1. CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY HANNAH G. HALPERIN '39 BOOK FUND Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924091353395 LIGHT ON THE GOSPEL FROM AN ANCIENT POET CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Uonfton : FETTER LANE, E.C. C. F. CLAY, Manager «FWnbtirg!> : 100, PRINCES STREET Brtlln: A. ASHER AND CO. %tifl)it: F. A. BROCKHAUS fltto gor*: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Bombag «nS Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. LIGHT ON THE GOSPEL FROM AN ANCIENT POET BY Edwin A. Abbott Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge "There was seen. ..the Son of Truth, from the Father the Most High, and He inherited everything soever and took possession." Odes of Solomon xxiii. 1 6 — 17. All rights reserved Cambridge: at the University Press 1912 Cambridge : PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS Ml i I V TO LOVERS OF TRUE FREEDOM IS DEDICATED THIS STUDY OF THE VISIONS OF A POET WHO SAW "THE SON OF TRUTH" AND HEARD HIM PROCLAIM OVER THE SONS OF MAN IN SHEOL "THEY ARE FREE MEN AND THEY ARE MINE" s PRELIMINARY These preliminary observations began originally with the statements about MSS and Versions now to be found on p. xviii. Revising them finally for press, many months after they had been in type, I felt that there should have been in the first place some ex- pression of gratitude to the " ancient poet " mentioned in the title of this volume, for opening my eyes to new and nobler views of ancient Jewish thought as a pre- paration for Christianity. These Odes of Solomon — better perhaps called Songs — appear to me to constitute a series of. what might be entitled, like some of our Psalms in the Bible, " Songs of Degrees, or Ascents," in which the thought ascends, without any serious breaks or interpolations, from that first and imperfect son of David, who failed to deserve his prophet-given name of Jedidiah, "the beloved," to that second and perfect Son of David who was hailed from heaven as the Beloved indeed. The first Ode mentions the Crown, apparently the Bridegroom's Crown, with allusion to the espousals of the first son of David, the husband of Pharaoh's daughter. This prepares us for the wedding of the second Son of David, the one Husband of the Church. And further — in one of the paradoxes characteristic of this strange poet — we are PRELIMINARY led on from the thought of Solomon's crown of gold to the thought of the Tree, or Cross of Christ, implying " the crown of thorns." In the next place, I felt that, in the desire to be impersonal, I had made no adequate confession of my difficulties in attempting to interpret this "ancient poet." Some apology seemed needed for the attempt. Perhaps also, by acknowledging long labour, under great disadvantages yet resulting in some final fruit, I might encourage others (so it seemed to me) to labour with much less disadvantage and with much more fruit. What now follows is my acknowledgment. In the autumn of 1910 — when on the point of preparing for the press a work on the fourfold gospel— I took up Dr Rendel Harris' smooth and elegant English version of the Syriac hymns by the discovery of which he has made Christendom indebted to him, and which he has entitled Odes of Solomon. Thinking they might bear on the work on which I was engaged, I resolved to turn aside from it, for ten whole days of study to be devoted to this new poet. The ten days led me to three conclusions, 1st, that Dr Harris was probably right in assigning to the hymns (in their original language) a very early date indeed, possibly even before iooa.d.; 2nd, that there was much, very much, well worth understanding in them ; 3rd, that what I understood about them on the tenth day — in comparison with what I ought to understand — was practically nothing at all. Beginning my task over again I took up the Syriac. And now I found that Dr Harris' translation, though PRELIMINARY vii 1 possessing obvious attractions, was not adapted for a beginner in Syriac, like myself, who desired to follow the poet in his plays on words and repetitions of the same word, or slightly different forms of the same word — sometimes with obviously deliberate iteration. So I began' to make word-for-word translations — not worthy, perhaps, to be called translations, but helpful to a beginner in search of the thoughts at the bottom of the words. Of Syriac I know nothing except through the Syriac versions of Biblical books. But this I soon found to be no fatal obstacle. For there is no extant Syriac literature of the first two centuries except some of those versions ; and the Odes, so I gathered from experts, had no pretensions to the flowing and ornate style of fourth-century Syriac. By degrees, I ascertained for myself, from Payne Smith's Syriac Thesaurus, that practically all the words in the Odes — and perhaps one might add all the idioms — are to be found in the Syriac Bible. The Syriac Old Testament is said by experts to have been translated not from Greek but from Hebrew 1 . The similarity between the Syriac of the Old Testament and the Syriac of the Odes suggested (as also did other considerations presently to be mentioned) that the Odes, too, might have proceeded from a Hebrew original. But this suggestion (as being contrary to Dr Harris' views) I put aside for the time. The first 1 See Syriac Forms of New Testament Proper Names, by Prof. F. C. Burkitt, p. 3, " The Canonical Books of the Old Testament were translated originally direct from the Hebrew, probably by Jews rather than Christians ; but certain books, notably that of Isaiah, seem to have been revised from the Greek Bible." PRELIMINARY object was to ascertain, not what language the poet wrote in, but what he expressed in any language, or if the exact expression could not be ascertained, then what he «m«/_including what he assumed without expressrng, what traditions were at the bottom of his thoughts. In my attempts to discover this, the Thesaurus was of the greatest service, shewing how a Syriac word, or even a Syriac phrase, used in the Odes, was also used, not only in the Syriac Bible generally, but also some- times m part.cular passages of the Old Testament to wh.ch the poet appeared to be alluding. Following up dues of this kind by referring to Jewish Haggadic trad.t.ons about those particular passages, I often dis- covered allusions that I had not previously suspected wh.ch threw quite a new light on the poets meaning' Th.s mean.ng seemed so full of original thought, and so well worthy of further study, that I began to group in order his different sayings about subjects of special importance, such as faith, grace, love, joy, rest, light, and life For this purpose an alphabetical Index of subjects was desirable, and I made some progress in constructing one. But at this juncture Professor Harnack's indexed edition came into my hands. This, besides editorial notes and comments, contained a German translation of the text by Dr Flemming, which seemed in general more accurate than that of Dr Harris, who in a second edition (i 9 1 1 )— as I subsequently found— adopted many of Dr Flemming's renderings. But what I found specially useful was the Index, which, though far from PRELIMINARY being complete, fulfilled my utmost expectations in enabling me to explain the poet by the poet himself, and to discern consistent originality in many cases where I had previously been unable to find anything but inconsistent eccentricity'. Professor Harnack, like Dr Harris, claimed a very early date for the body of the Odes in their original form. But he rejected many passages as being in- consistent with that early date, and as being inter- polations in the interests of later-developed Christian dogma. Other critics ( I found) accepting these passages as genuine, were led by their acceptance of them to deny the early date. Balancing deference to the learned critics who maintained the former view, against deference to the equally learned critics who maintained the latter, I was led on, step by step, to the conclusion that both were wrong. A reference, for example, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, might imply (so I began to see) not interpolation or lateness of date, but a first- century Christian Jewish poet, tinged by nationality, steeped in a new religion, but still a poet for the world. This seemed the first need — to postulate a real poet — if we were to solve the problem of these poems. He seemed a poet of high order in respect of thought, but not so high in respect of style. Perhaps he might have been a recluse, naturally obscure in expression, and made specially obscure to those who came after him because 1 My references to these two works are so numerous that, for brevity, that of Dr Rendel Harris is indicated by " R.H." and that of Professor Harnack and Dr Flemming by " H." PRELIMINARY PRELIMINARY he, a Christian, breathed an atmosphere of mystical Jewish Christian poetry that was soon to vanish away, not understood by Gentiles, and disliked and dis- couraged by Jews. So, too, even the apostle of the Gentiles— no recluse but a man at home with all men throughout the Roman empire— did not escape, on one occasion, the charge from a man in high position, " Thou art mad, Paul ; thy much book-learning doth turn thee to madness." And indeed, even to his friends, even to some of his Corinthian converts, Paul may well have seemed obscure when they heard, read out to them for the first time, that letter which associated, in one sentence, "Moses," and "baptism," and "the Rock" in the wilderness, and "Christ." From neither of the Talmuds (I believe) has any authority been hitherto alleged for this poetic association of Moses with baptism at the Red Sea. But extant poetic traditions about Moses suffice to shew that Paul could not have been startling the Corinthian Church with entirely new inventions of his own. Moses, for Jewish Christian poets, could not but be a type of Christ. And our poet is no exception to this state- ment. For him, as for John the Divine, the Song of Moses is the prelude to the Song of the Lamb. For him, the Deliverance of Israel, under the leadership of Moses at the Red Sea, means the Deliverance of Man, the spiritual Israel, under the leadership of the Messiah, the Son of Truth, from the waters of Sheol. From the beginning to the end of the Odes there is not a single proper name, not even that of Adam or Israel. Yet the poet is continually superimposing, so Xll \ ' I: to speak, in a kind of poetic photography, person upon person, deliverer upon deliverer, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Hezekiah, in order to approximate to the fulness of the form of the greatest Deliverer of all, the Lord Messiah. Such at least is the view that I was ultimately and laboriously led to adopt. The labour was too great to allow me to complete my task with the fulness I had desired. I had prepared notes on all the Odes and translations of more than half of them. But even now, when my proposed "ten days " have become nearly seventy times that number, I find myself only in a position to lay before the public the translations of about a dozen Odes. It has seemed better to revise with thoroughness what had been already completed, submitting to the correction of a Syriac expert a good many doubtful points, and, In par- ticular, the continuous translations placed in Appendix III. This having been done, and many corrections having been adopted, I have felt justified in publishing the results of my labour— a translation of Syriac, and a commentary on Syriac, by one who professes to know no Syriac except that for which he can give chapter and verse or definite authority. Most gladly would I have studied all the recent works on the Odes, amounting, small and great, to nearly eighty, as enumerated in R.H. 2nd ed. pp. ix — xii. But after reading a few of them I felt, not only that want of time made the task impossible, but also that such time as I could spare would be better spent (i) in consulting and verifying ancient authorities bearing on the Syriac text, so as to make my limited xiii i PRELIMINARY work as accurate as possible; (2) in a closer study of the text of a few of the Odes; (3) in ascertaining and collecting what Philo said about the subjects of which the Odes directly treat, or to which they apparently allude ; (4) in ascertaining and collecting what is said about those same subjects by Jewish tradition (the Targums, the Talmuds, and the Midrash, not excluding the late evidence of Rashi where it points to earlier authorities). Sometimes, though not often, Philo was found to agree with Jewish tradition, thereby proving the antiquity of the latter. Even where there was no such agreement, it often appeared— through the name of the Rabbi quoted, or through the inherent stamp of antiquity— that a Jewish tradition recorded in writing at a late date must have existed orally some centuries earlier. These labours have taken up all the time at my disposal. The differences between the versions of R.H. 1st ed., 2nd ed., and that of H., are numerous, and in some cases, of great importance. This fact might seem to imply a condemnation of any non-experts in Syriac who attempt versions of their own. My plea must be, ist, that, where R.H. and H. are in agreement, even a non-expert will generally be right in following them, 2nd, that, even where they disagree, Payne Smith's Thesaurus Syriacus will generally give the word, as used in the Syriac translations of the whole of the Bible and other literature, with such fulness as to enable even a non-expert to obtain a correct view, though may be not a solution, of the linguistic difficulty in question. My third plea is that I do not aim at translating PRELIMINARY I Syriac idiom into English idiom, as Dr Harris has doubtless done. To do that, one must have a knowledge of Syriac idiom and literature, which I do not possess. A good idiomatic translation always renders idiom for idiom, not word for word. But a translation, bad from a literary point of view, rendering word for word, may often help students (as distinct from readers for literary pleasure) to make out the thought of an obscure writer. Then, when it is made out, they may be better able to understand a good translation. I am not sure that the time has come as yet for a good translation of this profound and difficult poet 1 . At all events I have deliberately preferred what may be called a bad translation, always, as far as possible, rendering word for word and rendering the various forms of one Syriac word by corresponding various forms of one English word. This Dr Flemming also has done to a very great degree (to a much greater degree than Dr Rendel Harris) but he has done it without sacrifice of style, which, in his version, is seldom or never harsh, and is generally rhythmical and attractive. Mine, I must confess, is so literal and bald that some may find it repellent. The repulsiveness is at all events not adopted through mere eccentricity or pedantry, but through a conviction that the poet, like the author of the Fourth Gospel, 1 See The Times, Literary Supplement, Apr. 7, 1910, which comments on "the editor's failure to print the text and the translation of the Odes as verse,'' and points out that "some Odes combine stanzas of different lengths " and that " the discovery of this fact illumines many a dark passage." On this I am not competent to express an opinion. H., like R.H., prints the poems as prose. PRELIMINARY chose his words, repeated his words, and varied different forms of the same word, in accordance with a spiritually artistic, or artistically spiritual, sense, conscious or subconscious. Throughout the Odes there appears to me something like the Johannine reiteration— very different indeed from that which occasionally occurs in the Pauline Epistles — combined with something like the Johannine variation. Whoever realises this will realise plays on the same word, allusions to a past word, preparations for the next word— all of which, or many of which, are lost in a free translation into elegant English that does not reproduce these peculiarities. 1 may be wrong. Some may allege that the writer may use words at hap-hazard. Others, that he may be guided simply by his ear. Others, that the Syriac is a translation from the Greek— possibly the Greek, too, from Hebrew— and may be a loose translation. Others may quote, from the Prayer Book Version, " The king sent and delivered him, the prince of the people let him go free" and may ask whether such " hetero- tautology"-to coin a word-is not "the regular thing" in Hebrew poetry. My reply to such arguers would be " Read for yourselves and judge for yourselves. Read only half a dozen Odes closely and carefully, and then decide for yourselves whether the poems that depict such spiritual scenes in such close sequence, and compress such spiritual thoughts in such small compass, are of the same poetic substance as the sentence extracted from the above-quoted simple and historical Psalm. And similarly, to the argument that the Syriac may be a XVI PRELIMINARY rendering of Greek, and not a faithful one, I should make the same reply, " Read first, and then repeat the argument, if you can. Even the existence of a Greek original is doubtful. But, if there was one, read first, before you accuse the translator of varying words — where his original did not vary them — for variety's sake." For my part, I was disposed a priori to argue in the way that I am now deprecating. But, having "read first," I cannot repeat that argument. The Syriac text appears to me to be consistent, as a remarkably faithful medium, in revealing an author who used his words under the influence of an artistic as well as a spiritual inspiration, and who, if our Syriac is a trans- lation, has been translated with singular fidelity. At all events, among the many attempts that will be made to illustrate these poems, it seems that one may well be made to give the poet the chance of shewing that he may have said precisely what he meant. This I have tried to do by rendering what he said precisely as he said it. If he really wrote — or was translated — ornately and variously for the mere purpose of ornate variety, then a close and literal rendering will shew up the fault, whether of writer or of translator, and we shall be on our guard against it. But if he wrote simply and straightforwardly for the purpose of expressing just the thought, or the vision, or the allusion, that came before his mind, then on the other hand our close and literal rendering will reveal his merits, and we shall admire them and learn from them. Doubtless, I shall be found guilty of many errors a. l. xvii b PRELIMINARY and of still more exaggerations. But these (I con- fidently believe) will not prevent a small circle of readers from finding in the following pages, studying this Jewish poet through Jewish poetry, some thoughts, here and there, that will take them a long way back toward that epoch in the history of the Church when the stream of believers broadened itself out through the inclusion of the Gentiles, gaining new depth with its new breadth, and still flowing as strongly as when it first issued from its fountain-head, the Spirit of the newly risen Saviour. The "ancient poet" mentioned in the title of this work is the unknown author of some poems extant in a Syriac MS, for the discovery of which we are in- debted to Dr Rendel Harris. The age of it, he tells us, " may be between three and four hundred years." Dr Harris has printed a title as part of his Syriac text, but he himself informs us that the MS " is imperfect both at the beginning and ending," so that " we cannot tell how it was described by the person who made the i " copy After the last of the newly discovered poems — i.e. Ode xlii — comes, without any distinctive title, a col- lection of poems which have been known for some time as " Psalms of Solomon." These have been hitherto extant only in a Greek version, which, however, is believed by its recent editors to have been translated ' The Odes and Psalms of Solomon, now first published from the Syriac Version by J. Rendel Harris, M.A. &c. (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1909), Introduction, pp. 2—3. xvui PRELIMINARY from Hebrew. The Psalms were probably written in their original language between b.c. 70 and b.c. 40 1 . But the newly discovered poems — with which alone we shall deal — are altogether different in tone and subject-matter, and, taken as a whole, are extant only in Syriac, in this recently discovered volume'. In December 19 1 1 Professor F. C. Burkitt in- formed me that he had discovered a tenth-century MS in the British Museum, catalogued for forty years! though without the name of Solomon, and containing the latter and greater part of the newly discovered poems. It did not contain those which I have trans- lated. But it had many various readings in passages bearing on them. Some of these, thanks to Professor Burkitt's kindness in sending me early information, I was enabled to utilise, while revising the body of the work. Others I have placed later on (adopting the name that the finder has given to the MS) in " Ap- pendix IV, Readings of Codex N\" 1 Psalms of Solomon, ed. Ryle and James, Cambridge, 1891, p. xliv. * Dr Harris has printed ''Psalm I (-Psalm 43 of MS)" after " Ode 42" in his Syriac text. Hut the photograph of Dr Harris' MS in the British Museum has (so I am informed by the Rev. G. Margoliouth) "Psalm 42," not "Ode 42." And this applies to all the preceding poems, "Psalm 41 &c." The Syriac for "psalm" corresponds to the Hebrew word generally rendered by LXX "psalm" but by Symmachus "ode." Dr Harris has printed, at the beginning of his Syriac text, a title in Syriac mentioning "Psalms" and "Odes" ; but, as has been noted above, it has no existence in the extant MS, which is "imperfect both at the beginning and ending." We shall find, later on, that such a distinction, if it had existed in the MS, would have been justified by the distinctive tone of the two collections of poems. But it has no existence either in title or in numbering. See 3636. 9 Codex N ( = Nitriensis) is imperfect at the beginning and end, so xix 62 PRELIMINARY The translations, commentaries, and notes in my volume cover only a few of the Odes taken consecu- tively. But the notes extend beyond the passages annotated, so as to give the reader a view of what the poet says in the whole of his work about some of his most frequently mentioned subjects: — "love," "joy," " faith," " life," and " knowledge." These are familiar to us in the New Testament. Very much less familiar is "truth," and also "rest" in the sense of "peace." We shall also note "grace" (with many synonyms or homonyms) and " glorify " with the constantly recurring "song-of-glorifying." Not less noteworthy will be the emphasis laid by the poet on the spiritual necessity of " fruit," and on " the Way of the Lord," and on God's "Design" or "Thought," that is to say, His fore- ordained Plan for the Redemption of mankind. But before taking the trouble to study pseudony- mous poetry in such detail, readers may ask, as a preliminary, whether the poet is likely to repay them. And, first, " Is it certain that he is so very 'ancient'? If so, give us the evidence of date." A second question may rise out of the nature of the version: "The poems, *as a whole,' are 'extant only in Syriac' But were they written in Syriac ? If they were not, and if the thoughts come to us filtered that it does not include a title. Nor does it reveal any distinctive separation between the recently-discovered poems (called by Dr Harris "Odes") and the others (called "Psalms"). The former precede the latter in N, as in Dr Harris' MS, consecutively numbered. But the poems in N contain no separate titles such as "Psalm" or "Ode." The omission of these in N, the more ancient of the two MSS, points to their unauthoritativeness in the less ancient one. PRELIMINARY through a translation, are we sure that we have before us the poet's thoughts and not the translator's ? " More important still is a third question : "Has this pseudonymous poet anything of his own to say ? Is he really a poet, or only a quoter of poetry ? Justin Martyr, for example, quotes poetry by the yard, but is no poet ; Clement of Rome and Ignatius quote comparatively little, but have something of the passion of poetry ; Barnabas quotes almost as abundantly as inaccurately, and has some original fancies and conceits, but no poetry. Is this poet like any of these, or altogether unlike ? Even if he does not quote, he must imply. Few poets spin poetry entirely out of their own consciousness, without a particle of indebtedness to some predecessors. What does this poet imply} The Old Testament, or the New ? If the Old, then what books most pf all ? If the New, what gospels ? Or what epistles, if any? If neither Old nor New, then what writers, Greek, or Jewish, or both ? " Detailed answers to the first two of these questions may be found by recourse to the Index, under the headings " Date " and " Translation." To the third, though a little help is given under the heading "Originality of thought," the answer is not one that can be satisfactorily indexed. For it is scattered through the volume in comments on the poet's general independence of almost every literary source except Hebrew Scripture. Even when he agrees, as he often does, with Paul, or John, or Philo, he does not seem to be borrowing from any of them. But he does seem to be borrowing from Scripture, and from that PRELIMINARY kind of Jewish poetic or legendary tradition about Scripture which is called the Haggada, and which, though for the most part not committed to writing till long after Christ's time, goes back, in some cases, to the first century of our era, or even earlier. While however the inquirer for details must neces- sarily be referred elsewhere, an outline may be placed here of the answers that may be given to the three questions set forth above as to (i) date, (2) original language, (3) originality of thought. (1) First, as to date. Some of the Odes are quoted in a Gnostic work called Pistis Sophia, gener- ally believed to be not later than the third century. The Pistis quotes a few of the Odes at great length, and appears to repute them as on a level with the canonical gospels. It would seem, therefore, that the Odes had been current long before the writing of the Pistis. Else they would hardly have had time enough to acquire so great a reputation. An early date is also indicated, if the author is a Christian, by the fact that the Odes — and this is practically true about the New Testament Epistles, the Johannine Revelation, and (probably) Barnabas — never quote the Gospels. Also, from internal evidence, it is inferred, as a pro- visional hypothesis, in the Concluding Remarks toward the end of this volume, that one of the Odes was written about the beginning of the second century. But the Odes, like the prophecies of Ezekiel, may have been written at different times. Even if revised at one and the same time, they may have been, for the most part, written earlier. Their thought points PRELIMINARY to a period in the first century when Christian Jews might compose "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs " — such as the Epistle to the Ephesians men- tions — without dreaming of any need of fortifying their utterances by quotations from any written or oral "gospels," and without sufficient familiarity with any such "gospels" to make it natural for them to express themselves in what we may call "gospel-language." (2) Next, as to the original language. Dr Harris says (p. 35) " we will also enquire as to the language in which the book was originally circulated." But he passes at once to a comparison of our Odes with those quoted in the Coptic Pistis Sophia — which obviously may have been quoted from a version very much later than our Syriac — and that version not necessarily Greek 1 . Later on (pp. 46 — 7) he takes -up the internal evidence bearing on the original language with the marginal heading " The Syriac text of the Odes taken from the Greek." But to this difficult 1 The Coptic Pistis Sophia, it is true, quotes the Odes with an inter- mixture of Greek words. But that proves nothing about the Odes, for the whole of the Pistis is written " with an intermixture of Greek words." The language is hybrid. Diet. Christ. Biogr. ("Pistis Sophia") even ventures to say of the whole of the Pistis that it "must have been originally written in Greek. The Coptic (Thebaic) text is a translation. This is proved by the numerous Greek words which it contains." Dr Harris himself says (p. 35) "A little caution is necessary, for it will be remembered that Greek words are often used in the Coptic to redeem the language from its linguistic poverty...." A glance at Pistis (p. 114) will shew that, for example, in the two sentences introducing Ode V, and in the single sentence following it, there are, severally, six and four Greek words, while the whole of the Ode, as quoted in Pistis, contains but five (Dr Harris (p. 23) has omitted one (caicir) by error). The Coptic writer (so far as Greek words are concerned) may have been quoting the Odes from any language whatever, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Hebrew, or even Coptic xxiii PRELIMINARY subject only a page and a half at most is devoted, so that Professor Harnack (p. n) remarks "Harris hat die Frage nicht erortert (trotz der Anktindigung auf P- 35)-" This comment is on Dr Harris' first edition, but it also applies to the second. The very few passages there alleged by Dr Harris in favour of a Greek original, with others not there alleged, will be found discussed in this volume. The conclusion I have arrived at — though only provisionally — is that there is no proof that our Syriac comes to us as a translation of a Greek original*. (3) As to the third point, the poet's originality, it might seem at first sight sufficient to say that he probably never quotes from any book of the New Testament, and never three or four words consecu- tively from any work of the Old Testament except the Song of Songs. But this would convey a wrong im- pression. For it would be suppressing the fact that he 1 In the Expositor for Feb. 1912, p. 119, Dr Harris, while still assuming a Greek version as the original from which the Syriac is a translation, says, "For example, had Ephrem our Syriac translation, or is it possible that he may have had an earlier form antedating even the Greek : for /'/ is not Greek Odes that he is using!" My own impression is that the words I have italicised point to a correct conclusion. It appears to me probable that the Odes, like the Psalms of Solomon, were originally composed in Hebrew of which there may have been versions in several languages (3819 £ g , and see Index "Translation."). I have been recently confirmed in this view by the fact that the only marginal variation in the Odes (1) "attacked," (2) "cast lots" (Codex N "cast lots") may be illustrated by a precisely similar variation in renderings of the Hebrew of Job, where the Hebrew has "cast lots," but the Greek and the Latin have "fell on" or "attacked" and also by other explanations, afforded by the hypothesis of translation from Hebrew, bearing on passages where the Syriac style has been noted by experts as curiously rough or unusual (see Index "Translation," and 3999 (ii) 17 d—s on "The Style of the Odes"). XXIV PRELIMINARY is continually reproducing, not indeed words, but pictures, from the Hebrew Bible as interpreted by Jewish tradi- tion. Somewhat similarly, Paul uses his own words when he tells the Corinthians that Israel was "baptized" in the cloud and in the sea ; he does not here quote Exodus, but he assumes that his readers knew all about Exodus. The assumption may afford an interesting testimony to the fact that the Synagogue, throughout the Empire and not only in Corinth, prepared the way for the Church, and that the "opening" of the old "scriptures" accompanied the writing of the new. Paul at all events assumes that when he used those words of his own, most of his readers would see what he saw — the picture of Israel passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea, and under the pro- tection of the divine Cloud. Again, Paul does not quote Numbers ("Spring up, O Well"), nor any later Hebrew tradition about the "Well" that went up and down with Israel in the wilderness to quench their thirst ; but, when he speaks of " the spiritual rock " that " followed " Israel, he almost certainly assumed a knowledge of the legend, even though he (very probably) did not take it as literally true. In the same way, our poet is perpetually making assumptions. He assumes, for example, in the first two extant Odes, that we can see, with him, the two pictures taken from the Song of Songs, first, of Solomon's Crown " in the day of his espousals," and then of the Bride " running " toward the " Beloved." And so it is through- out the Odes that follow. The titles given to some of them in the Table of Contents in this volume, if found PRELIMINARY by the reader to be fairly representative of their purport, will shew him that they constitute a kind of picture- gallery, setting forth, in various aspects, the Thought of Redemption. Some of them shew a Pilgrim's Pro- gress. The Pilgrim is Israel, or the Redeemed Soul, passing through the Sea, or across " great rivers," to "the Holy Place of God," which God Himself has pre- pared. Or else it is the Wanderer in the wilderness, seeking "the Way to God." Or it is the aspiring Worshipper lifting up his heart to "the Secret of the Lord." Or the Lord's Warrior is seen first gaining " the Victory of the Lord," and then "leading Captivity captive," that he may pass "through Victory to Para- dise." The last Ode, not included as a whole (though largely quoted) in this volume 1 , presents a climax, the figure of the Great Son of Adam, recognised at last by the captive sons of Adam in Sheol as being also Son of God, and acclaimed as their Deliverer while He triumphantly draws up His brethren from the prison- house to which Adam's sin had dragged them down. Some, however, while admitting the poet's origin- ality, may condemn it as occasionally passing into what they may deem bad taste and even grotesqueness. Celsus would probably have agreed with them. Celsus says that the Christian Gospel was at first a production of "drunkenness," but that, later on, the Christians "roused themselves from drunkenness, and reshaped it in three- fold, fourfold, and manifold fashion'." Some of the Odes ' See Index p. 573 for passages quoted from Ode xlii. 1 See Enc. Bibl. ("Gospels") p. 1766 which comments on this passage. XXVI PRELIMINARY would certainly have been characterized by Celsus as belonging to this early period of " drunkenness," which Celsus apparently believed to have preceded the Three Gospels, and to have been only partially shaken off, "later on," in the Three, and still later, in the Fourth. Indeed the poet himself says, in the eleventh Ode, " I drank and became drunken." But he adds "with the living water that dieth not." The point for us, at this moment, is not whether Celsus would be right if he charged our poet with "drunkenness," but whether the very characteristic to which the poet himself confesses in this way does not make him all the more worth studying, as being likely to be of an Eastern originality and of an early date, before Western influences toned down the perfervid utterances of the first Christian psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Akin to this objection of Celsus, is another, arising out of a prejudice (to which I must myself plead guilty) against the Song of Songs. To some the poet's un- doubted indebtedness to such a poem may seem fatal, if not to his originality, at all events to his power of originating anything of pure and spiritual beauty. This prejudice, natural, but modern, and misleading, will be dealt with in the first chapter of this work. Suffice it to say here that one of the greatest and most original of the early Rabbis, the martyr Akiba, declared that, whereas the other books of Scripture were "holy," Solomon's Song was " the holy of holies." It should not be needful to add that he interpreted it allegorically, of the Bridegroom of Israel. So, no doubt, did Paul, having it in view when he spoke of Christ and His xxvii PRELIMINARY Body, the Church. So also must every pious Jew have done in the first century — not being a Sadducee. And this affirmation does not exclude our Lord Himself. The writer of these poems is a man — if he is indeed one man, and not two, a writer and an inter- polator — peculiarly difficult to label as " merely " this or that. His close resemblance to Clement of Alex- andria, in passages where the latter seems to be influenced by the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, suggests that he was profoundly influenced by the recognition of what Clement calls "the youth of humanity in Christ 1 ," whom our poet, like Clement, appears to regard as at one and the same time the eternal Babe looking to the " breasts " of the Father and the Eternal Man looking toward men His brethren. His language about "life" and "fruit" and "growth" and " trees," blended with his language about the Babe or the Son, indicates that he may have been influenced by mystical thoughts of religions outside Judaism, such as Plutarch has preserved in his treatise on I sis and Osiris — names well known in the first century throughout the Roman empire. While accept- ing with all his heart the Christian teaching about the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, our poet may have combined it with ancient thoughts about a divine nature in the Life of the Tree, and in the self-sacrificing Seed, which descends into the regions of darkness and death in order to rise up again into light and life with an accompanying multitude. 1 See 3817 b, and the passages referred to in the Index under "Trismegistus.'' xxviii PRELIMINARY All this is very unlike what might be expected from a Jew. Yet a Jew he probably is. He is also a Christian and, as has been repeatedly said above, probably of the first century. He is a composer of songs that probably allude to baptism in its spiritual aspect. He is probably acquainted with Alexandrian allegory, and, in particular, with that of Philo. He is probably, nay, certainly, a borrower from the Song of Songs and from the thoughts and pictures of Hebrew Scripture as a whole. But he will not be found to be any one of these things— or all these things — " merely." If we were absolutely bound to label him, we should (I think) be safest in labelling him thus: "A Jewish Christian, writing in the first century, under the influence of Palestinian poetry, Alexandrian alle- gory, Egyptian mysticism, and— most powerful of all the influence of the Spirit of Love and Sonship, freshly working in the Christian Church, at a time when Jesus was passionately felt to be the Son revealing the Father through such a Love as the world had never yet known ; but before the doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit had begun to be hardened by controversial iteration into a dogma accepted by the lips of almost all Christians, including many that did not feel the beauty and necessity of the doctrine in their hearts." If this is so, we have in this poet what some would call a half-way house — not to be found anywhere else in extant literature — between Judaism and Christianity. In that case, it will be very dangerous to cut out this or that — alleging discrepancy, not of style nor of XXIX PRELIMINARY vocabulary, but merely of doctrine — on the plea, " This must be Jewish and early; that must be Christian and late." Paul wrote several things that sounded by no means Jewish, nay, indeed anti-Jewish. Yet (according to the Acts) he publicly declared himself "a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees," implying that the rulers of the Jews had nothing against him except "the hope and resurrection of the dead 1 ." And what could be more patriotically Jewish (according to the Acts) than his defence before Agrippa : "And now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God unto our fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes, earnestly worshipping night and day, hope to attain'"? Without accepting these as verbatim re- ports, we cannot safely reject them as deliberate falsi- fications. They at all events attest the probable existence of "a half-way house" in the minds of many Jews inclining at that time to Christianity. Paul, no doubt, was unique in the versatility with which he "became all things to all men." But a poet, too, has a poet's versatility and may become different things in the moments of different passions. Take one instance of what seems— at least to the present writer— a blending of Christian and Jewish thought, in which a Biblical Hebrew phrase referring originally to the first Passover, that of Israel, appears to have been adopted in one of the Odes as referring to the second Passover, the Paschal feast of the Christians, with allusion to the admission of the 1 Acts xxiii. 6. 1 Acts xxvi. 6 — 7. XXX PRELIMINARY Gentiles to the latter. The poet, speaking apparently as the spokesman of the Church, including the Gentiles, says " The Lord granted me to ask from Him and to receive from His sacrifice 1 ." This — presumably because it seemed to imply the fully developed doctrine of the Atonement, or because no sense (it was thought) could be attached to " God's sacrifice " — has been, by various critics, emended 2 , or apologized for, or pro- nounced "wholly meaningless." But might not a Jew say "Why 'meaningless'? Does not God, in the Law, twice use the term 'My sacrifice ' ? What He calls thus, may not I call His sacrifice}" Looking into the matter, we shall find — as will be shewn in detail and by quotation later on — that the Jew would be right, and further, that this twice- used term in the Law, "My sacrifice," actually 'meant the Passover. The Passover (it is true) was, in a sense, the possession of Israel. No " stranger " could partake of it until he had entered into the Covenant of Israel by circumcision. A Jew could therefore call it " our Passover," "our Sacrifice." But, having regard to the words of Jehovah Himself, he was bound to regard it as being also "His sacrifice." Is it not then possible that a Jewish Christian — exulting, as our poet con- stantly exults, and as Paul exulted, in the "mystery" 1 Ode vii. 12, on which see note (3781 d foil.). * The emendation would indirectly have far-reaching consequences because it would point to an original Greek word ousia mistaken for thusia "sacrifice," and that would afford a strong argument for the theory that our Syriac Odes were translated from Greek. But ousia, in the Bible, never means anything but "goods." In Greek philosophy, ousia some- times meant "essence." But our poet does not write like a Greek philosopher. xxxi PRELIMINARY PRELIMINARY of the admission of the Gentiles to the New Covenant and the New Passover — should give thanks to God, in the name of the redeemed Gentile Church, saying "The Lord granted me to receive from His sacrifice " ? This may be a wrong interpretation. But, even if it is wrong, a writer that can thus, in a brief phrase, call up for us a thought so provocative of further thought, is surely worth attempting to interpret even at the cost of very great labour. The thinker of such thoughts surely appeals to us not hastily to classify and put him on the shelf as a theological or controversial specimen, but to look at him — whether he be Jew or Christian or both — as at all events a human being and a poet ; with grievous defects, possibly, but still a poet. Milton warns us that poetry is "more simple, sensuous, and passionate" than prose. Perhaps we shall find these poems inexplicably "passionate." That may be because we have failed to probe the depth of the first century "passion" of Christians for Christ. Perhaps also we shall find them " sensuous " to excess. In that case, we shall do well to remember that the standard of "sensuous" poetry in the East may be different from that in the West — except so far as the West has borrowed from the East. Lastly, we may fail, at the first glance, to find them "simple." In that case, too, may not the fault still be partly ours, because we are expecting too much from a " first glance," and are attempting to study a Jewish poet without preparing ourselves for the attempt by a study of the early Jewish poetic literature above referred to as " the Haggada" ? Concerning this, we are told on good authority that xxxii ; although the Rabbinical tradition in which it has been preserved reaches no further back than the last decad of the second century after Christ, yet it is "an in- valuable source for the times of Christ ; for the fountain of the there fixed traditions is to be sought away back, not merely in the times of Christ, but in yet earlier periods 1 ." The longer footnotes in this work, many of which were composed for reference or separate study rather than for continuous reading, are largely due to the author's desire to find for himself, and to help others to find, light on the Odes of Solomon— and, as a con- sequence, light on the Gospel of Christ— from this "invaluable source." 1 Schiirer (Engl. Trans.) i. I. 118. A. L. xxxm PREFACE i . A plea for patient study A first reading of these strange songs— for Songs would be in some respects, as will be shewn hereafter, a better name for them than Odes— gives us a confused impression of a shifting many-coloured cloudland of Jewish optimism. The optimism is somewhat like Philo's. But it is, on the one hand, so high-strained as to seem sometimes scarcely sane, and on the other hand, penetrated, every now and then, by a flash of spiritual lightning, which makes us recognise that. after all, we are dealing with someone who is a poet, and a rare poet ; whereas Philo, deeply though we are indebted to him in other ways, is never a real poet— being, at his best, a poetic or epigrammatic rhetorician, and, at his worst, a would-be rhetorical poet dropping into' the tamest of tame prose. Our bewilderment is increased by what seem at a first glance to be inter- polations, but, at a second, to be the poet's genuine utterances, prepared for by some previous phrase which we passed by at first as meaning nothing in particular, but to which we find we must now turn back. The repetition of this experience of "turning back " may induce some readers— as it induced the present xxxiv PREFACE writer -to read the whole of the Odes again from the beginning with a little more faith in the poet. If they do, they will probably find in him much more than they found at first. That he has a passionate love of God they may have recognised before. But so (to a much greater extent than many suppose) had Philo, and so had many Jews like Philo, penetrated with the conception of God as the kind and good and helpful Nursing Father, and thereby imbued with a divine peace. Such a peace we discern in the face of Rembrandt's Rabbi, a peace that springs from close communion with a God whom the righteous man can, as it were, carry about with himself in all places and at all times, and whom he can worship . in all the circumstances of social life, with a simple and practical worship, by being kind and good and helpful to others as the Father has been to him. The pity of it is, that this internal motive, this beautiful love of God, is insufficient for ordinary mortals — and indeed for all but a very select few — except when a kindly environment of comfort for them in particular helps them to believe in a kindly Provi- dence for the world at large. Horace indeed says in fine Alcaic verse that " the just and tenacious of purpose" will not tremble "though the Universe fall crashing on his head." But Horace, writing in Epistles and Satires about the same subject, would probably have " told the truth with a laugh," acknow- ledging that such " tenacity " is rare. The truth is that man cannot be thus " tenacious of purpose " beneath the crash of "the Universe" unless he feels C 2 PREFACE that, though the Chariot of the Universe may seem to run over him, there is a Charioteer of the Universe who is on his side and who will somehow make things right in the end, or shew him that they were really right from the beginning. This is the truth that Ezekiel saw in his vision of the "four living creatures" and the "wheel within the wheel." This same truth our poet and seer— for seer he is — expresses definitely in a special Ode, containing his vision of the "Wheel." But he expresses it also indirectly in almost every one of the Odes, from first to last. Even when he is not using the actual words, he is continually revolving visions or meditations, of a "plan," "purpose," "thought," "counsel," or "way," which God decreed " from the beginning," and which is to result in the " redemption " of mankind. Looked at in this way, the last of the Odes, which describes Christ's descent to Hades— (an Ode not translated in this volume but often referred to and quoted in extracts)— will appear to be, not a Christian addition, but a deliberately intended climax'. "The Universe," in some sense, " fell crashing" on the Lord when "the prince of this world," according to very early Christian tradition, invaded the Lord's body and gained over Him what seemed a palpable victory by causing that body to die, and the soul to descend to Sheol so as to bring all the hopes of the spiritual Israel to an end with the failure and death of their beloved Messiah." • This agrees so closely (see 3965*) with the view taken in an article by the Rev. R. H. Connolly in the Journal of Theological Studies, Jan. 1912, that I think it well to say that this portion of my Preface was in type and read before the Society of Historical Theology in Oxford in Nov. 191 1. XXXVI PREFACE For this, some of the earlier Odes prepare us by gradually suggesting the thought of a conflict. The middle and later Odes introduce the " Tree," which is the Cross, and the assaults of the Messiah's enemies and persecutors. The last Ode of all relates how the Messiah, apparently taken captive by Satan, descended indeed to Sheol, to the place of captivity, to the prison- house of the sons of man from Adam onwards — but descended as a captive conquering His captor, and drawing upwards after Him a long train of prisoners rescued from the bondage of sin, over whom He inscribes His name with this proclamation "They are free men and they are mine." When the Odes are re-read in the light of the last Ode, and with a determination to make the best sense possible out of the text as it stands before attempting to amend it by conjectural cancellings or alterations, it will be found (I think) that sense, and consistent thought, will often emerge where it was not at first perceived. The thought is not in orthodox or at least not in familiarly orthodox form. But it is not Gnostic. It is poetic. It seems to recognise, as the Fourth Gospel does, a personal Logos or Word who is also incarnate Light and Life, but it recognises also — an aspect about which the Fourth Gospel is silent — one who is Babe as well as Son, a Messiah born of the Virgin Daughter of *Zion to be at once the Lord of Israel and the embodi- ment or body of Israel. In this body, or in these "members" — to use the word employed almost at the outset of the Odes — every true Israelite finds himself to be incorporate. This doctrine — or poetic xxxvii PREFACE meditation— seems to go back to a time before orthodoxy had crystallized, when Christian thinkers and seers and poets were still in the atmosphere of that stupendous Life, which was also their life, and which they could not analyse or systematically and dogmatically define while they were still breathing it. Perhaps we may call such a faith pre-orthodox (or pro-orthodox). But we need not be nice about names, if we are assured that the thing we are trying to name is spiritually true and satisfying as well as beautiful. It may be argued that the metaphor above men- tioned, of the "body" or the "members," is clearly borrowed from Paul. But on what grounds? Had Paul a copyright in this doctrine ? Are we to confess that it is so farfetched and forced that no two Christian thinkers in the first century could have independently thought of it? Doubtless, there is in these Odes much that is akin to the Epistles to the Hebrews and to the Ephesians, and some things akin to Epistles universally recognised as Pauline. But so there ought to be, if the writers in each case were Christians, and in each case thought rightly about Christ. Of borrowing, however, there is no trace. On the rare occasions when our poet seems to be handling a New Testament phrase he handles it in a way of his own, with manifest originality, and often in such a way as to shew that it is not a New Testament phrase at all, but a Hebrew thought filtered through Jewish traditional comment. XXXVlll PREFACE 2. Instances of Originality (i) Take, for example, the short Ode 1 containing the only phrase that approaches a mention of "washing," "baptizing," or "purifying" ("wipe off the filth from your face") in the whole of the volume'. It might, perhaps, be entitled " The Pure and Purifying Mirror," or "The Mirror and the Bride." It begins with the words " Behold, the Lord is our mirror. Open the eyes and see them in Him." Dr Rendel Harris has illustrated this from something that Clement of Alexandria says about not blaming a mirror for shewing us our defects. Clement, however, is quoting from Epictetus, from whom he takes not only the thought but the very words*. But indeed even the mirror of Epictetus will not help us to understand "the Lord" as "our mirror." The immediate effect of the Epictetian mirror is merely to shew us that we are foul. The immediate effect of the Lord as our mirror is to be this, that, when " we learn of what kind our countenance is," we are to "declare a song-of- 1 Ode xiii. See the note on "The Pure and Purifying Mirror" (3884 a — z). Strictly speaking, this ought not to have been included in this volume. But I have included it, out of its order, because it bears on the thesis, maintained by some, that the Odes were written for baptismal purposes. 2 H.'s Index does not give " waschen," "taufen,' 7 or "reinigen." H. has "abwischen," "wipe off" in his translation, but does not give the word in the Index. Contrast the Shepherd of Hermas, which lays great stress on "purifying" the stones that are to compose the Tower of the Church (mentioning "purify" (in various contexts) about nine times and "baptize" once). ' Dr Harris quotes "Clem. Alex. Paed. i. 9, p. 172" (where 172 is an error for 150). Clement is quoting Epictet. ii. 14. 21. PREFACE glorifying to His Spirit " and to " love His holiness and clothe ourselves therewith " and to " be without spot before Him." How can we utter this " song of glori- fying" if we "learn" from the Mirror nothing but our own deformed and despicable selves ? We must go back to something (I believe) very much earlier than Epictetus, if we wish to understand the latent connection in the poet's mind between the Lord as our mirror and the beauty of purity. Philo, we shall find, connects them, though weakly and con- fusedly. The priests in the Tabernacle (he says) when washing their hands and feet, are to make mental "mirrors" for themselves so as to discern and cleanse away unclean disfigurements. Whence does he extract this apparently far-fetched notion ? It is from a statement in Exodus that the "laver" for the purification of the priests in the Tabernacle was "made with the mirrors of the serving women!' It will be shewn that these words caused early difficulty and variation in interpreting. But, from a Jewish point of view, they lent themselves readily to the poetic con- ception, that, in return for these "mirrors" of the women of Israel, God, who gives like for like, Himself gave a Mirror to Israel, His Bride. Incidentally, but not controversially, the poet differs from Philo, who represents Moses as saying to God, (3884) " May I see thy form in no other mirror than in thyself, the [absolute] God." Incidentally, too, he differs from Philo's precept to the priests bidding them "make mental mirrors." It is "the Lord," according to our poet, that is to be "our mirror." Incidentally, xl PREFACE too, the Ode perhaps illustrates Christ's metaphorical use of the "eye" as the source and fountain in each man of his spiritual life, when it says, in effect, " Open your eyes, that is to say the eyes of your souls, and see them — i.e. your inmost motives and natures, as they really and truly are — reflected in Him who is the Mirror that speaks the truth." But there is something more than incidental in the Ode's apparent reference to the mystical doctrine of the Bridegroom and the Bride. And this, as we shall be helped later on by Origen to see, brings the Mirror in the Ode into juxtaposition with the Pauline "mirror" in which, by beholding the glory of Christ, the redeemed soul is " transformed from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit." It will be shewn that, as Paul, in his mention of " beholding in a mirror 1 " says "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" so James, in another apparently different mention of "seeing in a mirror" says that we are to look into " the perfect law of liberty!' The connection, in James especially, is very obscure. But the conclusion will be deduced that our poet comes between these two, not as a later writer imitating either or attempting to harmonize both, but independently supplying the missing link of Jewish thought which enables us to understand that the two apostles were describing the same thing in different aspects, when one spoke of " the Spirit of the Lord " and "liberty," and the other spoke of "the perfect 1 For the proof that Origen and Chrysostom interpreted 2 Cor. iii. 18 thus (as R.V. marg. "beholding" and not as R.V. txt "reflecting") see 3884 r foil. xli PREFACE Law of liberty" — and both in connection with a 11 ■ " mirror. The missing link is the thought of the Bride, "adorned" (or "adorning herself") at her mirror, re- presenting the Redeemed Soul, or the New Jerusalem, seen (as in Revelation) "as a bride adorned for her husband 1 ." And the phrase that supplies the link is, in the Ode, "without spot" — literally, "no spot" — and in Solomon's Song of Songs, "Thou art fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." It will be shewn that "no spot" in such a context, occurs nowhere in the Bible except in the Song, and it is incredible that our poet (who confessedly adopts phrases from the Song) should use this particular phrase here by a mere coincidence. Admitting this, we shall be invited by Origen to go a stage further. For Origen, first commenting on the Bride that has "no spot" in the Song of Songs, and then quoting Paul as saying " But we all, with un- veiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of God" adds, "The Bride of Christ says it." If Origen is right, our Ode would seem to connect the imagery of the Bride in the Pauline Epistles, as well as in Reve- lation, with the imagery of the Bride in the Song of 1 It should have been added in 3884 that the Bride is regarded as being wedded to the Bridegroom at Mount Sinai, where the Bridegroom, in the giving of the Law, was seen by the Bride (Numb. xiv. 14) "eye in eye" (R.V. "face to face"). The phrase recurs, in this sense (Gesen. 745 a), only in Is. lii. 8 " They shall see, eye in eye (R.V. eye to eye) when the Lord returneth to Zion," which (Tehill. i. 112) Jews referred to the life after the Resurrection, and on which Jerome quotes Paul's words about seeing "face to/ace" (as distinct from seeing "in a mirror"). This helps us to see the connection (not clear in James) between the "perfect law " and the " mirror," and to perceive a further connection with poetic metaphor about the " eye " and " the Bride." xlii PREFACE Songs. It also shews us how intermediate Christian imagery about the Mirror, and about the Bridegroom and the Bride, in the Gospels as well as in the Epistles, may be traceable to sources derived from early Hebrew poetry interpreted by Jewish poetic tradition 1 . 