thrown on exegesis by modern scholarship aud criticism. The great advance which has been made in these last of late years has indeed so largely affected it, that in its old form it was already beginning to do more harm than good to the cause of Christian truth.' — From, the Preface. Truth and Reality, with special reference to Religion ; or, A Plea for the Special Unity of Life in all its Manifestations. By John Smyth, M.A., D.Phil. (Edin.). With Introductory Note by Pro- fessor R. Flint, D.D. Crown Svo. Nett $1.50 ' Admirably adapted both as regards content and form — thought and style — to interest and profit not only all philosophical readers, but thoughtful and educated men in general.' — Professor Flint in his IntrodnHion. The Sinlessness of Jesus. An Evidence for Christianity. By Carl Ullmann, D.D. Crown Svo. Nett $1.50 Dean Farkar, in his Life of Christ, says : ' Ullmann has studied the sinlessness of Christ more profoundly, and written upon it more beautifully, than any other theologian. i6 T. & T. Clark's Publications. WORKS BY PROFESSOR F. GO PET, P.P. (Copyright, by arrangement with the Author.) For devotional warmth and practical application, Qodet is perhaps unsurpassed by any modern commentator amongst foreign Protestants. ' — Guahdian. Introduction to the New Testament. The Epistles of St. Paul. By Prof. F. Godet, D.D., Neuchatel. 8vo (pp. 630). (In course of publication. Not yet completed in the Original.) 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Nett $1.25 'There is trenchant argument and resistless logic in these lectures ; but withal, there is cultured imagination and felicitous eloquence, which carry home the appeals to the heart as well as the head.'— /Sword and Trowel. Nature and the Bible: Lectures on the Mosaic History of Creation in its relation to Natural Science. By Dr. Fe. H. EffiUSCH. Authorised Translation. Two Vols. 8vo. Nett $5.00 ' Other champions much more competent and learned than myself might have been placed in the field ; I will only name one of the most recent. Dr. Reusch, author of " Nature and the Bible." '— W. B. Gladstone. ' We owe to Dr. Reusch, a Catholic theologian, one of the most valuable treatises on the relation of Religion and natural science that has appeared for many years.'— Literary World. T. & T. Clark's Publications. 17 BY THE LATE PROFESSOR A. B. BRUGE. P.P. The Kingdom of God ; or, Christ's Teaching according to the Synoptical Gospels. By the late Professor A. B. 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Nett $3.50 ' That minister who has not read " The Training of the Twelve" betrays an indiffer- ence to modern thought which is unpardonable.' — President Harper in the Biblical World. ' A volume which can never lose its charm either for the preacher or for the ordinary Christian reader.' — London Quarterly Remew. The Humiliation of Christ, in its Physical, Ethical, and Official -Aspects. Fourth Edition. 8vo. Nett $3.50 ' These lectures are able and deep-reaching to a degree not often found in the re- ligious literature of the day ; withal, they are fresh and suggestive. . . . The learning and the deep and sweet spirituality of this discussion will commend it to many faithful students of the truth as it is in Jesus.' — Gongregationalist. BY PROFESSOR JAMES STALKER. Z?.g. The Life of Jesus Christ. New Edition, in larger type, and handsomely bound, crown 8vo. Nett $1.25 ' Even with all our modern works on the exhaustless theme, from Neander to Farrar and Geikie, there is none which occupies the ground of Dr. Stalker's. . . . "We question whether any one popular work so impressively and adequately represents Jesus to the mind. ... It may be despised because it is small, but its light must shine.' — Christian. The liife of St. Paul. Uniform with the 'Life of Christ' in size and price. Nett $1.25 ' Even to those who know by heart the details of the great apostle's life, this glowing sketch will be a revelation. Written with a fine sympathy for the more tender and personal aspects of his theme, Dr. Stalker has portrayed the outer and the inner life of Paul with a mingled power and beaiity which is as rare as it is needed in evangelical writing.' — Christian. *,* Small type Editions of both Volumes in the ' Bible Class Handbook Series,' price 45 cents {nett) each. — See page 35, The Resurrection of the Dead. By the late Prof. W. MiLLiGAN, D.D. 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PostSvo. ]Sretf$2.25 ' No work of the same compass could be named that contains so much that is instructive on the nature of prophecy in general, and particularly on the branch of it specially treated in the book.'