1 The astonishing brevity of the Ode makes it impossible to work out in detail, with any confidence, a contrast between the poet's Bride at her Mirror, and Plato's Prisoners in the Cave. But it suggests itself. The prisoners see shadows cast by a fire behind them, from objects behind them, on the back of the cave before them. The Bride sees, from the Light behind her (whose splendour would be too dazzling for her to behold face to face) a reflection in the Mirror before her. And this Mirror, besides being a glorious light to her eyes, throws back a light of lesser glory on her face. The prisoners see everything fitfully and falsely. The Bride sees everything steadily and truly — her own head, as it truly is, in the imperfect and impure present, but, at the same time, above it, her true and future Head, her eternal Lord. Some have maintained that there is an allusion to a person, on the point of being baptized, seeing his unregenerate self for the last time, mirrored in the water. This is attractive from a modern point of view and perhaps from the point of view of a minor Greek poet. But I have not been able to find any support for it in Hebrew or Jewish literature. Since the above paragraph was in type Prof. Wensinck {Expos. Feb. 1912, p. 111) has quoted from Ephrem's Hymns a saying that Ezekiel, looking into "the brook" that flowed from the Temple, saw the "beauty" 0/ the Church "instead 0/ himself." See 3884 z x foil., where it is shewn that, even in that Hymn— a much later and much more elaborate composition than our Ode— there appears to be no justification for what may be called " the last-look theory." ' In the Athenaeum of 6 July, 1912, p. 9, the reviewer of Tripoli the Mysterious by Mabel Loomis Todd, says that he does not remember to have met before with the curious ritual of the basket of henna leaves and the mirror: — "The bride. ..walked impressively to the middle of the courtyard, where the mirror was held close to the cushion and its basket Stepping between, she seated herself in the basket facing the mirror, her attendants adjusting the barracan for her greater comfort, and, once seated, jumping her gently up and down on the yielding leaves. The henna was picked up in handfuls by her friends, passed over her, given into her hands under her draperies, and put entirely over and about her. xliii PREFACE In the Ode thus explained, or explained in any reasonable way, is there anything that can be de- scribed as " borrowed " from what Paul, or James, or Philo, has written about " mirrors " ? And does it seem as if the man that wrote thus would be likely to borrow, or likely to have so little of his own to say that he would feel the need of borrowing — except so far as all great poets borrow from antecedent national litera- ture but never without adding something of their own ? (2) "Antecedent literature" will also explain another passage that has caused great difficulty to some critics. It is in the Ode that begins " I went up into the Light of Truth as if into the Chariot, and the Truth... caused me to pass over pits... and it became to me for a garment of Salvation... 1 ." Here, instead of Pressing her face close to the mirror, she opened the barracan to gaze at herself, while her friends spread their own draperies out as a shield, that by no chance could a glimpse of her face be caught from any angle. This part of the ceremony savoured greatly of mystery, and was evidently symbolic. No Mohammedan woman with whom I talked, no matter how friendly or how long the acquaintance, was ever willing to explain this performance. All seemed to regard it as too sacred for discussion, and always changed the subject if I broached it" " Pressing her face close to the mirror,'' a bride would be likely to see little more of herself than the eyes ; and the action recalls what Socrates says to Alcibiades (Plato 132 — 3) "To him that looks into the eye [of another], there appears his own countenance in the face of the person fronting him — as in a mirror [the mirror] that we call * the pupil' — a kind of image of the looker " ; whence he infers that, as man's "eye," if it is to see itself, must "look into an eye," and into the very source of vision, so it must be with man's soul. The thought of seeing oneself, in miniature, in the eyes of a friend or lover, is common in the English seventeenth- century poets, and is perhaps traceable to much earlier literature, and common, independently, to more literatures than one. 1 Ode xxxviii. This Ode is not one of those translated in this volume, but the passage above mentioned is fully discussed in Appendix II (3983 (i)— 99). xliv PREFACE "garment," Dr Harris has, in his first edition, "instru- ment," but in his second edition, "haven." But the Syriac may mean "garment" or " apparel," as in Zecha- riah, where Joshua the High Priest has " filthy gar- ments" taken from him, and "fair apparel" substituted. As regards "chariot," it has been retained by Dr Harris in both editions. And " chariot" is the regular rendering of the Syriac word. Mostly, of course, it means "chariot" in the ordinary sense. But very often it is used in Syriac in a special sense, extremely fre- quent in post-biblical Hebrew, to mean the vision seen by Ezekiel of the "four living creatures" and the "wheels," which were regarded as constituting the CHARIOT of the invisible Universe. The word, therefore, should not be lightly altered. But Dr Harris, in the Expositor, has recently (191 1) suggested an alteration of the opening words of the Ode into " ' I went on board the Light of Truth, like a ship,' or a little more freely, ' I went on board the ship Light of Truth.'" I shall endeavour to shew how inappropriate such a metaphor would have been for a Jewish poet carrying on the traditions of Israel, whose coast had no "harbour" worthy of the name, and whose Hebrew literature — as will be shewn (3994), pace the Revised Version — makes not a single mention of the word. On the other hand, to be clothed in the Light from the CHARIOT as in a "garment of Salvation" is a truly Jewish thought. It will also be found, I think, that the " Chariot," at the outset of this Ode, strikes a note that harmonizes with the thoughts of many other Odes, and with the tone of all of them. xlv PREFACE (3) One instance more will suffice to shew that our writer is imbued with Jewish tradition to such an extent as to make it unusually dangerous to indulge in emendation of his text. It is from an Ode describing certainly the persecution, and probably the crucifixion, of the Messiah. Dr Harris printed the passage in his first edition thus : " And immortal life will come forth and give me to drink 1 ." Professor Harnack's edition points out that the Syriac does not justify the rendering, which I have italicised above, "will... give me to drink" and says that the words mean " has come forth and kissed me," but gives no illustration of "kiss" in such a context'. In his second edition, Dr Harris, while retaining the Syriac text unchanged, has added to his English text a note indicating that he prefers an emendation — but merely one of tense — which he inserts in his note, so as to give the 1 The reference is to Ode xxviii. 7, an Ode not translated in this volume. The references bearing on it in the following paragraphs are to Deut. xxxiv. 5 (Targ. Jer. 1), Moed K. 2$ a, Baba Bathra iy a, Berach. 8 a, and Origen Horn. Cant. i. 2 (Lomm. xiv. 240). See also the note in 3642a for details. 2 Since the above was written, I have been informed, through the kindness of Prof. Burkitt, that Codex N reads "has embraced \me\" instead of "will come forth." This greatly increases the probability that the context has "and kissed me." Thes. 2948 shews that the word "embrace" is followed by "kiss" in Gen. xxix. 13 and xxxiii. 4; and "embraced and kissed me" is a far more consistent expression (besides being more beautiful) than " came forth and gave me to drink." No doubt, the emendation, "hath given me to drink," makes obvious sense — as an antithesis to the "giving vinegar to drink" mentioned in the Psalms and in the Gospels. And the metaphor of "giving to drink" is frequent in the Odes. But in the passage under consideration, where a climax seems required, both the obviousness and the frequency are rather against the emendation, in the work of a poet seldom commonplace and often startling in his originality. xlvi PREFACE rendering "And immortal life has come forth and given me to drink." Against the text, as it stands, may be alleged the incongruity of "kissing" in a context that apparently describes a very painful death, and the improbability that "Life" should be thus personified as "kissing." But may not the poet deliberately introduce " Immortal Life," instead of " the Angel of Death " that comes to release the ordinary human soul ? Is it not a beautiful thought that Life, not Death, came down to Jesus on the Cross, at the moment when He was to breathe His last, and conveyed to the Son the "kiss" of the Father? If this seems too strained, and too florid, even for a Jewish poet, let us call to mind that, according to the Jerusalem Targum, Moses was "gathered" to death "by the kiss of the Word of the Lord." So, too, were Miriam and Aaron. "Death by the kiss" passed into a Jewish proverb. Such a death, says the Talmud, " is the easiest of all." No doubt, the Talmudic usage cannot prove use in the first century, but a proverb, being the condensed result of long-repeated previous thought, always proves the much greater antiquity of the thought itself in its fuller form. Another argument in favour of the text derives weight from the fact that the Song of Songs is almost the only book of Scripture from which our poet borrows, to any appreciable extent, not only thoughts, but also expressions, and that the Song opens with the words, " Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." These words are explained by a great number of Jewish xlvii PREFACE traditions (collected in the Midrash on the passage) as referring to the union of Jehovah with His Bride, Israel, when the Covenant was made between them. Now, if we remove the single instance of the word " kiss " in these Syriac Odes (or, Songs) of Solomon, then the symbol placed in the fore-front of the Hebrew Song is altogether wanting in our professed Syriac sequel. If also the Odes are to be regarded as not only Jewish but early Christian, then we must add that an early Christian symbol is wanting. For that the "kiss" was an early symbol of Christian brotherhood both Paul and Peter attest. "The kiss," or "the holy kiss," in their Epistles, is tacitly assumed to be a symbol — the spiritual " kiss," which Philo defines as being " that by which all things, numerous though they are, become one community." As a climax, then, at a particular stage of the Odes, when speaking of the close of the Messianic course on earth, and "openly setting forth (or, picturing) Christ crucified before the eyes" of his readers — as Paul says he did "before the eyes" of the Galatians — this meta- phor, so painfully florid to some of us, might seem neither repulsive nor florid to a Jewish Christian mystic familiar with the "kiss" in Solomon's Song and perhaps also with the thought of Moses the Servant of the Lord dying "by the kiss" of the Lord. "The Bridegroom," he might say, " kissed the Bride for the first time at the Covenant of betrothal on Sinai. The Bridegroom kissed the Bride for the second time at the wedding on Golgotha." Somewhat similarly — though not with any definite reference to the Crucifixion — xlviii PREFACE r Origen interprets the first words of Solomon's Song, as meaning that the Church beseeches the Father of the Bridegroom, who has hitherto "kissed" her through Angels and Prophets, that He would now send the Bridegroom Himself, that the Bridegroom, and no other, might " kiss " her " with the kisses of his mouth 1 ." These instances may suffice to shew that this un- known poet deserves the same close, patient, and minute study that we should give to the works of Clement of Rome, Barnabas, or Ignatius. Such a study will reveal a characteristic, which he possesses, partly in common with most Hebrew prophets and singers — almost all of whom sometimes mix metaphor with metaphor — but in part as a peculiarity of his own arising from his extraordinary picturesqueness combined with an-extra- ordinary brevity. He hardly gives his readers time to see one picture before he removes it and presents them with another. Or he does not remove it, but places the second above the first, transparently or semi- transparently, so that we see a blending of the two, after the manner described above as "superimposition." Something of the kind is seen in Jewish tradition. 1 In the same Ode (xxviii. 4 — 5, "fwasat rest. ..my headis with Him") there is probably an allusion to the thought of Jesus, in His last moment on the Cross, as, not "bowing" His head, but "resting" His "head" on the bosom of the Father (which has been shewn elsewhere {/ok. Gram. 2644 (i)) to be Origen's view). Also in xxviii. 8 "They who saw me ■wondered at me," the Syr. verb corresponds to the Syr. noun (Tfies. 921) in Ps. Ixxi. 7 " I am as a wonder to many," in which the words {ib. 11) "God hath forsaken him" are explained by Jerome as referring to Jesus, supposed by some of the bystanders near the Cross to be "in ipsa passione quasi derelictus a Deo." A. L. xlix PREFACE Rabbis are represented as variously and consecutively applying one and the same text to Abraham, Moses, David or other representatives of Israel. Similarly the Epistle to the Hebrews— only there is no "text" there but merely a thought— illustrates " faith " by pictures, in quick succession, of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and others, whom it mentions by name. Our author, like the author of the Wisdom of Solomon, does this without mentioning names. For him the heroes of Israel are incarnate thoughts of God. His series of illustrations is a picture-book of the pro- gressive phases of God's foreordained redemptive Purpose expressed in human beings. It represents spiritual lives (which are, as Philo says, " measures of aeon 1 "), shews us how they are linked together in a chain of development, and converts them, in effect, into letters of a spiritual alphabet, from Alpha to Omega, containing the divine NAME. How different is this method— this concrete or personal method of using great scriptural characters to illustrate a great principle— from the method (called by whatever name) of extracting abstract dogmatic conclu- sions from scriptural texts ! How different also from the style of what may be called ecclesiastical poets, writing with an eye to the inculcation, or recommendation, of special religious rites, ceremonies, or sacraments! Take, for example, our author's poetic teaching about "light." With many Jews, "light" was often synonymous with Torah, that is, the Jewish " Instruction " or " Law." ' See 3781 n on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, regarded by Philo as " measures of aeon." 1 PREFACE And naturally — perhaps we may also say consequently — with many Christians, "light" soon became synonymous with the Gospel, which these Christians regarded as the Christian " Law." Hence " to be enlightened " came to mean "to receive the Law of Christ through baptism," and hence " to be baptized." And there are in the Odes some passages which — especially if we are obsessed by a prejudice in favour of interpreting " enlightenment " as baptism — might lend themselves to the view that our poet is thinking of baptism, not only in these passages, but also in all others where he speaks of light ; and that indeed he wrote all the Odes mainly, or wholly, that they might be sung as baptismal hymns. But it will be found (I believe) that when our author is thinking of the Light of God as coming to Man through Jesus Christ, he has in his primary view, not the thought of baptism — though that is not absent — but the thought of Light itself, the Light of the invisible God, dimly " shining in the darkness " that fell on Adam and his sons, and only just " not over- come 1 ," as the Fourth Gospel says, during the spiritual night that encompassed, first Noah, and afterwards Abraham. Abraham is the first human being to whom "the word of God" is said to have "come," and this, too, accompanied with "vision 3 ." According to Jewish 1 Jn i. 5. For Adam's terror at his first experience of night, and for his exclamation that its advent was a fulfilment of the "enmity'' predicted in Gen. iii. 15, see the references given by Wiinsche (p. 76) on Ps. xcii, which was supposed to have been uttered by Adam. 1 Gen. xv. 1, on which see Gen. r., ad loo, Pesikt. Wii. p. 172, &c. li d2 PREFACE tradition this followed what may be called the first act of martyrdom, when Abraham the righteous, strong in his newly acquired belief, defied the terrors of the fiery furnace of Ur of the Chaldees, standing up as the first witness or martyr, for the One God, the One invisible Sun of Righteousness, against the oppressive polytheism of the Chaldean tyrant, who worshipped the visible lights of heaven. With Abraham began the aeon of Faith. Then — after the aeon of Joy typified by Isaac, and the aeon of Hopeful Endurance typified by Jacob, and after the silent aeons of the Egyptian oppression during which the patriarchal seed was being prepared to grow up into the tree of national life — came Moses, the first man through whom the divine light came to humanity in a visible though transient form 1 . Moses first ascends to the Rock. There Jehovah places him by His side. Thence, after a manifestation of the divine attributes, he descends as the Illuminated, the Mediator between God and Israel, his face shining with a glory transitory indeed, but still predictive of a higher glory that was not to pass away. A somewhat similar reference to the illuminated countenance of Moses, and similar expressions about light (for example, "the armour of light") are to be found in the Pauline Epistles. But our artist appears to draw not what Paul saw but what he himself saw. The whole tenor of his work indicates that he saw first principles, revealed in persons, 1 Exod. xxxiv. 29 — 35, comp. 2 Cor. iii. 7 — 15, and see 3700, quoting Ode xxxvi. 3 " and although I was a man (lit. son of man), [yet] was I named the Light (or, the Illuminated), the Son of God." Hi PREFACE beginning from the Person in whose image the first Adam was created ; developed through contraries such as war and peace, darkness and light, death and life, falsehood and truth, corruption and incorruption ; and finally perfected in the Person by whose Spirit the sons of Adam are to be transformed from glory to glory, in accordance with that divine Purpose of Re- demption, which the poet is continually bringing before us as God's '* Design," or "Thought." One last word against a disparagement of our author on the ground that simplicity and straight- forwardness cannot possibly exist in a Christian poet — if we assume him to be a Christian — who does not mention Jesus and who writes under the name of Solomon. In most cases, I admit, such an objection would be reasonable. Say what men may about " the anachronism of condemning pseudepigraphy," a pre- judice against pseudepigraphists, ancient as well as modern, is generally justified by facts. But this case is exceptional. The poet is a Jew writing songs. Now many of the songs in the Book of Psalms, and some of the most beautiful of them, were believed by the Jews to have been written, though of course by David, " in the name of" various characters. Solomon was, in a special sense, " the son of David," but failed to sustain the character, which Christians generally regarded as being fulfilled by Jesus, who succeeded where Solomon had failed, so that Jesus might be called the true Solomon. Solomon's Song of Songs represented, for Jews, the Wedding between the Church and the Lord ; liii PREFACE and Isaiah — or rather, some writers in the composite book called " Isaiah" — had predicted the enlargement of the Church to include the Gentiles. Later traditions, however, had tended to limit the Church to Jews, and the limitation was emphasized by the pre-Christian poems called The Psalms of Solomon. When they mentioned the Messiah, those Psalms mentioned Him only as the Patron of their nation against all others 1 . How tempting, then, for a Christian Jew, whose heart flowed to his lips in the poetic imagery of the national literature at its best, to take up this thread of the Destiny of Redemption, broken in the Psalms of Solomon, and to shew it, in new Songs of Solomon, continuously extending along the Way of the Lord from the beginning to the end ! Singing in Solomon's name, he might well feel it to be impossible for him to mention " Jesus " by name. But he repeatedly mentions the Lord's Christ, or Messiah, and that, not as a con- queror of Gentiles, but as the Redeemer of mankind, whom the last Ode brings before us in the act of drawing up the Church of the living from the darkness of the dead. The fifty-first Psalm of David with its passionate prayer for "a clean heart" may be pseud- epigraphic, but I do not understand how anyone can read the Psalm without feeling it to be profoundly simple and sincere. And in the same way, it seems not unreasonable to believe — as well as natural to feel — that these Odes of Solomon are sincere with a deep 1 See 3819a folL on the "Anointed," " Messiah," or "Christ," and on the use of the term in the Psalms and the Odes of Solomon severally. liv PREFACE and passionate sincerity — proving that other Jewish Christians, besides Paul, might not have seen Christ in the flesh, and yet might be forced to feel what Paul felt when he wrote to the Corinthians, " The love of Christ constraineth us." My obligations to the English version of the Odes by Dr Rendel Harris and to the German version by Dr Johannes Flemming, edited by Professor Harnack, will be found acknowledged in almost every note on every passage where I have attempted a version of my own. For brevity, the references to these two works being very numerous, that of Dr Rendel Harris is indicated by " R.H." and that of Professor Harnack and Dr Flemming by " H." I have received most valuable assistance, all through the work, from the Rev. G. Margoliouth, Senior Assistant in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS at the British Museum. And Professor Burkitt, besides giving me early notice of many of the readings in his newly discovered Codex, has kindly answered many questions of mine on special passages in the Odes. In a different way, I am deeply indebted to my friend Mr H. Candler, formerly Mathematical Master of Uppingham School, for his revision of my proofs from the literary point of view. Even as it is, the book, I fear, will be found by many so technical as to be somewhat repellent. But it would have been much more repellent without his criticisms. And the lv PREFACE " Preliminary," and portions of the Preface, were added at his suggestion. Having found frequent occasion in this work to correct false references in the works of others, I should like to add that, if the references in this volume, both in the Text and in the Indices, are generally accurate, the credit will be due, not to me, but to my daughter, who corrected a multitude of such inaccuracies in my manuscript. To the printers of the Cambridge University Press, my thanks, often due before for their skill in grappling with difficulties in arranging text and footnotes, are due more than ever on this occasion. EDWIN A. ABBOTT. Wellside, Well Walk, Hampstead, N. W. 9 Sept. 1912. lvi CONTENTS' References and Abbreviations PARE lxi — lxiv CHAPTER I SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS § 1 " Song " in the titles of the Hebrew Psalms (3636-40) § 2 The Song of Songs (3641—5) CHAPTER II THE CROWN OF THE LIVING TRUTH § 1 " The Crown " : its meaning for Jews, and its meaning for Gentiles (3646—8) § 2 Solomon's Crown (3649—53) § 3 The Crown of the Bridegroom (3654 — 8) § 4 The Crown, the Symbol of the Fulness of the Attributes of God (3659-68) CHAPTER III THE BELOVED § 1 The Members of the Messiah (3669—77) § 2 Love (3678—83) § 3 Rest, or Home (3684—9) § 4 Awakening to the Love of the Son (3690—91) § 5 The Son (3692—704) § 6 Did Jesus call Himself " the Son " ? (3705—10) 1 This Table gives the Contents of the Text. For the Contents of the Longer Footnotes, see pp. lx — lxi. lvii CONTENTS CHAPTER IV THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD § i The Temple (3711— 17) 8 2 God's " heart " and Man's " faith " (3718—22) § 3 God's "fellowship" with Man (3723—7) CHAPTER V THE HELP OF GOD § i The Lord our Protector (3728—31) § 2 The Lord our Rock (3732—4) § 3 "Persecutions" (3735—7) CHAPTER VI THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD § i The Well or Fountain within man's soul (3738—46) § 2 The River flowing out to the world (3746—8) CHAPTER VII THE WAY TO GOD § i "Running "on the "Way "to "Joy "(3749-64) §2 The "Way "(3755-9) § 3 The Lord "hath caused me to know Himself" (3760—61) § 4 "The Father" of this "Knowledge" is "the Word of Know- ledge " (3762-4) § 5 The Lord the " Creator" (3765—75) § 6 The Lord, "the Fulness of the Aeons and their Father" (3776—81) § 7 The " Way " is the " Son " (3782-8) § 8 The " Way " of the Lord " in Holiness," or " in the Holy Place " (3789—92) § 9 Creation's Song of Joy (3793) § io Inferences from this Ode (3794— 6) CHAPTER VIII THE SECRET OF THE LORD § i The Secret of Exultation (3797—803) 8 2 The Secret of Peace, Faith, and Knowledge (3804—9) § 3 The Secret is for " the New People, the Babe " (3810-17 (i)) lviii CONTENTS CHAPTER IX THE VICTORY OF THE LORD § i The Plan of the War (3818—19) § 2 Encouragement before the Battle (3820) § 3 Fighting for the Truth (3821—4) § 4 The Roll-Call after the Battle (3825—32) CHAPTER X LEADING CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE § i " Leading captive " for " freedom " (3833—8) § 2 Freedom (3839—41) § 3 The "gathering'' of "the peoples that had been scattered" (3842—6) CHAPTER XI THROUGH VICTORY TO PARADISE §i The growth and budding of the soul (3847— 8) § 2 The Water (3849—55) § 3 The Light (3856-8) § 4 The Earth (3859—64) § 5 The Sun and the Dew (3865—70) § 6 Planting (3871—3) § 7 Transplanting (3874—9) § 8 The Orchard with " abundant room " (3880—83) CHAPTER XI {continued) THE PURE AND PURIFYING MIRROR (3884) CHAPTER XII THE ARROW FROM THE BOW § i The " Letter" that " includes all districts " (3885—91) § 2 The "Bow "(3892— 6) § 3 The " Wheel" (3897-3902) § 4 The "Tablet" (3903-5) § 5 The "Sign "(3906— 17) § 6 Probable allusion to Purim (3918—22) lix CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII CONCLUDING REMARKS § i A provisional Hypothesis as to date (3923—37) § 2 A provisional Hypothesis as to continuity of thought (3938—53) APPENDIX I "SIGN" IN THE ODES § i Passages in the Odes mentioning " sign " (3954—62) § 2 Symbolism connected with the " sign " (3963—6) § 3 The " sign " and " spreading out" (3967—82) APPENDIX II THE CHARIOT OF TRUTH (3983(i)— 99) APPENDIX III TRANSLATIONS (3999 (i)) APPENDIX IV READINGS OF CODEX N (3999 (ii) i— 17) APPENDIX V THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES OR BOOTHS (3999 (iii) 1— 16) LONGER FOOTNOTES " Psalms "(3645 a— c) Noah and " rest" (3686 a— k) " The Son " in early Christian writings (3709 a— e) " The Son of the Vine" (3710 a— d) Jewish Views of God's " Place " (3727 a— c) "The Way of the Lord" and " the Way" (3755 c—J) " Receiving " from the Lord's " Sacrifice " (3781 d—/ t ) References to the Wisdom of Solomon (3781 hi — ^4) Aeons (3781 »— *,) Matthew's tradition about the "narrow way" (3784 i—q) The Poet's conception of " beauty " (3792/ — o 3 ) lx CONTENTS \ Addendum on " Death " and " Sheol " (3796 e—h) Addendum on Philo and the Logos (3796 i—f) " My mystery to me" (3802 b—j) The " flesh " and the " heart " (3809 e—h) The Secret (3809 i—o) The Antenatal Soul (3814 c—h) The "holy milk" (3814 l—o) Clement of Alexandria on " the Babe " (3817 a— i) Clement of Alexandria on " the Fruit of the Virgin " (3817 (i) a— g) Addendum on " begetting " (3817 (i) h) The "Anointed," " Messiah," or "Christ" (3819a— b a ) Addendum on "the ambiguous future" in the Odes (3832 a — e) " Kings" and "Shepherds" (3846a—*) "Speaking water" (3855 d—i) " Purchasing," "possessing," or "acquiring" (3858 h—n) " Paradise " (3872 a— J) The pure and purifying mirror (3884 a — z) Ephrem's use of the language of the Odes (3884 z, — z 7 ) "The Most High" (3922a— s) Addendum on "sign" in the Psalms of Solomon (3922 / — «) "The Kingdom" and "healing every sickness" (3940a — d) Addendum on the influence of Ezekiel on the Odes (3982 b — c) The man that "dropped waters of lying" (3996 a — h) The "way " of " the simple heart" (3999 b—h) "Casting lots" and "attacking" (3999 (ii) 17 d—g) The style of the Odes (3999 (ii) 17 h—s) INDICES I New Testament Passages II Passages in the Odes . III English . . . IV Greek. . PAGE 563 569 574 600 REFERENCES (i) Black Arabic numbers refer to paragraphs in the several volumes of Diatessarica, as to which see p. 603 : — 1— 272 = Clue. 273 — 552 = Correct ions of Mark. 553— 1149 -From Letter to Spirit. 1150—1435 = Paradosis. 1136— 18&5=Jo/ianni>ie Vocabulary. lxi REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS 1886 — 2799 =Johannine Grammar. 2800— 2999 = Notes on New Testament Criticism. 3000—3635- The Son of Man. 3636 — 3999 = Light on the Gospel from an ancient Poet. (ii) The Books of Scripture are referred to by the ordinary ab- breviations, except where specified below. But when it is said that Samuel, Isaiah, Matthew, or any other writer, wrote this or that, it is to be understood as meaning the writer, whoever he may be, of the words in question, and not as meaning that the actual writer was Samuel, Isaiah, or Matthew. (iii) The principal Greek MSS are denoted by X> A, B, etc. ; the Latin versions by a, b, etc., as usual. The Syriac version discovered by Mrs Lewis on Mount Sinai is referred to as SS, i.e. " Sinaitic Syrian." It is always quoted from Prof. Burkitt's translation. I regret that in the first three vols, of Diatessarica Mrs Lewis's name was omitted in connection with this version. (iv) The text of the Greek Old Testament adopted is that of B, edited by Prof. Swete ; of the New, that of Westcott and Hort. (v) Modern works are referred to by the name of the work, or author, vol., and page, e.g. Levy iii. 343 a, i.e. vol. iii. p. 343, col. 1. ABBREVIATIONS Aq. = Aquila's version of O.T. Brederek = Brederek's Konkordanz turn Targum Onkelos, Giessen,' 1906. Burk. = Prof. F. C. Burkitt's Evangelion Da-mepharreshe, Cambridge University Press, 1904. C h r. = Ch ro nicies. Clem. Alex. 42 = Clement of Alexandria in Potter's page 42. Dalman, Words = Words of Jesus, Eng. Transl. 1902; Aram. t?.= Grammatik des Judisch-Palastinischen Aramaisch, 1894. En. = Enoch ed. Charles, Clarendon Press, 1893. Ency. = Encyclopaedia Biblica. Ephrem = Ephraemus Syrus, ed. Moesinger. Etheridge = Etheridge's translations of the Targums on the Pentateuch. Euseb.=the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius. Field = Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt, Oxford, 1875, also Otium Norvicense, 1881. Gesen. = the Oxford edition of Gesenius. Goldschm. = Z?Psalms of Solomon, ed. Ryle and James, Cambr. 1891. R., after Gen., Exod., Lev. etc. means Rabboth, and refers to Wiinsche's edition of the Midrash on the Pentateuch, e.g. Gen. r. (on Gen. xii. 2, Wii. P- 177)- Rashi, sometimes quoted from Breithaupt's translation, 1714. R.H.= Tke Odes and Psalms of Solomon, ed. Rendel Harris, see Preliminary, p. xviii, and Preface, p. Iv. S. «= Samuel ; s. = " see." Schottg. = Schottgen's Horae Htbraicae, 2 vols., Dresden and Leipzig, 1733 and 1742. Sir. = the work of Ben Sira, i.e. the son of Sira. It is commonly called Ecclesiasticus (see Clue 20 a). The original Hebrew has been edited, in part, by Cowley and Neubauer, Oxf. 1897; in part, by Schechter and lxiii REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS Taylor, Cambr. 1899; in part, by G. Margoliouth, Jewish Quart. Rev., Oct. 1899. SS, see (iii) above. Steph. Thes. = Stephani Thesaurus Graecae Linguae (Didot). Sym. = Symmachus's version of O.T. Targ. (by itself) is used where only one Targum is extant on the passage quoted. Targ. Jer., Targ. Jon., and Targ. Onk., see Jer. Targ., Jon. Targ., and Onk., above. Tehillim = Midrash on Psalms, ed. Wiinsche (2 vols.). Test XII Patr.= Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, ed. Charles, 1908 (Gk., Clarendon Press, Eng., A. & C. Black). Theod. =Theodotion's version of O.T. Thes. = Payne Smith's Thesaurus Syriacus, Oxf. 1901. Tromm. = Trommius' Concordance to the Septuagint. Tryph. = the Dialogue between Justin Martyr and Trypho the Jew. Walton = Z?iWjVi Sacra Polyglotta, 1657. Wetst. = Wetstein's Comm. on the New Testament, Amsterdam, 175 1. W.H. = Westcott and Hort's New Testament. \Vu. = Wunsche's translation of Rabboth etc., 1880— 1909 (including Mechilta, Pesikta Rab Kahana, Tehillim &c). (a) A bracketed Arabic number, following Mk, Mt., etc., indicates the number of instances in which a word occurs in Mark, Matthew, etc., e.g. iydnr, Mk (o), Mt. (1), Lk. (1), Jn (7). (b) Where verses in Hebrew, Greek, and Revised Version, are ' numbered differently, the number of R.V. is given alone. (c) In transliterating a Hebrew, Aramaic, or Syriac word, preference has often, but not invariably, been given to that form which best reveals the connection between the word in question and forms of it familiar to English readers. Where a word is not transliterated, it is often indicated (for the sake of experts) by a reference to Gesen., Thes., Levy, or Levy Ch. Ixiv CHAPTER I SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS § I. "Song" in tlie titles of the Hebrew Psalms [3636] 'The title of the MS. for the discovery of which the world is indebted to Dr Rendel Harris is printed by him at the beginning of the Syriac text, and in Syriac, in such a form as to suggest that the scribe knew the MS. to contain two distinct classes of poems attributed to Solomon. But that title does not exist in the MS. Each poem, whether it belong to the so-called Odes or to the Psalms that follow, has as a title or heading a form of the Hebrew and Syriac emr, which the LXX habitually renders " psalm." These separate headings Dr Harris has not printed. If they were ancient, they would be important evidence that all the poems, old and new, were regarded as of one kind. But there are no such headings in the much more ancient MS. discovered by Professor Burkitt. We may therefore put aside the separate headings that do exist, along with the initial title that does not exist, in Dr Harris" MS., and turn to other evidence as to the distinctive character of the newly discovered poems. [3637] That evidence is partly external. The Pistis Sophia, which quotes the Canonical Psalms as "Psalms" and as "David's," quotes the newly discovered poems as 1 On the meaning of the paragraph numbers see References and Abbreviations on pp. lxi, lxii. a. L. [3637] SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS " the Odes of Solomon." Lactantius also quotes a passage from them as written by "Solomon in the nineteenth Ode 1 ." 1 [3637 a] See R.H. 2nd ed. pp. 8—9, quoting Lact. Div. Inst. iv. 12 "Salomon in ode undevicesima," and adding that "Lactantius is working from a book of Odes arranged in the same order as ours : if he had both Psalms and Odes in his collection, then the Odes preceded the Psalms. And further, since Lactantius quotes in Latin, the book was extant in a Latin translation in his time ; for when Lactantius quotes Greek books, as in the case of the Sibylline verses, he quotes in Greek and does not offer a translation." If it were true that Lactantius never translates when he "quotes Greek books," the fact would be important as shewing that, in his time, there existed no Greek translation so well known and so authoritative as to induce him to quote from it. But see 3781/ [3637*] There appears to be some uncertainty about the text of Lactantius, as may be gathered from R.H. 1st ed. and 2nd ed. in which I have underlined the most important expressions : — R.H. 1st ed. "In the Divine Institutes (Bk iv. c. 12) we have the following passage : ' Salomon ita dicit : Infirmatus est uterus Virginis et accepit foetum et gravata est, et facta est in multa miseratione mater virgo.' "And in the Epitome of the Divine Institutes the passage is introduced by the words Apud Salomonen (sic) ita scriptum est ; to this quotation there was (sic) added in the AfSS. of Lactantius " — presumably meaning the Institutes, not the Epitome — "the words in Ode undevigesimo (sic) or in Psalmo undevigesimo or in Psalmo vigesimo . These references Jo a igth Psalm or Ode or to a 20th Psalm betray a knowledge...." R.H. 2nd ed. "In the Divine Institutes (Bk iv. c. 12) we have the following passage : ' Salomon in ode undevicesima ita dicit : Infirmatus est uterus Virginis [as above]... mater virgo.' "And in the Epitome of the Divine Institutes the passage is introduced by the words Apud Salomonem ita scriptum est . These references to a vqth Ode betray a knowledge...." A footnote in the first edition attached to " Ode undevigesimo J ' says " So in the Cambridge MS. Gg. 4. 24 ; but in the MS. Kk. 4. 17 of the same University the reference is wanting." A footnote in the 2nd ed., attached to " ode undevicesima? repeats this and adds that the reference is found "in all MSS. in the apparatus of Brandt's edition." A comparison of these varied statements raises a doubt as to the meaning of "these references to a nineteenth Ode." Apparently there is only one reference at most. For there is none at all in the Epitome, SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS [3637] though R.H. 1st ed. might give the reader the impression that there was one. And, as to the Institutes, the variations "Ode undevigesimo," "ode undevicesima;- "Psalmo undevigesimo," and "Psalmo vigesimo," together with the absence of any reference at all in the MS. Kk. 4. 17, make it doubtful whether the reference (whatever it may be) proceeded from the pen of Lactantius. The quotation from the Institutes, as given in T. and T. Clark's translation (Introd. xii) "from Migne's edition," has "Thus Solomon speaks: 'The womb of a virgin was strengthened and conceived..."' obviously reading "firmatus" instead of "infirmatus." [3637 c] The passage referred to by Lactantius (Ode xix. 6, an Ode not translated in this volume) deserves comment both because of its intrinsic importance and because it bears on the hypothesis of translation from the Greek. R.H. suggests concerning "infirmatus est uterus" that it is (p. 9) "a mistake for ' insinuatus,'" and (p. 116) "the original Greek was perhaps ivtKo\niH0^(R.H. .«>«£*).... (2) xiv. 7 — 8 Teach me the psalms (so R.H.) of thy truth, that I may bring forth fruit in thee ; and open to me the harp of thy Holy Spirit that with all sounds-of-melody (3741 d) ( Thes. 3603) I may glorify thee, O Lord. (3) xvi. 1 — 2 As the work of the husbandman is the [work of the] plough. ..so also [is] my work the psalm (so R.H., but H. Lied, not in Index) of the Lord. In His songs-of-glorifying [consists] my craft, and in His songs-of-glorifying my occupation consists. (4) xxvi. 1—3, 8 I poured out a song-of-glorifying to the Lord, for I am His, and I will utter the holy psalm (R.H. song) that is His.. .for His harp is in my hands and the psalms (R.H. Odes) of His rest shall not be silent. ...Who [is there] that can write the psalms (so R.H.) of the Lord, or who [is there] that can read them ? (5) xxxvi. 2 And it (i.e. the Spirit) established me on my feet in the high [place] of the Lord, before His perfection and glorifying while I was glorifying [Him] by the harmonizing {or, composing) of His psalms (R.H. songs) (3792 s). (6) xl. 5 So my heart gushes forth [with] the song-of-glorifying of the Lord, and my lips bring forth to Him the song-of-glorifying, and my tongue Hispsalms (so R.H.). [3640 e] The reader will notice in some of these passages a mention of "harp" (3640/) at no great interval from "psalm."' This harp is "a harp of many voices," or the harp of God's "Holy Spirit," or "His harp." This last expression reminds us of an expression unique in the Bible, 8 I I SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS [3641] § 2. The Song of Songs [3641] To this second statement some critics may be unwilling to assent. The new poems, they may think, are too beautiful to owe much, if anything, to a source where they, the critics, find no spiritual inspiration. But the question is, Rev. xv. 2 — 3 "And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire ; and them that come victorious from the beast,. ..standing by [the brink of] the glassy sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb." This passage suggests the question, "Where did the Seer find any mention of 'harps' in con- nection with the Song of Moses, since Exodus mentions no instruments except (xv. 20) 'timbrels' of the women?" The answer is in a Psalm that describes the procession of triumph after the passage of the Red Sea, Ps. lxviii. 25 "The singers went before, the minstrels (lit players-on- stringed-instruments) followed after." The "minstrels," said R. Jochanan (Exod. r. on Exod. xv. I, Wii. pp. 178—9) were "the angels." After the passage of the Red Sea they wished to sing a psalm at once, but God gave the Israelites precedence over them (so, too, Rashi on* Ps. lxviii. 25). It will be found that Ode vii. 19 — 26 is alluding to the Passage of the Red Sea, and is also alluding to that Psalm. But our poet, like the author of Revelation, regards the Song of Moses as merely a preparation for the Song of the Lamb. See 3781 v foil. [3640/] The last of the six passages above quoted is the least easy to explain as giving a distinctive meaning to "psalm"; but even in that there appears a gradation rising from the unpremeditated "song-of- glorifying " that is in the heart, to the " psalm " that is articulated by the "tongue." In the other passages, there is either a mention of "harp" in the context, or there is something indicating more than the mere spontaneous outflow of a single voice of praise. The Ode (xxxvi. 2) that speaks of this " harmonizing " as being " in the high [place] of the Lord " suggests that the writer may have in mind those celestial harmonies which Revelation connects with "harps" and "harpers." Only there is this difference. Revelation never mentions one harp. Our author does, thereby suggesting that all the melodies and harmonies of single Saints and united congregations are parts of one divine Concord. It should also be noted that "psalm" is hardly ever mentioned without something in the context to indicate that the subject is of a joyful and not a penitential character ; so that the poem is — as some of the Hebrew titles of the Psalms say — "a psalm, a song." This, in Syriac, would naturally be expressed by "a psalm, a song-of glorifying." [3641] SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS not what we in the West find now, but what Jews found eighteen or nineteen centuries ago; and for that, we must go back to one of the noblest and bravest and most venerated among them, Rabbi Akiba. This is what Akiba, who is quoted approvingly by Rashi, said of the Song of Songs : — " There was no day in all the world so glorious as that on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel. For all the sacred scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies'." To the same effect, and almost in the same words, writes Origen : — " Whereas we have learned, through Moses, that some things are not only holy but holy of holies, and others not only sabbaths but also sabbaths of sabbaths, so now we are taught, by the writing of Solomon, that some things are not only songs but also songs of songs'." [3642] No evidence exists that either among Jews or among Christians there was any dissent in the first century from this high estimate of Solomon's Song. On the contrary, the early Christian doctrine about the Church as being the Bride of Christ, or else as being His body, favours the view that both Paul and the author of Revelation accepted the Song as conveying profound spiritual teaching to which they them- selves were indebted. Indeed it could hardly be otherwise. For, being Jews, they could not have rejected the Song as non-scriptural ; and, believing it to be scriptural, they could not have accepted it as a mere literalistic love-song'. 1 See Rashi on Cant. i. I, quoting Jadaim, 75 £. 2 Origen Horn. Cant. i. I (Lomra. xiv. 237). 3 [3642 a\ See Pref. p. xlvii foil, on Cant i. 2 " Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth" — taken by Origen (adloc. Lomm. xiv. 240) as meaning that the Bride beseeches the Father of the Bridegroom that the Bride- groom may kiss her not through the lips of Messengers such as Angels or Prophets, but with His own lips (comp. Heb. i. 1). The "kiss," then, is, in effect, the direct revelation of the Word of God, and so Jewish tradition understands it, though not, of course, in the Christian sense. Philo (Quaest. Gen. on Gen. ii. 16—17) says.about "grex," "chorus," "gens" &c, "haec enim omnia per multa (? permulta, i.e. though very many) sunt una 10 SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS [3644] [3643] Our conclusion is, that these Odes of Solomon, though they may have various subjects of joy and thanks- giving, are likely to be found to possess a mystical character. They will probably all presuppose, even where they do not mention, that divine redemption of Israel by Jehovah which was to be effected by His taking up His abode with His people, God dwelling-together with Man. This "dwelling- together" was expressed for Israel at first by the Tent, or Tabernacle, of Meeting, and afterwards by Solomon's Temple, both of which were regarded as the home of the Shechinah, the meeting-place of God the Bridegroom and Israel the Bride. [3644] It would be as the Builder of. this Temple, this Place of Meeting for Lord and Bride — that Solomon would be present to the mind of the writer of such Songs as these. Whether he were Jewish or Christian in faith, whether he wrote before or after the destruction of the Temple by Titus, the poet would recognise that Solomon's Temple in its mystical sense, the ideal Sanctuary of the Lord, remained to be built. Herodians and vulgarians might point with pride to the vast stones and the lavish gold of Ezra's Temple repaired and redecorated by the Herods. But he could not. communitns dilectione, velut osculo, connexa." Comp. Rom. xvi. 16 "with a holy kiss," and see 1 Pet. v. 14 &c. A different thought is found in Origen's comment on Cant. viii. 1 "I will kiss thee, finding (tvpovtra) thee outside.'' He says "That is to say, outside Jerusalem, where He was crucified." This appears explicable from the statement that the women near Christ's tomb (Mt. xxviii. 9) "took hold of his feet and worshipped (irpoTi6fi #* ■» MA***/— Clem. Alex. (,93-S) P"" as.de all the materialistic distinctions of David's instruments of music by insisting that our body is an "organ," our nerves are "strings," our mouth is the ^e," which is "struck by the Spirit, as by a plectrum." He deprecates a ik "plaintive (yap**) numbers" and warlike tones, and describe the Soirit as crying to Humanity (Ps. cl. 6) "Let everythmg that hath breath p r P a \IM Lord." Overriding the Jewish and the Pauline distinction of Terms he goes so far as to say, when quoting Paul (Eph. v .0, Col. .,,. .6) J9T) "the psalm is a blessing expressed in melody," and "the Apostle 14 SONGS, AS DISTINCT FROM PSALMS [3645] But he is for the most part engaged in writing "songs of praise" or "glorifyings," putting aside other matters in accordance with the words of the Psalmist " In his Temple everything saith, Glory." has called the psalm a spiritual song (ipbrjv)." But still Clement, like Philo, and like the author of the Odes, assumes that the business of an Ode, or Song, is to " praise " (or " glorify ") the Lord. Addendum. [3645 d] Bearing on (3637* foil.) the quotation by Lactantius (Inst. iv. 13 "infirmatus est uterus Virginis") Dom Connolly (Journ. of Theol. Stud., Jan. 1912, p. 308) renders Ode xix. 6 "The womb of the Virgin caught (it)" — where "it" refers to "the milk of the two breasts of the Father" — "and received conception and brought forth," supporting "caught" (Syr. gphth) by reference to Syr. gph, which (Thes. 687 and comp. 763) means "catch in a net" (and which, with a fern, subj., would become gphth). This, he suggests, may have been a translation of ixparrirrfv, which, being corrupted into r/Kpar^trtv, may have given rise to "infirmatus est" in Lactantius. But would not this be a reversal of the rule that the uncommon is corrupted into the common ? Kparia is so common that it occurs 15 times in Mark alone, anpaTca so uncommon that Steph. Thes. does not quote it outside the physician Hippocrates and the grammarian Pollux. If iicparr)5 CHAPTER II THE CROWN OF THE LIVING TRUTH* § I. " Tlie Crown": its meaning for Jews, and its meaning for Gentiles [3646] The first Ode opens with the mention of a " crown " (repeated in several later Odes). Beginning with a simile, "the Lord is on my head like a crown," it passes into a metaphor, and a bold one, " Thou livest upon my head, and thou liast blossomed upon my head." The abrupt transition from "the Lord," in the third person, to "Thou livest," in the second, might easily be paralleled from the Psalms of David. But here there is an intervening sentence which it would not be so easy to parallel, "THEY (?) wove 1 for me the crown of Truth and it caused thy branches to bud in me." The poet seems as it were to turn away from himself to the divine personality of the crown that is his, yet not his, as if saying "it caused branches — [which are] thine, [O Lord, not mine] — to bud in me." [3647] This seems to pre-suppose thoughts, not per- ceptible on the surface, about the crown as a religious symbol. And this impression is confirmed by the rest of the Ode, * For the continuous translation of this Ode see Appendix ill. 1 [3646 a] H. renders this by the passive, "Geflochten ist mir," R.H. by " they." Such an idiom with " they " may simply be a way of ex- pressing the passive. But perhaps they (Son 3041 a &c.) is preferable here, so as to suggest divine agency. 1 6 (Ode i. 1—4) II ™e_crown^ofjhe living truth from H in^ L ° rd ,S ^ ^ ^^ ' ike a «""»' «* «*•* I be apart 2. THEY (or, they) wove for me the crown of Truth and it caused thy branches to bud in me (3668 a). 3- For it is not like a withered crown which buddeth not, but thou hvest upon my head, and th ou has t b.ossomed upon my head 4- Thy fru.ts are full and perfect, full of thy salvation... > [3648] What precisely is meant by - the crown of Truth »? Why does the wnter insist so strongly, not only on its no wthenng but also on its bearing fruit ? What relation ha 2£ n d to t the one with which we are fami,iar '•- ^ htera ure, and to some extent in the Pauline and Petrine Eptst es, wh lt is regarded as the pr . ze Qf a ^^ ne of t h Z: a T ti0n fS madC betWee " the ^ "«™»" of the elders ,„ heaven' and the "diadems" worn by the s :::z d ; b :-- t on> the w ° rd ° f God «^ • >• seen and upon h,s head many diadems'," apparently in ^tmg^h^ nqueri ng Word will subject to^f all omiueS A^'ooll^^ This indices ?hat° ^XT.*,To "1*! "f ™* " °* iH " therefore fo„owed H. who p r Ls OdeT^ ^p, t " "" '" ' haVe Rev. w. 4 , ,o. Comp. ib. ii. IO , jii , , -d £££"£££ &%; ''«?*x ar ; assigned to the Dra ^ "a **. folded round Z ^S^tX" f** CaeS " RevefaT,^ In^V^S ™"7 of" crown " seems to vary in it were crowns £,M"J1 P °" v,'" ^ {U ° f lhe loCusts > « suggest the unJatty IS iity o7 " no ^ " f"** inte " ded to Rev. vi. 2 « and a ™„2I P " ' nd,Cated ^ these "owns. quering and that he nXhr *"*" "^ h[m ' a " d he went **»• con- g no that he might conquer " i s quole d by Irenaeus (iv. 2, ,) as >7 (Ode 1.1—4) 2 [3648] THE CROWN OF THE LIVING TRUTH the kingdoms of the earth, besides reigning over the Kingdom of heaven. Are we to suppose here that the " crown " implies ( i ) a garland or (2) a diadem ? Or does it imply both' ? § 2. Solomon's Crown [3649] In attempting to explain the meaning of a poet who professes to write Songs of Solomon, and who places referring to the Lord, i.e. Christ. It may mean the Lord (as revealed l,n the prophets) working through such powers as those typ.fied by Nebu- chadnezzar or Cyrus, used by God as His agents. Rev. xn. I and on her head a crown of twelve stars" denotes the Jewish Church, regarded as the Mother of the Messiah, where the thought seems to be that "children" are the "crown" of parents (comp. Prov. xv... 6) This seems different from the "crown" in Rev. ii. .0 " I will give thee the crown of life? iii. n "hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown." But this again seems different from the meaning in Rev. xiv. 14 " one sitting like unto a son of man, having on h.s head a golden crown." Apparently there is a distinction between "the crown and "the golden crown." "The crown," or "the crown of Me,- has to be retained by effort, or is regarded as a future prize But crowns o ^o d are worn (Rev. iv. 4) by the "four and twenty dders" who have p. sed through the conflict and are beyond the reach of loss; and the golden crown" is the sign of Him who is to »sit»on the "white cloud" to judge the i e [36«M In Revelation, the Syr. uses a separate word (Thes. 4386) to represent the Gk diadem from that which it employs ( Thes _ .73° WJO to represent the Gk crown. The latter is the word used all through the Odes We must not, however, infer that in the Odes the ^word never means royal crown but always crown in the sense of garland or j*jpto. For the Syr. of Wisdom (v. .6, xviii. 24) renders the Gk Mm ju as sr s C.^ oribus Se^eb^ut this , o ^^^J^TJ thc ESther ' I o T andt Ld only oL in the Prophet, The Syr. word canonical OT and -s used y ^ ^^ ^ ^ sense _. /*. Gr. 2263 e—f). • Jn vi. 63, 2 Cor. iii. 6 (comp. 1 Cor. xv. 45 "the last Adam became life-giving spirit"). 4 [3669 a] " His members." The scribe has written " my members " but has himself corrected the error. For MS. errors, in connection with the personal suffix, see footnotes in 3999 (ii) passim referring to 3669a. 6 " Dearly-loves." More lit. " fervently-loves," or " burns with love." On the conception of love implied in these and the following words see 3681 foil, and comp. 3809 u. 6 "Love... loved." Not the same word as above, but one that denotes tenderness and sometimes means compassion (3681). 35 (Ode iii. 1—5) [3669] THE BELOVED 4. Who is able to discern-and-interpret 1 love except the one that is loved? 5. Dearly-love I the Beloved, and [indeed] my soul' loveth Him. [3670] First, as to the connection between the beginning of this Ode {"put o?i") and what precedes. " Put on the grace of the Lord " is connected by the poet elsewhere (in Ode XX quoted above) with "make tliee a crown from His tree',' that is, from the Tree of Life. Now the Tree of Life, though not actually mentioned in Ode I, is implied in its last words "Thy fruits are full...." The "fruits" are those of "the Lord." It is no great step from saying that the Tree of Life is " His tree',' to saying that He is the Tree — especially in view of the fact that the Book of Proverbs says concerning the supreme Wisdom, "She is a tree of life to them. that lay hold upon her'." In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus says, " I am the Vine, ye are the branches 4 ." So here, the writer appears to have said, in effect, in Ode I — and perhaps would be found to have actually said if we had before us the completion of Ode I and the missing Ode II — "The Lord is the Tree of Life." [3671] May we suppose that in Ode II the writer used this Johannine metaphor, but expanded it into " The Lord is the Tree of Life and I am one of the branches'!" In such language we could find a preparation for the strange phrase 1 [3669 6] " Discern-and-interpret." Thes. 3303 shews that the word means " divide," in the senses of " discerning " and " interpreting." Here it seems to mean "discern" the existence, and "interpret" to oneself the nature, of that which is, to the unloved, an enigma. 2 [3669 c] "Thou (or, he) whom my soul loveth" occurs five times in the Song of Songs (i. 7, iii. 1 — 4) and nowhere else in the Bible. " Soul " emphasizes, by means of the subject, that which "dearly-love," in the parallel clause, emphasizes by means of the verb. Origen goes too far in saying (on Cant. i. 7) that it means "ex tola anima et ex totis viribus et ex toto corde" (Lomra. xiv. 393). But still, emphasis is intended. » Prov. iii. 18. 4 Jn. xv. 5. , 36 (Ode iii. 1 — 5) THE BELOVED [3673] in Ode III "in them do I hang" i.e. I hang among the branches of the Tree of Life, the Messiah. But against this, is the objection that " them " must refer to the preceding " members." We should therefore have to suppose' a rapid shifting of metaphor : — " in the members [of the Messiah, that is to say in the brandies of the Tree of Life] do I hang." This is somewhat harsh. [3672] Turning in another direction to explain this obscure expression, we are safe in beginning with the assumptions (1) that it is metaphor, (2) that it is erotic metaphor (since almost one word in five of the context speaks of " love "). "Members," metaphorically used about the members of the Messiah with more than Pauline boldness, may be illustrated from the Acts of Thomas, at the beginning of which Jesus says to the Twelve " Come hither, my members, strong and holy 1 ." Afterwards, in another version of these Acts, Thomas, at a feast, sings (in Hebrew, not understood by the guests) a song concerning the " Daughter of Light, on whom rests the royal ray of splendour, the magnificent," and " on whose head the King is firmly fixed'.. ." She "shews forth joy with her feet,... thirty and two are they that sing her praises'," and "her neck is made in the likeness of the stairs which the first Creator created." [3673] The translation of the Acts of Thomas published by T. and T. Clark refers, in the context, to no passage of the 1 Acta Thomae (ed. James) § 1. » [3672a] Acta Thomae (ed. Tisch.) § 6. The "royal ray" appears to mean " the crown of light " which is a name given in the Pisiis Sophia to the "crown" mentioned in Ode i. The King also "nourishes with ambrosia those who are firmly fixed on Him" — a metaphor incompatible with that of the King " firmly fixed " on the head of the Daughter of Light It proceeds " But Truth lies on her head," which appears to be a repetition in prose of what precedes in poetry. The " King " is "Truth." • [3672*] "Thirty and two." Comp. Faerie Queene ii. 9. 26 "twice tixteene warders sat." Cant. iv. 2, vi. 6 is simpler, "thy teeth are like a flock of sheep." 37 (Ode iii. 1—5) [3673] THE BELOVED Song of Songs mentioning the " neck 1 "; but it can hardly be doubted that the author of the Acts had before him the two mystical — or at all events, by Jews, mystically regarded — descriptions of "members" in that Song, and perhaps in particular, " Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armoury, a thousand bucklers hang thereon 1 ." This passage is referred to by both Talmuds as indicating that the Temple must be the centre towards which the faces and thoughts of all Jews must converge in prayer 8 . That " hang on " is a poetical and unusual form of the scriptural " cleave to" is indicated by a tradition saying that, in "the new heaven and the new earth," the righteous " hang on the throne of the Majesty under the wings of the Shechinah," quoting, in support of this, a Deuteronomic statement about "cleaving to the Lord 4 ." [3674] "The neck," said one of many traditions in the Midrash, "is the Temple 8 ." "The Temple" would seem to the point here. For the next Ode begins with the words "No man, O my God, changeth thy holy place." It will be found to be a frequent characteristic of this poet that he prepares the way, by some brief and subordinate ex- pression in one Ode, for the subject that he is going to 1 It refers merely to Cant. iv. 14 "spikenard and saffron," no doubt correctly, but inadequately. 2 Cant. iv. 4. Comp. ib. v. 10—15 which proceeds from head to foot, and :'*. vii. I — 5 which proceeds from foot to head. » Berach. 30 a and/ Berach. iv. 6 (5) (Schwab p. 90). The Midrash on Cant. iv. 4 gives various explanations implying the power of mediation, or merit, and giving to " hang " the force of " adhering " (" gebunden "). « [3673 a] Midr. on Ps. xlvi. 2 (Wii. i. 294) quoting Is. lxv. 17 and Deut. iv. 4 "cleave." In Deut. iv. 4, however, the Heb. "cleave" ("die ihr an dem Ewigen, eurem Gotte, hanget") is rendered by a Syriac word (T/tes. 2457) different from the one now under consideration (Thes. 4440). The latter means " suspend," "hang up." So Philo (ii. 10) says that God "hangs up (awncpf/War) " the soul (detaching it from earthly degrading forces) and pulls it up to Himself. * Midr. on Cant. iv. 4 (Wii. p. 113)- 38 (Ode iii. 1—5) ! THE HELOVED [3676] take up and develop in the Ode following. Accordingly, here, it is not improbable that the poet, under the metaphor of the '• members " of the Messiah, is preparing the way for the approaching thought of the Temple not made with hands. Israel's " neck " was " erect " — so say two Rabbis in the last quoted Midrash — when the Temple was being built, but drooped when the Temple fell ; as the " neck " is at the top of Man, so is the Temple " at the top of the world " ; as ornaments hang round the " neck," so do " the Priests and the Levites" round the Temple. There was also a Jewish tradition about the letters of the name of Abraham as counting for a number equal to that of the "members" of the human body 1 . Much of this is, documentarily, very late tradition. But it points back to much earlier thought. And the evidence, as a whole, seems to shew that our author, without any borrowing from Pauline sources, may here be painting a picture of his own, with Jewish colours, when he describes himself as " hanging " in the " members "* of the Lord. [3676] Yet it is only fair to add that in dealing with a writer of this kind, exuberant in metaphor, condensed in expression, and frequent (even to a fault) in allusion, we ought to be unusually cautious in saying " This, or that, alone, and nothing else, was in the writer's mind." As an instance, take, by themselves, these words of Origen, preserved in Latin, "Pendere enim in solo Deo debemus'," "We ought to hang in God alone." What do they mean ? [3676] Of course we must turn to the context to reply. And a hasty glance at the preceding words might seem to 1 [3674 a] See Gen. r. (on Gen. xii. 2 " I will make of thee a great nation") Wii. p. 178. That the name of Abraham should numerically equal 248, the number of the members of the human body, would symbolize the "great nation.'' This number was also that of the positive precepts of the Law. % Horn. Gen. ii. 4 (Lomm. viii. 139). Comp. 3982 a. 39 (Ode iii. 1—5) [3676] THE BELOVED THE BELOVED [3679] give the answer. For they quote from Deuteronomy the words "Cursed by God is every one that hangeth (pendet) on a tree (in ligno)." This might lead us to say, " He is referring to the crucifixion, and to the Pauline doctrine of being 'crucified with Christ', and the meaning is, 'We ought to be as it were crucified with the crucifixion provided by God, through His Son, as the means of our salvation.'" But a further examination shews that this is not at all events the primary meaning. For Origen is talking about trees, and about the "tree" of Assyria, "envied" for its beauty by "the trees of the Paradise of God." Then he asks, in effect, whether " hanging " on a " tree " may not mean depending on a " tree," that is, on human aid, which is an accursed thing as Jeremiah says, "Cursed is the man that placeth his hope in man!' And the full sentence from which we first quoted is "We ought to hang in God alone, and not in any other [being], even though one {quis) may be said to come from ' the Paradise of God ' [like Satan to Eve] as also Paul says... 1 ." [3677] With this caution as to possible complexity of allusion, we may accept, as a working hypothesis, the view that the writer is here regarding the Messiah as a Person, or a Tree, representing the spiritual Israel, without any allusion to Pauline doctrine or to the crucifixion. But see 3962 b. § 2. Love [3678] Before passing to comparatively small verbal questions about the poet's vocabulary of love, attention is due to his introduction of the doctrine of love-obvious, when understood, but easily misunderstood. How easily, may be gathered from a misunderstanding of the kindred Johannine saying, "We love because he first loved us'," indicated by a rendering in some versions, "Let us love, because he first Gal. i. 8. 1 i Jn iv. 19, see Westcott's note. 40 (Ode iii. 1— s) . \ ; loved us." In such a rendering, " because " would probably be taken by many to mean " as a requital for"; as though we are to love God out of a sense of what is just and fair, in a kind of bargain — " He loved us, and therefore it is only fair that we should love Him." All these bargain-notions are fatal to true love, because they deceive us into confusing with it a spurious substitute, which is really a form of selfishness. And the passage now before us exposes their deceptiveness at once briefly and excellently, going to the very root of the theory of the transmission of love : — " I should not have known how to love the Lord, if He had not first loved me," and " Who is able to discern-and-interpret love except the one that is loved ?" [3679] We are all familiar with the doctrine implied in the Pauline self-correction " But now, having known God, or rather having been known by God '." But we are not so familiar with the doctrine implied by our poet which is no less true and perhaps more profitable ; and which might have been expressed by a parallel self-correction, " But now, having loved God, or rather having been loved by God." It is most important to recognise the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of loving God — except through His ap- pointed means. The truth is that we cannot feel real love for God until we have accepted God's love for us. Our heart is like a mirror covered by a veil which we have the power to remove. The light of the love of God, descending on us through many avenues — through non-human Nature, through Humanity (living and dead), through Christ — beats on the covering, appealing that it may be removed. Remove it, and our heart, in one and the same moment, beholds the light and reflects the light. In proportion as we remove the veil, we feel God's love for us, and we return some portion of it back to Him. Retain the veil, and we neither feel His love, 1 Gal. iv. 9. 41 (Ode iii. 1 — 5) [3679] THE BELOVED nor return His love, nor have any notion at all of what His love means 1 . [3680] If that is the author's view of the truth, we ought not to be surprised that he takes some pains to distinguish it from such parodies of the truth as commend themselves to the coarser side of our nature because they are definite and clear and in harmony with business habits and commercial thoughts. And if he appears to take pains to make distinctions we ought to take pains to understand them. There may be doubts arising from the uncertainty that attends a Syriac text not improbably translated from Hebrew (or, less probably, from Greek). The Syriac may here and there confuse words that were distinguished in the original. That has actually occurred in some versions of the dialogue in the Fourth Gospel (xxi. 15 foil.) between Jesus and Peter, where the two Greek words for "loving" distinguished by John — as almost every competent student of the Greek text will admit — are not distinguished in the Syriac and some of the Latin versions. And there are other instances of such confusion. In transla- tions, much will depend on the translator. If he is florid and verbose and averse to repetition of the same word, or forms of the same word, we cannot depend on him. But our translator — if he is a translator — appears at the outset to be free from these faults, and it seems reasonable to begin, at all events, by supposing him to be guiltless till he is proved to be guilty. This course also has the advantage of not committing us to any conclusions that may have to be cancelled if it should turn out that there has been no translation (or, at all events, no translation from Greek). We pass, then, to the smaller but not unimportant question as to the precise meaning of the word with which the Odes introduce the subject of love (rendered in the text " dearly- See note on the Mirror (3884a foil.). 42 (Ode iii. 1 — 5) I THE BELOVED [3681] love") and as to the distinction, if any, between that and "love." [3681] The Syriac for " dearly-love " is different (and etymologically very different) from that for "love." The latter, which implies tenderness and sometimes means "com- passion,"' is etymologically and idiomatically different from the former, which describes what may be called " burning- love," or " fervent-love 1 ." In the Odes both words are used, and sometimes with an obvious emphasis on the stronger one, as in "Love me with a fervent-love, ye that love 1 " There the precept seems to correspond to that in the Fourth Gospel where Jesus warns the disciples that their love must not be ordinary love but must be like His love'. In other passages of the Odes the emphasis intended by the stronger word is 1 [3681 a] Comp. Origen Cant. Prol. " Solomon sings in the character of a Bride on the point of marriage burning (flagrantis) with celestial love for her Bridegroom, who is the Word of God." Later* on (Lomm. xiv. 302) he says he cannot blame Ignatius for saying about Christ " My Love (amor, Gk ?p«at) is crucified," any more than he can blame John for saying that (1 Jn iv. 8) "God is Love (caritas i.e. dydiri;) " (where the context indicates that Ignat. Rom. § 7 was interpreted by Origen (though perhaps wrongly, as Lightfoot maintains) as calling Christ "Eros"). Comp. ib. p. 306 " Hunc ergo amorem loquitur praesens scriptura, quo erga verbum Dei anima beata uritur et injlammatnr." 2 [3681*] Ode viii. 14. R.H. "Love me with affection," H. "liebet mich mit Inbrunst." H. does not give " Inbrunst" in his Index, and I have not noted it elsewhere in his text though the Syriac "fervent-love" (as noun or verb) is frequent See 3809 u. 3 [3681 c] Jn xv. 12. Compare also Jn xvii. 26, and 1 Pet i. 22 " Love one another with a pure heart fervently." The Syrian translators of our gospels have not always (as has been said above) expressed differences of this kind, even on the rare occasions where the Gk expressed them (Jn xxi. 15 — 17). But there are special reasons why the Syriac might represent a "flagrans amor" in these Odes or Songs of Solomon, which contain strains from the Song that says (Cant. viii. 6 — 7) " Love is strong as death... many waters cannot quench love." The word under considera- tion is Hebrew as well as Syriac. But it occurs only once in O.T. (Gesen. 285 b) Deut xxxiii. 3, where Rashi renders it " abundanti amore dilexit." 43 (Ode iii. 1—5) [3681] THE BELOVED less obvious ; and sometimes the scriptural or ancient use of a particular word or phrase — such as "the Beloved " or "he whom my soul loves" — may lead the poet to use the unemphatic where we should expect the emphatic term. But it is unsafe to assume that this author uses the two words indifferently until we have ample proof of it. He is not given to such loose variations or afraid of using the same word over and over again where he means the same word. Sometimes, it is true, he uses one word in various forms ; but the variations can often be seen to express subtle shades of allusive thought. We shall, therefore, retain the poet's distinction between "love" and "fervent-love" (or "love"' with some intensive qualification) in the following translations. The retention will often be fatal to rhythm as well as to brevity. But it may sometimes enable the reader to discern shades of thought which other- wise might have escaped him. [3682] In the present passage, the spirit of the writer seems to be that of a Christian Philo. Philo writes about the " enthusiasm " or " passionate love (eros) " of Abraham for God ; but our writer implies that he himself has felt this passion not because he first loved but because Another has " greatly-loved " him with a " burning love " that, as the Song of Songs says, " no waters can quench." It is along with a mention of this "burning-love" that he for the first time introduces in his poems the mention of the new Power brought into the world by " the Beloved'." [3683] Solomon may seem to us a most inappropriate character to represent the pure passion of the love of God. But apart from the associations with his name derived from the Song of Songs, there is in the second book of Samuel a record connecting "love" with the anticipations formed by some about the infant king : " And he {i.e. David) called his 1 i Jn iv. io " Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us." 44 (Ode Hi. 1—5) THE BELOVED [3684] name Solomon. And the Lord loved him, and sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah [that is, beloved of Ja/i]...'." In proportion as these anticipa- tions failed historically, the allegorizers may have insisted on the perfection of their ideal, as depicted in the central character of the Song of Songs. § 3. Rest, or Home [3684] After the introduction of love, which is the power that makes a family and a home for Man, there comes naturally, for a Jewish poet, the thought of rest. For " rest " is the Hebrew term for expressing " home " ; as when Naomi says to her daughters " The Lord grant you that ye may find rest," and to Ruth " Shall I not seek rest for thee ? " — that is, the " rest " of married life, in a home 2 . A promise of " rest," meaning the promise of a home in the Promised Land, is made to Moses as the representative of Israel*. The successor of Moses, Joshua — who for Christians would stand as the first Jesus and the type of the second Jesus — repeats this promise of God 4 . It is also said that before Joshua's death "the Lord had given rest unto Israel"." But the historian adds "from all their enemies round about." Every Jew would recognise that that "rest" was but temporary, and would agree with the Epistle to the Hebrews that in the highest sense the promised " rest " was not yet given : — " There remaineth. a rest for the people of God 8 ." The literal rendering is, not "rest" — as elsewhere in the Epistle — but " sabbath-keeping." The true " sabbath-keeping " was yet to come. 1 [3683 a] 2 S. xii. 24 — 5. In the following passage, Jedid, "beloved," is used six times {Menach. 53 a — i): "There shall come the Beloved (i.e. Jedidiah, or Solomon) the son of the Beloved (i.e. Abraham, but ?) and build the Beloved (i.e. the Temple) for the Beloved (i.e. Jehovah) in the region of the Beloved (i.e. Benjamin) that the Beloved (i.e. the Israelites) may therein obtain forgiveness of sins." * Ruth i. 9, iii. 1. 3 Exod. xxxiii. 14. * Josh. i. 13. 6 Josh, xxiii. 1. ° Heb. iv. 9. 45 (Ode iii. 6) [3685] THE BELOVED [3685] Of David, too, it is said that the Lord "had given him rest 1 ." But it is with the qualification " from all his enemies." And subsequently Solomon contrasts himself with his warlike father in this very matter of rest, " Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him... but now the Lord my God hath given me rcrf...and behold, I purpose to build a house...*." [3686] Of Solomon — along with the mention of " rest from all his enemies round about" — it is uniquely predicted that he shall be "a man of rest," so that "rest " is emphatically connected with his name*, as fitting him to build what is else- * where called " a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord 4 ." Odes of Solomon would therefore naturally lay great stress on "rest." And these Odes do so. "Rest" recurs repeatedly in them, and will have to be discussed in its different contexts and aspects. For the present it will be convenient to defer such discussions, and to pass on to that part of the Ode which combines the thought of "rest" with the union, or " mingling," in the home. But a note here will be added on the first Biblical mention of the word "rest," and on the associa- tions conveyed by it to Jews and to Greeks. 6. And where His rest [is]", there also am I. 1 2 S. vii. i. K. v. 3-5. 5 i Chr. xxii. 7 — io "And David said to Solomon The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly.. .thou shalt not build a house unto my name.. .behold a son shall be born to thee who shall be a man of rest ; and I will give-him-rest from all his enemies round about ; for his name shall be Solomon (i.e. Peaceful) and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days ; he shall build a house for my name." * i Chr. xxviii. 2. Noah and "rest" 1 [3686 a] " Rest." For details as to the poet's subsequent mentions of God's " rest," see notes in 3859 foIL The following remarks will mostly be confined to its association with the story of Noah. The first Biblical mention of "rest"— not in the sense of God's 46 (Ode iii. 6) THE BELOVED [3686] (Gen. ii. 2) " keeping-sabbath," but meaning human refreshment, " rest " after toil &c— is connected with Noah, whose name indeed signifies 'rest." There appear to be traces of this meaning in the narrative of the Deluge which (Gen. viii. 4—9) describes the ark as "resting," and, subsequently, the dove as not yet finding "rest." In these two instances the Syriac, as well as the Hebrew, has the same word, a form of the root of the name, "Noah," " rest" (Gesen. 629). [3686 b] There is also, for Jews, a further mention of "rest" in the description of the Lord as accepting Noah's sacrifice (Gen. viii. 21) where R.V. has "and the Lord smelled the sweet savour" ; but the Heb. for "sweet "is a noun derived from the root of "Noah," so that the literal meaning is "smelled the smell of restfulness," i.e. (Gesen. 629) "quieting, soothing, tranquillising." Gen. r. (on Gen. v. 29) gives it as the opinion of one Rabbi ("nach R. Elieser") that Noah was so called because, of the restful effect of this sacrifice. [3686 c] But there was this very early difficulty about the association of " Noah " with " rest," that the Hebrew explanation of his name, im- plied in Lamech's prediction about him, would lead the reader to believe that it meant, not rest, but comfort, (Gen. v. 29) " This same shall comfort us (R.V. marg. Heb. nahem, to comfort) for our work and the toil of our hands, because of (In. from, and R.V. marg. [which cometh] from) the ground which the Lord hath cursed." The LXX, however, -instead of rendering ndchani (R.V. nahem) as usual by "comfort (napa>ca\io>)" has a unique word as follows, "This man shall-give-us-an-interval-ofrest (tiavairaivu) from our works and from the troubles (or, pains) (XvirZv) of our hands, and from the ground which the Lord God hath cursed." It is very important to recognise these early causes of confusion in connection with Noah and rest, because the Epistle of Peter and Justin Martyr severally shew that Noah was connected by Christians in the first century with "baptism," and in the second century with "rest" as well as "baptism." And the question arises about our author whether he agreed with either, or both, of these early authorities. [3686 rf] Enoch (ed. Charles) says about Noah (cvii. 3) "He will Cause the earth to rejoice in compensation for all destruction," and (ib. cvi. 18) "Call his name Noah for he will be left to you." The former agrees with the Heb. of Gen. v. 29 " shall comfort us.' - As to the latter (on which see Charles's note) I have been unable to find any instance in the LXX where KarnX«p/ia corresponds to the Heb. root of " Noah." Sir. xliv. 17 Heb. says that Noah " in a season of destruction, became the successor (or, substitute), for his sake there was a remnant," but not, as LXX, that Noah himself was "a remnant "or "left." [3686 e] Philo (i. 214) quotes the LXX, and represents Lamech's prediction as referring to "rest" or "relief" (avairmiKav) from toils, or "works (tpyav)" of worldliness, and from "troubles (XuirSi-)," which we 47 (Ode iii. 6) THE BELOVED [3686] bring on ourselves by "our own hands." As for "the earth which the Lord God hath cursed," that, he says, means "wickedness (««*.) .which is grounded (p** «">» "1 com, ,„ .0 KL2 .*t? ir r: t^; r — * ■— raivTm vlTc C ° n " , " ,i «"»« •" ™« S„. ,„ rt «„„ in EM £„. ? n,p "™» "P'««nt< (which "merciW d<», „„, ,„ „-,>>. eminently" or "uniourlv" ti,;, „ u means /r,?- 1 «m- 1 j r niquel >- Thls ma y be expressed by "j»/w/ B r«o', n6ed[inWedl0ck J" See 3688 4 3689* But H^?" R f; ,S , ^ " beCaUSe ! sha " find love to the Beloved" But H has «weil der L.ebende den Geliebten gefunden hat " And R H >%mTrL th : L ° ve : has found the I!eloved " < with - £* 13688 a] Thes. 2059 ««,«««(; spec . de potu miscendo" U m responds ,0 "mix," "mingle" used thus in the Bib" "'" Si (Ode iii. 7—8) 4—2 [3688] THE BELOVED from the " bringing of two cisterns into connection 1 ." Another Jewish tradition— repellent, no doubt, to our taste, but instruc- tive as to Eastern expression— represents Jehovah as saying to Moses, " Our two countenances mix heat'." Moreover " mix" is probably used by Ignatius, in the phrase "mixed with His {i.e. Christ's) flesh," not to mean (as interpreted in glosses) participation in the sacrament, but rather to suggest union with the Body of Christ, the union arising from incorporation in the Church, which is His Bride*. ' [3688*] On Cant. i. 2 " Er kiisse mich...," Wii. p. 17 translates a tradition in the Midrash thus: "Er reinige mich, er schliesse sich an mich, er kiisse mich. Wie ein Mensch welcher zwei Cisternen so mitein- ander in Verbindung bringt [dass zwischen beiden ein Raum fur einen Wasserbehalter ist]." But I am informed by Rev. G. Margoliouth that the words I have bracketed are Wiinsche's own addition, and that, in the original, the water in the impure cistern is regarded as cleansed by flushing with water from the pure cistern. Compare the expression in our Communion Service "that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood," which seems to combine the metaphor of Col. i. 22 "reconciled in the body of his flesh .to present you holy...," with that of Eph. v. 25-7 "as Christ also loved the church... having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself (3884 /)•" I" Jewish tradition "the mouth of God," meaning "the word of God," is sometimes para- phrased as " the kiss of God," This might apply to " cleansing... with the word," which might be poetically regarded as "cleansing with the Kiss of the Lord " (see p. xlvii). The notion of mixing wine with water would be alien from this author, who, in the only passage where he speaks of "mingling" elsewhere, uses it of "milk" (Ode xix. 4)- He never speaks of "wine" except in a bad sense, as the wine of the Deceiver (Ode xxxviii. .3). H.'s Index does not mention " Mischung" or " Vermischung." 2 [3688 c] Exod. r. (on Exod. xxxiii. 12, Wii. p. 315) " Unsere beiden Gesichter mischen Heisses." 3 [3688 d] See /Votes 2895 quoting Ign. Smyrn. 3, and ion MV) c quoting Origen {Comm. foann. xix. 1) "the Lord knoweth those that are His being blended with them, and having imparted to them a share of His'divinity " The Latin transl. of Origen's Horn. Numb. xx. 3 (Lomm. x 2? 1) uses the word "misceri" in connection with Cant. vi. 8-9 thus "Grande est ergo et vere opus Dei, tamen multis dogmatibus quasi 52 (Ode iii. 7—8) THE BELOVED [3689] [3689] This view is confirmed by the general agreement of this Ode, in tone and spirit, with the Epistle to the Ephesians. Both have as their central figure "the Beloved 1 " ; both imply that there is a new " love " that must be " known " or " in- terpreted," although it "passeth knowledge'"; both speak, in some sense, of " putting on " a new nature* ; both deprecate the fear that we shall be rejected as "strangers 4 " if we draw near to the Messiah; both emphasize the "free" or "ungrudging" liberality of the Lord's grace"; and finally, if the interpretation of " mingling" given above is the right one, both agree in regarding the union between the Messiah and mulieribus misceri, nee tamen a veritatis regula declinare, sed constanter dicere (Cant. vi. 8—9) 'Sexaginta sunt reginae et octoginta concubinae... una tamen est columba mea perfecta mea.'" Here "misceri" implies a lower spiritual condition than that which is implied by union with the One Dove. And the passage shews how the word " mingle," if some- times used in very early Christian poetry to describe the unity between the Messiah and His "members," might come to be regarded as an unfit word to represent the wedlock between Christ and the Church, and as better fitted to represent the participation in Christ's Body by the faithful through the Lord's Supper. 1 [3689 a] Eph. i. 6 "to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" The marg. gives no other instance of this term, thus used absolutely. * Eph. iii. 18 — 19 "to apprehend. ..what is the breadth and length... and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." 3 Eph. iv. 24 "put on the new man," that is, humanity as made anew in the Messiah, comp. Eph. ii. 15 "having abolished in his flesh the enmity.. .that he might create in himself, of the twain (i.e. of Jews and Gentiles) one new man." On Ode iii. 1 " put on," see 3760 m foil. 4 Eph. ii. 12 "ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise," ib. 19 "ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints." "Strangers" occurs very rarely in the Epistles, and nowhere else in this sense. 6 Ode iii. 7 "no grudging," comp. Odes vii. 4, xi. 6 &c. Comp. Eph. i. 6 "freely bestowed," ib. 7 — 8 "the riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us," ib. ii. 7 "the exceeding riches of his grace " &c. 53 (Ode iii. 7—8) [3689] THE BELOVED believers as capable of illustration from the union between husband and wife 1 . § 4. Awakening to the Love of the Son [3690] The conclusion of the extract last given, "the loving-one hath found Him, the Beloved," again suggests a thought of the Song of Songs, which represents the Bride as saying concerning the Beloved, first, " I sought him but I found him not," and then, " I found him whom my soul loveth." And this ought reasonably to induce us to glance at the Song of Songs for something that may bear on the extremely difficult passage with which the Ode terminates, introducing an abrupt mention of "the Son." The Song, of course, if it throws any light, may only throw a side-light. The subject may have been before the poet's mind as a conception, or perhaps as a vision, quite apart from Solomon's Song. If he was a Christian it must have been so. But still, musing on the development of things, he may well have been struck by the typical similarity, as well as the spiritual dissimilarity, between the two " Sons of David," one of whom built the visible Temple, the other, the invisible. 1 [3689*] The Odes— perhaps under the influence of the Song of Songs iii. 11 "king Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals ''—begin with the "crown" and pass at once to the metaphor of wedlock. The Ephesian Epistle works up to it as climax. Comp. Eph. i. 22 " the church which is his body," ii. 19—21 "the household of God.. .a holy temple in the Lord," iv. 12 foil, "the body of Christ. ..unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," iv. 15 "the head, [even] Christ," v. 23 " the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church, [being] himself the saviour of the body,"/*. 25 "husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church," v. 31—2 "for this cause shnll a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife ; and the twain shall become one flesh. This mystery is great ; but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church." 54 (Ode iii. 9—13) THE BELOVED [3691] ■' 1 t. i [3691] The Son is mentioned, for the first time in the Odes, in the following extract : — 9- Because I shall love Him, the Son, I shall be the Son 1 . 10. For he that cleaveth' to Him that dieth not— he, too, will become one that dieth not'. 1 [3691 a] R.H. 1st ed. "and because I shall love Him that is the Son, that I may be a son," with n. "or, the Son," 2nd ed. " and because I shall love Him that is the Son, I shall become a son" (with the same note). H. " Weil ich ihn, den Sohn, liebe, werde ich Sohn sein." The Syriac "son" appears to mean, at all events, more than "a son" would generally be taken to mean. Probably it means "identified with the Son " and therefore " the Son " ; less probably, " I shall play the [part of] Son [not of Servant]." As to the abrupt introduction of the title, see 3692. In the contrast between "son" and "servant" it must be remembered that, in Heb., Aram., and Syr., a household-servant is called " son of the house" (Gen. xv. 3, Gesen. 120 i, Levy i. 239 a, Thes. 583). Numb. r. (on Numb. iii. 40, Wii. p. 54) quotes Numb. xii. 7 "my servant Moses... faithful in all mine house," and describes Moses as "son of the house? and so does Tehill. (on Ps. ii. 12, Wii. i. 29). If we substitute "son of the house" for servant, we shall better understand the argument in Heb. iii. 2 foil. "[Jesus] who was (Numb. xii. 7) 'faithful' to him {i.e. God) ...as also was Moses in all his (i.e. God's) house. For he hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honour than the house.. .And Moses indeed was 'faithful' in 'all his (i.e. God's) house' as a 'son of the house'. ..but Christ as a son [of the Father] over his (i.e. the Father's) house." The argument is, " A son of the house is surely inferior to a son of the Father? Somewhat similarly, when Abraham says to God (Gen. xv. 3) "A son of my house (R.V. one born in my house) shall be mine heir," God replies, in effect, " No, the heir shall be thine own son, the son of the father of many nations '." 2 [3691*] "Cleaveth to." R.H. "is joined to." H. "anhanget." Thes. 2457—8 says that the word is identical with Chald. "anhangen,'' "adhaesit, amore junctus est," and that the Ethpa. (the form used here) means vehementer adamavit. It is a rendering of "cleaving to («oX- \aa$at)" in Acts ix. 26, Rom. xii. 9. 3 [3691 c] Comp. Mt. a. 40—2 which states this doctrine in another form. The doctrine is, that whoever "cleaves to," or (Mt.) "receives," the Prophet or the Righteous, "cleaves to," and, to some extent, "re- ceives," the character of the Prophet or the Righteous (which, in Mt., is called " the reward "). The parallels in Mk ix. 37—41, Lk. ix. 48, and Mt. xviii. 5, all of 55 (Ode iii. 9—13) [3691] THE BELOVED ii. And he that delighteth in Life [eternal] 1 — living (R.H. gives altern. "the living One") shall he be. 12. This is the Spirit' of the Lord, which is not falsehood 8 , which teacheth 4 the sons of Man" to know His ways [Psaying] which speak of "receiving" a "little one," express this doctrine very obscurely. The latent meaning is (Son 3527 a) " that to ' receive ' ' a little one' was really to receive 'the little one,' that is, Christ, 'the Son of Man,' the representative of universal kindness." The Jews abounded in examples of this doctrine of receiving, implying a change of character in the person, or even the thing, that receives. See Schottg. on Mt. x. 40 quoting inter alia. Numb. r. (on Numb, xxxiii. I, Wii. p. 530) where it is said that the Desert that received Israel is to be rewarded by being metamorphosed (Is. xxxv. 1 — 7), "The desert shall rejoice. ..the glowing sand shall become a pool." The author of the Odes states clearly, and briefly, but hyperbolically, the doctrine stated by Matthew : " Because I love the Son I shall be the Son, because I receive Him that dieth not I shall become one that dieth not." 1 [3691 d] R.H. 1st ed. "and he who is accepted in the Living One" with note, "the MS. has 'in life.' Cf. Apoc. i. 17." H. "und wer Wohlgefallen hat am Leben." R.H. 2nd ed. "and he who has pleasure in the Living One," with n. as before. See Appendix III. In Rev. i. 17 — 18 " I am the first. ..and the living[One] (i (Siv) (A.V. I am the first.. .[/ am] he that liveth)" the Syr. has no final aleph (Son 3069a), which it has here, both in "Life" and in "living." H. follows the text, which makes a slight diacritical distinction (Thes. 1253 — 4) between " life " and " living." " He that delighteth in Life" implies " H,e that delighteth in Him who is life [eternal]" If the writer had written the latter, it would have been a repetition (positively) of what has just been said (negatively) "he that cleaveth to Him that dieth not." Such repetitions, however, are not alien from the poet's style, see 3691 _£-. Perhaps the poet speaks of "the [principle of] life [moral and spiritual]" as a preparation for his next words, "this" — that is, the Life — " is the Spirit 0/ the Lord." 2 [3691 e] This is the first mention of "the Spirit," which will next be referred to in Ode vi. 2 — 6 "So speaks in my members the Spirit of the Lord, and I speak in His fervent-love. ..our spirits ascribe glory to His holy Spirit? Then come xi. 2 "His holy Spirit," xiii. 2 (rep. xvi. 6) " His Spirit" and xiv. 8 " Thy holy Spirit," but "the holy Spirit" does not occur till xix. 3— 4. See 3906a. In Jn, the first mention of "truth" by Jesus (as distinct from evang. comm.,Joh. Gr. 2066) is iv. 23—4 (bis) "in spirit and truth," and comp. 56 (Ode iii. 9—13) THE BELOVED [3691] ft r i i- xiv. 17 (rep. xv. 26, xvi. 13, 1 Jn iv. 6) "the Spirit of truth," and I Jn v. 7 " the Spirit is the truth." ' [3691/] The poet mentions for the first time both "death" and "falsehood," in this Ode, and both negatively — "Him that dieth not" "the Spirit of the Lord, which is not falsehood." H., who renders "not falsehood" by "ohne Falsch," does not give "Falsch" in his Index. But under " Liige, Falscheit" he refers to Ode xviii. 6 "let not truth flee before falsehood (Liige) " and xviii. 9 "falsehood and death are not in thy mouth." The Syr. noun in these three passages is the same word (Thes. 822). "Lie" occurs twice in 1 Jn and both times negatively (ii. 21) "no lie is of the truth," (ii. 27) "and is true and is no lie." [3691 £■] There may be a spiritual purpose in representing "death" and "falsehood" — when first introduced — in this negative way. On the Jewish use of negation as complementary to affirmation, see Joh. Gr. 2591 foil. 4 [3691 h] "Teacheth." "Teach" ("lehren") is omitted in H.'s Index. It occurs also in Ode xiv. 7 " Teach me the Psalms of thy truth, that I may bring forth fruit in thee." In A.V., the first mention of "teach" in O.T. is in the promise of God to Moses (Exod. iv. 12) " Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say." In the Heb. txt. (Gesen 435 b), that is also the first of the few instances where this word, which is connected with Torah, "instruction" is used of God " instructing man? The Syr. there is the same as here, a form of the Heb. Alaph, which, in the causative, means "teach," and which Onkelos (Hrederek p. 50) regularly uses as equiv. of Heb. "instruct." In N.T., "teach (SiSaaKa) " is not often used in the words of Jesus. In Lk. (apart from xiii. 26, where Jesus does not speak in His own person) Jesus uses it only in xii. 12 "the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that same hour" (where the parall. Mk and Mt. say that it will be the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of the Father that will "speak" in them). In Jn (apart from xviii. 20 " I ever taught in the synagogue") Jesus uses the word only in viii. 28 "even as the Father taught me," and xiv. 26 "He shall teach you all things," where "He" refers to (ib.) "the Para- clete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name," who is called, both before and after (ib. xiv. 17, xv. 26) "the Spirit of truth." [3691 i] In the Odes, the two mentions of "teaching" indicate a high standard for it, and perhaps a tacit protest against such a low standard as led to (Mk vii. 7, Mt. xv. 9, comp. Tit. i. 14) "teaching [as] teachings the commandments of [mere] human beings," that is, commandments not based on the harmonious Law of the Spirit, and therefore not true, and not "living." The poet implies that the Teacher is God, or the Spirit of the Lord, and that the teaching is living, and true, and fruitful for good. This agrees with the Johannine use of the word in Christ's utterances. 57 (Ode iii. 9— 13) [3691] THE BELOVED 13. Be ye 1 wise, and take-knowledge', and awake'. Hallelujah 4 . The context in the Ode (see next note) rather suggests a reminis- cence of the cry of Wisdom to the " sons of man " in Proverbs, and also of Prov. i. 20—23 (LXX) "Wisdom crieth aloud... I will teach you my discourse." There the Heb. and the Syr. both have "I will make- kncwm," but that is not a great objection. 6 [3691/] "The sons of Man." See Son 3177 a. The Hebrew "sons of man (adam)" is regularly rendered in Gk "sons of men." For example, in Prov. viii. 4, 31, "sons of adam" is in A.V. 1st "sons of man," 2nd " sons of men." R.V. has " sons of men " in both cases. The advantage of the rendering "sons of Man" is, that it combines the original Heb. sing, with the notion of collectiveness. In Prov. viii. 4 (as compared with Prov. iv. 1 "Hear, [my] sons") the insertion, "of Man," implies (as the context shews) weakness and liability to error, but not so as to prevent Wisdom from taking (id. 31) "delight" in them. 1 [3691 £] "Ye." This— unless the Spirit, not the poet, is speaking (3983 (v)*) — is the first of the poet's appeals to his readers in the second person plural. H. gives " Ihr als Anrede, iii. 13, vii. 29, viii. 1 — 14, 26, ix. '. 3— 6 > "> '3. "iii. 1 — 3, xxiii. 4, xxx. I foil., xxxi. 6, xxxiii. 6 — 10, xxxiv. 6, xxxix. 7." In vii. 29, as here, the appeal in the 2nd pers. pi. comes (after a previous mention of the Father and the Son) at the end of the Ode, "Confess ye His power and shew forth His grace. Hallelujah." Having fallen into this tone of appeal, the poet continues it through several verses of the next Ode (viii. 1 — 14) "Open ye, open ye your hearts. ..rise up... tell ye. ..love me" (about 11 imperatives). It generally indicates a strong desire to bring the reader into personal relation with the Lord e.g. xiii. 1 — 3 " Behold, the Lord is our mirror. Open the eyes and see them in Him..." (8 imperatives in 3 verses). ! [3691/] "Take-knowledge." R.H. "[be] understanding," H. "erken- net." The word literally means " know," but, as in Lat. and Gk, it may mean "recognise." In the gospels, when precepts about "watching" are given, the thought often is that the Bridegroom, or the Son, may at any time be "coming"; but here the thought seems to be that He is " revealed " (on the substitution of which for " coming " see Son, Index, " Revealed ") and that the slumberers are to open their eyes and to "know" i.e. recognise Him. The first mention of "knowledge" in the Bible is connected with (Gen. ii. 9) "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," which brought sin into the world, through the deceit of Satan. In the first of these Odes, the "crown" that "lives" and bears "fruits" is supposed to come from the counter-healing Tree, the Tree of Life. This, too, brings "knowledge," but a different kind of "knowledge," not that which (1 Cor. viii. 1) "pufleth up" but that which "buildeth up." In this 58 (Ode iii. 9—13) THE BELOVED [3691] first introduction of Knowledge upon the stage, the poet defines the "knowledge." There are two kinds of Knowledge, as there are also two Ways ; one of falsehood, one of truth ; one of death, one of life; one of Satan, one of God. This knowledge, of which I speak, says the poet, is of the latter kind. It is " /^/-falsehood," that is, "the opposite and antidote of falsehood." By it the Lord "teaches the sons of Man to know His ways." It goes along with Wisdom ("be ye wise") and with wakeful sobriety ("awake ye"). By "take knowledge" he really means "take this kind 0/ knowledge." 8 [3691 wj "Awake." R.H. "[be] vigilant," H. "seid wachsam," which, at first sight, may seem demanded by sequence, but see 3691 n. The middle imperative of the Syr. verb here used may undoubtedly mean "be watchful," as in Mt. xxv. 13 &c. But, where this continuous action is implied, the Syr. (SS) uses two words, "be-ye watching" in Mk. xiii. 33. 35> 37. Mt- xxiv. 42 (Burk. "be watchful" as distinct from "watch" where the middle imperative is used) and Acts xx. 31. And in Isaiah (Syr.) the middle imperative means "awake" so frequently, and in a strain of thought so similar to that of the Ode, as to afford a strong presumption that "awake" is the meaning here. See Is. xxvi. 19 (Walton) "expergiscantur" ("Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust") and Is. Ii. 17 foil. "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem. ..there is none to guide her among all the sons that she hath brought forth ; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. ..How (A.V. by whom) shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted..." which precedes the prediction that redemption shall come from a "servant" of Jehovah whose "visage" is "marred more than the sons of Man." "Awake" recurs in Is. Iii. I (Syr.) "Awake, awake." In view of these passages, and of the context here, "awake" seems a suitable rendering. And it resembles the quota- tion in the Ephesian Epistle (on the similarity of which to this Ode see 3689) (Eph. v. 14) "Awake (Syr. same as here), thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.'' The supposition that the poet has Isaiah li. 17 in mind suits the juxtaposition of " the Son " and " sons of Man " with " awake " in the Ode here, and the juxtaposition of "sons" and "sons of Man" with "awake" in Isaiah. The meaning is that "all the sons" having "fainted," Israel must look for redemption to one in some way dis- tinguished from all "the sons of Man." The poet believes that he has found this son, the son of sons (so to speak), whom he calls the Son. [3691 n] It may be objected that, after the poet has been appealing to his hearers or readers through the whole of a poem, he cannot consistently terminate it with "Awake" as though they had been all the time asleep and hearing nothing of what he had been saying to them. But that would be a prosaic objection. Comp. the termination of Satan's 59 (Ode iii. 9—13) [3692] THE BELOVED § 5. The Son [3692] In attempting to explain the abrupt introduction of " the Son" in this Ode, we should note that, when the term occurs the second time, it is again used absolutely, " It rests 1 speech of fifteen lines in Paradise Lost i. 315 — 30 " Princes, potentates... Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen." In these preliminary Odes the poet has been endeavouring to com- municate to his hearers something of that which he has felt in the ecstatic union between himself and the Beloved. Now, before taking them further, into the sanctuary (Ode iv. 3) where the Beloved dwells, he tells them in one word, that, whatever they may have thought of their own spiritual knowledge, it has been relatively darkness, if they have not known the light of the love of the Beloved. Have they known it ? It has been shining on them, but have they seen it? If not — "Awake." He does not indeed mention "Light" here, for he probably desires (3699, comp. 3786 a) to subordinate it to Life and Love. But he prepares the way for the doctrine (set forth in Ode xlii) that the Messiah will come as Light to the sons of Man in the darkness of Sheol, saying to them (Is. xxvi. 19, li. 17, lx. i, Eph. v. 14) "Awake, ye that sleep, and arise from the dead, and the Messiah will give you light" And this message the poet here proclaims by anticipation to the Gentiles, and to those of his nation who are still in darkness. 4 [3691 0} " Hallelujah." Concerning the similar form, "praise him," in Ps. xxii. 23 "ye that fear the Lord, praise him," Rashi and the Midr. ("im Namen R. Eleasar") assume that those who "fear the Lord" are " proselytes." And Lev. r. (on Lev. ii. I, Wii. p. 19) quotes the same authority as saying that when the proselytes of righteousness enter into the next world, "Antoninus will come at their head." [3691/] In N.T., "Hallelujah" occurs only in Rev. xix. 1—6 con- cerning the ascription of praise from the "great voice of a great multitude in heaven," and the "elders," and the "living creatures." It would be appropriately used at the close of poems intended to emphasize the inclusiveness of God's redemption, which included (Ps. xxii. 23) those "that fear the Lord" as well as {id.) "the seed of Jacob." And this perhaps is meant by Rev. xix. 3 "a second time they say Hallelujah" — i.e. for the Gentiles, after saying it a first time for the Jews. " Hallelujah" occurs at the end of every Ode except Ode i. which is printed above as unfinished. Its omission at the end of Ode xxvii. (R.H. Engl, transl.) is a misprint (in 2nd ed. as well as 1st) if the Syr. txt. is correct, which gives " Hallelujah " (as also does H. in his translation). 1 "It rests." See Ode vii. 18 (3785). R.H. 1st ed. "it was resting," 2nd ed. " He was resting." H. " Er hat seine Freude." 60 (Ode iii. 9 — 13) THE BELOVED [3694] i in the Son" and, for the third time, " the Son is the Cup, and He who was milked is the Father 1 ." On the fourth occasion we have "the Son of Truth, from the Father the Most High," and, in the same Ode, at the end, " the name of the Father was on it (i.e. on the great tablet, or volume) and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 2 ." " The Father " is not mentioned till the seventh Ode, and then not absolutely but as " the Father of knowledge (or, of recognition) 8 ." [3693] How are we to account for the fact that " the Son " is mentioned before " the Father," and in this absolute way, as an object of love (" because I shall love Him, the Son, I shall be the Son ") ? The words have the ring of sincerity. They do not sound as though the poet were endeavouring to decoy us into a belief in the Holy Trinity by first com- mending to us the love of the Son. They suggest very strongly that the writer had before him and in him, in his heart and soul, some thought (with which we are not familiar) not about "a son'' but about "the Son" who, being Himself undying, was to be the object of an undying love : — " he that cleaveth to Him that dieth not — he, too, will become one that dieth not." [3694] Such a thought can be found, connecting "the Beloved " with a pre-eminence among " sons," in the Song of Songs — indicated by many similarities of phrase (above noted) as being in the author's mind at the outset — "As the apple- tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons*." The curious expression, " among the sons," invites comparison with Isaiah's mournful confession that no Deliverer 1 [3692 a] Ode xix. 2. " This is followed by (ii. 7) " She travailed and brought forth a son." But it must be noted that, in Syr., the same form may represent both "a son" and "the son." E.g. in Gen. iv. 25, 26, "a son," whereas the Targums have bar, "a son," the Syr. has iara, which may mean "the son" (as it means in Lk. i. 13 (SS)). 2 Ode xxiii. 16, 20. 3 Ode vii. 9. 4 Cant. ii. 3. 61 (Ode iii. 9 — 13) [3694] THE BELOVED is to be found for Zion "among all the sons that she hath brought forth 1 ," and all the more because Isaiah's context and the conclusion of this Ode agree in exhorting believers to " awake," in the anticipation, or in the presence, of the true Deliverer". Moses had predicted that the Deliverer of Israel should be one of their own "brethren 8 " — a "son," therefore, of the Nation, one who might be called, pre-eminently, the Son. Is that the meaning in the Song of Songs, and if so does the meaning there throw light on the meaning here? [3695] It is impossible to say with confidence precisely what was meant by the writer of the Song of Songs, but it is possible to say what mystical Jews in the first century might take to be the meaning. In the Song, they could not well take " the Son " to be Israel, since Israel is, throughout, regarded as the Bride. Yet they would be influenced by the consensus of the Law and the Prophets which regards "the Son " as, in the first place, the ideal Israel, in accordance with the saying, " Israel is my son, my first-born," and in the next place, the ideal Messiah, Representative, or King of Israel, of whom God says, "I will make him first-born 4 "; in the latter passage is added " highest of the kings of the earth '' ; in the • Is. li. 1 8, s. 3691 w. * Is. li. 17 — 18 "Awake, awake... there is none to guide her among all the sons. . .," lii. 1 — 3 "Awake, awake.. .Ye were sold for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money." See 3691 m foil. 3 [3694 a] Deut. xviii. 15 "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me," rep. in Deut. xviii. 18 "from among their brethren, like unto thee." The marg. in both passages alleges Jn i. 21, 25, 45, and "cited Acts iii. 22, vii. 37." [With "from the midst of thee" comp. Jn i. 16 "in the midst of you"]. There is the same thought of deliverance of "brethren" by a "brother" in Heb. ii. 12 (quoting Ps. xxii. 22) "I will declare thy name unto my brethren" where the writer perceives that "brethren" implies joint so7iship. He has already (it. ii. 6) quoted Ps. viii. 4 — 6 "the son of man (i.e. Adam)" as referring to Jesus, and has spoken of God, as (ib. ii. 10) " bringing many sons unto glory." 4 Exod. iv. 22, Ps. lxxxix. 27. Comp. Hos. xi. 1 "I called my son out of Egypt." 62 (Ode iii. 9 — 13) • 1 THE BELOVED [3696] ?' ! former there is implied, though not added, "highest of the nations of the earth." Hence might arise occasional confusion between Israel's representative (such as Moses) when regarded as Son, and the same representative, when regarded as Mediator, acting as intermediary between Israel the Bride and God the Bride- groom. It is an astonishing indication of such confusion that in one notable instance a Rabbi ventured to speak of Moses as, in some sense, Bridegroom. Playing on the phrase " man of God," where "man" is the Hebrew corresponding to the Latin " vir," or " husband" Resh Lakish actually ventured to interpret Scripture as calling Moses the husband of God 1 . [3696] The Targum on the Song, it is true, takes the "Beloved among the sons" as being " the Lord of the World," i.e. the true God as being "among," and superior to, "the sons," i.e. the angels, the sons of God, who preside over all the nations except Israel'; and the "apple-tree" is the Law given 1 [3695 a] See Pesikt. (on Deut. xxxiii. 1 "And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed...") Wii. p. 297. Resh Lakish's saying is based on Numb. xxx. 13 (14) " Her man" i.e. husband (see ii. p. 294). The saying is reversed in Tanchuma so as to make Moses the wife and God the husband, but (see Wiinsche's note, p. 297) in- correctly. It is not surprising that Resh Lakish adds, " If it had not been written [in scripture] one could not have said this." Pesikta also says (p. 294) " Moses was man (vir), when he went up the mountain but God (Elohim) when he came down (Exod. xxxiv. 30)." On Moses the Mediator see Lightf. on Gal. iii. 19 quoting Philo and other authorities. 2 [3696 a] So, too, Rashi (on Cant. ii. 3) "Above all other gods He was thus chosen by Israel," i.e. when they accepted the Law ; " the allegorical meaning is that all flee from the apple-tree because it gives no shade (so Pesikt. Wii. p. 133)...' but I,' said Israel, 'desired its shade"'; "all the [other] peoples fled from the Holy One at the time when the Law was given." As the apple-tree produces flower before leaf, so (Pesikt. ib., and Cant. viii. 5, Wii. p. 181) Israel said, at Sinai, "We will do" before saying " We will hear " (Exod. xxiv. 7, Heb. " hear " i.e. be obedient). Similarly, but more fully, says the Midrash. Rashi says that the Law is called the "apple-tree" because it, " when among trees that do not bear fruit (quando est inter arbores steriles), excels them all since its fruit is as 63 (Ode iii. 9—13) [3696] THE BELOVED at Mount Sinai, and the Beloved is the Giver. But the Targum is much later than Resh Lakish. And the Supreme God, though the Giver of the Law, is regarded by Paul and Philo as giving it to Israel not directly from Himself, but indirectly, through Moses as mediator. Moses therefore might well be regarded by Jews in the first century as, in a double sense, " Beloved among the sons," since he was specially beloved among the Israelites, who were all "sons," and he was also the representative of the Supreme Beloved, God, the Bride- groom of the Law. [3697] We have seen that Isaiah, in sorrow for degenerate Israel, represents the Lord as asking, in effect, where He can find a deliverer for her "among all the sons that she hath brought forth," and we must endeavour to realise that all pious Jews in the first century would recognise that Moses was such a "son." Several Jewish traditions say it was Moses (as man's representative) about whom the hostile angels exclaimed to Jehovah, "What is man that thou visitest him and the son of man that thou regardest him?" — when he made his way up to the top of Horeb in spite of their opposition, to receive the Law from God and to bring down gifts for men'. And it is probable that our author has Moses in view — though Moses as the type of the Messiah — when he sweet as it is fragrant." The author of the Odes from the beginning almost to the end emphasizes the " fruitfulness " of faith. [3696 b] Sabb. 88 a similarly describes the "apple-tree'' in the same passage in which it describes the "six hundred thousand" angels de- scending from heaven at the Giving of the Law to place two crowns on die head of each Israelite, one for "doing," the other for "hearing." [3696 c] Origen's interpretations of "sons" in Cant. ii. 3 (Lomm. xiv. 267, 270, xv. 10 — ii, 15 — 16) are on the lines followed by Rashi, either (1) fallen angels, i.e. false gods, or (2) inferior angels, the Bridegroom's companions, whom, as compared with the Bridegroom, one might "liken to trees that bear no fruit." 1 [3697 a] See Notes 2998 (xi.)— (xii.) quoting Ps. viii. 4, and Sabb. 88 *. In Sanhedr. 38*, the hostile angels say these words before the creation of man. Comp. also VVagenseil, Sota p. 388. 64 (Ode iii. 9 — 13) THE BELOVED [3698] says, in a later Ode, " He lifted-on-high his voice to the Most High and offered to Him the sons that were with him 1 ." That, like the Epistle to the Hebrews, implies the mediation of a pre-eminent Son between God and His other "sons." [3698] It would appear that this poet is penetrated with the conception of the Son as the divine means of manifesting the Father, so that he does not, as the Fourth Gospel does, place the Word first and, from that, lead us up to the Son. He places the Son first, and does not mention the Word' till long afterwards, and then only subordinately. Nor 1 [3697 b] Ode xxxi. 3—4. See the context, most of which, clause by clause, might be regarded as a hyperbolic account first of the passage of the Red Sea and then of the subsequent song of triumph uttered by Moses and of the illumination of his "face" whereby he was "justified," that is to say, attested in the sight of Israel as God's commissioned Prophet and Mediator. It runs thus, but with some doubt as to the use of "his," or "His," according as the meaning may be (1) Moses, or (2) the Messiah typified by Moses (3793 d)\— 1. The depths [of the Red Sea] (comp. Ps. lxxvii. 16, where "depths" (Heb. and Syr.) is used concerning the passage of the Red Sea) were dried up (so Job. vi. 17 (Syr.) of " torrents") [for Israel] before the Lord; and darkness was destroyed [for Israel] by His appearance. 1. Error erred [in the heart of Pharaoh] and was destroyed by Him; and folly [in the heart of Pharaoh] offered (but better, as Codex N, received) a no- f path [for Pharaoh, through the Red Sea, pursuing Israel], and was drowned by the Truth of the Lord. 3. He (i.e. the Truth, the delivering Spirit of God in Moses) opened his mouth (i.e. the mouth of Moses) and spake grace and joy; and he (i.e. the Deliverer, or Moses) spake a new song of praise to His (i.e. the Lord's) name. 4. And he (i.e. Moses) lifted-on-high his voice to the Most High and offered to Him the [redeemed] sons [of Israel] that were in his hands. 5. And his face was declared righteous [by being illuminated with a divine glory] for thus his holy Father had given unto him. [3697 c] From this point the writer perhaps passes to the thought of Jesus and the descent into Sheol ("Come forth, ye that have been afflicted...") but even here the "affliction" may refer to the affliction in "the iron furnace of Egypt." It must be borne in mind that some marvels might be ascribed to Moses and Jesus in common. For example, the "justifica- tion of the face " by " illumination " might be applied to both Deliverers, to Moses as being "illuminated" after speaking face to face with God, and to Jesus as being transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. * [3698a] "Word" does not occur till Ode vii. 9 "word of know- ledge." Contrast, with this, the Acts 0/ John, which never mentions A. L. 65 (Ode iii. 9—13) [3698] THE BELOVED THE BELOVED [3699] does he, as the Jews do, conceive of the Son— primarily at all events— as the Nation. Such a conception has been shewn to be frequent in Hebrew and Jewish literature ; and, in a few instances, one might find a Jew speaking absolutely about "the Father" and "the Son," meaning "God" and "Israel 1 ." But this author, if he had written a gospel, would perhaps have begun it thus : " In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God." He regards the Son as a necessity to the Father, so to speak-or at all events as a necessity for human conception of the Father, since, without the Son, we cannot conceive of the Father as loving, and therefore cannot conceive of Him as living, or as being Himself. Step by step we appear to be groping our way back to a first-century region of poetic and mystic thought about some kind of new Mediation as being a necessary means for bringing about the Wedding between God and Man-a region "the Son" except in § .3 "This Cross of Light is sometimes called the Wo d by me for'your sVes, sometimes Mind, sometimes Jesus, sometimes Chrs. sometimes Door, sometimes Way, sometimes Bread, somet.mes Se sometimes Resurrection, sometimes Son, sometimes Father, some- Se Spirit, sometimes Life, sometimes Truth somet.mes Fa.th, seme- mes c'ace" But it represents Jesus as say.ng previously ,n a kind of hymn (5 ..) "Glory to thee, Father... Glory to thee, Word A I had C n unto Thee as the Word by the Father," and m doubtful Z) > Say "ou again (?) with me, 'Glory to thee, Father ; Glory to thee, ^Tmm'Ii The Acts of John, however, is strikingly similar to the pre e!t Ode, and to others of the Odes, in its acceptance of the axiom "the Active and the Passive go together," exemplified about love in Ode 3 See the Hymn of Jesus in Acts | „ - des.re to be saved 7 , j ■ ,„ «v, I desire to be loosed and I des.re to loosc.I ill , d „r.i^ — > <""•"■' **• Sflo re ^' V£Z - * =„. ta , no, « * ft. F„H„. The Son is, in each case, Israel. 66 (Odeiii. 9—13) k 4 ? v * ■tl 1 '(,'■ 5 t pi speedily submerged (for Christians) by doctrinal definings and disputings, but not without leaving a few islets of the ancient mysticism. Thus, though the Epistle to the Hebrews does not actually, as Philo does, call Moses by the title of Mediator, and though Paul, while referring to Moses as Mediator, does not actually mention Moses by name, yet it cannot be doubted that the mediation of Moses is implied by both. And in the words " He (i.e. Jesus) is the mediator of a better covenant 1 ," the meaning is, in effect, "Moses, the Servant, was the Mediator of the Old Covenant ; Jesus, the Son, is the Mediator of a better one, the New. The mediation of the Servant implied some touch of the bondservant ; the mediation of the Son implies the pure spirit of sonship." That is the doctrine in the Epistles to the Galatians and to the Hebrews ; and the author of the Odes appears, here and elsewhere, to be independently exulting in the revelation of the same truth, the transition from the Old Mediation to the New'. [3699] If we realise this conception of the Son as para- mount in revealing God, we may perhaps be better able to understand why our author lays more stress on "life" and less on " light," than the Fourth Gospel does. " Light " does not occur till the fifth Ode and then only negatively*. The Fourth Gospel just touches on " life " as being " in '' the Word and as being " the light of men," but then passes on to dilate on "light 4 ." But the Odes imply "life" and speak of "life" 1 Heb. viii. 6. 1 [3698 d] See The Assumption of Moses — dated (Charles, p. lviii) "between the years 7—30 A.D." — i. 14 "He (i.e. God) designed and devised me (i.e. Moses) and He prepared me before the foundation of the world, that I should be the mediator of His covenant." s Ode v. 6 "they shall have no light to see." It has been noted above (3668 a) that the Pislis Sophia described the crown in the first Ode as "a crown of light." 4 [3699a] Jn i. 4 foil. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ..(5) and the light shineth...(6) there came into being a man... (7). ..came that he might bear witness of the light. ..(8) he was not the 67 (Ode iii. 9—13) S~ 2 [3699] THE BELOVED from the outset 1 - Perhaps if the poet had been asked why the first chapter of Genesis does not mention "life" till it comes to speak of the animals created on the fifth day, as though there were no life in the vegetation created on the third day, he would have replied that "life" was implied in the "brooding'" of the Spirit, before the first day, so that even light, the thing commonly called "first-created," was only one mode of the many modes of motion that make up life. Life, after all, he rqight say, not light, was the primary existence— life, the essence of "the living God." And on that thought, perhaps, he bases his arrangement and develop- ment of subjects in the Odes'. [3700] The last three mentions of Son in the Odes are as follows : — Ode xxxvi. 