— Professor A. B. Davidson, D.D. The Right of Systematic Theology. By Professor B. B. Wabfield, D.D., Princeton University. With an Introduction by Professor J. Oeb, D.D. Crown 8vo. Nett 60 cents ' A powerful blow directed against the attempt to abolish doctrine and creeds and reduce Christianity to mere sentiment. The protest made in this strong essay is most timely. "We join Dr. Orr and other Scottish divines in earnestly commending it to the notice of theological readers.' — Methodist Times, Pre-Organic Evolution and the Biblical Idea of God : An Exposition and a Criticism. By Principal L. Chapman, LL.D. Crown 8vo. Nett $1.75 ■A volume which will take an important position among Theistio, not to say Christian apologetics, and which, in the present growth of scepticism, we may well be thankful for.' — lAterary Churdvman. Darwinianism : Workmen and Work. By J. Hutchison Stirling, F.E.C.S., and LL.D. Edinburgh. Post 8vo. Nett $3.00 ' Undoubtedly the most trenchant criticism of Darwinianism that has yet appeared. . . . The book is a work of art.'— Professor M'Kendriok in the Gritical Review. Philosophy and Theology, The Eirst Edinburgh University Gifford Lectures. By J. Hutchison Stirling, LL.D, Post 8vo. Nett $3.00 ' This volume wiU make for itself many friends. There is a bracing, stimulating masterfulness about the lectures, which on a careful perusal of them will be found to lead to many rich veins of thought.'— Professor Stewart in the Gritical Review. What is Thought ? or, the Problem of Philosophy by Way of a General Conclusion so far. By Jas. H. Stirling, LL.D. Post 8vo. Nett $3.00 ' A noble contribution to the philosophy of our time. British philosophy is permanently enriched by Dr. Stirling's remarkable and penetrating piece of -kox\.'— Gritical Review. History of the Christian Philosophy of Religion, from the Eeformation to Kant. By Bbrnhard Punjeh, Translated by Prof. W. PIastie, D.D. With a Preface by Prof. Flint, D.D., LL.D. 8vo. Nett$4.00 'The merits of Piinjer's history are not difficult to discover ; on the contrary, they are of the kind which, as the French say, sautent aux 'yeux. The language is almost everywhere as plain and easy to apprehend as, considering the nature of the matter conveyed, it could be made. The style is simple, natural, and direct ; the only sort of style appropriate to the subject. The amount of information imparted is most exten- sive and strictly relevant. Nowhere else will a student get nearly so much knowledge as to what has been thought and written, within the area of Christendom, on the philo- sophy of religion. 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Nett $3.00 ' Works on systematic theology are so few that we gladly welcome a well-informed and well-written compendium like the present one. . . . Tlie work deserves a wide circulation among readers of theology.' — Methodist Times. 20 T. & T. Clark's Publications. BY DR. C. VON ORELLI. BASEL. The Twelve Minor Prophets. 8vo. Nett $2.25 ' A very valuable and trustworthy compendium of the latest results of critical research, written in a sober and devout spirit.' — Christian World. The Prophecies of Isaiah. 8vo. Nett $2.25 ' The charaoteriatios of this admirable commentary are brevity, separation of the more grammatical from the more expository notes, and general orthodoxy combined with first-rate scholarship.' — Record. The Prophecies of Jeremiah. 8vo. ISTett $2.25 ' Will be found a most trustworthy aid to the study of a book that presents many difficult problems.' — John Bull. The Old Testament Prophecy of the Consummation of God's Kingdom. Traced in its Historical Development. 8vo. Nett $2.25 ' Cannot fail to be regarded as a standard work upon the subject of Old Testament prophecy. ' — Sword and Trowel. The Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times. By Prof. G. V. Leohler, D.D. Third Edition, thoroughly Eevised and Re- written. Two Vols, crown 8vo. Nett $5.00 ' It contains a vast amount of historical information, and is replete with judicious remarks. . . . By bringing under the notice of English readers a work so favourably thought of in Germany, the translator has conferred a benefit on Theology.' — Athenceum,. THE LATE PROFESSOR FRANZ DELITZSGH. P.P.. LEIPZIG. 'Probably no commentator of the age brought so many gifts to the interpretation of the Bible as did Franz Delitzsch. . . . Walking hand in hand with such a guide through the garden of the Lord, one cannot only gather its ripened fruit, but also breathe the fragrance of its flowers and gaze upon their locellness. — Professor J. F. M'Curdy, Toronto. A New Commentary on Genesis. By the late Prof. Feanz Delitzsch, D.D., Leipzig. Specially Eevised by the Author for the English Translation. Two Vols. Svo. Nett $4.50 ' We congratulate Professor Delitzsch on this new edition. By it, not less than by his other commentaries, he has earned the gratitude of every lover of biblical science, and we shall be surprised if, in the future, many do not acknowledge that they have found in it a welcome help and guide.' — Professor S. R. Driver in the Academy. The Prophecies of Isaiah. Translated from the Fourth and Last Edition. The only Authorised Translation. With Introduc- tion by Prof. S. E. Driver, D.D. Two Vols. Svo. Nett $4.50 ' Delitzsch's last gift to the Christian Church. ... 