3. It (i.e. the Spirit) brought me forth before the face of the Lord and although I was a man (lit. son of man) [yet] was I named the Light (or, the Illuminated), the Son of God. light.. .that he might bear witness of the light...(a) there was the true light...." u J» A • Life is mentioned in Ode i. 3 "thou Ovist upon my head and implied in (/*. 2) "it caused thy branches to bud...^) thou hast blossomed... (4) thy fruits...." 2 "Brooding." Gen. i. 2 R.V. marg. " brooding," and so Syr. See Gesen. 934a "hovering over face of waters, or perh. (v. Syr.) brooding (and fertilizing), so Jer. Quaest. in Gen...." 3 [3699*] On Gen. i. 1, "In the beginning God created,' Jerome says that " most (or, many) (plerique)" (including Tertullian and the Dialogue between Jason and Papiscus [and Hilarius]) think that the Hebrew has "In the Son God created," and he refutes th>s. The Preaching of Irenaeus §43 (ed- Hamack) has "Sohn am Anfang- grundete Gott dann den Himmel..." (see 3772). These and other trans- lations may have been sometimes paraphrases. E.g. b-reshUh in the beginning," may have been paraphrased (Taylor, Aboth P- 7«) « '« Israel " because Israel is called (Jerem. ii. 3) RESH1TH. Jer. II. has In Wisdom God created" (comp. Prov. viii. 1, 22). Or, 3 being read as «3, "by ME" (Taylor) thorah says "By ME (be-), the beginning (reshith), God created"; and then concerning Moses, through whom the Law was given it is said, "by the merit of Moses the world was created." The Heb. 'b.ira, "created," is, in Aramaic, "the Son." 68 (Ode iii. 9— 13) THE BELOVED [3703] I i 1 Ode xli. 13—16. The Man who (3815/) humbled Himself and was lifted up in the righteousness that was His [own], (14) the Son of the Most High, hath appeared in the fulness-of-perfection (3819 r) of His Father, (15) and light hath dawned from the Word that from beforetime was in Him. (16) The Anointed (i.e. the Messiah, or, Christ) in truth is One, and was known from before the foundation of the world.... Ode xlii. 21 foil. And they (i.e. those in Sheol) cried..." Son of God, have pity on us. ..(22) and bring us out of the bonds of darkness... (23) for we see that our death hath not touched thee." [3701] It will be observed that all these speak of the Son, not absolutely as at the beginning of the Odes, but definitely, as " the Son of God " or " the Son of the Most High." One might have expected the opposite process — beginning with "the Son of God" and abbreviating into "the Son" (just as " the Spirit of God," or " the Holy Spirit," was abbreviated by Christians into "the Spirit"). But the nomenclature in the Odes confirms the view taken above, that the author starts from the revelation of " the Son " as the highest revelation that we can (at all events in our present nature) receive of Life and Truth. Also, it was said above that, whereas the Fourth Gospel begins with the Word, and lays great stress on Light, the Odes begin with the Son, and subordinate Light ; and this harmonizes with what we find in Ode XLI " light hath dawned from the Word that was from beforetime in Him (i.e. in the Son of the Most High)" — the Son coming first, in order of existence, then the Word (in the Son), and then the Light (from the Word). [3702] This assumption, at the outset, of the existence of the Son, from the beginning, may help us to understand the words in Ode XLI, above quoted, " the Anointed, in truth, is One " ; that is to say, priests, prophets, and kings were all anointed ; but the type of combined priest-prophet-king, out- lined by Melchizedek, was, and is, "in truth One," and ordained from the beginning. [3703] A Jewish tradition, on the other hand, preserved in 69 (Ode iii. 9 — 13) [3703] THE BELOVED Genesis Rabba, subordinates the name of the Anointed to the Law, and to the Throne of Majesty. These two, it says, were the only things created in fact before the world-creation. Four other things were created indeed (before the world- creation), but only in {the Creator's) idea : — (i) the Patriarchs, (2) Israel, (3) the Sanctuary, (4) the Name of the Anointed 1 . Perhaps our author would have repudiated such a distinction between "in fact" and "in God's idea." In any case, he seems to be insisting on the precedence of personal, above intellectual, conceptions of God, when he lays this stress on the uniqueness of the Anointed, whom he regards as the source of that Word which was itself the source of Light. [3704] Concerning the last instance of all in the Odes, "Son of God, have pity on us," some may be disposed to say that it is divided by a great gulf from the instance in the third Ode where "the Son" seemed to stand for the spiritual Israel and to be connected with interpretations of the Song of Songs. But may not the mind of the author himself be passing, in mystical vision, from type to type of "the Son," in the course of his poems ? May he not be trying to make others feel, in the same gradual way in which he himself perhaps has come to feel, that the Spirit of Sonship has been from the first indicated in the Hebrew Scriptures as being from God, and with God — though indicated only obscurely under such terms as the Spirit of God, or the Wisdom of God, or the Anointed, or else under the poetic character of the Beloved delineated in the Song of Songs'? If that is the 1 Gen. r. (on Gen. i. 1, Wii. p. 2) quoting R. Tanchuma. ! [3704 a] For example, Ode xli. 16 "the Anointed is One" may be illustrated — so far as concerns the thought of one type expressed in different representations — by Cant. vi. 9 "my dove, my perfect, is [out] one ; she is the only one of her mother ; she is the choice one of her that bare her"; on which many traditions say that the three assertions of unity are connected with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, each of whom is, in some special sense, " one," and the result of the three is the "oneness," i.e. the uniqueness, of Israel. 70 (Ode iii. 9, — 13) THE BELOVED [3706] case, we may admit the gulf-not however so great a gulf as some may think-and yet not admit that the gulf parts two distinct authors, one Jewish in faith, and one Christ.an in faith. There is an alternative— a Christian Jewish author capable of sympathizing both with the old Jewish and with the new Jewish belief, and desirous of shewing how, under the influence of the Incarnation, the former passed into the latter. § 6. Did Jesus call Himself " the Son " ? [3705] The doctrine of the Ode about Sonship, when closely examined, appears to afford a consistent and in- telligible unity in itself, and also a link between the Synoptic and Post-synoptic reports of the words of Jesus. According to the threefold tradition of the Synoptists, Jesus did not call Himself "the Son." But He called His disciples "little ones," and implied that He Himself was "the Little One'." "Whosoever receiveth a little one in my name,"- He said, "receiveth me"— specifying at the same time the nature of "the little one." Then He added, " And whosoever receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me," that is, "the Father in heaven." "Little one" meant the simple-hearted, loving, "babe of God"— as Clement of Alexandria says'. And Christ was in this sense, for many Christians, the Babe of babes. Other babes of God "see the face" of the Father. But the Babe not only saw His face but was also, always and for ever, " in the bosom " of the Father. [3706] Christ's "doctrine of receiving "—expressed most fully by Matthew, but recorded also by Mark and Luke- appears to have been to the following effect :-" Whosoever receiveth a prophet receiveth a prophet's reward {i.e. a share in the prophet's nature or spirit); whosoever receiveth a righteous man receiveth a righteous man's reward; and ' See Son 3523 a foil. 2 See Clem. Alex. 952—3. 71 (Ode iii. 9— '3) 1 [3706] THE BELOVED whosoever receiveth a babe-of-God receiveth the reward of a babe-of-God." Applying this doctrine to Himself, He taught that whosoever received Him received the Father ("Him that sent me"). In other words, he that received the Babe would become a babe receiving the stream of love that flowed from the bosom of God the Nursing Father. Now this is precisely the doctrine of the Odes, both here and elsewhere. The only real departure of the Odes from the rather obscure Synoptic doctrine is that the Odes sometimes substitute " Son " for " babe " or " little one." This the poet might naturally do for clearness. The Fourth Gospel does it habitually. [3707] A writer of originality might practise this substitu- tion at an early date, especially if he felt strongly that his mission was that of a poet and not that of a catechist. A catechist, who has been taught by catechism, teaches in the order of catechism, "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." But Paul, who was taught not by catechism, but by the Lord Jesus, puts the Lord Jesus first, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 1 ." [3708] If Jesus called Himself " the little one " as well as " the son of man," it is easy to see the confusion that would sometimes arise in the Gentile Churches when "the little one" came to be thought of as " the little child," and then " the son." For "little one" meant one that is born again, as a little child, into the circle of God's Family— in effect, there- fore, "the child of God." But Christ's habitual self-appellation was "the son of man" and "the son of man," in His lips, laid little or no stress on "son," but much on "man." Yet, in Greek, "son" and "son of man" (in view of u son" as common to both) might naturally seem to be connected, and to lay stress on sonship. • [3707 a] From the point of view of experience, the Son might be regarded as "the beginning." Comp. Ignat. Magn. 13 "...in flesh and spirit, faith and love, in Son and Father and in Spirit, in beginning and in end " (see Lightf.). 72 (Ode iii. 9—13) >■ ! I if % THE BELOVED [3709] [3709] Outside Johannine writings " the Son " is hardly ever used absolutely in N.T. Of the apparent instances in the Synoptists, the one in Mark (omitted in the parallel Matthew) is probably a corruption, and the one in the Double Tradition of Matthew and Luke has often been noted as having a Johannine character'- And it is noteworthy that in exceptional cases, when the first Epistle to the Corinthians and that to the Hebrews speak of " Son " absolutely, or quasi-absolutely, in connection with Jesus, both of them quote in their contexts the eighth Psalm. This treats, not of " the Son of God," but of " the son of man 5 ." It is possible that 1 Mkxiii. 32 "neither the Son, but the Father" (Luke altogether differs), see Son 3304 — 5 ; Mt. xi. 27 (comp. Lk. x. 22) "no one knoweth the Son save the Father...." The latter is connected with God's revelation to "babes." "The Son" in early Christian writings ' [3709a] (1) 1 Cor. xv. 20—8 "But now hath Christ b,een raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that have fallen asleep (dirapxfi rS>v *ntmftt]ft4vav). For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam {i.e. the First Man) all die, so also in Christ (i.e. the last Adam, or Man) shall all be made alive. But each in his own order : Christ, the firstfruits. ...Then [cometh] the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to him who is God and Father (t<» Qiw k. Uarpl).... For he (i.e. Christ) must reign. ...For [says the Psalmist about 'the son of man' who is Christ (comp. Ps. viii. 6)] He (i.e. the Father) put all things in subjection under his feet (i.e. under the feet of 'the Son of Man')...ax\A, when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected." This seems to begin with the thought of " the son of man," or " son of Adam " and to end with " the Son," apparently meaning "God the Son" as distinct from "God the Father." [3709*] (2) Heb. i. 1 foil. "God, having spoken.. .in the prophets- hath spoken unto us in [a] Son. ..by so much better than the angels. ..of the angels he saith...but of the Son [he saith]...(ii. 5 foil.) not unto angels did he subject the world to come. ..but (comp. Ps. viii.) What is man. ..or the son of man.. .thou madest him a little lower than the angels. ..thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet... him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus,. ..crowned with glory.. .that he should taste death for every [man]. For it became him (God the Father) ...in bringing many sons unto glory.. .to make the captain of their salvation 73 (Ode iii. 9—13) [3709] THE BELOVED perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth (i.e. Jesus who, though " the Son [of God]," is also " the Son of Man ") and they that are sanctified (i.e. the sons of man) are all of one [Father], for which cause he (i.e. Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying (Ps. xxii. 22) I will declare thy name unto my brethren...." This begins with "Son," obviously meaning "Son of God" supremely above "prophets of God"; then passes to His inferiors the "angels" ; then to "the son of man" as being "a little lower than the angels"; and then to "Jesus," who also was made "a little lower than the angels." This, without actually saying, " Jesus called Himself son of man," seems tacitly to explain it as though events had thrown an emphasis on "son":— "The Son of God became Son of Man among the sons of man in order to make them sons of God." [3709 c] Another aspect of the same doctrine appears in Barnabas (vi. 1 1 foil.) in connection with God's purpose to reshape (avanXiirotiv) man, so that we might have " the soul of little-children (naitiav)." " For the Scripture saith about us that He saith to the Son (ru i>!<5) (Gen. i. 26) ' Let us make man. ..and let them rule.. .the fishes of the sea.' And the Lord said, when He saw our fair shape (t6 raXAv n-Xder/ta r,imv) (Gen. i. 28) 'Increase and multiply...' These things [He said] with-respect-to (npbs) the Son. Again I will shew you how He saith with-respect-to us (wpot ^5t), (Lat. to us). A second shaping (irXdow) did the Lord make at the last. And the Lord saith, ' Behold I make the last as the first.' * [3709 d] Details in this text are uncertain. " To " and " with-respect- to" are sometimes confused in translations from Hebrew (Son 3371 (i)*). This may be the case here. The Latin omits "saith to the Son" and "These things [He said] with-respect-to the Son" (as to which comp. Heb i. 8 npb, 8* t6v viAv, where, apart from the context, the words would naturally be rendered " [he saith] to the Son "). But these uncertainties do not affect the conclusion that Barnabas had before him a tradition— probably old in his days and perhaps not understood by him— that the making of men in God's "image" was connected with the "shaping" of them " anew " as " little children." [3709.?] Here we touch the solid ground of the Synoptic teaching. Perhaps, too, we may fairly argue that the Latin translation was more likely to omit the difficult clauses " to the Son" and "with-respect-to the Son " than the Greek text was likely to insert them. If those clauses are sound, then Barnabas is telling us what the Father said "to the Son before the creation of Man, and what He said "with-respect-to the Son" after the creation of Man, when He bade Man, in effect, rule over all things, that is, when He-as the Psalm says-"put all things in subjection under his feet." If so, then the first clause relates to the eternal Son, with whom God took counsel, and the second to the Son mcarnate as "son of man," who was to fulfil that counsel. In that case, Barnabas repeats the sequence of thought found in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but 74 (Ode iii. 9—13) » THE BELOVED [3710] M. our poet here (" sons of man ") may be alluding to the same Psalm. If so, he perhaps alludes to it in the plural and deliberately, in order to shew that the two titles are entirely distinct. In the Odes, " the Son " is the ideal Son, the Living One, the Spirit of the Lord ; " the sons of man " are non-ideal, and unspiritual, needing to be "taught" by this Spirit that they may " know His ways." [3710] Our conclusion is that Jesus, in His doctrine of " receiving," called Himself by a title that implied, though it did not express, sonship. And the fact that this doctrine is here connected with the express mention of " Son " indicates a sympathetic insight into the essence of Christ's teaching, probably going back to a very early date, before the funda- mental truths of the Gospel had been hardened into technical terms. Philo (3796 i), and the Psalms and Songs of Scripture, influenced the poet (no doubt) but do not seem sufficient, by themselves, to explain his language 1 . adds something of great importance, a recognition that the whole of the Son-doctrine implies a Child-doctrine — that men are to become as " little children." This is Synoptic and historical, and, perhaps we may say, the foundation of all Christ's practical teaching. "The Son of the Vine" 1 [3710 a] Perhaps more should have been said above (3670 — 1) about the Messiah as Son of the Vine. This metaphor would become obsolete when the Churches accepted as Christ's words " I am the true Vine." But a first-century Jewish poet, repeating the Psalm of the Vine and thinking of God's "visiting" (Ps. lxxx. 14 — 15) " Look down. ..and visit this Vine... and the Son (so Heb. //"/.) (Targ. King Messiah) (R.V. txt branch, marg. son) whom thou madest strong for thyself," would naturally think (comp. Tehill. Wii. ii. 34) of (Gen. xxi. 1) the Lord's "visiting" Sarah. Sarah was metaphorically the Vine, being the Mother of the promised Seed. Sarah was also (Gal. iv. 22 — 6) "the freewoman"; and "the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother." [3710*] Isaiah's Song of the Vine (v. 1 foil.) " Let me sing for (or, of) my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard," suggests a parallelism between Jehovah as the Husband and Jehovah as the Lord 75 (Ode iii. 9—13) [3710] THE BELOVED of the Vineyard. In the Blessing of Joseph by Jacob, "son" is again used for "branch," (Gen. xlix. 22) "Joseph is a son of the fruitbearer," i.e. branch of a fruitful tree; and Christian Jews, regarding Joseph as a type of the Messiah, might naturally apply to Jesus both these and the following words (ib. 25 — 6) " blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.. .on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren." [3710 c] The early Greek fathers, who seldom quote the Blessing of Joseph as a source of Messianic argument, often use the Blessing of Judah to prove the Virgin Birth. Justin (Apol. §§ 32 — 3) — after explaining from the Gospels (Gen. xlix. 10 — 12) "binding his foal unto the vine"— says that the Messianic "blood of the grape" was made by God's divine power, as He makes the material juice from the material vine. Then he quotes Numb. xxiv. 17, Is. xi. 1 to shew that a "star" or a "flower" was to spring " from the root of Jesse," and that Christ was to be "conceived by a virgin of the seed of facob the father of fudah," so fulfilling the prophecy (Is. vii. 14) "a virgin shall conceive." Origen, too, arguing from Gen. xlix. 9 (LXX) "from a branch (/9Aa being measured by the motions of the material Cosmos, may be called son of Cosmos, but only the grandson (not the son) of God, who is the Father of Cosmos. Aeon, he says, is the archetype of Time. We might be disposed to say that it must be measured by the motions of God's Thought ; but he thinks of God's Thought as never past or future but always present : — (ib.) " In aeon, nothing has passed away, nothing is future, but everything simply subsists (ieiyyovs)," " most bright and full-of-essential-light (Aaji»rporaroi» icai (pairo- tMtrraTov)." This is a sign that he is "aiming at incorruptibility (a0apcrias), laughing at the blind fictions of mortal [joys]." Thus "he is wholly lit up by the shadowless and illuminating ray of truth." He concludes thus : " So much for the Great High Priest [of the Confession (?) interpol. from Heb. iii. 1] stamped with the three above-mentioned seals— the pure white...!' \Z112f\ Comp. Exod. xxxii. 25 "the people were (A.V.) naked, for 92 (Ode iv. 6—8) THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD [3723] § 3. God's " fellowship " with Man [3723] So far, the poem indicates that there is no need of any visible Temple. It seems to say to us, "Believe, and ye are in God's Temple." But then, what as to sacrifice on the altar? The poet — speaking of need as a kind of falling short — replies, in effect, "There is no need of sacrifice either, except so far as our hearts, feeling that they fall short of their due likeness to God's heart, send upwards an offering of love responsive to His love. As fruit springs up in return for dew, and as the babe grows up in return for the mother's milk, so must our sacrifice of love go up in return for His love. The mother might be said to need her child's love. And God might be said to need His children's love. But He does not need any •- thing from us in the sense of falling short of us. On the contrary, it is we who fall short of His likeness. And the sacrifice that He needs is not that of bullocks, but that of hearts lovingly conforming themselves to His heart 1 ." Aaron had made them naked," id. xxxiii. 6 "stripped themselves of their ornaments," where Targ. Jer. I. says (1) (Etheridge) "they had been stripped by the hand of Aaron of the holy crown which was upon their head, inscribed and beautified with the great and glorious Name" (and Jer. II. adds "set forth at Mount Horeb"), but (2) (Etheridge) "the sons of Israel were deprived of their usual adornments (or, appointed arms) on which was written and set forth the great Name ; and which had been given them, a gift from Mount Horeb." Here we see that "naked" may mean "crownless," and the " crown " derives its glory from the NAME inscribed or stamped on it. The human soul may be regarded as "clothing" itself permanently with the Name, or Truth, of God, which is regarded as His Seal stamped upon Man. On "elect," see 3815/ foil. Here perhaps it means " those that excel [the rest]." 1 [3723 a] Ps. 1. 7—14 " I am God, [even] thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices. ..offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving." This Psalm is also in the mind of the writer of Heb. xiii. 14 — 15 "We have not here an abiding city. ..through him [Jesus] then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise." Perhaps it would have been better to substitute "fall short of for "need" in Ode iv. 9 " It was not that thou didst fall short of us,"s. 3999(ii) 17* — wz. 93 (Ode iv. 9—14) [3724] THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD [3724] One of the most noteworthy points in the short extract given above is the unobtrusive way in which the author introduces his first mention of God's grace ("who is there that shall put on thy gracel"). Under various forms, this thought— that is, the thought of God's free and gracious and self-originated kindness, coming to Man like the dew or like a perennial stream of illuminating light or fertilising water— is found far more frequently in these Odes than (pro- portionately) in the works of Philo, and with such originality of expression that we have no justification for supposing that the author borrows it from him, or from Paul, or from any extant writer later than the Prophets. [3725] It is appropriate for a song about God's Temple that the singer should, in the course of it, pass from the thought of self to the thought of the collective worshippers, from " I " to " we." The Ode began with " O my God," but the last section of it will be found to introduce " us 1 ." This first mention of "us" will be connected with the first mention of " fellowship." This, too, is appropriate for a Temple. And we may note that the only other mention of " fellowship " in the Odes is connected with an express mention of " light," which has been shewn (3722/) to be implied here'. ' [3725 a] The Index has "'Wir,' nicht ' Ich,' iv. 9, 10; vi. 5, 6; xvii. 15 ; xviii. 7; xli. 2-7, n I xlii. 21—24," shewing that it is most frequent in the last two Odes. I have noticed no additional instances except xiii. 1 "our mirror," xiv. 9 "our petitions" and "our needs." 2 [3725 i] Ode xxi. 2—4 " I put off darkness and clothed myself with light.. .and superabundantly helpful to me was the Purpose (or, Design) of the Lord and H\s fellowship which is incorruptible." Comp. 1 Jn. i. 5—7 " God is light.. ..If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth ; but, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another...." The Epistle adds "and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." This metaphor the Odes do not use, nor do they ever mention the word " blood " But they repeatedly speak of Redemption, and imply it as the " Purpose of the Lord," and they make frequent allusions to the Cross (3664). 94 (Ode iv. 9—14) ;* lit THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD [3726] [3726] In accordance with above-mentioned Hebrew precedent, the thought of God's "fellowship" is at once associated with the thought of God's freedom from " need " (but see 3999 (ii) 17 k foil.) :— 9. Thou hast given us thy fellowship 1 . It was not that thou didst (?) need [gifts] from us, but we (?) need [gifts] from thee. 10. Sprinkle on us thy sprinklings [of dew 8 ], and open thy 1 [3726 a] " Fellowship," H. "Gemeinschaft," Levy Ch. ii. 522—3 qu. Jer. Taan. ii. p. 65^"Gott hat seinen erhabenen Namen mit dem von Isra-el gemeinschaftlich gemacht, vereinigt...(Josh. vii. 9)" (also Levy iv. 618 b). Rashi (on Josh. vii. 9) says that this "fellowship' 1 in respect of the name el — common both to God and to His people — -is "expositio allegorica." Our author takes the "fellowship" to be that of the Holy Spirit. Of this, the sign is, in the present context, the Seal of Light. But it might be called the Seal of the name. [3726 b] The only other instance of God's " fellowship " with Man is in Ode xxi. 4 — 5 "And above-measure [R.H. increasingly, H. besonders, Thes. 165 1 sanctions either rendering, but favours rrtpuraortpat &c] helpful to me was the Design of the Lord (i.e. the revelation of the Lord's Plan of Redemption) and His incorruptible fellowship, and I wis lifted up in (or, into) His light." * [3726r] "Sprinkle. ..sprinklings [of dew]." 7X«.3938gives"sprinkle" as the regular meaning of this word. It occurs in Deut. xxxiii. 28 (Syr.) "The fountain of Jacob.. .corn and wine. ..yea, his heavens will sprinkle dew," where Rashi remarks that this is "the blessing of Isaac" (Gen. xxvii. 28) which "will be added to the blessing of Jacob." On Gen. xxvii. 28 "God give thee of the dew of heaven. ..earth. ..corn and wine," Rashi says " there are many mystical interpretations." Philo i. 452 says that "the dew of heaven" signifies the gentle blessings from heaven, while the "earth" signifies earthly blessings, and that this agrees with the lesson taught by the garment of the High Priest, Logos, on whose head is a golden plate (Exod. xxviii. 36) with the "impress of a seal," which "seal" is "the idea of ideas" — an Alexandrian specimen, perhaps, of the "mysticism" mentioned by Rashi. [3726 d] These facts, and a great many more that might be adduced about the allegorical meaning of " dew" and "showers" in Jewish litera- ture, indicate that the Ode is alluding to "dew" not merely as a blessing but also as a promised blessing, part of God's Will and Purpose of Redemption. It may be no more than a coincidence, but it is to be noted, that two such apparently dissociable things as "dew" and "seal" should be con- sociated both by Philo and by our poet in a brief context. 95 (Ode iv. 9—14) [3726] THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD rich fountains that pour forth to us the Milk and Honey [of thy Promise 1 ]. n. For there is no repentance with thee that thou shouldst repent anything that thou hast promised'. 12. And the end [of all things] was open-and-visible to thee; for indeed whatever thou hast given thou hast given freely*. 13. So that thou wilt not draw them back and take them [again]. 14. For everything soever — [to thee] as God — was open-and- visible to thee, and was ordained from [that which was] in the beginning 4 before thee (i.e. before thy face), and thou, O Lord', h;ist made all things. Hallelujah. 1 [3726 e] "The Milk and Honey [of thy Promise]." The first mention of "milk and honey" is in the Promise made to Moses (Exod. iii. 8) "to bring them up.. .unto a land flowing with milk and honey." The Odes might have expressed this (s. last note) by a reference to the "corn and wine" in the Blessing of Isaac. But they never mention "bread," and hardly ever (see 3688*) "wine." "Milk," on the other hand, they frequently mention, and even as coming from the "breasts" of the Father (see 3814/ foil.). But to mention it thus for the first time would be an abruptness on which even our poet would hardly venture. It is here introduced as a part of a well-known scriptural phrase, but probably with intention to lead the readers quickly on to higher thoughts of the spiritual "milk." It recurs in Odes viii. 17, xix. I foil, and xxxv. 6 "the dew of the Lord gave me milk" (or, "and He gave me milk the dew of the Lord") — which drops the distinction between "dew" and "milk" drawn here, and shews that the two metaphors may express one thing. 2 [3726/] Comp. Numb, xxiii. 19 "God is not a man. ..nor the son of man that he should repent" i.e. concerning His promises to Israel — alluded to perh. in Rom. xi. 29 " the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance" This is the only mention, in the Odes, of " repentance " — a word (Son 3564 a) never used by John. " Promise" is mentioned again in Ode xxxi. II "my promises to the fathers." 3 [3726 jf] "Freely." Lit. " without-cause." Thes. 2005 sine causa, either (1) (of good) without price, or (2) (of evil) without provocation. Here, of good, and therefore "gratuitously," R.H. "freely." H. has " aus Gnaden," which expresses (Gesen. 336 b) the corresponding Hebrew. It recurs in Ode v. 3. 4 [3726 A] " From [that which was] in the beginning." Thes. 3907 shews that "in the beginning" came to mean " that-which-was in the beginning," and hence "principium" in a theological sense. The Odes 96 (Ode iv. 9 — 14) i««*/j [3727J A comparison of thisml ^1 . - * - Te m s: rriz: :?,i s cr; "^ No, can « even safelv con I T '"' '" """* '°"Z P» st - *. Baraabas , j£ „ ri :v mSh 1 thh au,hor ' incarnate Messiah. 1'hilo in ZZ " y * be an characterizes this Ode. But Philo in ♦•! i ' Wh ' ch ecstasies, never f orgets tha G ' "'^ ° f hl ' S hi ^ Ou, poet Snores *V r d oe ^ 'J "^ "* ^ in these early Odes a s P nc„ r t ' heWS Us alread y •ta. 'he au.hc, has advanced ZyZ ,h TZ",7 '""' !Zff!!if!f^L i ^ fal Cris t i,„° t ; ,most """ , " ia bo,h ««„„, » t:° d .% % '„' '%" ° G °«." ■»' H» Syr. «„, „ as 1 Barn. vi. 8—9. '' •13727a, J"Z S " V " WS "' G ° D ' S " P "«- "Ives, the Psalmist's words m fh tl ^ *"• Taken * Aem- a Christian, and either befL r T' 6 " either ^ a J™ or by Christian Epistle to the Hebl ' *** ™ ° f the Tem P'e- The" «* or the TL P .e ,l t ^ew e th r aTin C, S c t t he t r; ? d 7^^ after £ »l«Wngo n e,theSonof Man including .h7 r I™ 9 * ° f the Lord is 97 (Ode iv. 9-14) 7 [3727] THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD when tlie Temple had literally fallen and its literal rebuilding was awaited with passionate longing. In the Ode there is certainly no suggestion of the least desire for the building — or for the preservation — of a material Temple ; and this (though Essenism must be kept in view as a possible explanation) may fairly be taken as strengthening the proof that the writer was a Christian. [3727 b] On Jewish, or quasi-Jewish, views of God's " place," and on the "restrainings" mentioned in a later Ode (vi. 9) in connection with the Temple, light may be thrown by an ancient attack on "those who builded the wall." It is in Fragments of a Zadokite Work ed. Schechter p. 4, 1. 19, and especially p. 8, 1. 18 "To them {i.e. the forefathers) is the covenant of the fathers, but in His hatred of them who builded the wall His wrath was kindled" (sim. p. 19, 1. 31). Dr Schechter p. xvii says that this is pointed against the Pharisees, "referring probably to their motto, 'Make a fence to the Torah,'" but that, in some points, "the denunciation must... refer to the Hellenistic party." By these Zadokites (id. p. xv) "one city... seems to have been set apart as the City of the Sanctuary. ..perhaps it was in this Sanctuary that the altar was placed in which regular sacrifices were brought, whilst the other settlements were only provided with a house of worship..." The date of this work (of parts of which there are two versions) is the subject of much discussion, and the Rev. G. Margoliouth (Expositor, Dec. 191 1, Mar. 191 2) gives reasons for thinking that it is Ebionite and of the first century. Co-operation between Greek or Roman conquerors and some of the Jewish upper classes might occur both under Antiochus Epiphanes and under Tiberius Caesar, such as is indicated by Mark's brief mentions of "the Herodians." In any case this work, which all agree to be not later than the first century, shews that other Jews besides Essenes might take what we should now call " very heterodox " views of the Sanctuary built by Ezra and restored by Herod. See 3996 £•. [3727 c] A mystical view of God's Holy Place might spring naturally from Ps. xxii. 3 " But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest (marg. art enthroned upon) the praises of Israel," a passage mistranslated by LXX, and consequently misinterpreted by Origen as well as by Justin Martyr, but connected by many Jewish traditions (e.g. Gen. r. on Gen. xviii. 1, xxviii. 11, xxxi. 40) with the presence of the Shechinah above the Patriarch Israel at Bethel (the House of God) or above the nation Israel, in their assemblies for worship. See also From Letter 1022 a quoting Exod. xv. 2 " I will beautify him," R.V. "praise him," AV. "prepare him a habitation" Onk. " build him a sanctuary" LXX So£d ^e connect.on resembles asks how "persecution" or an ^ Pe ' ,n ^ the A P° s t'e from the love of Christ' ' h * § ^ ^ " S *^ - 'S. CIV. 21. 99 (Ode v. i_ 9 ) 7—2 [3729] THE HELP OF GOD are we saved 1 ." This Ode, too, having begun with " love " as well as "hope " (" I love thee... thou art my hope ") ends with the assurance of inseparableness from the Lord : — " I stand firm... because the Lord is with me and I am with Him." This — being only another metaphor to express what was expressed in the third Ode, which described believers as the " members " of the Beloved — needs no explaining. But the retribution of " cloud," " darkness," " no light," " thick-fog," on the "persecutors," seems somewhat strangely detailed. [3730] It is probably to be explained as one of those allusions to the Deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea which run through all Hebrew and Jewish literature and which are obvious in many of the Psalms. In the first place, the word " persecute " or " pursue " — for the Syriac has both meanings and so has the Hebrew with which it is identical — is repeatedly applied in Exodus to the "pursuing" or "persecuting" Egyptians, both in the third person and in the first, and is referred to by Philo as well as in the Midrash of the Psalms as shewing that God "persecutes" the "persecutors'." In 1 [3729a] Rom. viii. 21 foil, "in hope; because the creation itself also shall be delivered... by hope were we saved, but hope that is seen is not hope : for who hopeth for that which he seeth ? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." The Epistle proceeds to emphasize God's "foreknowing" and "foreordaining" in "conforming" the elect "to the image of his Son," very much as this author emphasizes, in Ode iv., the unchangeable continuity of God's Purpose of Redemption. "Hope" is a special kind of faith or belief, the belief, against appearances, in the ultimate predominance of peace and goodness. » [3730 Mole^a/EhZ'. foTrtT^ i " A " d *' ""« ° f the ° th " [- * mv he L llr 7a v 7 [ ( ' e - M ° Ses) said The God ^ n,y father was MeS ad, VIZl w efWm thC SW ° rd ° f Phara ° h >" °" Which - ecnut. ad loc, Tehtll. Wu. ,. 39 _ 40) Cant. r. (on Cant. vii. 5, Wii. p ,60) ^; ( h n e^ U, ' '* *'' WU " P - *> RV " *»* ««• "Heb. E, S * Acts vii. 22, see 3731 q. 101 COde v. j— o) [3730] THE HELP OF GOD about Moses, who, as the Jerusalem Targum says, received " four goodly crowns," the first being " the crown of the Law ...because he brought it from the heavens above 1 ." Toward its close the Ode asserts that the speaker will never be " shaken " though everything should be " shaken." This calls attention to Jewish traditions, some of which (but not all) have influenced the Epistle to the Hebrews, which associates the words of Moses " I exceedingly fear and quake" with " the mountain " described in Exodus as "quaking (3734 a)." Finally, the words " the Lord is with me and / am with him" close the poem with a picture of Moses at his spiritual highest, when God said to him, in reply to a prayer that He would manifest Himself to him, " Behold, there is a place by me... I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and will cover thee with my hand*." [3731] There is an instructive contrast between this Ode and the Gnostic Targum based on it in the Pistis Sophia. The latter repeatedly personifies light, e.g. " I will lift up a song to thee, O Light', because I desire to come unto thee, I will sing unto thee, O Light, for thou art my Saviour." But the Ode introduces " light " — here for the first time in the Odes — only indirectly and subordinately, placing it after " darkness," and mentioning the loss of it as a retribution on " persecutors " (" they shall have no light to see "). i. I give thanks 4 unto thee, O Lord, because I love thee". 1 Deut. xxxiv. 4 (Jer. Targ.). * Exod. xxxiii. 21—2, see 3734/ 5 Pistis Sophia (ed. Pet.) 113. 4 [3731 /j] "I give thanks." R.H. "I will give thanks." But the same Syr. occurs in Mt. xi. 25 and Lk. x. 21 meaning " 1 give thanks to thee," and there seems no reason for a future rendering. H. "ich sage dir Dank." Here, as in Mt.-Llc, "thanks" appears to include an acknow- ledgment of the inscrutable wisdom of God in ordaining a retributive "darkness' (in Mt.-Lk., "hiding"). The word does not recur exc. Ode xxvi. 6", R.H. " is the confession of Him," H. "gebiihrt ihm Danksagung." 6 [3731^] "I love thee." Comp. Ps. xviii. 1—2 "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, the Lord is my Rock...." The subject of that 102 (Ode v. 1 — 9) THE HELP OF GOD [3731] 2. Most High', thou wilt not forsake me 8 , for thou art my hope". Psalm is the same as that of this Ode-God, the Protector and the Rock, although the Ode does not expressly mention the Rock. The title of the Psalm mentions the deliverance of David "from the hand of Saul," but it passes rapidly (it. 8 ; see Rashi) to the deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh at the Red Sea. In the Psalm, " I will love" (so LXX, and Aq. &c, and the Targ., and Syr., and A.V., against R.V.) seems to represent the "love" as the effect of the Psalmist's will:-" I will love thee because thou hast delivered me." The Ode represents the singer's love as the cause of his praise. [3731,] In the Psalm, "I will love thee" (Gesen. 933*) is a unique Hebrew use of rdcham (see 3680 foil.) to mean man's love to God. Rashi takes pains to explain that it means the same thing as the reg Heb "love" used in Lev. xix. 18. Prob. it is an early corruption (the clause is omitted in the Heb. of parall. 2 S. xxii. 2) but our author would almost certainly have it before him and would use the text of the Psalms rather than that of Samuel. If so, the contrast between the tone of the Psalm and the tone of the Ode may be deliberate. In the Psalm, love is a consequence, in the Ode, a cause ; in the Psalm, God will help because He is -called upon," in the Ode, because He is the singer's "hope"- ■n the Psalm, it is the Psalmist's " righteousness," and "cleanness of hands," and "perfection" that give him confidence in his appeal to God ; in the Ode, it is God's free gift of grace-" freely have I received thy grace, I shall live thereby." On " righteousness » s. 3804 a foil. [3731 d] Pistis Sophia (ed. Pet.) 114 gives Ode v. 1 thus, "Mani- restabo me tibi, domine, quod tu es meus deus. Ne sine me..." (but see R.H. p. 23 giving, for "manifestabo me tibi," another transl. "gratias tibi agam," as in Syr.). This omits the vocative "O Most High," and substitutes " thou art my God " for " I love thee." ' [3731*] "Most High." Out of about 29 instances of "Most High," this w the only vocative one. Might it be taken appositionally? Comp. Ps. ix. 2 (Targ.) " nomen tuutn altissimum." See 3922 m foil. [3731/] "Thou wilt not forsake me." The Coptic has "Do not thou forsake me," and so H. But such a prayer would seem at discord with the prevalent optimistic tone of the Odes. "Verlassen" is not in H.'s Index, but recurs in xi. 9 and xxxiii. 7 of " forsaking " evil. 3 [3731/] The noun "hope" recurs in xxix. 1 "The Lord is my hope ; in Him I shall not be confounded," xl. 3 "...so also is my hope on thee, O my God." The radical meaning of the Syr. (sir) is (Thes. 2509) |'putare," which, when meaning "think [to do]," may imply "expect" or hope." But the Syr. may represent " hope " in other aspects— aspects confused in the translations of the Bible. 'EXn-.'r (LXX) represents 103 (Ode v. 1 — 9) [3731] THE HELP OF GOD THE HELP OF GOD [3731] 15 different Heb. words, and A.V. "hope" is also R.V. "confidence," "safety," "trust," or "refuge." When God is called "my hope" in Ps. Ixxi. 5 (R.V.), the Heb. means "waiting [patiently for]" with some suggestion of what Gesen. 875* calls "tension," LXX turo/»o*q, Sym. Trpoo-8oicin. There the Targ. and the Syr. have our word (sir), but they have it also in Ps. lxii. 7, cxlii. 5, where God is called, or connected with, " my refuge " ; and 17 «X»rir fimi, in LXX, when applied to God, mostly = Heb. "my refuge." "Refuge" (Heb.) is used, 14 times out of 20, to mean (Gesen. 340) "God as the refuge of his people." It makes a great difference in the picture presented by Ode v. whether the attitude is that of painful "tension," or that of rest in a "refuge." The latter is more consonant with the tone of the Odes as a whole, and with the present context, which represents the redeemed soul as being high up on a hill above the commotion of things below, like Abraham looking down on Sodom, or like Moses or Elijah on Horeb. Comp. Ode xxxv. 4 — 5 "There came forth from them smoke and judgment, and I was at peace in the order (so R.H., s. 3888 a) of the Lord, and more than shadow was He to me and more than foundation." This is like Ps. xci. I foil. " He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ..He is my refuge and my fortress... with thine eyes shalt thou. ..see the reward of the wicked." (As regards the "smoke" comp. Gen. xix. 28, Exod. xix. 18, in both of which passages the Syr. has the same word as here.) The poet probably has in view Jewish traditions explaining why Moses was (Deut. ix. 19) "exceedingly-terrified (txipo^ns) " when coming down from Mount Horeb, but not terrified when ascending the mountain, though it was "all on smoke" (see Wii. Numb. r. p. 257, Deut. r. p. 99, Cant. r. p. 95, Pesikt. p. 53, Exod. r. p. 292, Tehill. i. 66; see also Jer. Targ. on Deut. ix. 19, and Notes 2998 (xi) foil., quoting "a 3rd century tradition" from Said. 88 d). The reason was (say the Jews, and their view is confirmed by the context of Deut ix. 19) that, on the second occasion, Israel had sinned. It was not physical fear in Moses, but his fear for Israel. This is a nobler view of Moses than that presented in Heb. xii. 21 "and so fearful was the appearance [of the mountain] [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." Probably the Jews in the first century attacked such expositions as this. Our poet, without touching on controversy, favours the Jewish view about Moses, but suggests that even Moses is the type of one greater than himself — one to whom the Almighty is " more than " shadow, and " more than " fortress. [Westcott, on Heb. xii. 21, says "Similar words were used by Moses in connexion with the worshipping of the golden calf Deut. ix. 19 ; but it is hardly possible that the writer of the Epistle transferred these directly to the scene at the giving of the Law, when the fear was due to circumstances essentially different. It is more likely that he refers to some familiar tradition in which the feelings of Moses were described in IC4 (Ode v. 1 — 9) ; 3. Freely 1 have I received thy grace, I shall live 1 thereby. 4. My persecutors' will come (3737 a) and will not see me. these terms." But Westcott does not give any specimen of such "tradition." Presumably he knew none. And against his view is the fact that some "traditions," as quoted above, expressly distinguish the "circumstances." As regards "exceedingly-afraid," it is worth noting that ?icoj9of, in the whole of the Gk canonical Bible, occurs only in Deut. ix. 19, Heb. xii. 21, and Mk. ix. 6 concerning the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (From Letter 885 a).] Taken by itself, the evidence as to the single word "hope" is in- sufficient to shew that in the Odes it corresponds to "refuge" in Hebrew. But it ought perhaps rather to be considered as part of a phrase, "the Lord my hope," or some equivalent. When thus regarded, and interpreted in the light of its context, it appears to mean, if not "refuge," at all events something quite different from that kind of "hope" which is associated with the tension of painful expectation. 1 [3731 h] " Freely," H. " umsonst." See note (3726^) on iv. 12, where H. had "aus Gnaden." The author often emphasizes in the second of two Odes a thought that he has introduced in the first. In iv. 7 — 12, he spoke of the spontaneousness, or living naturalness, of God's "grace" — "grace," "life," and "free-giving" being connected together. Here he emphasizes the connection. '[37310 "Shall live." H. "ich lebe (oder : bin gerettet)." The second meaning may be illustr. by Gen. xii. 13 "my soul shall live because of thee." In the Odes, as in the Fourth Gospel, the notion of being "spared," or "saved from death," is mostly subordinated to that of being "spiritually living," "abounding in life." Here, perhaps, if anywhere, the context introducing the thought of persecution and peril would justify the rendering " I shall be saved," but see 3819/ foil. * [3731/] "My persecutors" occurs, as here (and identically in Heb., Aram., and Syr.) in Ps. vii. 1 "Save me from all them-that-pursue-me (A.V. persecute me)." The Psalm resembles this Ode in beginning (it.) with an expression of "trust," and in declaring that the devices of the persecutor (ii. 16) "will return upon his own head." See also 3730 a. [3731 k] " Persecute" recurs as follows : — Ode xxiii. 18 (R.H.) "And all the apostates hasted and fled away. And those who persecuted and were enraged (but see 3888*) became extinct." Reasons will be given below for thinking that this may refer, in part, to the reaction that followed the death of Domitian, when the persecution of the Christians ceased, and the delatores, or informers, were discouraged and punished. See 3936. [3731 /] Ode xxviii. 8 (R.H.) "They who saw me marvelled at me, because I was persecuted, and they supposed that I was swallowed up." 105 (Ode v. 1 — 9) [3731] THE HELP OF GOD Some details here, e.g. "marvelled," and especially (xxviii. 7) "kissed" (R.M. "give to drink") (see Pref. pp. xlvi— xlix) point to the crucifixion as being referred to by "persecuted." The context (id. 5) says "the sword shall not divide me from Him nor the scimitar: 1 " Scimitar" and " sword " are probably, not poetic parallels, but emblems of two different powers. The Syr. for "scimitar" is identical with the Gk aafi^pi used in Joseph. Ant. xx. 2, 3 to mean "the sword, recognised as the sign 0/ foreign authority." It is freq. in Syr. (Thes. 2702) O.T. and N.T., and is used as the sign of Roman power in Rom. xiii. 4 " he (i.e. the Roman ruler) beareth not the sword in vain." Levy Ch. ii. 181 quotes it thrice from the Targ. on Esther, e.g. Esth. viii. 1 5 (Targ.) where it is the sign of the regal power of Ahasuerus, deputed to Mordecai. Now the whole of the 22nd Psalm, which Christians quoted as pointing to Christ's crucifixion, appears to have been interpreted by Jews (s. Rashi on Ps. xxii. 1) as referring to Esther, and Ps. xxii. 20 "deliver rny soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog," is explained in Megill. 15 b as a prayer to be delivered from the sword of Ahasuerus, whom she calls "dog." Presumably she means it as a contemptuous term for an idolater. The tradition represents her as asking God whether He has "forsaken" her for some sin — "Was it that I called him 'dog'}" — and then as substituting "lion." No explanation of "the dog" is given in the Midrash on the Psalm (although it consistently applies the context to Esther, and explains Ps. xxii. 16 "dogs" as the sons of Haman) nor have I found any explanation of "the dog" in the volumes published by Schwab, Goldschmidt, and Wiinsche (except Megill. as above). But in this Ode we appear to find a paraphrase of "from the power of the dog," on the lines of Megilla but adapted to Christian thought : — " Neither the native sword of Herod nor Pilate's sword of Roman authority shall divide me from the Lord." Comp. Acts iv. 26 — 7, quoting Ps. ii. 2 "the kings of the earth... and the rulers" and explaining it as "Herod and Pontius Pilate." "Sword" apart from "scimitar," might have been taken generally as in Rom. viii. 35 ; but the antithesis makes a particular meaning probable here. [3731 m] Ode xlii. 5—7 (R.H.) "AH my persecutors are dead ; and they sought after me who (3731 n) hoped in me because I was alive; (6) and I rose up and am with them ; and I will speak by their mouths. (7) For they have despised those who persecuted them." This, too, points to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and to the "despising" of "perse- cution" by His disciples, who, after His death, "sought after" Him, or "hoped" in Him — or did both — because He was "alive" and helping them. [3731 n] Taken together, these passages about persecution indicate a review of its general futility, beginning with Israel's "persecution" in Egypt and ending with Christ's "persecution"' on the Cross. The former resulted in the destruction of the Egyptians, the latter in the discomfiture of Death and Sheol. In the first (Ode v. 4) there may be a 106 (Ode v. 1 — 9) THE HELP OF GOD [3731] 5- A cloud » of gloom shall fall on their eyes and an air of thick darkness shall darken them. blend.ng of the thought of David "pursued" by Saul (1 S xxiii 2c xx.v. , 4 , xxv. 29, xxvi. ,8) with that of Israel "pursued" by Egypt-as here is a s.milar blending, according to Rashi, in Ps. xviii (3731 4-but the latter appears to predominate. H.'s Index gives " Verfolgungen, Verfolger," as occurring also in Odes xxm. 3, xxv. ,0, xxix. 5 ; but these passages mention "adversaries" or enemies,-' not " persecutors." [In Ode xlii. 5, instead of "who hoped in me because I was alive" K-H. 1st ed. has "who supposed that I was alive." But H. has "die ' welche .hre HofTnung auf mich setzten weil ich lebe.?' With this R.h' 2nd ed. (which however has no note) appears to agree. But the lit. Syr. is "hoped on," not "hoped in." Thes. 2510 says that the regular constr. is with "in," and gives no Biblical instance of the constr. with "on." Why then does our poet use the latter ? Heb, when destrtng to express "trust" reposed "on" God, uses bdtach with prep on (Gesen. !o 5 a) in four instances; the Syr. thrice represents this by tkcl, trust," w.th "on." But in Ps. xxxvii. 5 where the Syr. represents >t by sbr, ,t alters the preposition to "in." This confirms the statement in Thes. and suggests that the usage in the Ode here is to "be explained by some peculiar view of the poet as to the nature of "hope (sbr)," which he consistently regards as " resting " on a present support. If that is the case, the fact may be illustrated by the various uses of irwio in different books of N.T. (Joh. Voc. 1474 foil.). It cannot be maintained that the author uses sbr to do duty for the byr. thcl, for he uses the latter thrice, Odes xxiii. 2 "trust on it" xxxin. ,, 1 "trust in my name," xl. 7 "the fear [of the Lord] trusts 'in , r,,,, n trauen " or "vertrauen" (but neither is in H.'s Index). 1 r n E? °] " CI ° Ud '" "• " W ° ,ke '" but his Index tt ri/iupiar) " on their opposites. Jer. Targ. (on Exod. xv. 19) adds that for Israel "there sprang up sweet fountains and trees yielding food and verdure and ripe fruits, [even] on the ground of the sea." Origen (Lomm. xi. 359) commenting on Ps. Ixix. 23 " Let their eyes be darkened" says that the whole of the Psalm refers to "Him who for our sakes has gone down to the depths of the immaterial sea {ri\t voovfiivqs BaKcurcnit)," and that it describes "the rout (rponriv) of those who took- counsel against Him for evil." Elsewhere he quotes it about (Mt. xxvii. 45) the "darkness" during the Crucifixion, as emblematic of the darkness that was to fall on the Jewish nation. [3731/] To picturesque traditions such as these, about the Passage of the Red Sea, Philo and our author may be independently alluding. But it is quite possible that one of them, or both, may be combining with this the thought of the Destruction of Sodom. R. Alexandri {Exod. r. on xxxi. 18, Wii. p. 285) called attention to the suggestion of evil some- times contained in the word "look down," giving, as his instances, Exod. xiv. 24 " The Lord looked down [as through a window] on the camp of the Egyptians," and Gen. xix. 28 "Abraham looked down [as through a window] on Sodom." Abraham may be regarded by our poet as standing on the cloudless hill of Truth, "looking down" on the judgment of Sodom. No visible cloud is over him. But there is the invisible Shechinah above his head, protecting him — amid the terrors of these divine judgments which he had sought in vain to avert by mediating prayer— and assuring him that, in spite of appearance, all was well. " Smoke" and "judgment" come up from Sodom, but Abraham remains fearless in the belief that "the Judge of all the earth" will "do right." 1 " Thought. ..thick-fog," see 3819 / foil, and 3737 b. 2 [3731 o] " Planned-wisely [as they suppose]." Comp. Exod. i. 10 " Let us {i.e. the Egyptians) deal-wisely with them {i.e. the Israelites)," where the Heb. and Syr. have the same word as occurs here— and in a 108 (Ode v. 1—9) I THE HELP OF GOD [3732] 8. For they have designed a thought, and it hath not come to pass for them ; they have prepared themselves with-evil-intent and they were found to he empty 1 . 9- For on the Lord is my hope and I shall not fear, and {or? yea) because the Lord is my Salvation' I shall not fear. § 2. The Lord our Rock [3732] In his consideration of the deliverances of Israel, the poet now passes from the negative aspect, protection, to' the posittve aspect, stability. Incidentally, he returns to the thought of the "crown." In the first Ode, the crown was a pledge of "life" and "salvation," but with special emphasis on hving " fruits." Here, amid thoughts of enemies and persecutors, it seems to be regarded rather as a pledge of v.ctory or security. The text makes no explicit mention of God as a Rock— so frequent a metaphor in the Bible. But some metaphor of the kind seems to be implied. Israel, or middle form that occurs (Gesen. 3.4 *) nowhere else except Eccles. vii .6 be not wise overmuch." See 3819/. hJ, [ « 731 r \ I*™*?" C ° mp - Ex ° d - "'■ 22 > Where ° nk - a "d Jer- Targ. ■7 /',, . rt" "" Pty thC E ^ tians " ** a paraphrase of Heb. ye ^aUspo,l the Egyptians" (rep. it. xii. 36). "Empty- is used of a man defrauded of h,s wages in Gen. xxxi. 42 (comp. Deut. xv n ) and so allus.vely, in Exod. iii. 2. "ye shall not go empty" {i.e. defrauded of the wages due from your oppressors). It is with this allusion that the Tare paraphrases -ye shall spoil" as "ye shall make-empty." It is an instance of re r.but.on. Afech.lt. on Exod. xv. 9 "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil," says that this is an instance of "tl°JT g -, .. A1 !rl he verbs are to be interpreted p assive 'y> in ^*ng div.de the spoil." The would-be despoilers were despoiled. Or, the "emptiers" were "made-empty." ' • [3731,] "Salvation." The root-verb, in Syr., represents Heb. "save" or redeem." It occurs frequently throughout the Odes. This is the first .nstance (the Syr. in Ode i. being non-extant) and it is introduced appro- priately with the introduction of " persecuting." [3731/] "I shall not fear...™,/... I shall not fear," seems to make tame sense. It would be improved if "yea" could be substituted for "and" Thes. 1057 gives a few instances of its meaning "also" or "even" but mostly before nouns or pronouns, "also Peter," "even thou," &c. (3734 a). 109 (Ode v. 10—12) [3732] THE HELP OF GOD its representative, seems to be regarded as lifted up on a Rock, looking down on a sea of destruction, or on a plain that seethes like a sea, everything being shaken 1 , while he stands firm. If the poet is thinking of Moses, we may illustrate the thought from the Book of Enoch, which de- scribes him as led straight from the depths of the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, or else to the cleft of the Rock in which he received the manifestation of God'. [3733] Or he may combine with this the thought of Abraham, "looking down'" on the Dead Sea, that had been, only yesterday, the land of Sodom. It is noteworthy that when the Rock is at last mentioned in the Odes, it is as the ' [3732 a] Comp. Heb. xii. 18—27 for traditions that imply a con- nection between Mount Sinai, and "fear," and "quaking," and a voice that " shook the earth," and a contrast between " those things that are shaken," and others "which are not shaken." The writer adds, (ib. 28) "Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace (or, thankfulness) (xapiv)." See 3730 and 3734 a. Ps. xlvi. 1 — 3 "God is our refuge... though the earth do change... though the mountains shake," affords a picturesque contrast between that which can, and that which cannot, be "shaken." Rashi's comment is as follows: "In the time to come, i.e. on that day of which it is said, (Ps. cii. 26) 'The earth shall grow old as a garment.' The sons of Korah had seen the miracle that had befallen them, how all the earth around them had been swallowed up, but they remained suspended in the air. Therefore they said to the Israelites, through the Holy Spirit, that in time to come the same miracle would befall them" The italicised words are based on the fact that the Psalm is one of those entitled "of the sons of Korah," and that (Numb. xxvi. n) "the sons of Korah died not " for the sin of their father. See also Rashi on Ps. xlii. 1 to the same effect. This, and many other illustrations of the Jewish custom of connecting the interpretation of " Psalms of David" with scenes from the national history, help us to realise how naturally the author of "Songs of Solomon" would connect his poetry with scenes from the same source. 2 [3732*5] Enoch lxxxix. 27—9 "all the wolves that pursued those sheep (i.e. the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites) perished and were drowned. ..and that sheep (i.e. Moses) ascended to the summit of that lofty rock (i.e. Sinai) and the Lord of the sheep sent it to them." No " rock " has been previously mentioned. ' " Looking down," see 3731 p. no (Ode v. 10 — 12) THE HELP OF GOD [3733] * Rock of Truth, familiar to us, through Bacon's Essays, as the Hill of Truth 1 . To Israel this metaphor was commended by many traditions. Moses received his first revelation on Mount Horeb, and afterwards ascended the mountain to bring down the Law from God. In a cleft of the Rock also he was placed by the hand of the Lord in order to receive a mani- festation of His attributes. Elijah ascended the same Mount of God to receive knowledge of God's will. In another and more ordinary sense, every Israelite was bound to "go up" to God's " holy hill " thrice a year to offer worship and sacrifice. Thus, although the doctrine of " lifting up" on the Rock is not definitely mentioned in the Odes till much later on, it may be implied here and may be influencing both the thought and the expression*. 1 [3733a] Ode xi. 5 "I have been firmly-fixed on the rock of the firm-truth, where He hath established me." That Ode is peculiarly appropriate to the experiences of Abraham (Son 3596 foil.). Also Ode xxii. 12 "and that the foundation for everything might be thy rock," if applied to Abraham, agrees with those Jewish traditions which say that, till Abraham's faith arrived, the Lord found no "rock" (Son 3595) on which to build His House. The third and last instance of "Rock" is in a simile, not a metaphor, Ode xxxi. 9 "1 stood unshaken like a firm rock, which is beaten by the waves and endures." Comp. Bacon's Essays i. 53—4. ' [3733/5] The poet's doctrine of "lifting up," which is hardly mentioned in the first half of the Odes, somewhat resembles, but also differs from, that of Philo. A single quasi-parallel will shew what the difference is. Philo (ii. 242) describes "the soul of the lover of God" as " leaping up to heaven, and winged (-nrtpiuBfiaa)" for its aerial voyage on its way to join in the celestial chorus with the sun and moon and stars ; but the Odes say (xxviii. 6) " I was placed on His imperishable wings." The former suggests the wings assigned to the human soul in Plato's Phaedrus. The latter suggests the "wings" of Jehovah (Exod. xix. 4, Deut. xxxii. 1 1, both of which are non-occurrent in the Index to Philo). It is true that Philo now and then speaks of the "attraction" exercised by God on the soul that loves Him, and he occasionally connects the "ascent" of the soul into the region of truth with the thought of "illumination"; but he nowhere (as far as I know) uses quite such language as that in Ode xv. 2 "because He is my Sun and His rays have raised me up " (and comp. 3786 a). On the other hand, there is no trace in in (Ode v. 10 — 12) [3734] THE HELP OF GOD [3734] With this suggestion of unshakeableness the Ode concludes : — 10. And as a crown is He on my head, and I shall not be shaken; and [even] if everything soever should be shaken 1 , I (emph.) stand-firm 1 1 1. And [even] if everything soever that is visible* be destroyed 4 , I (emph.) shall not die*. the Odes of the Greek influence apparent in Philonian metaphors about a " winged" soul (which implies quite a different thought from that of the Psalmist's longing for " the wings of a dove" in time of persecution). 1 [3734a] "Shaken shaken." The verb twice repeated here (though in different voices) is also twice used in the Syr. (as well as in the Targums) of Exod. xix. 16 — 18 "and all the people that were in the camp trembled. ..and the whole mount trembled greatly " (where LXX varies, but comp. Ezek. xxvi. 18 and Is. xli. 5). It is a '■'shaking," or "quaking," that implies fear. Comp. Heb. xii. 26 — 8 "whose voice then shook the earth. ..wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace (or, thankfulness)." There, the R.V. marg. refers to Exod. xix. 18. There can be little doubt that the author of the Odes, like the author of the Epistle, had the " shaking" of Sinai in his mind. R.H. has " shall not be moved. ..shaken," H. " werde nicht beben...erschiittert." The Syr., in both voices, may be ( Thes. 1 105 — 6) either literal or metaphorical. H.'s Index does not give "beben." But it recurs in Ode xxxv. 3, where, in a similar contrast, the speaker is " in rest," with " the cloud of peace " above his head, while " everything was shaken and they were affrighted." Both here and in the following verse, " and," before " if," appears to have the force of " and even " ; and Noldeke § 339 says (but without giving instances) that the Syr. "and" has taken possession of "nearly the whole compass of the signification of the Greek ° hse ™ ('*• Ps. vii. 5 &c). But it a)so y render ««&.„. by "persequor" xv. 9 , Lev. xxvl 7 , 8 &c . soZzitzi^ZTr'T'" eg - Exod - distinguish, as the LXX apparently sonTetiL ? eb -^Arama.c might "pursue," w^ and '' pu J e \ ^ ZZZ] ^'^'^ ***** by Mu, Ka< .. chase out [of hou eDd - ™? p or m,g ht render it g0 n?; ( r p - ' Thess - «■ «* »«• " T 9 Visch r out [of the syna - [3735 b] Others might not see their way o such L r &*«* used habitually in the P sa l ms D f ZZ f dls ""«ions. Kara- in N.T. (Mk i. 36) of Peter, tr! k "g Chri t "XT'", "**. ^ "^ ■n on His solitary prayer to sav "A mZ ? 7 P ' aCe and breakin S about the meaning of mZ^L ??* ,hee -" S ° me doub * «he para... Mt uses it, egt iTri 2 t '* "T"" o{i ™» ""ere Mt v. „), vi. 28 i^£tZ2 ZZ^Zr " t" 1 ^" (para1 '- t0 (parall. to Mk. iv. 17, Mt xiii 2l6 ZT \ Mt ?• ^ viil '3 ™P* Lk XL 4 9 * niX*,. But note also, in Luke's DiJT ^ t "*"' ™° " 6X "»° Mk x,i, 9 , Mt 17> Lk 'j ^:2t"zz^z ? ays> where ;t;7' " 0t f0U " d in Mk-Mt (nor in Mt/xxfv ■% V ^"T^ " testifies are thTwords fin Z th y ^"^ ° f JeSUS to whi ^ Paul ^ct f) " Sau ^^ a stimulus to the use of the word in J-7 r, ,• may have * iven where Pauline tradition S^t^^^"* ^ "pursued" and the would-be "aDDr P h P n^ » ? pursuer" was «j 6 .^ the churc h ,»T e 2 »S r ,;^;T eh T ded " (Phi,ipp - also apprehend for ^/^^ th,f /■ iT- L , ^ ar -"" («•»«•>) m case I may by Glut Jesus"? Po2 b a Ir Wh ' Ch alS ° ' WaS ^-W^(or, eaugHt) -y have IntraLdrS S'S Sk i Xn^" I ^^ began by "pursuing" Jesus. ( 3 6) d Paul sev «ally "5 (Odev. i_i2) 8 _ 2 [3736] THE HELP OF GOD after the spirit, even so it is now'." There is no mention of any such " persecution " in the Hebrew or Greek text of Genesis, which merely describes Ishmael as "mocking" or " playing'." But the tradition, though it is — or rather, because it is — forced and exaggerated, admirably illustrates the established Jewish belief that Israel, and every saint of Israel, had to pass through " persecution." Look at the list of the champions of " faith " in the Epistle to the Hebrews*. Almost all of them, at some period of their lives, were tempted or troubled, exiles or outcasts, "hidden" that they might "be manifested'," surrounded by darkness that they might conquer darkness, persecuted that they might be purified. [3737] Nevertheless it will not be unreasonable to infer, from the tone in which these persecutions are spoken of, something as to their contemporary nature, and as to the degree to which, at the time, the powers of light could be discerned already 1 Gal. iv. 29. 2 [3736 a] Gen. xxi. 9. Gen. r. and Rashi indicate differences of opinion about Ishmael's "playing" or "mocking.'' Philo (as extant) is silent about it. Origen explains it of the flesh assailing the spirit with be- guiling temptations. But Paul's brief assumption establishes the antiquity of the tradition. Something of the kind might seem to some necessary if there was not to be a great break in the succession of persecuted saints : — Abraham driven out (it was supposed) from the kingdom of Nimrod ; Jacob exiled on account of the enmity of Esau ; Joseph sold into Egypt ; Moses fleeing from Egypt to save his life. It is true that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews probably regards the sacrifice of Isaac as a sufficient trial, but others might differ. 3 [3736/5] See Lev. r. (on Lev. xxii. 27, Wii. p. 187) which renders Eccles. iii. 15 "God seeketh him that is persecuted," as also do LXX and Aquila(andcomp. theTargum). Lev. r. takes"seek"asmeaning"favour," and instances Abel, Noah, Abraham (persecuted by Nimrod), Isaac (by the Philistines), Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David. This somewhat resembles the list in Heb. xi. 4 — 32. The belief in Abraham as the first martyr (after Abel) was widely spread in very early times. To other evidence (Son 3501^) add Gen. r. (on Gen. viii. 21) explaining the "sweet savour" as the savour (by anticipation) that came from Abraham in the fiery furnace of the Chaldees. 4 See Son 3407 (ix), quoting Mk iv. 21—2 as referring to martyrdom. 116 (Ode v. 1 — 12) THE HELP OF GOD , [3737] triumphing over the powers of darkness. The Epistle of Peter for example, and that to the Hebrews, seem to speak of persecution as in full force, or at all events as pending- I he Odes, on the other hand, to some extent here, but still more later on, give the impression of a reaction against per- secution. But on that point discussion and inference must be deferred' till we have a larger basis for if • See e 3 9 £ 'a/ "" "f X ' 14 C ° m Pared With * 3*-* bee J923-37, on "A provi SI onal Hypothesis as to date." Addenda ' ff 737 «] Ode v. 4 "My persecutors will come and will not see me - is TaZl ThMT °7 iS ' iS " "^ ^ *™*"fi" («££ o " com '- o" v P ; n a Sf n0t ( See ,r" .f 1 " hlS PreCedin * P ara P hrase h - come, only m a different order and sense (it. p. 24) "Let them fall InlteTi 0r J' lab T r) - Wh0 *"""* -' «<» '<< £ nZTcimi into the higher places that they may see me (neve veniunto in rd™,r super! ores ut vdeant me)." He failed to realise that our poet meant "Though my persecutors will come to me, they will not see me." Takbg the wo"ds as a prayer-which they might be consistently with grammar^ not so consis ently with the tone of the Odes-he thought it absurd to Ll that one's "persecutors" should "come." Hence, " Let them come 1 , ni„ or fill) might seem a necessary correction. But the preceding paraphrase in P.st,s shews that there really was a mention of « coming" "he OdTand hat it perplexed the author of Pistis, who did not perceive the allusion to the Egyptians who -came" against Israel in the Red Sea but did not see Israel because of the divine darkness. Mechilt. (Wii. pp ,20-1) ■llustrates Exod. xv. , "the horse and his rider" by Zech. xii. 4 "I w 'l smite every horse with astonishment and his rider W^ madness... and will smite every horse of the peoples with tlindness." [3737 i) In Ode v. 7 "May their thought become a thick-fog'- the Coptic has -powerless:' and Thes. 2765 gives the meaning "tumour" as derived from a word corresponding to najf "intumuit." But Thes 2824 gives •£*«, ulcerum" as one of the meanings of a word corresponding to Chald. Ml*, "a hollow"; and Gesen. 7 ,6a says that Exod. xix 9 if perhaps to be explained as "in the thickness of the clouds," reading^ lor 3y. The poet may mean "an earthborn mist" of pride, "swelling up to obscure the sight of the oppressor. The Coptic perhaps substi- tuted commonplace prose-" [ulcerated and therefore] powerless." 117 (Ode v. 1— 12) CHAPTER VI THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD* i. The Well or Fountain within maris soul [3738] Before touching on the connection between this Ode and the last, it will be well to clear our minds of the notion that, because, in the Pistis Sophia, the text happens to use the Greek word aporroia (Pistis, "there went forth an aporroia" Syr. "there went forth a stream") the Ode must consequently bear upon Gnostic aporroiai, or "emanations," or must at all events have been written by some one who was aware of the Gnostic imaginations about them. [3739] Reference to a single Greek grammarian, and a single sentence of Philo, will dispel this inference. "Aporroe"" says the grammarian Phrynichus, "is a grander word than aporroia" — implying that they both mean the same thing, that is, literally, "a forth-flowing stream 1 ." Secondly, Philo, distinguishing between (i) the Logos in a man's soul and (2) the same Logos going forth from that man's soul to other souls, says " Logos is in one aspect like a well or fountain, but in another like a forth-flowing stream (aporroi) ; like a well or fountain, while remaining in the thought, but like a forth- flozving stream {aporrde") so far as it is the utterance expressed by mouth and tongue 1 ." This distinction, besides exactly * For the continuous translation of this Ode see Appendix III. 1 See Lobeck's Phrynichus, p. 496, where Lobeck says that the two words alternate in certain authors "nullo observabili discrimine." 2 Philo i. 447. I have rendered irijy^ "well or fountain" to indicate that it does not necessarily " flow forth." See 3746 a. 118 (Ode vi. 1 foil.) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3740] agreeing with the view taken ^^0^^^^^ d.v-s.on of the Ode into two parts. The first part deals with the well -the Spirit in the believer's own soul, praising God. but wl thout relation to others. The second part deals with "the forth-flowing stream "-that is, the Spirit in the M.ss.onary's soul, going forth to proclaim the goodness of bod to others. [3740] Now passing to the connection between this Ode and the preceding one, we may note in the two a contrast >n which the second thought supplements the first. For rust now we were led to think of God as One above the turmoil of change, corruption, and conflict, with whom we can "stand nrm. Rut .f we dwelt too much on that thought we might come to regard Him as the unchangeable being That is a Greek thought. But the Hebrew thought appears to be or to mclude, 1 shall be>. This implies motion, and the first words of this Ode imply motion, "As the hand goes-its- way (lit. walks) in the harp." Almost every word here requires attention. " The hand " in the five instances where it is used in the Bible with the Hebrew article, means the hand, i.e. work, of God, working d.rectly or through Moses; and Rashi, commenting on an instance in Isaiah, where it is used absolutely, says that "the hand means "prophecy" or « the prophetic Spirit'." That our poet also means this, his next verse indicates, « So speaks in my members the Spirit of t/ie Lord." Irenaeus assumes that the Spmt and the Son are the two "hands" of the Father'. Without going so far as to assert this to be assumed here, we are safe in believing that "the hand " does not mean Exod. iii\ 14. So Aq. and Theod. and R.V. marg. {Son 3504 a) Mandelk. 45-, Exod. xiv. 3 ,, Deut. vii. ,9, xxxiv. , 2> I s . vii i. If> 7,l> S Zfv °" : "'"• " " The L ° rd S P ake t0 me with length o \the hand, Targ "wth strength of prophecy," Ibn Ezra "when k Prophecy came with force upon me." 5 Iren. iv. Pre/, and v. r. 3. 119 (Ode vi. 1 foil.) [3740] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD " the hand of a [human] harper "—partly because in that case Hebrew and Syriac usage would almost require "of the harper" to be inserted— but is intended to suggest "the Hand" in an aspect that may be illustrated from Exodus, ' And Israel saw the Hand, the Great [Hand] which the Lord wrought... and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Then sang Moses... 1 ." Here several Jewish traditions interpret "saw the Hand" as meaning that Israel saw God openly, or face to face, and some say that the Song, springing from the fulness of the heart, was caused by "seeing" the "hand 5 ." [3741] If "hand" is intended to suggest the thought of the Spirit, then "go." or "walk," may be illustrated from the first Biblical instance of it, "the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden," and from descriptions of God as • walking" in Israel'- In that case, too, we must not regard 1 Exod. xiv. 31— xv. I. .... * T3740 a\ " Hand." See Wii. in Cant. p. 95. ?"<*'■ PP- 3. 57. '<**"■ 5 49 2 6,, 355. R-H. 2nd ed. appends to "hand" the note ^r perhaps p^rum!" But Thes. ,546-7. though shewing that " hand of a wheel, bir &c. may mean "spoke," "handle" &c, gives no mstance of th.s use wi h "lyre/and no instance of "hand" abscl. in such technical senses. 13740 * "Hand" (sing., not "right-hand") apphed to God occurs ,n Ode xxxviii ,7 (lit.) "and my foundations were laid upon the hand of the Jord'rL .549 says that when "upon the hand of " means "per," , U° us.tatius pi." In sing, it regularly means oy the side of and espeaaUy I the bank of a river &c. The context, "because He had planted (H geptnzt) Jr suggests that two metaphors are ™$^ u ™£. „<-fila„t...established,"™d that "upon the hand of means [planteclj I I side of [the living waters of] the Lord." " Hand " („ng ) » not ,n H >s 1 ndex bu recurs in Ode xxii. 7 " thy right-hand... My hand. \m la] See Gen. iii. 8, where Gen. , compares Exod. ,x. 2 3 abou u « 1 1 fiahtninc) "Bring upon the ground." In both passages, the t XI te He vb (buTin^n. iii. 8, the vb is middle, of which Thes. Syr. has the net > k ^ ^ ^ regu]ar meanlng f ,014 gives no instance). II the p p ^ ^ ^ "ambulans," then the Syr. prepo, Y paraphrased as "upon- rr c h n Velyrre ta n° S Exod ix. 2 3 because'the Heb. has "upon"). Sema; suppose the "harp" personified as a human soul or sp.r.t, and 120 (Ode vi. 1 foil.) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3741] the Hand as skimming over the strings of the lyre, but must regard it as taking spiritual possession of the human in- strument and practising its spiritual motions in it so as to call forth from it a new Song of Praise as the Hand by the Red Sea called forth the Song of Moses, the first of the songs of Israel 1 . The Syriac for " harp" in the Ode is the same as the Syriac for "psaltery" in the Psalms, "Sing praises unto him with (Heb. and LXX in) the psaltery of ten strings"; where Origen says that the " psaltery" means the human " spirit " (as distinct from " body"), so that the meaning would be, in effect, " Let praises in our spirits rise up to His Spirit " — which is expressed in the 6th verse of this Ode " Our spirits to His Holy Spirit ascribe-glory V The other instances of " harp (kithra) " in the Odes con- firm the inference that the poet has a fixed conception of the " ten-stringed psaltery " of the spiritual Universe as being God's own " harp of many voices." This he calls " the harp " of God's " Holy Spirit." At one time he speaks ofits being " opened " to him, as being a source of song and revelation ; at another, he ventures to say "it is in my hands," but the reason is given, namely, that he is in God's hands (" I am His... my heart is toward Him'"). the Hand, Power, or Spirit, walks up and down in it, as Jehovah " walks " in Israel (Lev. xxvi. 12, comp. Deut. xxiii. ,4, Rev. ii. 1). 1 [3741 b] R.H. and H. have "over the harp." The Syr. prep., like the Heb., means both (1) "in," and (2) "with [the instrumentality of]." Therefore, in such a phrase as Heb. "praise in, or, with, the harp," it is quite lawful to paraphrase "in" by "upon," as in Ps. xliii. 4 (RV.) " Upon (Heb. in, LXX «V) the harp will I praise thee." But such a paraphrase is not similarly justified when the verb does not (as "praise" does) prepare the way for the thought of instrumentality. ' [3741 c] The Syr. for "harp" in the Ode is formed from the Gk KiBapa. But in Ps. xxxiii. 2 (and cl. 3) where Ki6apa and yfraXr^piov occur together in LXX, the Syr. kithra is used for ylra\Trjptov, which, according to Origen ad toe, means "the spirit" of man (while the KiBapa means " the body " or " the practical soul "). 9 [3741 d] See Odes vii. 20 "harp of many voices"; xiv. 8 "Open to me the harp of thy Holy Spirit, that with all sounds-of-melody [RH. 121 (Ode vi. 1 foil.) [3742] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3742] This introduces one of the predominant subjects of the Odes, the " praising," or " glorifying," of God. Old Testament and New, Gospels and Epistles, are full of this. All agree that the world should be God's Temple in which " everything saith, ' Glory 1 '." But much depends on the circumstances and motives of the "saying." First, it must be from the heart. Secondly, it must be from a heart that is exultant — singing rather than "saying," admiring' rather than " praising " — not over one's own good, and still less over the evil of others, but over GOOD. The doctrine of the Odes is that the Greatest Good is the Love of the Beloved. Who- ever really feels that, must needs say in his heart, " Glory," or, if he is a poet, must needs sing, " Glory." From the thought of this stream of spiritual song, bursting forth from the lips of Moses and Israel, the poet passes to the thought of Israel itself, flowing, like an irresistible stream, away from the darkness and bondage of Egypt, toward the light and liberty of the Law of the Lord. Then comes a tacit contrast between the first Israel at Sinai, where " bounds " were set about the mountain by Moses that the people might not "break through," and a second Israel, where no such " bounds " are to be set, and where, if they are set, the mighty stream will sweep them away. Lastly comes the thought of inserts "its" (not in Syr.) which does not seem to improve the sense ; H. has " alien Tonen "] I may glorify..." ; xxvi. 3 " His harp is in my hands " (preceded by xxvi. 1 foil. " I poured out a song-of-glorifying to the Lord,... and I will utter His holy psalm, for my heart is toward Him"). 1 Ps. xxix. 9. 2 [3742a] "Admiring." It has been asked in modern times "How can man praise God?" The question is a reasonable one, especially if men, in relation to God, are to regard themselves as " little children." For who would think it right, or even decent, that a little child should "praise" his father? "Praise" is too cold-blooded and critical a term. But the Syriac "glorifying" means the melodious and exultant expression of what Wordsworth calls "admiration and delightful awe," mingled with what the author of the Odes calls sometimes "fervent-love" and sometimes " tender-love." See 3742 r—s. 122 (Ode vi. 1 foil.) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3742] the stream, not as being a flow of Spirit-prompted souls, but of the Spirit itself, which is the Living Water and brings life to all the world. 1. As the hand goes-its-way in (App. Ill) the harp and the Stnngs speak 1 , 2. So speaks in my members' the Spirit of the Lord and I \emph.) speak in His fervent-love. [3742 b] " The strings speak." Hoth the Talmuds and other Jewish traditions say that David's harp used to hang near his bed at night, and when midnight approached, the north wind came and caused it to play a»\ ° h ' '" (SChWab P ' 9) and Bemch - 3*> aIso Midr - °n Ps- Ivii. 8, and AW. r . (on Numb. x. 2, Wu. p. 404)). Levy Ch. (ii. 4.2*) un der Spirit, does not glve an ; ns(ance where ^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ of Heb^ hand" (meamng "God's hand"), but we may compare Numb, xi 23 Heb. Is the Lord's hand waxed short}" with ib. Onk. " Is the Word of the Lord restrained}" See also 3740. [3742 c] Platonic discussions (comp. Phaedo 86 a) about the likeness ot the soul to a harp or to a harmony, when combined by Jews with the phrases used ,n the Psalms about musical instruments, appear to have influenced Philo (i. 374-5) in his stat ement that a man should be a lyre or harp attuned to God, and in his lengthy illustration {ib.) of "perfect- manhood Mprf,)- by "a lyre." This may have been also the case with our author. But the brief simplicity of his expression of the metaphor thTtopic P °' nt l ° any b ° rr0Wing fr ° m the diffuse discourses of Philo on [3742 d] "Speak" is not alleged (Thes. „,«,) as applied in scriptural Syriac .0 an inanimate object except in Is. xvi. „ "my bowels will speak (Heb. sound) like a lyre," where the phrase implies intense sympathy. And perhaps that is the meaning of the word thrice repeated here: The stnngs beneath the touch of the true musician speak as with the musicians voice ; so Love, the Musician, speaks in all the strings of my being ■ ; yea, my whole being, by His love, speaks [as He speaks]." [3742.] " In my members." Comp. Ode xxvi. 1-4 "I poured out a song-of-glorifying to the Lord.... (3) For His harp is in my hands.... (4) I will cry unto Him from my whole heart, I will praise and exalt Him with all my members," and comp. Midr. on Ps. xviii. tit. WU i 143 You w.ll find that David omitted not a single member so as not to Praise God therewith ," and then the commentary justifies this in great detail as to " head," " eyes," « mouth," " ears," " heart " &c. [3742/] Philo ii. 242 interprets the Levitical division of the "members" of a sacrifice in a way curiously remote from our author as meaning that, 123 (Ode vi. 1—6) [3742] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD when we offer thanks to God, we should thank Him not only for things as a whole, but for things as parts -.-e.g. not only for Cosmos, but for sky, earth, sun &c. ; not only for Man, but for men, women, Greeks barbarians &c. Another view given by him is that it means that all things are "from One, and to One" (comp. Rom. ». 36, Heb. ... 10). T3742F1 The doctr.ne of the Odes omits one aspect of the Paul.ne doctrine about "members." It accepts the view (Rom. xii. «) that our "bodies" are to be "a living sacrifice," "the worship cons.st.ng-.n-an- offering-of-logos [i.e. not an offering of beasts] (r*r Xoy^, Xorpc.a, i^)- But it does not lay the Pauline stress on our being members one of another? Something of this may have been implied by the original of Mk ix. 43-7. Mt xviii. 8-^-omitted by Lk partly, ^perhaps, as being obscure hyperbole. "Maim your own members rather than „,aim your fellow-members? may have been the original precept (not "maim your body rather than maim your soul"). [3742/0 The Odes, perhaps, assume this precept At all even, after saying "so speaks in my members the Spirit of the Lord tins Ode spe'aks 8 first, cT.hc River of the Lord, and then of ** ^"L „f the water from that River, saying that they straightened members ^that had fallen." The metaphors seem to be confused. But apparent^ the author assumes that whosoever is a genuine " member" of the Beloved w"l not only glorify Him with all his "members," but will also be helpful To hs fellow" "members." In this, there are two distinct thought. First, the permeating Spirit permeates every part or «, .ember" o the believer Secondly, it so permeates him as to make him a helpfu "member" of a corporate body. In the first sense, a later Ode represent, ^Beloved as spying (viii. ,7) "« *-ed their ^"^Z o7e breasts 1 prepared for them." In the second sense, a still later Ode sa" tv!i. .4) "They were gathered to me and were delivered, because thpv were to me members and I their head." 3^] in some cases it may be difficult to ^"JJ*^ meanings --whether "members" means (.) ^^\°^ £2£ " a TlXTZ^ oS Uy alfJother Members-with Jewish everybody in the fable o V ^ ^ ^ rf tr , d ,t,ons about membe J ^ ^^ and bab y S£ To rising of the Lord by David "with all his members." 124 (Odevt 1—6) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3742] 3. For that 1 destroys whatever is alien [from Him] and [thus] everything soever is (i.e. becomes the possession) of the Lord'. 4. For thus was it from the beginning and [thus will it be] until the end, that nothing soever should oppose Him, and that nothing soever should stand-up in opposition to Him a . 5. The Lord hath multiplied His knowledge 4 (i.e. His [gift to 1 [3742 k] "For that (i.e. the fervent-love) destroys." R.H. 1st ed. " For He destroys." But H. " sie," i.e. the " fervent-love," and so R.H. 2nd ed. "it" (without note). It is assumed that the Spirit is the Spirit of fervent-love. Comp. Ode iii. 12 "This is the Spirit of the Lord," where the context indicates that " this " means " that power which joins the 'members ' to one another and to the Beloved — namely, Love." 1 [3742/] "Of the Lord." R.H. alters the text to "and everything that is bitter," but adds, in foot-note, " Cod. and everything is of the Lord." H. retains "of the Lord" unaltered, and it seems to make good sense, namely, that the soul becomes wholly possessed by the Spirit of the Lord. This prepares the way for the subsequent description of the River of God flooding the Temple and carrying all before it. ' [3742 >«] The same root, "oppose," is repeated in two forms: — "nothing shall oppose [successfully]," "nothing shall succeed in opposing!' "Succeeding" is implied, first by the context, and then by " stand-up," which implies success. 4 [3742 n] " His knowledge." Comp. Is. xi. 9 " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of (lit. to know, or, knowing) the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," a very rare form (Gesen. 395 b) twice used of God's knowledge but here in Is. of the knowledge about God (as Rashi explains). The Targ. has " knowledge of the fear of the Lord? comp. Prov. ii. 5 "thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God," where the Targ. has " and find knowledge from before God" Apparently the Targumist objects (compare also Gal. iv. 9) to speak about "knowing" God, and therefore varies the phrase. So does the Hebrew of Hab. ii. 14 "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." In the Ode before us, "His knowledge," while not excluding the meaning "the knowledge about Himself," includes also (as in the Targum above) "the knowledge from Himself." Paul says that all things are " from " God and " to " God, and so "His knowledge" comes "from" Him and points "to" Him, so that it helps us, in some sense, to "know Him." In the only two Biblical instances oi" his knowledge" (Mandelk. 464) Is. liii. 11 (M. by error, xliii. 11), Prov. iii. 20, "his" is possessive, and refers to the knowledge possessed by the Suffering Servant or by God. [3742 0] The extreme rarity of the phrase " the knowledge of God," or "His knowledge," meaning God's knowledge, would, of itself, raise 1 25 (Ode vi. 1—6) [3742] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD us of the] knowledge [of Himself]) and is zealous 1 that those things should be known which in His grace have been given to us. 6. And His glorifying' (i.e. the work of glorifying Him) He some probability that Ode vi. 5 may contain an allusion to Is. xi. 9 ; but when we also find that both passages contain in their contexts descrip- tions of " waters," in a good sense, flooding and filling everything, not as in the Deluge of Noah, but with a flood of spiritual truth — then the probability of such an allusion becomes very great indeed. Ode vi. 6 — 7 "our spirits ascribe-glory to His Holy Spirit, for there came forth a rill..." manifestly connects the "Spirit" with the "rill"; and similarly Mechilt. (on Exod. xv. 20, Wii. p. 145) connects Is. xi. 9 with "the Holy Spirit" as. being the "knowledge" that is to overflow. Again, our Ode (vi. 9) lays stress on the futility of the attempts to " restrain " the "rill" that "became a river"; and so Ibn Ezra says, on Isaiah, "The water is never stopped, so knowledge will continually make progress." [3742/] We may therefore suppose that the thought of the fountain of the Spirit of God in each man's heart is gradually bringing before the poet's mind other kindred thoughts of the Spirit as the Water of Life. The various pictures of it called up by the Scripture are perhaps not kept distinct. He is beginning to see Ezekiel's picture (xliii. 1 foil., xlvii. 1 foil.) of the flood of God's glory, first descending on the Temple and then issuing forth from the Temple, in a rill, a stream, a flood, of living waters ; but he will see also Isaiah's vision (ii. 3) of a stream of human souls, Gentiles as well as Jews, drawn irresistibly by the Spirit into the Temple and breaking down all the barriers set up by "re- strainings." Just at this point, however, the thought that dominates him is that this stream is "knowledge," and "God's knowledge"; and that all such "knowledge" must be real, and according to man's nature, and fatal to man's unnatural conventions, and to the artificial distinctions by which he would fain raise himself above that image of filial and brotherly humanity which is his highest and noblest self. 1 [3742 q] " Zealous." The subsequent context indicates that God is "zealous" that all shall have access to His Temple and to the River of Life. This points to Ps. lxix. 9 "the zeal for thine house." It is true that Rashi and Zebachim 54 b (but not Gesen. 888 a) take " zeal " as the envy felt by Gentiles against Jews for the glory of the House. But the Fourth Gospel, in connection with the purification of the Temple (ii. 17, see/oA. Gr. 2639), apparently regards the "zeal" as that of Jesus contending for the opening of the House to prayer and not to traffic ; and Mark (xi. 17), in the same connection, represents Jesus as quoting a saying that the House shall be a House of Prayer for all nations. * [3742 r] "His glorifying" (3640, 3742a). No word in the Odes recurs perhaps so frequently as this (in various forms of noun and verb) 126 (Ode vi. 1 — 6) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3743] for t he bIlsh - ng of H , grace _ e when with the mention of the "river" and the "temple" soon to come before us-recall the words " Praise (Syr. glor 2l wa.teth for thee, O God, in Zio,..0 thou tha LrZ 3ef 21 t; ™* come - As for our -— HE hoosest "th h" 1 "^ B ' eSSed ^ thC ma " Wh0m ^ou satisfied ,K, may dWdI '" tHy C ° UrtS - We ^all be satisfied with the goodness of thy house... Thou makest the XfeT tL° at T" ing and eVen, '"S t0 ^t vsttest the earth and vvaterest it... 7*, river of God is full and few words are more difficult to transit T„ n 1 1 noun represent (Brederek p. ,86) six d,s nct ' Hebr "^l™'' Md song, praise, and beatitude It doe IT T 7"** ^ '"»& •Afanrglorioui- Consequent • g J ri f y ' smceV g ' 0ri ° US " bUt and possessmg the human spirit. Thus in " Hi. f r . P, " ng ""* faith," -** knowledge/and gL^I y " £ £ ^K* ^ J" Giver of it sec ° nda "'y-°r somet.mes primarily-that He is the 127 (Ode vi. 1—6) [3743] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD of water*." The Psalmist's abrupt introduction of " the river of God " is somewhat obscure. The Targum on this Psalm speaks of a " fountain of God in heaven" which may have been supposed to be in mystical connection with the Temple. But the Targum on another Psalm mentioning " a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy-place of the tabernacles of the Most High " (where Rashi says - Paradise is meant ") has this paraphrase " The peoples, like rivers and their streams, shall come and shall make glad the City of God, and they shall pray in the House of the Sanctuary of the Lord, in the tabernacles of the Most High'." A similar metaphor is found in Isaiah and Micah about " the mountain of the Lord's house," where the context implies a stream of ascending worshippers—" all nations sha\\ flow unto it'." [3744] Ezekiel appears to regard as cause and effect (i) a coming of glory into the Temple, and (2) a going forth of the water of life out of the Temple. First, he sees the glory of the God of Israel " coming " to the Temple " from the way » [3743 a] Ps lxv. 1—9. Jewish interpretations of the opening words vary greatly, but in Mechilt. pp. 1 26, 138, "all flesh" is taken as meaning " all the inhabitants of the earth." 2 Ps. xlvi. 4. 3 [3743*] Is. ii. 2, Mic. iv. 1. Comp. Jerem. xxxi. 10—12 "He that scattered Israel will gather him...as a shepherd...and they shall come and sing in the height of Zion and shall/0*/ together unto the goodness of the Lord, to the corn and to the wine and to the oil... and their soul shall be as a watered garden." " Flow " is not applied to persons in O.T. except in these three passages (and Jerem. Ii. 44 of conquered nations forced to "flow" to Babylon). Jeremiah connects the 'flow of the stream of the returning exiles with the thought of "a watered garden, and the same connection may be latent in Isaiah and Micah. It is clearly and fully expressed in the latter part of this Ode. lbn Ezra, on Is. xxxv. 6 "the tongue of the dumb shall sing, says -A figurative expression for, 'They shall find water everywhere '; it is the reverse of 'the tongue of the suckling cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst (Lam. iv. 4).'" 1" this Ode there seem several allusions to the prophecies about the dumb and the lame in the Return from Captivity. 128 (Ode vi. 1—6) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3745] of the east 1 ." It is not seen as a river, but "his voice was like the sound of many waters and the earth shined with his glory'." This is seen at " the gate that looketh toward the east." Secondly, after an interval, the prophet says " And he brought me back unto the door of the house, and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward," and the waters, at first only " up to the ankles," grow deeper and deeper till they become "waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through " ; everything " shall live," it is said, " whithersoever the river cometh'." [3745] This river is clearly referred to in the Johannine Revelation 4 , and it is highly probable that the author of the Odes, after his fashion, combines some of its characteristics with a general conception of his own, which is of a different character. Ben Sira speaks of Wisdom as being like a " rill" that becomes a river". But on the whole, the picture that the author has before him appears to be, at all events at first, one that emphasizes the influx into the Temple rather* than the efflux from it, though both are depicted. The stream seems to be regarded, not as luminous " glory " with " a sound of many waters," but as a stream of worshippers, at first few, who press in, wave after wave, until they become an over- flowing flood, forcing their way into the Temple, taking the Kingdom of God by a righteous " violence," as Matthew and Luke express it" — and breaking down the restrictions that prevented " all flesh " from coming to the " Hearer of prayer 7 ." 1 Ezek. xliii. 1 — 2. ,* Ezek. xliii. 2. Several Jewish traditions impress on us that this is to be taken as a popular and inadequate description. s Ezek. xlvii. 1—9. ' Rev. xxii. 2. 6 Sir. xxiv. 30 — 32, s. 3746 a — b. 6 Mt. xi. 12, Lk. xvi. 16. r Ps. lxv. 1 — 2, quoted in 3743. A. L. 129 (Ode vi. 1 — 6) [3746] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD § 2. The River flowing out to the world [3746] The influx into the Temple appears to be described in the first three verses, and the efflux from the Temple in the fourth verse, of the following extract. The development of the " rill " into a " river " corresponds to the Synoptic development of the " mustard-seed." into a " great tree," and to the Johannine development of " rivers of living water," described as the result of a mere draught received in faith by a single believer (" He that believeth on me") 1 . But the Johannine aspect is not fully dealt with till the verse following this extract, where the poet begins to speak of those who administer the living water. 7. For there came forth [from God] a rill* and became a river great and broad. 1 Jn vii. 38. ! [3746 a] " RilL" Thes. 4476 refers to the use of this word as representing 8i£pv|, i.e. rill or runlet, in Sir. xxiv. 30 (Hex.) where LXX has " And I (i.e. Wisdom) as a rill (8iapv£ ) from a river, and as a runlet (v&payoryos) I came forth into Paradise. ..and behold my rill became a river and my river became a sea. I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning...." In Wisd. vii. 25, although dnoppota is used of Wisdom coming from God, the thought is of exhalation, or of light, rather than of water : " She is an exhalation (arfiit) of the power of God, and a transparent effluence (airoppoia) of the glory of the Almighty...." Apparently Ben Sira regards Wisdom as the River that (Gen. ii. 10) came "out of Eden to water the garden " (comp. Sir. xxiv. 31 " I said, I will water my garden "). Gen. r. ad loc. says that while Adam was innocent he could direct with a mere ladle the four "heads" into which this river was "parted." See 3738-9. Origen (De Oral. § 9, Lomm. xvii. 1 19) says that those who lift up the eyes of the mind (Ps. cxxiii. 1, xxv. 1) to God, passing (2 Cor. iii. 18) " from glory to glory," " receive a share in a kind of specially-divine mental emanation then-and-there (airoppoijs...voriToi tivoc Biiorlpov fitra- Xapfiiivovm toti), which is shewn from the [words] (Ps. iv. 6, LXX) There was signed upon us the light of thy countenance, O Lord." [3746 6] Origen (Lomm. i. 252) identifies " the River that makes glad the City of God" with "Jesus Christ," who is also predicted (he says (Lomm. xiv. 173)) by Isaiah (Ixvi. 12) "I will extend peace to her like a 130 (Ode vi. 7 — n) :*^!I?i^^^ [3746] 2^&&^£rrr*>^ C^ians the "overflowing stream 'Ornil h " T™ " " "*"" ( P recedin ? those "Greeks"Vpon wh sT arrival l7 ?■ °* ""^ - Je.u. 5 hour is come thai the Son 7 J I ' excla,med V*- »l 23) "The version of the Ode has ma " sh ° U,d be glorified." The Coptic me uae nas anoppom thus: "Ecrrp«a A~- c magnum flumen latum" (Pis/is V ,,,1 r> . <""?/><>«■ facta est In Wisdom and Ben Sira Th." r a " 6pp0la See 3738 ~ 9 - God," and this supports tUr^LTZ"" T'i f ^^ '' S " fr ° m 1 T3746 el " n«!l renderin g, "came forth [from God]." Heb/an 6 sl,oc u rOT" ', ^ "T* ^'i" 1 ^ '«*> » (rep. Ps. xviii. 4° of foes rlh X '" ^ ^ 3& ° f inCense ' 2 S " "» 43 Akfba was abo'u 4 o yllnl Z'? T", ^'^ St ° neS '' When on Aboth i. 4 )-quo,ed to Mm « u J ° b {AkM of R ' Na *an, soft has such powToveMheLd IZ ^ "" » ,hi " k ' " If the have over n^Th£^ sh^oo^ ZZ T *? ^ study of the Law. ,f lhe " pulverising „ ££2^ Z^TotVV^ was proverbia amone Jews bpfnr* m- .• I .. of the Law the Odes, and is therefore rendered \Zt } , X ° CCUr$ here in "holy-place" or "house" In H k S ° ** '° distin ^ish it from divine River. But it is not clear whether T£ 1 ^ ,nunda '«=d by the A ™a„ , mb i Eui , y mighl „ te in Hebr „< Co >"" lR - H - *> d «"• P- *5>- .„"'!*' f **"' , "' y ' '" '' P' 3' """ions . conjectural lltsrali™ „< ,k. 131 (Odevi. 7— „) 9 _ 2 [3746] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD of the sons of man'-and Jalso the [evil] arts' of those who restrain waters (App. III). stop rain, I.eut. xi. i 7 , 2 Chr. vii. 13 (also of corn so as to sell it at a dear price, Prov. xi. 26) and hence to interdicting; also, passively (ib 1739), to " shutting up" rain in the heaven, or the heaven from raining (in Gen. viii. 2, 1 K. viii. 35. * Chr. vi. 26); and hence "de flurmne" and "interceptum est frumentum." A noun-form is similarly used (tb. 1740) "voluit Ueus tentare Israelitas eis aquas denegando" (lit. in clausura). Another (ib. 1740) means " instrumentum Graecum quo clauditur porta." By this may be meant (3908*) -X«' t , "key." But in any case this "restraining" might signify the act of those who either cut off the supply of the Water of Life, or lock fast the Door of God's Truth (comp. ML xxiii. 14 " ye shut (rX«i«r.) the kingdom of the heavens," Lk. xi. 52 Y« have taken away the key («X-.8a) of knowledge"). [3746/1 Considering how often "restrain" is applied to water ana how the subsequent context dilates on the ministration of the Water of Life, we are led to regard the poet as seeing in his vision the officials of the Temple as attempting to lock its doors so as to prevent the River of God, first, from flowing into it, to refresh the congregation of Israel, and then from flowing out of it, to refresh all the nations of the earth. [3746 r] Concerning the Well that (Numb. xxi. 18) "the prmces digged" for Israel, Je, Targ. I. says that "it went up w.th them to he high mountains...and down with them to the hills --ounding aH the camp of Israel, and giving them drink, everyone at the door of his tent. Tha? similar traditions were popularly current about the Water ,n the W erness in the first century is made highly probable by the Pauhn mention of (. Cor. x. 4) "a spiritual rock that followed them The I of the Odes does not appear to copy from any one narrative o tradition now extant. Probably he followed his own ,mag,nat.on-bu an imagination fed and stimulated by a mass of literature of wh.ch but '^^""Sonsofma," H. " Menschen, " Menschensohne » is given by H.'s Index only in Ode xxxiii. 6 " O ye sons of man turn ye apparently alluding to Prov. viii. 4 " Unto you, O men (.*« do I c. U. Ode xxxiii. 6, human weakness o f y PP ^ ^ ^ ^ case> context, and if ^ tha t.s so there P ^ ^ ^ ^ desire ^ attention is called to the folly rf man „ ^ r "restrain" the irres st.b.e K ver of G ( _,..„. „ ding from -). M S W^Tffl^ ^» shews that the word (though used in a good sle of "workmanship " for the Tabernacle in Exod. ____ 4-5) 132 (Odevi. 7— n) THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD [3747] 10. For it came [spreading] over the face of the whole earth and filled everything soever, and [there] drank of it all the thirsty that were on the earth \ 11. And their (//'/. the) thirst was [first] loosened' and [then] quenched, for from the Most High was given the drink. [3747] These last words, if they allude to that " thirst " of which mention is made prophetically in Isaiah, carry us back to a passage where the Epistle to the Hebrews, influenced in part by LXX, gives the impression that the prophet spoke about the sufferers whereas the prophet really spoke about is used in a bad sense about "idols" in Acts xvii. 29, Wisd. xiv. 19, and also about religious "fables" in 2 Pet. i. 16. It might be applied to any self-interested practices, such as Jesus called "hypocrisies." Taken literally, it might allude to those priestly monopolies (connected with the temple sacrifices) against which Jesus actively protested. According to Jn. ii. 15, He symbolized this protest by a "scourge" when He cast out the desecrators, and some Christians might have found in this a warning of the "overflowing scourge" predicted by Isaiah (xxviii. ^15). But Origen's extant works do not quote that passage, nor does Jerome's commentary on Isaiah refer there to the Purification of the Temple. The insertion of " also " (or " even ") and the use of "[evil] arts," seem intended to emphasize the impotence of man against the Spirit, "even" when man uses his utmost "art." 1 [3746/,] "The whole earth. ..on the earth," repeated to shew that this River of God was sent not for Israel alone but for all the nations of the earth. The first Biblical mention of "the whole earth" is in the promise that Man shall have (Gen. i. 26) "dominion over. ..the whole earth? } [3746/] " Loosened," used of " breaking fast" ( Thes. 4307) but not of thirst. Perhaps a climax is intended, " first appeased and then utterly quenched." A contrast is implied : " Not like the water of the world was this water. The water of the world looses thirst for a time, but only for a time. This water quenches thirst for ever." Comp. Jn iv. 13 — 14 " Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." [3746 k] Pistis Sophia 131 has " Duxerunt earn super terram totam atque prehendit eos omnes. Bibernnt versantes super arenam aridam. Eorum sitis soluta est et exstincta, quum dedissent eis potum ab excelso." The italicised words look like an allusion to Is. xxxv. 7 (R.V.) "the glowing sand shall become a pool," where the context describes how "the ransomed of the Lord. ..shall come with singing unto Zion." 133 (Odevi. 7— 11) [3747] THE RIVER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD the relin'ers of suffering — the Ministers of the Water of Life 1 . The word " ministers " will be found actually connected with the Water in the next extract, which, though it seems to shew Christian influence, nevertheless shews Jewish influence as well, that is, Jewish, as opposed to Greek, interpretation of Scripture : — 12. Blessed therefore are the ministers of that drink who have been intrusted' with His water. 1 [3747 a] Is. xxxv. 3—4 (quoted in Heb. xii. 12) "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, &c." Justin Martyr exhibits this error in an unmistakable form, Tryph. 69 "Be strong, ye languid hands and enfeebled knees. Be comforted, ye faint in soul...," omitting "say to them" and thus representing the words as being addressed to the weak-kneed in Israel, and not to the prophets who are to strengthen them. That Heb. xii. 12 also takes the words as addressed to the weak is made almost certain by the context, and Chrys. (ad loc. Heb.) takes them thus certainly (as also Origen (Lat.) probably). Jerome (on Is. xxxv. 3) regards the words correctly as addressed to ministers (whom he calls " apostles") but does not refer to the quotation in the Epistle. Aq., Sym., and Theod. duly render " say to them." Rashi explains that the prophets may be said to strengthen the hands, &c. when they comfort and console Israel. H.'s Index does not contain "ministers" (Diener). [3747/5] Westcott, on Heb. xii. 12—13 "Wherefore lift up the weak hands... and make straight paths for your feet" suggests as interpretations of the italicised words (1) "for the feet of the whole society to tread in"; or (2) " ' with your feet ' as giving a good example to others." Both seem to me forced interpretations. He continues " Chrysostom says apparently in the latter sense : opOa, (ptjo-i, /3a8ifcr€ [3749 a] Comp. Gen. r. (on Gen. xii. 2, Wii. p. 179) "Read, not blessing, but pool." The two words are from the same root. 138 (Ode vii. 1 foil.) THE WAY TO GOD [3750] I about " drawing water with joy from the wells of salvation 1 ." In the Pauline Epistles " the Spirit " is regularly associated with "joy"; but it is not a peculiarly Pauline, It is also a Jewish association*. The last Ode, though it prepared the way for the thought of " joy " — by describing the triumph of the River over the hostile " restrainings," and the healing effects of the Water upon the faint and weak and dying — did not actually mention the word. Now it will be mentioned with reiteration and emphasis*. It will also be connected — as all the fundamental thoughts in these Odes are connected — with a Person. [3750] That Person, above, was called " the Beloved," who came before us in the first and third Odes as being on the believer's head like a "crown" with "fullgrown fruits," or else as being a collective Body with " members *' among which the poet was included. Here He will be designated by a different name and will appear in a different aspect, as the Beloved Deliverer "drawing" Israel like a Bride to Himself 4 . The expression of this thought is, for modern 1 [3749 b] See Levy iv. 572 b quoting Slice. 51 a, b on " the Joy at the Waterdrawing," and ;'*. 490 a quoting J. Succ. V. init., 55 a on "the Hall of the Waterdrawing" and the allusion to Is. xii. 3. * [3749 c] Comp. Rom. xiv. 17 "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit," xv. 13 " Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit," Gal. v. 22 "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace," 1 Thess. i. 6 "having received the word in much affliction, withy'iy of the Holy Spirit." This is expressed differently in word, but with the fame meaning, in 1 Pet. i. 8 "with/r ,u ~i ] ~ Phenomena of winter, in the ^ ^ ^l™* *»* **■ the commandment upon earth ■ hi, w v S) He sen deth out his Exod. xiii. I7 , w\ P a ;V) ton e ? t r h u r th veryswift,yn *""*(« other sinners who desire tooppostnewT ^ Phara ° h and " ith presumably, the Word "r U „ s » Z d It ° d Agai " St ,h «*> the Book of Wisdom, which describes the wT^!* ^ V ' eW taken " » Egypt (xviii. , s) "Thine A m L h L w r^ 5 Slayi " 8 the firs t-°om r of th y royaI j one) j;^** T^J'tiiz: from h "™ to the above-quoted Psalm, and to H.h 1 he mar ^ ln refers edgedsword-inconnectioniheWo'd^d rj h T^ ' "^ His commandment.. He send^t, * ; , \ Com P- Slr - xliii. 13 "b v The preceding context wtdlm^I^t f "?" 1 «» i°^> r rd : ,oward «"« Israelites and Towl rd thVT" * ** "hedged the night of the P assov er (xviii 8) « W u E f P tia "^ severally on adversaries, by the same did, thou I™" tH ° U didst P»»»" our Wisdom does not there ex P ress, v t " ? "* " h ° m th ° U hadst «»««.• i" "wrath" against the E^ £ b "' T W ° rd " M ™™'"« Moses "set himse.f against the^C^r^h^r^ 143 (Ode vii. 1 foil.) [3754] THE WAY TO GOD God "delights" in Wisdom— says, in effect, "I delight in the Lord, as He delights in me ; and as His word runs forth in joy over me for my protection, so does my heart run forth in joy toward Him." i. As [is] the running [forth] 1 of wrath' over (i.e. because of) 1 [3754 a] "The running [forth]..." This difficult passage is rendered thus by R.H. and H.:— (i) R.H. "As the impulse of anger against evil, so is the impulse of joy over what is lovely, and brings in of its fruits without restraint : my joy is the Lord and my impulse is toward Him" (with footnote "lit. my running: cf. Cant. i. 3," error for i. 4). (ii) H. "Wie der (Sturm)lauf des Zornes gegen die Ungerechtigkeit, so ist der (stiirmische) Lauf der Freude zu dem Geliebten hin, und er bringt ein von ihren Friichten ohne Hindernis. Meine Freude ist der Herr, und mein Lauf ist zu ihm hin." Both vary the translation of the Syr. prep., al, here twice rendered " over "(R.H." against," " over"; H. "gegen," " zu "). H. in the second instance assimilates his rendering to that of the prep, in the following verse, where the Syr. has "toward." [3754 i] But in Syr. the preposition al is used with words denoting wrath, as well as joy, hope, sorrow &c. (without any thought of motion "against" or "towards") as in.Mt. xviii. 34 (SS) "his lord was wroth with him (lit. over him)," ib. 26 (Syr.) " be patient with me (lit. over me)," Lk. xv. 7 (Syr.) "joy over one sinner," Mt xxvii. 43 (Syr.) "he hath trusted in God (lit. over God)." See Thes. 2893 foil. Moreover Thes. 3834 gives no instance of "run" with the Syr. "upon" or "over" except 2 S. xxii. 30 (rep. Ps. xviii. 29) (Heb.) " I shall run [om.prep.] a troop." It therefore seems best to take the prep, not with "run," but with "wrath" and with "joy " as in "joy over a sinner that repenteth." But it must be mentioned that (3887a) Ode xxiii. 6 "Many hands ran against (R.H. rushed to, H. stiirzten sich auf) the letter," combines "run" with this Syr. preposition. [In Mt. xviii. 34 (Syr.) Walton omits " over him."] Along with swiftness, there may also be a thought of freedom or unrestrictedness. This was negatively suggested in Ode vi. 9 (by the mention of the attempts to "restrain" the Waters of Life). Now, as often happens in these Odes, a thought, put forth at first negatively, is taken up in a subsequent Ode and developed positively. The "running" of this "joy" is said, in a change of metaphor, to issue in "fruits" that are without restraint. 2 [3754c] "Wrath," used (Thes. 1299) of God's wrath upon Amalek (1 S. xxviii. 18), and in Mk iii. 5 of the anger of Jesus at the hardheartedness of the Pharisees. It is freq. (though not always) used of the "wrath" 144 (Ode vii. 1 — 2) also be used in connection withTant wrart ' ^ ?****' ™* h < Gen. I. , 7; so that these words, apart from th " ^ * 33) aS in certatn whether the " running" or " 1 „ , C °" text ' do n <* make it 1 "Joy." This is the 1st of man! ^ *> " diWne ° r hu —. The question " WUos e joylVeL^ZTT * "^ fa the 0d - ously in the notes on the follow"!' '""^ m ° re ad vantage- ' [3754rf]«The Beloved 1 ( n ° y is the Lord ")- ^ and J „. has^dTrti £ PS f: d'emG^^' **»»« « renders ,t " what is lovely." Bu, there i, « ebte " h ''"-" RH ' 'h-s form used absolutely to me n " wh I " V"? "* qU ° ted in ™«- «f which is not in the Syr. txt ) ?„ P h T, *? T^" (w '' thout " w " a t V iovefy," ,he Syr. contains ^^J^Z™' " hatSoev " things are P'- inflexion. This being the cat and l^ areJ '' *"* 3,S0 uses «" as masc. in Ode iii. s -,{ e Beloved ,'• it ^mslT *"" ^ ° CCU " ed "ere. "' " seems safest to render it similarly [3754*] But it does not follow that " n,„ k . , 'he Messiah. It may mean the man wh r"? " here mean * s G ° d . or Such a term might be applied To AbraT . Ca " ed "* " beWed -" "lover" of God. Jews mi Z 1 Abraham . «« "Wend" or rather -~ Moved by God Ld m n MosTs" K^a""? ^ ^ ^ (<■<■ in the eyes of) God," Syr. i£3 £%£? V'J >° "*«»S* to has the word used here in the Od We u '" b ° th paSSa e es Syr. Jewish traditions interpreted Cant i ,-Z -n **'" ab ° Ve that s °me that Israel would follow, or « run ± r Z *™ " "" af,er ,hee ." « meaning would "run after" God^ and it „ L, ' ^ a " d ° thers tha ' Israel -me Jews regarded uL^Z^Z? * "* f ° r ""^ if - S-inSsIS^ 5 Z™: l3ter " '» «* ° d " «ndex) beloved" (the stronger form of 'W '" *' f ° rm " ,he «W 3809 «). And one of theTw Da Zl T^ ab ° Ve ' 3681 > c °mp. occurs shews that , he wo l JT^ £?, the , ^atly-beloved "> representative, as well as to cZ Ode " P l ° ISrae '' 0r ,sra el's Sreatfy-oeloved, in the C^bZ^T ?~i ""* *"* *"* -Beloved fr .83) so, ^^^2 ^ Tjl J '45 (Ode vii. i_ 2 ) 10 [3754] THE WAY TO GOD 2. My joy is the Lord and my running is toward Him 1 . poets to give that title to Moses, whose name, in some of their traditions, was— like that of Light and Law — synonymous with "good." 3 [3754^] " Its fruits." The "fruits" of "joy" are "brought in," like wheat into the barn. Beside their own value, they afford a proof that there lies beneath them a living source. On moral life — as distinct from a dead Law or dead Philosophy — the Odes lay constant stress. In each of the first eleven Odes (exc. iv. and vii.) "life" or "living" is expressly mentioned, and it is implied here (as also in iv. 5 "never... without fruits"). * [3754 h] " Without restraint" H. Index does not give " Hinderniss." liut the threefold occurrence of " restrain," " restrainings," &c. in Ode vi. 9, and its recurrence here, are worth noting as characterizing the author's feeling about the River, or Spirit, of God, namely that, whereas men sometimes "grudge" and "restrain," God intends that it should be given, " without restraint," or, as it is often said elsewhere (e.g. Ode xi. 6) " without grudging." 1 [3754 i ] "My joy. ..toward Him." If the preceding verse meant man's joy and man's wrath, then the meaning of the two verses, taken together, would be: — "As men in general feel spontaneous emotions of anger and joy, so do I feel the latter." But if the "wrath" and the "joy" in the preceding verse are from God, then "my joy," in this verse, means "my joy responding to His joy." The Johannine Epistle implies that Man could not love at all if God had not first loved him (1 Jn iv. 19) " We love because he first loved us." So (according to this view) "we joy in Him because He first rejoiced over us." The notion that God could "joy" over man might seem absurd to Eliphaz (Job xxii. 3) " Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?" But the theology of Israel did not agree with Eliphaz (Son 3032 a). Comp. Zeph. iii. 17 "The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy. ..he will joy over thee with singing." Isaiah also says to Israel (lxii. 5 and comp. lxv. 19) "As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee," and even speaks of her " sons " as God's representatives " marrying " her. Jeremiah, who says (xxxii. 41) " I will rejoice over them to do them good," makes it clear that this "rejoicing" is conditional on their acceptance of (it. 39) " one heart and one way," which He will give them. If they are unfaithful to Him, punishment must fall on them as inevitably as blessing if they are faithful. So righteous is this Law of Retribution that in one startling passage of Scripture it is said (Deut. xxviii. 63) "As the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good.. .so the Lord will rejoice over you to cause you to perish." Not that the Lord "rejoices" in a man's "perishing," or has (Ezek. xviii. 23) "any pleasure in the death of the wicked." But He rejoices in justice, even when justice demands "perishing." The 146 (Ode vii. 1 — 2) THE WAY TO GOD [3755] §2. The" Way" [3765] At this point comes a mention of the "Way" toward the Lord. Unfortunately the text is doubtful 1 . But "perishing" is regarded as being merely for the time. Later on, it is said (Deut. xxx. 9-10) "the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good... \( thou shalt obey the voice of the Lord thy God." [3754 j] If this explanation is correct, we can somewhat better under- stand the unexpected and (as it might seem to some readers) unnecessary mention of "wrath" at the opening of an Ode that introduces and emphasizes "joy." It is like the mention of "war" along with "peace" (Odes viii. 8, ix. 6—7) and "darkness" along with "light" (Odes xv. 2, xvi. 16, xviii. 6, xxi. 2). Possibly the poet has in view some weak souls' who are too ready to think of God's "wrath" and not ready enough to think of His "joy." The latter, he says, is like the former, it "runs." Then, instead of adding, directly, "And this is an understatement, the joy not only runs but also overruns and predominates," he leads us indirectly to this conclusion by passing into a justification of his own "joy" as a response to the divine joy (3999 (iii) 16). According to this view, the poet began his poem with the thought in his mind of Jehovah "rejoicing" over Israel and "drawing" the Bride toward Himself ("draw me; we will run after thee.. .we will rejoice in thee"), and with the feeling " It is because of His rejoicing that I rejoice in Him and He is my joy; and it is because of His 'drawing' me that I run after Him." He seems to suggest that there is a "Joy" in heaven, not only "rejoicing over each sinner that has repented," but also "rejoicing," by anticipation, over "each sinner that shall repent," and producing that repentance by "drawing" the soul to Itself. We must never forget that, in Hebrew, repentance is expressed by " turning." But the " turning " must be toward God. [3754 k] The first Biblical mention of "running" is in Gen. xviii. 2, where Abraham "ran" to meet the angels (called "three men") from "the tent-door." On this, Gen. r. has traditions of R. Abuhu and another, that the tent was like a race course (8pfy n s Hebraized) with a view to receive proselytes. I have found no other traditions that lay stress on, or allegorize, the "running." See 3848/4. 1 [3755a] Ode vii. 2-3 R.H., 1st ed., "This is my excellent path : for I have a helper, the Lord" ; H. " This is my beautiful way, since it is to me a helper to the Lord." H. adds that, if the Syr. text is correct, the meaning must be that "the way" is the "helper." The "way," he says, "would then mean 'the Teaching (die Lehre)' as it so often does.'