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Nett $1.50 * The work so long looked for is now published, and it is to be hoped that It will be widely and kindly reeeiued. No intelligent reader of it can fail to find in its pages much information, eloquently stated, regarding both tite history and the characteristics of the reformed Theology. ' — From Prefatory Note by Prof. R. Flint, D. D. ' The logical cohesion of the Calvinistio system finds here an excellent expression by an advocate no less skilful than convinced.'— iVew York Churchman. Outlines of Pastoral Theology for Toung Ministers and Students. Crown 8vo. Nett 75 cents ' We have seldom read a book of loftier ideal or more practical value to parish priests than this volume.' — New York Ohmrckman. ' How Professor Hastie discovered this book, and how he was drawn to it, how it had to be laid aside, and how it would not lie, — all this is told with thrilling simplicity in the Introduction. We do greatly need a small competent sympathetic guide to the work of the ministry. 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The Volume may therefore be regarded in some sense as a manifesto of modern liberal belief. Nett $3.50 From Apostle to Priest. A Study of Early Church Organisa- tion. By James W. Falconer, M.A., B.D. In crown 8vo. Nett $1.50 ' The story is told with the greatest clearness and convincing force. To any one who wishes a plain accurate account of the growth of the sacerdotal theory of the ministry we confidently recommend this work. ' — London Quarterly Review. 22 T. &. T. Clark's Publications. How to Read the Prophets : Being the Prophecies arranged Chronologically in their Historical Setting, with Explanations, Maps, and Glossary. By Buchanan Blake, B.D. Part I. THE PEE-EXILIAN MINOR PROPHETS (with JOEL). Second Edition.— Part II. ISAIAH (Chaps, i.-xxxix.). Second Edition.— Part III. JEEEMIAH.— Part IV. EZEKIEL.— Part V. ISAIAH (Chaps, xl.-lxvi.) and THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS. (Complete in 5 Vols, crown 8vo.) Each, Nett $1.00 'It has often been found a difficulty to profit fully from the reading, especially of the smaller prophecies of the Old Testament, To make these prophecies intelligible to the plainest reader, it seems desirable that a chronological arrangement of the prophetic books should be attempted. Alongside of the seueral prophecies should be placed those portions of the Old Testament historical books which deal with the same period. The aim of these manuals is consequently in this direction ; to bring within the reach of the many a clear and succinct presentation of these prophets in their historical environment. ' — From the Author's Introduction. ' Mr. Blake seems to have hit upon the right thing, and he has proved himself com- petent to do it rightly. While these books are the very best introductions to the study of the prophets, even the accomplished scholar will find them indispensable.' — Expository Times. Joseph and Moses the Founders of Israel : Being their Lives as read in the Light of the Oldest Prophetic Writings of the Bible. Crown 8vo. Nett 1.25 'Mr. Blake hit upon a fresh idea when he wrote his books on "How to Read the Prophets." Nothing has made the prophets so accessible to the average man. He has hit upon a fresh idea again. . . . Have we come to the point as preachers when we desire to make a new start with the Old Testament? This book will enable us to make it.' — Expo.sitory Times. ' This instructive and always vivid exposition of the narrative.' — Princeton Tluological The Yoice from the Cross : A Series of Sermons on our Lord's Passion by Eminent Living Preachers of Germany, includ- ing Drs. Ahlfeld, Baur, Bayer, Couard, Faber, Erommel, Gerok, Hahnelt, Hansen, Kogel, Luthardt, MUhe, Miillensiefen, Nebe, Quandt, Schrader, Sohroter, Stdcker, and Teichmtiller. With Biographical Sketches and Portrait of Dr. Kogel. Crown 8vo. Nett $1.50 ' Is certain to be welcomed with devout gratitude by every Evangelical Christian.' — Christian Leader. BY PRINCIPAL A. CAVE, P.P . An Introduction to Theology: Its Principles, Its Branches, Its Kesults, and Its Literature. By Alfeed Cave, D.D., Principal of Hackney College, London. New Edition just published, Eevised and largely Ee-written. The Bibliography brought up to date. 8vo. Nett $3.50 ' I have just seen your excellent " Introduction to Theology," and feel prompted to thank you for this excellent help to students. I have been lecturing on this subject for forty years, and long wished for some such substitute for Hagenbach (too German to be translated or even reproduced) which I could recommend to my students. ... It is the best original work on the subject in the English language.'