- R.H., 2nd ed.,has "This path of mine is excellent" (adding in a footnote 147 (Ode vii. 2) 10 — 2 [3755] THE WAY TO GOD from a comparison of the uses of this term in the Odes, it appears that the word is used by the poet in a fluid sense. At the outset of the four gospels, " the way of the Lord " is mentioned as being first predicted by Isaiah, and then proclaimed by John the Baptist 1 in a doctrine taken up and "so Schulthess") and then, "for I have a helper, the Lord"; and a second footnote says " B.-L. remove to the end of previous verse " the Syr. for "to the Lord." H. says " Harris iibersetzt in Abweichung von dem iiberlieferten Text...." R.H. 2nd ed. makes no reply to this. [3755/5] Again in this Ode (vii. |6) R.H. 1st ed. has "He hath appointed to knowledge its way"; H. " Er hat festgesetzt seinen Weg zur Weisheit," and R.H. 2nd ed. "Knowledge He hath appointed as its way." Later on, "the Way" is connected with "truth," thus (xi. 3) "I ran in the way. ..in the way of truth," (xvii. 8) "From thence (i.e. from the height of Truth) He gave me the way of His (?) precepts (lit. goings, Thes. 1015 gives no Syr. instance of the Aram, and Heb. meaning, "precept" or "law")." It may be called God's "way," or the "way" of His saints, thus (xxii. 7 — n) "thy hand made-plain the way for those who believe in thee.. .thy way was without corruption," and it is implied that those who turn from the " way" of corruption to the "way" of Truth will find that the Lord will "enter into" them (xxxiii. 7) "forsake the ways of that corruption and draw near unto me and I will enter into you." It is also implied that the Lord is the Way in xxxix. 6 "The sign in them is the Lord, and the sign is the Way of those who cross [the River, or, rivers (3959)] in the name of the Lord." "The Way of the Lord" and "the Way" 1 [3755 c] "John the Baptist." Comp. Is. xl. 3, Mai. iii. I, and Mk i. 2 — 3, Mt. iii. 3, Lk. iii. 4, vii. 27, Jn i. 23, and especially Acts xviii. 25 (R.V.) "This man (i.e. Apollos) had been instructed (//'/. taught by word of mouth) in the way of the Lord...&n& taught carefully the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John." It is added (ib. 26) " Priscilla and Aquila expounded unto him the way of God more carefully." "The Way" is used absol. in Acts frequently, e.g. ix. 1 — 2 "Saul asked of him (i.e. the high priest) letters. ..that, if he found any that were of the Way... he might bring them bound to Jerusalem," where Schottgen says that "according to the way of the Nazarenes'' is a regular Jewish expression (comp. Megill. iv. 9 "Who- ever says... — this is the way of the heretics"). How it might arise is indicated on one side by Levy i. 424 b quoting R. Hasch. 17 a about certain heretics, who "severed themselves from the ways of the Community," 148 (Ode vii. 3) THE WAY TO GOD [3755] tl^M^l " Way " ° f , ^' >7 ^~™^ is illustrated by Acts (xx,v. ,4) After the way, which they call heresy, so serve I the God for hTmt fT Hefe WC find PaUl> n ° W * ChHs ^' «* " a opdng for h.mself the very term that he would (apparently, according to Luke! have used d.sparagingly to the High Priest when he request d to be allowed to arrest any whom he found "of the Way.'- If Christians ong,na t d the term it wou.d be natural for the Jewish rulers o co "e of T , ? f / e P r0ach : -" not ' • 3-4, quoted by the four gospels, Mk ,. 3, Mt. ,„. 3, Lk. iii. 4, J n . i. 23, but most fully by Lk and most bnefly byjn.) and as to the difference between the « way L,)" an he "paths fo* ,„„,)" mentioned in „, Jewish ^ .,« ^ But J„ s om.ss.on of the rpifa, which all the Synoptists have, deserves s;j". v :r// h ; ,o ' s remark (i - 3,6) ,hat ^ * -^ / Measure, as distinct pom A8.W the way of Virtue. About Isaiah's coTexTl. e r JO T take opposite courses - Luke add * '"*" 2i context deta.ls about the "mountains" and "valleys" (not in Mk-Mt ) apparently to shew that "way" and "paths" here mean the way Through he w.lderness and have nothing to do with the Way of the Lord in the sense of doctrme. John, on the other hand, takes "the- way" in a spmtual sense ; he agrees perhaps with Philo, who says (i. 296) that we must go by "the King's road," which is "Wisdom," and by this we must attam to the Unbegotten fri, tyi^r**) ■ "For it is fit that the traveller travelling freely along the JCing's road should not rest till he has found the King." That is to say, the essence of the Way is the 'ZIVa- h u CadS - Fr ° m that P ° int of view - the Edition of paths diverts our thoughts when they ought to be concentrated on the One Way, lead.ng to the One Person. Therefore, where Luke amplifies, the Way" ^ P^"'^ the Way for ,he u «"ance, later on, "I am. sileif/ 5 Th° n x S " XL 3 " tk l ^ ° f "" L ° rd " ,here is a & eneraI J^ish frl! '/I? P ara Ph™es "the way of the Lord" as "the way from before the people of the Lord." Friedlander, commenting on Ibn Ezras interpretation, says that it is either (,) " the way which the Lord *ade or (2) the way made for the Lord" (that is, " the way which leads to the place where His name is glorified") and that Ibn Ezra seems to be >n favour of the latter. The paucity of evidence as to the origin the absolute use of "the Way" may be inferred from the silence or madequacy of Wetstein, Home Hebraicae, and Schottgen on passages ment.on.ng ,t. The question is also complicated by possibilities of Greek influence (see Philo ii. 444 on a Pythagorean precept "Go not by high- ways ) and by the variety of doctrines about the "ways" of man and 149 (Ode vii. 2) [3755] THE WAY TO GOD of God. For man may be regarded as making his "way" toward God, or cleansing his "way" (i.e. his manner of life) ; or God may be regarded as making His "way" into the heart of man, or as making His "way" known to man. [3755/] In Proverbs, there is a remarkable frequency of . His members) do I hang," tb. 11 he that delighteth in Life [eternal]-living shall he be » (3691 d). • Ode xlii 9-10 "Like the arm of the bridegroom over the bride, so was my yoke over those that know me...," ib 2.-22 "And those who had died ran toward me,...and they said, 'Son of God, have pity " " r3759 *1 In xiv. 6 " I am the way and the truth and the life." For this, the way is prepared by the words (ib. 4) "Where I am going ye know the way." These are intentionally inconsistent (on the surface) with " I am the way," and they are intended to provoke the question (ib. 5) "How know we the way?" The evangelist desires to force his 154 (Ode vii. 2) THE WAY TO GOD [3760] § 3. The Lord " hath caused me to know Himself" [3760] The considerations alleged above may help us to understand at least the general meaning of the difficult passage that now follows : — 2. ...this [is] my way [my] excellent [way] 1 . 3. For it is to me a helper 3 to the Lord'. readers to reflect that the Way is spiritual. Where Jesus goes — that is the Way ; but Jesus Himself is also the Way. And not only the Way to the Truth but also the Truth. And not only the Way to the Life but also the Life. Why does He not say " I am the Tree of Life"? He does say this a little later, in effect. For what is the Tree of Life except the Tree that gives life and "fruit" to all, to every member of the spiritual Israel? And what is this Tree except that which Jesus calls Himself (Jn xv. 1) "I am the true vine"? Outside that tree, He says, every man is "withered"; in that tree, every man " beareth much fruit." 1 [3760 a] " Excellent." The Syr. occurs ( Thes. 4275) as the rendering of Heb. "good" in Gen. i. 4, ii. 18, iii. 6. On this passage s. 3755 — 9. It appears to mean that the spiritual "running toward the Lord" — this, and no mere moral or legal code, can constitute the "excellent Way." Comp. 1 Cor. xii. 31 "and a (or, the) way shew I unto you...," where the context, however translated, indicates that it is the way of Love. > [3760*] "Helper." The Syr. (Thes. 2815— 6) occurs in Gen. ii. 18, 20 concerning Eve as being a "helper" fit for Adam. It is also in 2 S. x. 1 1 implying mutual " help " (s. Levy Ch. ii. 205 a on its use in Syr. of Prov. xviii. 19 to denote a brother's aid). Here it prepares the way for the thought of the Lord as making Himself, so to speak, the companionable Helper of Man. It is worth noting that the Syr. "ex- cellent" (Heb. " good ") and the Syr. " helper" occur together in Gen. ii. 18 " it is not excellent that man should be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him." The next occurrence of "helper" is in Ode viii. 7, after which it does not recur except in xxi., xxii., xxv. and xxvi. It supplies one of many instances in which the writer dwells on a thought in two consecutive Odes and then drops it for a time. 3 "To the Lord." See 3755 a on H.'s statement that R.H.'s trans- lation (for which I await justification from similar grammatical instances) "deviates from the Syr. text." If the text is correct, it would seem to mean, "It is my helper, not in itself, but because it brings me to the Lord." 155 (Ode vii. 2— 9) [3760] THE WAY TO GOD 4. He hath caused-me-to-know 1 His soul (i.e. Himself) (3819 c) without grudging, in His singleness [of heart] 3 ; for His gracious- kindness (or, sweet-kindness) 8 hath-made-small (i.e. caused-to-con- descend) 4 His greatness'. 1 [3760c] "Caused-me-to-know." Comp. Jn xv. 15 "No longer do I call you servants : for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth ; but I have called you friends ; for all things that I heard from my Father f have made known unto you," and the saying of God concerning Abraham— mentioned as God's "friend" by Isaiah (3719 a)— Gen. xviii. 17— 19 "Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?" where "shall I hide ? " implies " shall I not make-known ? " * [3760 d] "Singleness [of heart]." R.H. "simplicity," H. "Einfalt." Thes. 3321 shews that the Syr. represents rfirXonjr, i.e. free, frank, unmixed and undiverted purpose of goodness. The Index gives only one other instance, Ode xxxiv. 1 " No way is rough where there is a. single i.e. simple heart," R.H. "simple," H. "einfaches." Both passages imply " single-hearted" devotion to God, like that of Abraham, which makes man's way and God's way one, and therefore, ultimately, full of "joy" (as here) or " not rough h (as in the later Ode). See 3999 b— d. [3760 e] Epictetus said something of the same kind, but negatively and with appeal to contempt rather than love, in Ench. 19 "The one way to this (i.e. to freedom) is to despise things not in our power." 3 [3760/] "Gracious-kindness (or, sweet-kindness)." R.H. "kind- ness," H. "Gute." Thes. 551 gives the word as (1) jucunditas, (2) be- ni^nitas, (3) suavis odor. Etymologically, the meaning is "sweet smell." Comp. Ode xi. 13, 17 where it occurs (after a previous mention of it. I "grace") first as a verb, "sweetly-inhale," and then twice as a noun, "sweetness," i.e. gracious-kindness:— "(lit.) (13) and my breathing sweetly-inhaled [His fragrance, namely] the gracious-kindness (R.H. pleasant odour, H. angenehmen Geruch) of the Lord. ..(17). ..and who turn from evil to the gracious-kindness that appertains to thee (R.H. the pleasantness that is thine, H. deiner Freundlichkeit) "—where the whole context is influenced by the thought of the sweet fragrance of the blossoms in Paradise {ib. 14 " He brought me to His Paradise"). No one word expresses the meaning. Nor is "gracious-kindness" a satisfactory rendering. But " kindness " expresses the practical meaning of the word, as implying fruit in action and not mere flower in talk ; and "gracious" is intended to suggest the charm that sets off the kindness, as the sweet scent of fruit sometimes sets off its flavour. See 3881 i foil. 4 [3760^] "Hath-made-small." Thes. 1144 quotes this Syr. word from Sir. iii. 19 (18) " make-thyself-small [in thy claims]," LXX "the greater thou art, humble thyself the more." Comp. Ps. cxiii. 5—6 " Who 156 (Odevii. 2 — 9) THE WAY TO GOD [3760] 5. He became like-me in order that I might receive 1 Him. is like unto the Lord our God, who hath his seat on high, that humbleth- himself to behold [the things that are] in heaven and earth?" Lev. r. (on Lev. i. 1, Wii. p. 5, and comp. Exod. r. on Exod. xxxiii. 12, Wii. p. 316) says that R. Akiba used to inculcate the doctrine of "taking a lower place " that people may say to you (comp. Lk. xiv. 10) " Come up higher," and that Hillel used to base on Psalm cxiii. the saying " My humbling was my exalting and my exalting was my humbling." The facts indicate that the Lucan doctrine ascribed to Jesus is in accord- ance with Jewish thought. [3760 h] The Targum on I>s. cxiii. 5—6, perhaps shrinking from saying that God " humbleth Himself? has " casteth down His eyes." The LXX altogether spoils the sense by taking "humbleth himself as "humble things;' thus :— "looking on the humble-things in the heaven and the earth." Our author retains the scriptural thought in all its boldness. Comp. also Philipp. ii. 8 "He humbled himself." This thought is connected with "grace" in 2 Cor. viii. 9 "Ye know the grace (i.e. kindness) of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor." 6 [3760/] "His.. .His greatness." R.H. 1st ed. has "the greatness of His kindness hath humbled me," but 2nd ed. "His kindness has humbled His greatness," with n. "So Flemming : seine Grosse klein erscheinen lassen." 1 [3760 j] " Receive." H. " Empfangen," which is not in H.'s Index, nor is "annehmen." But "receive" occurs in v. 3, vii. 5, 12, viii. 9, ix. 7, xi. 13 &c, of receiving "grace" &c, and is here applied to "receiving" the Lord in a context resembling that of Jn i. 12 "as many as received him." See 3820 i—j. When did God, in Biblical history, most conspicuously "become like" a man, that a man might "receive" Him? In the manifestation to Abraham when (Gen. xviii. 1 foil. (R.V.)) "the Lord appeared unto him ...as he sat in the tent door.. .and, lo, three men stood over against him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them. ..and said, My lord (R.V. marg. O Lord)...." Here Rashi gives, like R.V., two interpretations of "lord," and Jewish tradition comments on the " condescension " of "the Lord" who "stood," while Abraham "sat" (Gen. r. ad loc, quoting Ps. xviii. 35 "thy condescension hath made me great," where see Tehill. Wii. i. 162 foil.). Westcott, on Heb. xiii. 2 "entertained angels unawares (T\a0ov $tvtcravT(s)" rightly calls attention to the idiomatic t\aSov (not elsewhere in N.T.) used also by Philo (ii. 16—17) who says that the " men " Btiorfpas Svrts tftiactat i\t\i)6(iaav. It is true that Moses is connected in Exod. r. (on Exod. xxxiii. 12 quoting Ps. cxiii. 5—6 (3760^)) with an instance of God's "humbling" 157 (Ode vii. 2 — 9) 13760] THE WAY TO (JO I) (,. In similitude' He wa» nupponed' likemyself in order that I mii/lit pot Him on [an a rol>e]*- Himself, adapting His voice to Moses, "an infant in prophecy," that He might not "terrify" him by His first words at the Bush (3760 u). But Lev. r. (on Lev. i. I, Wii. p. 5) quotes Ps. cxiii. 5—6 before Exod. iii. 6, in such a way as to suggest that it was Moses who "humbled himself" before God. And, in any case, the human "similitude" in the revelation to Abraham is so much more definite, and so much more referred to (being noted by Irenaeus and Justin as well as by Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews) that our poet would almost certainly have that in his mind if he thought of any event in O.T. as a type of the manifestation of the Son in the "similitude" of Man (3760 a). ' [3760 k] "In similitude." This word {This. 914) occurs in Heb. and Syr. of Gen. i. 26 " Let us make man in our image, like (or, as) (RV. after) our similitude," a passage much discussed by Philo and Origen Comp. Dan. x. 16 "One like the similitude of the sons of man touched my lips." On Gen. i. 26, Pesikt. sut. (quoted by Altschuler, vol. i. 394) says that while "image" means external resemblance, " simili- tude " means " the expression of the countenance," quoting Ezek. i. 10 « the similitude of their countenance was as the countenance of a man." Levy i 4,3,, shews that Jews spoke of "depreciating THE SIMILITUDE" when a man wronged mankind-as being "like God's similitude." Pau (Philipp. ii. 7) describes Jesus as "taking the [essential] form (popfav) (Son 3269 a) of a servant, becoming in the similitude (6^0,^1) of men, and, being found in fashion (] Chrys. on Rom. ad loc. says "We say about friends, 'So- and-so has put-on (ivt&itraTo) so-and-so,' to express great love and close companionship (a-uvovaiav)," but Fritzsche adds that he has found no instance of this meaning. Nor is one given in Stephen's Thesaurus. [Perhaps such a use might be illustrated by "'wear," in the Elizabethan phrase "win and wear," but more prob. the latter means "wear as an ornament."] In Lucian Gall. ch. 19 (ii. 730), "stripping (^"Pythagoras " and "clothing oneself with Aspasia" are jocose allusions to reincarna- tion — "becoming incarnate as Aspasia after ceasing to be incarnate as Pythagoras." More to the point are Tacitean phrases like "induere proditorem," shewing how the " putting on" of the "persona" (i.e. actor's mask, or character) could be condensed into "putting on" the "person." [3760 g] The conclusion is that our author does not appear to be borrowing from Pauk More probably, like Paul, he is passing from Jewish thought in general into Jewish thought in particular, and he is influenced, though probably not writing in it, by the language predominant in the Roman Empire — that is, Greek with an occasional touch of official Latin. 1 [3760 r] "Compassionate to me." H. "mein Erbarmer," with note suggesting that, although the exact rendering is "Erbarmen," it is perh. better to insert a rel. pr. in the txt., "he that hath had compassion on me." For " he it is that " see Thes. 980. R.H. has in 1st ed. "my salvation" (with note "lit. mercy: cf. Lk. ii. 30 (Pesh.)"). But Thes. 131 5 gives no other instance of the meaning " salvation," and Burkitt renders Lk. ii. 30 Syr. "mercy" (Gk t6 aart)piiv " L "< >«* .he maanlng rf.'Sm cZ, '• of '°T' "^ """*'"' "»' lhi ' '» T^ I "^'^^^^r c - rf * h - , * "DeSii JX'.r.i ;:;;r' " L r. to Th c ° m r- » whom, after the revelation, He said (2 n * , ° ^ ^ T™* him...." See 3762 a. 9) 1 have known cJ^ZZj$Z in SjVm"" ^ ^ °" ^ ^'^ ^ On this, a ouaint traditi y Z^tZTfc", * *? ,Srael) -" speak, of God and "the humbling" of Isral L >,/° * -lag Hin,.,„.., ikt . ho^iaVed l,""^ '° " C " V " H " "^ 161 (Ode vii. 2—9) n A. L. (3761] THE WAY TO GOD THE WAY TO GOD [3763] lowering Himself, so to speak, to the level of Man ; at one time by conversing with Abraham as His "friend," at another time by making Himself the Companion of Moses with whom He spoke " face to face." Thus, in His dealings with indi- viduals whom He has loved in the past, the Lord has been preparing the way for a people whom He will love in the future, with a still higher manifestation of the fellowship between His "nature" and Man's ''nature," such as (according to the Fourth Gospel) Abraham anticipated and "was glad." § 4. " The Father" of this "Knowledge" is "the Word of Knowledge " ^3762] At this point the writer recurs to what he said in the earlier Odes, that this Way must be the Way of the Spirit of Love. Not that he at this point mentions either Spirit or Love. But he suggests both. He tells us that we cannot push ourselves into this Way by our own mental effort We must have " knowledge," but of a peculiar kind. We must be led up to the knowledge of God by His knowledge of us, that is to say, by His knowing us as He -knew" Abraham and Abraham's seed, and as He" knew Moses "byname," and as He "knew" Israel "alone of all the families of the earth ■." This » knowledge of ours, then, ~~ . 13762 a] Gen. xviii. .9 " I have known him {i.e. Abraham) to the end that he may command his children... that they may keep the way of the £rd" where Onk. has "it is manifest before me that he will instruct {q uoi praecipiet) his sons," and Jer. Targ. - His piety ,smann ^ ^ ^ ^ (< ^.„ Comp lo 2 S vi'i. Io para... to , Chr. xvii. .8, "thou knowest thy servant 162 (Ode vii. 9) is not to be a merely contemplative knowledge about a do- nothing God. It is to pass actively as from a father to children and to return from the children to the father. And the children of this Father are not to be confined to the literal limits of any one country or people. It is all one piece of work, this Plan of Redemption, foreknown, fore-ordained, and all-inclusive, including the universe of spiritual place, and also of spiritual time, which is called the " ages," or " aeons." [3763] It is in connection with "knowledge" that the poet here for the first time makes mention of " the Father 1 " — (i.e. David)," and Nah. i. 7 " he knowelh them (Targ. those are manifest before Him) that put their trust in him." As Abraham is the type of "faith" or "trust," so he is appropriately the first of those whom God is said to "know." The Targum paraphrases 2 S. vii. 20 "thou knowest" as " thou hast performed the petition of? and Rashi actually accepts this. This indicates that later Jewish thought found a difficulty in this use of "know"; but our author, in contrast, accepted it (as also it is accepted in the Gospels and Epistles). See 3742 n foil. 1 [3763 a] The earliest mentions of "the Father" are these:— vii. 9 "The Father of Knowledge is the Word of Knowledge." vii. 13 " He is. ..the fulness of the aeons and the Father of them." viii. 26 " Ye shall be found incorruptible in all the aeons to the Name of your Father.'' ix. 4 " Be rich in God the Father and receive the Thought of the Most High." All these are in "the you-Odes" (s. 3793,?) exhorting us to regard the Father as actively carrying out His Thought of Redemption, by the Word, through the aeons, and not as the mere object of a contemplative Gnosis or knowledge, nor as Himself being a God of self-contemplation. [3763 6] The following are somewhat different, mostly leading us on to the thought of the Father from the Son : — x. 5 "And it became for me to the glorifying of the Most High, even (H. und, but see 3734 a) of God my Father." xix. 2 "The Son is the cup, and He who was milked is the Father." xix. 4 "...the milk from the two breasts of the Father." xxiii. 16 — 20 "There was seen at its head the Head which was revealed, even (H. und, but see 3734 a) the Son of Truth, from the Father the Most High. ..written by the finger of God, and the name of the Father was on it, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...." xxxi. 5 "...for thus His holy Father had given to Him." xli. 9 — 14 "The Father of Truth remembered me, He that possessed 163 (Ode vii. 9) n — 2 [3763] THE WAY TO GOD strangely late, it would seem, since he has already mentioned the Son. Strange, too, is the phrase of introduction — "the Father of Knowledge." The relation of this expression to other expressions of Jewish thought on the same subject must be discussed later on. Here we can merely point out its apparent relation to other expressions of the writer himself. His object is, throughout the Odes, to shew that Love of God, not Knowledge of God as conceived by many, is the re- generating force of Redemption. Solitary knowledge, barren knowledge, thought without expression, cold knowledge of the Universe as of a chess-board, and cold foreknowledge (which is really present knowledge) of the issue of the game — not this is the Knowledge of which God is the Creator, and of which He may be fitly called the Father. [3764] The Thought is to be regarded as Father (not Maker) of the Word. It is incomplete without the Word, (? or, acquired) me from the beginning, for His riches (3820a) begat me... (14) the Son of the Most High appeared in the fulness-of-perfection of Mis Father? [3763 c\ It will be observed that in two passages, Odes x. 5 and xxiii. 16, H. has ■' unci" connecting (1) "the Most High" and "God," (2) " the Head" and "the Son of Truth." On (1), H. says "Mindestens die letzten Worte sind wohl christlich," and, on (2), " Das (i.e. "and the Son of Truth") sieht wie ein Zusatz aus." But, if the two clauses had been Christian insertions, would the inserter have added "and," so as apparently) to make nonsense? Does it not seem that the Syr. vavr must here mean "even"} Yet Thes. 1057 — 8 gives no exact instance of such a meaning (s. 3731/, 3734a). In 1 S. xxviii. 3 "in Ramah eveh in his city," LXX omits xai: and Syr., and Targ. (as Rashi notes) avoid r>aw explicativum by altering the text. In 1 S. xvii. 40 "in the bag...«/«t in his scrip," Targ. retains vaiv, but Syr. omits it. Contrast Col. i. 3 t 6t 0«j> narpi (where see Lightf.) with Rom. xv. 6, 2 Cor. i. 3 6 dt&c «eal narfip rou Kvpiov, where Syr. omits "and" but Vulg. inserts it. Perhaps these differences are to be explained from two uses of 6 6t6t, (1) "[He who is] the [one] God," (2) "the God [of]..." (as in "the God of Abraham"). But in any case the Syriac "and," meaning "that is to say" in phrases of this kind, seems to point to a Hebrew original. On "Most High God" s. Son 3492 d, comp. 3922 a foil. 164 (Ode vii. 9) THE WAY TO GOD [3764] just as the Father would be^nco^le^I^ndeL could not be a father, without the Son. Again, the Word, or Logos is incomplete unless it expresses itself in an uttera nce that' is something more than a mere sound. A mere sound we should call non-rational, and the Greeks a-togon. The Logos or Word_if it is to deserve its name-must be (like the' Thought ,ts Father) of a non-solitary disposition. It must go forth to make others sharers of itself and with itself, in the knowledge that it possesses. The Word must therefore be a Word conveying Knowledge. All this might have been expressed without any collision with orthodox Christian termmology by saying, in two distinct propositions, that the Father has "brought forth knowledge," and that through the Son, or Word, "this knowledge is imparted to men." But this would have savoured of prose rather than of poetry. Instead of domg this the poet compresses the two propositions into one, using an expression, "the Father of Knowledge" that is extremely rare, if not unexampled. He also speaks of the Father" as being, in some sense, "the Word "—a state- ment that would probably have jarred against the feelings of most Christians in the second century and would seem strange to many even in the first:— 9- The Father of Knowledge ' is the Word of Knowledge'. "Faf fr k » * 3ther ° f Know,ed ^" See Mayor on Jas. i. , 7 Father o hghts," comparing Eph. i. , 7 « Father of glory," and 2 Cor. i. 3 Father of merces," wh,ch however We.st. illustrates by a Heb phrase w.th ad, not with genitive. Though "Father of knowledge" may be Z£ K S an f g ° US t0 (Jn VHi - 44) " father ° f * ('•<• fafsehoodV' i used Y°t oh' tHat 3 JCW W ° U,d " 0t natUral * USe > but «' -em* b the and m " ' T" 31 ' " '" " the Father ° f the ae ° ns -" ™<* 'or higher and more personal conceptions of the Father .ed, B /"" kn 7!t dge !i the aUth ° r aPpearS l ° mean - first ' " h ™ know- edge and then dmne knowledge, or divine knowledge that passes 5," W ° rd r° Man ' s ° as "> "-co™ human kL.edge" B J tl C meanS T^ ori * inat ° r "— t a mere mechanical maker or aesthefc art.st. He assumes, but does not say, that the divine 165 (Ode vii. 9) [3764] THE WAY TO GOD Thought is the Father of the divine Word. What he says, is, that the divine Word originates, or "is the Father of," human knowledge. Eph. i. 17 "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," is interpreted by Jerome as meaning, in effect, "The God [and Father] of our Lord Jesus Christ, [who, being the Father of Him who is the Lord of Glory, may be rightly called] the Father of Glory." That passage, whatever may be its precise meaning, is less abrupt than the one before us because the phrase "God of our Lord Jesus" prepares the way for the mention of " Father." 2 [3764 *] " The Word of Knowledge." To call " the Father," in this way, " the Word," is different verbally from anything in N.T., though it may be illustrated, variously, by Jas. i. 18 " He brought us forth [as might a mother from the womb] by the Logos of Truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures," by 1 Cor. iv. 15 "in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel," by Philem. 10 "whom I have begotten in my bonds," and by Heb. ii. 13 "behold I (i.e. the Lord Jesus) and the children whom God hath given me." The expression indicates a bold originality and freedom from con- ventional Christian metaphor. Philo says about Wisdom (i. 553) "We assert (? let us assert, \4yaptv for A/yo^i-) therefore, disregarding the difference [of gender] in the nouns (fiij8«v r^r iv roTt iv6pnp6vr,viv)— [in a word, all] good and laudable habits-of-action (npifat):' Our author might be supposed here to be saying the same thing about Logos that Philo says about Sophia, " Logos is a Father." But in fact he says more than this. His main thought is about " the Father," here introduced for the first time. Him the Greeks— though recognising as "the Father of Gods and Men"— often practically ignored, and even the Jew Philo converted into a Solitary Being about whom he might declare (i. 66) " It is good for the Alone to be Alone." Our poet says, in effect, to those who might consider such a God to be the object of the highest revelation of the highest Gnosis, or Knowledge, " Not so have we learned the Logos or Word. Not such is our Gnosis, or Knowledge. Say rather that the Father Himself, the Father of what you call Knowledge, condescends to become ' the Word of Knowledge' in order to bring men to the Knowledge of Himself." On the Syr. for "Word" (or "word") in the Odes, s.3819t tdiov tokov, " The Lord and Maker of all, whom [primarily] we call ' God ' in our habitual worship, since He made the Second [to be] God visible and perceptible. ..since [I say] He made this [Being] First and Only, and One [in the region of perception], and [since this Being] appeared to Him both good-and- beautiful (koKAc) (comp. Gen. i. 4, 10 &c.) and also filled-to-the-utmost with all things good-and-right (ayatiav), He sanctified [Him] and loved [Him] exceedingly [even] as His own offspring (Jbiov tAkov)." Verbally this resembles Johannine language. Jesus says to the Jews (Jn x. 36) "Say ye of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ' Thou blasphemest ' : because I said ' I am God's son ' ?" This was after Jesus had said (ii. 30) " I and the Father are one." But on a previous occasion the Jews had said that He declared God to be (ib. v. 18) "His own (Miov) Father." Moreover the Johannine expressions (ib. i. 14 foil.) "we beheld his glory" (corresponding to the Trismegistian doctrine that the First God "made the Second visible"), and "full of grace and truth," "we received of his fulness," and the reiteration (in the mouth of the Baptist) of "First" (ib. i. 1 5, 30 " He was First [and] before me") in the same context (foh. Gr. 2665 — 7) make up a similarity of words that deserves attention. But in spirit, there is a great difference. In John,-the Word is (i. 18) "Only-begotten"; in Hermes, the "Second [God]" was not "begotten" but "made." He was indeed "loved exceedingly," but, so to speak, on His merits, because He "appeared" to the Maker "good" — not because He really was the only-begotten Son, but "[even] as His own offspring," which might mean "as much as if He had been, the real offspring of the Father." [3764 d] This, in feeling, is a very different theology from that of John — who implies the thought of a family, as if the Word was at home with God and " in the bosom " of the Father from the beginning. Hermes appears to teach that the Supreme God — the Maker as distinct from the Master- Workman — always remains in the background, or behind a veil. Popularly, He may be called Father ; but He is really rather of the nature of a Purpose of Divine Good. Hence, perhaps, we may explain those words of Hermes, quoted by Lactantius (Inst. vii. 18) from The Perfect Word, which speak of "the Lord, and Father, and God, and Demiurgus of the First and One God," as coming to destroy evil. If the First God is practically unrevealed, it is explicable that the Second God may be regarded as being sent by the First into the region of divine thought, that He, the Second, may send down into the region of human sense the revelation of the Lordship and Fatherhood of the First God, and that He (the Second) may destroy evil. Lactantius himself (ib.) has previously spoken of "the Son of God" as thus destroying evil, and now 167 (Ode vii. 9) [3765] THE WAY TO GOD § 5. The Lord the " Creator" [3765] From the Lord as Father the poet leads us to the thought of the Lord as Creator, but again in an unexpected and original way. As he introduced the former attribute under the title "the Father of Knowledge," so he introduces the latter with the phrase " He that created Wisdom." This is all the more remarkable as the verb "create" (I believe) occurs nowhere in the Odes except in this context 1 . [3766] It may well seem characteristic of this author that, whereas most readers of the Bible would think of the Creator as "creating the heaven and earth," he gives this singular prominence to His creation of Wisdom. This, some may say, is explained by his mystical or fanciful turn of mind which leads him to avoid the trite paths of conventional expression. But is this the sole explanation ? Had no one else, before our author, and known by our author, thought of God as being, specially and primevally, the Creator of Wisdom ? The answer must be that he could not but have known _and, when writing about the relation of God to Wisdom he could not but have pondered— the " crying aloud " adduces Hermes as supporting this view. Clearly therefore Lactant.us understands Hermes as affirming that "the Son of God" .s also the Second," and yet may be called " Father." If a fairly orthodox Chr.sttan theologian could write thus, under the influence of Hermes, in the fourth century, we ought not to be surprised that the author of the much earher Odes of Solomon writes with an apparently similar looseness. It is not really similar. Lactantius, who is probably much more ak.n to Hermes than is the author of the Odes, says so much about God that the name fills nearly two columns of Le Brun's Index; but in all that space there ,s no mention of God as "loving," and the words "amor" and cantas are absent altogether. Doubtless they occur-we have seen above that the First God "loved exceedingly" the Second God-but contrast th.s with our poet's little volume, which, in its forty-one short poems, ment.ons " love " in some form, some forty or fifty times 1 1 r3765rt] "Create." H. " Weisheit^«3- * 1 Cor. i. 19—24. a Pesachim 54 a, also Mechilt. (on Exod. xv. 16 '* purchased," Wu. 143). Various inferences were drawn in these and other passages as to the number of God's "possessions" (which Plato might perhaps have called " Ideas") before the material Creation. * [3769 a] Prov. viii. 22 is given by Field thus "Jova me creavit primitias viae suae, ante opera sua inde a longo tempore. LXX tiptoe 170 (Ode vii. 10 — 11) THE WAY TO GOD [3769] the Christian Messianic application of the words to make them the subject of frequent discussion in the first century. Philo quotes them in a free version of his own, " God acquired me first-and-before His works, and established me before the aeon 1 ." In his introductory comment, he represents God as ?KTitrt pt ('Ej9p. ddoival KavavY) ap\r]V 68S>v avrov €ts tpya avrov. Aq. Kvpiot itcrrjiraTO pt KttpaKaiov [6Sov] avrov, ap-^Btv Karepyaapdraiv avrov [airb ror*]. Sym. Kvptos fKTrjo'aTo pt opx*l v oowv avrov, irpb rrjs jpyaalas ai/rov arro Tor*. Theod. Kvpios v tpyav avrov djro tot*]." It will be observed that Aquila, who renders bdra in Gen. i. 1 by *ri(o>, renders kdnah by Kraopai. 1 [3769 b] Philo i. 362 quotes Prov. viii. 22 foil, thus 'O #*or (kdjo-oto pt Trpa>Tio~T7)v T6>v iavrov tpytav koa trpb tov alaivor (0fpt\l(iiU( pt, where ltpwrlarnv — being more emphatic than nportpav — seems to mean "[not former but] foremost," "[not only first but] much the first." Comp. Joh. Gr. 2666 quoting Nonnus as paraphrasing Jn i. 15 irpar6t pov tjv by irpartorot. [3769 c] The only other quotations from Proverbs in Mangey's Index to Philo are Prov. iii. 4, 11 foil, iv. 3 foil. Of these, iii. 11 — 12 is quoted (i. 544 — 5) to shew that through the "training {naiStia) of the Lord" a man becomes a " son whom he receiveth." The rest, to which add i. 8, occur in one passage (i. 369). It treats of divine Law, and human Law (or Custom), declaring that both of these are observed by virtuous men : "They were taught both by [the] upright Logos, [the] Father (in-o piv 6p6ov Xo-you, jrarpor) to honour the Father of the Universe, and also by Training (natSuat), the Mother, not to despise the things that are held just by convention and universal custom." Jacob (he says), having received training as an athlete, prevailed both with God and with man (Gen. xxxii. 28) and saw God, and received as a prize the name " Israel," i.e. Seeing God. Such a one is "confessedly reputable in the sight of both the Parents... Proverbs, too, seems to me to say well (iii. 4) Providing things right before the Lord and tnen.. ..For, having been taught (ib. i. 8) to observe the laws (vopnvs) of the Father and not to set at naught the ordinances (6(o-povs) of the Mother, you will have confidence and pride in saying {ib. iv. 3) I also was born a son obedient to [the] father, and beloved before {iv) the face of [the] Mother." Clement of Alexandria (3810, 3817 a foil) will be found to connect with the thought of a " babe" the revelation made to Jacob in the course of which he received a new name. Both he and Philo recognise, in some sense, that the secret of God is bestowed on those who obey " both the Parents," that is, those who duly fulfil the part of Child. 171 (Ode vii. 10 — 11) [3769] THE WAY TO GOD being at once " Demiurgus and Father of that which has come into being," and the " Knowledge of the Maker '" as being the " Mother," who "gave birth to Her only and beloved Son in-the-world-of-sense, this Cosmos 1 ." On the other hand Ben Sira — far from personifying so as to suggest a Mother — uses language, about the origin of Wisdom, that appears deliberately intended to militate against the thought of such a personification : " Wisdom shall praise herself.../ came out of the mouth of the Most High*." [3770] The commentary of Jerome on this passage in Proverbs, though very lengthy, deserves close attention because it carefully distinguishes the Hebrew from the Greek version, and recognises the latter as having been the basis of a very early Christian doctrine ("the Fathers understand it thus") about the Incarnation : — " Another translation conceives of this passage thus : The Lord created me, the Beginning of His ways [with a view] to His works. This the Fathers understand as being said about the Lord's Incarnation, saying that [Wisdom] said, for the sake of a certain mystery (certi gratia mysterii), The Lord created me, and not, The Father created me. A?id'the Lord', they say, is recognised by the flesh [of the Incarnate One] [whereas] ' Father' is signified by glory ; ' the Lord' is confessed by [the term] 'creation' [whereas] ' Father ' is acknowledged (novit) by the term love...'." Then 1 [3769 d~\ Philo i. 361 — 2 Top yovv T00V to irav tpyamiptvov drjfuovpyov opov jtot iraripa tivat tov ytyovoros...prjTfpa o 1 * ttiv tov ntnotijKOTOS 4tTto-T^pt]v...'H ii. ..rov povov xat dyanrjTOv alvBrfTov vlbv airtKvrj&t, Tovbt tov Kno~pov. 2 Sir. xxiv. i, 3. The Vulgate continues, "the firstborn before all creatures. ..that there should rise light that never faileth." But the Syriac omits that, and continues, with the Vulgate, "and covered the earth as a cloud." 3 [3770 a] "Et caro, inquiunt, Dominum agnoscit; gloria Patrem signat. Creatura Dominum confitetur; caritas Patrem novit" — appears to be the right punctuation. The present tense, implied by "signat" and "novit," appears to mean that "Pater" (not "Dominus") is the right term to use when one is speaking of the relation between the 17a (Ode vii. 10 — 11) THE WAY TO GOD [3771J he explains the LXX [" With a view] to His works" thus — " because, in order to redeem the works of the Father He was created from the Virgin, taking on Himself flesh." Finally after thus laying stress on "created" and "flesh" and "in- carnation," he comments on the words "rejoicing always before Him " as referring to the pre-incarnate state, thus :- "These things are said, lest anyone should assert that He began [to be] simultaneously with creation and times '." [3771] On the translation of the Hebrew Jerome speaks in his own name, referring it to the pre-incarnate Son, thus: " The Lord possessed {possedit) me in the beginning of His ways. [This is] the voice of Christ, who is the true Wisdom of God the Father, [that Wisdom] which was born (genita) ineffably from the Father before all the creation of the world because He Himself (i.e. the pre-incarnate Christ) created potentially and set-in-order wonderfully the universal substance of the heaven and the earth. By 'tfte ways' of the Lord are meant His ^vorks, by the consideration of which the human race attains to faith or recognition [of Him]. For [as Paul says, Rom. i. 20] the invisible things of Him from the creation (a creatura) of the world, being understood through the things that are made, are clearly-seen." But another explanation of "His ways" is immediately added ■.—"•His ways' are those very illuminations through which He has shewn (ostendit) Himself both to angelic spirits and also to human minds. 'In the beginning' of these 'ways', He 'possessed' Wisdom, because, in the origination of created-existence [then] coming to its birth, He had the Son who, with Him, was to set all things in order'." pre-incarnate or post-incarnate Son and the Father, but not the rieht term to use here, about the incarnate Son. 1 On Prov . viii. 30, " Haec ideo ne quis eum cum creatura et temporibus coepisse perhiberet." v 2 "In primordio creaturae nascentis, Filium, qui cum eo cuncta disponeret, habuit." a 173 (Ode vii. 10— 11) [3772] THE WAY TO GOD [3772] This long comment is quoted, not in order to suggest that our poet could reason, or feel, in the same way as Jerome. Such a suggestion, besides being an anachronism, would exhibit ignorance of the difference between a poet and a controversial commentator. But Jerome saves us the trouble of quoting Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and the Clementine Homilies, not to speak of Origen's copious references, to shew how early and how deeply the Christian Church was interested in the question, " What was created in the beginning, and who precisely created it?" The reader will also be helped by Jerome to realise the complexity of the reasons that may have induced the latest of the evangelists to choose, as the first words of his gospel, " In t/ie beginning 7i'as tlie Word!' And he will not be surprised to find that some of the Jewish plays upon these words affected even Christian fathers writing in Greek on this subject, as when Irenaeus quotes the first Hebrew words of Genesis thus, " Baresit bara..." from which he extracts the rendering " Son in the beginning... 1 ." [3773] Our poet's purpose is spiritual — perhaps we may also add " and poetic" — rather than dogmatic. He seems to have desired, while speaking of the Way of the Lord and con- necting it with Joy, and with the Father, to shew that the name of Creator (which men have commonly applied to God) did not imply the detached unemotional act of an artisan, but rather that of the artist, who is said sometimes to " put himself into his work." God "puts Himself," so to speak, into such creations as proceed from Himself through His Son in such a way as to be in His own image and capable of being conformed to His likeness. Rashi's comment on the Psalmist's phrase "a people that shall be created'" shews how 1 Iren. Apostolic Preaching (§ 43 ed. Harnack (3699 *)). Comp. Gen. i. 1 (Jer. II) "In Wisdom the Lord created. And the earth was vacancy and desolation...." 2 I's. cii. 18. 174 (Ode vii. 10 — 11) THE WAY TO GOD [3774] seldom "create" is used in the S^p^eTc^r^G^ making of man, except in Genesis and references to it He explains it as "the people that shall become a new creature so that they may go forth from servitude into liberty and from darkness into a great light"; and no doubt he would thus explain Isaiah's words -your Holy One, the Creator of Israel,' R ashi seems to say> „ . w ^ ^ ^ ^ taken , n Its strict sense of ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ rather create over again '." [3774] Our author seems to say on the contrary "Not create over again/ but "realise the original creation'" assigning to the Word such a position as is indicated in Revelation, "Thus saith the Amen, the faithful and true w.tness, the beginning of the creation of God"' If our author knew of such words, he would probably refer them not to the risen Saviour, but to the pre-incarnate Word He seems to assume here as an axiom that what God "creates" as a Father is superior to what He "makes'- or "works"— as perhaps Isaiah assumes, or might lead readers to assume in God's saying "Ask me.. .concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands. .A have made the earth and created man upon it'." Thus we may understand our poet's con- densed and obscure statement that God is "wiser than His works." No doubt there is wisdom in the material works of God's hands, in the material heaven and the material earth and in the material frame of man. But God, who created Wisdom itself, is wiser than any wisdom that can be inferred 1 [3773 a] Is. xliii. ,5. A.V. has "creator," R.V. " Creator" nerhaos intending by the capita. letter to mean spirit, or specia «' C rea on'" divine activity, w.th ace. rei, seldom except in P. and Is. 2." In the active, ... applications to the individual man are few. These include . ii. ad Cor. i. ijd(\r)0apr))...the earth, and it was utterly- corrupt (KaT«f>6apfitvfi) because all flesh had utterly-corrupted (*ar/- 6ap9, and xviii. 4, to express in- .n "^corruptible &c. and in the Syr., and Targum, of Jer. ii. 32 "without number , i.e. "Enumerable," as also in Exod. xxi. .. (Targ. and Syr.) without payment " The same thing holds for (R.H. p. 47) "the Greek offeror, i.e. "without grudging," comp. Wisd. vii. 13 dMX-»...«i**W, where the Syr has -without" twice. Taken by itself, then, the use of the Synac "without," in the Odes, even though it corresponds in meaning to the Greek «-, does not prove that they were originally written in Greek. And this applies, with special emphasis, to words found in the Wisdom of '° SSl'*,] As regards allusions to The Wisdom of Solomon, they appear to me fewer and less striking than those to Solomon's Song. Out of the four footnotes in R.H. alleging allusion to the former, one (on Ode xi 2 "revealed my reins") mentions Wisd. i. 6 « witness of the reins, along with three other Biblical passages. But H. omits Wisd. and give only " Ps. vii. .0 und sonst. Apok. joh. ii. 23" It seems very doubtful whether Wisd. was in the poet's mind. On Ode xii. 5) about the "swiftness" of "the Word," a footnote in R H compares Wisd. vii. 24. But a corresponding footnote in H. com- pares merely Ps. xi*. 6 foil, (though H. p. .2. gives Wisd. v.,. 24 among Jarallelisms); and this is probably the basis of the poet's utterance, although tinged by allusion to Wisdom. On Ode xlii. , "our mirror is the Lord," R.H. and H. quote a Pseudo- cyprian tract which refers to The Wisdom of Solomon as calling the Sav our "the unspotted mirror of the Father." This is an allusion to Wisd vii. 26, which says that "Wisdom" is "the unspotted mirror of the energy of God." This passage of Wisdom was probably in our poet s mind But with a difference. For Wisdom says that the Mirror is "without spot " The poet bids the Bride make herself " without spot." Does he asmeth sp'ot.essness of the Mirror? Or does he remember that, although the Mirror may be « spotless" in itself, yet we may see dim y in it (.Cor xii . ', - through a mirror, in enigma ») owing to the ^«™%f* ? The answer is doubtful, but the difference is certain V see 3884/ foil.) [3781 *J Much more important is the question as .0 parallel,** n Ode xxv. 5 » I was despised and rejected in the eyes of many and V was m their eyes as lead," where R.H. says "Cf. Sap. Sol. ... 16 A «^W in their eyes , reference here, places it among P The words in ^.^ ^^J^&£ Righteous man) »^^J^£S£^*^ M *» 190 (Ode vii. u— 13) THE WAY TO GOD [3781] in Sir. xxii. 14 " What is heavier than lead ? And what is the name thereof but a fool?" — and certainly in Jewish comments on "lead" in Zech. v. 7 — 8 (s. also Jerome) — the emphasis is not on its being base metal but on its being " heavy," and Rashi implies that Zechariah's vision represents "measure for measure" in the "heavy" punishment of the wicked for their "heavy" offences ; (4) in the Pistis Sophia, the Gnostic Targum on this passage has (p. 148) " iniecerunt me in orcos (chaos Plur.) nullum lumen habentem. Fui s\sM.v\t) gravis coram iis" — where "gravis" indicates that the emphasis is laid on the heaviness, not on the baseness, of the "lead"; (5) in the passage just quoted, the mention of "casting into depths of Orcus (orcos)" along with a paraphrase of " lead," suggests allusion to the fate of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, Exod. xv. 10 " they sank as lead in the mighty waters" ; (6) Nehem. ix. 11 "their pursuers thou didst cast into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters" blends Exod. xv. 4, 5 (about "stone") with ib. 10 (about "lead"), and similarly Mechilt., on Exod. xv. 5 " as a stone" says •' With the measure with which a man measures, one measures again to him" and regards "as a stone," and "as lead," as implying two grades of retribution, perhaps playing on "stone," which, as in English, means (Gesen. 6 b) a "stone-weight" (comp. Zech. v. 8 lit. " a stone of lead," and see Mechilt. on Exod. xv. 10, where it is again implied that the punishment is an instance of like-for-like retri- bution, though the nature of the likeness is not made clear) ? (7) the retributive casting into the depths, in the case of Babylon, which (Is. xlvii. 6) "heavily" oppressed Israel, is typified (Jerem. Ii. 63 — 4) by "a stone cast into.. .Euphrates," and again in Rev. xviii. 21 by "a great millstone... cast into the sea," and the same retribution is mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels as awaiting those who " cause little ones to fall." These (it is implied) are caused-to-fall, themselves, not in a brief stumbling, but permanently and fatally : KarairovTiaBfi iv t<5 n-«Xdy« ttji OaXao-tnjr, says Matthew (xviii. 6) perhaps having in view the unique use of Karairovrifa in the Pentateuch, Exod. xv. 4 (A.F.) KaTiirovriatv iv ipvOpa daXdo-077, which Matthew combines with "the immensity of the open sea," as an attempt to express the various words in Exodus meaning " deeps," " depths," " mighty waters " (Origen ad loc, Lomm. iii. 243 iv rjj afHaaip \tyopivji ir«Xay«i BaKatrtria). The Egyptians (Exod. i. 22) attempting to drown the little ones of Israel, are drowned themselves. It is measure for measure. The reader may like to see Rashi's comment on Zech. v. 6 — 8 in Breithaupt's version of it : " Postquam illam [Epham] vidi, dixit ipse : Haec est mensura per quam puniuntur illi quorum oculus est in universa terra ut rapiant et efficiant quo (Amos viii. 5) 'minor reddatur Epha et majus fiat pondus' ; sed rependetur eis mensura pro mensura. ..in medio Ephae, haec est mensura viae improbitatis quam exercuerunt improbi, nunc autem illi projiciuntur in earn [mensuram] ut puniantur in ipsa mensura per quam mensurarunt, mensura pro mensura." The reference 191 (Ode vii. 12 — 13) [3781] THE WAY TO GOD THE WAY TO GOD is to Amos viii. 5 " making the ephah small and the shekel (or, weight [of money]) great," i.e. (Rashi) "vendentes mensura parva et pecuniam accipientes pondere magno." There is a play on "ephah " or "measure," and on " shekel " or " weight." These sinners give small " measure " and exact heavy " weight." Then they shall have what they exact, says the vision in Zechariah, and accordingly a great "talent" of "lead" crushes them down into the small "ephah" or "measure." Comp. Joma 69 b, Sanhedr. 64 a, both of which, though worded differently, agree in repre- senting the "lead" as absorbing or suppressing the voice of the spirit of idolatry. Kimchi, too, though differing in some points, emphasizes the "heaviness" of the lead, and the "thrusting down [of Israel] deep into the lowest pit of bondage (in imum servitutis barathrum quam altissime detruderentur)" implied by the vision. He adds that it is a case of " measure for measure " (" ut mensura mensurae responderet "). " Lead," in special contexts implying smelting, or comparison with precious metals, might mean "alloy" or "base metal," but not otherwise apparently even in Greek (see Steph. Thes. po\i;/98or). As to its early connection with "sinking" see Hastings iii. 88 £ "it was common enough by B.C. 1200 to be used in Egypt for the sinkers of fishing-nets." [3781 h^ See also Hillel's saying in Aboth ii. 7 "Because thou drownedst they drowned thee," Mechilt. on Exod. xv. 8 and Jer. Targ. on Exod. xv iii. 11. All these facts indicate wide-spread Jewish traditions, from Nehemiah down to the first century and later, about the retributive " drowning " or " casting into the depths as a stone, or, as lead." And that our poet has this in view is confirmed by the context in his Ode and in Exodus. Moses in Exodus said to Israel about their Egyptian pursuers (xiv. 13) " Ye shall see them no more for ever" Now there is no passage in the Bible where the changes are so rung on "seeing no more." Previously, by a dramatic irony, Pharaoh says to Moses (Exod. x. 28) " take heed to thyself, see my face no more" unconsciously predicting his own destruction. Then Moses retorts, consciously predicting it, {ib- 29) " Thou hast spoken well ; I will see thy face no more." Then comes this "Ye shall see them no more," meaning "They will perish." And lastly there comes, in Deuteronomy, a threat that this promise will be cancelled if Israel rebels, for then (Deut. xxviii. 68) " The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again wiih ships, by the way whereof I said..., Thou shalt see it no more again." In the face of all this reiteration of a phrase ("see no more") rare, if recurrent, in O.T., it is hardly possible to deny that the poet is alluding to it when he says (Ode xxv. 3—4) " Thou hast restrained those that rise up against me. / shall see him {i.e. Egypt, or Pharaoh) no more" (where R.H. (2nd ed., note) and H. accept "them" [i.e. the Egyptians] (from J'istis) for "him"). And then come the words under consideration, meaning, in effect, "Just when my persecutors were saying concerning me ' He hath gone down to Sheol as lead and God hath forsaken him,' 192 (Ode vii. 12 — 13) [3781] {lit. that is not corrupt, i.e. not liable to decay)-the Fulness of the aeons and their Father 1 . just in that moment 'thy face was with me' guiding me across the Sea, ■n which my persecutors were themselves to sink as lead in the mirfitv waters." " Like lead " (Mandelk. 906) occurs nowhere in the Bible except Exod. xv. 10, and the Syr. for it there is the same as it is here. If this explanation is correct, it is a noteworthy instance of the subtle and pervading influence of Jewish tradition in general, and the Exodus and the Song of Moses in particular, upon the writer of the Odes and of the reasonableness of attempting to explain his obscurities first of all from these sources. A RONS 1 [3781 1] "The Fulness of the aeons and their Father." In Scripture the Heb. word rendered by LXX aeon is perhaps best explained as meaning originally (Gesen. 761 b) "hidden," and hence (t) the hidden and infinite past, (2) the hidden and infinite future. In such a scriptural phrase as "from aeon to aeon" (R.V. "from everlasting to everlasting"), present time appears to be regarded as a mere border line dividing the two hidden and infinite regions of time past and time future. But when people began to lay stress on the corrupt present ("this") as destined to give way to * better future ("the coming"), some might drop the past out of thought, concentrating their minds on the contrast between the present and the future. Accordingly, Rabbinical doctrine mostly speaks of two aeons, (1) the present (2) the future, and of these as opposed to one another. The Gospels and Epistles also recognise "this aeon" as opposed to "the aeon that is to come"; but they do not deny, or imply the denial of, more aeons beside the one that is to come immediately. The use of the plural aeons in some passages of the Test. XII Pair, {e.g. f os. xviii. 1 (no v.r.) and several others where Prof. Charles has the pi. in his text) combines with the Pauline use (Rom. i. 25, ix. 5 &c.) to shew that, in certain phrases ("for ever" &c.) the Jews retained the thought of a plurality of aeons, which is manifest in Ps. cxlv. 13 "a kingdom of all aeons." Even outside these phrases we find Eph. ii. 7 "that he might shew forth in the aeons that are coming," and Heb. ix. 26 "but now, once for all, at the consummation of the aeons" (and comp. Test. XII Pair. Lev. x. 2 e'rr't rij trvvrtXtla tS>v alavav, with e toC alavos) where we can hardly suppose that two aeons are meant. Under these circumstances, the supposition that in Heb. i. 2 "through whom also he made the aeons;' "two" is to be supplied, or assumed as intended, is — though possible — very improbable. [3781 j] As the Ephesian Epistle lays stress on the future aeons, 193 (Ode vii. 12 — 13) 13 A. L. [3781] THE WAY TO GOD so does the Acts (iii. 21, xv. 18 an' Mvot, the only mentions of the word) on the past ,uon (sing.), and the Colossian Epistle on the past aeons (pi.) (i. 26) " the mystery that hath been hidden from ihcaeons." Coloss. adds "and from the generations," where Lightf. says "an at&v is made up of many y,v,ai, comp. Eph. iii. 21 *U *&<"* rat r v,&s rov ali>vos rSv „&»«,*.. .." Comp. also Is. Ii. 9 "as in the days of old, the generations of [past] aeons," where the Targ. paraphrases aeons by a variation of "of old," LXX mistranslates, and Rashi, Ibn Ezra, the Talmuds, and the Midrash, are silent as to "the generations of aeons." [3781 /] This leads us to regard aeon as denoting something more than time that can be measured by clocks or stars or visible moving objects In New Hebrew (Levy iii. 656 *, and Wagens. Sota pp. 76-7) the word is used in the pi. to denote the Ages of Man from birth to death There are (Ps. ciii. 1-2, 22, civ. 1, 35) "ve passages in Scripture where the Psalmist calls on his "soul" to "bless the Lord," and Rash. comments on the first of them as though the Psalmist called on all the Ages of Man to bless God ("intuitu quinque seculorum in quibus homo versatur prout dixerunt Rabbini nostri..."). Also the Midr. on Ps. cm. (Wu ii 106) describes David as seeing five aeons, at d.fferent stages of human existence. On Exod. xxviii. 30 Jer. Targ. speaks of "the N\mk by which were created the 31° aeons," where 310 refers to the words of Wisdom in Prov. viii. 21 "that I may cause them that love • me to inherit SUBSTANCE (lit. 'that which is')," the word "substance ■• being interpreted numerically as "310" (see Sanhedr. 100 a and Tehtll. i C2) and meaning " 310 worlds, or aeons!' [3781 1\ Those who used aeons in this mystical way would seem ,0 have meant that the lovers of Wisdom inherited " the fulness of Wisdom,' "the totality of the thoughts of Wisdom." And Phdo seems to have taken this view. He (i. 277) regards aeon, "age," as the archetype, or spiritual equivalent, of chronos, "time." T.me, chronos, is measured by the motions of the visible Cosmos, who is "the younger son" of the Father, whence it follows that Time (i. 277) "has the rank of grandson in relation to God"; not Time, he says, but "Age, aeon is tL name that must be given to their life (06») "-by "their" apparently meaning that of God and the Elder Son, the Logos. Age, aeon (he implies) is measured by the motions of the invisible Logos, who is the Elder Son of the Father. Hence, though he does not use the expression, he would apparently agree with the statement, that the Logos, or Word, is "the Father of the aeons," and would interpret in this sense the expression in the present Ode. ,..,., • j, ,;,■,> "The This express,on would also accord with the [ e J ,sh < ,U ' Tl ? Leader of the Age (or, World)," applied to a great Rabbi. The M.drash o P Ixxvii. 5 "the years of the aeons" (where Rashi has "compassions to our fathers,',.,, to the Patriarchs) says that it means "the days 194 (Ode vii. 12— 13) THE WAY TO GOD [37811 of the Fathers of the Age (or, World)." Hillel and Shammai (Levy i. 3 a) were called "Fathers of the Age" Much more might a Jewish poet in the first century describe the Lord as " the Father of the Ages." [3781 m] That the Lord is also " the Fulness of the Ages," that is to say, the Being that gives to time (as well as to space) its meaning, purpose, and spiritual activity, not only including it in Himself (being Himself the PLACE and time of all that is) but also filling it with Himself, is in accordance with Philonian doctrine, as well as with that in the Ephesian and Colossian Epistles. For Philo has said that aeon must be the name given to the "life," fiioc, of God — if we are to speak of God as having a j3for — and it is essential that He should fill His own life with Himself and give it "fulness," as he says with regard to place (i. 52) "God is Himself His own Place and is filled by Himself." The Philonian doctrine of the aeons presupposes measurement, not by the motions of the stars, but by the fruitful motions of God's Revelation of Himself, in His due season. [3781 n] Hence, like our author, Philo emphasizes the connection of the aeons with "fruit" and "season." "In aeon," he says (i. 277) "nothing has passed away, nothing is future, but everything simply subsists (ii(m)Kfv)." As the pillar to a house, and as the mind to the soul, so (i. 455) is the Saint to the generation in which he lives. Such a one was Noah. And from Noah's roots there sprang "a race that brought forth the three fruits of 'him that seeth,' namely, Israel. ^These are] measures of aeon — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob." By these he means three faculties, developed in three phases — faith, joy, and insight. It is God's "season (icaipnt)" that brings forth these virtues, as in the case of the birth of Isaac from Sarah (Gen. xviii. 10) (LXX) "according to this season." Elsewhere (i. 619) referring to the birth of Isaac which was to be "in the next (lit. other) year" (Gen. xvii. 21 (v t^> ivtavra ™ erlpu), he says that the " other year" does not mean measurable time, but aeon, "that extraordinary, strange, and really new thing.. .whose lot it is to be the pattern and archetype of chronos." [3781 o] Origen also speaks of "a single year (cvtauror) of aeons," though he does not mention Isaac. In Orat. Lib. §27, Lomm. xvii. 226—7, ar, d also in Co/nm. Matth. xv. 31, he grapples with the "difficulty that has often presented itself" to him (n-oAXaiur 64 /uh tirykOev anopuv) in the "two apostolic sayings" of Heb. ix. 26 and Eph. ii. 7, and suggests that " the consummation of the aeons " means the " end of a single-year (iviavrov) of aeons, so to speak" of which the last month is the last aeon, preparing the way for a new year of aeons. The aeons, he says, "fill-up ((Tvpn\r)pnvvrwv) a kind of year" — i.e. the old year, the pre- messianic year. No doubt that would be true. But that pre-messianic limitation would apply rather to Gal. iv. 4 rA nXijpopa tou ypdyov than to Eph. i. 10 fir oWovoplav roC n\ripo>p.arot tS>v Kaipav. The latter would 195 (Ode vii. 12 — 13) 13 — 2 [3781] THE WAY TO GOD seem to include all God's raipo/, from the alpha to the omega, the whole scale of His harmonious thoughts. And this is what our author probably means by the aeons of which the Lord is, at once, "the Fulness and the Father." [3781^] We pass to the consideration of the earliest use of the phrase " Father of the aeons." R.H. 2nd ed. adds n. "For the expression 'Father of the Ages' cf. i Clem, ad Cor. xxxv. 2, lv. 6, lxi. 2, and Is. xi. 6 (Heb.)." This might give the impression that the phrase was used in all these passages and was a common one in the first century. [3781 g] (1) But "Father" is not used in Clem. lv. 6 tok navrtnoirTJiv H^nArr,*, e»> tZv olavav (which Lightf. renders "the Goo to/ all the ages," comparing Ps. cxlv. 13) nor in lxi. 2 tiairora ivovpavu, Pavpyof « nary, tCv alavav 6 naviytot (C. o fypiovpyic rav alavav «. irarfip novaywi) aiVAt yww.".., the writer, after mentioning the gifts of God that are, as Lightfoot renders, "already within our cognisance," argues, "What then are the joys in store for those who remain stedfast to the end?" These, he says, "the Artificer and Father of the aeons Himself [alone] knoweth." The expression, though not so remarkable as the one in the Ode (because, in Clement, the way for "Father" is prepared by "Artificer") still deserves notice, as indicating that Clement uses this rare phrase in a special sense to denote the aeons to come, in which God will manifest His blessings, not only as their Artificer, or Creator, but also as their Father. .... ,„ . » [3781 r] (2) In " Is. xi. 6 (Heb.)," which should be Is. ix. 5 (Heb.) (R V ix 6) the text does not mention "aeons." It has, not oul&m but 'ad. RV has "everlasting Father," and Field renders the Heb. "pater perpetuus" Aq. "the Father still (narfip in)," and the Targum om.ts "Father "'so that the Heb. cannot be adduced as illustrating "Father of the aeons" The LXX is confused, some MSS. conflating narfip mi, uAWro. M.~ with .frwuxrr^. Theod. has "Father," but omits " aeons." Sym. is the only Greek interpreter that uses the word aeon, ' and he has only the sing. irorfa alavos. r3781j] (3) It is important to distinguish Father of the aeons from the comparatively commonplace "King of the aeons:- For the latter is comparatively common. It is found in Tobit xi.i. 6 10 and , Tim i 17. (Comp. Is. vi. 5 (Targ.) "mine eyes have seen the glory of the majesty of the king of the aeon[s], the Lord of hosts," Jerem. x. 10 rrarg) "The Lord is the true God, He is the hv.ng God and the king of the aeons.") On Enoch ix. 4 see 3781/. 13781/1 (4) On Rev. xv. 3 "And they smg the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying... righteous and true aTXy ways, thou King of the aeons (v.r. nations)," Prof. Swete, who 196 (Ode vii. 12—13) THE WAY TO GOD [3781] adopts fdvuv, says that it is difficult to choose between the readings i6»S>v and alavav, in view of the allusion in Rev. xv. 4 " Who would not fear, O Lord...?" to Jerem. x. 7 " Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations?" But the context in Jerem. mentions (x. 10) "King of the aeon[s]" as well as " King of the nations" and the latter is obviously an inferior title (comp. Gen. xiv. I, 9 "Tidal king of nations"). Moreover the reading eBNtoN might as easily arise from eoncon, the ordinary illiterate spelling of mconcon, as (according to Alford) munun from ai8ncon. Prof. Swete also quotes Enoch ix. 4 eri ft c f) pi)0ttya\t'iov «£ayyAXoiT*f t£ apf/oj)." Similarly, in the Acts of John § 1 1, the Song of Jesus might be described as " the Song of the Word." But the meaning would be that it was uttered to the Word ("Glory to thee, O Word (3698a)") and about the Word, as well as by the Word. On the whole, the expression in Rev. xv. 3 seems a brief way of saying that the Song uttered by Moses was, as it were, sung again to a nobler harmony, in a new Song, not only uttered by the Lamb, but also expressed by the Lamb's life, embodied in the Lamb's Sacrifice, and imparted to the Church as "the Lamb's Song, which all Creation is to sing to His honour." [3781 x] (7) If the Seer in Revelation discerned a close correspondence between the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb, we might naturally expect to find in his work many allusions to the former. Yet as a fact the long list of allusive quotations from Scripture in Revelation exhibits only two from the fifteenth chapter of Exodus. Of these, one is from the beginning, stating (Rev. xv. 3, Exod. xv. 1) that Moses "sang" ; the other consists of the Song's last clause (Exod. xv. 18, also Ps. x. 16) "the Lord shall reign for ever and ever" or (Rev. xi. 15) "the Lord shall reign for the aeons of the aeons'' This appears to increase the probability that the Seer would choose, in the quotation given above, as a climax to God's titles, not " King of the nations," but " King of the aeons" [3781 v] Our author cannot have borrowed this thought from Philo. For though Philo uses (Drummond ii. 63) titles or paraphrases of God more than 240 times — the number of such separate titles being about 70 — yet he never uses " Father of the aeons." Nor does any one of his titles include "aeons." His favourite appellation of God is some form of " Being " (0 &v or tA iv) which— with or without an adverb — occurs at least 80 times. But he uses narf/p ron SXav 1 1 times, and other phrases with nanjp more rarely — a usage making it all the more noteworthy that he does not use 6 warf/p rSv alavav. [3781 z] (8) Two important conclusions follow from these facts. First, our author would seem to have deliberately discarded the common- place "King of the aeons" in favour of "Father of the aeons." This accords with his avoidance (3846a), throughout the whole of the Odes, of the term " King." To " kingdom " as representing order and law he does not object. But he will not have " King," as representing the Supreme Person. Secondly, he to some extent personifies the "aeons," which indeed he elsewhere (Ode xii. 4, 8) represents as, some of them, "speaking" while others are "silent." In this personification, he never 198 (Ode vii. 12 — 13) THE WAY TO GOD [3781] verges on Gnostic follies, but he uses language that he would hardly have used had Gnosticism appeared distinctly above the horizon. As to the time of utterance, then, we may infer from the term " Father" applied to the "aeons," a first-century or almost first-centurv, date. As to the nature of the utterer, we may infer a highly original and concrete mind, a poet for whom abstractions were absorbed in personalities. See 3939. [3781 z,] As regards aeons " speaking," or " silent," compare Lactantius on "silent spirits " whom he differentiates thus from the Word {Inst. iv. 8) "They proceeded from God as silent spirits because they were not created to deliver (tradendam) the teaching of God (doctrinam Dei), but for His service. But though He {i.e. the Word or Son) is Himself also a spirit, yet He proceeded from the mouth of God with voice and sound " It is very doubtful whether Lactantius had the Odes here in view; for he repeatedly quotes Hermes [Trismegistus] in the preceding context as teaching about the unutterable name of the Son {ib. 7). It is true that he differs {ib. 8) from Hermes apparently (3814 i) as to the use of the title atrorirop. But he passes on to explain that "the interval between the Son of God and the angels is very great," and that it is of the nature above described. A little later {ib. 9) he says "Trismegistus... searched into almost all truth." But if Lactantius borrowed from Hermes this doctrine, which certainly has a verbal resemblance to the language of the Odes, it raises the question whether our poet, too, may not have been influenced by what were called, in Plutarch's time, "the books of Hermes." They must have been well known to him, and some of them treated of subjects akin to the subjects of the Odes. "They report," says Plutarch {De /side § 61) " that in what are called the books of Hermes it has been written about the sacred names that.. .Horus... was called Apollo by the Greeks." Clement of Alexandria (757) enumerating the "forty-two books of Hermes," places first " the one that contains the hymns of the Gods, and secondly the one that contains the plan (iKkayurp&p) of the royal life." Such books could hardly fail to influence- though often negatively or in a reactionary manner— a poet in the first century singing "songs of Solomon," in a spiritual sense, that is to say, songs in some sense "royal," and accordant with some "plan of the royal life." [3781 z 2 ] The Book of the King seems identical with the book entitled * The Perfect Word (A<^or HXuoc)." It is called in Diet. Christ. Biogr. ii. 926 "discourse of initiation." But the following passage (in which T. and T. Clark's transl. renders it " that finished discourse") shews that Lactantius rendered it "Sermo Perfectus." The passage also explains why it was sometimes called "Asclepius," from the name of a disciple, who played the part of interlocutor in the treatise, and who is perhaps regarded as having written it (Lact. Inst. ii. 16) "Denique affirmat Hermes...Mia, inquit, >edein P e e Man„,iche„ A„ e esichtr„,7i a T bUt maSSOret ' pass - sha " b < "<»]-'das werden - ) d'h h h SCm A " geSiCht S °" " icht leer ' ° hne °P f " gesehen , JJ™' 1 Chag - 2a ( Strea "e) quotes jochanan ben Dahabai "a Zt Sd 7n ,eaCher '" " Saylng ' !n thC " ame ° f Rabbi Jehudah "H ° ' S b,md '" ° ne e * e ,s e *™Pt from the holocaust, as i, is said, 'He 201 (Ode vii. 14—18) [3783] THE WAY TO GOD possible to adopt both readings. " Those who came in the right spirit to be seen by God would also see Him." And this view our author seems to have taken. Of course all this play on the word "seeing" would be greatly stimulated by tradi- tions — such as those adopted by Philo and Origen, sometimes from Jewish as well as from Greek sources — that " Israel " meant " seeing God '." [3784] 14. He hath given to Him to be seen by* (or, to shew Himself to) His own (lit. those who are His)'. shall be seen,' or ' He shall see.' As he went to see, so he went to be seen ; as to see with both his eyes, so to be seen with both His (i.e. God's) eyes" ; ib. 4 b " R. Hunna, when he came upon this passage 'he shall be seen,' 'he shall see,' wept"; ib. 7 a " R. Jochanan put this difficulty to Resh Lakish ; ' he shall be seen,' ' He shall see.' As / (i.e. God) am seen freely, so shall ye see me freely" (Goldschm. "wie ich unentgeltlich, ebenso auch ihr unentgeltlich"). 1 [3783 d] See Son 3140 a—b. Also on Exod. xv. 2 " This is my God," Rashi says " God appeared to them in His glory and they pointed to Him with the finger. A [mere] maidservant [in that hour] at the [Red] Sea, saw that which Prophets did not see." In this dictum he agrees with a great number of traditions, quoted by Dreithaupt, to which add Mechilt. ad loc. Also Jer. Targ. I. and II. say that even the children pointed out God to their fathers, as the Giver of honey and oil ; and Sota 30 b quotes R. Jose the Galilean (a.D. 100 — 30) as supporting this tradition by Ps. viii. 2 "out of the mouth of babes and sucklings." [3783 <•] Philo (i. 312) says that, in the Song of Moses, not only are "mind (Moses)" and "sense (Miriam)" to play a part, but also "all men (("i-fyjff)," provided that they see clearly and keenly, tt)v yovv irapii\iov w&ffv q&nvVTts. He alludes to " Israel," which he habitually takes as meaning ivqp &pS>r 0t6v. 2 [3784 a] "To be seen by." This form is given by Thes. 1234 as meaning "appeared," or "presented himself," Sec, in O.T. and N.T. In Syr. (as in Onk.) the Heb. passive "appeared," is rendered by two words (1) "to be seen by" (as here), (2) "to be revealed" (Thes. 717). The latter is used in the Syr. of Gen. xii. 7, xvii. 1, xviii. I of God's "appearing to Abraham. 1 ' The former is used in the Syr. of Gen. i. 9 "let the dry land appear," &c, and in the Syr. of Mt. i. 20, ii. 12, 13, 22, &c. Burk. renders Mt. ii. 12 (SS) " it appeared to them in a vision that they should not return "—where the Syr. for " vision " is a form of " appear." In the passage under consideration, "to be seen" might mean, apart 202 (Ode vii. 14 — 18) THE WAY TO GOD '5- [3784] In order that they might come -to-know ' Him that made them' beTeen af t ? H ' ' " ( ° " t0 be reC ° gnised as the Me«iah," or (2) "to "Him Cod H 7 eS1,rrecl :° n " As t° 'he ratter, comp. Acts x. 40-4" man,TesU« ? Z "W^ ** Md (RV > * ave him » °e »■** ZTtt 11, 7, ;T (bUl D> d ' and Syr - aiT & '"*"* *'**«>») not to ail the people but to the witnesses ire-elected tQ (hem ^ a r ; ed him not : ch,ldren...who were begotten, not from blood (pi jlh G r 23M) 1 from the will of man ( M pU,Joh. Gr. 2269), but from God^ Sth« these are repeatedly called by Jesus, addressing the Father, a 1 tha thou hast g.ven me" (Joh. Gr. 2740-4. 2798,^ Al<=n l» A I .id ,0 have had "life given" to Him ^2 ]&£& hV x" ^ma" g.ve ,t to others. As regards the "seeing" by those who are "Hi own,c 0mp . Jn ,, , 4 behe , d hi S g Io ry,"and g this y (it is imp, ed b y "fo"' ail received All th.s agrees with the thought in the Ode, but in the obscure and condensed laneuaee of th^ \»h„ .>, • k„ . ■«"'6u<«ge 01 me latter there is no trace at all of ~™:'s:r "- Oo,p " Th - - -*™ •— •>» »- «• ~ '^'^°:^7f,^z\ztzr eremj) from the pointed out that it occurs in Odes xio xvi -1 »n^' r- ■■ but that it is comparatively rare in tr V ■ "' 7 ' ^ '*' '° &c ". it corresponds to U. ^ sign ^cu's ^th'Teb "* ^ beC3USe "> Ode xi. 9, P S . ix . ,o, the Svr "to" i , h /1. P° etr y avoids. But which may naturally be f te , „ th "^ " ™ ™ow. "*„**. In Ode xvi. 4 (R.H. »„■„, unto „,*, dat 'J* e the Lat. "renun.io." naturally fo„ ows the Syr . L2^2s "-^hJ'^II ^ ^ f mes (Gesen. 274 a) followed by the d«ive In r ^ S ° me - appositional construction "formed man m.h >-,*!"' "' ? ' CUrious earth - may have something to do J th the t I T c ""*' « the "man" ,0 correspond with Heb S- for 'ft "s" "• t °" bef ° re "to" to represent 'eth, we should find it in Gen f . «' '"T^ Med •M) heaven." But, there, the S, i£ l J, 7*™* ferentiation may be contrasted with £ ■ * Synac dif " renders 'eth by L in ZT^L and ^ iT'^ ° f *>"""• wh ° translator did not use "to" 2Tp ly Trt^Z^J, T ** S *» for 'eth, in sficcial circumstances "*' *"" r " erved " .hh^^wS^ if z^:z rz T" in ° de ii; - -* Gen. xxv. 28, xxix. ,8, and may be LZtZ Z ^ °* *' ^ in ***,' " have a love/ r." But Thes e T , w T f™** " be in love instance of the sigim accuXm^lZfr ^17 ^"^ "appotnt," shews that the verb is frequently Ld with f h 7'- """"^ remote object, e.g. Gen. xlv. 7, Mk iii ,7 «, , f x dat,Ve ° f the me /or the ministry." This ereatlv'.W J '" " " a PP oin "'ng •he beginning of a Lence he I ve t ^£7^* *" " verb not as a dative but as an accusative "'* th ' S particuhlr s>:Z7L ; F at used S££K" J!:; h ?;f on 1 "{" l »">" the intended to shew that the meaning h e s "1 n/h" 1 ^ """^ h to completion through the aeons fron the \ 71 , " ^ the Wa *> has "fulness" abov", and -££ ^ P V-S^T"*" *"' "Vollendung" here. See 3819* foil ""*'"• Fu "e" above, and '* lcn bm l'hnj...gegangen." The 205 (Ode vii. 14—18) [3784] THE WAY TO GOD rendering "it goeth" would make good and easy sense. But Thes. 1015 gives no instance of the verb thus applied to a "way." It might be justified in Heb. by Josh. xvii. 7 "the border went" (where the Heb. verb is the same as the Syr. here) but the Syr. there has "a limitc.quae est" (dropping the metaph. "went"). A very slight alteration would convert the word into " His goings" and this Syr. word occurs in Ps. lxviii. 24 (Syr.) "They have seen thy goings, O God, the goings of my God and holy King," and in Hab. iii. 6 (Syr.) " For His are the goings that are from eternity." The former Rashi explains of God's " goings " at the Red Sea'. The latter he explains of the "ambulation, or revolution, of the world, which belongs to God"; and it is quoted in the Mishna of Sota 22 a (Wagens. pp. 517, 523), and in Megill. 28 b, with the statement (or implication) that instead of halichah, the literal "going? one must read the familiar haldckah, i.e. non-literal "going," "way," "custom" &c, in the sense of (Levy, i. 471 a) "precept deduced from the Law." In Syr. {Thes. 1015) the distinguishing i is dropped, and the word means ".ambulatio " etc. and metaph. "mores/ Our poet would regard the "going" at the Red Sea, not as a mere instance of God's universal "going," but as a type of it, revealing Him as the Deliverer from the beginning to the end. In view of other instances of confused suffixes in the Odes, I have ventured to insert "His" conjecturally here. See H. on Ode x. 3, and add xviii. 1 (Syr.) "through (Thes. 1547) my name," where R.H. reads "His" for "my," and Harnack's "durch meinen Namen" seems to need explanation. "His" seems absolutely necessary, yet "my" is the reading of Codex N, on which see Appendix IV and especially the footnotes on suffixes. As the two Codices differ in some important respects, their agreement in confusion of suffixes indicates that this error may go back to a date earlier than that of either of them. The Journal of Theol. Studies, Jan. 1912, p. 303 (in an article by the Rev. R. H. Connolly, O.S.B., which has but recently reached me) gives "and I (or, it) walked from the beginning to the end," and takes the alternative rendering "it walked" as "knowledge walked" ("knowledge" being feminine). This removes the above-mentioned objection that a "way" can hardly be said to "walk" or "go," and it seems a very probable interpretation. In that case the "goings" of God — but of God as represented by His Knowledge — are still in view. [3784 h] The alternative " I have gone, or walked " seems astonishingly abrupt in its sudden introduction of the 1st pers. And the claim to have walked "from the beginning to the end " — though it might be justified in a suitable context as applied to the Messiah, or to some Patriarch, such as Abraham (Gen. xiii. 17 "walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it ") as representing the Messiah — seems here improbable. Comp. however Ode xi. 3—4 "I ran [the full course] in the way, in His 206 (Ode vii. 14 — 18) THE WAY TO GOD [3784] therein" implies the reception of* relation o" he Wav'of R^TT* extendmg from the beginning to the end-not « Lvl * edem P t,on my life » hut " it,.. . V not ' "ave run the course of (i 470 ,' I „1 ,h KO " e ' '" th ° Ught " This view is f ~ed by Philo <■■ 470-I) on the journeymg of Abraham's all-exploring mind. Matthew's tradit.on about the "narrow way" 1 [3784/] "From the beginning to the end" r n „™ • L . of this description of God's "Way," H say "Da '"."If ,h « ^ s. die Weisheitslehren im A T • nach d™ F . s.cher judisch, schmalT Thic \r . ■ .■ ' Evangehum ist der Wee scnma I.J Th,s, ,f true, implies a discontinuity between the O T *„A Zl Gospel," namely, that OT like this O rf* , , ^ e OT - and 'he "broad" whereas "the Gospel" tab" Z it "tV " ^ ^ '' S first sight true. Comp. Mt'vii. ,3- Ji ) -ST u T * narrow (™„ W gate , because J^ * ^»j «> E ">er ye through the gate," s. 3784/) and widesoaced ( ,' 1 t g ' '" S - [lS l the ^V»H to dLruction ^ ml ^ eTh P e°; ha S t enterT ^ ?*** narrow is the gate and cramped (or pinched 12 v w ^ ^^ ducts to life, and few there are that find it ' ' ntT^ " V * Way that COn " shorten this tradition if it was kl * ' iutwh y does 'he parallel Luke Why does he 00,^'^,^.^ ^7^ T <" T^ In Aramaic, "/I £*$%% tl^ZZ l^.f^tio™, Suppose, as the original, " will seek tn mt „ a i. ^ nd " his text, supplying and prtent^ recu ° nce'of' t er no a t nd ' ^^ T^ » "*«* £ ™< hut also P araphr™S/„:;;^r I ZTjtt^ ? ^ interesting to note that pven ;„ t 1 7- _, abU: Uut '' s able," has *«JZt Tn," r w : it',' " D ' ' nS,ead ° f "«*"«<* 207 (Ode vii. 14—18) [3784] THE WAY TO GOD is "the Door"). The children of this world, who will not thus "become as little children," will approach the little door, and— because they are swollen with pride and self-conceit— they will not "find" how to enter in. [3784 /] On the other hand, Matthew — or whoever it is to whom we owe what is called "Q" (Son 3333 r), a writer with a fine ear and a sonorous rhetorical Greek style — would seem to have been led wrong by Greek stories, of great antiquity, about man's choice between the Two Ways, leading to two Cities, the city of Life and the city of Death. Both have "gates." The way to Death is broad and easy to find. The way to Life is narrow and difficult to find. All this is beautifully expressed in Matthew. And there is some truth in it. But it appears to be a Greek not a Hebrew or Jewish metaphor. [3784 m] For, in the first place, the Hebrew scriptures do not represent either the Way of God, or the way to God, as being "narrow." The Psalmist says expressly (cxix. 96) "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." Erubiti 21 a calls attention to this and other statements of the " breadth " of God's Way, and Gen. r. (on Gen. ii. 1) quotes the Psalm to prove that, though heaven and earth have boundaries, the Commandment, or Law, has none. Isaiah, too, in his description of the Return of the Redeemed and in the exhortation (xl. 3) "Prepare ye. ..the way of the Lord, make straight. ..a highway for our God," gives no suggestion of any metaphor from which later Jews could deduce the conclusion that the saints must pass, in single file, through a "narrow" path, to the Kingdom of God or the New Jerusalem. Nor have later Jews apparently used such a metaphor or even entertained the thought. Wetstein, Schottgen, and Hor. Heb. (on Mt. vii. 13 foil.) give no illustration at all of "the narrow way" from Jewish literature. It is true that Wetstein quotes Philo (i. 316) on the difference between the "way" (the Way of God and Virtue) and the "path (rpiffos)," "well-worn (rfrptfi/Mi/ij)," which, "they say," is taken by the multitude, the path of Pleasure. But the whole of Philo's context indicates that he is dealing with Greek talk ("they say") such as the story of the Choice of Hercules to which Clem. Alex. 664 refers when quoting Matthew. We may therefore conclude that the mass of Jewish and Hebrew tradition asserted the Way of God to be not narrow but broad, contrary to the single tradition handed down by Matthew alone of all the Evangelists. [3784 11] Secondly, it is not difficult to see how Matthew may have been misled while Luke was not. The Original Tradition, here differently interpreted by Matthew and Luke, seems to have mentioned the "narrow door" alone. What this was may perhaps be inferred from the Jewish use of "the door of repentance" (Levy iv. 156) as in the 'Comment on Cant. v. 2 "It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh [saying], Open to me"; God says to Israel "My children, open to me a door of repentance, even though it be as small as the point of a needle, 208 (Ode vii. 14—18) 'hem ho. they „ my J, T^^JT ^f""™ a " d ^^ 'he door of repentance, and ,„a "2?""^'' The d °°r » SS'-m- '° any m — " "£ -y""™^ but there is no £'»• 24). It is a word which, in th form , ^ ' 3 ~' 4) 3nd Luk « Gesen. 865 a) gives as repente lly "ed bl T' I™™' (a " d see and f 0r OTfvis » narrow „ P A J used both for 6Xi+ K "tribulation," Dehusch) "through many Jul^kZ^ "** '" ACtS ™' " krngdom of God," and Luke (xiii 24 mt'^ 7 m " St enter j "'° 'he T*'?'' Wh ' Ch WOU,d a PP'y '0 a martfr?" "^ Ws prece P' wi '" 'hrough " the door of , r ib u £ ., * ™ > Ma " when " entering " would have the advantage „ Ti nc ^ £"««" the -aningofflul Matthew, •■a / /„„w, or J ud "* the difficult use of r,ex t ^ vr , ; n Tnes. fa,l to shew that the partic pT of 6X8 ™T * X °** in Ste Ph- e-ept ,n the sense of "conffned," "enl^/ USed /° mea " ""-row," narrow" when constraint is implied M at J "^ " Ut " ™Y mean here. But , he rea , mea p, ' ed ' Ma tthew may have taken it so t [3784/J Thirdly, W.H. Z uote d "„ "J? ^ * ™<"«<™ " M'- vii- .3 b (" broad is ,/,, ,^» ? w r T ^ ' } ' ° mhs " "- gate " in " we adopt bo< h these SJ^^^^^^S.^ Precept "enter through the narro™ b ^ Ma " hew hording \ statement that mentions nothing but ^1 T^ * * '^'^ «^At-por, unique here in N.T., is quite on^', gam ' Ma " h ew's w ord but » applicable .0 that which on 1 t ° fp ' aCeas a PP'^ to a "way," - ~~ door and nnc ,j\ zz;S r rT ^''^ comp. , Esdr . v . 47> ix J « h e en tenng ,„ of the ga(e „ roomy land (Judg. xviii. IO LjJ'Z ' S a PP_ ,led '° * wide and (P, f xxxi. 7 ~ 8 > "'hou hast known my sou. in J IT ^ *"" " Straits '" my fee, ,„ a wide-and-roomy-pial " but ° '" ™*'**«™"-thou hast set Hos. iv. 16). *Pnce, but espec.ally to pasture (Is. xxx. 23, •^£^^Z\?£^ thC J ° han "- P a -b.e of the out and find A^,- It is implied t haUh I"' *" sha »-SO''" and go " fold " and in the " pasture " b the 1 " al>Undant r ° 0m b °'h in the Not improbably theevange ist ha in ? ^ ^ ^"^ "^ d «or." Narrow Door" and "the'confined W 2™ ^ diSC " SSi ° nS ab ° Ut "'he Ongen g.ve fanciful explanations (for which T A,exandri a and ep.'he,s "narrow" and '^ ned i°^ ^^ «£)«£ A. L. 209 (Ode vii. 14— !g) M THE WAY TO GOD [3784] ,8. For from Him it was wrought and it hath rest in the Son, and, for the sake of its (or, His) redemption, He (i.e. the Son) will take {or, hold) everything soever. [3785] In this last verse there is an ambiguity, very frequent in Jewish literature, as to the meaning of the pro- noun to be supplied in an English rendering: R.H. ist ed. has " it was resting in the Son," but 2nd ed. " He was resting in the Son" (without note). H. has " He," but regards the verse as a Christian interpolation. If, however, we adopt " it," as referring to "light" (masc.) we may regard the verse as expressing the thought that Light proceeds from the Life that is in the Word, who was also the Son. And this doctrine, though not developed till the later Odes, may perhaps appear to underlie all of them, so that it may not be an "interpola- tion" In "its redemption "-if we adopt that rendenng- »its" is ambiguous. The phrase might mean "for the sake of its (i e. Light's) redeeming power" ; but it might also mean, anticipatorily, "for the sake of its (i.e. every thmg-soeverS) bang redeemed:' Taking "its" in the latter sense we may paraphrase thus:-*The Light [proceeding] from God was wrought [through the Word] and it [became human Light and] rests' in the Son. And He [the Son]Mvill takejvery- Gospel, and our Ode independently of that Gospel, assume that the Way is not narrow but broad. In doing this, they certainly d.ffer from Mat hew but only because Matthew himself, in this particular passage d ff from the whole tenor of Jewish metaphor, wh.ch could not fori to fnuTcnce Ch^s expression-less correctly represented, m th.s mstance, ^ rr ^VZ££ ^mguished from doctrine about the « m J Jy" hat are called and the "few" that are chosen. Our po.nt tWChrist would have agreed with the Psalmist m saymg that Gods that Chr st wo ^ * di broad) .. and that He would not have used "es^n 2 ribuS to H^latthew about the "narrow way, . 13785 a\ " Rests." Comp. jn i. 3* "it («>• the Holy Spirit) abode on • } a « From Letter to Spirit 711-15 on the tradit.ons of its Sn^ on F ;ZZ the note above (3775 ., on Si, xxiv. ; foil, describing the "rest" of the Spirit. 210 (Ode vu. 14—18) THE WAY TO GOD [3786] thing [into His power] 1 for the sake of redeeming it [from darkness] 2 ." But the last words may also mean "for the sake of His redeeming act." [3786] This exhibits the first important statement in the Odes about the Light'. It is also a preparation for a con- sistent doctrine about the Light as dawning from the Word 4 . 1 [3785*] "He [the Son]," or "it [the Light]." In view of what follows, "the Son" seems to make better sense. Otherwise we should have to regard "the Light" as personified actively in a manner not exemplified elsewhere in the Odes. 1 [3785 c] " Will take everything [into His power]." R.H. " Will take hold of everything," H. "wird er alles erhalten." Thes. 114 foil, indicates that, in the sense "take hold of" the verb is usually followed by a preposition, which is absent here. * [3785 d] " For the sake of redeeming it [from darkness]." Comp. Origen Comtn. foann. i. 22 (Lomm. i. 42) " Had not men been in darkness, He would not have become the Light of men," and (ib. 24, Lomm. i. 54—5) after saying that (Rom. viii. 21) the world is being delivered "from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God," he quotes the words " I am the light of the world." A " redemption " from darkness is also implied in 1 Pet. ii. 9 "ye are. ..a people for [God's] own possession. ..who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." 3 The preceding statements are v. 6 "they shall have no light to see," and vi. 16 "They gave. ..light for their eyes." 4 [3786 a] In the next mention of light (viii. 3), although there may be some doubt about the text (see 3803 d) it is certain that "fruit" and "light" are mentioned together. The next two (x. 1 — 7 "the Lord.. .hath opened my heart with His Light. ..and the footprints of the Light were set upon their heart") shew a connection of Light with a change of " heart" ; and the next one implies that the reception of God's Light makes us His possession (xi. 10 "the Lord purchased me by His Light"). These and other passages are all applicable to the "enlightenment (a>Tt" ^ our doctrine. ^ theSC SUb J ects wer * P^minent in Christ's * See Midr. on Ps. xxv. 10 (Wii. i. 22; ). 213 (Ode vil rg— 26) [3789] THE WAY TO GOD THE WAY TO GOD prints " here prepares the reader for the mention of the Lord's " holy ones." Of these the next verse makes mention — the first mention in the volume — " And the Most High shall be known in His holy ones, [so as] (3792) to bring [the good] tidings — [known, I say] to them that have [in their hearts] psalms that [tell] of the Coming of the Lord." Now the first Biblical mention of the phrase "in holiness" is in the Song at the Red Sea, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord... who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders'?" The phrase occurs again (in this sense according to Rashi and others) in the Psalm that describes a procession of thanksgiving : " The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring them again from the depths of the Sea.... They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, in holiness*. The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, in the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels." This Rashi explains " As if the Psalmist said, It is fit, O God, that thou shouldst save those who while they saw thy goings, in thy holiness, in t/te Sea, went before as singers, to sing before thee the Song of the Sea." So, on another passage, " Thy way, O God, is in holiness. ..The waters saw thee, O God...," Rashi says, " It is thy wonted course of action to hallow thy Name in the world so as to erectile sentence on the ufirigkteous . . .the many waters saw thee when thou didst reveal thyself at the [Red] Sea'." 1 Exod. xv. 1 1. 2 [3789 a] Ps. Ixviii. 24. Gesen. 871 b places this instance among those where the meaning is Zion, possibly assuming a procession in the Temple after the manner of the procession at the Red Sea. The Targum has "regnantis super universum orbem in sanctitate" (as Rashi). Ewald and Wellhausen also have "holiness'' R.V. has (txt) "into the sanctuary, (marg.) "in the sanctuary" or "in holiness." These variations, and questions as to the historical fact immediately referred to in the Psalm, do not affect the conclusion that the conception of the Procession as a whole is drawn from the Song at the Red Sea. J [3789 b] Ps. lxxvii. 13—19 (R.V. txt) "in the sanctuary," (marg.) "in holiness." Gesen. 871 b "in holiness." The only other instance of this phrase as possibly meaning "in holiness" (beside Exod. xv. 11, 214 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) I i [3791] detlnTs In Spite ° f Kve ^^^^^^ the h T T agCS may bC Safdy aCCe P ted " showing that the th ought of the Lords "goings," or "footprints," in the th U C ,V J- a " Ce ° f ISrad ' W ° Uld be C0 ""-ted with the thought of H,s " holiness," and with the response of - praises- due from the people to whom He said - Ye shall be holy, for the Lord your God am holy V The LXX renders "glorious >n holmess ,„ such a way as to allow the meaning " glorified among holy ones (or saints)*." It is not likelv rh a - 1 „,_„,.. . a ,, ' ll lsnot llk ely that our author would be mfluenced by Greek renderings of Hebrew Scripture He assumes that the Way of the Holy One, from the beg.nn.ng must a.ways call forth responsive praise from those whom He has made holy by the impress of His "goings" n nfl e,r Tt B , ut stm he can hard[ y fail t0 '-be influenced by the thought of the Song of Moses as com- memoratmg the creation of a "habitation" for God amid a regenerate nation of * Mj ones y So at ^ ^^ ^ others mterpret the opening words, rendering them - this is my God and Iw.ll prepare him a habitation^ Then follow the words ,„ the Song. "Who is like thee, glorious in holiness...?" thou hast guided them.. .to thy /^habitation." « the holy- place, O Lord, which thy hands have established"; and after these at no very great interval, the titles to be bestowed on israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," and the precept "ye shall be holy men unto me*." [3791] From the thought of "the Father of the aeons" -who reveals Himself through the framing of the aeons- passing, ,n the following extract, to the responsive song of the Lord s " holy ones," we shall find the transition more continuous invefcok forward I ajittle^what the poet says about the Ps. Ixviii. 24) is Ps. Ixviii. I7 (R .v. txt) "the LorTiT^TS^TfaM Sma, ,„ the sanctuary," ( marg .) « slnai r is] in the sanctu 4„ them [aS ^ Lev. xix. 2, comp. ib. xx. 7, & c . ' Exod. xv. „, LXX ,V rfy.W, Heb. "in holiness." Exod. xv. 2, on which s. Rashi. ' Exod. xv. 11, 13, 17, xix. 6,xxii. 31. 215 (Ode vii. 19—26) [3791] THE WAY TO GOD aeons of the Most High in the twelfth Ode, where he calls them " the interpreters of His beauty, and the repeaters of His glory, and the confessors of His design [of redemption] and the heralds of His thought." Such a conception of the aeons as being the " repeaters of God's glory," indicates, in our author's mind, a connection, which would not occur to others, between the procession of Israel at the Red Sea and the pro- cession of the aeons. Israel sings " the Song of Moses," the aeons sing that fuller form of it which was "the Song of the Lamb." [3792] 19. And the Most High shall be known in (? through) His holy-ones, [so as] to bring [the good] tidings (i.e. so that they may bring the good tidings to others) [He shall be known, I say,] — to them that have [in their hearts] psalms that [tell] of the Coming of the Lord ' 1 [3792 a] "Known. ..the Lord." Comp. Ps. lxvii. 2 "that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.'' How will the Lord make His way "known"? He will (ib. 1) "cause his face to shine upon'' Israel; and the nations, beholding this (says Rashi) will glorify God. Rut, further. He makes it known through the songs of praise uttered by His "saints" or "holy ones" (Ps. cxlv. 10—12) "thy holy-ones shall bless thee, they shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power, to make known to the sons of man his mighty acts." The construction in the Ode is obscured by brevity. But the meaning may be that, if God is to be known "in," i.e. through, His saints as agents for Him, He must first be known to them as recipients from Him. Receiving His Spirit they will find in their hearts spiritual son^s of praise ready to break forth into utterance. God was "known" " to" and "in," Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam, who had " Psalms of the Coming of the Lord," i.e. the "coming" to deliver Israel at the Red Sea. If "known in" means "known through? we may illustrate from Lightfoot's interpretation of Gal. i. 15—16 "When it pleased God. ..to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen." But this is doubtful. Jerome— probably following Origen whose commentary is lost, gives — as his first and fullest explanation, with a brief subsequent note of a second "possible" one— "'/»' quo vero ' revelatur,' illud • revelatur ' quod prius fuit ' in ' eo et postea l revelalum est'." According to that view, the image of the Son was in PauPs heart before his conversion, and all that was needed was that it should be uncovered— the veil on his heart being removed. This might suit the present passage. Those "in 216 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) THE WAY TO GOD [3792] 20. That they may go-forth to meet Him 1 , and may sing-psalms (or, make-psalms) to Him with joy, and with a harp of many voices'. whom " the Lord is to be " known, 1 ' are those who already have " psalms " ready to burst forth in anticipation of His Coming. 1 [3792 b] "To meet Him." This might seem to point to Mt. xxv. 1 " Went forth to meet the Bridegroom.'' But more probably it points to Exod. xix. 17 "And Moses brought forth the people. ..to meet God." On this, Mechilt. gives a tradition of R. Jose, that the Lord "came from Sinai to receive the Israelites as the Bridegroom who goes forth to meet the Bride'' The picture is of the Bride being brought to "meet" the Bridegroom and of the Bridegroom coming forth to "meet" her on the way. The same passage of Mechilta quotes Cant. ii. 14 "thy voice is lovely," and says, "That is, at the [Red] Sea (Exod. xv. 1) 'I will sing unto the Lord'." Amos iv. 12 "prepare to meet thy God" is paraphrased by the Targum as " adorn thyself [as a Bride] to receive the teaching of the Law of thy God." There is no other instance in Scripture (A.V.) of "meeting" God. In Numb, xxiii. 15 (of Balaam) "meet [the Lord] yonder," Rashi apparently takes "yonder" as "away from the Holy One," so that it means, in effect, "separating myself from God." The Exodus itself might be described as a "going-forth" .of Israel "to meet God," in view of Exod. v. 3 "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us ; let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilder- ness and sacrifice unto the Lord our God" i.e. God having come to "meet" us, let us go forth from Egypt to "meet" Him. This is probably the thought in the Ode, "go-forth" from the darkness and bondage of Egypt to "meet" the Lord at Sinai (not merely "go-forth" from the Red Sea) "and," on their way, "sing-psalms to Him with joy." 2 [3792 c] "A harp of many voices." The poet has in view a Pro- cession of Thanksgiving, not of Israel after the flesh, but of the spiritual Israel, a Jubilate such as is suggested by the 100th Psalm which is entitled A Psalm of Thanksgiving (or, Confession [of thanks due]) and begins "Rejoice-loudly to the Lord, all the earth I" But how are the nations of "all the earth" to "rejoice-loudly to the Lord," without a Babel of sound — caused (says the Scripture) when men began to build Babel — of which Josephus says (Ant. i. 4. 3) "God made them to be of different tongues and unable to understand one another by reason of their-many-voices (-rroXvifraivias)" ? Our author perhaps anticipates, as it were, a rescinding of the Confusion of Tongues. Since writing as above, I have found the same thought in an early fragment attributed to Hippolytus on the Psalms (T. & T. Clark, i. 504, on which see Diet. Christ. Biogr. iii. 103) "And he (i.e. David) then formed choirs of men, selected from the rest. And he fixed their number at seventy-two, having respect, I think, to the number of the tongues that 217 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) [3792] THE WAY TO GOD 21. There shall come before Him " the seers " and they shall be seen before Him'. 22. And they shall glorify the Lord in [respect of] His great- love', because He is near and seeth*. were confused, or rather divided, at the time of the building of the tower. And what was typified by this, but that hereafter all tongues shall again unite in one common confession, when the Word takes possession of the whole world ?" Comp. Clem. Alex. 850 dvfuafia...t'ic jtoXXwv yXaxraav . . . [3792 d] It is not likely that the poet is alluding to (Ps. xxxiii. 2, &c.) " an instrument of ten strings." It is true that that is capable of mystical interpretations (see Numb. r. on Numb. viii. 6, Wii. p. 400, and Tehill. on Ps. xcii. 3) and that it is mentioned in the same context as "a new song" — which in Revelation is used to mean the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamt> — in Ps. xxxiii. 2 — 3, cxliv. 9. But the Syr. there has (Thes. 2164) "strings" and not "voices"; and the conception of one harp with many "voices" — i.e. representing many moods and utterances of the harper — is much wider and loftier, and more characteristic of the Odes as a whole. 1 [3792 e] "'The seers'.. .shall be seen." See 3783. Those to whom it has been (Ode vii. 14) granted to " see" the Redeemer are now called "the seers," that is, "the seers of God," or, "Israel." They "see" because they "are seen." And they " are seen " because they " see." Among the final promises in Revelation is (xxii. 4) " They shall see his face." One way of explaining Exod. xx. 18 "they saw the thunderings" was (Pesikt. Wii. pp. 67, 138) to quote Is. xxxv. 5 "the eyes of the blind shall be opened," i.e. the Giving of the Law caused Israel to be a nation of spiritual "seers." Similarly Mechilta ad loo, though that does not quote Isaiah. 2 [3792/] "In [respect of] (i.e. for) His great-love." H. "in seiner Liebe," R.H. "for His love." Comp. Ps. cl. 2 "Praise him/j) " in the morning watch the Lord looked-down (3731/) on the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud." "Near" implies "near 218 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) THE WAY TO GOD [3792] I 23. And hatred 1 shall be thrown'- 1 from the earth, and together- with envy shall it be drowned (or, sunk)'. 24. For destruction-hath-befallen ignorance (lit. not-knowledge) because there hath come the knowledge of the Lord*. at hand to help the persecuted." " Seeth," above, implied that Israel "sees" God and "is seen by God"; but here it implies "seeing the persecution — i.e. the persecutors as well as the persecuted," as in Ps. xciv. 1 — 10 "Lord, thou God to whom vengeance belongeth...how long shall the wicked triumph?.. .they say, The Lord will not see... Consider, ye brutish among the people... He that formed the eye, shall not he see}" This prepares the way for "hatred shall be... drowned," like the Egyptians in the Sea. H.'s Index gives " Nahestehenden " (xxxvi. 6) but not " nahe." 1 [3792 h] "Hatred." On Egypt as "hating" Israel comp. Ps. cvi. 10 (and Ps. cv. 25 where Syr. and Targ. have "their heart turned to hate his people"). H.'s Index gives "Hass" only here ; but comp. xxviii. 10 "hated." • [3792 /'] "Thrown." The active is used in Exod. xv. 1 (Syr.) "The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Mechilt. ad loo dis- cusses the difference between " thrown into the sea" and (ib. 4) " cast into the sea." Our poet may imply that they are rejected "from the earth," as too vile to remain on it. Targ. Jer. I. (and sim. Jer. II.) on Exod. xv. 12 says "The sea spake to the earth [concerning the dead Egyptians] ' Receive thy children,' but the earth spake to the sea, ' Receive thy •murderers'." Thus the corpses remained on the shore, in neither element, till the Lord stretched forth His hand and at His bidding "the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them." s [3792 j] " Drowned (or, sunk)." The Syr. here is identical with the Syr. (also in Heb. and Onk., Jer. simil.) in Exod. xv. 4 "His chosen captains are sunt (A.V. drowned)" ; R.H. "drowned," H. "versenkt" (H.'s Index does not give "versenken," but the Syr. recurs in xxiv. 5 (3999 (ii) 8)). "Drowned" has the advantage of connecting the passage at once (in the minds of the readers of A.V.) with the Egyptians. But the word means (Gesen. 371 b) "sink," used of Jeremiah in the mire, or the stone in Goliath's forehead, or the deep-sunk foundations of the earth. 4 [3792 k] "The knowledge of the Lord." Comp. Is. xi. 9 "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea " — after which follows a prophecy about " the root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign of the peoples." This prophecy about "the knowledge of the Lord" seems to be here alluded to. The poet says that " not-knowledge " is not to be destroyed except with substitution. "Knowledge" must be substituted for "not-knowledge." "Not-knowledge" belongs to (Ps. xiv. 1) "the fool," to (ib. 4) "the workers of iniquity," who "eat up the people of the Lord " as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. 219 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) [3792] THE WAY TO GOD 25. Those shall make-psalms who make-psalms-about the grace 1 of ihe Lord Most High. 26. And they shall bring-as-an-offering* theit psalmody, and like " Knowledge" is to submerge all this and take its place. How can waters "cover the sea"? Various Jewish explanations were given. "The sea" might mean "the bottom," "the bare places," hence "the sins of Israel" {Tehill. Wii. vol. i. 16, and Cant. Wii. p. 20). But R. Isaac said (Baba B. 74/*) that "the sea" meant "the Monarch of the Sea," i.e. Rahab. Now Rahab means Egypt, the symbol of ignorant selfishness, greediness, and oppression. Destruction will not befall this "not-know- ledge," Egypt, till the real knowledge of the Lord comes in like a flood and submerges it. 1 " Grace." So R.H. ; H. " Giite," s. 3722 d. * [3792 l\ " Bring-as-an-offering." Lit. " bring-near." Thes. 3722—3 gives "offer sacrifice" as the second meaning and "celebrate liturgy" as the third. The second includes "offering" gifts, tribute, exhortation, counsel, &c. When used with any noun that can imply "sacrifice," the verb must be taken to mean "bring-as-an-offering." Comp. Ps. 1. 23 "Whoso offereth-the-sacrifice-of (lit- sacrificed) thanksgiving...:' On Ps. 1. 5. " Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice? the Targ. says " Gather me my saints who have covenanted my covenant, and confirmed my law, and given themselves /„ prayer, which is like an offering." The Midr. on Ps. c. 4 "thanks- giving" says (Wii. ii. 99) "All offerings cease in the future, but 'thanks- giving' never," and '"Thanksgivings' correspond to [public] prayer and correspond to [public] offering." During the exile, it would be natural that this view should become predominant, and it is apparent in many of the psalms. [3792;;;] H. has "darbringen" here (R.H. "bring") and does not include it in the Index, which gives simply " Opfer xx. I, 3, in vii. 12 steht es wohl irrtiimlich." Having discussed vii. 12 above, we may note xx ,__. 3 "Priest of the Lord am I, and to Him I act as priest, and to Him I offer the offering (H. " bringe...dar das Opfer") of His Purpose (ie the Purpose of Redemption)...^) The offering of the Lord is righteousness and purity of heart and lips." There is no d 1S crepancy between that passage and the present one, " bring-as-an-offering their psalmody." In both it is assumed that a heartfelt eucharisha is the real sacrifice But in this Ode of Joy and Triumph, the eucharist of the heart is expressed in words of gratitude taking the form of " psalmody " ; in the Ode of the Priesthood, it is expressed in actions of gratitude taking the form of righteousness and purity. [3792 «] Levy iv. 370 a gives the N. Heb. " Drawer-near," as meaning " Hymnenredner und Poet," and especially, "derjenige, der im Achtzehn- 220 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) THE WAY TO GOD [3792] ■\ the day 1 shall be their heart and like the greatness of the beauty* of the Lord [shall be] their sweetness [of song] *. Gebete mehrere Hymnen u. dgl. einschaltet." This, and Levy iv. 368 b on the four senses of the "drawing near" in propitiatory sacrifice or prayer, may throw light on the modifications probably undergone by the Christian Eucharist at a very early date. 1 [3792 o] " Like the day." In what respect? Apparently, "in bright- ness," as in Ps. exxxix. 12 "the night, like the day, is light." Brightness would imply joy. But there may also be a thought of the metaphor in 1 Thess. v. 2 — 5 "The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night... But ye, brethren, are not in darkness. ..ye are all sons of light and sons of the day.' 1 In the light of the "day," when the Israelites looked back on the Sea, they felt that they had at last passed out of the oppression of the "darkness" of Egypt, and had become " sons of the day" and their "hearts" were "like the day" not only for joy but also for illumination. They had been (1 Cor. x. 2) "baptized" and "baptism" implied illumina- tion. It is noteworthy that 1 Cor. iii. 13 "each man's work shall be made manifest ; for the day shall make-clear (SijAuo-h), because it is revealed in fire," is not illustrated by Hor. Heb. and Schottgen as to the absolute use of " the day " by any quotation from Hebrew or from Jewish tradition (nor by Wetst. who simply says "dies diem docet,"? from Ps. xix. 2). Nor does Levy give any instance of u the day" as meaning "the day of judg- ment." But Levy ii. 227 — 8 gives abundant instances (New Heb. and Aram.) of "day" meaning "sun,'' and I Cor. iii. 13 R.V. marg. refers to " day " in Mai. iii. 17 (R.V. txt) " in the day that I do make" subsequently mentioned thus (it. iv. 1 — 3) "the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace... but unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. ..and ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do make..." On this, Rashi says, " That 'day' signifies ' the sun.' For the Wise said, It is not Gehenna that is to come (non est gehenna futura) ; but the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring forth the sun. ..and the wicked will be judged by it, but the righteous will be healed." This implies a double action of the sun, as upon wax and clay, which may be illustrated, as to the former, by Ps. lxviii. 1 — 2 " Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered.... As wax- melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." This gives a fuller meaning to the Pauline words, " The day shall make-clear." They mean, not a particular day, but "the day," or "the sunlight," as distinct from "the night," or "the darkness" — it being assumed that we are, at present, comparatively, in "the night" (comp. Rom. xiii. 12 " the night is far spent, ihe day is at hand"). Hence they might be paraphrased as meaning " The Sun of Righteousness shall make- 221 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) [3792] THE WAY TO GOD clear, when it arises to reveal and illuminate that which is good and true, and to destroy that which is evil and false.'' In an Ode so filled as this is with allusions to the Passage of the Red Sea, we may reasonably suppose that the poet is alluding to Exod. xiv. 24 "In the morning watch. ..the Lord looked down upon the host of the Egyptians," where Mcchilta, after accumulating instances of prayer answered "in the morning? gives "another explanation," namely, "it was at the shining forth of the sun." This appears to be the poet's thought : " In the moment when the faces of the Israelites felt the rising sun which brought deliverance to them and destruction to their oppressors, their hearts, as well as their faces, were illuminated, and became ' like the day.' And so shall it be in the deliverance that is yet to come." Comp. 3865 a. The Poet's conception of "beauty" 2 [3792/] "The greatness of the beauty." R.H. has "the excellent beauty." H. has, for the whole phrase, both here and elsewhere, " Herr- lichkeit" (or, in xxix. 3, "Majestat"). A question arises here as to the precise meaning attached to the Lord's " beauty," which, when denoted by a Hebrew word, has been shewn (3652) to occupy a central position in the Kabbalistic Tree of the divine attributes. Also, what is the precise difference between the Lord's (1) "beauty" and (2) "greatness of beauty" — both being used in the Odes? It will be best to consider them separately. (1) "Beauty" is used concerning the Lord in Ode xii. 4 "The Most High has given it to His aeons, which are the interpreters of the beauty that [appertains] to Him," xvi. 6—7 " His Spirit will speak in me the glorifying of the Lord and His beauty? and ib. 18 "The change from the one to the other (i.e. from the night to the day and from the day to the night) fills up (i.e. if the text is correct, makes up, or completes, because the one without the other would not suffice to represent) the beauty of the Lord." (The conj. of R.H., "speak" for "fill up" seems prob. See Thes. 21 18, where a somewhat similar conj. is rejected, but the Syr. "fill up" is not quite equiv. to "complete"). In these passages, the contextual mention of "aeons," and of the " sea" the "stars" and the "sun"(xvi. 11 — 16) along with "day" and "night," indicates that the poet is thinking mainly of God as (Ps. civ. 2) "clothed" in His own beautiful inanimate handiwork, beholding which, we call it " His beauty." This view . is confirmed by Sir. xlii. 16— xliii. 32, which repeatedly mentions the " beauty " of the inanimate creation and supplies a comment on the notion of the "completing" of "day" by "night" in the words (ib. xlii. 24) "All things arc double, one against another; and He hath made nothing imperfect." (2) " Greatness 0/ beauty " occurs (besides vii. 26) in xv. 7 " According to the greatness of His beauty hath He made me," where H. has, as above, 222 (Ode vii. 19 — 26) THE WAY TO GOD [3792] i (for the whole phrase) " Herrlichkeit " ; xviii. 19 " Praise and (lit.) the greatness of beauty [be] to His name," R.H. "great comeliness," H. " Herrlichkeit" ; xxix. 2 — 3 " according to His glorifying He made me... and according to the greatness of His beauty He set me on high," RH. "excellent beauty," H. "Majestat" (which occurs in H.'s Index only under the heading "s. Herrlichkeit"). In these passages the context indicates that "the greatness of the beauty of the Lord " is not manifested through inanimate but through animate and human creatures whom He redeems. Ode vii. 26 refers to the redemption at the Red Sea, xv. 7 to the creation of Man ; xviii. 19 is the conclusion of an Ode describing the triumph of the light of truth over the darkness of error ; xxix. 3 refers to the exaltation of man, typified by Moses. This distinction may be illustrated from Ben Sira who first (xlii. 15 — xliii. 31) praises God for His inanimate works, in all their " beauty," and then prepares us for something more (xliii. 32 — xliv. 2). "There are yet hid greater things than these, for we have seen but a few of His works. For the Lord hath made all things and to the godly hath He given wisdom. Let us now praise famous men...." [3792 0] Returning to " the greatness of His beauty" in the Ode under discussion, we have first to ask whether the phrase occurs in Scripture. The Ode describes the Procession of Song after the passage of the Red Sea, and, in the Psalm describing that Procession of Song, occurs the exact Syriac phrase that we arc seeking, Ps. lxviii. 34 ("Syr.) "Give praise to God and to Israel [? there is] the greatness of beauty for his strength is in the heaven of heavens," LXX hint ho^av ra 6iq, «Vi ro» 'ltrparjX rj fityaXnnpfirtia avrou, kqi fj dvfafitt avrov (V Ttiit Pcdx'Xatf, Targ. " Give the glory of strength to God who is over Israel ; His excellence (celsitudo) and strength [are] in the heavens," Heb. (lit. and unpunctuated) "Give strength to God over Israel his excellence (celsitudo) and his strength in the clouds." The Vulgate has, for the first clause, " Date gloriam Deo super Israel," and two explanations of this are given by Jerome, (1) " Glorify God rather than Israel after the flesh," (2) " Glorify God, not with the lips, like Israel, but with the heart." These facts lead us to ask what is the relation between the Hebrew "excellence (celsitudo)" and the Syriac "greatness of beauty," and also, in Ps. lxviii. 34, what share in the " excellence " belongs to Israel and what to the Lord. Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 26 — 9 where it is said to Israel concerning the Lord, " He is the sword of thy excellency," and " He rideth upon the heaven for thy help and in his excellency on the skies." In Hebrew occasionally (Gesen. 144) and still more often in Syriac (Thes. 629) "excellency," meaning literally " being lifted up," is used in a bad sense, e.g. " pride," " boasting," " self-magnifying." Probably the Heb. Psalmist used it with allusion to the verb repeated in the Song of Moses (Exod. xv. 1) Heb. lit. " In exalting he hath been exalted," LXX ivSA£a>c St b6$arf"-meaning (as Onkelos) proud above the proud, tyrannous above the tyrannous (comp. Is. ii. 12-18 "upon all that is proud," and l's. xviii. 26 "with the perverse thou wilt shew thyself froward "). From these facts we perceive that Jewish poets had a difficult task before them when they tried to explain the nature of the God extolled in the Song of Moses as " a Man of War " and as (so it might be interpreted) — " Proud above the Proud." In reality the Song spoke the truth, but it was crudely, or rather we should say, passionately and unguardedly ex- pressed, so as to give Gentiles the impression, "This Jewish Jehovah is a God whom they adore as the Supreme Force." In addition to this difficulty, was another, for a Syrian or Aramaic poet-that of language, as above described. . [3792 ?,] H ow was a J ewish poet to express his belief in the truth embodied (3652) in the Kabbalistic Tree, that the controlling Power of the universe, the Centre of the divine Tree, is "Beauty"? The Hebrew word there used for Beauty is the one employed for the first time in describing the clothing of the High Priest (Exod. xxviii. 2, comp. ib. 40) "for glory and for beauty " It is also applied to ornaments of the Temple (2 Chr. 111. 