— Philip Sohafp, D.D., LI;.D. The Scriptural Doctrine of Sacrifice and Atonement. New Edition, Eevised throughout. Svo. Nett $3.00 ' Let readers judge — is this not now the best study of the Atonement in tlie English language ? ' — Sxpository Tiines, T. & T. Clark's Publications. 23 The Prophecies of Jesus Christ relating to His Death, Resurrection, and Second Coming, and their Ful- filment. By Dr. P. Schwartzkopfp. Crown 8vo. ITett $1.60 ' A book blossoming ou every page with suggestions, and worthy of the most serious study of the theologians.' — Prof. Marcus Dods in the Critical Review. BY PROFESSOR I.A.DORNER, P.P., BERLIN. History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ. By Prof. I. A. Doener, Berlin. Five Vols. 8vo. Nett $11.25 'The stupendous work upon TAfi Person- q/" Ch/risth.&s now become in Great Britain and America, what it had been in Germany from its publication, a classic in Christology.' —Principal Cave, D.D. A System of Christian Doctrine. Four Vols. 8vo. Nett $9.00 'Had it been the work of an entire lifetime, it would have been a monument of marvellous industry and rare scholarship. It is a tribute alike to the genius, the learn- ing, and the untiring perseverance of its author.' — Baptist Magazine. System of Christian Ethics. 8vo. TSbH $3.00 ' This noble book is the crown of the Systematic Theology of the author. ... It is a masterpiece. It is the fruit of a lifetime of profound investigation in the philo- sophical, biblical, and historical sources of theology.' — Prof. C. A. Brigos, D.D. BY PROFESSOR BERNHARD WEISS. P.P., BERLIN . The Life of Christ. Three Vols. 8vo. Nett $6.75 'The authority of John's Gospel is vindicated with great fulness and success. Altogether the book seems destined to hold a very distinguished, if not absolutely unique, place in the criticism of the New Testament. 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The Miracles of our liord, in relation to Modern Criticism. By Professor F. L. Steinmeter. 8vo. Nett $2.25 * This work vindicates in a vigorous and scholarly style the sound view of miracles against the sceptical assaults of the time.' — Princeton Review. History of the Passion and Resurrection of our liOrd, considered in the light of Modern Criticism. By Professor F. L. Steinmeter. 8vo. Nett $2.25 ' Our readers will find this work a most valuable and suggestive help for their thoughts and teaching during Passion -tide and Easter.' — English Churchman. 24 T. & T. Clark's Publications. BISHOP HEFELE'S COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH. A History of the Councils of the Church. From the Original Documents. By the Eight Eev. C. J. Hepele, D.D., Bishop of Eottenburg. Now complete in Five Vols. 8vo. Vol. I., to A.D. 325. Vol. II., A.D. 326 to 429. Vol. III., a.d. 431 to 451. Vol. IV., A.D. 451 to 680. Vol. V., completing the series, a.d. 626 to close of Second Council of Nicaea, 787. With Appendix and Indices. 8vo. Per Vol. ISTett $3.50 ' To all who have the slightest pretension to the name of scientific theologians it must afford the greatest satisfaction to receive a new volume of Bishop Hefele's standard work on the Councils. It is quite unnecessary to commend this great and learned book. No one would think of studying the subject of the Councils without consulting it.' — OhuTch Sells. Declarations and Letters on the Vatican Decrees, 1869-1887. By Iqnaz von Dollinser. Authorised Trans- lation. Crown 8vo. Nett $1.00 Dr. AiFBED Pldmmbr says : ' This intensely interesting collection of Declarations and Letters gives us in a short compass the main historical facts which Dr. DoUinger considered to be absolutely fatal to the truth of the dogma respecting the infallibility of the Pope, and the reason which for nineteen years prevented him from "submitting" even to the Pope with the whole of the Roman episcopate at his back. . . . Indispens- able to every one who would have an intelligent grasp of the Infallibility Question.' Hippolytus and Callistus ; or, The Church of Kome in the First Half of the Third Century. By Iqn. von Dollinqeb. Translated, with Introduction, Notes, and Appendices, by A. Plummer, D.D., Durham. 8vo. Nett $2.00 ' We are impressed with profound respect for the learning and ingenuity displayed in this work. The book deserves perusal by all students of ecclesiastical history. It clears up many points hitherto obscure, and reveals features in the Roman Church at the beginning of the third century which are highly instructive.' — Athenceum. The Early Church : A History of Christianity in the First Six Centuries. By the late Prof. David Duff, D.D., LL.D., Edin- burgh. 8vo. Nett $3.50 ' A more uniformly chastened and dignified style could not be desired. . . . There is no history of this time at once so full and so concise, no safer guide or more agree- able companion. 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