6). Rashi comments, in an instructive manner, on the word as used in 1 Chr. xxix 1 1 " Thine O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the beauty (R V and A V. glory)...." David, he says, thanks God for (1) the great riches accumulated for the Temple, (2) the^^r to suppress enemies and build the Temple in peace, (3) the riches collected "for the building of the Sanctuary which is called beauty (s. Breithaupt's note), as it is written (Is lx 13) ' for the beauty of the place of my sanctuary,' also it is written above'(Deut. xxvi. 19) ' for a praise, and for a name, and for (lit.) beauty.'" Th.s is instructive because it shews the danger that devout Jews might concentrate their conceptions of "beauty" wholly on the visible Temple. Against this, Isaiah (xxviii. ., 4, 5) had warned his countrymen in his contrast between Ephraim's "fading flower of glorious beauty and the Lord o Host , who would be for a "chap.et (3656) of beauty" to Israel. Bu that "he warning needed to be repeated clearly and forcibly ,n the first century is attested by our Lord's utterance of contrast between the stones of the Temple that were "not to be left one upon another" and the "words" that were "not to pass away." 224 (Ode vii. 19—26) THE WAY TO GOD [3792] [3792 y 2 ] Mention has been made of the verbal difficulties in the way of passing from Hebrew to Syriac in traditions about " beauty." An extreme instance is in the above-quoted 1 Chr. xxix. 1 1, where the Syr. apparently renders the Heb. " beauty " (tifih'ereth) by the word used in the present Ode, but adds another attribute, and expresses "head over all" by "sapientia, robur, et scientia." But in the Odes there is no sign of confusion. The poet apparently distinguishes between "Beauty" — dis- cernible in the material creation — and " Greatness of Beauty" or " Lord- ship of Beauty," which is manifested in the spiritual creation. He would apparently assent to the saying of Keats " Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty." But he would not assent without qualification. Nor would he assent to the next words — "That is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know." He would say, 1st, "Beauty, in its highest form, is moral or spiritual Beauty," 2nd, " We need to know, and to know on earth, that Beauty, in its highest form, the Greatness, Lordship, or Supremacy of Beauty, is not only Truth, but also that Supreme Truth which dominates the Universe." These considerations perhaps explain H.'s use of " Herrlichkeit" and "Majestat" to render the poet's "Greatness of Beauty." 3 [3792 r] "Their sweetness-of-song." In Heb. the corresponding adj. is used (Gesen. 653) of singing praises to Jehovah, Ps. exxxv. 3, cxlvii. I. The meaning seems to be that the sweetness of the song of Israel's thanksgiving — though on a lower scale — is to correspond to the supreme Beauty of the Lord's Redemptive Power. The Midrash on Ps. xxxiii. I quotes Cant. iv. 11 "Honeycomb do thy lips drop, O Bride," and describes the Lord as saying to Israel "I love to hear thy voice" and (Cant. ii. 14) "Sweet is thy voice." It adds that "all rejoice," unrighteous and righteous, but the unrighteous not till they have been chastised. Also it distinguishes the mere rejoicing to the Lord from rejoicing in the Lord, which was accomplished in the moment when (Exod. xiv. 31) "Israel saw the great HAND" and straightway began to rejoice (ib. xv. 1) "Then (i.e. at that moment) sang Moses." It concludes by saying that although "everything rejoices (alles jubelt) before Him," yet the rejoicing of the righteous is "before Him [especially] pleasant." [3792 s] Philo prepares the way for the thought of a new Song — superior in beauty to that of Moses which he regards as the Song of the Destruction of Passion. Superior, he declares (i. 694), is the Song of the Finding of Wisdom (Numb. xxi. 17) when "all the people will sing, not in a single part of music (ou ko6' iv fUpot fiov6) "Thanks be to God, who .s always leading lls in «numph...and making manifest, through us, the savour of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God in Them that are being saved and in them that are perishing; to the one 'a savour from death unto death; to the other, a savour from life l.o life" It is only fair to the Apostle to add his next words, And "ho is sufficient for these things?"-which will be endorsed by those who though feeling themselves to be not "sufficient," nevertheless LlSve thai the Apostle is leading us to feel our way to a truth that lies beneath "these things." Comp. Ode xxiv. 6 "They were corrupt from 226 (Ode vii. 27—9) THE WAY TO GOD [3793] But the expression "give a mouth " is perhaps only to be paralleled by the Lucan tradition " I will give you a mouth" which, up to this time (I believe) has never been paralleled '- In the Odes, however, the thought occurs later on as though our poet were familiar with it. " And He hath multiplied His Knowledge in me, because the mouth of the Lord is the true Word, and the door of His light. And the Most High hath given it to His aeons'...." 27. And there shall not be any soul soever that shall be either devoid of knowledge or dumb'. the beginning, and the end of their corruption was life," where the author seems to find no difficulty in the thought of the Deluge as foreordained from the beginning, but rather to exult in it as the preparation for a new life. 1 See Son 3623 a "Luke's phrase. ..has not been paralleled from Hebrew or from Greek by Wetstein, Schottgen or Hor. Heb." See below, however (3793 b, c), for some traditions about God's "creating a mouth." 8 Ode xii. 3 — 4. 3 [3793 b] "Any soul. ..dumb." The first Biblical use of "dumb" is in the Lord's first revelation to Moses, Exod. iv. 11 — 12 "Who hath made man's mouth ? Or who maketh dumb...? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth." How natural it would be to allude to Moses as the type of a prophet inarticulate by nature, but filled with the power of speech by the Spirit, is seen from Wisd. x. 18 — 21 "She (i.e. Wisdom) brought them through the Red Sea... Therefore the righteous. ..praised thy holy Name, O Lord. ..For Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb..." where the marg. refers to Exod. xv. 1 ("then sang Moses and the children of Israel"), ib. iv. 10 (" I am slow of speech") and ;'*. xiv. 10—14 ("cried out unto the Lord"). H. does not give " stumm" in his Index, but comp. 3803/ for the thought of the Lord as "opening" man's "mouth." R.H. instead of "any soul soever" has "any thing that breathes." But H. has "irgend eine Seele." And Thes. 2430—1 indicates that the Syr. verb corresponding to nephesh is not used for "breathe" except in Ethpe. (which is not used here) and that the noun is rarely or never used so as decidedly to mean "breath" (as distinct from "soul") except in Job xli. 21 (12) about the "breath" of the crocodile, where Syr. merely follows Heb. and LXX tyvxi), as also does Targ., but Gesen. 661 * favours a reference to "fury" rather than "breath." Thes. 2430 also quotes Prov. xxiii. 2 " a man given to appetite " where Syr. part. pass, of nphsh is used— apparently to mean " sensual (gulosus)." Besides, if the 227 (Ode vii. 27 — 9) 15 — 2 [3793] THE WAY TO GOD 28. For a mouth hath He given to His creation 1 , to open the poet had meant "everything that hath breath," would he not have followed I's. cl. 6 "let every [thing that hath] breath praise the Lord," where Heb. has n'shdmAh and Syr. and Targ. have similar forms? The meaning of the poet appears to be "anything that is of the nature of a soul," meaning "soul" in the N.T. sense, as something more than "breath" and suggestive of human life. 1 [3793 c] "A mouth hath He given to His creation." This seems, at first, to be complete without the following words "to open the voice of the mouth toward Him." But perhaps the meaning is that there is one " Mouth" given, or appointed (Thes. 1565 " constituit") to be the Con- ductor, so to speak, of the concert arising from the mouths of all created things. Comp. Ode a. i "the Lord hath directed my mouth with His Word" with ib. xii. 2 — 3 "truth flows from my mouth.. .because the mouth of the Lord is the True Word" — and it will be seen that maris "mouth'" is directed by God's "mouth." This is also implied in the question {ib. xxvi. 10) "Who can [so] rest on the Most High that with His mouth he may speak?" And it is definitely expressed later on in a metaphor describing man as turning toward God, mouth to mouth, like {ib. xxviii. 1 — 2) the "mouths" of "nestlings" turned toward the "mouths" of the "doves" that feed them. That the notion of feeding may be included in an ampler notion of dependence or correspondence is seen from Deut. viii. 3 as quoted in the narrative of the Temptation by Matthew (iv. 4 "the mouth of God"). Comp. Aboth. v. 9 as to God's having "made" this or that miraculous "mouth" from the beginning, e.g. the mouth of Balaam's ass, " the mouth of the earth " that swallowed up the rebels (Numb. xvi. 30) &c. But a far nobler mysticism is suggested by a comment on Ps. cxix. 130 "the opening of thy words giveth light" (s. Rashi). "Opening? in Hebrew, may mean "door," but it may also mean "beginning" and hence the paraphrase, "the Beginning of thy Words was let there be light." This resembles the saying in the Odes (xii. 3) "The mouth of the Lord is the True Word, and the door of His light." [3793 d] Of these two aspects of "the mouth," the human and the divine, the author of the Odes for the most part dwells on the former. And here his mind often turns to Moses, as the type of the Messiah. The most conspicuous instance perhaps is Ode xxxi. 3 — 5 " He opened his {or. His) mouth. ..and he {or, He) spake a new song of praise. ..and he (or. He) lifted-on-high his {or, His) voice to the Most High, and offered to Him the sons that were with him {or, Him). And his {or, His) face was justified." Assuming that the "justification" of the "face" means its " illumination" (Exod. xxxiv. 29, Mk ix. 2 and parall.) some might argue that the poet was thinking of Christ's Transfiguration. But where in the Gospels, or in what early Christian writing, can we find Jesus singing a 228 (Ode vii. 27 — 9) THE WAY TO GOD [3793] i ',' voice of the mouth toward Him, to His glorifying (i.e. to glorify Him in praise). 29. Acknowledge-with-praise (2nd pers. pi.) 1 His power and shew-forth His grace'. Hallelujah. "song of praise," and "offering" to the Lord "the sons that were with Him," as we find Moses doing, in effect, at the Red Sea and afterwards at Sinai? Nowhere in the Synoptists, except in the single Greek word vpvfaavTts, preserved by Mark (xiv. 26) and Matthew (xxvi. 30), rejected by Luke (xxii. 39), and apparently misunderstood {Notes 2902—7) by Justin Martyr. Perhaps the earliest writing that records a Song of Jesus is the Acts 0/ John (§ 11)— though there is an approach to it in the Johannine Last Prayer of Jesus (Jn xvii. 1—26) which is virtually a Song. The truth is, that our poet, though spiritually and doctrinally agreeing with traditions that underlie the Synoptic Gospels, yet picturesquely and poetically follows such noble types of the Messiah as he discerned in the history of Israel. Another instance of allusion to Moses— as the type of the Messiah offering up song— occurs probably in Ode xxxvi. 6 " I became one of His neighbours (i.e. those drawing near to God, the angels in God's presence on Mount Horeb) and my mouth was opened like a cloud of dew" (comp. Deut. xxxii. 2 "my speech shall distil as the dew") (see also note on Ode viii. 5 "your mouth hath been opened"> But in the last Ode of all (xlii. 6) "And I rose up, and am with them, and I will speak by their mouths," the words appear to concentrate the reader's thoughts on Christ alone. 1 [3793<-]"Acknowledge-with-praise." R.H." confess," H."verkundet." The Syr. is the same as in Ps. lxxxix. 5 (R.V.) "the heavens shall praise thy wonders," and the Syr. there is the same as the Heb. and the Targum. Gesen. 392 gives the meaning as almost always "give thanks, laud, praise" ("confess" only in 1 K. viii. (bis) parall. 2 Chr. vi. (bis) "confess (God)," Ps. xxxii. 5 "confess transgressions" and Prov. xxviii. 13 "confess and forsake transgressions"). The Heb. noun (Gesen. 392) regularly means "thanksgiving." The instances given in Thes. 1550 appear to restrict the meaning to (1) "confess," "acknowledge" including "profess" as in Mt. vii. 23 (where however the sense demands "avow" and Syr. Curet. has "say"); (2) "thank"; (3) "praise." The word recurs in Ode x. 7 "they acknowledged-me-with-praise," and Ode xxi. 6 "praising Him and acknowledging-Him-with-praisc." In both passages H. has a form of " verkiinden." That word is appropriate in Ode ix. 6 "I proclaim (verkiindige) to you peace," but there the Syr. is different, being the equivalent of fioyy«Xifo/uii. [3793/] "Acknowledge-with-praise" is not the same as "praise." It is a kind of confession that God was mysteriously right after all, and that one's own judgment, or expectation, fell beneath the level of His 229 (Ode vii. 27 — 9) [3794] THE WAY TO GOD § IO. Inferences from this Ode [3794] This long and difficult Ode, important in itself as throwing light on the poet's conception of the Way of the Lord, is still more important as illustrating his thought and style in general, his habit of abrupt transition, from picture to picture, sketched in the shortest possible allusions, and often compressing too closely spiritual images that claim separate attention. But it is perhaps most important of all for the evidence that it affords of the profound impression produced on Jewish literature, and on early Christian literature, by the Song of Moses concerning the Passage of the Red Sea. Our study of this Ode, laborious even to tediousness in the examina- tion of phrase by phrase, and sometimes even word by word, will not have been wasted if it prepares us for finding many allusions to that great crisis in Israel's history, in the Odes that follow, and perhaps even in the last Ode of all, which, to a Christian eye, conveys at first the impression of being a non-Jewish description of Christ's descent to Hades. [3795] Trying, then, to put aside the many minor side- wise goodness— somewhat as in Mt. xi. 25, Lk. x. 21 "I acknowledge unto thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." 2 [3793(,'] The first instance of the second person plural in the Odes was at the end of the third Ode, "Be ye wise." The seventh Ode ends similarly with an exhortation to the redeemed to acknowledge their Redeemer with praise. The next Ode begins in the same spirit (viii. 1) "Open ye, open ye your hearts," and continues for some time in the second person, as also does the following one (ix. 1) "Open ye your ears." After that, the second person is dropped (with the exception of the 13th Ode "Open ye your eyes, &c") until the 23rd Ode. In xx. 4 R.H. has "present your reins. ..let not thy heart," but H. "thy" in both cases, which the Syr. requires. Probably all the changes of person in the Odes might be paralleled by changes of person in the Biblical Psalms, where many passages suggest that the Psalmist composed the words, as for a sacred Drama or Oratorio on a small scale— to be sung by various singers representing (1) the Lord ) (2) Israel as a Person, (3) Israel represented by Abraham, Moses, David &c, (4) Israel as the Congregation at large. 230 (Ode viL 1 — 29) THE WAY TO GOD [3795] , issues of interest touched on in this Ode, we may draw from it three important inferences bearing on the Odes that follow. The first is, that in all Hebrew and Jewish poets, but in our poet more perhaps than any in the Bible, we must be prepared to find allusions' to an extent not to be paralleled in Greek, Latin, or English literature. Naturally. What nation had such a history told in such a Book ? What was even Homer — regarded as a national history — to the Bible? Or, if it be said that the Bible is not a book but a library, still we ask, what was even Homer — from a national point of view — compared with the Pentateuch ? The second is, that the Jews regarded the Passage of the Red Sea, and its sequel at Sinai, as a kind of baptism, regeneration, or new birth of the Nation, so that Israel thereby passed out of the darkness of slavery in Egypt into the Light of freedom, and out of a land in which beasts were popularly recognised as gods, into the Presence of the One 1 [3795a] For example, in Ps. xxxiii. 7, "he gathered the waters of the sea together as an heap" appears, at first sight, to refer to the "gathering" of the waters in the Creation — especially in the light of the preceding words " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made" and the following words " He layeth up the deeps in storehouses." But "as an heap" applied to "waters" is used elsewhere only in Ps. Ixxviii. 13 " He clave the [Red] sea. ..and he made the waters to stand as an heap" and in Exod. xv. 8, Josh. iii. 13, 16 of the passage of Israel (1) through the Red Sea, (2) across the fordan. Then it becomes reasonable to see in Ps. xxxiii. 7 an allusion to the "heap" in Exod. xv. 8. Then, in the same Psalm (xxxiii. 12) "the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance" will claim fairly to be considered as an allusion to the first mention of God's "inheritance" in Exod. xv. 17 "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance." Then, further, in the same Psalm, the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh will appear with probability to be alluded to in the words (Ps. xxxiii. 17) "a horse is a vain thing for safety"; and (it. 16) "there is no king saved by the multitude of a host" will seem an allusion to Exod. xv. 4 " Pharaoh's chariot and his host hath he cast into the sea" — the word for "host" being the same in both passages, not used in the Bible (in this sense) till Exod. xiv. 4 rep. ib. 9, 17, 28, xv. 4, and there always of the Egyptian "host." 231 (Ode vii. 1 — 29) [3795] THE WAY TO GOD God, the Bridegroom, who met them in the Tent of Meeting; so that their hearts could not but go out to Him in songs of thanks, as says the Midrash on the Psalm that bids the righteous rejoice : — " Sing a new song to him. That is, to Him who hath created the New, since He left the heavens and caused His Holy-Presence to dwell on the earth, according as it is said (Exod. xxv. 8) Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in t/u midst of themK" Another conclusion is, that some Jewish poets and prophets, and this one in particular, regarded all the great events in the history of Israel, and most of all the Passage of the Red Sea and the Giving of the Law, as events in the history of the world, destined to affect all the sons of Adam, and foreordained when, or before, Adam was created'. [3796] Lastly, and this is perhaps the most important consideration of all, our poet follows precedent in the fulness — sometimes perhaps to be called the exuberance — of his thankfulness. The Jews were pre-eminently — some will say 1 [3795 d] Midr. on Ps. xxxiii. 3 (Wii. i. 261). Comp. Sota 9 a, where K. Chanina says, that we are to read, not "seemly," but "habitation'" (and so Onk. "build a sanctuary" in Exod. xv. 2 for "beautify," R.V. " praise ") referring to Moses, the builder of the Tabernacle, and to David, the (virtual) builder of the Temple, whose work (it is mystically maintained) would be concealed from their enemies so that they would have no power over them. 2 [3795 c] Mechilt., on Exod. xiv. 15, represents God as saying, about the (Gen. i. 9) "gathering" of the waters, " If I made the dry land appear for the first man, who was but one, should I not much more make dry land (Exod. xiv. 16, 21, 22, 29, xv. 19) for the community of the holy ones?" The same treatise, on Exod. xiv. 21 "the waters were divided (lit. split)" says that at that moment "all the waters in the universe were divided." Rashi, on Ps. xviii. 15 "the foundations of the world were laid bare," says similarly, after referring to the Red Sea, " For all the waters that were in the world were split asunder." These statements may be explained, in part, as an attempt to shew the world- wide import of this miracle; in part, as an expression of a belief that it was all foreordained, a portion of one vast, consistent, Plan of Re- demption. 232 (Ode vii. 1 — 29) ; I : THE WAY TO GOD [3796] egotistically — a thankful people. How could they well be otherwise, if they believed what they professed to believe ? Nor would it seem to make any difference — as to the theory of thanksgiving — whether a Jew was a Christian or not. Paul said "In everything give thanks"; but Philo too said, " Let us understand that one occupation alone is incumbent on us in our acts of honouring God, and let us practise this giving of thanks ever and everywhere, [unwritten thanks] by voice and [written thanks] in beautiful writings 1 ." Our poet, later on, says something very like this" But we need not suppose that he borrows it from Philo. At the beginning of the second century Epictetus used similar language, not improbably in- fluenced, in this respect, by Christian or Jewish, far more than by Stoic, doctrine 3 . The spirit is essentially that of the 1 [3796a] Philo i. 348 "is incumbent (fVi|8aXX«)," perh. "rightfully belongs to US," comp. id. i. 673 irakiv to tirtfiaWov aptTtjs iavra pipos tixaiav dvaKTaaBai. Stress is laid in the context on details, such as "with or without melody," "speaking" or "singing." But Philo has previously said : " It is not possible genuinely to offer-thanks (fi^api- in behalf of all, the hymn to God?" [3796 c] To this Epictetian language about "filling-up" there is some- thing that has a verbal resemblance in a Pauline warning, addressed to a person who is "giving thanks" fluently and lengthily in an unknown tongue. There is perhaps a touch of irony in calling the poor person condemned to listen an "idiot," "amateur," or " ordinary-person"- a word regularly used in New Hebrew and Aramaic to mean an in- significant or ignorant creature, a mere layman, and by Paul perhaps sarcastically contrasted with the learned expert who knows the " tongue." Then the Apostle indicates that this poor "idiot" ought at least to be allowed the chance of saying "Amen" (his only task) in the right place:— (1 Cor. xiv. 16—17) "How shall he that filleth-up (A v aw\np<-") the place (r,i™) of the ordinary-layman say the Amen after thy giving- of-thanks...for thou givest-thanks beautifully (koXSc). but the other is not edified." [3796 d] Paul, the Apostle, presupposes a synagogue in which so many wish to give thanks in their own name publicly that there is a danger that no one will be left to listen and say Amen. Ep.ctetus, the Lecturer, presupposes a temple in which no one wishes to discharge, or even sees that it is right to discharge, the duty of g.v.ng thanks. Possibly the Lecturer may be alluding to the language of the Apostle. This particular resemblance is not strong enough to prove borrowing (and Steph. Thes., under .'.•*,,>&., quoting Uiosc. Praef. «. x . V um,r .•«»X»po5rr„ ™ i\aiv naTTjp, 6 aytvvt)Tos 6f6s «ai to avpnavra yvvav ; He prefaces this by calling it TfX«ri}, and afterwards says ravra, & pvorai, KtnaOappivm ra Zira ait U pa ovrac fiixrrijpia ^ux a ' c raie iavrStv napaoi\ftjv\a£aTt. Here the change of nvarqpiov to piKtrfjiua corresponds to that above noted (3798 a) in Mt.-Lk. as compared with Mk ; and the addition of - /iiv &c. Abraham is nowhere called "righteous," but his faith was imputed to him (Gen. xv. 6) "for righteousness." 6 [3805 c] Wisd. x. 6. Presumably the epithet is assumed to apply to Lot because of Gen. xviii. 23 foil, "the righteous (6 binaios)," which is shewn, by the result, to prove that Lot was the one "righteous man" in Sodom. It should be noted that the writer passes over the sacrifice of Isaac— perhaps as being implied in Wisd. x. 5 "kept him (Abraham) strong against his tender compassion toward his son." 6 [3805 rf] Wisd. x. 10. Jacob is not called "righteous" in Genesis, nor is Joseph ; but it is prob. implied that they participate in the righteousness "imputed to" Abraham, as also does the nation of Israel. For "enriches," s. Gen. xxxi. 16. » Wisd. x. 13—14- • Wisd. x. 15. Comp. Is. xxvi. 2 "the righteous nation, which keepeth truth." 250 (Ode viii. 6 — 7) fc. brought them (i.e. the righteous) through the Red Sea... but drowned their enemies... Therefore the righteous spoiled the ungodly, and praised thy holy Name, O Lord, and magnified with one accord thine Hand 1 that fought for them. For Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb (i*. Moses and his people) and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent'." This instructively illustrates our author's habit (the habit of Philo, too, and of'a multitude of ancient authors) of alluding instead of naming. [3806] But all this does not explain "your righteousness hath been lifted up" — an expression differing from anything in Scripture, and more particularly from the saying in Proverbs that " righteousness lifteth up a nation'." Does it mean "your character for righteousness has been vindicated as if by a sign lifted up on high for all the world to behold " ? That would lay on "your" a stress inconsistent with the whole tone of the Odes, which all lead us to think, not of our own qualities, but of God's attributes, as causing them, so that we are "holy" in His "righteousness*." The Midrash on Proverbs, after assert- ing the righteousness of Abraham, David, and Moses, and after saying that it goes before souls in the hour of their de- parture to prepare the way for them, limits this promise to Israel*. But this is quite alien from our poet, whose belief 1 "Hand." Comp. Exod. xiv. 31 "And Israel saw the great hand," and so LXX. R.V. "the great work" with marg. " Heb. hand." * Wisd. x. 21, with marg. ref. to Exod. iv. 10, xiv. 10 — 14, preceded by a ref. to Exod. xv. 1 describing the outburst of song. 8 Prov. xiv. 34. 1 Comp. Ode xxv. 10 " I became holy in thy righteousness." * [3806 a] Midr. on Prov. xiv. 34. Rashi, after "Justitia exaltat gentem," adds " Israeliticam." The verse continues " But sin is a reproach to people[s]." But the word here supposed to mean "reproach" (chesed) occurs nowhere else in this sense except in Lev. xx. 17 of incest, as being a "reproach" or "abomination." Chesed means, more than 200 times, " kindness." Even in Lev., Jer. Targ. introduces a paraphrase about "kindness" along with the rendering "depravity." Hence we cannot be surprised that the Midr. on Proverbs takes chesed as meaning 251 (Ode viii. 6 — 7) [3806] THE SECRET OF THE LORD assuredly coincides with that of Peter, that "God is no re- specter of persons'." Perhaps we may better understand his view about Israel's (the spiritual Israel's) righteousness by comparing what the Psalmist says, in the name of Israel, about the exaltation of " our horn" with what he says elsewhere, in the name of David, " The Lord is... the horn of my salvation 1 !' And so, here, "your righteousness hath been lifted up," appears to mean something to this effect, " The Lord, your righteous- ness, imparting Himself and His righteousness to you, and making you victorious in His righteousness and yours, hath lifted you up in Himself, as a sign to all the world that 'in righteousness He doth judge and make war*'." [3807] The transition from " righteousness " to what follows may be illustrated by a similar transition in the Epistle to the Romans. The Epistle first leads its readers rapidly to its main subject, " the Gospel," " salvation to every one that hath faith," wherein is " revealed the righteousness of God from faith unto faith 4 ." Then, it touches on the opposite revelation — corresponding to unrighteousness and unfaith — "the wrath of God is revealed'." Then, after illustrating this opposition from the history of the whole world, Gentiles and Jews*, it "kindness," so that the result is "[Even] the kindness of the nations is sin." Adopting this, Rashi says, "For they (i.e. the nations of the world) take wrongfully from one what they give to another." If that is the meaning, it might be illustrated by Prov. xii. 10 "the compassions of the wicked are cruel" (because dictated by no general love for man and beast, but by a selfish liking for one object, and a selfish dislike for another object). 1 Acts x. 34—5- * Ps. xviii. 2, lxxxix. 17. 3 [3806 b] Rev. xix. 1 1. We must also not ignore the possibility that, in mystical Christian poems, "Christ our Righteousness is lifted up" might be a phrase expressing Christ's triumph over death, typified by His Ascension. This might be condensed into "our Righteousness is lifted up" without any intention to impute to the speaker a claim to possess a "righteousness" of his own apart from Christ. 4 Rom. i. 17. ' R° m - '• ,8 - ° Rom - '• *!—«"• 3«- 252 (Ode viii. 6 — 7) THE SECRET OF THE LORD [3809] passes to Abraham, "the Father of us all'," as being made- righteous by faith. From his example, it takes up the thought of the message that the Gospel brings to all the world : — " Being therefore made-righteous as the result of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ... and we exult (lit. boast) in hope... yea, we even exult in our tribulations." And why ? Because " the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts...'." [3808] Somewhat similarly here — yet with difference enough to shew that there is no imitation — the poet is led by the " lifting up " of man's " righteousness," to think of God's " right hand," which thus " lifts up," and then to reflect that it is God to whom we owe this and every other gift — "peace" " truth," "faith," " knowledge" and, last of all and root of all, " fervent- love" All this is God's "secret" as well as man's, and hence he represents God as saying " Guard (or, keep, 3801 b — c) my secret," " my faith," " my knowledge." [3809] In the Epistle to the Romans, as also in 'this Ode, the " secret " is not mentioned at the outset. But it comes later on, along with a mention of the " hardening " of Israel until "the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved," so that God " might have mercy upon all'." The " secret " is the " adoption-of-sons." If we remember that " mercy " is an aspect of " loving-kindness," the sequence of thought in the Epistle will be seen to be similar to the sequence in the following extract : — 7. For the right hand 4 of the Lord is with you and He is [become] to you a helper". 1 Rom. iv. 1 — 25. 2 Rom. v. I — 5. ' Rom. xi. 25—32. 4 [3809 a] "The right hand of the Lord." This is the first mention of the term in the Odes. In O.T., Gesen. 411 6 gives " the right hand of the Lord" as occurring for the first time in the Song at the Red Sea (Exod. xv. 6, 6, 12) "glorious in power," "dashing in pieces the enemy" and causing the earth to "swallow them up." It is mostly used with the thought of destroying oppression. But it is also connected with the thought of founding or planting, e.g. Ps. lxxx. 15 "the stock (A.V. 253 (Ode viii. 7—14) [3809] THE SECRET OF THE LORD 8. And peace was prepared for you before ever your war was 1 . vineyard) which thy right hand hath planted." This may be illustrated by the conclusion of the Song at the Red Sea (Exod. xv. 17) "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance. ..the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established" — where several traditions explain why "hands," and not "right hand" is used. This metaphorical mixture of "establishing" (or "founding") with "planting" resembles the Pauline (Eph. iii. 17) "rooted and founded." It also resembles the final instance of "right hand" in the Odes (xxxviii. 16 foil.) " My foundations were laid. ..He set the root. ..the Lord alone was glorified ...by the beautiful planting of His right hand." Our Odes resemble the Song of Moses in associating "the right hand of the Lord" at first with rescue, e.g. here and Odes xviii. 7, xxii. 7, xxv. 2 (where however the Syr. text on which H. commented as corrupt has been altered by R.H. 2nd ed. without note, the Engl, remaining unchanged) but finally with the "planting" of Israel. " The right hand" of the Lord is connected (Ode xiv. 4) with "guiding," and (xxv. 9) with "lifting up" and "removing sickness." "On the right hand (absol.)" occurs, according to R.H. and H., in xix. 5, but Dom Connolly renders it — as appears to me more accurately — (J. Theol. Stud. Jan. 1912, p. 307) "'Those who receive [it] are in the perfection of the right hand,' i.e. are in the perfect state of God's elect, who are set on His right hand." "On my own right hand" occurs in viii. 21 (3797 a — b, 3815 e). 6 "Helper." See 3760*. 1 [3809*] "Peace was prepared...ht(oTt...war was." This is the first mention of "peace" and "war" in the Odes. The context, besides asserting that the former was " prepared," rather implies that the latter, too, was at least foreseen as a foil to the former. (Compare the intro- duction of "light" in Jn i. 5 "the light shineth in darkness.") In O.T. the first mention of "war" is in Gen. xiv. 2 closely followed by a mention of (Gen. xiv. 18) "Salem," i.e. peace. The King of Salem, Peace, blesses Abraham when he returns, after rescuing the captives taken in the "war." The Midrash on Gen. xiv. 1 says "Because the empires went to war, Redemption came to Abraham? This illustrates " peace. ..before. ..war? [3809 c] But further, if we ask what it is that God has "prepared" for men, one of the first instances— the first in A.V.— is (Exod. xxiii. 20) "the place which I have prepared"— that is, Palestine, and more particularly Jerusalem. To this the Epistle to the Hebrews refers, as the goal of the wandering saints from Abraham onwards (xi. 16) "God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city," that is, the New Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition— which Philo (j_ 691—2) accepts— "Jerusalem " means the " Vision of Peace." [3809 d] These facts point to the conclusion that the poet is referring 254 (Ode viiL 7 — 14) THE SECRET OF THE LORD [3809] 9. Hear the word of truth and receive the knowledge of the Most High 1 . io. Your flesh hath not known what I am saying to you; also not (i.e. not even) your hearts 4 [have known] what I am shewing to you. primarily to Abraham, as the Saint for whom " peace " was " prepared " out of " war." And the thought of Abraham suits well with many features in the Ode (e.g. the subsequent mention of "faith" (viii. 12), the introduction of the term "elect" (ib. 21), and the emphasis laid on "fervent-love" (ib. 14)). But this reference does not exclude reference to others, and, in particular, to Moses and to the rnystical " son of the right hand," the " little Benjamin." The poet believes that always and everywhere God does, of His goodness, (Ps. Ixviii. 10) "prepare for the poor." In the creation of the visible world, "darkness" is mentioned before "light," and, in the Scripture, "war" is mentioned before "peace." But, in the Thought of God, "ljght" was before "darkness," and "peace" before " war." That appears to be the poet's conception here and in many other passages of the Odes. 1 After declaring that " peace was prepared before war," the poet goes back to the thought of "knowledge" (Ode iii. 13 "be ye wise, and take- knowledge") and prepares his readers to receive the "secret" of all " knowledge." The "flesh" and the "heart" * [3809 e] "Also not (i.e. not even). ..hearts." The txt has, instead of hearts, "clothing" emended by R.H. to "hearts," which H. accepts. R.H. in 2nd ed. adds "But perhaps the raiment means the human body?" The objection to this is the want of sense in "Not your flesh... not even your raiment (i.e. body)." "Not even" (R.H. "neither," H. "und auch nicht ") appears from Thes. 327 — where " not even," rather than " neither," seems the usual meaning — to favour "hearts." The saying is somewhat stronger than Mt. xvi. 17 "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee," for it appears to mean " not only your flesh, but even your hearts, have failed to attain it." And this strong saying prepares the way for the mention of the " secret." [3809/] Comp. the Psalm of Asaph, Ps. lxxiii. 26 "My flesh and my heart faileth [for longing] ; God is the Rock of my heart and my portion for ever," where the Psalmist has been perplexed by (ib. 3) "the prosperity of the wicked," who oppress the poor. " It was too painful for me," he says (ib. 16), "when I thought how I might know this." At last he knew the secret when he (ib. 17) "went into the sanctuary of God." The wicked are (ib. 18 foil.) " set in slippery places " and ultimately "consumed." The Psalmist confesses (ib. 22 foil.) that he had been "brutish" and "as 255 (Ode viii. 7—14) [3809] THE SECRET OF THE LORD Guard my secret 1 , ye that are guarded by (or, in) it. a beast" in his former distrust; and then, trusting that God who has "holden his right hand" will "afterward receive" him "into glory," he expresses his longing for a strength beyond that of his own flesh and his own heart. [3809 jf] Rashi illustrates the Psalmist's going "into the sanctuary of God" by the picture of Hezekiah taking into the sanctuary the letter of Sennacherib. Jerome ad loc. explains it as " going in imagination (merfte) into the assembly of the saints," where one sees that they, although at first "buffeted (vexati) in a few things," will at the last "fare well (bene disponentur) in many things." Origen ad loc. following the LXX "until J shall go into the sanctuary of God," seems to defer to the life to come what we may call " the scientific knowledge " of the ways of Providence (y'uv Xiryov tuk irtpt irpovoiat yvtoaopfOa). [3809 /;] Having regard to the extreme rarity of the collocation of "flesh" and "heart? and to its combination both in the Ode and in Asaph's Psalm with "knowing" and "knowledge," we are justified in thinking that our poet is alluding to the insoluble problem presented in that Psalm, as also in Job. Of this he finds a solution— or rather no solution, but a cutting of the knot— in an absorbing love of God believed in as conforming Man to His image through apparent failures that are to issue in an ultimate and perfect success. The Secret ' [3809 i) " Secret." See 3797 foil. If we connect "secret" with the preceding verse, "Your flesh hath not known...," there will be a re- semblance to Is. lxiv. 4 "From of old men have not heard. ..neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee, who worketh for him that waiteth-with- loneing (Gesen. 7,\^a)for him," where the last words resemble Is. xxx. 18 " The Lord will wait-with-longing that he may be gracious unto you.. .for the Lord is a God of justice (mishpdt from shdphat, judge) ; blessed are all they that wailwith-longing for him." Comp. an apparent quotation of this passage in I Cor. ii. 6— io on the "wisdom" that was "fore- ordained before the aeons" but "hidden" from "the rulers of this aeon," who would otherwise not have crucified Jesus, "But, as it is written, ' Things that eye saw not, and ear heard not, and [that] entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love A;w >»_wherc it is added that we know these secret things, "the deep things of God," because {ib. 16) " we have the mind of Christ." [3809/] The passage in the Odes throws light on this Pauline quotation which, though resembling Is. lxiv. 4 , substitutes "love" for "await-with-longing? The LXX has " wait-for mercy {vrrophovcnv 7W).» Another quotation of it in Clem. Rom. §34 has "wait-for (inoplvovvir) 256 (Ode viii. 7—14) THE SECRET OF THE LORD [3809] Him." This is the most accurate rendering, but it does not express the " longing," which Paul perhaps felt to be the predominating element. Comp. 2 Tim. iv. 8 " to all those who have fixed-their-love-on (r/yarrt)- koitiv) his appearing," where R.V. "have loved" does not make sense, and A.V. "love" does not represent the Greek. The Hcb. for "await-with- longing" is rendered ifuipufuu or vfittpofim in Job iii. 21. [3809 £] The possession of "the secret of the Lord" — the "secret" # that can "guard" — seems to have consisted, not in a present knowledge of the precise things that the Lord would do in time to come (and especially in the Day of Judgment) but in a present faith in the Judge, and love of the Judge—like the faith and love of Abraham when he exclaimed (Gen. xviii. 25) "shall not the judge of all the world do justice?" — developed by Christ into something more, a trustful love of the just Father, such a " love " as was possessed by "the mind of Christ," who imparted His "mind" to His disciples. Comp. Ode xxxiii. 10 "I am your judge" — the only instance of " Richter" in H.'s Index. [3809 /] Our Ode may also throw light on the question whether Paul (in I Cor. ii. 6 — 10) quoted from the Apocalypse of Elijah, as is asserted by Origen but denied by Jerome. Lrightf. on Clem. Rom. §34, discussing this, has not given the evidence so fully as Schiirer ii. 3, 129 — 32, and does not consider the possibility that the apocrypha mentioned might have Christian touches, yet be Jewish as a whole. [3809 in] Both Abraham and Elijah illustrate the possession and the non-possession of the secret of the Lord. Abraham was perhaps not in the "secret" literally, if he expected that Sodom would be spared. Elijah, though certainly not in the " secret" in saying " I, even I, am left alone," was admitted to the secret of the future chastisements of Israel. But Abraham was in the "secret" spiritually, when he said to God, in effect (Gen. xviii. 25) "Thou hast said of me that thou knowest that I will teach my children (Gen. xviii. 19) to do righteousness and Justice (mishpat) ; but thou thyself — wilt thou slay the righteous with the wicked? Thou that-art-juttge-of a\\ the earth— shalt thou not do justice}' On the other hand Elijah was not in the "secret," spiritually, when he pleaded with God against Israel, as though not one righteous soul survived and all were worthy of destruction. The former had an absolute confidence in God and believed in peaceful and loving influences ; the latter had not the same confidence, and needed to be taught the superiority of the "still small voice" over the fire, the storm, and the earthquake. [3809 n] Not improbably the author of the Apocalypse of Elijah perceived something of this contrast. In modern times, Mendelssohn's Elijah — in answer to the passionate appeal of the prophet to the Lord "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens" — introduces an angel saying "O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him." The Jewish Apocalypse may have done much the same, adding a mention of the future joys a. l. 257 (Ode viii. 7 — 14) 17 [3809] THE SECRET OF THE LORD i 2. Guard my faith (or, belief) 1 , ye that are guarded by (or, in) it. 13. And know my knowledge', ye that in truth are knowing me. that await those who " wait-with-longing" for the Lord. Sanhedr. 97 £ contains a couple of sayings attributed to "Elijah," or "the house of Elijah," about the duration of the world, and, in the same page, a question based on Is. xxx. 18:— If the Lord is " waiting-with-longing" to be gracious to Israel, and Israel is "waiting-with-longing" for the Lord — what hinders the Coming of the Messiah? The answer is brief and obscure- that it is "the Nature of the Judgment." « [3809 0] Joma 19 b contains another saying of "Elijah" about the Coming of the Lord. The words of Malachi (iv. 5 " I will send you Elijah... before the great and terrible day of the Lord come") would favour a Jewish popular belief that Elijah, above all the worthies of Israel, possessed the " secret." All the more might Jews of the mystical spirit take pains to shew that Abraham, rather than Elijah, possessed it, that the "secret" was based on a trustful longing for ultimate universal justice to all, rather than on a passion for the immediate punishment of some ; and that this trust and longing belonged in the highest degree to those whom God called, not His servants, but His friends. Gen. r. (on Gen. xviii. 25) says that, when Abraham addressed his bold remonstrance to God, He replied, "Abraham, (comp. Ps. xlv. 7) thou lovest righteous- ness with my creatures, and thou hatest unrighteousness.. .therefore God, thy God, anointeth thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." 1 [3809 p] "Guard my faith," i.e. "my gift of faith," which is also "faith in me— the faith in me that I impart to you." For this use of "my" see 3722*. For "guard," or "keep," see 3801*-, ye that are loving. [3809] i^t:::::^: face ;; th **~^ says, "We must have the fa tl 10 t I 1' T' *"* '° Ve " ° ur author must have the know.edge of he L rci (ITv ™ ™ ?** ^ «* WC He alone can give us) not fn itl« l , ?'"* ""^ knowled ge that truth to know L Lord S ch Z h 2 1 ^ ? ^ ° W "' if W£ are in and also springing ^^^^Z^T^ ^ ^ secret of the Lord ' which is -.., „ 0rd> cons t'tute 'the in their hearts." ever-present guard to those who guard it [3809 s] Paul warns us (1 Cor. viii. 1) that "f>h» ! , puffethup"; our author teaches us tha "hi u I """^ knowled ge Lord calls "my know.edge "-gives ifiand"^ k ? Mrfc * e "-'"»t the Pauline doctrine it is not easv to Z ? / f™ nh a " d fn,it In the "hope"-which seems at fi Z I , , ^ *" CXaCt P Iace assi &"ed to and love. In the Ode it is ,0 " SU P erflu °"s * we have perfect faith Wge-of God' ov°rr . n" Zd ^ , ^ ^ l ° See tha "he"k„ow- His bringing -pe^^™ T ^ <° «*~" ^od, and of more manifestly and logicallv-a part of ^ ♦ aU '' ne " h ° pe '" on, y bX which men enter J t0 "the SeTt^ heTord •• W^" '* a vrrtue it is based on insight Whenever hope is 97 Rafter ouot g ^J h "}Z7\ *f ^ «'*-"«'* Sanhedrin "waiting-wit^onglng I , , e ^ £°* ".* Isaiah ' s ^trine about "pellucid" from fhe " gIa ' th, ^Th V"' " g ' aSS " that is behold God's image- tlfroueh he 7 ^ the laUer > W'*** *W?:r ^ : ^™c^r M number - °» *• tbis E ap^Ta^"^ "T'T "" *» "^™"> f Ppears there uTder «' L be S ^ X ' V^ '"^T *° ^ " Love me with my love " ie co /„ ■•■ P ° Ct m ' ght have said I have reveaied to Lu " o ' " Sh ,l" ? X '"' ^ 9) " W, ' th the love th at But he prefers to use!' H Z lW W ' th which ' hav * loved you - (as indS fd alve 368 f 3^" «*" ^ "^ ™* *>r -£ ",- though not so strong as "fire fn 7) SUggeSt, " g "' ferVOUr - "Fervour" Purifies goodness, ne^ thcless S^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ™ l a " d and "Inbrunst" indicat this 2tC * SU ^ estion - "Affection" with advantage ^t^^^^'^.™* ^ PeH-p. Passages elsewhere. H ' t0 ,ndlcate " f n some '59 (Ode viii. 7_i 4 ) Iy _ 2 [3810] THE SECRET OF THE LORD § 3. The Secret is for "the Neiv People, the Babe" [3810] Clement of Alexandria says about " the new name," which the Angel kept secret from Jacob, " He reserved the new name for the New People — the Babe 1 ." That appears to be the poet's thought here, as also throughout the whole of the Odes. Man is " the Babe " that is to be developed through the aeons to become full-grown and perfect, yet still to remain the Babe in relation to God. [3811] The thought of the Babe, as an object of God's knowledge even before birth, came before us in the last Ode : "And He that created me knew — even when yet I was not — what I should do when I came into being'." And this fore- knowledge was connected with compassion : " Because of that, He compassionated me in His great compassion'." Now it has come before us again, in a context of the same tendency, in which the Lord appeals for " love " on the ground of this foreknowledge: "Love me with fervent-love... for I do not turn my face from my own ; because I know them, and, before they came into being, I observed them... I sealed them, I framed their members, and my own breasts did I prepare for them." Must we say that the author is here borrowing from the Pauline doctrine of " predestination " ? In favour of this view, it might be alleged (and with truth) that the Epistle to the Romans, somewhat similarly, combines the thought of " the liberty of the glory of the children of God," and "the love of God," with God's "foreknowing" and "foreordaining 4 ." In the Ode, the Lord will be found to ask who will venture to •' rise up " against His redeemed, whom He calls His "work." So the Epistle says, '* If God is for us, who is against us?... Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect 5 ?" ■ Clem. Alex. 132. J Ode vii. 11. ' Ode vii. 12. 1 Rom. viii. 21—39. b Ode viii. 20, Rom. viii. 31, 33. 260 (Ode viii. 15—19) THE SECRET OF THE LORD [3813] [3812] But there is no trace of any literary use of the Epistle in the poem. Nor is " predestination " a good word to describe our poet's aspect of the insoluble mystery of an omnipotent God's foreknowledge. Predestination suggests Destiny, or Fate, or fixed Decree. But the mystical doctrine of the Odes is alien from these thoughts. It assumes the omnipotence of Love, and a pre-existence — in the loving "Thought" of God — of human sons, implied in the eternal pre-existence of the divine Son, to whom all humanity is to be ultimately conformed. This the poet seems to prefer to a mere predestinating, in the sense of an intellectual knowing- beforehand, and fixing-beforehand, that men-as-they-are shall ultimately become men-as-they-ought-to-be. [3813] Probably the poet is going back to earlier traditions than the Epistle to the Romans, including some about the " foreordaining " (or what the LXX calls " preparing ") of God for Israel, and others about "babes and sucklings," and about "a people that shall be born 1 ." For the sake of Israel, God " prepared " food in the wilderness'. And even before they entered the wilderness, the Song of Moses says that He had already "established, or prepared,^ sanctuary'." Subsequently the Lord says " I send an angel... to bring thee into the place that I have prepared'!' What was this "place" or "sanctuary"? The Wisdom of Solomon answers, " The holy tabernacle " which God had " prepared from the beginning 1 ." But the true 1 Ps. viii. 2, xxii. 31. 8 [3813 a ] Ps. Ixviii. 10, lxxviii. 19. Aboth v. 9 places "the manna" among "ten things created between the suns," i.e. (Taylor) "at the time of transition from the ' six days of creation ' to the sabbath." 5 Exod. xv. 17 "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance. ..the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established (LXX prepared, qrotpaow)." 4 Exod. xxiii. 20. R.V. and A.V. "prepared," LXX ijroi'/iao-a. 5 [3813 i ] Wisd. ix. 8 "Thou hast commanded me to build a temple... a resemblance of the holy tabernacle which thou hast prepared from the beginning (Trporyrolfuuras an' apxrjt)." The tabernacle of Moses was (Heb. viii. 5, quoting Exod. xxv. 40) according to the "pattern" of a 261 (Ode viii. 15 — 19) k [3813] THE SECRET OF THE LORD tabernacle, sanctuary, or temple of God is a Person. And the Personal Temple of God the Father must be the Son— that Son whom the Book of Proverbs, as interpreted by Aquila and the Jews, calls the " Nursling," and identifies with the eternal Wisdom. Between the Father and the Son there is the " secret " — namely, to conform mankind to the image of the Son by creating men anew in the Spirit of the Babe. [3814] The two following extracts curiously resemble the eighth Psalm, the Psalm of Babes and Sucklings, in the sequence of their thought. The first part of that Psalm begins with the thought of mankind as of mere " babes and suck- lings " out of whose mouth nevertheless God has " established strength." So does the first extract in its description of the offspring for whom the Lord "prepares" His "breasts," and of whom He is " not ashamed," because they are the "strength" of His "designs": — 15. For I do not turn my face from my own 1 16. Because I know-them, and before they came-into-being I observed-them (or, reviewed-them) 2 and their faces [too]. [Yea] I (emph.) sealed them (emph.)*. divine tabernacle shewn to Moses in "the mount." This is regarded as having been " from the beginning." On this s. Ode iv. 1 — 4. " Prepare a place," in a spiritual sense, occurs in Jn xiv. 2 — 3 and Rev. xii. 6, and "'prepare a city" in Heb. xi. 16. 1 [3814 a] "My own." R.H. "them that are mine," H. "dem was mein ist." It is ambiguous, like the English — not like the Greek — in Jn i. 11 (A.V.) " He came unto his own (to Tfita) and his own (o\ Bioi) received him not," see next note. 2 [3814*] "Observed (or, reviewed)." R.H. "took knowledge of them," H. " habe ich sie erkannt." Thes. 2628 does not give instances of this form of the verb with a personal object, except in Ezr. viii. 15 "inspexi, recensui populum" (with prep, "in"), Lk. xxiv. 16 tou ftfi imyviivm avrnv, and in later Syr. "ils ne s'entendent pas l'un l'autre." A Jewish tradition (Gen. r. on Gen. v. 1) says that God passed in review before Adam the generations of his posterity. "Passed in review" may be the meaning here, but before His own mind, not "before Adam." Or it may mean that God "reflected" on each human soul that is "His own," giving His thought to its destiny before it entered into being. 262 (Ode viii. 15 — 19) ■ : ;■■ f f THE SECRET OF THE LORD [3814] "Them" removes the ambiguity of the preceding "my own," and shews that it means the human souls that are God's "own." In Jn i. 11, it is said that His "own" received Him not — i.e. those who were His own tie jure, and perhaps also those who were of His household, city, and nation, who might have been expected to be the.first to receive Him. But here "my own" and "them" mean those who are His de facto as well as tie jure. Thk Antenatal Soul 3 [3814 c] "And their faces [too]. [Yea,] I (emph.) sealed them (emph.)" The punctuation makes a difference. R.H. has "And on their faces I set my seal." H. "...und ihr Antlitz ; ich habe sie versiegelt." Against the rendering of R.H. is (1) the construction, if taken in the ordinary way, (2) the apparent rarity or non-occurrence (Thes. 1408 — 9) of "seal the face" instead of "seal [a person]" or "seal on the forehead." " Observed (or, reviewed) them and their faces," may have in view *. shepherd, counting his flock and "observing" their "faces" — which seem all alike to a stranger but different to him — as the sheep pass in or out of the fold before him. The phrase of Thes. 2628, above quoted, "recensui populum," recalls the Aeneid vi. 682 "recensebat" applied to Anchises "reviewing" the long line of his illustrious descend- ants, existent as souls, but not yet born as men. The word used here for " seal " — which differs from that in Ode iv. 8 (3722/)— is (Thes. 1429) a form of Heb. tAbd "sink," hence "deeply impress." It means occasionally "stamp" or "coin," as in Mt. xxii. 19 (SS) "the coin of the head-money," where the stamp of Caesar is used to suggest that the coin belongs to Caesar. The other word for "seal" (Thes. 1410) is not alleged to have that meaning. Both words occur in the Mishna of Sanhedr. iv. 5 "Man stamps (or, coins) many stamps (or, coins) with one seat, and they are all like one another; but... God.. .stamps every man (adani) with the seal of Adam, and not one of them is like his neighbour." The abruptness and the emphatic pronouns in the last clause (" 1 sealed them ") imply a climax, and also the Lord's desire to identify Himself with His own: "and, what is more, it is from me that they received the seal that stamps them as my own for ever.'' This initial "seal" before birth does not prevent the soul from subsequently receiving a corresponding "seal" after birth. [On Ode xxiv. 5 (R.H.) "and they sealed up the abysses with the seal of the Lord," see Appendix IV indi- cating that the meaning is "and the abysses were sunk with the sinking of the Lord "(3999 (ii) 8 foil.).] [3814 d] The last Ode (xlii. 25) speaks of the Lord's "name" as being "signed" — or, more probably (see Appendix IV) "put," as upon the Lord's Temple— upon the heads of those who are rescued from Sheol. Of these Adam presumably was the first. In that case the author's view would seem 263 (Ode viii. 15 — 19) [3814] THE SECRET OF THE LORD to be that the soul of Adam was primarily "sealed" when the Father said to the pre-incarnate Son in heaven — so Barnabas (v. 5) and Justin Martyr ( Tryph. 62) — " Let us make Adam in our image? and that afterwards the Father said to the Son, post-incamate and risen from the dead, "And now let us complete the sealing, by making Adam after our likeness!' [3814 a",] This we may be disposed to call "wild mysticism." But the poet— by the word "sealed," and, in the last Ode, by the use of "signed," or (as Codex N) " put "—implies that he is a mystic. We may call it " wild " if we like, provided that we recognise the probable prevalence of this " wild mysticism " among Jews in the first century. The word for "sign" in Ode xlii. 25 (R.H.) is r'sham, Heb. rdsham, which occurs (Gescn. 957, 1 113) as a Heb. word in Dan. x. 21 "that which is inscribed in the writing of truth," but in Chaldee ib. v. 24 — vi. 14 as meaning both " inscribe " and " sign." Now the noun formed from rdsham was used technically (like mdskdl, "parable"), so that reshumouth meant "significances" or "symbolisms,'' i.e. allegorizing interpretations of Scripture. Levy iv. 474 (rdsham), ii. 128 (chdlham, "seal") and i. 320 (gezcr, "a decree") shews the distinction sometimes drawn between "signing,'' "sealing," and "decreeing." But as to the early prevalence of these reshumouth see Jewish Quart. Rev. Jan. 1911, pp. 291 — 334, The A?icient Jewish Allegorists in Talmud and Midrash, by Dr Jacob Z. Lauterbach, who gives a list of the early reshumouth, pointing out that they belonged to a special class of expositors, and maintaining that they fell into disrepute (p. 294), " It would seem that by the end of the second century or thereabouts the rabbis felt a certain resentment towards these ancient exegetes...they purposely avoided giving any account of them, and sought rather to let them fall into oblivion." They may have felt about the reshumouth what Celsus (Orig. Cels. ii. 27) declares the Christians to have felt about the very earliest forms of their gospels (s. above, p. xxvi). The hypothesis of a conflict between two classes of Rabbinical interpretation is illustrated by the rebuke addressed to R. Akiba (Chag. 14 a) "Akiba, what hast thou to do with Haggada?" [3814 d 2 ] Dr Lauterbach says (/. Q. R. p. 321) " R. Akiba said.. .no virtuous action... to overbalance his shortcomings, for the Dorshe Reshumot said...," and treats "the Dorshe Reshumot" as "quoted by R. Akiba." But Wiinsche (on Eccles. x. 1, Coheleth r. p. 134) has no "-for" and begins a new paragraph with " Die Zeichendeuter sagen," punctuating so as to indicate that these expositors were regarded, not as agreeing with, but as differing from, R. Akiba. In the Hymns of Ephrem on Epiphany, r'sham is technically applied to baptism as follows (Expos. 191 2, Feb. pp. 108 foil.) Ephrem i. 41,6^7. : " Come, ye Iambs, and take your sign— this is the sign which separates the housemates from the strangers," ib. i. 43, 12: "Descend, my signed brethren, and put on our Lord." See 3840 d. 264 (Ode viii. 15 — 19) THE SECRET OF THE LORD [3814] ■ \ ' i- 4 ■i [3814 e] Does this "reviewing" and "sealing" imply a belief in a pre-existence of the soul before birth ? It can hardly be denied that such a pre-existence was contemplated as possible by some Jews in the first century. Jesus may not have been actually asked by His disciples (Jn ix. 1—2) whether a man was born blind because of his sins, but the fact that the evangelist records such a question from them is proof that he regarded the question as not wholly absurd of impossible. Jews might naturally argue, " If a man could be born good and holy from the womb (Jerem. i. 5, Wisd. viii. 20) might he not be born bad (comp. Rom. ix. ii, 12)?" Origen (Lev. Norn. xii. 4) explains Wisd. viii. 20 "being good I came into a body undefiled," as referring to Jesus alone. But non-christian Jews would not do this. [3814/) In Sola (Wag. p. 72 foil.) it is declared that everything about the unborn soul is decreed before birth except its goodness, "according to the saying, All things depend on God except the fear of God." The antenatal soul beseeches God that it may not be born into the world, but is assured by Him that He desires a better abode for it than its present one. A lamp is placed above its head (Job xxix. 3) that it may see all the Universe. Then it is taken to visit (Wag. p. 74) Paradise and the good, Gehenna and the evil, that it may be both encouraged and warned. Finally the lamp is extinguished, and the soul is pushed crying into the world to begin the first of its seven ages. Comp. (3875 c) a doctrine "in the name of R. Samuel" about "the souls of the pious which were with Him at the planting of the Garden of Eden." [3814/) Sola bears, perhaps, the stamp of Greek thought. At all events, it differs in detail from the thought of our poet. He is con- templating merely God's foreknowing of the elect. But the last Ode suggests (3814 d) that Adam is saved. And this gives the impression that Man, as a whole, is saved, and that, in spite of sin, he will "be found," as the present Ode says (viii. 26) "incorruptible in all the aeons to the name of" the " Father." [3814 h] Philo seems to regard God as "completely framing" some elect souls before birth, but as leaving others without the final touch of His hand (i. 104) "But some (iW) God completely shapes (Sia- wAT6pr)TOv rqv lavrov avawav